The Cap Times | April 2018 |

Madison poet laureate Oscar Mireles is teaming up with the Madison Public Library to bring an unprecedented number of verse-related events to the city this month. The ambitious series will run through April as a way to honor National Poetry Month and to stoke the city’s interest in poetry of all shapes and sizes.

With a host of free events, readings and discussions with local writers, the projects reflect Mireles’ desire to spread the word that poetry isn’t a stuffy academic exercise; it’s for everyone.

“I think a lot of people see poetry as dead-people poetry — I pretty much saw it the same,” says Mireles. “But with all of the different ways of expressing it — whether it’s on the bus, the sidewalk, or at a City Council meeting — [poets] make it available and accessible.”

The month’s events kick off April 6 with a 6:30 p.m. reading and discussion with Mireles and other poets sponsored by the Greenbush Writers’ Collective at…continue reading>>