Joe Bielecki: Poetry is on the rise in Grand Rapids, and the Grand River Poetry Collective is riding that wave, working to fill gaps in the literary landscape of the city by providing a communal hub, operating as a publishing house for local poets, and more. I talked to co-president and Grand Rapids poet laureate Christine Stevens Krieger and co-president Scott Krieger about the collective. We'll start with the basics. What is the Grand River Poetry Collective?
Christine Stevens Krieger: Well, let's see. I have been active in the Grand Rapids poetry scene probably for 30 years. And in that time, you know, I've coordinated the Dyer Ives Poetry Contest for 14 years. And I've been central to a certain poetry scene in Grand Rapids. And all around me, I've seen a need for poetry, something that poets should have.
Scott Krieger: There are some gaps in how poetry can reach people in this town that we're trying to fill with the poetry collective.
Christine: Right. My whole purpose as Grand Rapids Poet Laureate is to recognize, uplift, and celebrate Grand Rapids poets. And we found that the Grand River Poetry Collective is a great way to do that, and that many hands make light load. And so, really working on the culture as being inclusive, and that everybody supports everybody else, a real peer group effort. It's totally free to be a part of. There's no cost involved, and really, we want to publish Grand Rapids poets.
JB: So you are putting out books?
Christine: Yes, yes. We have one book out already, and that's Small Gestures by Melissa Ray. It's been our honor to publish that, and Scott right now is working on several books.
Scott: Yeah, we've got three others in the works this week, and then we have a group of 10 poets who will be working on their manuscripts together with the intention of publishing them over the course of the year.
JB: Okay. So the Poetry Collective is like a place where poets can go to not only form community, but you're also like constructing things, right?
Scott: It is an active poetry press. So we will be publishing poetry books. And that's sort of our first objective. This is just something that there is a local gap. And there's challenges in the national scene of getting a poetry book published. There's certainly authors who have approached us who have been trying to get a book published for years. But because they have to publish in a national context, it's difficult for them to get their voices heard. So we definitely see the value in hearing local voices locally. We care about local poets, and because they speak to our local landscape and our local society, their work is inherently interesting here in Grand Rapids. So we want to make sure that those voices get heard and they don't have to get drowned out in a Midwestern or a national competition.
JB: Are you finding that there are a lot of poets in Grand Rapids?
Christine: Yeah, I think there are more now than ever. In fact, I look around now and there are more open mics and poetry events than I have ever seen in Grand Rapids. And yet, local publishing has more or less dried up. New Issues Press from Kalamazoo closed, Caffeinated Press closed. And so, the Grand River Poetry Collective and Press, we're here to try to fill that gap with a no to low cost upfront model that really uses word of mouth for to drum up excitement and interest in the books.
Scott: And the labor of love. know, most of what prohibits people from publishing a book is the work, which to them usually equates to an expense. We can take the expense away by just being passionate and helping each other.
Christine: Yeah, so far it's all been volunteer run. And there's no cost, you know, upfront for the poets or to be a part of the collective. And really, the more the merrier. I think we have at least 90 members right now. And so our website is a great place to start if you're interested in publishing with us or connecting with us. We've got an email address and a Facebook group that's pretty active. So we're having a good time.
JB: That's great. So what kind of programming do you offer? Do you do workshops and readings and things like that?
Scott: Well, we're just getting started. We've got a lot of interest in a lot of different directions as we gather poets. We've been meeting regularly at the Wealthy Theater Annex as a group.
Christine: Right. Right now we're focusing on a poetry festival that's a part of GR Lit Fest for Friday, June 20th, all day long at the Wealthy Theater Annex. But after we're done with this festival, we plan to have a regular reading series where we can highlight our Grand Rapids poets. Everybody can take a turn to get that spotlight, and that will be especially exciting as we start releasing more books, and really highlighting and uplifting those poets and their books.
JB: What's going on on the 20th? Talk about that.
Christine: Oh, gosh, we have a lot of different focuses and a lot of different groups who are going to be a part of it.
Scott: Most of the people who have been involved in organizing open mics around the city will be involved in some capacity. Individuals like Rosie Accola, who has been active in organizing open mics, as well as House of Words, which has sort of the premier spoken word open mic in the city.
Christine: Right. Linda Nemec Foster is going to be offering a workshop there. She's the Grand Rapids First Poet Laureate and probably our best published poet that we have so far here in Grand Rapids and has been really, a lot of people have been really generous with their time. Shayna Marie is a spoken word artist and she has been integral in a lot of our planning and it's the day, June 20th is the day after Juneteenth, so we're doing our best to uplift Black and Brown people. June is Pride Month, so we have a segment for you know, Pride-focused open mic that's going to be hosted by Rosie Accola. So the whole schedule is up on our website. Again, it's a good place to get started if you're interested either in volunteering or just attending the workshops. And we're also doing oral history recording for families and poets who want to tell their stories.
JB: Awesome. So what is that website again?
Christine: The Grandriverpoetrycollective.com will also be featuring a documentary that hasn't been shown in Grand Rapids yet by Caleb, the Negro artist Rainey is what he calls himself. And that will be starting about 8.30. You know, be there at 8.15 if you want to see it. But this is very exciting. I can't wait to see it myself. And that will be again at the Wealthy Theater Annex.
Scott: There'll be opportunities for, there'll be six hours of poetry readings. So there'll be opportunities for people to read their own poetry or just to hear poets from the city.
JB: Fantastic, thank you.
Christine: Our pleasure.
