Bangor site of poetry walk

BANGOR – The second annual Penobscot Poetry Walk in downtown Bangor will begin at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 22. The event will feature readings at four locations by more than 20 well-known and emerging poets.

The walk, according to coordinator and University of Maine English professor Kathleen Ellis, is intended to evoke the spirit of William Carlos Williams’ lines:

It is difficult

to get the news from poems,

yet men die miserably every day

for lack

of what is found there.

The walk is modeled on a similar event held in Petaluma, Calif., and is intended to bring poetry to a wider audience.

The walk will include a celebration of the first public reading of Allen Ginsberg’s famous poem “Howl,” which took place Oct. 7, 1955, at the Six Gallery in San Francisco. It will include live music by Jay Bregman’s Neobop band and a choral reading of “Howl” by UMaine students. Laura Cowan, Terrell Crouch, Burt Hatlen and Anne Mathieson will read at this segment of the walk.

The walk winds up at Thistle’s Restaurant on Exchange Street with poets Linda Bickmaster and Elizabeth Garber of Belfast, who will read their work with a Latin American and tango theme, followed by a reading of tango ballads by Juan Santiago Rave and a live tango show by the Rave family, the proprietors of Thistle’s.

Students in Ellis’ UMaine class in poetry helped organize the walk and will serve as hosts and emcees at some of the readings.

Sponsored by the University of Maine Department of English, Bangor Public Library and Bangor merchants, the walk schedule is:

. Sarah’s Books, 10:30 a.m., Central Street, with Troy Casa, Annaliese Jakimedes, Kathleen March, Autumn Ward and Silvana Costa.

. Lippincott Books, 11:30 a.m., Central Street, with Constance Hunting, Tony Brinkley, Lacy Simons, Shirley Glubka and Lenore Hildebrandt.

. A reading of Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl,” 12:45 p.m., Bangor Public Library, 145 Harlow St.

. Poetry readings, music and tango dancing at Thistle’s Restaurant, Exchange Street.

The walk is free and open to the public. For more information, call 581-3858.