Hear Neighbor Greg Weiss Read His 'Thrilling And Brilliant And Oddly Tragic' Poems At The Cortelyou Library This Saturday

Neighbor Greg Weiss’ first book of poetry, Interstate, has received extraordinary reviews. Photo courtesy Greg Weiss.

For all our lovers of the written word out there, we have some great news: neighbor and poet Greg Weiss will be reading from his first book of poems, Interstate, at Cortelyou Library (1305 Cortelyou Road) this Saturday, April 18 at 3pm.

The event, which is part of the Cortelyou Library Friends’ Group’s local author series, is free and open to the public.

Greg’s poems have landed our neighbor, who teaches poetry at New York University, fantastic reviews. Poet Timothy Donnelly described Greg’s poems as “thrilling and brilliant and oddly tragic,” and writer Angela Ball wrote, “these poems’ music is that of a thoughtful listener who makes us better listeners.”

Poet Julia Johnson wrote of Greg’s work:

Greg Weiss’s wonderful debut, Interstate, covers the map, takes us to places such as the Middle East, New Orleans, and St. Louis. Each poem, a kind of jam-packed modern-day surrealist short story, pushes the limits of poetic narrative while dropping us into the middle of the lives of characters-from Nicole to Butch Cassidy to Elisabeth to Jack Johnson to Atticus Finch. Weiss reminds us of the world in which we too live-a world of the word game Ghost and Everybody Loves Raymond and Titanic andThe Diary of Anne Frank and VH-1 Soul and In the Aeroplane over the Sea, familiar flashes on the trip along Interstate, where ‘rich in fishtank and emotive jukebox, this fetid, basement-bar terrarium drifts out past the blinking green and flocks of memories bloom.’

Before you listen to these incredible works from our neighbor, you can see some of his pieces here, as well as read one of Greg’s poems that the Cortelyou Library Friends’ Group was kind enough to share with us:

WHEN

Yesterday I was walking through fields
but today won’t let me in though I disciple

and I can’t smell and tonight’s potatoes
with butter, salt, and pepper only aroma,

let’s dance to “I Just Can’t Get Enough,”
“That’s Why I Love You So,” “Bring It On

Home to Me,” teach me to play the saw
and I’ll instruct you on time management.

Morning ducks into her shell. Let’s lie on
the beach and share headphones, let’s get

two slices of pizza and two beers apiece
after your shift, shopping carts rattling in

the parking lot while the moon dreams a hot,
hot tangent of noon, breezy, can’t control it.

If you have any questions about Saturday’s event, please email cortelyoulibraryfriends@gmail.com.