Talking Gourds: “Stories & Poems,” Western Slope Poets Joan Shapiro & Ray Harvey, 9/18!

11 Sep Talking Gourds: “Stories & Poems,” Western Slope Poets Joan Shapiro & Ray Harvey, 9/18!

A collaboration of the Lone Cone Library and the Telluride Institute’s Talking Gourds poetry program, Stories & Poems is free and open to all ages, thanks to the generosity of the library, private donors and Talking Gourds’ Fischer & Cantor poetry contests. For more information, text 970-729-0220 or email Goodtimes at <art@tellurideinstitute.org>. To visit the website: <www.tellurideinstitute.org/talking-gourds

For more information, text 970-729-0220 or email Goodtimes at art@tellurideinstitute.org or visit the Talking Gourds website: www.tellurideinstitute.org/talking-gourds

Go here for more on Talking Gourds.

Joan Shapiro, courtesy Sherbino

Ray Harvey

“Joan and I had the good fortune to travel together to San Miguel de Allende one year to attend the famous Mexican writers’ conference,” said Talking Gourds Director Art Goodtimes. “We’ve been partners in poetry ever since.”

Joan is a retired psychotherapist and community organizer. Her work as a writer is informed by her study of cultural psychopathology, a baccalaureate degree in Comparative Literature, and as she notes “many years on Planet Earth.” In 2023, she published “Stolen Seasons: Observations, Poems, Lyrics and Rants.”

Current projects include The Dog Poem, a children’s book about dogs being “bad” and an album of music with the group Jack Plus Jill, inspired by her lyrics from Stolen Seasons. Her presentation in Norwood will elaborate on the organic process of setting lyrics to music, enhancing and transforming a print medium using musical treatment, and the intricacies of collaboration with gifted musician/composers such as Jessica and Aaron Seibert and engineer/percussionist Taylor Riley – all of Grand Junction.

Ray Harvey was born and raised in Ouray and graduated from Ouray High School. He has worked as a short-order cook, construction laborer, crab fisherman, janitor, bartender, copy editor, pedicab driver, and more. But as he explains it, “No matter where I’ve gone or what I’ve done to earn a living, literature has always been the driving force in my life.”

The free series happens on the third Wednesday of each month. Our featured guests will give a 30-45 min. presentation, followed by a short question and answer period after the presentation. Then there’s a passing of the gourd, where community members are encouraged to share stories or poems. For those who like prompts for stories or poems, this month’s is “Dogs.”