Poetry: A Tribute to Bill Sovern

A TRIBUTE TO BILL SOVERN

THE TRI-STATE ARTS COMMUNITY SUFFERED A

TERRIBLE LOSS LAST MONTH WITH THE PASSING

OF INDIANA'S BEAT POET LAUREATE

Bill Sovern was a pillar in the Evansville arts scene and, most importantly, a terrific friend. No one was a stranger to Bill, and his devotion to the arts made people gravitate to him. Bill was Indiana’s Beat Poet Laureate, a multimedia painter, a collector, filmmaker, US Veteran, and gallery owner. In the late 90s, Sovern started a poetry performance collective called Shakespeare’s Monkey that established a poetry scene that still thrives to this day. In the early 2000s, Bill was the force pushing Haynie’s Corner to become Evansville’s Arts District. Many know Bill from his monthly poetry show that turned away no poet for 20 years.

Sadly, Bill passed away on August 12, 2022, at the age of 73 as the result of injuries suffered in a car accident. However, his influence and poetry will live on forever. And what better way to say goodbye than to leave you with one of his finest creations.

If

by Bill Sovern

Poem for the historically impaired

If Marx debated Nixon and it was televised would Nixon finally win one for looks

If JFK debated Joan of Arc would Marilyn Monroe rest in peace

If Darwin debated the Pope would monkeys grow wings and fly backwards

If Martin Luther King debated Hitler would Jesse Owens’s name come up

If Lenin debated Gandhi would Leon Trotsky’s name come up and would Octavio Paz make a scene

If Maplethorpe debated Jesse Helms would it be funded by the National endowment of the Arts

If Newt debated Plato would Howard Stern narrate

If Jesus Christ debated Congress would Heironymus Bosch be the court reporter

but if is just a wish and some day spring will arrive with out us