We talk about poetry a lot. And this is good. Good for the heart, mind, soul and cerebral cortex. Breathe in the sweet aroma of the sonnet. Quiver in the sinuous tension of terza rima. Let your inner hippie flow within the cascades of free verse. Bathe in the rich cords of the ballad. Let it RAIN purple prose! Poetry makes us (or, more than likely, just me) heady with some sort of cosmic (but not religious) chemical reaction. The metaphor, tone and timbre all mixing in a potion like those serotonin and dopamine cocktails that make our brains twitter with a completely-legal drunken miasma. April is National Poetry Month (so, just FYI, my writing is going to be about ten-times the legal limit for silliness); celebrate the stanza in all its forms, and kick off the good times with Carmichael’s this Sunday, April 1st , as they present the book Bigger Than They Appear: Anthology of Very Short Poems.
With a spotlight on the anthology’s editor, Katerina Stoykova-Klemer, other poets featured in the pages of this Kentucky proud volume will also be in attendance for the poetry bash. Names dropped for the guest list include Sheri Wright, Matthew Haughton, Richard Pearse, E. Gail Chandler, Mary O'Dell, Lynnell Edwards, Nettie Farris, Adam Day, Sherry Chandler, Laurie Clewett, Eric Scott Sutherland, Bobbi Burns, Don Boes, David Park Musella, Libby Falk Jones, Albert Jerriod Avant, George Ella Lyon, Richard Taylor, Frederick Smock, Nana Lampton, Rebecca Gayle Howell, Brett Eugene Ralph and Sonja DeVries.
Although a great many of you might still be sleeping off a spectacular hangover (whether from celebratory or commiseration zeal is neither here nor there), pop some ibuprofen, switch gears and head out to Carmichael’s Frankfort Avenue store at 4pm (you really should be awake by then) for another celebration – Bluegrass style – dedicated to our dear love, the poem. Copies of Bigger Than They Appear: Anthology of Very Short Poems are available at both stores in paperback for $15.00. Poem, poem on the page, your shortest wisdom is my sage!
Carmichael’s Bookstore has two area locations: 1295 Bardstown Road and 2720 Frankfort Avenue. For more information about National Poetry Month and Sunday’s celebration, visit the event page or call the Frankfort Avenue Store at (502) 896-6950.
Image: Courtesy of Carmichael’s Bookstore website www.carmichaelsbookstore.com
