Teen Poetry Writing Workshop and Public Reading at Opelousas Library and Opelousas Museum
Date/Time
Date(s) - June 15, 2022
10:00 am - 11:30 am
Location
Opelousas Museum and Interpretive Center
Categories
Poet Laureate of Louisiana
Workshop & Presentation
WHAT: Teen Poetry Writing Workshop and Public Reading
WHO: Louisiana Poet Laureate Mona Lisa Saloy
WHEN: June 15, 2022
TIME: Teen Writing Workshop 10 a.m.; Public Reading 5:00 p.m.
WHERE: Opelousas Library & Opelousas Museum
CONTACT: Patrice Melnick 337-948-2589; museum@cityofopelousas.com
Meet Mona Lisa Saloy, Poet Laureate of Louisiana. Ms. Saloy will lead a teen writing workshop and give a poetry presentation in Opelousas on June 15.
TEEN WRITING WORKSHOP
June 15, 2022
10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Opelousas Library, 212 E Grolee St, Opelousas, LA 70570
Ms. Saloy will guide students 13 to 18 years old in a writing workshop that will stimulate their imaginations and lead them to write freely as they create original poems. Students will be invited to present their poems at the reading that evening. There is limited space available. Preregistration required by calling (337) 948-3693.
READING AND CONVERSATION WITH MONA LISA SALOY
June 15, 2022
5—7:00 p.m.
Opelousas Museum, 315 N. Main St.
Enjoy lyrical works of Mona Lisa Saloy as well as fresh poems by Opelousas youth, participants of Ms. Saloy’s morning workshop. The evening will include soaring poetry and conversations about Louisiana history, culture and creative expression.
ABOUT MONA LISA SALOY
Mona Lisa Saloy, Ph.D., new Louisiana Poet Laureate is an award-winning author & folklorist, educator, and scholar of Creole culture in articles, documentaries, and poems about Black New Orleans before and after Katrina. Currently, Conrad N. Hilton Endowed Professor and of English at Dillard University, Dr. Saloy documents Creole culture in sidewalk songs, jump-rope rhymes, and clap-hand games to discuss the importance of play. She writes on the significance of the Black Beat poets–especially Bob Kaufman, on the African American Toasting Tradition, Black talk, and on keeping Creole to today. Her first book, Red Beans & Ricely Yours, won the T.S. Eliot Prize and the PEN/Oakland Josephine Miles Award. Her collection of poems, Second Line Home, captures New Orleans speech, family dynamics, celebrates New Orleans, the unique culture the world loves. Saloy’s screenplay for the documentary Easter Rock premiered in Paris, the Ethnograph Film Festival & at the national Black museum. Her documentary, Bleu Orleans, is on Black Creole Culture. Mona Lisa Saloy writes for those who don’t or can’t tell Black Creole cultural stories. www.monalisasaloy.com Tweet to @redbeansista & @MonaLisaSaloy
This program is funded under a grant from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
FMI: Patrice Melnick 337-948-2589; museum@cityofopelousas.com
# # #
POEMS BY MONA LISA SALOY
These are days . . .
Days of heavy rains & hurricanes
Booming thunder, lightning, & sultry nights
When bed sheets stick &
‘Skitoes follow your skin
Hum a tease in your ear side up
Stinging & blood sucking while you
Sleep if you can
Water bugs rise from sink drains, from
Deeper pipes, mice or rats visit toilets and
Private parts of unaware sitters in the dark
Between thunder claps that
Echo wars of the past &
Inner wars of the present–
Absent love or hearts heavy with jealousy or
Love family full of face with empty pockets–
When the lights fail
All electrical sound stops
Not even white noise
No birds yak no dogs bark
We marvel at jagged light
Streaks across grey-black skies
When the air cools &
Smells freshly washed in
Thundershowers like bombs of water falling
We give thanks for such
Reminders, what’s important
Being here
—From Second Line Home
Louisiana Lore
Why go barefoot in Louisiana?
Holy Ground
American by birth
Louisianans by Grace
God’s Country,
Chaque corps importe
(everybody matters)
New Orleans, a
Creole Country
by Baptism, a
Local Call to God
—From Second Line Home
Patrice Melnick
Opelousas Museum and Interpretive Center
315 N. Main St.
Opelousas, LA 70570
337-948-2589
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