Highland Park Poetry: Jennifer Dotson and her celebration of words

Jennifer Dotson at the Poetry Open Mic

We met Jennifer Dotson in the summer of the 2008. We were semi-finalists in the Guild Complex’s 15th Annual Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Open-Mic Award Competition. This year we’ve  run into her at the June Open Mic Poetry and The East on Central Publication Party.

And we’ll see her this Friday, July 10th:

Poetry Open-Mic
8:00 p.m.
Borders Books & Music
595 Central Avenue, 2nd Floor
Highland Park (map)

You may know about her web site Highland Park Poetry, but do you know the back story?

Jennifer started out as an actress.

JD: I worked under my maiden name, Jennifer Yeo, with a number of different small companies Strawdog, Bailiwick, Touchstone, Organic, Eclipse, Splinter Group. I was working on a one-act comedy inspired by an incident while traveling in Paris called French Lessons when I was pregnant with my daughter.  That was eleven years ago and it’s still unfinished.

There was always poetry….

JD: I loved the nonsense words of Jabberwocky that not only sound so fantastic but also tell a story.  My dad studied acting and directing and was in a production of Alice In Wonderland at the University of Maryland so he was able to recite/perform the poem for me when I was little.

photo credit: Miranda Dotson

JD: I keep a list of ideas or fragments in my journal.  Deadlines or challenges help enormously because they push me.  Folding laundry or doing dishes are good times for poem gestation.  Occasionally something just jumps out at me  often a dream  that I have to write immediately.

Highland Park Poetry? What was the small idea?

JD: I thought it would be nice to have some sort of local recognition of National Poetry Month.  The website launched in February of 2007 announcing our first April celebration. I opted not to make this a membership fee driven group.  I prefer to include anyone brave enough to call themselves a poet.  Poets generally work alone and aren’t really accustomed to getting attention.  In terms of coordinating poetry events and programs, my experience as a theater producer, which is like being an event planner, helped, too.

What’s next?

• Keep the momentum going with the website, the open-mic, the Poetry Challenge and Poetry Today.
• Get the ability to post Poetry Today archives on website.
• Provide cash/prizes for Poetry Challenge and offer other poetry
  contests.
• Create poetry displays throughout the community – in businesses,
  schools, etc.  I’d like to see poetry in windows of commercial
  spaces that are empty.

Ageless Readers want to get involved? Go to the open mic on Friday. Check out Highland Park Poetry !

And you can even send a check to help keep it all going!

Highland Park Poetry
c/o Jennifer Dotson
581 Washington Place
Highland Park, IL  60035

Gorilla, thinking

Other things you should know: Jennifer has beautiful handwriting. Also, we bought a plastic gorilla at her garage sale last week.