Among the more hopeful signs on the local literary scene is the ongoing health of the Writer’s Voice series sponsored by the YMCA of Metropolitan Detroit. Co-ordinated by poet M.L. Liebler, this moveable feast of language art offers readings by terrific Detroit-area and out-of-town writers in various simpatico venues, one of the more regular of these being the Scarab Club at the corner of John R and Farnsworth (behind the Detroit Institute of Arts).
The next two weeks in the series are particularly enticing, what with the reading on Wednesday, Oct. 24, 7:30 p.m., by New York poet Eleni Sikelianos and Detroit experimentalist Carla Harryman. And then on Saturday, Oct. 26, 7 p.m., St. Mark’s Poetry Project director Ed Friedman (a writer who has pioneered a particularly intimate brand of performance poetry) and New York poet Maureen Owen (pictured, who combines meditative lyricism with an almost unbearable sensuality) promise to keep the excellence alive.
Soon afterward, on Nov. 2, 7:30 p.m., legendary New York fiction writer Fielding Dawson will be joined by San Francisco poet and sensei David Meltzer. Call 313-831-1250 or 313-267-5300, ext. 338 for more information.
All of the readings are at the Scarab Club and free — so is this a huge and happy shot of what our imaginations need or what?
The Hot & the Bothered was written and edited by George Tysh. E-mail at gtysh@metrotimes.com
