April Fool’s Poetry Night

SARATOGA SPRINGS — How many poets does it take to screw in a lightbulb? On Wednesday, April 1, at Saratoga’s Whitman Brewing Company, a dozen area poets will celebrate April Fool’s by reading their original comedic poetry. 

The event starts at 7 p.m. in the downstairs lounge at Whitman, located in the old Saratogian building at 20 Lake Avenue.

The evening, hosted by Saratoga Poet Laureate Jay Rogoff is billed as “April is the Foolest Month,” a twist on T. S. Eliot’s calling April “the cruelest month.” It will feature stand-up poems from such local wordsmiths as Joe Bruchac, Jackie Craven, David Graham, Carol Graser, Maggie Greaves, Elaine Handley, Susan Kress, Marilyn McCabe, Mary Sanders Shartle, Barbara Ungar, Nancy White, and Dan Wilcox.

“We’re taught about poetry as serious stuff,” Rogoff said, “but it can also be extremely playful. I invited a bunch of poets whose work has sometimes made me laugh out loud. We’re living through stressful times, and poetry and laughter together can help us get through. And how wonderful to hold a reading in an establishment named for Walt Whitman!”

The reading is part of the Laureate Poetry Series and is free and open to the public. Whitman Brewing will have its beverages for sale, in addition to a range of non-alcoholic offerings.        

For further information, contact Jay Rogoff at jrogoff@skidmore.edu.