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Poet Laureate of Ogden
The Poet Laureate of Ogden serves as the official ambassador of literary culture, using their position as a platform from which to promote the transformative qualities of poetry and the written word through all parts of the community. Ogden City Arts is hoping to raise the community consciousness to a greater appreciation of the reading and writing of poetry while supporting literary arts, ephemeral arts, and a vibrant art scene in Ogden City.
The Poet Laureate serves a 2-year term with the option of a second term. They are asked to make appearances at public events such as Mayor’s Awards in the Arts, City Council Meetings, ribbon-cutting ceremonies, etc. At these events, the Poet Laureate performs a reading of their own writings, or of another author/poet that best fits the occasion.
This position requires dedication in promoting literary education in our schools and communities. The Poet Laureate also seeks to bring poetry to the people in Ogden who have limited access or exposure to the literary arts.
Ogden City's current Poet Laureate is Angelika Brewer
Angelika Brewer is a writer, an artist and a creativity enthusiast from Ogden, Utah.
She was taught to read, write and embrace her creativity by her teenage mother and her almost entirely blind grandmother. This everlasting act of love was the foundation for a lifetime of creative pursuits. Angelika poured herself into notebook pages and easels for her entire childhood, promising that one day, she'd build a career out of her big ideas and her drive to bring them to fruition. A gentle push to a microphone from a high school English teacher brought Angelika into the world of Spoken Word Poetry. Along with her existing love of art and literature, an additional passion blossomed for works intended to be heard. She was invited back to her high school after graduation to teach students about Spoken Word Poetry and the power of creativity. She began visiting other schools and public events across Utah, sharing poetry, teaching workshops, and inspiring others to create. She has been a featured speaker at the Utah Conference for Teachers of English, Kiwanis Club, Ogden Pride Festival, PBS Utah, Standard Examiner online, Utah Arts Festival, Ogden Arts Festival, Literary Deathmatch, Concrete Rose, "Write About Now" cypher and many other events. Angelika self-published and self-bound a chapbook titled "I Don't Want to Miss You," and published in the compilation "First Moon Manual," and has over 100 digital publishings. She has coordinated poetry slams, open mics, art shows and mixed arts events in Utah cities. She is a freelance writer of anything that needs to be written, with a special interest in journalism, blog posts, essays and instructional content. Angelika was the 2017 Ogden Pride Poetry Competition winner, a coach for "Ogden Slam Team" in 2017, a judge at the "Poetry Out Loud" state slam in 2019, a 2021 runner-up in the "Utah Arts Festival" team slam with her artist collective "O-Town Dream Team," along with other awards and recognitions.
Angelika Brewer is an informally trained and self-taught writer, with all of her knowledge coming from writing workshops with award winning authors and poets, self-study, live experience and a love of learning. Above all, she is an advocate for the arts, an avid supporter of the creative community, and a proud flaunter of her humongous collection of art, books, and music- all created by local and upcoming artists
Below are some informational links you can use to learn more about Angelika and see some examples of her poetry.
Facebook: Signed, A.B.
Instagram: signed_a.b
Email: angelikabrewer@gmail.com
Ogden Ar(t)chives Mailbox PR
Ogden Ar(t)chives Mailbox
The Ogden Ar(t)chives Mailbox is a multi-purpose community project started by the Ogden City Poet Laureate, Angelika Brewer. The community is invited to participate in dropping the first submissions into the mailbox at a ribbon-cutting ceremony planned for 6 pm on Friday, February 3, 2023, at the Corner, located at 2501 Washington Blvd. Ogden, Utah.
The mailbox will then be open to the public and used to collect future submissions. Creations on paper or thin two-dimensional works that fit into the submission slot will be accepted. The contents of the mailbox will be a compilation of literary artworks made by the residents and visitors of Ogden City.
“As a writer, I find it interesting how the personal writing of individuals has been a way for historians and researchers to piece together historical timelines and determine facts. Archives of correspondence are often a primary source of information. I thought to myself, what if the public had an opportunity to tell the stories that will be read by historians about their communities?” said Angelika Brewer, Ogden’s Poet Laureate.
How it works: The mailbox is a metal sculpture with obscured measurements created by Daniel Christensen, with added decorative elements done by Angelika Brewer and her father, Troy Brewer. The mailbox is designed to garnish attention and spark the realization that a person can interact with it. The community can open the door and find a compartment with paper and pens for use and an enlarged "mail" slot for accommodating the potential of oversized submissions. The works can be signed or submitted anonymously.
