A marketplace can be a lot of things. A farmer's market with local produce and livestock. A mini-mart full of plastic packages. An economic abstraction. But real or imaginary, a marketplace is a place to buy, sell and trade; a place to meet other people doing the same.
This week let's consider poetry in relation to marketplaces. Have you ever seen or heard poetry performed in a marketplace? Ever marketed your own poetry, or someone else's? Bought or sold a poem or a book of poetry?
Poety is not my strongest writing ability, but I am slowly trying to add a few poems to my collection.
Because I live in a small town, we don't have people performing in the marketplaces. As a matter of fact, my town doesn't even have a book store, so we have limited access to books of poetry.
However, we do have several talented poets in our community. One gentleman - Charles Semones - has several published works and his books are promoted heavily at the public library.
I would love to see more attention to the written arts in my community, but I think I'm wishing to the wind. We do have a strong state arts council and they are normally very good at marketing and publizing new Kentucky authors. I just wish it would trickle down into my small, rural town.
