Fat Tuesday

It's Fat Tuesday in the blog and in the churchy calendar. As it happened, we saved yester-day's birthday cake till today, and, were we devout, I suppose we would have to eat it all today, but then we might explode or do bad things to our cholesterol count. This particular cake came from the Jewel bakery and was called something like Decadent 3-Chocolate Tiger-Striped Cake and I am adding Mercifully Small to this moniker. OMG.

OK, yes. We can call it the OMG Mercifully-Small Decadent 3-Chocolate Tiger-Striped Cake. I would show you a picture of it, but I can't find one, or take one. So I am showing you luscious fruits by Jonathan Koch, as usual, plus the turnip we can eat tomorrow.

It's been a busy couple of months, and this is a busy week, with two poetry events in it, both involving ekphrasis. Tonight, at Illinois Wesleyan University, in Westbrook Auditorium of Presser Hall, at 8:00 p.m., people can attend the New Music Cafe, for free (!), and hear new vocal music, as well as Mackinaw Ekphrasis, new music composed by David Vayo in response to photographs by Ken Kashian, with Mario J. Pelusi conducting.

Earlier, several central Illinois poets responded to these central Illinois photographs with poems, and some of the poets will be reading those poems before the music is heard. I've heard a rehearsal of the music, and it's gorgeous! I hear water, I hear weather--thunder, lighting, the wind--and somehow maybe I hear corn growing! The poems and photographs can also be found in Kashian's book Along the Mackinaw River. You can also find the photos here, at Ken's photosharing website.

Then Thursday (7:30 at the McLean County Arts Center) is the Ekphrasis Class poetry reading, with Candace Armstrong and Jan Neuleib reading new work, and guest poet Jannett Highfill reading art-related poems from her new book Light Blessings Drifting Together. I am reading two new poems based on the MCAC exhibits, and ekphrastic poems from Nocturnes, hot off the Hyacinth Girl press.

We timed and rehearsed our part of the program today at the MCAC at our last official class meeting, and it was fun! We hope to see you there.

In the meantime, eat up!