The Baseball Reliquary Presents
POETRY BALL
The Los Angeles Bards Return to Pasadena

Sunday, September 21, 2008, 2:00 P.M.
Donald R. Wright Auditorium, Pasadena Central Library
285 E. Walnut Street, Pasadena, California
Free Admission / Information (626) 791-7647

            The Baseball Reliquary will present Poetry Ball, a celebration of baseball poetry and prose, on Sunday, September 21, 2008, at the Donald R. Wright Auditorium of the Pasadena Central Library, 285 E. Walnut Street, Pasadena, California. The first stanza will be thrown at 2:00 P.M. and admission is free.
            It has been said that poetry and baseball capture and express the true essence of the American people. As proof of our twin national pastimes, the roster of poets who have gone to bat for baseball is a veritable All-Star squad of wordsmiths: Walt Whitman, Marianne Moore, William Carlos Williams, Robert Creeley, Tom Clark, May Swenson, Donald Hall, Kenneth Patchen, and Quincy Troupe, among others. In fact, Robert Frost, perhaps the best known and most beloved poet of the 20th century, summed up his passion for the game in a letter, written early in his literary career, in which he said, "Nothing flatters me more than to have it assumed that I could write prose — unless it be to have it assumed that I once pitched a baseball with distinction."
            Los Angeles poets have had their own distinguished relationship with baseball. Several years ago, poet, playwright, and recording artist Michael C Ford scoured the sandlots of Southern California to stock the Los Angeles Bards, a free-swinging team of heavy-hitting and rubber-armed literary figures. In 2002, the Bards tossed out metaphors and plenty more at the Pasadena Central Library, where their inaugural game was recorded for posterity in the Baseball Reliquary/Hen House Studios CD, The Los Angeles Bards Live in Pasadena.
            After six years on the road, the Los Angeles Bards return to Pasadena to play for the hometown crowd once again, reading a crackerjack selection of baseball poetry and prose and perhaps hitting a few grand slams in the process. Capably managed by Michael C Ford, the Bards’ current lineup features a nice mix of seasoned veterans and fresh-faced rookies, including: Brendan Constantine, CF; Jerry Garcia, C; Eloise Klein Healy, 3B; Rick Lupert, DH; Bill Mohr, LF; Mindy Nettifee, SS; Harry E. Northup, 1B; Holly Prado, RF; Kevin Patrick Sullivan, P; and Amber Tamblyn, 2B. In addition, the program will include a DVD excerpt from the 2002 game featuring a fallen Bard, the late Philomene Long, reading her poem, "Marcus Aurelius at a Dodger Game: Kirk Gibson Up to Bat."
            For further information, contact the Baseball Reliquary by phone at (626) 791-7647 or by e-mail at terymar@earthlink.net. Poetry Ball is co-sponsored by the Pasadena Public Library and is made possible, in part, by a grant to the Baseball Reliquary from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission.

 Parking Information

            A limited number of free parking spaces is available at the north end of the Pasadena Central Library in the library lot, on Garfield Avenue just north of Walnut Street. Please note that additional free parking is available at the adjacent University of Phoenix underground parking structure, which is located just north of the library parking lot. To access the University of Phoenix lot, enter the driveway off Garfield Avenue near the corner of Corson Street.