( pennsylvania dutch mural of poetry now a part of downtown oley )

pennsylvania dutch mural of poetry 

now a part of downtown oley
by jennifer hetrick

this past sunday, the nonprofit known as clay on main in oley formally introduced its poets' wall mural to the community, with poems submitted by local writers and translated into pennsylvania dutch, then dabbed into paint strokes.

director of clay on main, dolores kirschner, secured a grant from the pennsylvania council on the arts to create a display of poetry on the outside of her building with the idea in mind to incorporate contemporarily penned words with what she noted is a dying language—and still so knitted into the area's history.

her intention involved preserving pennsylvania dutch through poetry and art to honor the original settlers of the area who started their lives here centuries ago.

realizing that most of those who are still in the area and speak the language do not know it in its written form, kirschner wanted to save scribed words permanently at clay on main through the project.

through the theme of poems aimed at creating a sense of home and connection with the land, kirschner hoped to bring a respect to the project which all people could relate to easily.

also contributing to the cultivation of this local heritage honoring-concept were the berks arts council,  clay on main, clay on main’s members, and berks bards.

kirschner publicized a call for submissions of poetry in home-speak last year, with entries due by last december. out of 38 poems received, 12 were chosen to be a part of the outdoor project and the book of translations which is titled home: a collection of poems, available for $9 from clay on main.

a committee of three judges nominated by berks bards decided which pieces would be included for the project, out of all submissions received, to become a part of the mural and its eventual book of translations.

blandon resident lisa gauker helped kirschner to conceptualize the final illustration for the exterior of the building on its right side, with pennsylvania dutch folk art and select lines from the poems, in english and translated, stretched across the 75 foot concrete expanse.

( dolores kirschner and lisa gauker )

kirschner located edward quinter as the respected scholar to translate each of the poems in the collection. he teaches at kutztown university, resides in allentown, and specializes in translating pennsylvania dutch works.

quinter rewrote the project's poems in a mostly buffington/barba orthography, which is the accepted standard orthography for text written and published in the dialect.

the poems were translated almost word-for-word as closely as possible to the original pieces in vocabulary and in meaning, quinter said.

the book includes the work of 10 poets, as those submitting were allowed to send in a maximum of three poems, and two of those whose work was chosen had more than one final piece incorporated into the collection.

one of the book's poems titled in english as "i have been there" and translated as "ich bin datt gewest'' is by dolly maguire who passed away in 2004. but when her children discovered the old poem on a scrap of aged paper, they decided to submit it, proudly learning that their mother's words would be published as a part of local history.

other writers from the region whose submissions were chosen for the final collection are elizabeth bodien, j. m. servansky, edwin romond, eileen kinch, lisa devuono, lynne brolly, and crystal cunningham.

devuono asked quinter to read at least one poem from the collection so that she and her fellow audience members could experience the poetry by ear away from the page.

( edward quinter read from his translations 

at the dedication ceremony for the poetry mural )

quinter accepted the invitation to speak for the crowd in the tongue of the region’s ancestry through kinch’s poem titled “map of the world” and translated as “en landkord vun der velt,” referencing the schuylkill river and picnics, among other imagery-struck details.

additionally contributing their poems in the selection were third berks county poet laureate heather thomas and fourth and current berks county poet laureate craig czury.

kirschner is donating the poetry book to oley valley's future community library. news, not blues will be donating an autographed copy of the book to the boyertown community library in december.

to find out more about clay on main, visit www.clayonmain.org.