UU Fellowship Sponsors Monthly Poetry Series

The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Door County (UUFDC), Ephraim, presents the first of a monthly Dickinson Poetry Series April 8 at 7 pm. Each evening a featured poet will read his or her own poetry followed by an opportunity for audience members to read during an open mic session.

Featured poet for the first event will be Henry Timm, writer and literary editor of the Peninsula Pulse. Timm’s first published poem appeared in an anthology of student poems in 1958. At Hamline University he studied with Donald Justice, writing mostly free verse. Nevertheless, his linguistic heart was beating to the rhythms of Shakespeare, whom he had been reading since Junior High. Later came Ibsen. As a result, his poetry is highly influenced by his acting, play writing and musical training. He has written the books and lyrics for over a dozen musicals, a fairy tale for grownups called Sonnets to the Beast, a one-man play based on the death of Federico Garcia Lorca and there is more in the works. For him, poetry is a matter of voices – soliloquies, song lyrics, bardic recitations.

“Most of my poetry is meant to be heard and read aloud,” he says. “I love the iambic pentameter line, how it breathes and builds and finishes when the thought is done, but especially when it leads me into the sibilant sensuality of rhyme.”

The poetry community in Door County is extremely vital. The Dickinson Series features both beginning and established poets and provides a comfortable setting for the reading of new work. These evenings will attract new devotees to poetry as listeners and as writers. The series is intended to enhance both the appreciation and the writing of poetry. It is named for Emily Dickinson, a 19th century prolific poet who wrote 1,775 poems. She was drawn to liberal and Unitarian writing and shared her religious philosophy with that of another Unitarian, Ralph Waldo Emerson.

The UUFDC sponsors a number of cultural events and is pleased to add this new series to its offerings. All readings are free and open to the public and held on the second Wednesday each month. The UU Fellowship is located at 10341 Hwy. 42, Ephraim. For more information, visit http://www.uufdc.org.