Festival offers events for poets
Poetry is a large part of this year’s Arts & The Park, a 10-day celebration of the arts in Hot Springs.
On Thursday from 4-7 p.m. the Garland County Library will host Dogtown Poetry On Demand. North Little Rock poet Karen Hayes will write free poems on her 1971 manual Olivette typewriter on the spot for individuals in attendance.
Hayes is an alumna of the Writers Colony at Dairy Hollow. She has presented Dogtown Poetry On Demand at lots of different venues around central Arkansas including Hot Springs’ Farmers Market and North Little Rock’s monthly Argenta Art Walk.
The Spa City Slam will take place in the national park at the Quapaw Bath House on Friday at 8 p.m. Admission is free.
This competition of performance poetry has attracted poets from not only Hot Springs but also Little Rock and Northwest Arkansas. First prize is $300 cash plus a bath and massage for two at the Quapaw Baths and Spa. The second place poet will get a cheap bottle of champagne with the third place taking home a loaf of white bread and a can of Spam.
A poetry slam is a competition of poets who present their own work verbally in front of an audience. The contest is judged by five audience members picked at random. In Olympic fashion those judges score the poets on a scale of 1-10 based on both the content and performance of the poem. Poetry slams are often rowdy affairs because audience participation is encouraged.
The Poet is IN, a walk-up poetry booth, will be open Saturday 11 a.m.-6 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m.-4 p.m. in front of Karicole Plaza, 620 Central Ave. Fashioned after Lucy’s psychiatrist booth in the “Peanuts” cartoon, The Poet is IN booth will be manned by poets and readers to administer poetry for what ails you. Small doses for the poetry leery and continuous readings for poetry lovers.
Saturday and Sunday, in Hill Wheatley Plaza, poets from Northwest Arkansas, North Little Rock and Hot Springs will perform between the main acts in the tent during Art Springs. All are seasoned performance poets who will present their original works. At 11:45 a.m. Saturday, between sets of the Clyde Pound Jazz Trio, winners of the Paul Tucker Poetry Prize will be announced and the winning poems read. This was a contest of poems written with Hot Springs as part of the theme. Judges were members of the Hot Springs Chapter of The Poet’s Roundtable of Arkansas, which sponsored the competition. Winners of both the adult and youth divisions will receive $75, with the second and third place poems receiving $50 and $25, respectively.
Arts & The Park is sponsored by the Hot Springs Area Cultural Alliance.
Visit http:// www.hotspringsarts.com for more information.