Unassuming and humble, Dan Breen’s poetry inventively plays with the scan of our emotions. In a poem fashioned from the beginning of the COVID experience, he asks the important existential question the quarantine situation elicits: “How shall we spend our time together?” He recounts, “Families were going on walks together—they were having dinner together—appreciating each other.” “Suddenly there was room to think.” Although holding out hope for positive change through images born from such idylls, the poem and poet worries about the role “fear” play in the controlling of the human condition. Cleverly ending with the ironic question, “Will you flatten the curves of my fear.”
Clearly, in charge of himself and his own emotions, Dan’s work is strong-voiced and thought-provoking, measured, and modern. In some cases his work is jazzy and improvisational in feel, in others he dabbles in exercises of found poetry—assembling bits of a talk he’s previously listened to on the web. This is solid, hip, and transforming work and deserves a listen. You can catch Dan reciting and talking about his poetry and his online magazine, PAN-O-PLY on Wild Rose Moon’s educational streaming series, Moonlight.
Hosted by area musicians and creative philosophers, Ryan Mear and John Bahler, Moonlight, has been designed as a program that “dives beneath the surface of the artists, writers, and musicians that make up the talent on the show.” That statement, according to Ryan and John, is what drives the interviews with each of the artists. “We’re decidedly interested in the creative process the artist uses to do what they do. It provides us with this incredible wellspring of ideas that provide the fuel for keeping each show fresh and different. “ The shows have another goal too and that is to give artists the opportunity of being taken seriously. “This is one of the ways artists can be helped to focus on their development—like Open Mic, or Jam Night, or in Comedy Improv classes—we’re interested in helping artists get a look at themselves as artists.”
The series also offers artists an opportunity to reach out to a larger audience and gives them a tool for networking their services. Individuals interested in appearing on Moonlight should contact Wild Rose Moon via their website.
You can catch Moonlight by going directly to www.wildrosemoon.com to watch episodes, either when they are live on FB, or in recorded versions on YouTube. Moonlight is sponsored by Gibson Insurance, Gibson Foundation, Encore Performing Arts, Marshall County Community Foundation, and Marshall County Tourism.
