As some of the USA's best poetic minds come to perform in Notts, we learn about what we can look forward to...
As the new year arrives in a succession of grey windows, we’ve been looking forward to an injection of New World enthusiasm, as Five Leaves Bookshop hosts its evening of American poetry this coming Tuesday. Being easily impressed by accents from across the Atlantic, it’s hard for us to turn down an opportunity to listen to some of the States’ poetic stars, be they spangled or otherwise.
Jason Schneiderman, one of the leading lights of American poetry, will be performing - he’s a recent cover star of The American Poetry Review and winner of a buffet of merits including the Emily Dickinson Award from the Poetry Society of America.
Living here for a few months while on a Fulbright fellowship, Jason has quite rightly swapped New York City for Nottingham, the city that usually sleeps. His work is varied, taking in elegies and ancient myths, queer culture and sonnetteering - we love his sonnets particularly. So, that’s an exciting start.
Dante Micheaux will be completing the pond-crossing duo - his recent collection Circus has been incredibly well-received, winning the Four Quartets Prize from the Poetry Society of America and the T. S. Eliot Foundation.
'Micheaux’s poetry is always musical,’ says Stanley Moss, words that ‘reach into something Greek, into jazz, into the blues, into metaphysical English poetry.’ We can’t wait to hear how these ingredients come together. A man of several talents, Dante is also the Director of Programs at the Cave Canem Foundation, which aims to remedy the underrepresentation of African-Americans in writing and the fine arts across the United States.
It’s hard for us to turn down an opportunity to listen to some of the States’ poetic stars, be they spangled or otherwise
Nottingham’s Rich Goodson will be MCing the event, revving up the American contingent to help ‘banish the January blues’, he tells us. Rich himself is a bit of a talented polymath; as well as teaching refugees and working as a professional therapist, Rich’s debut poetry collection was selected by the Poetry Book Society as one of the four best pamphlets of the year and he will be (we are assured) sneaking some of his own well-crafted works into the show.
Now, all this may bring us no closer to a US-UK trade deal, but we certainly think it’ll add some pep to your winter.
Jason, Dante and Rich will be performing their poems at Five Leaves Bookshop this Tuesday and you can buy tickets here
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