Wisconsin Poetry News

StreetcART: Poetry on Kenosha's Street Cars

By John Bloner, Jr., Kenosha Community Media, Inc.

Poetry is popping up in an unexpected place in Kenosha, WI. Riders on Kenosha's historic, electric streetcars may not only enjoy tours on the Lake Michigan lakefront, taking in museums, shops and cafes, as well as the natural beauty of the water, they may also enjoy local poetry and artwork through a new, community-based project, StreetcART.

Southport Press, a small press publishing opportunity in Kenosha, welcomes area writers and artists to collaborate and create work that's displayed inside five streetcars. The inaugural edition of StreetcART, launched April 5, 2011, contains images from local painters, a collage artist, and a cartoonist, as well as poems by Kenosha and Racine authors, including a piece by Eric Huff, Kenosha's newly-crowned, first Poet Laureate.  Southport Press will solicit new work for display several times each year.

Woodrow Hall Jumpstart Initiative of Madison [another project of Poetry Jumps Off the Shelf whose poems are featured in this issue of VWOnline, eds.] provided start-up funds for this project; StreetcART is also made possible through the work and support of the Kenosha Writers' Guild, Kenosha Transit of the City of Kenosha, and ArtWorks, a Kenosha-based art supply/framing store and gallery.

Kenosha's electric streetcars, built in 1951, ran in Toronto, Ontario for many years until this form of transportation became so popular that Toronto installed new cars to accommodate more passengers.  Each car is painted in a different livery to represent a North American city that currently or once operated streetcars, including Toronto, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Chicago and Johnstown (PA).  The streetcar line in Kenosha began operation in 2000.
        
Southport Press is a service of Kenosha Community Media, a nonprofit organization, which seeks to build community through media by offering residents the training and tools to make and distribute media.  Visit Southport Press online.

John Bloner, Jr. lives in Kenosha, WI with his wife, Roberta. He manages Southport Press, a small press project and publishing opportunity, with area artists and authors. The Press' upcoming publication is a full-container container, chock full of stuff, including a book on myths, legends, tall tales and folklore (as interpreted by artists and authors), along with assorted ephemera.

 

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Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters Adopts State Poet Laureate

One of Governor Walker's first actions back in February was to decommission the state's Poet Laureate Commission, a volunteer body created by Governor Tommy Thompson in 2000. (Read more details in VW105.)

On May 16, the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters announced that it would become the new home for Wisconsin's Poet Laureate, currently Bruce Dethlefsen, as well as for the the Poet Laureate Commission. Following is an excerpt from the Academy's press release about this development:

“The Wisconsin Poet Laureate is more than just a symbolic appointment,” says Wisconsin Academy executive director Margaret Lewis. “The poet laureate plays a crucial role in keeping the arts accessible and vital—to all age groups—and acts as a statewide emissary for poetry and creativity. The Wisconsin Academy will support the Poet Laureate Commission for the foreseeable future in order to ensure the survival of this meaningful program."

As part of the new stewardship arrangement, the Wisconsin Academy will provide space for Wisconsin Poets Laureate both past and present and related Poet Laureate Commission information on their website, provide publicity for the current poet laureate, and aid in the search and selection of future poets laureate. In addition, the Wisconsin Academy will act as the Poet Laureate Commission's fiscal sponsor, accepting charitable contributions on behalf of the Commission in order to pay expenses related to Wisconsin Poet Laureate activities, as well as enhance the commission’s growing endowment.

"The Poet Laureate Commission is extremely pleased that the highly respected Wisconsin Academy stepped forward as steward of the Wisconsin Poet Laureate program after Governor Walker discontinued the State’s stewardship,“ says Poet Laureate Commission co-chair Jane Hamblen. “The program has selected four distinguished poets laureate over the last decade. The relationship with the Wisconsin Academy will allow this celebration of poetry and creativity in Wisconsin to continue for many years to come.”

For more information on programs and events, or to become a member, visit Wisconsin Academy.

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