…And the livin’ is easy. Or not. I do not support Summer; sure, I’ll abide that Summer exists, is enjoyed by most and must be tolerated, but – much like certain kinds of politics – I refuse to acknowledge that Summer should exist. Oppressive air and unbearably thin walls turn the serenity of my days and nights into a sweltering jungle of wicked beasties. There are but a few precious affairs that have the power to transform my lugubrious Summertime nature of sticky, sweaty and sulky, into smoldering, sultry and smooth. One is not polite table conversation and the other, my friends, would be poetry. Escape the humidity and let modern art and poetic license be your balm tonight as Sarabande Books presents Matt Bell and Wayne Miller at this month’s 21c Reading Series at 7:30pm.
Held on the final Monday of each month – excepting the decidedly busy November and December – the 21c Reading Series features poets and writers of local, regional and national repute hosted by Louisville’s most successful independent publishing house, Sarabande Books. Attendees can, as always, enjoy the eclectic and, ahem, world famous collection of 21c Museum Hotel for free as Bell and Wayne work their respective literary magicks.
Currently working as an Associate Professor of English at the University of Central Missouri, Wayne Miller divides his time between editing Pleiades: A Journal of New Writing (& Reviews) and working on his own personal poetic prowess. Miller has published three collections of poetry in his repertoire, including Only the Senses Sleep, The Book Props and last year’s release, The City, Our City.
Co-starring the night is fiction writer and newly-christened professor, Matt Bell. The author of the novella, Cataclysm Baby, Bell is also the pen behind a collection of short fiction, How They Were Found, as well as three chapbooks: Wolf Parts, The Collectors and How the Broken Lead the Blind. Now teaching at the University of Michigan, Bell also works as an acting editor at Dzanc Books and oversees the literary magazine, The Collagist.
Don’t just “beat the heat” (as they apparently are so fond of saying), embrace its finer finesse and fight the sky-fire with an unrelenting deluge of words. Make your monthly pilgrimage to 21c tonight, browse the art, say hi and show Summer whose boss.
21c Museum Hotel is located at 700 W Main Street.
Photo: Courtesy of Sarabande Books website www.sarabandebooks.org
