MUSELETTER #28

4/24/2000

For this, the last week of National Poetry Month 2000, we bring you the latest news from the northeasternmost & southwesternmost corners of the US and several places in between: Larry Jaffe brings us the news not only from his home turf in Los Angeles, but from Austin & DC also, Robyn Su Millerz reports from all over New England, and Marj Hahne has lots more about poetry doings in Philadelphia.

Enjoy! With our hopes that you all thoroughly enjoyed whichever of the April holidays just past you celebrated, Passover, Earth Day, Easter. . .

Margy Snyder & Bob Holman
Your About.com Poetry Guides

POETRY IS EVERYWHERE AT ABOUT.COM

• Colleen Devlin, Guide to Women Writers, has added poems by Elizabeth Bishop, Amy Lowell, Carolyn Forche, Emily Dickinson, Edna St. Vincent Millay & Anne Sexton to her National Poetry Month 2000 anthology.
• Quotations Guide Ray Gallagher's personal collection of favorite quotes about poetry includes Valery, Shelley & Wilde.

LOS ANGELES/AUSTIN/DC

Austin International Poetry Festival
Phew! I am sure you will be hearing more about this fest from Stazja and other poetspondents, but I can tell you that as far as I am concerned this was the best AIPF ever. More than 250 poets converged on this most aesthetic city. There are too many highlights for me to describe and that is best done by Stazja anyway. But I have put up an unofficial site of trip notes & pictures, which I do every year -- hope you enjoy. I will be posting more pix when I get back to LA.

David St. John at Barnes & Noble
On April 22 the Hyperpoets, in conjunction with Barnes & Noble, present much-lauded poet David St. John (Professor of English and Director of Creative Writing at USC) in a special reading in honor of National Poetry Month at 8 pm. Barnes & Noble, Santa Monica, Third Street Promenade (at Wilshire Blvd.). Admission is free.

St. John is the author of seven collections of poetry, including Study for the World's Body: New and Collected Poems (HarperCollins, 1994), nominated for the National Book Award in Poetry. In 1999, St. John brought out two volumes, In the Pines: Lost Poems 1972-1997 (White Pine Press) and The Red Leaves of Night (HarperCollins), which was nominated for The Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Poetry. In May 2000, he will receive an Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

The Hyperpoets' monthly series at Barnes & Noble Santa Monica continues on Thursday, May 11, with poet Doug Anderson reading from his new collection, Blues for Unemployed Secret Police.

Enter the Dragon
This is one of L.A.’s hottest new venues, meeting every other week. April 28, Friday night at 9 pm will be Poetry at ARTScorpsLA, located in the China Town Promenade between Hill and Broadway, north of College. It can now be seen from Hill across from the Plum Tree Inn and behind the New Dragon. The promenade area includes the wishing well, Hop Louie's, and Kwan Brother's in the Grand Star Building. Once you find that stuff, you won't be able to miss ARTScorpsLA. There are parking lots on College and Broadway next to East West Bank where you can park for free, or you can park on the street. Contact ARTScorpsLA at (213) 617-3877, or Nathan Green at (323) 664-6049 for more information. Sign-up starts at 8:30 pm.

Enter the Dragon needs help constructing their Web page as well. Here's an opportunity to get your creative energy channeled on line. You got Art? Cool links? Contact enterthedragon2000@hotmail.com.

Arthouse Underground
Check out our pal Redstone’s Arthouse Underground Web site. It's a great site, home for 60+ poems, songs and visuals from LA-based poets, each accompanied by “the world's first virtual slam” -- a form on which you can give immediate feedback to the author of the piece you've just read or heard.

Millennium Poets Gathering

This promises to be a very exciting event. Imagine a million poet march. . . well, okay, maybe not a million, but how about thousands of poets converging upon Washington D.C. on April 22, 23 and 24 at the Jefferson Monument in Washington, DC. The event is free and open to all -- just come and sign up -- for more info contact amillionpoets@hotmail.com or check their info page at www.festivals.com. I have been in touch with Angela Peluso Kissinger, the promoter of the event, and she is very jazzed about the response she has been getting. “I've been contacting tons of people all over, and going to readings every night here to pass along the word. I'm very excited, and I thank you so much! This will be great!”

Skylight Books Poem-a-Day
Skylight Books, one of LA’s top independent bookstores located in Los Feliz (near Hollywood), has created a unique project inspired by National Poetry Month. They will be giving away a poem a day by local and nationally recognized poets of Los Angeles. Each day during the month of April, Skylight Books will present every customer with the gift of a specially printed poem from a different Los Angeles poet. Customers will also receive a 20% discount on all poetry books purchased in April. Skylight Books is located at 1818 North Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90027, (323) 660-1175, email skylightbook@earthlink.net.

