Great Night for Humor and Poetry

Last night Berkeley's Freight and Salvage hosted Dan & Dale Zola's poetry-and-music event, "A Great Night of Soul Poetry." I missed it, but fortunately it can now be heard online. The performances are professional, lively and often hilarious.

My favorite is the rendering of Naomi Shihab Nye's "A Boy and His Mother at the Nutcracker." First runner-up: Billy Collins' "Child Development." Second runner-up: "Forgetfulness" by Billy Collins. There's some Rumi, some Mary Oliver, some William Stafford -- accessible stuff. The best are the funny pieces. Some of the serious ones don't work as well. I hope they're going to have more of these evenings. Best is to be in a live performance, second-best to listen online. Poetry performances should more often be combined with music.