Poetry Writing Workshop Registration – April 12th Drop-ins welcome.
2-3:30pm, Randolph Boardroom at the Ridgefield Library*
Ridgefield Poet Laureate Emerita Barb Jennes will provide support and inspiration to those interested in submitting poems for the Pride Poetry Contest. Participants are invited to bring a poem they have started, or just come ready to brainstorm. Whatever the age or level of expertise, all are welcome to attend one or both workshop sessions. *The Ridgefield Library is not a co-sponsor of these workshops.
Pride Poetry Contest, Workshops & a Public Reading
Ridgefield CT Pride and Ridgefield Poet Laureate Emerita Barb Jennes are joining forces to host two Pride Poetry writing workshops (2/22 & 4/12), a Pride Poetry Contest (5/1) for LGBTQ+ individuals and allies, and an evening of Pride Poetry at the Keeler Tavern Museum & History Center (7/21). Poetry Workshop RSVP Drop-ins welcome.
Pride Poems by Ridgefield Poet Laureate Emerita, Barb Jennes
I Would Miss the Rainbows – by Barb Jennes
A poem to celebrate the Ridgefield Pride flag raising, June 1, 2023
“When you reduce life to black and white, you never see rainbows.”
~ Anonymous
Imagine the world in only black and white.
A world with only pandas, penguins, and zebras in the zoos,
black labs and dalmations the only adoptable dogs,
just tic-tac-toe or dominoes to entertain young kids,
black-and-white movies the only film fare,
only the Jolly Roger flag allowed to be flown,
only Oreo cookies or black licorice for dessert,
no day allowed, only black night with white stars
(sorry blue dwarfs, it’s time for you to extinguish),
all new cars: white with black interiors,
all coffee: black,
all shoes: black; all sneakers: white,
all towels and sheets: white,
black ink only to write essay, eulogies, poems…
We weren’t born only black and white.
We were born blonde, brunette, red-haired, jet,
oval-faced, round, square and pear,
thick-thighed and thin, tall and petite,
in a rainbow of skin colors,
a hodgepodge of histories,
a symphony of sexualities,
a jumble of genders,
with loves gifted by God, not governments.
So don’t ask our town, our nation, our world
to denounce its differences and legislate love.
I would miss my bravest of friends.
I would miss the rainbows.