Conscious Vibes
Conscious Vibes is another new venue put together by our good buddy Gary Justice, just recently started. It will take place on the 2nd and last Saturdays of every month, right next to the aforementioned Enter the Dragon readings at ARTScorpsLA in the Grand Star. Poetry and music by Blues Experiment. Free admission with guest; free drinks with more guests. Call Gary Justice at (818) 989-1885 or email him at garyjustice@earthlink.com.

Carmen Vega
Carmen Vega, one of our fave la la poets, will be performing at the following venues in May:

• Friday, May 5, 7:30 pm
  Snapshots Reading Series, Village Books, 1049 Swarthmore, Pacific Palisades, (323) 960-5266
• Saturday, May 27, 7:30 pm
  Beyond Baroque, 681 Venice Blvd., (310) 822-3006
• Monday, June 12, 10 pm
  Feature on KPFK Radio

SlamHollywood
SlamHollywood, under the direction of Ben Porter Lewis and Milo Martin, is working hard to get the team together for the Slam Nationals this year in Providence, Rhode Island this summer.

PoeticLicense at Home
As I told you last time, the fabulous Moondog turned into a sushi bar and we were forced to take up new quarters. We found an incredible new location in the Los Feliz part of LA (near Hollywood) in a local café/restaurant that is madly in love with poetry and the poetic community. The owner of Home also owns several other places, including the Garage (which is now home to SlamHollywood). Coming up are several featured poets worth getting to Home for, including:

• April 25
  Tim Gibbard from Bristol, England
• May 2
  M.L. Liebler from Detroit
• May 9
  Keith Myers, one of our plcrew via Ohio
• May 16
  Ed Houston, pl regular
• May 23
  Corey Cokes from Providence, RI
• May 30
  Mike Cluff, socal all the way and recently in Austin
• June 6
  Rattle Magazine Publication Reading

--Larry Jaffe

BOSTON/NEW ENGLAND

Boston Slam Master Wins Trip to Nantucket
Although 19 contestants signed up for the slam finale of the Provincetown Poetry Festival, Sunday April 16, Michael Brown owned the event the minute he took the floor. In each of three rounds he was the favorite of both the lively crowd gathered at the Crown & Anchor, and the panel of judges (preselected from the participants in the festival). All of the poets rode on the energy of the room and gave top performances. The 2nd and 3rd place poets faced a nail-biting moment or two, but Adam Stone and Valerie Lawson (cohosts of the Bridgewater slam at The Daily Grind) well deserved their wins. Kudos to Kristin Knowles for hosting a fabulous annual event -- it's sure to become more gala every year. Be there next April! And if inquiring minds want to know who Michael Brown plans to take to Nantucket, tough. This isn't that kind of periodical.

Other upcoming Cape Cod events:

• Thursday May 4th @ Cape Cod Community College - A brown bag open mic.
• Wednesday May 10th @ Rotch-Duff House in New Bedford - The Cape Cod Poets Theatre (tentatively featuring Jose Gouveia, Earle Collins, Adam Stone, Kristen Knowles, Tom Fettig, Robyn Su Millerz, J. Barret Wolfe and Marie St. Helaire) will do a two-hour feature length show!

For more information on this event and upcoming events at Kaffee Wolfgang, call The Cape Cod Poets Theatre at 775-3460 or email Jose de Gouveia at capepoet@hotmail.com

New England Slam News
Worcester has its team! This correspondent missed out on the finals, but they must have been something to see, for a killer (or “killa,” as we say here) team emerged for Worcester: Jack McCarthy (voted Best Stand-up Poet by the Boston Phoenix), Sou MacMillan (Java Hut host and ex-rock-star), Rebecca Henderson (on the Providence Team last year) and Dave Mac (always #1 at the Java Hut, 1073A Main Street, Worcester, MA, 508.752.1678).

Providence and Boston will be selecting their teams throughout May. Schedules are as follows:

The Cantab Lounge (738 Mass. Ave., Central Square, Cambridge) will hold open slams again in May: one more chance for those who didn't win one of the 8 x 8 slams to qualify for the Boston slam finals. There will be no featured readers during the month, so there may be more than one slam per night to qualify all the people interested in competing for the team. For more info, check out Slam News Service.

