Wake-Up Call: High on the Mile Haiku City

Verse came to worse last night at the Central Library, where close to a hundred people gathered for last night's Fresh City Life poetry reading inspired by "Mustang," Luis Jimenez's blue horse sculpture out at Denver International Airport. We were in the depths of the basement, but spirits soared as...

By Patricia Calhoun

April 28, 2009

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Verse came to worse last night at the Central Library, where close to a hundred people gathered for last night's Fresh City Life poetry reading inspired by "Mustang," Luis Jimenez's blue horse sculpture out at Denver International Airport. We were in the depths of the basement, but spirits soared as one by one, reluctant poets stood to read their haikus, their limericks, their sonnets and free verse dedicated to the deadly steed -- many of them focusing on the sculpture's truly scary hindquarters.

Rachel Hultin, the Denver native whose Facebook group delivered 300 haikus about the sculpture to the Denver Office of Cultural Affairs back in January, offered a haiku from Denver poet laureate Chris Ransick; elementary-school students read from lined notebook pages; the last reader recited a poem he'd just written on his iPhone. I had to resort to an envelope fished from my purse:

A horse is a horse of course, but also our muse Mile Haiku City

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Patricia Calhoun is editor-in-chief of Westword, the alt-weekly she co-founded in September 1977. She’s been inducted into the Colorado Press Association Hall of Fame, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia Hall of Fame and the Colorado Restaurant Association Hall of Fame. She’s also received dozens of local, state and national awards for writing, including first place for feature writing and first place for column writing with the Society of Professional Journalists. Patricia is a weekly commentator on Colorado Inside Out, PBS 12's public affairs roundtable, which has won two Emmys.

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