AURORA | Ken Arkind won’t be swayed by national exposure. Arkind, 31, who grew up in Aurora, has been a constant presence in the Denver poetry scene for decades. His work has earned him regular spots in competitions across the country, including high-profile events in New York. Arkind still makes a good chunk of his living through touring, but he’s kept up a regular local presence. That includes work with the Denver-based youth poetry group Minor Disturbance, and poetry workshops with teens from schools in Aurora.
Arkind recently published a book featuring a long poem titled, “Denver,” illustrated with woodcuts by artist Charlie Fasano. We caught up with Arkind to talk about the book (available for free at Kilgore Comics, Wax Trax and other Denver venues), his local roots and his determination to stay in Colorado.
Can you talk a bit about growing up in Aurora?
I went to Smoky Hill High School. My last year, I was part of the alternative program, I ended up going to alternative high school. It was called The Estate. I was class president of the alternative high school.
What kind of impact did going to school at the Community College of Aurora and working with Wayne Gilbert as an instructor have on your poetry?
Honestly, it was pretty much from ninth grade on. In junior high school, I met a teacher who really encouraged me. Wayne taught me technique. We’d workshop each other’s poems back and forth. When I met Wayne, I was going to class with a cat named Christopher Dyer … He and I and Wayne really connected. He let us have free reign and try things out.
Wayne is the guy who showed me what I was capable of. He was honest and nice and he spoke to you like you were a real person. That influenced me a lot I think with the way that I talk to kids. You talk to them like they’re cognizant, and they are cognizant.
He was an artist himself who put himself on the same level as you.
A lot of members of your youth poetry group, Minor Disturbance, hail from Aurora. Are there still places to read and perform in the city?
No. There used to be a reading at Sixth and Chambers. It was called the Casbah. It was the largest poetry reading at the state, if not the country. There would be 400 people there every Wednesday night.
One thing that’s weird about Aurora is that there is no central hub. That’s why you head to Denver for all the shows. As a kid, it was the magnet and you circle around it.
If there’s no epicenter for you to go, there’s no epicenter for you to want to come to. I think that affects your mentality.
Can you talk about the new book illustrated by local artist Charlie Fasano?
I’ve published lots of chat books. Some of the stuff was published through a little press called Sketch Publications; they put out a few collections and volumes. I’ve been in a bunch of different anthologies.
This is one poem illustrated by Charlie Fasano about Denver. I started writing the poem in 2007. I didn’t finish it until the very end of 2009. The poem takes place Oct. 23, 2007, during the Rockies’ first time at the World Series. It’s a magical realist piece about Denver getting drunk and setting itself on fire. I realized the whole thing was a metaphor for me breaking up with my fiancée at around the same time. The whole thing is celebrating our faults. It’s not a nice piece, but it’s a progressive one.
What’s the next step for you creatively?
Next September, I have a full manuscript coming out from Penmanship Books. That’s out of New York.
You’ve done a lot of work and earned a lot of attention in New York. What’s kept you in Colorado?
No matter how tall their buildings are, our mountains are bigger. I don’t always want the big guy to win. When you have to describe things to people, we say that’s our Broadway, our Empire State, you always use New York as the focal point.
In the book I very specifically wrote things. I make reference to the North Side, to Corky Gonzales. If you’re not from my town, go read. Learn about it.
I say that if New York is the city that never sleeps, Denver is the town that passed out before last call. When we were growing up, you had Broncos pride, you didn’t necessarily have Denver pride. We need to talk about Denver the way that people from Philly talk about Philly.
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Reach reporter Adam Goldstein at agoldstein@aurorasentinel.com or 720-449-9707