Weekend Events for Inside/Out

Don't Miss a Wonderful Weekend of Words and..MUSIC Poetry Jazz Sisters 3/16/12 -- Virgil Carr Center  At InsideOut, the spirit of creative collaboration is unending. Another fine example unfolds 6 p.m. this Friday with the Poetry Jazz Sisters, a special one-night event at the Virgil Carr Cultural Arts Center. The event is free and features poetry readings set to a jazz piano. The sisters include IO's founder, Terry Blackhawk, Princeton, NJ., poet Judy Rowe Michaels and special guest Ellen Rowe, an acclaimed jazz composer and chair of Jazz and Contemporary Improvisation at the University of Michigan. The event marks the official launch of Terry's new book, The Light Between, published by Wayne State University Press. Recipient of numerous awards for poetry and author of three books on teaching poetry and writing (most recently Catching Tigers in Red Weather, NCTE 2012), Michaels works as a teaching poet for the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation.  Come kick off your weekend with a fun-filled night of literary inspiration. Click here for a sample of Ellen's Music. Detroit Revealed: A City Uncovered in Images and Words 3/17/12 -- Detroit Institue of Arts Joseph Verge. Photo Credit - SunLife Financial Thanks to an invitation from our partners at The Detroit Institute of Arts, IO Youth Poet Joseph Verge will read a new poem inspired by Detroit Revealed, a photo exhibit featuring portraits, architecture, documentary photographs and videos by eight artists similarly inspired by Detroit. Verge, a member of IO's prize-winning slam team, reads during a special teen panel this Saturday at the DIA from 1:00 p.m. to 2 p.m. Verge previously represented IO as a featured youth poet at The White House.   The DIA appearance is part of a daylong series of conversations on art, culture and community, including a panel of Detroit poets who will discuss themes of the city as depicted in photos from the exhibit. "We're grateful to the DIA to have our students represented,'' says Blackhawk. "The invitation shows again that the work our writers do to help create culture is important.'' Each of the invited panelists has deep ties to IO, including founder Terry Blackhawk, journalist and board member, Desiree Cooper; playwright, poet and founding board member, Bill Harris and Vievee Francis, a former IO writer-in-residence. Featured Poet Judy Rowe Michaels LAST VISIT  I recognize the man on the other end of the leash.  We all three get off at the cancer floor and I know whose love has summoned this dog.  I've seen his picture in her room here and on the wall a calendar of Bernese mountain dogs, strong for work or love.   I've read about him in her poems, the puppy meant to be her sick boy's friend, who at Sam's death walked the fields with her.  Who came to know the hand's unsteadiness on the leash. His fur must have caught and held her tears like Sam's soft flannel quilt.   The dog is led away into a darkened room where last things now are first. The family's gathered, so I stay outside. Perhaps someone will lift her hand and bury it in the familiar coat-- so beautiful, the black and brown and white separate but blended, and the wet black nose that used to point her home.   -- Judy Rowe Michaels REVIEWING THE SKULL   WordPress Editions, 2010 Join Our Mailing List! VISIT OUR WEBSITE