Ten years out and still growing, Poet's Night Out celebrated a variety of verse Sunday evening at the City Opera House.
The evening honored 25 poets whose work was peer-reviewed and included in a chapbook sold at the event.
Founded in 1996 by Jody Clark and Sandy Robey, Poet's Night Out has become an institution in town as this year judges sifted through more than 200 poems submitted by 160 northwestern Michigan poets. This is a huge jump form the 35 poems submitted that first year, when the then-named Poet's in Person was held over four evenings. This year, organizers plan to publish an anthology of works from the past decade to coincide with National Poetry Month in April.
Interest in poetry and the annual event is surging as this year the audience used every possible chair available at the City Opera House until it was standing room only. Organizers are eager for next year's event when renovations at the facility are completed and balcony seating is open.
"I'm amazed every year when I come to Poet's Night Out and how it's grown,” said Paul Stebleton, the emcee for the evening who also read three of his poems. "Thank you all for participating.”
Esther Posner of Traverse City walked off with the Audience Prize, the coveted award voted on by attendees every year. Her high energy, rap-like delivery of an ode to math, "Belligerent Algebra,” combined humor, arithmetic and insight into a pleasing package.
The Northwestern Michigan College student is an aspiring geologist and acknowledges that there's a "nerdy” flavor to her compositions. A Renaissance woman, she weaves science and math into her poetry while striving for simplicity of image and word.
"I've always felt since I was a kid that things can easily get snarled in metaphor,” said Posner, who terms her approach freestyle. "I come at it from a different point of view.”
A central theme of Poet's Night Out has always been to boost budding talent. This year, judges bestowed prizes on two high school poets — Allison Peters and Jillian Bergsma — and three junior high ones: Luke Friedli, Molly Grettenberger and Celeste Heinz. These students each read their winning work and took home a small cash prize as well as a chapbook.
"Every year the kids are up there with the adults, we don't need to move them up,” noted Robey. "You're seeing an impressive group of young poets tonight, they should be really proud of themselves.”
Friedli, a ninth-grade student at Traverse City East Junior High School, writes poetry mostly for school assignments but enjoys the process because it lets him express emotion. Surprised to actually win a prize, he enjoyed the evening and the opportunity to hear a range of works.
"I think it's really cool to listen to different people read because there's different styles and different views and expression,” said Friedli, who was cheered on by numerous family members.
Choosing the winners is the task every year of judge and poet Chris Bazzett and a second judge, often chosen from previous year's winners. This year, Jason Ollila of Suttons Bay accepted the challenge and read each of the poems multiple times, ranking as he went. Then he would read them again and, with shifting moods and days, find another set of poems leading his list.
While he found it difficult to score other people's creativity, poems that sparked an emotional connection — ranging from funny to sad to a melding of both — kept bubbling to the top.
"Definitely the poems I rated the highest struck a chord in me, but they definitely had to be good poems, too,” said Ollila, who took top prize a few years ago. "Reading other people's work is actually very inspiring. You're not exposed to poetry in your daily life but here, reading all 200 poems, it was inspirational.”
For more information on Poet's Night Out, see the organization's website at www.poetsnightout.org.