ENCORES: ‘Vinegar & Char’ Poetry Reading (2019)

Folger Public Programs is pleased to present ENCORES, a weekly online series highlighting past performances and recalling the rich history of programming on the historic Folger stage. As many arts and cultural institutions remain closed during this time, these ENCORES provide a way to connect and revisit the breadth of Folger offerings with a wider audience.

ENCORES presents

O.B. Hardison Poetry Series
Vinegar & Char: Verse from the Southern Foodways Alliance , March 2019
with W. Ralph Eubanks, Sandra Beasley, and Sean Hill
In conjunction with the Folger exhibition and the institution-wide project Before ‘Farm to Table’: Early Modern Foodways and Cultures

W. Ralph Eubanks read

• Why I Can’t Cook for Your Self-Centered Architect Cousin, by Beth Ann Fennelly from Vinegar & Char: Verse from the Southern Foodways Alliance, published by The University of Georgia Press, 2019. www.ugapress.org.

Sandra Beasley read

• The Traveler’s Vade Mecum, Line #2485: ‘I Have Not Decided,’ from Count the Waves, published by W.W. Norton and Company, 2015. www.wwnorton.com

Sean Hill read

• Boy, from Vinegar & Char: Verse from the Southern Foodways Alliance, published by The University of Georgia Press, 2019. www.ugapress.org.

Learn more about the complete collection here.

Read the introduction by poet Sandra Beasley:

Hello and welcome to Folger ENCORES! I’m Sandra Beasley. The Folger has been sharing selections from their plays, music and spoken word directly with you in this ENCORES series.

This week, we’re revisiting a reading, Vinegar & Char, from the O.B. Hardison Poetry series, that was created with the Folger exhibition and the institution-wide project Before ‘Farm to Table’: Early Modern Foodways and Cultures.

In this reading, poet Sean Hill, and author W. Ralph Eubanks and I read pieces from Vinegar & Char: Verse from the Southern Foodways Alliance, a rich collection of poetry that I also had the pleasure of being the editor on.

One cannot write about food in a vacuum.

The topic becomes a natural hub for considerations of the body, of history, of faith and race, of gender dynamics, class, and fraught families. The gift this anthology gave to me came in the form of inspiring my own poems. If I could give something to the anthology in return, I’d take the chance to make it twice as long—there were so many more voices and stories I wanted to include. You’ll hear a selection of those stories now.

I want to emphasize my gratitude to the Southern Foodways Alliance for this opportunity and their good faith, and to my fellow presenters.

If you would like to know more about the O.B. Hardison Poetry Series, please visit folger.edu. There, you will find information about upcoming readings and so much more.

We hope you will join us for these weekly episodes of ENCORES, highlighting all that the Folger has to offer. Thank you for tuning in.

 

Check back each Friday for a new “from the archives” performance, introduced by some of our favorite artists, showcasing the best of Folger Theatre, Folger Consort, O.B. Hardison Poetry, and lectures.