Inspired by an educational and entertainment event of nearly 20 years ago, this creative experience – Poetry Palooza! – has been a long time in the making.

Poetry& is working in partnership with Humanities Iowa, Mainframe Studios, Franklin Jr. High Event Center, and the Iowa Poetry Association to make Poetry Palooza! a dynamic, interactive, and integrated performing arts experience.

Join us April 7th for First Friday at Mainframe Studios!

1st FLOOR 

• CONTAINER POETRY with Julia Franklin and Christine Stewart-Nunez | ATRIUM

• Artist Julia Franklin and former South Dakota State Poet Laureate Christine Stewart-Nunez find inspiration in containers of our past and present. Explore how their found treasures influence your choice of words and find out more about their collaborative process.

• JAZZY POETRY R&B with  Iowa Poet Laureate Deb Marquart and her band “The Bone People” | 5:00pm-6:30pm | THE BIG ROOM

• The Bone People are prolific songwriters. They have released two compact discs: A Regular Dervish (spoken-word, jazz poetry), and Orange Parade (acoustic rock). Marquart and her collaborators Peter Manesis and Anthony Stevens fuse elements of rock, jazz and R&B with poetry and storytelling. 

• SIGNATURE PERFORMANCE EVENT | 7:00pm-9:00pm | THE BIG ROOM

• Reserve your spot to enjoy star-powered reading and performances by State Poets Laureate – Deb Marquart (IA), Matt Mason (NE), Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg (KS), Catherine Stewart-Nunez (SD), and our Guest Poets Akwi Nji and Caleb “The Negro Artist” Rainey 

• OPEN MIC | 9:00PM-10:00PM | THE BIG ROOM

• Come and take a few minutes at the mic and we will listen in! Immediately following the performance/readings of our Poets Laureate and Guest Poets 

2nd FLOOR

• READINGS & PERFORMANCES with Kelsey Bigelow, Caleb Rainey, and Billy “B. WELL” Weathers | 5:15pm-6:45pm | 2nd FLOOR GALLERY

3rd FLOOR

• READINGS & PERFORMANCES with Kelli Lage, Dawn Sly-Terpstra and David Williamson | 5:15pm-6:45pm | 3rd FLOOR GALLERY

• STUDIO 332 | PICTURE YOUR POEM with Nick LaPole 

• Write your own short poem inspired by the drawings of Nick LaPole and the work of our guest poets 

• STUDIO 334 | POETRY IN THE CLOUDS with Tome Hope, Ink and Oak Calligraphy 

• Take inspiration from prompts, or come with your own “key words” – Tome will help you present them as they become part of a “word cloud poem”

• STUDIO 347 | ERASURE POETRY with Sabrina Carper

• Experiment with the impact of meaning from what we choose to leave behind. Create your own “blacked out” poem using historic letters, diaries and more. Feel free to bring your own texts as a starting point.   

4th FLOOR

• OPEN MIC | 5:30pm-6:30pm | 4th FLOOR GALLERY

• Come and take a few minutes at the mic and we will listen in! 

• STUDIO 443 | POETRY IN MUSIC AND CLAY with Linda Lewis

• Poetry can be heard every day when we listen to our favorite song. Capture a poetic phrase from one of your favorites by etching it on a small clay piece or add your phrase to a community art project.