Top poets ryhme in Des Moines

Roses are red, violets are blue, this poetry reading may be just for you.Prize winning poets from around the globe are attending today’s Des MoinesNational Poetry Festival. One guest speaker says poetry is language at itsfinest and most expressive.Robbie Klein is Midwest Director of the American Poetry & Literacy Project,which has distributed more than 250-thousand free books of poetry in recentyears. She says organizers of the effort decided that poetry needed to bemade more available.The books are left in motels, schools, hospitals, jury waiting rooms, trainsand grocery stores. Klein says people on the street are even handed the freebooks of poetry — which can be perplexing for them.Poetry readings at the Des Moines Art Center and Drake University feature avariety of poets, from Governor Vilsack to poet laureate of the U-S, RobertPinsky. All events are free and open to the public.