Holler Poets set to end on a high note

“I wouldn’t be the poet I am today if it weren’t for Holler,” poet Christopher McCurry says from the stage of Al’s Bar on one of the last installments of the Holler Poets Series, which will be ending its monthly format in September.

Founded in 2008 by poet Eric Sutherland, Holler Poets Series is a monthly poetry reading event that offers writers a place to experiment, celebrate, collaborate and socialize. Each evening includes an open mic portion, featured readings by established writers and a musical component. Over the years, Holler, as most folks call it, has become a bedrock of the literary landscape in Lexington, jumpstarting writing careers and accelerating literary friendships and creative collaborations.

Unlike many literary readings, Holler’s appeal is its stripped down, raw atmosphere. Poets might read works in progress over pitchers of beer; friends whoop and holler for each other as they take the stage; informal conversation spills outside onto the back patio in the warmer months; sometimes a loud, stern shushing is required to quell the sounds of camaraderie in the back of the bar.

It is the epitome of an underground arts movement in progress.

And it is ending.

But it is not, as Sutherland explained in an interview, going away completely.

After its 100th monthly show in September, Holler will end its monthly format, but the brand will live on and be resurrected in new ways that Sutherland says he is still exploring.

“I’ve been trying to reassure everyone who comes up to me in a panic,” Sutherland says. “I don’t plan on never doing any Holler events again. I still have passion for the writing community, but I think Holler can show up in different places. It can show up in different towns. Maybe it’s one big shebang every year, maybe it’s four quarterly events. I haven’t quite figured out the plan except for I’m not totally killing the Holler Poets Series. It just won’t be every single month.”

Sutherland says he has been considering ending the monthly format of Holler for a couple years now.

“My decision was based on weariness a little bit, from having done something for eight years monthly,” said Sutherland, who is the sole organizer of Holler as well as the monthly emcee.

“It’s not like it’s a negative drain, but it’s definitely taxing to organize that and to be present and to ensure that it’s gonna be a great show every time,” Sutherland says. “There’s a lot of pressure to create something that’s awesome, and you want it to be awesome every time. I always go back to the Neil Young quote: ‘It’s better to burn out than fade away.’

“I wanted to step away from the monthly when I felt like it was the right time, while it was still supported,” Sutherland says. “Worst case scenario for me was I become very lazy and uninspired to put it together, and then, conversely, I would rather the last show be packed like it always is than continue to try to do something and have it fade away.”

Sutherland says another reason it is a good time to step away from the monthly format is that Lexington has become much more culturally vibrant in the last eight years.

“Holler rose in a time when there wasn’t a lot happening in Lexington,” Sutherland says. “I feel like Holler helped build a lot of this community that’s going on now, and like the community is in a great place.”

Tina Andry is a local poet who benefitted from the community-building nature of Holler.

"I have been writing my entire life, but I had never read in public before Holler,” he says. “It was very self-affirming to be in a room surrounded by so many charismatic, oddball writers and all of them talented. I finally felt like I fit in somewhere. It pushed me to keep writing. Sometimes it was the only motivation I had to do so.

“I met my publisher the first night I went and my best friend shortly thereafter. We have all traveled together to the highest heights and held each other's hands in the lowest of valleys. Holler happened at the right place at the right time, and the combustion created something magic. I think it will be looked back upon with great reverence.”

Sutherland says Holler has a strong lineup for its final monthly shows and is savoring each of them.

“It does feel kind of bittersweet,” he says. “You go, ‘Man, these are the nights.’”

This story was originally published April 9, 2016 at 1:53 PM with the headline "Holler Poets set to end on a high note."