National Poetry Month Celebration

A Month in Verse

 

Here at The Book Stall we're never without a reason or a season to celebrate new good reads, to discover new writers, and to anticipate new titles by old favorites. But deep down, we have an especially soft spot for National Poetry Month in April.

Inaugurated by the Academy of American Poets in 1996, it's a time to pay homage to poetry's vital place in our culture. It's also the largest literary celebration in the world, involving schools, publishers, libraries, booksellers, and poets. We'll be having our own poetry party at the store next Thursday, April 9, at 7 pm, with a Poetry Month Celebration starring several of the Chicago area's leading poets. See their names below, and please join us for a lively evening!

 April 9, 2015 @ 7:00 pm

Join us for The Book Stall's First-Ever Poetry Month Jam. We'll celebrate National Poetry Month with readings by esteemed local poets Lisa Marie Brodsky, Jim Davis, Gail Goepfert, Susan Moss, Alison O'Connor, John O'Connor, Alexandra Ranieri, and Deborah Rosen. We'll have wine and nibbles...and a very good time! All are welcome, poets and listeners alike.

Please stop by to browse our poetry section, where our own in-house published poet Robert McDonald recently pulled from our shelf Collected Poems by the late Jack Gilbert, who spent many years abroad, including the Mediterranean. One of Robert's favorites from the book:

The Edge of the World

I light the lamp and look at my watch.

Four-thirty. Tap out my shoes

because of scorpions, and go out

into the field. Such a sweet night.

No moon, but urgent stars. Go back inside

and make hot chocolate on my butane burner.

I search around with the radio through

the skirl of the Levant. "Tea for Two"

in German. Finally, Cleveland playing

the Rams in the rain. It makes me feel

acutely here and everybody somewhere else.

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