April is National Poetry Month — and the perfect time to visit Montpelier, as the Capital City transforms into PoemCity. Organized by the Kellogg-Hubbard Library, this year's event features 450 poems displayed in the windows of 50 downtown businesses. The poets range in age from 3 to 94, include 200 students and represent 75 towns. Rounding out the monthlong celebration are 35 community events and poetry readings.
In her latest episode of "Stuck in Vermont," Seven Days senior multimedia producer Eva Sollberger visited Montpelier in early April to get her poetry fix. She took a downtown tour of PoemCity with Michelle Singer, the adult programs and outreach coordinator at the Kellogg-Hubbard Library. They were joined by two poets, former state senator Scudder Parker and Samantha Kolber, owner of Rootstock Publishing. The trio held impromptu poetry readings on the street, and Kolber read a poem by Reuben Jackson, a beloved former Vermont poet, radio DJ and jazz scholar who died in February. Three of Jackson's poems can be found in the windows of Buch Spieler Records on Langdon Street.
The 15th annual PoemCity means a lot to Montpelier residents, who have endured a tumultuous year. Last July, the city was deluged by catastrophic flooding. The basement at the Kellogg-Hubbard Library was underwater, destroying about 10,000 donated books. The building's elevator, heating, electrical and sprinkler systems were all ruined, too. While the library is currently open and operational, there is still much work to be done. Likewise, many downtown businesses and organizations are back up and running, but others are still renovating.
Art is a great way to work through big life events, and some poems mention the floods. Others cover love, animals, pastries and lots of Vermonty stuff. An anthology of PoemCity's 2024 works is available for purchase in bookstores across the state.
Sollberger spoke with Seven Days about filming the episode.
Why did you pick this story?
Montpelier is a really vibrant and hyper-connected community. The July floods were such a devastating blow to our capital city, and it was heartbreaking watching the water swamp the downtown. Miraculously, the residents banded together and cleaned up, rebuilt and reopened many of their businesses. So when Michelle Singer contacted me a few months ago about PoemCity, I jumped at the chance to visit this special town and soak up some poetry, too.
Looked like a nice day to be outside.
April weather is odd in Vermont. We filmed this video on April 2, and it was a warm, sunny day. Singer had just finished hanging the poems up around town. We joked that we'd get sunburns and be shoveling snow soon enough. Two days later, a storm dumped up to two feet of snow across the state. The following Friday, we had a small earthquake. And then Monday was a beautiful spring day and the total solar eclipse. It's never dull in our Green Mountains.
You had a nice crew for your poetry tour.
Thanks to Singer for organizing this group of wordsmiths at the last minute. I enjoyed hearing their poetry read aloud in different locations. Of course we stopped to say hello to a number of people, which garnered even more interviews. Ever a good citizen, Scudder Parker picked up garbage as we walked around.
And it turns out that I interviewed Samantha Kolber back in 2013 for a trippy "Stuck in Vermont" video about the Valentine's Day Phantom. The Kellogg-Hubbard Library also plays a big role in that video, and you can see the Phantom's hearts from this year are still displayed downtown alongside the poems.
Who were the young people reading their poems?
A group of students from Main Street Middle School took a tour of their work on April 3. I was originally planning to tag along on their visit, but due to the impending storm, we filmed one day earlier. Singer was nice enough to get some footage of the students for me. It must be very exciting for them to see their work displayed and also published in an anthology.
The poems about the flood were poignant.
Thinking of the flooding and Jackson's death, I asked if this was a particularly emotional year for PoemCity, and Singer clarified that every year is emotional. Rootstock Publishing will put out a book of Jackson's poems in the fall. It's comforting to see Jackson's words displayed downtown, keeping him alive.
Art and poetry are great ways to work through and express complex tangles of feelings. When the poem tour was over, I found myself wandering around reading the intimate words, letting their meaning sink in.
Parker talked about how community is something we find not only in the good times but also in the worst of times. Seeing the resilient city covered in words, expressing Vermonters' deep, dark emotions and lighthearted thoughts, too, it brings new meaning to the term #vermontstrong.
The original print version of this article was headlined "Beyond Words | Downtown Montpelier transforms into PoemCity every April"
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Bio: Seven Days senior multimedia producer Eva Sollberger has been making her award-winning video series, "Stuck in Vermont," since 2007. New episodes appear on the Seven Days website every other Thursday and air the following night on the WCAX evening news. Sign up at sevendaysvt.com to receive an email alert each time a new one drops. And check these pages every other week for insights on the episodes.