National Poetry Month comes but once a year, and UNM will celebrate this April with a smorgasbord of poetic delights.
UNM LoboSlam will host the 2008 College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational Wednesday, April 2-Saturday, April 5. College poetry slam teams from across the nation will come to Albuquerque to compete for the national CUPSI title, sponsored annually by the Association of College Unions International.
Preliminary bouts will be held at the UNM Student Union Building, April 2-3 at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. Semi-finals will be held at the National Hispanic Cultural Center, April 4 at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. The finals and a featured performance by Mexican spoken word troupe Verbolala will be held at the Historic El Rey Theatre, April 5 at 7 p.m. Tickets for the finals will be available at the door, $7 for students, $10 general admission. All other events are free.
In a rare public appearance, Bryan Konefsky, lecturer in UNM’s Department of Cinematic Arts, will exhibit a video installation homage to National Poetry Month at the Harwood Art Center, 1114 7th St. NW, April 4-24. The project, “Let Me Say This About That,” was inspired by some of Konefsky’s favorite local poets. A reception will be held Friday, April 4, 5-8:30 p.m. The Harwood will also present an evening poetry and film in conjunction with the exhibit on April 11, 7-9 p.m.
The UNM Bookstore will present a line-up of New Mexico poets every Wednesday at noon, March 26-April 30.
Featured poets include:
March 26 – V.B. Price and Jennifer Bartlett
April 2 – Lisa Hase, Lisa Gill, Christina Yovovich, Kyle Churney, Gary Jackson
April 9 – Miriam Sagan
April 16 – Diane Thiel, Hakim Bellamy, LoboSlam team members, Sari Krosinsky, John Tritica
April 23 – Chris Wrenn, Amy Beeder, Stefi Weisburd, Phyllis Hoge Thomson, Jeffery Lee
April 30 – Richard Vargas, Levi Romero, Kenneth Gurney, Larry Goodell, Jose Montoya, Jessica Lopez
Guest Professor Valerie Martinez, author of “Absence, Luminescent” and “World to World,” will read poetry on Friday, April 19, in the Student Union Building Fiesta rooms at 7 p.m.
On Saturday, April 19, 3-6 p.m., four UNM poetry M.F.A. students – Kyle Churney, Lisa Gill, Gary Jackson and Christina Yovovich – and instructor Lisa Hase will host an open mic as part of the 39 Hour Poetry Jook Joint Marathon at Out ch’Yonda, 929 4th Street SW.
On Saturday, April 26, UNM students Dan Darling and Damien Flores will read with Meghan Jones and Adam Rubinstein at the 516 ARTS Gallery downtown, 516 Central Ave., at 8 p.m.