Poets take to the ether for new year

The Twelfth Night of Christmas is among the merriest of evenings, and concludes the celebration of the traditional Twelve Days of Christmas. Celebrated this year on Tuesday, Jan. 5, it is one night of the year when social constraints and order are suspended, giving way for mirth and misrule to take center stage — the perfect position for a poet to stand upon to share the written word to feed the souls of the masses.

Silver City Poetry Bread’s Twelfth Night will again be a gathering of regional poets sharing their work on Tuesday, Jan. 5, from 5 to 7 p.m. Usually hosted in a coffee house, this year’s edition will be offered as a virtual event, due to COVID-19 pandemic health regulations.

But Poetry Bread is going one step further to reach the masses and give voice to the poets this year, with a new radio show to air on Gila/Mimbres Community Radio’s KURU which will debut on Monday, Jan. 11, at 10 a.m.

Both offerings are organized by poet Sam Castello, a co-founder of Poetry Bread. According to Castello, the group began in 2008 as the Silver City Poetry Slam, but over the years has metamorphosed into an inspirational gathering space for poets to share their voices and experiences.

※We are fortunate to live in a community where people are willing to put themselves out there, and share their truth and share their hearts,” Castello said.

The latest iteration of Poetry Bread was taken from a tried-and-true method found in any writer’s tool kit: the writing prompt. Usually a single word or phrase, the prompt, according to Castello, ※is a jumping-off point for the writer to get their creative juices flowing and raise their inspiration level.”

Castello composes a list of writing prompts for the poets to choose about six weeks before each Poetry Bread gathering. He fashions the list around a unifying theme or idea.

This practice has spawned an eclectic mix of topics over the years, from celebrating the celebrity birthday of Molly Ringwald to seeking inspiration from Chaucer’s medieval epic poem “The Canterbury Tales.”

Tuesday’s Twelfth Night prompts are inspired by winter holiday themes, including classic imagery of “The Little Drummer Boy,” Santa Claus, Yule logs and the Epiphany — in the Christian faith, the day the three kings reached the baby Jesus and bestowed their gifts of frankincense, gold and myrrh, proclaiming Jesus the King of Kings, observed the day after the Twelfth Night.

※On Tuesday’s Poetry Bread, the whole idea is to give people a chance to write something new and give them a challenge,” said Castello, who recycles the original list of…