Poetry Night at the Flying Bear: Wake Up, Stand Up, Speak Up.

Or in the local pre-contact language Anishinaabemowin: Gash Kozin, Niibawin, Giigidoon
 By Marsha Reeves
 
On the first Wednesday of the month at 7 PM locals and not-so-locals make their way to Flying Bear Books to exercise their courage and satisfy their curiosities. If you are one of the crowd there on any given Poetry Night you might hear poems read by those who wrote them and those who appreciate them. Not all of the poetry is original, but you can bet it’s all good if someone wants to share it enough to get up and read it. 
 
The idea of a poetry night at the bookstore is the brainchild of Gabe Schillman (Studio 37) and John Reeves (Flying bear Books). It started in October of 2018, and since then people from all kinds of surprising directions have revealed themselves to be poets and/or lovers of poetry. All people, writers and listeners alike, are invited to check this event out. Customary attire is Newaygo County Classic (AKA whatever you feel like wearing) and the event is MC’d by Gabe. 
 
We’ve seen the award winning Robert Fanning join us as well as Alan Basting from Bitely. In the near future Alan will be our Featured Poet, but this month, August, the mic will be open to everyone from the get go.
 
Oh, and Gabe has been known to grace us with some of his original songs.

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