Is April really the cruelest month? T.S. Eliot thought so. But Syracuse is no cultural “Waste Land” this April – especially with Cruel April Poetry Happening, a series of readings and receptions with featured poets every Thursday of April at 6 p.m. at The Point of Contact Galley. Free, open to the public, and on the Connective Corridor, it features a compelling line-up of events.

APRIL 5
SARAH C. HARWELL, Faculty of Syracuse University’s Creative Writing MFA Program; Published in journals such as Poetry, TriQuarterly, Stone Canoe and Margie, Sarah is one of the poets in Three New Poets published by Sheep Meadow Press, 2006.

LENA RETAMOSO, Lima, Perú, Professor at City College of New York, NY; Lena’s poetry collection was published in 2008, in Spanish: Blanco es el sueño de la noche.

APRIL 12
SPECIAL EVENT: The Book as Object, and POETRY BOOK FAIR with an open dialogue. “In these times when technology and electronic publishing seem to threaten the survival of the printed folio, Point of Contact presents itself as an advocate for the survival of the book as an object. The evolution of the publishing industry is having an impact on readers, their preferences, their habits, and how they experience language arts … We all conceive art in multiple dimensions of expression, and it does not exclude any form,” — Pedro Cuperman, editor of Point of Contact

APRIL 19
JOHN BEER, Professor of Portland State University’s Creative Writing MFA Program; John is part of the Norma Farber First Book Award-Poetry Society of America, 2011 and the author of The Waste Lands and Other Poems (Canarium, 2010).

APRIL 26
URAYOAN NOEL, San Juan, Puerto Rico, Assistant Professor of English at SUNY Albany; Urayoan is the author of various poetry collections: BORINGKEN, and KOOL LOGIC/LA LOGICA KOOL.

APRIL is the cruelest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding
A little life with dried tubers.
Summer surprised us, coming over the Starnbergersee
With a shower of rain; we stopped in the colonnade,
And went on in sunlight, into the Hofgarten,
And drank coffee, and talked for an hour.
— T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land

For more information:
THE POINT OF CONTACT GALLERY
914 E. Genesee St. Syracuse, NY 13210 ● 315.443.2169
pointofcontactgallery@gmail.com