March 26–April 2, 1998

hit and run

Magnetic Appeal

During the month of April, think of Penn's Locust Walk as one giant refrigerator door. That's when an 8-foot-by-20-foot magnetic wall with 10,000 magnetic word tiles will be put up between 34th and 36th Streets to celebrate National Poetry Month.

The event organizers—Magnetic Poetry, the Mayor's Commission on Literacy and The Kelly Writers House at Penn—hope that the addictive magnets will help break the ice among poets and non-poets, and open the community's eyes to the wide array of poetry events in Philadelphia.

Kerry Sherin, resident coordinator at The Kelly Writers house, said, "We hope that every day [of the event], writers, readers and passersby will have the chance to share their works with each other, almost accidentally."

Philadelphia is one of more than 20 cities hosting Magnetic Poetry Walls in April, up from six cities last year. Contributors to last year's walls were included in The Magnetic Poetry Book of Poetry, and Magnetic Poetry spokesman John Larson said that selected entries this year will be included in a follow-up book.

Despite an urban location, Larson doesn't worry about vandals making off with the wall. He said that last year, "we found that the walls got respect. There's something about it. People didn't knock it down. We hope that comes over this year."

The celebration kicks off with opening ceremonies April 1 at 11 a.m., along with a poetry reading from Penn's Speakeasy writing group. On April 17, the wall will host adult literacy readings. Family Literacy Day will be April 25 with group activities, including creating found poems from items on the walk. And April 29 will feature a marathon reading from local poets from noon to 9 p.m.

Sherin said she hopes the wall will "add to [people's] understanding of how many ways poetry contributes to our lives. It's something a lot of people can come to and have fun with." With as many as 40 people working on the wall at any given time, April should bring thousands of poets to West Philadelphia.

For more information, contact the Kelly Writers House at 573-WRIT.

-Andrew Milner