WSU Farmers Market and Poetry

Detroit Poets

Life as a track race, a perspective on the city of Detroit, and an emotional tale of a war veteran were some of the themes at an outdoor poetry performance Wednesday afternoon. The mid-day poetry readings were an added benefit of visiting the Wayne State University Farmers Market. The InsideOut Literary Arts Project presented three poets who gave performances outside of the Farmers Market on Cass Ave. on a beautiful, sunny afternoon.

Crowd starting to form at the poetry reading

Student

As a student at Wayne State I received an email announcing that the Farmers Market would continue its weekly sale (every Wednesday through Oct. 31) from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm. I've never gone to the market before, and will admit the poetry performance was a draw for me. DVD likes free art events, and poetry live on the city streets? -- Well, I just knew it would be good, and as you see in the videos at the end of this post, I wasn't disappointed. Here is a link with information about the market.

Poets Rising Above

Poets at the event

There was a construction project going on down the street that you can hear in the background on one of the videos, and the construction work did limit me from posting any other videos. However, all three poets, Joseph Terrell Verge, Justin Rogers and Chace "Mic Write" Morris did a great job rising above the noise and delivering poems with intellectual depth and emotion.

InsideOut

The organization InsideOut is one that I'm really not familiar with, but after checking out their website, I learned about some of the great things they are doing to promote the literary arts in the city. This is an excellent example of something good happening in our schools, when all too often, all we hear is the negative stories.

WSU Farmers Market

The Market

Not to be overshadowed by the poetry, the Farmers Market was great too! The market is a project of SEED Wayne, and it's another positive force in the city. Plenty of fresh produce grown locally and unique items also. For example, the Vang Family Farm booth had squash blossoms that you can add to salads or stuff with cheese and fry. Other vendors had more traditional produce, such as corn, squash, and tomatoes. Fresh fruit was also for sale at reasonable prices. There were even prepared dishes available, and a few people were enjoying a fresh lunch outside. If you have time during the day on Wednesdays, go check out the market, you won't be disappointed!

There's also free 15 min. parking, if you don't ride your bike :)

Unique and traditional fresh produce

Have you gone to the Farmers Market? Or are you familiar with the InsideOut Literary Arts Project? Leave a comment and let me know what your experience was like.

Videos from the Event