Tucson is a magical place in May. That certain breeze carrying the not-yet-blistering, sultry-but-not-sweltering heat, the one that sends so many scurrying, will leave roads wide open for the rest of you to zip over to the Poetry Center to enjoy the third biennial symposium "Poetry off the Page."
Artists and writers from all over the country will present multimedia poetry performances including theater, film/video, sound, recitation, dance, music, sculpture and the digital/graphic arts.
The public is invited to this dramatic, electric, spectacular weekend of performances, classes, panels, exhibitions and matinee screening of original, never-yet-seen "poemfilms."
All events are at the Poetry Center, 1508 E. Helen St., unless otherwise noted.
Here are a few highlights from the "Poetry off the Page" schedule:
People are also reading…
Sonic Lens: Visual and Aural/Poetic Sampling - 7 p.m. May 18
•Christine Hume and her "The Speech Talks Back." The audio show contains arrangements and displacements of recorded nonpoetic, nonliterary speech, in a performance that refigures poetry's classic oral qualities.
• Cecilia Vicuña's "Improvisatory Oral Performance" draws on the poet, artist and filmmaker's various gifts of chant and incantation to create a multimedia sound performance piece.
• "Undocumented and Here," a video essay by Claudia Rankine and John Lucas adds to the continuing dialogue regarding what it means to be unauthorized and here.
Poet's Theater - 6 p.m. May 19. At The Rogue Theatre, 300 E. University Blvd.
• Flash Plays by Brent Cunningham. Each play selects and trains its nonprofessional actors, frequently taking them directly from the audience. Audience members, get ready for your closeup.
• "See Here," a presentation by Julie Patton. The multimedia poetry performance piece includes jazz guitar accompanist Paul Van Curen.
• Dancer K.J. Holmes and poet Julie Carr create a hybrid work that dissolves the boundary between text and bodies of text.
• "Betraying Blackness," by the Black Took Collective combines written and aural language, sound, video and images to address race.
• Visual Poetry/Visual Essay screening - 10 a.m. May 20.
A screening of new, never-seen works by poets Kate Greenstreet, Sawako Nakayasu, Forrest Gander, Robyn Schiff and Nick Twemlow, Joshua Marie Wilkinson and others.
Tickets: $15 for each night. Tickets for the whole three-day symposium, which includes classes, panel discussions and the above events, are $150; $80 for students.
More information: See poetry.arizona.edu/symposia/poetry-page
For a full schedule of events, visit poetry.arizona.edu/content/poetry-page-schedule
Annie Guthrie is a poet, artist and member of the UA Poetry Center staff. To submit information on poetry events, go to dailystarcalendar.com For a full listing of events, check dailystarcalendar.com Poetry Lines appears in the Star's Home + Life section the first Sunday of the month. It will go on hiatus for the summer and return in September.
