The Palmer Museum of Art, known for its displays of paintings and sculptures, will showcase a different art form today: the Art of Poetry.
The Centre Women Writers Group will meet today at 12:10 p.m. to give readings from their latest poetic works.
Each poet will be given five to seven minutes to read her work, which translates into about four poems each, said Cindy Clem, director of the Writing Center.
The group, made up of seven friends from Penn State and its surrounding community, formed in 2004 as a means to discuss each other's poetry and offer advice.
"The group is a very warm and organic gathering of people who like to write," said Gabeba Baderoon, a Penn State research associate in women's studies and African and African American studies. "It's a very nurturing environment."
Clem described the group as "just a few friends who knew people in town."
The group meets about once or twice a month but still keeps things rather informal.
"We didn't even have a name until this event," Clem said with a laugh.
The reading will be the perfect opportunity to experience a wide range of different writing styles and subject matter, said another member, Camille-Yvette Welsch, a lecturer in English.
"As students, an hour of a poet that you don't like is a long time. With a number of poets, if you don't like one, maybe you'll like the next one," Welsch said.
Welsch said the subject matter varies among the poets.
"My work is hard to classify. I write about whatever I find interesting," Welsch said.
She said she has written poems about everything from the human body to a cow that has a hole in its body. "Basically, I write about things I find odd."
Clem said she usually writes narratives but has recently gotten into a series about blonde jokes.
For Baderoon, inspiration can come from even the most insignificant aspects of life.
"I write about all the ordinary things I encounter in my life. If a person comes to clear the snow, I watch the hard work, and that strikes me. I take a very ordin-
ary thing and connect it to poetry," she said.
But all of the women could agree on one thing: the importance of a solid support group.
"It's a good way to deepen the friendship and get some feedback," Clem said.
Welsch said the greatest benefit of
the group is that it simply forces her to write.
"You don't want to face your friends without any new material. It keeps your butt in the chair and makes you keep writing. It's also helped broaden my work," she said.
Baderoon shared Welsch's sentiments about the importance of the group.
"The most important part is having an audience for your drafts -- no matter how little faith you have in them. A good friend who is a trained poet is going to look at them. Since we meet regularly, I have a wonderful group of first readers," Baderoon said.
Today's reading can serve as inspiration for other writers, Welsch said.
"You can see what you like, what you don't like and even what you can steal for your own writing," she said.
