Tuesday Muse was a great performance series, hosted by Cleveland Wall and myself- Lynn Alexander- that ran at the IceHouse in Bethlehem until the pandemic hit. We had so many talented poets and musicians and grew a small local community of poets who have kept in touch, collaborated, and developed new projects. We were able to incorporate other ideas, such as the Muse Market to exchange handmade wares, a barter in support of cashless commerce and sharing, and art shows including a mail art show. We were even featured on WDIY and PBS 39, and it was fun while it lasted.
Cleveland and I tried to do a virtual version and recently hosted a Tuesday Muse Reunion… but the pandemic and other challenges seemed to take the winds from our sails. We let it go, and these things happen. It doesn’t seem like we have even recovered, as people are still staying home more and many events remain virtual.
I have tried to embrace this as adaptation, and we still have the Lehigh Valley Poetry Salon virtual open mic going, on the first Monday of the month. We supported Stick Figure Poetry until it recently returned to the Meuser library, and the “monthly mini” workshops have continued in the virtual format. I continued with a second year of programming for the Easton Book Festival and pressed on with Words in the Ward, even enjoying the challenges of the two years of video poetry. When a door closed, I tried to open another one. I tried to keep things going by thinking about another way.
In some ways, the virtual events have been helpful for people who weren’t able to get out often for in person events for various reasons. I have decided to keep the salon as a virtual event no matter what the future holds, for this reason. It works for some people, and has been an inclusive option for the community.
But the question I kept tossing around has been: What about Tuesday Muse? How could I take this fun concept of showcasing diverse talent and sharing, and transform the spirit of the event into something that still serves the community? I thought about the ways that we came to know each other’s poetry and music through this series, and wondered how I could keep that element.
The video versions of Words in the Ward (you can scroll back in posts for background on that, and links to the videos) showed me that we could still create space to share poetry, and even bring in our home towns and their characteristics. The videos feature scenes from around town, and I liked that.
This led me to consider the idea that the Tuesday Muse page could highlight videos- a sort of “Two Minute Muse” featuring one poet, one poem. It could be simple, with the mission intact, if transformed. So that is the plan. I will be tweaking the social media to share this new direction, and then I will start to curate video shorts. We’ll see how this goes. -E. Lynn Alexander. email: elynnalexander@gmail.com
