Food for Thought: ideas for readings, poetry events

The following is drawn from / inspired by the PEN newsletter description of World Voices Festival schedule: A Citywide Reading: Food for Thought, Food for the Palate. 


Events we miss but read about are also fodder for future events as we read about them and ask ourselves, "How would that play here?" and "How would we adapt (or scale) it?" Here's one about remembering the past, dealing with change in the present, waiting for the future, but not on empty stomachs. Indeed universal and flexible. Who could not imagine a similar event in Albuquerque where poetry already mixes with music, other performance arts, visual and plastic arts, food, social justice, activism, etc? 

At these site-specific readings (Saturday May 5), curated by PEN in partnership with A Public Space, three complex, rather poetic themes were examined and explored. Each was paired reading with a gastronomic experience. Festival followers were invited to select the event that best suit their mood and interests while sampling dishes designed to evoke the mood of each ~ enlightening and delicious.

Thinking of Mountainair, I say to myself "think about the challenge and even possible advantages of scaling to a smaller canvas," but cannot fool even myself. Read the description, though: surely Albuquerque or Santa Fe could do this just as well.

Memory in Harlem: Sonia Sanchez, Etgar Keret, Adam Manbach, Sharifa Rhodes-Pitt, and 2012 Pulitzer Prize-winning Tracy K. Smith read from their works dealing with the complexities of memory. With Chef Marcus Samuelsson of Red Rooser Harlem. [event details]
 

Metamorphosis in the East Village: When change occurs, what does it leave in its wake? What is left behind? Where better to explore these questions than in The Standard’s new hotel—itself a symbol of the ever-changing East Village. Join Maud Casey, Danielle Evans, John Haskell and others as they discuss the metamorphoses of identity and ideology in their work, and in today’s literary landscape. [event details]

Messiah in Brooklyn: This event ties into Distorting (A Messiah Project, 13C), an art installation created by R. Justin Stewart and curated by Risa Shoup at The Invisible Dog Art Center. Writers will interact with the sculpture as they read about what we as humans are (or are not) perpetually waiting for. Jennifer Egan, Karl O. Knausgaard, Luc Sante, and others will be reading. [event details]