michelle laflamme-childs

I posted in JANUARY that I would start keeping this pitiful website more up to date with perhaps some kind of writing or journaling. The truth is I’ve never been one for keeping a journal, though I certainy have tried on a few occassions.

The good news is that for my amazing job at New Mexico Arts (the federally authorized State Arts Agency for NM) I have been traveling all around the beautiful state of New Mexico with the State Poet Laureate, Lauren Camp and the Wonders on Wheels (WoW) Van this summer talking with youth and adults about poetry. In each community, Lauren and I work with kids visiting the WoW Van as it makes stops at local libraries, then in the evening Lauren gives a brief public reading at a local community space and we open it up to the guests for an open mic and poetry discussion. I have the honor of being the first reader to “break the ice” which has had stirred my deep but dormant need to write. In addition, we are gathering writing from the participants about their city or town from which Lauren and I will assemble a community poem for each place we’ve visited. Those crowd-sourced poems will be printed as broadsides by the Historic New Mexico Palace Press and a print will be gifted back to each community. Finally, once enough of these poems are complete and printed, we will have an exhibition at one of our Department of Cultural Affairs sister museums or historic sites to honor the incredible beauty and diversity in our rural NM communities.

We will be in Clovis & Portales on July 19 & 20 at the local public libraries during the day with the WoW van and for the Lauren’s reading at the Red Door on Main Eatery and Drinkery in Clovis at 6pm on Wednesday the 19th. Many thanks to Lisa Pellegrino-Spear at Clovis Main Street for her help!