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LISTEN: Lawrence Poet Mark Hennessy On Poetry As Performance

Karen Matheis
/
Larryville Artists

Throughout the 1990s, Mark Hennessy was the frontman for the hard rock Lawrence band PAW. After the band broke up in 2000, Hennessy turned his focus to writing — and continued performing.

"I think performance of poetry offers opportunities to communicate in ways that the page just doesn't," says Hennessy. 

His doctoral dissertation, completed last year at the University of Kansas, is titled Airport Motel. The poems combine the Airport Motel outside of Lawrence, with the epic poem, The Aeneid when Troy is burning and families flee.

The separation of Aeneas and his wife, Creusa, sets the stage for this poem called "Collect Call from a Long Distance: Aeneas to Creusa." Hennessy is accompanied by Clint Rogers on standup bass. 

All of our WORD readings, including bonus tracks by some poets, are archived on SoundCloud.

Laura Spencer is staff writer/editor at the Kansas City Public Library and a former arts reporter at KCUR.
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