There is one Providence Poetry Slam qualifying slam remaining, on Sunday, May 7 at 8 pm -- AS220, at 115 Empire Street. (Please note the event is on Sunday instead of the usual Thursday.)

The DownCity Grand Slam will be held on Thursday May 18 at 7:30 pm -- at Nick-a-Nee's, 75 South Street, Providence, RI. Nick-a-Nee's will provide two of the slots for the Grand Slam final, to be held at AS220.

The Providence Poetry Slam (AS220) Grand Slam will be held June 1 at 8 pm.

Nick-a-Nee's Line-up
Nick-a-Nee's is offering up its usual hot line-up of features and events. Look for me to camp out at the Rock Star Table; it's been way too long.

• April 27th will be a Poetic Battle Boxing Bout followed by a 4-team Match Slam between Worcester, Boston, Hartford, CT and Providence.
• May 11th - Corey Cokes features
• May 18th - Kyria Abrahms features
• May 25th - Bout Title match

For more details, visit the DownCity Slam site.

“Second Tuesday Slams” in Portland, Maine
It has been said I “will do poetry anywhere.” Well..., I'm not the only one out on the road, as evidenced by the upcoming features at the Free Street Taverna (on Free Street in Portland, the first building after the Art Museum on Congress Street) in Portland, hosted by Jay & Jeremiah. Look for Jack McCarthy there on Tuesday, May 9 and The Morrigan, from Chicago on their Wandering Uterus (“Have uterus, will travel”) 2000 Tour on Tuesday, June 6. (The Morrigan are on the first Tuesday instead of the second, a wise exception to the rule.)

Sign-up begins at 8:30, open reading at 9, followed by feature, then slam. Free Street Taverna is a bar featuring a full menu, a bartender who can judge poetry, and patrons whose respect has to be earned. A challenging but welcoming place, not to be missed.

Other Spoken Word Events: Blackthorne's Tavern
There are several area open mics and open mouth venues for poets who enjoy a different kind of poetic energy than slam. Here are a few I particularly enjoy. More next time!

Blackthorne's Tavern (Route 138, Easton, MA)
The Christmas tree is always lit outside, and inside on chilly nights, the fireplace is, too. The space inside is divided between the bar and the dining section where the poets gather. Family-friendly material is requested. There's a fine selection of imported beer and decent pub fries, if you share my opinion that such fare enhances your experience of listening to poetry. Poetry features every first Monday of the month at 8:30 pm (adjusted sometimes for holidays). Upcoming features:

• April 24 - IYANU Poets Theatre Troupe
• May 1 - Jack McCarthy

These evenings are warmly hosted by Sandy Borges & Nancy Brady Cunningham, (508) 238-9017.

AGAPE Poetry Reading Series
is held at the Boston Community Church at 565 Boylston Street in Copley Square, Boston. It's well worth the climb to the 3rd floor, especially if you have formal poetry to share. AGAPE is hosted by the deliciously dry Richard Moore, who (along with regular attendee Victor Howes, another master of the epigram) will regale you with sharp wit. 8 pm Tuesdays, open readings before and after the featured reader. Upcoming features:

• April 25 - Terry England, Connie Donovan. Jim Carlisle
• May 2 - Margorie Touzjian
• May 9 - John Ronan
• May 16 - Rick Beaty
• May 23 - Antelope
• May 30 - Debra King Dean
• June 6 - Chris Fitzgerald

Mondays at Ras Cafe
In simple but elegant surroundings, a diverse and literate group gathers every Monday evening to share writing, usually poetry. Host Melissa Goodrum's format is simple: you may read as long as you can hold the audience. And the audience is a particularly attentive one. Melissa occasionally selects someone to open the reading, as a guest feature. The cafe offers flavored (with fresh ingredients) teas and coffees, and samosas (as long as they last), desserts and other light fare to eat. The reading generally lasts from 8:30 to 9:30 pm. It was a happy convergence of people and place that resulted in this venue, an asset to the reading community. Ras Cafe is at Central Square, Cambridge, corner of River and Franklin Streets, (617) 441-3021.

Special Events: Patricia Smith Performs in Cambridge
The Cambridge Center for Adult Education (65 Brattle Street in Harvard Square) continues hosting a series of poetry events; some of the most fabulous shows I've seen in the past year have been here. Many of the events have combined music and poetry, and there are two coming up in April and May there is no excuse to miss!

The Jeff Robinson Trio Performance & Poetry Jam on Friday, April 28, 8 - 10 pm, $7. The Trio presents four of Boston's most distinctive voices: Ren Jender, Iyeoka, Kitty Marrs and Juliette Monestine.

