All About Food

By Alissa Perske

ENGL 336.001

To celebrate Thanksgiving, the Center for Creative Writing held a Thanksgiving reading of poetry and prose concerning food in some way, shape, or form. The reading took place at Main Street Books on Monday, November 21^st, at 7:00pm. The event did not require monetary admission, but a donation relating to the event itself—food. All donations went to the Frostburg Pantry Partners.

The book store was filled with laughter and friendly chatter as people came, took their seats, and enjoyed the provided snacks and beverages. Once the time came to start the reading, Jessica Palumbo stood before the small crowd and made the introductions. “There are eight selected people, and then we’ll move on to open mic,” she explained. The first reader was Mina Forsythe, who read two pieces, one of them being by Pablo Neruda. Next, Dr. Keith Schlegel read Sylvia Plath’s “The Thin People.” “The poem addresses the hunger that still haunts us,” Schlegel said. The topic of the absence of food still has to do with food, and this topic related closely to the goal of the reading: collecting food to donate to the hungry. Barbara Hurd followed him with the reading of “Octopus in the Freezer” by Lee Roripaugh. Gerry LaFemina graced the audience with his presence after Hurd, bringing laughter when he introduced “Refrigerator, 1987,” the first poem he would read. “Thanks to technology, I now have this on my phone,” he shared. He then read “Cooking Italian” and ended his reading with the short poem “Watermelons” by Charles Simic. The readings continued with Stephen Dunn, who read “Praises” by Thomas McGrath. “I think why we don’t know too much is because [McGrath] lived in North Dakota,” Dunn joked as he introduced the poem. Andy Duncan captured the audience’s attention next with the first prose reading of the night, the introduction for one of his stories, The Big Rock Candy Mountain. Melanie Michael read one of her own poems, one she wrote for her grandmother, after Duncan. Finally, Jenn Merrifield wrapped up the selected readings of the night with “Thanks” by W.S. Merwin, a very appropriate poem for the event.

After a short break where the audience and readers mingled, Jessica Palumbo took the podium again to return to the program. At the start of the event, a sign-up sheet was available for members of the audience who wanted to participate in the open mic portion of the night. These readers included Kurt Detwiler, Jennifer Brown, Sherry Noonan, Nick Gaudio, and Darcy Gagnon, with such works as 1659 by Emily Dickinson, “Telephone Booth,” “Hunter,” “Applesauce,” and William Matthews’ “Onions.”

The Thanksgiving reading was brought to a close by Jessica Palumbo. She thanked everyone again for attending and for donating. The majority of the audience and readers stayed behind to have more snacks and beverages and to discuss books, food, and everyday life after one final announcement was made about Story Slam, a public reading held on December 1^st at 7:00pm at Dante’s Bar on Main Street.

For more information on the Frostburg Pantry Partners and how you can help, email pantrypartners@gmail.com or read about them in this article.

For more information on the Center for Creative Writing and their upcoming events, visit their website.