Houston’s Word Around Town 2012

August 14, 2012, by

Houston poets and spoken word artists are in a buzz this week with the Word Around Town happenings. Many of you may already know about this week of poetic fun and some of you may have already attended one of the nightly readings. We asked Inprint friend and local blogger Dean Liscum to give us more details about Word Around Town 2012 and report on some of these readings for us..

What Is It?
The Word Around Town (WAT?!) Poetry Tour is the ONLY 7-day poetry marathon in the country. (And no that’s not Fulshear, that’s the United States of America.) It’s in its 7th year. Lucky 7s. Seeing as life is all a crap shoot, this is the year for poetry in Houston. Organized by Blanca Alanis, Joe B, Stephen Gros, and Lupe Mendez, the tour aims to introduce poets to venues and expose audiences to poets.

What is the format?
The basic format showcases a featured poet, who reads for about 20 minutes. This performance is supported by 15 other local poets, who read 2 poems each. Generally, the featured poet starts the reading followed by 6 or 7 others, a brief break and the rest of the crew. Continue reading