Your Poetry Menu and American Life in Poetry column # 495

[Matt Mason]

The month winds down with some great readings, get out and enjoy!

• 9/17, W-- 7:30pm, the Writer's Workshop Reading Series at UNO features poet and translator Carl Phillips in the Art Gallery (Weber Fine Arts Building, UNO campus). Free and open to the public, sponsored by the College of Communication, Fine Arts, and Media.

• 9/17, W-- 8pm-12am, Acoustic Open Mic for musicians and poets at Meadowlark Coffee & Espresso (1624 South St, Lincoln). Hosted by Spencer. For more information call 402-477-2007. (every Wednesday)

• 9/17, W-- 8pm, Travis Davis invites you to "Poet Show It" at 1122 D St. (Lincoln). Local writers come and read. Local people come and drink. Coffee, Booze, Poetry, Fiction. Discovery. Discovery. Discovery. Go here for the FaceBook link: Facebook.com. (1st and 3rd Wednesday)

• 9/18, Th-- 7-11pm, Verbal Gumbo with Felicia Webster and Michelle Troxclair at House of Loom (1012 S. 10th St., Omaha). $5, all ages until 9pm, 21+ after. Crabby about the political climate? Want some okra change? Just want to discuss your relationshrimps--or the andouille sausage in your life? Well, Verbal Gumbo is here with some hot, spicey flava with a side o' rice and rhythm. This is the Spoken Word event that promotes our rich diversity of culture and style. Soul session immediately following by DJ Real. (3rd Thursday)

• 9/20, Sa-- 1-2pm, LETRAS Y VOCES: KC Latino Writers' Alliance reading at El Museo Latino (4701 S 25th St, Omaha) featuring Miguel Morales, Mario Duarte, Gustavo Adolfo Aybar. See the Facebook Event Page for more information.

• 9/21, Su-- 9pm-1:30am, it's Shoot Your Mouth Off at The Shark Club (2808 S 72nd St, Omaha). Online sign ups on our FB 24/7 for priority stage time: facebook.com/Shootyourmouthoff. Check myspace.com/shootyourmouthoff for interviews with features and more information. Mandy Morgan and Jim Morrison will be your hosts as open mic poetry and comedy, featured readers from Omaha's slam scene and free drinks prizes await you. The best free show in Omaha! (every Sunday)

• 9/22/, M-- 7pm, Open Mic at the Moon, at Crescent Moon Coffee (140 N 8th St #10 Lower Level, Lincoln). For more information, contact cresce...@inebraska.com and check www.crescentmooncoffee.com/. (every Monday)

• 9/24, W-- 8pm-12am, Acoustic Open Mic for musicians and poets at Meadowlark Coffee & Espresso (1624 South St, Lincoln). Hosted by Spencer. For more information call 402-477-2007. (every Wednesday)

• 9/25, Th-- 7pm, Poetry Slam in Vermillion, SD at Raziel's (13 West Main St, Vermillion SD). $5 at the door. Sponsored by the Vermillion Literary Project. For more information, see sites.usd.edu/projlit/poetry-slams (last Thursday of the month)

• 9/27, Sa-- 7pm, Open Mic Poetry Night at A to Z Books (507 North Jeffers, North Platte) -- ultra large bookstore. It's a fun, funny, widely varied group. Poems can be short or long, funny or touching, rhymed or free verse. Musicians too. George Lauby of The North Platte Bulletin emcees and makes you feel comfortable. (2nd Friday, 4th Saturday).

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American Life in Poetry: Column 495

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE

We’re at the end of the gardening season here on the Great Plains, and the garden described in this poem by Karina Borowicz, who lives in Massachusetts, is familiar to tomato fanciers all across the country.


September Tomatoes

The whiskey stink of rot has settled

in the garden, and a burst of fruit flies rises

when I touch the dying tomato plants.

Still, the claws of tiny yellow blossoms

flail in the air as I pull the vines up by the roots

and toss them in the compost.

It feels cruel. Something in me isn’t ready

to let go of summer so easily. To destroy

what I’ve carefully cultivated all these months.

Those pale flowers might still have time to fruit.

My great-grandmother sang with the girls of her village

as they pulled the flax. Songs so old

and so tied to the season that the very sound

seemed to turn the weather.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright © 2013 by Karina Borowicz, whose most recent book of poems is Proof (Codhill Press, 2014). Poem first appeared in the journal ECOTONE and is reprinted by permission of Karina Borowicz and the publisher Introduction copyright © 2014 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

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          Executive Director, Nebraska Writers Collective: newriters.org
                            My homepage: Matt.MidVerse.com
                    Find Nebraska poetry info at: PoetryMenu.com