Poetry and Music in the Court House

It's a splendid early April in the Twin Cities, to which I have returned for the first time in 2017. And it didn't take long for me to stumble upon an accidental poetry experience. Looking for some free entertainment, I found a Courthouse Concert series event sponsored by Saint Paul's Schubert Club. It featured composure and guitarist Jeffrey Van, along with a violinist and a vocalist.
Mr. Van's first composition, which he performed solo, was a piece evocative of the Spanish composer Manuel de Falla, with whom I'm not familiar. But I enjoyed both that piece and the second composition, which was accompanied by the violist. But it was the third piece that really seemed destined for my enjoyment, because it featured an operatic singer performing poetry by Whitman, Crane, Wordsworth and Amy Lowell. The piece was titled Ring of Birds, and the vocalist was the amazing Clara Osowski. Aside from repeating some lines as a refrain, the piece stayed loyal to the original texts of the poetry. Hearing the words sung rather than recited reminded me that the divide between musical lyrics and poetry is, and should be, a rather porous one. As the title of the composition suggests, the poetry featured all had avian themes. (Whitman's "The Hermit Thrush," Crane's "Three Little Birds in a Row," Wordsworth's "...to a Skylark," Tennyson's "The Owl," and Lowell's "The Young Crows."
And speaking of unexpected themes for poetry, while I was still in New York a couple of weeks ago I attended a sports themed reading sponsored by Finishing Line Press at Poet's House. If you ever get a chance to hear Kentucky poet Ron Whitehead perform, don't miss out. His energy and spirit will lift any reading. (He read from his collection, Blistered Asphalt on Dixie Highway: Kentucky Basketball is Poetry in Motion. Also participating were Met's unofficial poet laureate Frank Messina, who did indeed read baseball themed work, female baseball umpire and singer composer Perry Lee Barber, Steve Dulachinsky and Danny Shot. Keyboard player and composer David Amram provided musical accompaniment. The whole excellent event was recorded by Poet's House, so it should be available online at some point if it's not already up there.