National Poetry Month: Originals
by Jim Powell
Literature
April is National Poetry Month and as always the Indianapolis literary scene will be filled with the lyric of springtime. Poetry Month kicks off with two special events.
The 13th Annual Etheridge Knight Festival of the Arts with Poet Eugene Gloria (above) will be held at Glendale Library April 3, 4-7 p.m.; 925-0465, 524-6951.
On Saturday, April 3, the spring session of the 13th Annual Etheridge Knight Festival of the Arts gathers for readings, book sales, and discussions at the Indianapolis Marion County Public Libraries Glendale Branch Auditorium (6100 N. Keystone) from 4-7 p.m. If classic Hoosier poet James Whitcomb Riley was the founding father of the city’s interest in the spoken word, then Etheridge Knight was its revivalist. In the late ’60s, after taking up poetry during a prison stay, Knight returned to Indianapolis. He soon enthralled an audience of young poets here (and a national audience of poetry critics) with his griot-style of syncopated narratives that he called “belly-songs.” His love and advocacy of the oral presentation of poetry still influences the local poetry stage today. This year’s festival features DePauw poet Eugene Gloria and includes local writers such as Jennifer Adams, J.L. Kato, Eunice Knight-Bowens, Jeff Matheus, Jody Rust and Mijiza Yaa Soyini. The event is free; call 524-6951 for more information. And now for something completely different. On Monday, April 5, Russell Edson, dubbed “the godfather of the prose poem in America,” will read at Butler University’s Robertson Hall Johnson Room at 7:30 p.m. More information: 940-9861.
