Life in Milwaukee Inspires Work of Local Poets

At the back of local bookstore Woodland Pattern is a room strewn with colorful, elaborately textured paintings on broad canvas panels. The striking display is Woman: Frailty Thy Name, an art exhibition by Renee Baker that spans the perimeter of Woodland Pattern’s gallery space, and at the center of the room are rows of empty chairs. The chairs that sit before the canvases soon fill with an animated gathering; a diverse array of Milwaukeeans filter in, as does the lively chatter of a thriving literary community.

This is Four Milwaukee Poets, a pay-as-you-can event hosted by Woodland Pattern that featured readings from local poets Annie Grizzle, Sam Pekarske, Bethany Price and Alix Anne Shaw. Literary Program Director and Bookstore Manager Michael Wendt said that events like these are the kind that the Locust Street bookstore aims to put on.

“The sort of driving mission of Woodland Pattern, both in the bookstore and in the multiuse gallery exhibition event space, is focused on small press literature, in particular on poetry,” he said.

The reading began with poems by Annie Grizzle, whose work highlighted themes of sexuality. Her compelling, fast-paced reading coupled with a PowerPoint presentation made for a truly stunning visual and auditory display.

“I wonder if you stretched sexuality out on a sidewalk how long it would take to wrinkle,” Grizzle asked in her poem “Layboy Idiot Silence.”

Sam Pekarske’s reading included pieces that spoke to her Milwaukee roots and her dislike of trees as a steadfastly city person. After the reading, she said her writing is heavily influenced by her hometown.

“It’s in a constant state of like renaissance and regeneration,” Pekarske said, “and the things that have grown out of so much collective pain, that in particular its marginalized communities have faced, I think that that’s where you see so much of the growth and the beauty and the creativity and the ingenuity and like, there’s just a really like unkillable spirit that the people of this city have.”

Stylist and poet Bethany Price’s multi-themed poetry included references to her friendship with fellow writers. The UW-Milwaukee alumna cites her creative writing instructor, Susan Frier, as the source of her involvement with local poetry.

“She gave me love for the local scene and supporting local people who are writing books and doing readings, so that gave me love for my community,” Price said. “It made me want to care about people in my community.”

The last poet to read was seasoned writer Alix Anne Shaw, who read pieces from her new collection, Rough Ground, which will be released later this year. A resident of both Chicago and Milwaukee, Shaw noted that Milwaukee has special importance to her as a poet.

“I was thinking about it, I think it was almost ten years ago tonight that I read here for my very first book,” she said.

The evening came to a close after the conclusion of Shaw’s reading, and the room was filled with the warm hum of friendly conversation once again. As guests left Woodland Pattern’s gallery space, they were met with a table displaying work by the poets that they could buy to further support their local artists and further strengthen the tightly knit bonds of Milwaukee’s community of writers and readers.