For the past year or so, I've wanted to swing by Black Bear Bakery for their Saturday morning brunch. Our old ritual was Soulard Market on Saturday mornings (not too early), with the first stop always being Black Bear's booth for coffee and carbs. I've always dreamed about what Black Bear's pancakes would be like, since their pastries were always just right -- not too sweet, not too dense, not too fluffy, not too doughy. As it is, I have a standing obligation on Saturday mornings, and though the brunches go till 2pm, I never manage to get down there in time for pancakes, or coffee, or even a loaf of Lickhalter bread.
This Saturday, though, I am going to get my act together. My dad was the pancake chef for the ages, and I'll go anywhere for good pancakes. However, the lure this weekend is not breakfast food, but poetry. Words on Purpose, a group of socially conscious writers who do regular readings to benefit local organizations like the International Center and the Anti-Violence Advocacy Project of the St. Louis Region, have organized a benefit reading for Studio STL, a free literary arts center for youth. (The model, for those who are familar with it, was Dave Eggers' 826 Valencia).
On the docket: Essayist Rockwell Gray, creative nonfiction prof at Webster and Wash. U., and author of A Century of Enterprise (which chronicles 100 years' worth of St. Louis industry), as well as a biography of Spanish philosopher Jose Ortega y Gasset; also Madison poet Matthew Guenette, whose book Sudden Anthem won the 2007 American Poetry Journal Book Prize. You poetry people who miss Aaron Belz's hilarious but very smart poems -- Guenette is a kindred spirit (check out "Sestina Aguilera" and you'll see what I mean; see more work here).
The reading is at 4pm, the admission is $5, and 100 percent of the money goes to Studio STL. Black Bear is located in the old Vandora Theater Building at 2639 Cherokee, and while I don't imagine they will have pancakes at that hour, they will have delicious Fair Trade coffee and lovely cakes and breads that you can buy and take home for later. Because nothing could be better than a Saturday in early spring, supplemented by cake and poetry. --Stefene Russell