Patricia Smith, four-time individual national slam champion, returns to Boston to present a new work in progress, Blues Through to Bone, in collaboration with vocalist Philip Pemberton. Guaranteed to be a gripping and original performance. Two Saturday evening shows, May 13 and May 20, $12.

For more events and more information, go to the Cambridge Center for Adult Education events page and explore “Blacksmith House Poetry Series,” “Music” and “Performances.”

--Robyn Su Millerz

PHILADELPHIA/SOUTH JERSEY/DELAWARE

100 Poets Read
“The joy of the book business is that you are working with language, ideas and people,” says Larry Robin, third-generation owner of Robin's Bookstore, Philadelphia's oldest independent bookstore, in operation since 1936 (108 S. 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA, 215.735.9600). On March 26, the 5th Annual Poetry Philadelphia: “The Power of Poetry Prevails” event was the perfect mix of language, ideas and people. All manner of poet and poem passed through the place that sunny Sunday afternoon, and passed a surprisingly easy four hours. Most readers respected the two-minute time limit, and I hope that everyone observed Larry's two terms for participation: purchase “at least one book to leave” and “bring something good” for the potluck. Jack, the resident cat, sure had his pick of napping laps that afternoon.

Rattapallax Rolls Through Robin's
Perhaps the biannual journal Rattapallax, Wallace Stevens' word for the sound of thunder, was so named because its language reverberates on the page, echoes in the ear. Perhaps its eclectic poetry, prose and artwork rumble across the plain of one's consciousness after a flash of lightning-insight. Certainly, Editor-in-Chief George Dickerson is a rainmaker of sorts: he has served on the editorial staffs of The New Yorker, Time and Story, and his fiction has been anthologized in two of the Best American Short Stories annual volumes. What sets Rattapallax apart from other literary journals is the inclusion, in each $7.95 issue, of a CD featuring the poets reading their selected poems. On Tuesday, April 4, four of the poets published in the current issue (#3) read their work as part of Robin's Bookstore's Moonstone Readings series. I was impressed by the camaraderie among the four poets, by their obvious personal commitments to the journal's excellence and success. It was easy to see why Timeout calls Rattapallax “[t]he visceral, multimedia hit of poetry.” Expect word showers with rainbows.

Beam Me Up Ezra. Uncommonplaces: Poems of the Fantastic
On Thursday, April 13 at Robin's Bookstore, Don Riggs, local poet and Drexel U. prof, entertained an intimate audience with impromptu theatrics, anecdotes and poems, including his poetic speculation about the lustdance between she- and he-skeletons which appears in Uncommonplaces: Poems of the Fantastic. Riggs co-edited with Judith Kerman this slim anthology of poems written by published authors of science fiction and fantasy, such as Brian Aldiss, Joe Haldeman, and Jane Yolen. Our comical speaker also read other writers' poems from the anthology, the most memorable one being a vampire villanelle delivered in a bloodsucking accent that would scare Dracula into finding a day job.

Upcoming Poetry Events at Robin's Bookstore

• Tuesday, April 25, 7:00 pm, Louis McKee, a fixture on the Philadelphia poetry scene for more than a quarter century, long-time editor of Painted Bride Quarterly, publisher of the little magazine One Trick Pony. McKee will read from River Architecture: Poems from Here & There, 1973 - 1993. His new volume of poems, Near Occasions of Sin, is due later this year from Front Line Press of Brooklyn.
• Wednesday, April 26, 7:00 pm, Mine Eyes Have Seen Into the Millennium: An Anthology of African American Poets edited by Kimmika L.H. Williams and Lois Moses -- one of the first publications to grow out of the annual Philadelphia's Celebration of Black Writing, and the first of what Three Goat Press hopes will be an anthology series aimed at offering emerging Black writers publication opportunities.
• Wednesday, May 3, 7:00 pm, Toby Olson, author of 22 books of poetry and eight novels, will read from Human Nature, his first book of new poems since 1985. Olson weds his novelist's storytelling with his poet's reflections, birthing narrative meditations on his life's events and relationships. When “even the most autobiographical poems let fiction in,” one begins to realize how poetry may disclose different truths born of the reinvention of experience.
• Friday, May 5, 7:00 pm, June Jordan, Professor of African American Studies at UC Berkeley, where she also directs the Poetry for the People program, will read from Soldier: A Poet's Childhood, her fierce, evocative memoir of childhood and a lyrical exploration of how poetry and politics seamlessly shaped her life. Jordan has also authored nine collections of poetry, four books of essays, two plays, a novel, and several children's books.
• Wednesday, May 17, 7:00 pm, Crystal Williams, a Detroit native and member of the 1995 Nuyorican Poets Slam Team, will read from Kin, a collection of poems that Nikki Giovanni describes as “portraits [that] are emotionally evocative, incisive, funny, loving.”
• Friday, May 19, 7:00 pm, Lines in May, a motley crew of Rutgers University students and their witty entourage, promise an evening of verse, vino, and venial sin. . . .
• Friday, May 26, 8:00 pm, A Tribute to Sonia Sanchez, a free event organized by journalist James Spady and Larry Robin, to be held at the Painted Bride Art Center (230 Vine Street, Philadelphia, PA, 215.925.9914), will feature local writers and artists paying homage to poet, teacher and activist Sonia Sanchez as she retires from her teaching position at Temple University.

