New York City Poetry Festival: July 26-27

Time Out New York is interested in poetry! Or, the poetry festival season! They've given us 10 reasons not to miss The New York City Poetry Festival, held July 26 and 27 on Governor's Island. "250 poets. 5 boroughs. 2 days. ONE CITY." Here're TONY's top five:

1. Music!
Pulitzer Prize–winning Irish poet and New Yorker poetry editor Paul Muldoon also moonlights as a musician and lyricist; see him on the guitar when the Wayside Shrines plays on Saturday at 3pm.

2. Good eats!
You know what goes great with lines of verse? Grilled cheese. Good thing the Morris Grilled Cheese Truck will be nearby to satisfy your nonpoetic hungers, as well as Big D’s Grub, Mud Coffee and the Palenque Colombian Food Truck.

3. Day-drinking!
What goes even better with poetry than food? Booze—lots and lots of it. Brooklyn Brewery is providing beer for the weekend, so for a small price, you can grab a brew, a spicy michelada, or be classy and sip a mimosa while a coterie of poets charms your ears.

4. A brothel!
The folks behind the Poetry Society of New York and the festival also organize a regular performance-art event called the Poetry Brothel, and an iteration of the risqué gathering will inhabit a house on Colonels Row all weekend. Expect one-on-one readings in a candlelit setting.

5. Shopping!
Let’s just put it out there: Poets have good taste. And you can see it in action at the Vendor’s Village, where local presses and organizations will sell books, tote bags and other goodies, like nonprofit Brooklyn Poets’ brilliant verse-inspired T-shirts.

And yes, they did include poetry readings, near the uh, bottom there. Read on! You can also keep up with the Fest's goings-on by following them on Twitter.