The date is March 26, 2023. I pull into the driveway of Ward resident and poet Mike Parker. He comes down the stairs leading to his house to greet me, and we go up to his house together. He sits me down, materials ready to talk about himself and other poets in the Ward area, and starts talking about his schooling. I start recording the conversation a little too late, but I get as much as I can of the ensuing discussion of his education, which included going to the University of New Haven (called New Haven College when he went). Around this time, he started getting into beat writers such as Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsburg, using the Yale bookstore as much as he could and hanging out in Greenwich Village on the weekends.

After getting a theater scholarship, he started acting, and as the Vietnam War grew ever more prevalent, he started going to demonstrations against the war in New York. A year before he graduated, he dropped out of college, letting go of his dream to go to graduate school at Columbia University and moving to New York City. He met many artists in New York City and published his first poems in small magazines.

The first week he arrived in New York City, he got a job at Brentano’s Bookstore, the largest paperback bookstore in the world at the time. After a while, because he was no longer in college, he got a draft notice. However, he was able to earn his status as a conscientious objector of the war. At this point, he had to get a job or risk going to jail, so he got a job at Judson Memorial Church, where he lived in residency for two years.

Parker first visited Ward to visit a friend of his, and he quickly fell in love with the Colorado mountains. Over the years, he had gotten to know many of the beat writers that he idolized, including Ginsburg, and he started working in a poetry workshop in Boulder County jails. Ginsburg eventually gave Parker a printing press, and Parker started publishing magazines and poetry from Ward writers. Years later, they saved enough money to hold a poetry festival in Ward, which consisted of a week of poetry, music, and even kickboxing matches.

After the festival, Parker went back to New York City, where he helped form a band called The Ballistic Kisses, for which he wrote the lyrics to the songs. After a few years of this band, he prioritized taking care of his parents, working on docks in California while still working on writing poetry. Since then, he has published four poetry books here in the town of Ward.

These events were just the highlights of what he told me.in our interview, but he didn’t just focus on himself. Even with all of the exciting events that happened in his life, it was clear that he didn’t just want to talk about himself. He wanted to bring awareness to other poets in the area. He lent me books by Zalen Everest Edwards, Leaf Running-rabbit (also known as One Leaf), Alexander Joseph, Hoag Holmgren, and the translator Andrew Schelling, and he gave me one by Sandy Karng. He also took the time to bring up Burt Rashbaum, who is one of five operators at the Carousel of Happiness; his wife, Mary Johnston Parker, who is a poet in her own right; and his daughter, Frannie, who is graduating from Boulder High later this year.

It was clear that poetry is a passion deep in Parker’s bones, and that politics is a major driving force in his life for writing poetry. He has always been political, but he also believes that we are all connected as people whether we like it or not. He believes poetry embraces and encompasses every aspect of human goodness, and he champions artists and poets all across the world. No matter what side of the fence you find yourself on, we’re all part of the same planet, and poetry can help bring us together.