Each week the Ogden Mailbox social media accounts will post one submission from the mailbox. Submissions collected for the year will be compiled into an annual community art show for the public to enjoy before they are archived in the city records at the Union Station.
Be sure to check out the submissions with the social media accounts below.
Instagram - @ogden_mailbox TikTok - @signed.ab Facebook – Ogden Mailbox
Some poems by Angelika Brewer:
UNTAMED
I am a child of a “rough and tumble” city,
born of railroad tracks, newspaper clippings
and bootlegged beer bottles too sentimental to toss.
Distant suburbs speak ghost stories about our urban
sidewalks and the way they are too full at the wrong hours.
They make warning of Electric Alley and the rebel voices
you would hear in the basement if ever it were quiet enough.
Changing the world has always been loud.
The face of a city is never as interesting as its heart,
but you can only feel it beating if you’re willing to get close.
If you peek around the corner of infamy,
you will find the set of your favorite movie.
If you walk inside the abandoned building,
you will find the workforce that runs a country.
If you duck under the viaduct,
you will find the junction of two halves once divided.
If you hike beyond the sanitarium,
you will find the canyon’s mouth and her Aspen teeth,
all bright white for the winter and paint stained in the fall.
If you brave the epicenter of risk-taking,
you will find the beauty in growing up untamed,
in a mountain’s palm–in the traveler’s muse.
The distant suburbs will warn you
of what can happen in a rough and tumble town–
how you will find the song
you’ve waited your whole life to hear
from a street performer on a historic road,
or how you will find yourself
inspired by the art plastered to the brick
of the restaurant with the best breakfast food
you’ve ever tasted,
You will find creations,
makeshift,
by our resident’s tough hands
and natural,
by Mother Earth’s soft grace.
__________
Writing a Villanelle at the Vigil
It was only a dream which caused quite the fright,
jackhammer chest and rain on my forehead,
but when I woke up, I had been up all night.
I sat in my bed and flipped on the light,
swore I heard your last breath blare.
It was only a dream which caused quite the fright.
A morning blaming eye-bags on jet lag from a flight,
laid my head to get some rest,
but when I woke up, I had been up all night.
Spent the afternoon trying my hardest to write
the eulogy, the obituary–the reminder:
“It was only a dream which caused quite the fright.”
I swore I would find you before next daylight,
tried to meet you in my head asleep,
but when I woke up, I had been up all night.
They told me you gasped and your soul took flight,
I shout, as if loudness could make it more true,
“It was only a dream which caused quite the fright.”
But, when I woke up, I had been up all night.
____________
Yes,
I have
paddled myself back to safety,
have nurtured my own aching.
have bandaged my own wounds.
I have
fought a brutal fight for this body
to love every cranny of itself,
have taught it to breathe,
even when it didn’t want to.
I have
trained my tongue to flick
the word capable all around
the inside of my mouth
and my teeth to hold it in
so it doesn’t get lost in the gasp
of all of this being awake
and staying alive.
But,
you, with
the boat in the first place,
with the soup and the first-aid kit.
You, with
the sword and the chalkboard
and the dictionary.
You are
also to blame
for this blooming.
__________
if we stopped writing love poems, they would still exist
roses are red
roses are also yellow
i like those ones better
and you remember
the way a bird waits
until it is warm again
to make new birds
so its mate isn’t migrating,
heavy or without her eggs,
or a nurse holds hands
with a life ending alone
and cries in the break room
where they leave all of the extra
for the next
rain or snow
which will carve a new trail
to the confluence of old storms
the same way you do for me.
what is a lake if not a church
full of raindrops?
a cloud’s tears
to bathe in?
baptize the ground
with the sky,
let a teenager jump
into a holy place
with a congregation
of bad-influence friends
and they will smile for hours
if you come home with yellow roses
because you remembered
how a baby will smell
for their mother
before they can see well
and a mother will feel
for her baby
because she can’t sleep well
without knowing
you are breathing
you remember
and you can feel
her cells in your body
dancing to the heart song
you sing to yourself
on a walk home
you might see yellow roses
and think of me
and if you do,
i like them the best
because they show us
how love is not always
red romance and moonlit evening,
but also a grandmother’s
vegetable garden in the spring
or a store-bought birthday card
with only a signature in it.
love lands wherever
it is invited
to stay
Here are some articles that Angelika Brewer has been featured in...
https://www.theogdenite.com/poems
http://www.literarydeathmatch.com/upcoming-events/ogden-ep-2.html