Angels will appear on the North Shore, and people will experience awakenings through poetry in approximately 24 hours.
Lynn native and Boston poet Harris Gardner will be the featured poet of "Angels and Awakenings" with his partner, Lainie Senechal of Amesbury, at Monet's Garden Art Cafe in Beverly tomorrow night.
"It will be a spiritual, natural and worldly evening of poetry to provoke, entertain and stimulate a chore," Gardner said.
The latter half of the night will consist of poems based on Senechal's forthcoming book, "Vocabulary of Awakening," published by Pudding House Press.
The evening will begin with an open mike at 7 p.m. with Gardner and Senechal reading afterward. Walk-in poets will have approximately three minutes to perform and can read between three and five poems, depending on length.
Gardner is a real estate broker and a substitute teacher at Somerville High School by day and a poet by night. He regularly reads all over the North and South shores, in Boston, central and eastern Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.
He and Senechal will each present 10 poems — short and long in length — at Monet's Garden Art Cafe, on the first floor of Redbrick arts center.
In "Inquiries for Angels," Gardner asks 21 questions of angels, including how they were born and how much they weigh.
A graduate of Lynn English High School, Gardner said his English teacher, Barbara Ferguson, encouraged him to pursue a career in poetry.
Gardner will read poems threading an angelic theme while Senechal's poems will be about awakenings. Senechal, a poet, painter and environmental science teacher at Tewksbury Memorial High School, writes about nature, how changes in the season are awakenings, and spirituality.
"'After the Fall' is about letting go, not holding on to everything so tightly, and experiencing life,"
Senechal said, "It's a personal and spiritual realization after a lot of life experiences of a way to live and view life.
"My other poems are in response to the suicide of one of my closest friends," Senechal continued. "We will alternate it with angels, because they have a connection of dealing with loss and beyond life."
Senechal said she will particularly enjoy the open mike portion of the program.
"I enjoy listening to other people read poetry," she said. "You hear a lot of different poets try out their new stuff and hear what people think. To me, it's like music, and I really get into it."
Monet's Art Garden Cafe will be open for business while the poets discuss their spiritual encounters. According to Lisa Mello, night manager, the cafe specializes in paninis, organic salads and lattes.
"We're going to do staged readings. We read with emotion and convey the meaning of the poem. Others will be from memory that we'll perform," Gardner said.
IF YOU GO
What: "Angels and Awakenings" open mike poetry slam
When: Tomorrow, 7 to 9 p.m. Poetry readings follow open mike.
Where: Monet's Garden Art Cafe, 95 Rantoul St., Beverly
How much: Free; the cafe will be open for business.
Info: Cafe, 978-927-9270; Gardner, 617-306-9484
