April Column

First published in The Evening Sun

Sometimes the best ideas come to us when we are driving. This happens to me all the time. I wait until I get to the red light and fumble in the glove compartment and cup holders for a scrap of paper and a pen. Sometimes I am even tempted to write the poem on my steering wheel.

It makes sense that poems come to us when we travel. We often travel alone and have time to think. Also, we focus on all the new things we see. So, imagine you are driving and a poetic idea emerges. If you have no paper or pen, what happens to the idea? You end up driving with the poem as your companion.

This idea helped to spark the theme for this year's poetry reading at The Eichelberger Performing Arts Center, presented by the Hanover Poets Laureate: "Traveling Companions." As poets living in a mostly rural area, we also do a lot of traveling to read, hear, and write poetry. As a group, the local poets have traveled to places such as Lancaster, York, Camp Hill, DC, Frederick, and Annapolis in the past year to network with other poets and share work.

This year's reading features three poets who live in Gettysburg, but who have lived and traveled all over the country and the world. Gary Ciocco, Todd Brandt and Katy Giebenhain will team up with musicians Nathaniel Sauers and Jeb Mahone for a night of poetry and music.

Katy Giebenhain has a Masters of Philosophy from University of Glamorgan, Wales, and a Masters from University of Baltimore. Her poems have appeared in many reputable journals and anthologies, and she has a chapbook, titled Pretending to be Italian. Giebenhain's poetry often connects body and experience in profound ways, as in the following excerpt from her poem “The Gatekeepers,” which first appeared in the chapbook Absent Photographer and was inspired by a photograph of the abandoned York Prison.

"If metal calloused, if wood scabbed
we’d be more convinced.
Each surface stretches in rich quiet
around grates, mirrors,
planks and wires in their shawls of dust.
Some are bottomless,
some daddy-long-legs-thin.
What happened here?
The photographer knows something.
Surfaces are her currency.
Passing through, her witness
clicks and breathes.
Surfaces imply, imply, imply –
they’re gatekeepers
as much as our own faces..."

Gary Ciocco, a native of southwestern Pennsylvania, will also read on Saturday. He has been teaching philosophy at various colleges for fifteen years. Ciocco was runner-up for the Bordighera Poetry Prize in 2007, and his work has been published in journals, newspapers and a chapbook. Ciocco's poetry always delights his readers with wit and uncanny metaphor; however, he also has a knack for unveiling the deep meaning hidden in quiet, dark moments.

Insomniac's Delight

The slow roll and thrum
of cars in town
morphs into
the rattle of chains and
bark of dogs
in the country,
the clang of metal cans,
beep of horns
heat of voices
in the city.
But you always listen.
As trees rustle effortlessly
and rain raps its rhythm
you peel away the wild mask
of a tired musician,
and let silence
take over again.

The third poet to read will be Todd R. Brandt, aka "Train." Brandt is a self-taught American poet. After studying Mechanical Engineering, he has raced jeeps, restored antique autos, piloted airplanes, and driven steam locomotives. Brandt's poetry often expresses the thing or idea we all know but never say, a trait I admire greatly in writers. For instance, in his poem "Cupcakes," he meditates on the nature of cupcakes and our love for them, mentioning things we know, but perhaps never discuss.

"...there's nothing wrong with cupcakes
there is the nice fluffy cake part
usually in that paper wrapper
like you're not supposed to actually touch it,
while you're eating it
Let alone think about...
where it came from
the ingredients in its batter
or how it felt about
that whole oven thing..."

I hope you can make it to a great evening of poetry and music! The event begins at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 30, 2011 in the Conservatory at The Eichelberger Performing Arts Center. Admission is $15.