An annual poetry event returns to Lansing Thursday. Poetry In The City will be back, in front of the state Capitol building.
WKAR’s Scott Pohl goes Inside The Arts with a return visit from Lansing’s poet laureate, Ruelaine Stokes.
Interview Transcript
Scott Pohl: Ruelaine Stokes, welcome back. Good to see you again.
Ruelaine Stokes: Thanks so much, Scott. It's great to be back.
Pohl: You've brought us a poem today called I Am Not the Worm. You're going to have to explain that to me. What's going on here?
Stokes: Well, it's the middle of summer. You know, there are a lot of worms in the ground. Sometimes they come up. Worms are a good thing to think about in the summer.
Pohl: All right, well, let's hear more. I Am Not The Worm, Lansing poet laureate Rulon Stokes.
Stokes:
I am not the worm
Giddy with sunshine, I am not birdsong.
I am not the worm, fat and sweet
in the morning.
I am not the orange poppy standing alone
holding forth with color and seeds
braver than the grass.
I am not peonies punished by rain,
their beauty excessive, multiple,
overblown.
I am not a bird, worm or flower
but we all are kin, luminous
but mortal.
I am a woman casting words
into the wind, still dazzled
by all I cannot name.
—Ruelaine Stokes
Pohl: I Am Not the Worm. Ruelaine Stokes. Thanks, Ruelaine.
Stokes: Now you want to know what it is?
Pohl: Yes! Why did you write this? What inspired this?
Stokes: It's glorious to be here in summer in Michigan. Michigan is awesomely beautiful. I feel amazed by the power of nature. I feel really close to other creatures. You know, sometimes I feel I'd like to follow a squirrel home and sort of live with it for a week, and I know that's kind of spooky, but I am not the worm. I am not the squirrel.
Pohl: I'm not either! Ruelaine, I know you're involved with Poetry In The City, which is on Thursday, July 18. Kind of exciting, it's the 20th annual one. It's at the steps in front of the state Capitol. Tell me about the event and about your involvement.
Stokes: This is one of my favorite events in the summer. Rina Risper has done an amazing job of, you know, founding and continuing this event every summer. It's, you know, on a beautiful summer night, there are a lot of a wonderfully rich, diverse audience comes out, and it's open mic, so you can sign up when you get there. There's a three-minute max. It's a family event. There'll be children there, so no profanity, but there's lots, it's a wonderful place for poetry. Many, many, many different kinds. It's free. And they're giving out free merchandise, including free copies of the My Secret Lansing book, and also my own collection of poetry, Jar of Plenty.
Pohl: Tell me about the My Secret Lansing book.
Stokes: That is a fabulous book that Laura Apol, one of the previous Lansing poet laureates and I, coordinated last summer, and it includes work by 64 writers, resident of this area, all writing about a special treasure, something that many people don't know about, a special place, a special person, a special event somewhere in the greater Lansing area. It's a terrific book.
Pohl: Well, the event on Thursday, July 18 is Poetry in the City. It starts at 7 p.m. It's free, on the steps in front of the state Capitol. Ruelaine Stokes and many other poets, professional and amateur, will be there to listen and to share their own poetry. Ruelaine, always good to see you. Thanks for coming back.
Stokes: Thanks so much.
Pohl: For Inside The Arts, I'm Scott Pohl.
