Including the poetry of Robert Michie in an art exhibit is an experiment in joining the two interests of poetry and art for the wall. Robert Michie, a Tennessee itinerant poet who died in 1990, was a popular Artist-in-Residence for the Tennessee Arts Commission in the 70s and 80s. Equipped with a master’s degree and as a card-carrying member of Actors Equity, he was determined to bring poetry to the public as a performing artist and to make a living as a performing poet in Tennessee. As odd as that sounds, he managed to do just that, beginning in the 1970s. He served as the Official Poet for the erstwhile Summer Lights Festival in the 1980s and managed each year to bring audiences to their feet in standing ovations.
An exhibit of his poetry was first presented through his estate as part of the Arts in the Airport exhibit series in the early 1990’s. A large wall was filled with poems and photographs from places and things from his life that became part of his poetry.
That earlier exhibit concept has been freshened up and will include words, photographs, videos, and recordings of some of his poetry in a publication forthcoming in fall 2010 from The Arts Company Press, a new publishing initiative of The Arts Company.
Meanwhile the few remaining copies of The Addie Poems, published by Old Hickory Press during Michie’s lifetime, will be available for purchase at The Arts Company.
