Dig this: in just over a week’s time, The Rellik Tavern will be swinging with a galaxy of Benicia’s finest poets as they pay tribute to the cool cats of the past. In other words, it will be a reading of Beat poetry.

Benicia Literary Arts (BLA) and the Benicia First Tuesday Poetry Group will join forces to honor the Beat Generation, a literary scene that rose in the aftermath of World War II and laid the groundwork for the counterculture movement of the ‘60s, making literary stars out of Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Gregory Corso, Gary Snyder and more. The movement rejected the formalism and materialism of America’s middle-class society at the time, opting for a more free-minded approach. The poetry was mostly free verse, surrealistic and took cues from jazz music as well as Zen and Native American philosophies.

The Benicia poets and BLA collaborate for events at the Rellik a few times a year, and Poet Laureate Johanna Ely and former BLA president and poet laureate Lois Requist brought the idea of a Beat poetry reading up to Rellik owner Tom Hamilton.

Requist likes the amount of freedom and openness the Beat generation brought to poetry.

“I’ve been going back and looking at the writing since we decided to do this,” she said. “It allowed a lot of freedom within writing. In fact, many of their poems are written in prose. Also, their ideas were kind of limitless.”

She also appreciates the level of surreality the poems depicted.

“There are things that really just tweak your mind and make you think about life in a different way,” she said.

The Rellik will almost feel like a mini-City Lights Bookstore as Benicia poets read the verses of the Beat Generation’s finest wordsmiths as well as poems inspired by the Beat era. Featured poets include not only Ely and Requist but also Tom Stanton, Peter Bray, Becky White, Georgette Howington, Tom Garry, Myra Nissen, Jeremy Cantor and Dan Ryken for the first hour. The second hour will consist of an open mic reading.

Requist hopes the event will be inspiring for those who lived through the Beat Generation and pique the interest of those who did not.

“I hope, for people who remember it, that it would be a pleasant step back into time,” she said. “For people who don’t know anything about the (Beat) poetry era, maybe they can learn a little something.”

The event will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. Sunday, March 11 at the Rellik, located at 726 First St. There is no cover charge. For more information, email Requist at loquuu@gmail.com.

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