Spoken Word from His Master's Voice
How lucky for Philadelphia that Leonard Gontarek did not scrap his versemaker when he closed his beloved City Book Shop about five years ago to manage the then-incoming HMV Record Store (1510 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, 215.875.5100). Gontarek, author of two poetry collections, St. Genevieve Watching Over Paris and Van Morrison Can't Find His Feet, had carried a roomy mixed bag of literary events at his cozy corner bookstore, and about two years into his tenure at HMV resumed the role of poet-host with his free monthly poetry series, “The Voice at HMV,” which features two local poets reading their work on one Saturday every month at 2:00 pm. Poets have been reading every Saturday afternoon of this National Poetry Month, and on April 15, seated in one of the lush-colored safari sofas in HMV's second-floor Crimson Moon Cafe, I watched Molly Russakoff graciously read poems about her past life as a wife; living again with her folks in South Philly; the time her daughter told her, wet and naked after a shower, that she looked like a beautiful swan. The second scheduled reader was Kevin O'Neill, Word-Wide Curator of the Painted Bride's Day of the Poet, who twice checked-one-two the mic, then checked out during Russakoff's reading because the crowd size wasn't sizeable enough for his raw, urban-edgy, tribal-rallying vibes. Word's been out about O'Neill's bad-mannered Word-UpMan!ship.

Upcoming poetry events at HMV:

• Saturday, April 22, 2:00 pm, Leonard Gontarek & the Mark Sarro Group
• Saturday, April 29, 2:00 pm, open reading
• Saturday, May 20, 2:00 pm, Jim Cory and a second reader TBD

Dana Levin Takes the Stage In the Surgical Theater
On Tuesday, March 14, at the Philadelphia Ethical Society on Rittenhouse Square, poet Dana Levin read from In the Surgical Theater, winner of the 1999 APR/Honickman First Book Prize. I really appreciated Levin's detailed introductions to her poems, which explore her adult reflections on a childhood illness.

The Body Electric: Electrocution by Elocution
On Monday, April 24, at Borders (1727 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, 215.568.7400), APR editors Stephen Berg and David Bonanno will read from The Body Electric: 25 Years of America's Best Poetry from 'The American Poetry Review' 1975-2000. This collection spans the field of contemporary American poetry from the most experimental language poetry to traditionally formal verse. May The American Poetry Review continue to jolt us with high-voltage poets into the millennium.

Iron Man Robert Bly Will Beat His Drum in the City of Brotherly Love
From Monday, May 8 through Friday, May 12, Robert Bly will conduct a poetry residency hosted by The American Poetry Review (1721 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, 215.496.0439) that will include a teacher's workshop, a day at Central High School, a workshop for local poets (selection deadline was April 7), and the following two free public events:

• Lecture: “The Dangers of Our Childish Society”
  Tuesday, May 9, 7:00 pm, Philadelphia Ethical Society on Rittenhouse Square
• Reading, reception & booksigning
  Friday, May 12, 7:00 pm, Philadelphia Ethical Society on Rittenhouse Square

NOTcoffeeHouse Not a Bad Way To Spend First Sundays
Most verse found in church basements is probably molding in old, gold-paged hymnals -- verse the pagan poets among us might call notpoetry. But church-basement poetry venues are gaining ground on the local poetry landscape, one such rise being the NOTcoffeeHouse at the First Unitarian Church (2125 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, 215.563.3980). Since its inception five years ago, this first-Sunday-of-the-month series, which begins at 1:00 pm, has presented nearly 100 poets and performers in over 40 programs, including local notables Nathalie Anderson, Leonard Gontarek, Bob Perelman, and Toshi Makihara. Hosted by Richard Frey, co-founder with widely published poet Jeff Loo, the NOTcoffeeHouse Poetry and Performance Series typically features two poets and one musical act for a mere $1 admission. In cooperation with Poetry for the People -- committed to “inciting collisions between art and activism” -- NOTcoffeeHouse celebrated National Poetry Month by collecting clothing as the admission cost for the March and April events, which will be donated to local organizations serving people living in shelters. Also during the month of April, local poets have been reading at participating shelters.

