Join us for our second Midday Arts Series event of the semester, presented in collaboration with the Intellectual Heritage program. This event, cosponsored by the Office of Sustainability, features Patrick Lawler, who will present Poemformances (poetry as performance) focused on a number of urgent issues: the environment, homelessness, gender issues, violence, race, and identity. 

These are poems about voice—multivocal, prismatic. The voices range from the Archetypal to the Biosemiotic, from the passionate to the humorous. The poems weave together the philosophical, the surreal, the ecological, the lyrical, the absurd, and the political. 

“Singing to the Earth until a Tree Grows” includes: 

• The last standup comic on earth in a hazmat suit coming to grips with finality and a broken answer buzzer; 

• A voice character for a postmodern cartoon show on an existential quest through the galaxy encountering ancient star civilizations—experiencing loneliness and despair while keeping his sense of humor, knowing this is only children’s TV. 

• A homeless person dancing to “My Girl” with CNN on in the background trying to define salvation as he unwraps the Death of the world. 

• And an email scammer from Nigeria where we learn about death and creativity, reality and fiction, and how to spend 9.5 million dollars. 

This program will be presented via Zoom. On the day of the program, use this link to join: https://temple.zoom.us/j/96956179976

Our programs are geared toward a general audience and are open to all, including Temple students, faculty, staff, alumni, neighbors, and friends. Registration is encouraged.