While plants remain buried in white, poetry blooms

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

By Ben Cannon

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-Though the weather may still feel more wintry than spring-like, the mud season has officially begun, and with more time for some quiet reflection, now is a good time to look to verse to help usher in the changing of the year.

April is National Poetry Month and, with an upcoming visit by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Mary Oliver, the Teton County Library and Library Foundation are sponsoring sundry opportunities for people to augment their lives through verse.

The library has partnered with the Center of Wonder and multi-discipline artist Ben Roth to create a series of “poet trees.” The trees, which will be placed around town by next week, will showcase 1,000 paper leaves of poems by Oliver. Oliver’s work often focuses on the natural world and the ephemeral lives of humans and critters alike in the cycle of life. The public is encouraged to take and keep the leaves. The harvestable verse installations will be located at the Library, the Teton County Recreation Center and Skinny Skis.

Also this month, the interiors of every START bus will feature verses by the poet.
On the airwaves, Jackson Hole Radio stations will periodically read library staff-selected works by various poets.

Tickets for Oliver’s reading, set for May 8 as part of the Library Foundation’s venerable Page to the Podium series, will become available for library card holders beginning April 23.

To sign up to receive a new poem delivered daily to your email inbox during National Poetry Month, go to www.poets.org/poemADay.php. The daily poems email is a function of the Academy of American Poets and poems already featured this month include works by Alan Shapiro, Charles Simic and Ciaran Carson.
For more, go to www.TCLib.org.

In other news, this week the library is bringing in University of Wyoming professor Phil Roberts, who will discuss Wyoming’s Shoshone Caverns, a geologically significant cave near Cody that, due to political history and a lack of funding to manage for visitors, has remained under lock and largely outside the public realm.

At 6 p.m. Friday in the library’s Ordway Auditorium, Roberts will deliver his slideshow lecture, “Caverns: The History of a Wyoming Cave.” Roberts, who first visited the cave as a high school student, will discuss why a fault extending 2,500 feet into Cedar Mountain – a geological feature on par with Montana’s widely visited Lewis and Clark caverns – remains relatively obscure and closed to visitors most of the year.
The presentation is free and will last about an hour.

This marks the closing weekend for Grand Targhee Resort, which, similar to Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, enjoyed a banner year for snowfall (though Jackson Hole, bucking history, received more snow this year than the ’Ghee).

Saturday is the annual Cardboard Box Derby, which has become a favorite among participants and spectators alike since it became part of the farewell winter party eight years ago.

Teams not exceeding four members, says the resort, may register their vessels between 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. The race is set to begin around 1 p.m. Crafts must be constructed of cardboard, paper, glue, tape, and string. Prizes will be awarded for best construction and team spirit.

Live DJs will spin at the Trap Bar Saturday and Sunday.
Call 1-800-TARGHEE or visit www.GrandTarghee.com for more information.

COURTESY GRAND TARGHEE RESORT
Pink fun in the sun at the derby.

PERMALINK:
While plants remain buried in white, poetry blooms | Planet JH News Article: General Music Arts and Culture

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