The Mayor and Board of Supervisors of San Francisco along with the San Francisco Public Library invite you to celebrate National Poetry Month on April 30, 2008, from 5:30 to 8:30pm. Come to City Hall, and read your favorite poem or one of your own at San Francisco’s largest open mic poetry event, inside City Hall.

The event will be held in the North Light Court of City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place. It will start at 5:30, but there will be opportunities to get involved in various places and times all over the city. There will be a drawing for reading slots at the numerous open mics around the city. The list of these sites is to be posted at http://www.poemdome.com, a website created specifically for this event.

To keep with the true spirit of the San Francisco open mic scene, the reading is open to everyone. Taking into account the fact that this rare opportunity to express one’s self in such a unique setting will prove to be popular, on the day of the reading each of the slots will be apportioned by lottery and each reader will be limited by time and to just one poem.

Space will be provided for poets and small presses to display their work, bringing the written word into this year’s mix.

This idea is the brainchild of Diamond Dave Whitaker, and through the incredible support of the Mayor’s Office, the Board of Supervisors and the San Francisco Public Library this event will celebrate poetry in the most inclusive, exclusively San Francisco way. Come join us, participate or just spectate, verse has a place in the heart of the city, let’s celebrate it!