EXTRA CREDIT: Owens, Peeler, Pope

On Thursday, April 14 I had the pleasure of attending a poetry reading featuring Scott Owens, Tim Peeler, and Ted Pope. Scott Owens recieved his MFA at UNC Greensborough, and is an instructor at Catawba Valley Community College. He is very active in the local poetry scene. Tim Peeler has six published books, and won the Jim Harrison Award for his book on baseball. He is currently the poet- in-residence  at Catawba Valley Community College. Ted Pope is an up-and-coming local poet, who collaborated with Mr. Peeler on a book entitled Waiting for Charlie Brown which they read from on Thursday.
The first poet to read was Scott Owens. He opened with a loud "CON-SPIC-U-OUS" followed by a short poem that I am assuming is called Conspicuous. He then proceeded to read seven poems, my favorites being Theology and Who Hasn't Contemplated Civil Disobedience While... (I couldn't get the whole title). Theology was based on questions asked by his daughter after losing her grandmother, and Who Hasn't Contemplated... was about imaging letting a bunch of chickens free from their cages on a poultry carrying truck while stuck behind one on the highway. Another poem I liked was titled (I'm not sure I have this title correct) Meanings and Poultry. This was a poem about singles night at a local grocery store. Scott is comparing women's anatomy to parts of poultry, and commenting on the ridiculousness of the situation.
Next, Tim and Ted read together from Waiting for Charlie Brown after Mr. Peeler read a poem from his own book entitled Chaos. The poems from the collaborated book concerned two brothers who lived in a trailer on a small family plot. They were both drug-addled and the brother portrayed by Ted was extremely paranoid. I really enjoyed the dichotomy between the two brothers and the way they were each brought to life by the two poets. Tim's character was slow and somewhat reserved while Ted's character was frantic and uptight.
Unfortunately I was not able to stay for the poetry slam, but I thoroughly enjoyed hearing the three local poets. I didn't know much about the local poetry scene before this month and plan on exploring it in much more depth now that I have an idea what it is all about.