1 “Dear City—” Workshops: Micropoems as Public Engagement
“Dear City—"
In a community workshop with adults and in youth workshops at UAY, IC Speaks, and City High, poets Caleb Rainey and Cory Hutchinson-Reuss asked participants, “what do you want to say to your city?” Drawing on the tradition of micropoetic forms, such as haiku, tanka, and monostich, as well as current iterations of micropoems that appear in online journals and tweets, the facilitators invited participants to practice poetry as a personal mode of engagement with the city’s built environment and its power structures. In response, they wrote compact poems based on their experiences in Iowa City. Read some of them below.
Hey Iowa City
Tembi Bergin-Batten
Hey Iowa City I meant it when I said let’s have Chai Lattes after your surgery before the accordions on the ped mall once October teaches us the faultlessness of yellow
Dear City
abby ortiz, north liberty high school
How do we proceed?
Town is filled with flashing lights.
I Cycle My Town
Jennifer Macbains-stephens
I cycle my town
Purple Phlox up to my waist
micro plastics shine
I cycle my town
No grant money for new signs
teen killed in April
I cycle my town
Reynolds bans transgender sports
says girls win today
The Rookery Stands
harry epstein, iowa city high school
The rookery stands,
Tall and unbent,
Unbroken.
Its voices a reminder of what
We could have been
dear city
Ruth thomas, iowa city high school
Give me a reason to look up in the bus
be loud in the library
shout in the senate chamber
I am not here to write idle
Dear City
Molly McLaughlin, iowa City high school
Little steps, water spouts
Pounding up then down
A first water memory
Thirst
Joe Artz
My cupped hands leak
more water
than I drink.
My fingers
– my life, too –
are sieves.
Plunge deep, to your palms
take in all
you can
as long as the faucet runs.
LOVING PITBULLS & SISTER
Shalynn Scheets, tate high school
Pitbulls and Sister
3 beings I love a lot
now pitbulls are gone
but I still love you Sister
along with my new nephew
my mother does not
ruth thomas, iowa city high school
My mother does not wipe my tears when I cry here.
But, she asks to hug.
She might not always love me,
but she can always love her daughter.
3 Poems
truman bright, iowa city high school
Drunken student stumbles
back to a dorm paid for by
beer his father sold
Apartment building
rests upon the grave of the
last local business
Live music swallows
the noise of hundreds of feet
over downtown streets
country girl
mary Trachsel
A country girl won't
ever call this city home.
She's just visiting.
KINNICK AS A CHILD
Grace Kirschling
Back in Black blasts
over the town, as the
football team runs out,
do I even make a sound? The
fans burst with excitement
as the ball flies through the
air. As I cover my ears,
and barely appear.
Iowa City
yassie Buchanan
City built on literature
these words are priceless
but we keep choking on the truth.
On Any Given Night in Iowa City
Cheryl Graham
Joe, Gabe
George, Bo-James
Micky, Mosley, Quinton and Sam
Drinking in houses named for them
Iowa City
Lauren Lasswell
A haven for me, freely
I exist as am
Free, loud, colorful, unique
Be who you want when you’re home
Iowa City
Regan McNamee
It's a City of Literature
So why does it feel like everyone
Just stamps their passports and leaves
Will I be like that too?
Dear Iowa City
Philip Beck
Iowa City. Dear.
You hear me dare to be all
I am, and all I
Am not. And still you listen.
Why? What I mean is,
Thank you.
Conceive Fear Management
laura felleman
Community is borne out of risks embraced
My City
tembi Bergin-Batten
Everyone thinks my city is smart. But my city is infatuated by titles, brands, small victories.
Dear Iowa City
charlie hall, Liberty high school
I love him,
but his retainer gets in
the way of our kiss, keeps crooked teeth straight
passing for family photos
has it always been this way?
dear city
Mandan Clarke, iowa city high school
blade to the grind stone
forward never back
you go where your eyes
go so stay on track
say what you feel
feel what you say
truth is inside and
meaning finds its way
Fair City
jax piker, iowa city high school
fair city
falling forward
further away
from freedom
southeast
ace Drumbarger, southeast junior high school
Southeast little hawks
You helped me see the truth
We are all broken beneath our roots.
IOWAS OPPORTUNITIES
Ace Drumbarger
Iowa City
Land of opportunities
Forgive me for thinking: that I,
Could ever be anything
Seeds
molly McLaughlin, iowa city high school
Knowledge seeds
And ever blooms
In my forever home
Iowa Avenue
ruth thomas, Iowa City high school
I only know Iowa Avenue when there's food trucks on it
I walk the poems imprinted on the path and never read them
The ground's plaques mean nothing to me, but a place to stomp
The views are meant for someone else
I could only have grown up here
Ghost Town
aidan Spurgetis, iowa city high school
I see your half-time ghost town in myself--
every break in school is a new exorcism
to find who calls you home,
but after these games of federal politicians
I have my own ectoplasm to remove.
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