The cavalcade on Saturday night was scheduled to last for five hours.
That's how much poetry, and how many kinds of poetry, goes on around here. Yes, it's April, Poetry Month, but Philadelphia has an April every month.
Poet Nathalie F. Anderson writes by e-mail: "From experimentalists to traditionalists . . . from the university to the jazz club, from black-tie formality to the urgently confessional, this town celebrates it all. And April truly is the cruelest month: so many enticing poetic events that no one person could possibly hear them all."
Poet Miriam Kotzin says, "You can go to a reading any day of the week and hear poetry in a wide range of settings."
Daniel Hoffman (U.S. poet laureate, 1973-74) says, "The poets, both in academic writing programs and these groups of enthusiasts, span a wide range of poetic styles, from formalism to free verse, including those in such movements as Language and confessional poetry."
Nobody better exemplifies the energy and vibrance of the Philly poetry scene than its young poets. When we asked some of the area's prominent poets and teachers, they gave us dozens of names, all talented, deserving voices. Since we couldn't include everybody, below we offer a selection of seven poets between 17 and 30.
They are a diverse group, from the flamboyant performance poetry of Levy to the ironic, worldly verse of Munashe Gwaradzimba (a Zimbabwean studying at Wharton), to the elegant villanelles of Luke Stromberg. If their lines attract you, hear them read their own poetry at www.philly.com/hearPoets2011.
