Come
to the Dover Public Library on Tuesday, April 22 at 6:30pm for an upbeat
musical visit with balladeer John Perrault. Hear the poems and songs that make
us laugh, cry, tell our story, and remind us who we are.
Guitar
in hand, this former Portsmouth Poet Laureate will sing the story of Song &
Poetry—the passion of their engagement, the bliss of their marriage, the
tragedy of their divorce, and now their long process of reconciliation. This getting back together began with the
work of Wordsworth and Coleridge, who counseled merging the old ballad form
with the personal lyric from the heart. Emily Dickinson took heed. As did Frost.
As did Langston Hughes. And it
continues right through today in the poetry and songs of writers like James
Wright, Mary Oliver, Bob Dylan, and Lennon & McCartney.
This
free program, a salute to the romantic tradition, is sponsored by the Friends
of the Dover Public Library in conjunction with the New Hampshire Humanities
Council.
John
Perrault is the author of “Jefferson’s Dream” (Hobblebush Books, 2009); “Here
Comes the Old Man Now” (Oyster River Press, 2005); and “The Ballad of Louis
Wagner” (Peter Randall Publisher, 2003).
His poems have appeared in The Christian Science Monitor, Commonweal,
Poet Lore, the Salmon Poetry Anthology Dogs Singing, and elsewhere. He is a New
England Foundation for the Arts and NH State Council on the Arts touring
artist, and a presenter for the NH Humanities Council.
John
was a co‐recipient
of the Rosalie Boyle/Norma Farber Award, 2008, from the New England Poetry
Club; a finalist in the 2007 Comstock Review Poetry Contest; and a past
recipient of the Virginia Prize from The Lyric.
He was poet laureate of Portsmouth, New Hampshire from 2003‐2005.
Selected
ballads and poems may be sampled at johnperrault.com. For more information, call the Dover
Library at 603-516-6050.
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