Dc Poetry Community - Allie

Washington D.C. has a rich poetic history stemming from the Civil War. In 1862, Walt Whitman traveled to Washington to take care of his brother who had been wounded during the war. Whitman decided to stay and work as a clerk for the Department of the Interior after witnessing all of the soldiers who were suffering in D.C. There, Whitman created some of his most famous writings including “O Captain! My Captain!” and “When Lilacs in the Dooryard Bloom’d”. Langston Hughes also got his start in D.C. while working as a busboy at the Wardman Park Hotel, in which he left a piece of his poetry on a table, which was later discovered by Vachel Lindsay (Poets.org). Although these poets thrived many years ago, Washington D.C. is still a place with a flourishing poetry community.

Not only does Washington D.C. have a plethora of literary journals including Street Sense, but it also has a large community of slam poets who perform readings and also enjoy meeting with students and fans to further discuss their art. D.C. poetry is alive and well in Street Sense, which I read and analyzed in my Reflective Essay. This journal is extremely interesting because it showcases D.C.’s unique ability to discover, aid, and broaden the poetry community, especially those who have do not have any formal education in poetry or have never been published before. Their mission is to “offer economic opportunities for people experiencing homelessness in our community through a newspaper that elevates voices and encourages debate on poverty and injustice” (Streetsense.org).

In addition to the broad array of literary journals, D.C. also has many poetry readings open to the public. These readings also help to broaden the poetic audience in D.C. and spread this form of art throughout the district. There are many different readings and literary festivals including the Folger Poetry Series, Lannan Literary Programs, and Parkmont Poetry Festival (Poets.org). The Parkmont Poetry Festival is distinctively important to the D.C. poetry community because it helps to foster the artistic talents of the Parkmont School’s middle and secondary school students. This age group is especially important in the poetry community because they are at the age at which exposure to art and poetry is extremely important. With this public event, D.C. showcases its growing population of enthusiastic poetry community members.

One can clearly see that the prosperous poetry community in D.C. is not nearly new, but rather has been cultivated since before the early nineteenth century. The society of poets is still going strong and utilizes the wide array of poetic endeavors occurring in D.C, such as the thriving group of poets who perform public readings and are free to communicate with fans and students, and the superfluity of literary and poetry journals.