R190. The Pink Tuxedos

Ballroom A, Level 1
Thursday, April 9, 2015
1:30 pm to 2:45 pm

 

The poem-doo-wop singers, The Pink Tuxedos, appeared as a special event at AWP in Palm Springs in 2001. Their new, re-styled performance will reprise that earlier presentation (Great Poems sung to doo-wop melodies—i.e. Donne's, "Batter My Heart, Three Person'd God" to the tune of "One Summer Night", etc.). New arrangements by composer Reena Esmail include Plath's "Daddy" sung to "Dream Lover", Wordsworth's "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" to Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," and beyond. The performance will feature a guest appearance by Marilyn Nelson.


Participants

Moderator:

Carol Muske-Dukes is the author of eight books of poems, four novels, two essay collections, and two edited anthologies. She is an English and creative writing professor at the University of Southern California. Founder of USC's Phd program in creative writing and literature, she is the former poet laureate of California. She has received a Guggenheim fellowship and an NEA grant.

Rita Dove is a former Poet Laureate of the United States (1993-1995) and recipient of the 1987 Pulitzer Prize in poetry for her book, Thomas and Beulah. Her most recent poetry collections are Sonata Mulattica and American Smooth. She is commonwealth professor of English at the University of Virginia.

Sophie Cabot Black has three poetry collections: The Misunderstanding of Nature, The Descent, and The Exchange. Most recently, she taught at Columbia University.

#AWP24

February 7–10, 2024
Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City Convention Center