Here’s an experience that I’d guess most of the men who read this column have had, getting into a rental tuxedo.

Bill Trowbridge, a poet from Missouri, does a fine job of picturing that particular initiation rite.

Rental Tux

It chafed like some new skin we’d grown,

or feathers, the cummerbund and starched collar

pinching us to show how real this transformation

into princes was, how powerful we’d grown

by getting drivers’ licenses, how tall and total

our new perspective, above that rusty keyhole

parents squinted through. We’d found the key:

that nothing really counts except a romance

bright as Technicolor, wide as Cinerama,

and this could be the night. No lie.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2006 by William Trowbridge, from his most recent book of poems, Ship of Fool, Red Hen Press, 2011. Introduction copyright © 2012 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. They do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

Scottish singer Jim Malcolm will return to Lake County, Calif., for a concert on Friday, January 27, 2012. Courtesy photo.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – KPFZ 88.1 FM will host a benefit concert on Friday, Jan. 27, at the Lakeport Senior Center, 527 Konocti Ave. in Lakeport with Scottish singer and songwriter Jim Malcolm performing.

Malcolm is a world renowned performer and the winner of the 2004 BBC Scots Traditional Music Award for “Songwriter of the Year.”

Malcolm sings songs steeped in Scottish history and tradition by such famous writers as Robert Burns and Hamish Henderson.

He has toured throughout the United States, Europe and Great Britain to sold out audiences.

Malcolm will perform songs from his latest CD “Sparkling Flash.”

Malcolm is sure to sing some Robert Burns songs in honor of the Bard’s 253rd birthday on Jan. 24. Of course, Malcolm also will perform his well known favorites.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m.; the concert starts at 8 p.m.

Tickets are only $20 for general admission and $18 for KPFZ members.

Proceeds will benefit KPFZ, Lake County Community Radio.

Tickets are available at Watershed Books, 305 N. Main St. in Lakeport, and the Lakeport Senior Center, 527 Konocti Ave.

For more information call 707-262-0525 or 707-263-3640.

This free public workshop is held at the Main Street Art Gallery, 325 N. Main St., at 6:30 p.m. on the first Thursday of each month.

The Lake County Arts Council sponsors the workshop, and former Lake County Poet Laureate Mary McMillan facilitates it.

The grant comes from Poets and Writers Inc., through a grant it has received from the James Irvine Foundation.

Many Lake County residents who are just starting to write memoirs, fiction, essays or poems come to the Writers Circle.

They join with more seasoned writers to get feedback on their work, build their skills and find new ideas.

From all over the county, residents aged 19 to 90 have benefited from the opportunity to listen to other writers and share their own work.

Some people come only one or two times, and others show up every month.

For more information about the Writers Circle, contact Mary McMillan at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Delta bluesman Kenny Neal will jam with Mike Wilhelm and Hired Guns at the Blue Wing Saloon in Upper Lake, Calif., on Monday, January 16, 2012. Courtesy photo.

UPPER LAKE, Calif. – The great delta bluesman Kenny Neal will come by the Blue Wing Saloon restaurant in Upper Lake this Monday, Jan. 16, to jam with guitarist Mike Wilhelm and Hired Guns at the regularly scheduled Blue Wing Monday Blues from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Born in New Orleans and raised in Baton Rouge, Kenny Neal began playing the blues guitar and harmonica at a young age, learning the basics from his father, singer and blues harmonica legend Raful Neal.

Neal is known as a modern swamp-blues master and multi-instrumentalist who draws musically from the sizzling sounds of his native Louisiana.

In 2009, Neal was named Monterey Bay Blues Artist of the Year and last year he was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame.

He travels widely around the world with his family band and is headed to Florida next week to headline the annual Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise of the Caribbean.

There is no cover as always at the Blue Wing, but dinner reservations are suggested at 707-275-2233. If the tables are full, Blue Wing patrons are encouraged to come by for a drink and a dance.

Guitarist Mike Wilhelm and his Hired Guns will perform at the Blue Wing Saloon in Upper Lake, Calif., on Monday, January 16, 2012. Photo by Rick Washburn.

Liebe will demonstrate the process and each participant will paint and take home a hand painted silk scarf.

Liebe is a former art teacher at both the high school and college levels, and actively teaches art workshops around the county.

Cost of class is a $15 materials fee and space is limited to 12 persons.

For reservations and additional information, contact Susan Feiler at 707-275-8030, 707-293-8752 or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

LCWS is located at 9505 Main St. in Upper Lake.

Ted Kooser, US Poet Laureate from 2004 to 2006. Photo by UNL Publications and Photography.

A wise friend told me that since the Age of Reason we’ve felt we had to explain everything, and that as a result we’ve forgotten the value of mystery.

Here’s a poem by Lisel Mueller that celebrates mystery. Mueller is a Pulitzer Prize winning poet from Illinois.

Sometimes, When the Light

Sometimes, when the light strikes at odd angles

and pulls you back into childhood

and you are passing a crumbling mansion

completely hidden behind old willows

or an empty convent guarded by hemlocks

and giant firs standing hip to hip,

you know again that behind that wall,

under the uncut hair of the willows

something secret is going on,

so marvelous and dangerous

that if you crawled through and saw,

you would die, or be happy forever.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©1980 by Lisel Mueller, from her most recent book of poems, Alive Together: New and Selected Poems, Louisiana State University Press, 1996. Poem reprinted by permission of Lisel Mueller and the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2012 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. They do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.