Literati Roundup: We'll Take Some Poetry With Our Kir Royale, Thanks!

It's the holidays, and we're pretty sure that most of you are still comatose on the couch suffering from either an eggnog overdose or a family overdose, pick your poison! But in case there are still five or six of you wondering what you'll do without a reading, here's your solution.

Tomorrow night, Wednesday, December 28th, Harlem's famous Sugar Shack (2611 Fredrick Douglas Blvd. on the corner of 139th St.) is home to What's the Word Wednesdays, a weekly event of Open Mic Poetry, which always attracts a crowd of Harlem's intelligentsia. It's charmingly priced at $5 for general admission, $2 for poets. The reading starts at 8:30 PM.

Slam seems to be the word for the week, which two events spicing up the quiet lull between drunk with family and drunk with friends (that's Christmas and New Year's). Also on Wednesday is The Moth's Annual Holiday StorySLAM, the theme behind the evening being Gifts! Bring your own gift to regift and show up at The Bitter End by 7pm to sign up for the 7:30 show. The Moth's Holiday Slam costs $6 at the door and for all accounts of their awesomeness, will be worth every penny.

Again in the Slam department, Urbana Poetry Series is a weekly Thursday event at the Bowery Poetry Club (308 Bowery at Bleeker St.) and is hosted by Slam poet Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz. For $5 admission, there's an open mic and an organized poetry slam. This Thursday, the 29th, and every other Thursday you can think of, the doors open at 6:30 PM and the show starts at 7:15 PM.

And we know that we mentioned it last week but perhaps in the frenzy of walking eight miles a day, you've forgotten about St. Mark's (131 E. 10th St., near Third Ave.) New Year's Day Marathon Poetry Reading. It's basically an all day event when over 130 artists and authors from all corners of the New York art world that get together read poetry and perform in celebration of the new year. It's happening, obviously, on January 1st, and it's free.