Like an Olympics for words, the sprawling Poetrypalooza Tour 2012 has been popping up at numerous SoCal venues on its “50-mile, one-month-long celebration of poetry.” Presented by local writers group ZZyZx WriterZ, the tour makes a stop this evening at Venice literary bastion Beyond Baroque, with workshops from the L.A. Street Poets, performance art by Charles Davis and music from soulful blues duo Alice & the Rabbit. L.A. poet/photographer Jessica Ceballos (“I'll take over, cross lanes at will/set fire to my soul”) displays noirish cityscapes and her evocative photos of natural settings, while Torrance poet Carolyn Ziel muses about aging (“Time/Wraps around me,/a mist/old familiar scent/that I know/but can't quite place”) and host Chance Foreman envisions himself as a literal border (“I am invisible/And I span the earth/Don't cross me without good reason”). With so many bright and creative wordsmiths on board at ZZyZx WriterZ, let's hope that one of these worthies will conjure a more imaginative name for the tour than the overplayed phrase Poetrypalooza. Beyond Baroque, 681 Venice Blvd., Venice; Fri., Aug. 24, 7 p.m.; $7, $5 seniors & students. (310) 822-3006.

Fri., Aug. 24, 7 p.m., 2012

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