Poetry Salon Archives

Mission Statement

Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas are remembered for many contributions to the arts, in particular their salons. The salons were an exquisitely simple notion: Stein and Toklas opened their sumptuous Paris apartment, its walls adorned with Modernist art, to artists, writers, and others as a welcome place to discuss craft and to encourage support for the arts. The salons were enthusiastically attended, and eventually became the stuff of legends-rarely duplicated, but always admired. It was the Stein-Toklas model that inspired Michael Peich and Kean Spencer to establish Poetry Salons as part of the outreach for the West Chester University Poetry Center. A key component of the Center's mission is to bring poetry to the general public, and there are a number of initiatives that do this, like the Poetry Reading Series and the annual WCU Poetry Conference. Another way to attract general readers is to host gatherings in private homes where poets and readers can talk about verse in a congenial setting, one defined in part by visual art. This is what the Poetry Salons do, and they have become a regular staple of the Center's activities.

Salon I was held October 2005 in the home of Kean Spencer and Marc Graver, patrons of the visual arts, and poetry. Rhina Espaillat, the 2005 WCU Poet-in-Residence, read her poems and talked about them with an enthusiastic audience.

Liz and Mike Kalogris hosted Salon II in April 2006. Guests enjoyed hearing R. S. Gwynn read and discuss his poems, surrounded by the visual treats of the Kalogris' richly diverse collection of contemporary art.

Salon III returned to the Spencer-Graver residence where Russian poetry was the theme: seven Russian poets, guests of the WCU Poetry Conference, delighted the audience with their poems read both in English and Russian. It was a wonderful opportunity to savor the joys of poetry, and to be reminded that art of all cultures shares primary concerns and instincts. Our guest poets shared some Russian visual art with the audience, and were treated to examples of American art from Kean and Marc's collection.

Salon IV was hosted by Cathy and Randy Schauer in their nineteenth century Chester County farmhouse. X. J. Kennedy, the 2006 WCU Poet-in-Residence, was the featured poet at the gathering, and his verse reminded the audience that poetry's subjects come from all aspects of life ranging from serious to humorous. Guests at each salon are given a copy of the poet's latest book, and everyone had Kennedy sign her/his copy.

President Charles McGeorge and his wife Joy hosted Salon V at Crossed Sabres on the campus of Valley Forge Military Academy and College. Poet and critic Dana Gioia, Chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, gave a reading of his poems, and the work of others, intertwined with a discussion of the traditional craft of poetry.

The Poetry Salon has become a tradition at the West Chester University Poetry Center, and there are many more planned for the future. By bringing a poet into someone's home, and inviting people interested in the arts, we hope to nurture and expand the audience for serious verse.

If they were alive and living in Chester County, I am certain Gertrude and Alice would host a future WCU Poetry Salon.

Michael Peich