{"id":28955,"date":"2020-08-14T16:00:20","date_gmt":"2020-08-14T21:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/?p=28955"},"modified":"2020-08-14T11:15:06","modified_gmt":"2020-08-14T16:15:06","slug":"apsu-creative-writing-professor-barry-kittermans-30-poets-30-poems-celebrates-the-people-places-of-clarksville","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/2020\/08\/14\/apsu-creative-writing-professor-barry-kittermans-30-poets-30-poems-celebrates-the-people-places-of-clarksville\/","title":{"rendered":"APSU creative writing professor Barry Kitterman’s “30 Poets, 30 Poems” celebrates the people, places of Clarksville"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AustinClarksville, TN<\/strong> – \u201cPoetry and place are the oldest of friends,\u201d said Barry Kitterman, Austin Peay State University (APSU) creative writing professor and author of Stories from San Joaquin<\/em> and The Baker\u2019s Boy<\/em>, in his effusive introduction to his 30 Poets, 30 Poems<\/em> Clarksville anthology.<\/p>\n

This collection is a love letter to all things Clarksville: the people, the places and the memorialization of this marriage through art.<\/p>\n

\"30<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe streets and houses and the fields where we live play no small part in making us who we are, whether we embrace those places or run from them,\u201d Kitterman, the book’s editor, said.<\/p>\n

What started as a book of 80 to 100 poems by men, women, children, the old and those who had never written a poem before quickly became a visual art and literary collection.<\/p>\n

The Clarksville Arts and Heritage Development Council \u2013 which published the book \u2013 \u201csuggested pairing each poem with a work of visual art,\u201d Kitterman said. The collection of poems either written about Clarksville or by a Clarksville poet and each poem was paired with a local artist.<\/p>\n

The book is available at Clarksville\u2019s Hudubam\u2019s Booktraders or at this link: https:\/\/bit.ly\/2yK0RQO<\/a>.<\/p>\n

All of the poems in the collection in some way describe a place that codifies an experience or emotion. Kitterman\u2019s own poem, titled “Johnny\u2019s Big Burger,” captures the bustle of an iconic Clarksville tradition: skipping class to grab a burger with your friends. Or maybe it\u2019s about the retired couples who talk quietly among themselves, perhaps watching younger versions of themselves make their own memories in this place that seems unaffected by time.<\/p>\n

\"Austin<\/a>

Austin Peay State University creative writing professor Barry Kitterman. (APSU)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s Johnny himself \/ guards the grill, head down, nodding to his burgers \/ who sizzle in unison. I know that nod \/ is also for me,\u201d Kitterman writes.<\/p>\n

Kitterman says people aren\u2019t likely to write a poem about beauty. They are more likely to write about \u201ca particular place of beauty, and the people who live there.\u201d<\/p>\n

A poem like “The River” by Joanna L. Grisham works especially well with the artwork by Paula Edwards.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m pleased when the artwork contributes to the experience of taking in the poem. But I feel like every poem in this collection is filled with imagery. The artwork and poetry is like a motorcycle with a sidecar,\u201d Kitterman said. \u201cI have some young friends in Nashville who reversed the process: They had artists contribute work and then asked writers to contribute an accompanying story. Having tried that, I found it a lot more difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

All the poems stand on their own merit. But the collection as a whole serves a greater purpose: an attempt to paint a complete picture of Clarksville.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really pleased by the wonderful diversity that can be found in 30 Poets, 30 Poems<\/em>. Young, old, different backgrounds, and different orientations. I just think it\u2019s cool. I wish somebody had welcomed me to the world of poets and writers when I was younger. I\u2019ll continue to hope that these poems will encourage young writers who may not realize they have an amazing world to write about just outside their front door,\u201d Kitterman said.<\/p>\n

30 Poets, 30 Poems<\/em> collects writing from a pre-Coronavirus world. Much has changed aside from the pandemic, most notably the surge in support for the Black Lives Matter movement. Kitterman and Austin Peay\u2019s Zone 3 Magazine are planning an issue devoted entirely to writers of color.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of these poems predate our recent trials with the COVID virus,\u201d Kitterman said. \u201cThe other thing that has been much on our minds in recent times is the Black Lives Matter movement. At Zone 3 Magazine, we are working to devote an entire issue to Black writers and other writers who are people of color. So if anyone wanted to do a second edition of this book, it would be a different project in many ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through this project, Kitterman realized how much of an impact Austin Peay has had on the poetry scene in Clarksville.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt makes sense that in a world where poetry struggles to get out on a Saturday night, much of the best writing will be done by people connected to the university,\u201d Kitterman said. \u201cOnly after the fact did I realize that 29 of the poets here either taught at or took classes on campus.\u201d<\/p>\n

And this book has been a great opportunity for Kitterman to better get to know the people he has worked with and perhaps taught in his time at Austin Peay State University.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish I could say I\u2019d been able to spend an afternoon at least, with each of these writers, walking through the park or drinking a cup of coffee,\u201d Kitterman said. \u201cThat would be a blessed life. Some of them I know only from reading their poems, as many of you will only know them from their work.\u201d<\/p>\n

To learn more<\/h3>\n

For more information about the Department of Languages and Literature, visit https:\/\/www.apsu.edu\/langlit\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clarksville, TN – \u201cPoetry and place are the oldest of friends,\u201d said Barry Kitterman, Austin Peay State University (APSU) creative writing professor and author of Stories from San Joaquin and The Baker\u2019s Boy, in his effusive introduction to his 30 Poets, 30 Poems Clarksville anthology. This collection is a love letter to all things Clarksville: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[23,2021,262,2018,512,2425,825,33989,34126,20893,34861],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4xGYI-7x1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28955"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28955"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28955\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28957,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28955\/revisions\/28957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}