Name: Poetry in 5D
Start: 2025-04-25T21:00:00-05:00
Location: Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis

HEARding Cats Collective is pleased to present Poetry in 5D, our annual poetry reading organized by founding member Anna Lum.
This year we feature a multigenerational cast of poets, separated by five decades worth of ideas, stories, and unique interpretations of the world around them. Each poet will be paired with a musician, some providing accompaniment to the poetry and others offering a musical response to the reading.
The event will take place at The Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, whose current exhibition, Like Water, will provide a stunningly beautiful environment for poetry and music. It will be a free event and begin at 8:00PM.
Wing Tek Lum will be featured as one of our visiting artists for the reading. Wing is an American poet, winner of an American Book Award, the Discovery/Nation Award, and the Association of Asian-American Studies' Outstanding Book Award. A graduate of Brown University, where he edited the literary magazine, Lum also holds a degree in divinity from Union Theological Seminary. His latest book of poetry, The Oldtimers (2024), is a fascinating historical and research driven poetry project that invites our imaginations on a voyage to Honolulu Chinatown circa 1900.
In addition, we will feature readings from Maud Kelly (visiting from North Carolina), Stefene Russell (visiting from New Orleans), and St. Louis based poets Anna Lum and Brett Underwood.
Music will be provided by St. Louis musicians Glen “Papa” Wright (percussion), Kevin Harris (synthesizer), Mere Harrach (cello), Danny Pankratz (nylon string guitar) and Mike Murphy (synthesizer). In addition to the musical responses to individual poetry readings, the musicians will perform as a five piece ensemble that will respond to the beauty and complexity of the museum’s current exhibition.