"A variety of Jack's fellow poets and musicians will be performing before, with and after Jack's reading. Jack's performance will be accompanied by Art Lande and Ken Bernstein," says So, You're a Poet, host Tom Peters. Joining the celebration are Reed Bye, Anselm Hollo, Elani Sikelianos, Dan Hankin, Jenny Dorn and more. The rest of the guests are being kept under wraps, but there's a good chance Collom's colleagues at Naropa University will be along for the ride, as well as plenty other notable poets from here in Colorado and beyond. Which is to say, this very well may be a nice grab bag of at least ten other poets and writers who will be performing.
The So, You're a Poet series has been a staple of Boulder's poetry beat scene, founded by Peters, it has seen plenty of appearances by Collom over the years and is a logical choice for the birthday gathering. For his part, Collom will be going on a 9 p.m. and will be joined by a number of special guests and assuredly a little yodeling and bird calls for good measure.
The night itself will be kicking off an hour earlier at 8 p.m., and with performances going on until at least 11 p.m., it will inevitably be a massive party in Collom's honor, but also a celebration of what he's still doing, which is impressive in itself. He's easily one of the most humorous poets from the era, so if you've stayed away from these types of things in fear of not really enjoying yourself, he's a good place to start. It's also free, so if you've never seen one of Colorado's most famous poets read, you should most certainly make your way up to Boulder tonight.
