POTSDAM – Area residents will be among just a few people nationwide to participate live in “Behind the Scenes with the Poet Laureate” Friday, May 4 from 3 – 4 p.m. in the Potsdam Civic Center community room.

Only nine schools and libraries across the country will participate in the live videoconference. Hosted by the Potsdam Public Library’s Public Computer Center, the event is free and open to all.

Philip Levine, Poet Laureate and Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, will read and explain three of his poems and answer questions from those at the nine invited libraries, including four community and five school libraries from across the nation, as far away as Hawaii.

The three poems, “Our Valley,” “What Work Is,” and “The Simple Truth,” are available on the PCC website www.potsdampcc.org. Questions must be submitted in advance to poetry@loc.gov with a subject line “Philip Levine Video Conference questions.” Questions can focus on the poems or on broader aspects of Levine’s life and writing.

For more information, contact Judy Graves, Library of Congress, digital project coordinator, at 202-707-2562 or jgrav@loc.gov, or Pat Musante, Potsdam library director, at musante@potsdamlibrary.org.