Poetry by the Pier: Safety Harbor Favorite Poem Project! The Safety Harbor Public Library will host a Favorite Poem Project event on Thursday, November 7, 6:00 pm at Safety Harbor Waterfront Park. Bring your lawn chairs and picnic baskets for a literary evening under the stars. We’re asking you to pick your favorite, non-original poem to share with the community. The event is emceed by Safety Harbor Poet Laureate Steve Kistulentz and is free to attend. Interested readers may sign up at events.safetyharborlibrary.org/events/poetry-pier.
More on Steve Kistulentz: Steve Kistulentz was born in Washington, DC. He earned a BA in English from the College of William and Mary, an MA from the Johns Hopkins University, an MFA from the Iowa Writer’s Workshop, and a PhD from the Florida State University. Kistulentz is the author of two collections of poetry, Little Black Daydream (2012) and The Luckless Age (2010). His narrative nonfiction—mostly on the subject of popular culture—has appeared widely in journals. Kistulentz’s poems work against the pervasive influence of nostalgia, occupying the space between histories; they often focus on what Yeats called “counter-truth,” the gap between the commonplace understanding of an event and its more nuanced or even imagined reinterpretation.
Mike Krutel, writing in the American Book Review, compared the “lived-in landscapes” of The Luckless Age’s poems to John Berryman’s dream songs. His honors include the Benjamin Saltman Award for The Luckless Age, as well as fellowship support from Writers at Work, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and an individual award from the Mississippi Arts Commission. He has taught at the Johns Hopkins University; the University of Iowa, where he was the Joseph and Ursil Callan Scholar; and the Florida State University, where he was an Edward and Marie C. Kingsbury Fellow for Excellence in Thought. He has taught at Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi. Currently, he is the Director of the MFA Program at the University of Tampa.
The Favorite Poem Project was founded in 1997 by Robert Pinsky, the 39th Poet Laureate of the United States to emphasize Americans do read poetry and have discovered poetry’s profound, personal meaning.
Safety Harbor Waterfront Park is located at 110 Veterans Memorial Ln, Safety Harbor, FL 34695. Call 727-724-1525 ext. 4112 for more information or visit www.SafetyHarborLibrary.com.
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