Indiana Dead Poets Celebration - May 4th

Brick Street Poetry Inc., the not-for-profit that publishes the Tipton Poetry Journal and sponsors the monthly series, Poetry on Brick Street, will host the Indiana Dead Poets Celebration from 6- 8 p.m., May 4, in the historic Gothic Chapel at Crown Hill Cemetery, 700 W. 38th St., Indianapolis.

The celebration, free and open to the public, will honor the work of five Indiana poets - Sarah T. Bolton, James Whitcomb Riley, Meredith Nicholson, Etheridge Knight and Ruth Lilly - who are all buried at Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis. Costumed re-enactors will read the works of these poets. Finger foods from the lifetime of each poet will be served. The poet reading Ruth Lilly’s poetry will not be in costume.

The Indiana Dead Poets Celebration is one of the stops on the 22-state 2009 Grand Tour of the Dead Poets Society of America. Among the guests will be Maine poet, Walter Skold, founder of the society. Skold will announce a national contest.

Those attending this event should go to the cemetery’s 34th Street and Boulevard Place entrance. To reach the 34th Street entrance at Boulevard Place: turn east (from the corner of Michigan Road and 38th Street) on 38th St. to Boulevard Place (2nd stop light) and turn right (south). Proceed south on Boulevard Place to 34th Street (stop sign) and turn right (west). Enter Crown Hill Cemetery through the large stone gate.

For more information, email info@brickstreetpoetry.org.

This program has been made possible through a matching grant from the Indiana Humanities Council in cooperation with the National Endowment for the Humanities.