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Poetry Sun Sep 29 2013
Playful Poetics at Glass Curtain Gallery
I didn't know anything about Bill Berkson, I don't think, before I came across notices for his reading with Jennifer Karmin this Tuesday, October 1, at 6pm at Glass Curtain Gallery (1104 S. Wabash). That was an oversight. When I began to investigate I thought, "hm, kind of a James Schuyler, Frank O'Hara feel"--good news if you like your poems to feel like conversations between wry, witty strangers, half-overheard. (Try Christmas Eve for that mode, although he has others.)
Turns out Berkson is no New York School imitator: he was there, having been mentored by Kenneth Koch and notably collaborated with O'Hara on Hymns of St. Bridget. On Tuesday, he'll be joined by local multidisciplinary poet Jennifer Karmin--you may know her as a founder of the experimentally minded Red Rover Reading Series. She often writes for multiple voices, which, in her readings, are rendered quite literally. At this event she'll bring up collaborators Stephanie Anderson, Bryan Mornar, Laura Goldstein, and Kenyatta Rogers to share the stage with her.
UPDATE Unfortunately, Bill Berkson has had to cancel due to health reasons. The organizers hope to reschedule the performance soon.