April is "the cruellest month" of all, according to poet T.S. Eliot.

And this April, to celebrate Elliott and other poets, the Towson Arts Collective is hosting its fifth annual Cruellest Month Reading Festival.

The festival, set for Monday evenings in April, will offer poetry readings, an opportunity to mix with established poets and a chance for residents to share their own poetry.

Featured poets will read from their works, and performers will dramatize poems with song, dance and theater.

"A lot of people shy away from poetry," said Chris Casamassima, who is co-chairing the festival. "They think it's something academic, something you have to study.

"But you don't have to read Shakespeare or Swinburne to write poetry. It's just the way you see the world," he said. "It's about your attitudes and perceptions."

Each evening will feature a reception from 6 to 6:30 p.m., readings from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. and "open mike" at 7:30 p.m. to allow those who attend to read and share their own poetry.

The events are scheduled for April 5, 12, 18 and 26, from 6 to 8:30 p.m., in the street-level Meeting Room of the Towson Library, 320 York Road. Admission is free and open to all.

For more details, contact Casamassima at cacasama@towson.edu.

The guest poets for each evening wrote their own billing for the events, perhaps offering a flavor of what the listeners can expect. Excerpts are below, sometimes with pen in hand ... and tongue in cheek.

April 5 -- Poetry and Poet's Theatre, by Magus Magnus. This night features "Studies in the Art of Poetic Monologue," a one-woman show based on Magnus' work, "Idylls for a Bare Stage." It's directed by the author and stars Lisa Hawkins.

April 12 -- "Poems of Passion: A Hot Reading by Older Poets." Hosted by Deborah Edelman, author of "Sex in the Golden Years: What's Ahead May Be Worth Aging For." Three poets over age 40 will share work describing love in later life. They include:

* Edelman, a health writer who began performing her poetry in 1991;

* Jacob Shorter, who describes himself as someone who "dropped out of high school in the 1950s and discovered photography while painting the walls of a photo studio. ... His love of taking pictures and looking at women has been a major element in his poetry;" and

* Liz Moser, who writes poetry, fiction, essays, book reviews and memoirs. Much of her published work reflects her Maryland upbringing and residence.

April 19 -- Readings by three poets. Again, they describe themselves as:

* Clarinda Harriss, who taught English at Towson University, "deep into the previous century. She spends time in this century when possible, in a different hemisphere, playing with family and penguins in New Zealand."

* Bill Zavatskyolds, who has published two poetry collections, "Theories of Rain and Other Poems" and "Where X Marks the Spot;" and

* Michael Salcman, a contributor to National Public Radio's "All Things Considered," who calls himself "a physician, brain scientist and art critic (who) has been writing and publishing poetry for 40 years."

April 26 -- This night is billed as, "a gathering of poets that define the city, real and imagined." That's a tall order, but the lineup claims to be up to the task. Again, often in their own words, the readings will include:

* Rupert Wondolowski, editor of Shattered Wig Press who, "despite the prohibitive size of his head, can be seen in the new film "60 Writers/60 Places;"

* Chris Toll, whose book, "Why Is Try in Poetry?" comes out this year;

* Michael Ball, a poet and curator of the "i.e." reading series in Baltimore -- who said the series is his "literary shelter;"

* Lauren Bender, a Hampden resident who said she, "lives ... with her twin sister, her twin sister's boyfriend, and three dogs and six cats" ... and is co-director of Narrow House publishing.

* Les Wade, a poet born in Oklahoma City who has lived in St. Louis, Los Angeles, Seattle and Baltimore, "with stops in Hamburg and Paris along the way." For the last year he has been working on a poem sequence entitled "moveture."

* David Beaudouin, a Baltimore poet who founded Tropos Press and The Pearl, Baltimore's oldest journal of the literary and spontaneous arts;

* Chris Mason, a member of The Tinklers and Old Songs, whose members translate ancient Greek poetry and put them to music; and

* Bonnie Jones, born in 1977 in South Korea, "was raised by dairy farmers in New Jersey, and is a member of a group dedicated to the advancement of a higher histrionics brought on by imminent finalities."

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