(Erd)rich Words

Each year, Park University honors outstanding poets through its Ethnic Voices Poetry Series. The new round kicks off at 6:30 tonight, when Heid E. Erdrich reads at the Central Branch of the Kansas City, Missouri, Public Library (14 West 10th Street). Erdrich belongs to the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibway, one of the largest groups of American Indians, and has published three poetry collections. In The Mother’s Tongue, she explores her gender identity and her heritage. In that volume’s opening piece, “Offering: Words,” Erdrich muses: “we all spring mother-naked,/(bare, stripped, unclothed, undressed, and raw)/with nothing but our mother-wit/(brains, brain-power, sense) our native wit/with which we someday might mother.” The poet is the sister of author Louise Erdrich. A 6 p.m. reception precedes tonight’s reading. Call 816-701-3407 or see kclibrary.org.

Wed., Sept. 30, 7:30 p.m., 2009