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Sunday, April 09, 2000 By Bob Hoover, Post-Gazette Book Editor
Now that it has a month to call its own, American poetry is attracting no end of attention. Anthologies are rolling off the presses, poets are crowding stages for readings, and writing contests are calling for entries.
The Academy of American Poets, a nonprofit organization that has its headquarters in New York, launched National Poetry Month in 1996. Now, with such co-sponsors as the American Booksellers and American Libraries associations, this year's schedule is its most ambitious, highlighted by two days of readings last week by former U.S. poet laureates in Washington, D.C.
Other events include a nationwide series of poetry discussions co-sponsored by the Library of America and Young People's Poetry Week, which begins tomorrow.
For details, visit the academy's Web site, www.poets.org.
Closer to home, here's a sampling of poetry-related events around town:
April
April 15 -- Anne Erbe and Chuck Erdeljac read at the Oakmont Carnegie Library at 1 p.m. Erbe is a retired English teacher at Riverview High School and Erdeljac is superintendent of the Riverview School District.
April 19 -- Pittsburgh Poetry Slam features Team Pittsburgh vs. Team New York at 7:30 p.m. at Brew House Space 101, South Side.
April 29 -- Poetry Without Walls at 8 p.m. at City Books, 1111 E. Carson St., South Side. Now in its fourth year, the program is open to all readers without signups. Details: 412-323-1884.
April 30 -- Always on Saturday: Poetry in The Post-Gazette, 7 p.m. at the Lester Hamburg Theater, South Side. The Post-Gazette celebrates six years of publishing original poetry with readings by 24 writers.
"American Poetry: The 20th Century" ($35 each) is a two-volume set from the Library of America and, as always from this quality publisher, it's a handsome production. Volume 1 begins with Henry Adams and ends with Dorothy Parker; Volume 2 runs from E.E. Cummings to May Swenson.
On the advisory board were Robert Hass, John Hollander, Carolyn Kizer, Nathaniel Mackey and Marjorie Perloff.
"American Poetry: The Next Generation" ($24.95, paper) from Carnegie Mellon University Press. Edited by CMU professors (and poets) Gerry Costanzo and Jim Daniels, this is a collection of works by poets born after 1959. With 173 writers, it's a sweeping and ambitious project by a local press.
"The New Young American Poets" ($16.95) is a smaller version of the CMU book from Southern Illinois Press with 40 poets represented. It's edited by poet Kevin Prufer.
"The Vintage Book of African-American Poetry" edited by Michael S. Harper and Anthony Walton (Vintage, $14 paper). Fifty black writers representing 200 years of poetry are collected.
"Prosody," the weekly poetry program on WYEP-FM, is currently holding its annual writing contest, with the winning entries to be read next month.
Deadline for the competition is April 22. It is open to anyone within range of the station. There's a Junior Prosody category for writers ages 5-15. Prizes will be offered for poetry, nonfiction and "flash fiction" writing.
Winners will read their works on two programs to be broadcast in May and at a reading at Barnes & Noble, Squirrel Hill, May 11. Judges are Judith Vollmer and Catherine Gammon. For complete guidelines, call 412-381-9131, Ext. 19.
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Readings