In what is hopefully not the last influx of Canadian poets before the U.S. constructs its great fence around the borders, John Barlow, Kemeny Babineau and Rob Read come to town for a reading at Big Orbit, sponsored by Just Buffalo’s Orbital Series, tonight (Feb. 23) at 7pm. All three readers represent various facets of “small press” poetry. Generally speaking, small press poetry incorporates a do-it-yourself publishing model that allows artists the freedom and ability to connect with their audience with a level of intimacy that larger publishers simply cannot offer. One could draw parallels with indie-rock.

Poet Paul Muldoon’s wife, author Jean Korelitz, once said of his playing in a rock band, “It occurs to me that much of his success in this odd endeavor derives from the fact that he just didn’t know that the whole thing was impossible.” The same might be said for his phenomenal success as a poet. Muldoon was born into a poor Catholic family in rural County Armagh, Northern Ireland, in 1951. From these modest beginnings, he’s risen to become one of the most respected English-language poets. He’s produced nine poetry collections, the last of which, Moy Sand and Gravel, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 2003. Today, Muldoon lives in New Jersey, where he heads Princeton University’s creative writing program, plays in the rock band Rackett and continues making sense of the world, one poem at a time.