National Poetry Month started yesterday, so I'm a day late in getting started, but here's some dribs and drabs that'll be of concern to people who like poems and poets. And there will be lots more poetry stuff to come before the end of the month, I'm sure ...
1. The last Observable Reading for the 2008-2009 season is April 9; the poets are Mairead Byrne and Matthea Harvey. Byrne is an Irish/American poet ("the first by birth, the second by choice"), who teaches poetry at the Rhode Island School of Design. She's been praised not just for her small and lovely poems but for her lyrical reading style, which you can get a taste of here. Harvey lives in Brooklyn, and earlier this year won the Kingsley Tufts Award for her latest collection, Modern Life. The reading is free, and takes place at 8 p.m. at the Schlafly Bottleworks, 7260 Southwest at Manchester. More info at observable.org.
2. Devin Johnston writes "to give early warning of a poetry event at Saint Louis University," which would be a reading by Bill Berkson:
"Berkson is a poet, critic, teacher and curator, who has been active in the art and literary worlds since the late 1950s. His many books and pamphlets of poetry include, most recently, Portrait and Dream: New & Selected Poems (Coffee House Press, 2009). A selection of his criticism, The Sweet Singer of Modernism & Other Art Writings, was published in 2003. Other recent publications include What's Your idea of a Good Time?, a series of interview exchanges and letters with Bernadette Mayer, and Sudden Address: Selected Lectures. Berkson is a corresponding editor for Art in America, on the editorial board of Modern Painters, and a contributor to Artforum and Art on Paper, among others. He taught at the San Francisco Art Institute from 1984 through 2007."
The reading is free, and takes place Tuesday, April 14, 4:30 p.m., with a reception to follow. The reading will be in Xavier Hall 332, 3733 West Pine Mall, Saint Louis University; call 314-977-3010 for more info.
3. Our web exclusive for April Culture & Events is a Q&A with Brian Turner, Iraq vet and author of Here, Bullet, who'll read at River Styx at Duff's this month, along with Edwardsville's Stacey Lynn Brown, author of the newly released and much-praised collection Cradle Song. (You can read an excerpt from the book on Poetry Daily.) Turner has a lot of very thoughtful things to say vis a vis poetry as well as our current sociopolital quagmire; it'll make you want to go see him read on April 20, I pretty much guarantee it. The time is 7:30 p.m., place is 392 Euclid, and parking in the CWE can be a bitch. Get there super early if you want to park nearby, or if you don't mind walking, give yourself a cushion of at least 15 minutes. Just a note to day that Styx does charge for readings (a practice I don't have a problem with, actually) so also come with cash in your pocket -- $5 for grownups, $4 for students -- plus a little extra for the bar and a book or two. --Stefene Russell
