Wednesday Night Poetry to feature Malvern poet

Malvern poet Jenn Howe will be the feature for this week's Wednesday Night Poetry at Kollective Coffee+Tea, 110 Central Ave. The regular open mic session for all poets will begin at 6:30 p.m. and Howe will perform at 7 p.m., followed by another open mic session. Admission is free and open to all poets.

A native of Iowa, Howe received her B.A. in journalism from Arkansas Tech in 2001 and was named Arkansas College Newspaper Feature Writer of the Year by the Arkansas College Media Association. She worked for a year as a newspaper reporter for the Russellville Courier and a disc jockey for radio station KXRJ. "But I found myself drawn to more creative forms of writing," Howe said in a news release. "That's when I started seriously writing poetry."

Howe has been writing for as long as she can remember. "But the first poem I can recall writing was in the sixth grade," she said. "I won a national contest for elementary school kids. I don't remember the name of the poem, but the theme of the contest was 'Pig Out in Books.' I remember how wonderful it felt to be good at something I love to do."

She attributes that experience as the catalyst for her interest in the arts. Aside from writing, Howe is also a photographer and filmmaker. Her photos were featured in Chuck Dodson's Gallery 406-B in Hot Springs, and she has films on YouTube, one of which is about the most haunted room in the Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs. "Room 218" has been viewed over 98,000 times by people in 152 countries. Howe said, "I like to have adventures and film them."

This past July she spent a night alone in a farm house that Ernest Hemingway often visited while in Piggott. He and the owner would sit drinking bourbon and talk for hours. "In the middle of the night I sat at the desk where Hemingway repeatedly set down his bourbon glass without a coaster," she said. "I was looking at several drink rings in the wood and the poem 'Drinking With Ernest Hemingway' was born. That might be the most fun I've ever had writing a poem."

Last fall Howe traveled to Europe, spending most of her time in Sweden and Denmark. "The Scandinavians and their culture are fascinating," she said. "The Wednesday Night Poetry crowd will be hearing about this region of the world in the near future."

Howe describes her poetry as relatable. "I strive to write poems that are powerful and thought-provoking, and yet easy to understand. I write for the every day woman and man," she said.

She is currently working on a collection of her works tentatively titled "Mighty."

Email [email protected] for more information about Wednesday Night Poetry.