Just Say Neigh!

Denver art takes off As devil horse inspires us to write Mile Haiku The first time Rachel Hultin saw "Mustang," Luis Jiménez’s gigantic blue horse sculpture outside Denver International Airport, she nearly drove off the road. “I was shocked, jarred,” says Hultin, a real-estate broker and developer. And when the subject came up over drinks with friends, Hultin learned she wasn't alone in her feelings. So in January she created a Facebook group, “DIA's Heinous Blue Mustang Has Got to Go,” that quickly gathered scores of members, and when she asked them to write haikus about the horse, she wound up collecting more than 300 poems, which she delivered to the Denver Office of Cultural Affairs. Now, in a second stanza, she’s collecting “Mustang”-inspired limericks. “I think it’s great that people continue the conversation,” she says. “It isn’t just outrage against the horse. The more we use the arts to communicate, the more we encourage the arts.”

And everyone’s encouraged to share their poetic feelings about “Mustang” at Mile Haiku City, the ultimate slam-poetry event, tonight from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Central Library Level B2 Conference Center. The free event is sponsored by Westword and hosted by Fresh City Life, and Hultin promises to be there. In fact, she says that anyone who comes to the event dressed as a blue horse will get a free drink at a post-reading party. And I’ll buy the second round. For more information, go to http://www.denverlibrary.org/fresh.
Mon., April 27, 6:30-7:30 p.m., 2009