April is National Poetry Month! The Wild Bean in downtown Lewisburg is celebrating with live poetry on Friday, April 7th at 6pm by Neal Krakover, Sarah Elkins, and Doug Vangundy. There will also be an open mic for people that want to do their own reading. Read more about the poets below:
Neal Krakover staunch defender of poetic justice resides in nether Lobelia a suburb of Hillsboro approximately twenty-eight miles from Interstate 64. His recent book: “64 Poems And Worse” was released in November 2016. ‘Every year I try to celebrate National Poetry Month and what better way than with an Open Mic and The Wild Bean makes it all come together! In 2014 I started “ALL TERRAIN POETRY & OPEN MiC Events in the area. I got the idea from watching our new puppy run– all terrain puppy!” All terrain refers to different states we experience and how we use words to navigate. As T.S. Eliot said: “Poetry Is a raid on the inarticulate.” Come hear poets from all over articulate! Share your favorites OPEN MiC 4 POEM LIMIT. A graduate underfellow of Temple University Philosophy department. Instead of attending graduation from Temple I came to Greenbrier County in May 1973 on a whim to help restore a log cabin on Spring Creek belonging to my friend Alan Rudley. My first memory of Lewisburg was driving into town on I-60 in a blue 1950 Chevrolet pickup a refrigerator and a bulging mattress tucked in tight and having a late lunch at Clingman’s Market being greeted by Gwen Clingman herself apron and an almost heaven grin! “Need to wash up pointing back–and I hope you’re hungry!” Here’s hoping this LEWISBURG April First Friday National Poetry Month Event will be as unforgettable!
Sarah Elkins is a poet living in White Sulphur Springs. In 2014, she won 1st place in West Virginia’s annual contest for short poetry. Her time teaching poetry to inmates at FC! Beckley, a men’s medium security federal prison,was the subject of her TedX Talk, Poetry & Connection in the Care Bear of Prisons. By day, Sarah is director of marketing operations for PracticeLink, a physician recruiting service.
Doug Van Gundy teaches in both the BA and MFA writing progams at West Virginia Wesleyan College. His poems, essays and reviews have appeared in many journals, including The Oxford American, Ecotone, Appalachian Heritage, Still and Poetry Salzburg Review. His first collection of poems, A Life Above Water is published by Red Hen press.He is co-editor of the Anthology Eyes Glowing at the Edge of the Woods: Writing from West Virginia.
The Wild Bean is located at 119 E. Washington Street in downtown Lewisburg. Make this National Poetry Month Event unforgettable!
– HashtagWV #88, April 2017
HASHTAGWV ART & ENTERTAINMENT Publisher/Editor-in-Chief, Christina Entenmann-Edwards has been a WV resident since September 2008. She was born and raised in Fairfield County, Connecticut, and is no stranger to hard work and the entrepreneurial spirit. In 2006, she graduated from Quinnipiac University (Hamden, Connecticut), Cum Laude, with a B.A. in History. In 2010, she graduated with an M.B.A. from Liberty University (Lynchburg, Virginia). In February 2012, Christina launched HashtagWV as the area’s first full-color, free arts and entertainment tabloid + online platform. Christina completed the Leadership West Virginia class of 2021, which is an innovative program that grows, engages, and mobilizes leaders to ignite a life passion to move West Virginia forward.