Bukowski weekend

In the current issue, we named the "Beats, Counterculture, Icnoclasts" section at Visible Voice in Tremont the best bookstore section in Cleveland. It's a great example of a bookstore owner channeling his cultural obsession into a deep specialty no other store can match.

This weekend, Visible Voice and the Barking Spider Tavern in University Circle are hosting "A Poem Is A City: A Celebration of the Words of Charles Bukowski." Various semi-famous people from Cleveland's cultural scene will read from the underground poet's work Friday and Saturday night. Expect lots of material about Bukowski's favorite subjects: alcohol, horse racing, and women.

The weekend begins with an appropriate toast: a Bukowski happy hour at the Spider from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday. Visible Voice hosts readings in its courtyard Saturday night, 7 to 9. Mac's Backs, the Coventry bookstore, is also a sponsor.

It's the second straight year the three spots have teamed up for a weekend devoted to a hero of the literary counterculture. Last fall they hosted a bunch of people reading every word of Jack Kerouac's On the Road.