April is poetry month, as I said before, and I learned late that the poet Aaron Belz was in my home town April 4. Here’s a video of his poetry reading in St. Elmo. Many of these poems are quite funny and contemporary. He even reads a poem he wrote the day before, which he slightly apologizes for. Belz got his undergrad at Covenant College, which is the Presbyterian (PCA) liberal arts college next to Chattanooga. He went on to get his Ph.D. at Saint Louis University and published several poems in several places. He pulls from common literary knowledge and daily life. His most recent book is Glitter Bomb: Poems.

Like I said, he’s funny. One of the poems read in the video goes:

“There is no I in team,

but there’s one in bitterness,

one in failure.”

He also offers a few remarkable palindromes at 13:40. Enjoy.