NOTcoffeeHouse's May event will not be held on the first Sunday at 1:00 pm, but rather on the third Sunday, May 21, at 3:00 pm, to accommodate the schedule of The Pickle Jar, a performance troupe of five students from New York University's Creative Writing program. They will perform their slam that imagines a party of poets from across time -- Sappho, Sylvia Plath, Emily Dickinson, Ted Hughes, and Rumi -- taking place at Dickinson's Amherst, MA home, and that won the Dead Poet's Slam contest at the Poetry Olympics held at the Brooklyn Brewery this past November. Also reading will be Greg Biglieri, Kyle Connor & Kerry Sherin among others.

He-Poets Flex Their Metaphors at the Painted Bride
As part of MANaFEST, its six-week festival featuring a manifold of male visual and performing artists, the Painted Bride Art Center (230 Vine Street, Philadelphia, PA, 215.925.9914) invited five poetic Galahads to read their work. First, on Sunday, April 16, also as part of the Vintage Bride 30th Anniversary Celebration series, Derek Walcott, Yuseff Komunyakaa and Thomas Sayers Ellis brought us their “Blessed Crafts,” three generations of poetry influenced by their African American heritage, but reminding us that the human experience is still most central in our modern age. My favorite part of the program was Derek Walcott's proud, heartfelt acknowledgement of his poetic sons before reading excerpts from his most recent work about French painter Camille Pisarro's actual Caribbean roots. Playwright and winner of the Nobel Prize for poetry, Walcott commended Thomas Sayers Ellis, Dark Room Collective co-founder and Pushcart Prize winner, for his artful ability to create tension in his writing (and likewise his reading), a sign of a great poet. Walcott then criticized the gross underrecognition of Yusef Komunyakaa's cornerstone in the foundation of the contemporary American poetry establishment. This particular Sunday afternoon, Komunyakaa read less powerfully than I've seen previously, but I forgave him when he read “Thanks,” a heart-stopping expression of gratitude to God for saving him from near-death during the Vietnam War. Following the reading, former Bride poetry curators Gil Ott and Major Jackson discussed the history of poetry in Philadelphia and at the Bride.

Later this season, on Sunday, May 7, at 3:00 pm, Miguel Algarìn and Aaren Yeatts Perry will perform their multilingual word maneuverings, also as part of the Bride's Living Word Poetry series. Co-founder of the Nuyorican Poets Café with noted playwright Miguel Piñero, Miguel Algarìn fathered the literature of Puerto Rican identity, having authored over fifteen volumes of poetry, plays, and criticism, his most recent being Love is Hard Work: Memorias de Loisaida. Opening for Algarìn will be cross-genre performance poet Aaren Yeatts Perry, who also teaches creative writing in schools throughout the region, and wrote the textbook Poetry across the Curriculum. His hard-driving, in-your-face poetry is available on his 1999 CD entitled Mercury Calling.

Poetry Miscellany

• Monday, April 24, 6:00-8:00 pm, “Food for Thought: The Poetry of AIDS,” at the AIDS Library (1233 Locust Street, 215.985.4851), a free reading by AIDS activist and award-winning author River Huston, along with author and HIV counselor Cy Jones. Food and beverages will be served.
• Monday, April 24, 6:30-8:30 pm, Jim Cory, free reading and open mic to follow, at the main branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia (19th & Vine Streets, Philadelphia, PA) to close the Monday Poets series.
• Wednesday, May 3, 7:00 pm, Sascha Feinstein at the Poetry Center at The Gershman Y (Broad & Pine Streets, Philadelphia, PA, 215.545.4400), recent winner of the Hayden Carruth Award for Emerging Poets, co-editor with Yusef Komunyakaa of two anthologies of jazz poetry, co-director of Lycoming College's Creative Writing program, and editor of the literary journal Brilliant Corners, will be reading from his new book Misterioso. Back to headlines

  --Marj Hahne