Your Poetry Menu and America Life in Poetry: Column 515

[Matt Mason]

• 2/2, M-- 7pm, Special event at Open Mic at the Moon, at Crescent Moon Coffee (140 N 8th St #10 Lower Level, Lincoln): Queer Poetry Slam featuring UNL's Stacey Waite, Poets from Louder than a Bomb: Great Plains, among many other special slam poetry guests (See more at the night's Facebook page. Fundraiser Raffle will also take place! For more information, contact cresce...@inebraska.com and check www.crescentmooncoffee.com/. (every Monday)

• 2/4, 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)

• 2/8, 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)

• 2/9, 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)

• 2/11, 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)

• 2/13, F-- 7pm, Open Mic Poetry Night at Espresso Shoppe (419 North Dewey St, North Platte). 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).

• 2/14, Sa-- 1:30-3:30pm, Free poetry writing workshop at the Abraham branch library (5111 N 90th St, Omaha) taught by Chicago poet Tim Stafford. It's aimed at high school students but open to all. Sponsored by Omaha Public Library and the Nebraska Writers Collective.

• 2/14, Sa-- 7:30pm, the OM Center Poetry Slam and open mic (1216 Howard, Omaha). It's the longest-running slam in Omaha, often featuring some of the best performance poets in the nation. Open mic starts at 7:30 followed by the slam; sign up BEFORE 7:30 as signup is limited. Hosted by Zedeka Poindexter. $7 suggested donation. Call 402/345-5078 or go to OmahaSlam.com for more information. (2nd Saturday of every month)

• 2/15, 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)

• 2/16, 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)

• 2/17, Tu-- 7pm, the Lincoln Poet Tree Slam at Meadowlark Coffee & Espresso (1624 South St, Lincoln). (3rd Tuesday)

• 2/18, W-- 7:30pm, the Pizza Shoppe Battle Slam at the Pizza Shoppe (6056 Maple St, Omaha). Signup starts at 7pm, the P.S. Battle Slam is a slam where eight poets go head-to-head to earn high scores from the judges, with the winner advancing to the next round. At the end of the night, one will emerge victorious, and earn the right to face the previous month's winner for the P.S. Poems Belt. Poets should come prepared with at least three poems of three minutes or less, and a fourth if they'd like to face the champ. Open mic at the beginning. $5.

• 2/18, 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)

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American Life in Poetry: Column 515

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE

Dogs are smart enough to get people to take care of them, a skill that a lot of people haven’t learned, but they’re still wild at the heart. Paul S. Piper lives in Washington.

Dog and Snow

Dog sees white. Arctic

light, the bright buzz in the brain

of pure crystal adrenaline. In a flash

he is out the door and across the street

looking for snowshoe hares, caribou, cats.

His wild ancestry ignited, Dog plunges

his nose into snow up to his eyes. He sees

his dreams. Master yells from the front porch

but Dog can’t hear him. Dog hears nothing

except the roar of the wind across the tundra, the ancient

existential cry of wolves, pure, devastating, hungry.

Time for crunchies. Taking many detours, Dog

returns to the porch. Let master think what he

wants. Freedom comes at a price.

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 ©2011 by Paul S. Piper from his most recent book of poems, Dogs and Other Poems, (Bird Dog Publishing, 2011). Poem reprinted by permission of Paul S. Piper and the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2015 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
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