Poets Who Know it

It's National Poetry Month, and, according to the Academy of American Poets, this marketing push will cause us to buy about 30 percent more poetry books in April than we did last month or will next month. Let's just hope this literary spring shopping spree does more than just return a certain dyslexic pop diva's drivel to the bestseller list. Come on, folkies: Jewel rhymes words such as "cripples" and "nipples" in poems that seem to require lots of dramatic pauses and an imaginary bongo beat. For your poetry purchases, look for local authors instead of lyricists.

Cynthia Macdonald's I Can't Remember was originally introduced last year, but it's being released in paperback for the first time this month. In it, the practicing psychoanalyst and founder of the University of Houston's Creative Writing Program subtly tackles the idea of repressed memories with unsubtle and arresting lines such as "Daddy had been slipping / his slick, rubber-bound prick into too many others." Her inspiration comes from the personal, the historical and the just plain strange. A news story about a poultry-truck accident spawned 11 chicken poems.

If you have trouble understanding Macdonald's preoccupation with poultry poetry, you're in luck. Fellow University of Houston poet and professor Edward Hirsch will be promoting his new book, How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry, at Brazos Bookstore on April 6. Also watch for a rerelease of Hirsch's 1998 collection, On Love, which received mixed reviews but has a fascinating premise: love poems attributed to a host of historical figures, from Ralph Waldo Emerson to Gertrude Stein.

Local poets without publishing contracts will spend Poetry Month spreading their word in person. Inprint House's "First Friday" event (April 2) will feature America's Best finalist Gobi Greig, and the one-year anniversary showcase of "Nuestra Palabra: Latino Writers Having Their Say" (April 28) spotlights new community talent. And don't miss April's installment of "Gynomite: Fearless Feminist Porn" (April 25): Founder Liz Belile opened last month's sold-out erotic poetry and prose reading at Atomic Cafe with a rousing rendition of her poem My Country, My Cunt.

-- Lauren Kern

For info, contact Brazos Bookstore, (713)523-0701; Inprint House, (713)5213519; Nuestra Palabra, (713)867-8943; or Liz Belile at gynomite@chickmail.com.

Houston Press is sponsoring a poetry contest (see "Poetry in Motion," page 4).