by Mike Rosso
Let me begin by declaring that I am not a poet. My attempts at poetry were limited to bawdy limericks penned in grade school. My college journalism teachers did not cover poetry along with the Five Ws. But I do enjoy the medium. Langston Hughes and Charles Bukowski are among my favorites, as for some odd reason I enjoy edgy, urban versification.
Poetry, in fact, was one of the reasons I chose to move to Salida in 2001. Back then, the city hosted an annual poetry festival, Sparrows. I decided any small community that supports a statewide poetry festival must have an appreciation for the arts, and not just just the musical and visual arts. I was not disappointed. Sadly the festival only lasted until 2007 (see the article beginning on page 15), but the town has since been designated one of the state’s top art districts, and there are a great number of talented creatives who call Chaffee County home, from poets to painters.
The idea for an issue devoted to poetry came about on an afternoon spent photographing a local poetry troupe, The River City Nomads (see page 7 for their story). It seems visual art and music always take the limelight when speaking of the arts, so I decided to give the region’s poets and poetry their just due.
Once the topic was decided, it was no easy feat to compile the material herein. There was the matter of reaching out to some of the state’s and region’s more established writers, such as Aaron Abeyta of the San Luis Valley and Colorado Poet Laureate Joseph Hutchison. We also did a call-up for poetry and were inundated with entries. With the generous help of Laurie James, we were able to sort and select the poems found in this issue. To those whose works were not chosen, we thank you. Space restrictions required us to edit down the entries to the following. We hope you enjoy reading them.
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Last month, Salida hosted the biggest party ever held in Chaffee County. When it was first announced publicly that an organization called Madison House wanted to bring a two-day concert to the Vandaveer Ranch, south and east of town, with up to 35,000 attendees, I was among the skeptics. In the early meetings, the organizers spoke of the legacy of the concert for future generations, and the financial windfall for the city, not to mention how they were going to “green up” the concert venue. Some of what was being promised seemed like so much hyperbole, offered in a slightly condescending manner.
But I decided to stay neutral, even going as far as reaching out for a press pass (no easy feat given the bureaucracy of such an event). There were the usual naysayers – “it’s going to ruin the town!” – but they were in the minority (including three city council members who shall not be named).
We thought it would be fun to document the event as it unfolded, so created a webpage devoted to photos of the shindig at coloradocentralmagazine.com. Hat tip to Ericka Kastner, who, press pass in hand, dove right into the trenches, shooting some great photos.
The vibe in town throughout the event was unbelievable. These were music lovers, after all, mostly younger, urban couples with expendable income. All were here to enjoy the small-town atmosphere as well as the top-shelf performers that would rarely, if ever, appear in a town this size.
I was fortunate to experience the event from several different perspectives – performing music downtown on Friday, and working a smoothie booth on the festival grounds on Saturday – both giving me an opportunity to interact with some of the great folks who came to Salida for this once-in-a-lifetime experience. Heck, we even got a new bridge across the Little Arkansas River out of the deal! We’re just hoping they don’t all want to come back and buy houses. Prices are already going up and there’s barely any inventory. I guess time will tell.
