Onion,
luminous flask,
your beauty formed
petal by petal,
crystal scales expanded you
and in the secrecy of the dark earth
your belly grew round with dew. …

                          From Pablo Neruda’s “Ode to an Onion”

If the humble onion inspired a poem, who knows what other tantalizing tastes may be immortalized in verse  at a benefit for the St. Louis Poetry Center  and Observable Readings?  Food and poetry (not to mention beer) combine on Oct. 22 at Schlafly Bottleworks.

Called Observable Tastes, the event will feature nibbles along with food writers and critics reading poetry about food and drink. It costs $20 and  runs from 7-9 p.m. at 7260 Southwest Ave. in Maplewood.

Special guests include Tom Schlafly, poet and owner of Schlafly Beer; Catherine Neville, editor of Sauce Magazine; and Jane E. Ibur and Ann Haubrich, hosts of KDHX Literature for the Halibut.  

Purchase  tickets for the Oct. 22 benefit via paypal at www.stlouispoetrycenter.org or by check to St. Louis Poetry Center, 567 North and South #8, St. Louis, Mo 63130.

Meanwhile, the poetry series Observable Readings has its second fall event at 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 8 at the Bottleworks. Poets featured are Devin Johnston, assistant professor at St. Louis University; Michele Glazer, assistant professor of English at Portland State University; and John Estes, graduate teacher at University of Missouri-Columbia.

The rest of the series schedule follows

Nov. 11: Stephanie Brown, Jennifer Krovonet,  Heather Treseler

January 14:  Chuck Sweetman, Stacey Lynn Brown, Allison White Benis

February 4:  Thomas Meyer, Peter O’Leary, Shane Seely

March 4:  Eric Pankey, Jennifer Atkinson, Lisa Ampleman, Lisa Pepper

April 8:  Mary Ruth Donnelly, Seido Ray Ronci

May 6:  Andrew Joron, Randall Mann, Dora Malech

For more information, call (314) 973-0616.