Performance poet Sara Holbrook to visit Studio B

Boyertown's Arts & Activities Alliance is sponsoring and evening with performance poet Sara Holbrook, beginning at 7 p.m. on May 5. The event will be held at Studio B, 39A E. Philadelphia Ave., Boyertown.

(At right is a photo of Holbrook standing next to a poster with her photo on it that I pilfered from her blog.)

Below is an email from the charming and effusive Jane Stahl, committee chair of the Alliance. It explains everything you need to know:

Hi, Lovers of Language!

I'm hopeful you are available May 5, 7:00 p.m. for a special evening at Studio B in Boyertown.
Performance Poets: I've invited Sara Holbrook, a performance poet from the MidWest, to visit Boyertown for an evening "performance."

She took my breath away a few years ago when she "performed" her poetry during a Janet Allen professional development workshop I attended at Twin Valley High School over four days in the summer dedicated to literacy--enhancing techniques to develop students' reading and writing skills. (I was not yet retired from teaching.)

Fun and Inspiration:

One moment she had me laughing...a moment later I was next to tears. She's written many books of poetry largely for young people. I can forward her promotional material to you in another e-mail and suggest visiting her website--www.saraholbrook.com. I'll include one of my favorite of her poems in this e-mail.
Please join us: There is a limited market for lovers of language, so I'm a little worried about being able to secure an enthusiastic audience for her presentation for Wednesday evening May 5; I'll hope you're available and interested in attending. And I'll hope you'll be able to help me promote her presentation.

Refreshments:

We'll have some coffee and brownies or wine and cheese and enjoy her presentation. She's also bringing a colleague, so we'll have two for the price of one. Donations ($5) will be gratefully accepted toward her fee.

Hosting:

Studio B is hosting her and her colleague at Twin Turrets during her visit which should provide her with beautiful memories of our special kind of place.

Topics:

I've requested she speak to the joys and travails we all experience in our communication with one another and the necessity of being kind to one another and tolerant of our many differences; I'm sure she'll have interesting stories to share. She works poetry into her presentation/conversation.

A sample:

If I Were a Poem
~Sara Holbrook

If I were a poem,
I would grab you by the ankles
and rustle you up to your every leaf.
I would gather your branches
in the power of my winds and pull you skyward,
if I were a poem.

If I were a poem,
I would walk you down beside the rushing stream,
swollen with spring, put thunder in your heart,
then lay you down, a new lamb, to sing you to softly sleep,
if I were a poem.

If I were a poem,
I wouldn’t just talk to you of politics, society and change,
I would be a raging bonfire to strip you of your outer wrap,
and then I would reach within and with one touch
ignite the song in your own soul.

If I were a poem,
I would hold my lips one breath away from yours
and inflate you with such desire as can exist
only just out of reach, and then I would move
the breadth of one bee closer, not to sting
but to brush you with my wings as I retreat
to leave you holding nothing but a hungry, solitary sigh,
if I were a poem.

If I were a poem,
my thoughts would finally be put to words
through your own poetry, I would push you that far,
if I were a poem.

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To learn more about Sara Holbrook, click here.

To learn more about Studio B, visit their website.