Doublespeak

And why wouldn’t a clinical psychologist be fluent in poetry? After all, poetic language—which can make the senseless sensible—is, at times, the very same language of those who wish to quell the unquiet mind. And why wouldn’t a poet be fluent in the language of a clinical psychologist? Well, for one, because we didn’t go to medical school. Julia B. Levine, however, is a clinical psychologist and the author of Ask, winner of the 2002 Tampa Review Prize for Poetry, and Practicing for Heaven, which won the 1998 Anhinga Prize for Poetry. Her latest collection, Ditch-Tender, articulates Levine’s many voices—poet, healer, mother, wife—and allows us to enter her multitextured world with great interest. Levine’s live readings breathe a quirky new life into her poems on the page, and to watch her read is a thing of heart-wrenching discovery. Along with Levine, Rick Campbell reads at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, March 3, at the Sacramento Poetry Center (1719 25th Street). www.sacramentopoetrycenter.org.