It’s not often a person gets to spend the day sharing poetry with people. So, yesterday, September 1, 2012, was a great day for me. It was the Perkins Honey Mead Poetry Day, a fundraiser for the museum to help me get it complete and officially open. For a $10 donation, visitors got some mead (which I made last year from the honey harvest) and a honey bear from this year’s harvest. . . .plus, the first experience of the 1/3rd complete museum.
Perkins Honey Mead Poetry Day Slideshow
We had over 30 visitors. One of the highlights of the day for me was getting the mail right after our celebration started, and finding in it a great art & poetry print from Joy Harjo, signed by her and the artist. That was an awesome gift to get the party started. We toured the museum, looked at the bees, tasted the mead, had snacks, and then everyone left with a honey bear or two.
During the event, I greatly enjoyed reading the block poetry that people kept coming up with. Also, Arden drew a fantastic picture of the treehouse (next to the museum–one of the major projects to come) and made an awesome piece of found iron art. It was also fun to see what people thought about the mead: “Tastes like something my daddy made and stored in the springhouse.” “It made my ears warm!”
After taking a group picture, someone suggested we make it an annual event. Mark your calendars, folks! The Saturday of Labor Day weekend in 2013 . . . you need to be here!
–Shaun Perkins
Rural Oklahoma Museum of Poetry 