Andrei and his students do "upbeat" in this field trip to three poets of New Orleans. If it goes without saying public radio needs more from the dog man or the burlesk queen of iambic pentameter, then I wouldn't have to say it. But the sad fact is I do: Lucky students to have Andrei as their spirit guide in the happy streets of New Orleans. Happy us that there was someone who knew what to do with a recorder when they met the poets. This is the kind of thing that might possibly make National Poetry Month vaguely tolerable -- and then some.

A group of poets (lead by the inimitable Andrei Codrescu) wander a New Orleans neighborhood searching for fodder for their writing and man, what they find! A hot dog seller who writes songs, a bar owner espousing the power of dreams, and a Burlesque performer with a masters degree in counseling that Codrescu describes as "a model New Orleans citizen that has developed an aggressively post modern form of strip tease." Codrescu leads this troop of writers through the neighborhood (and us through the piece) with his usual wit and eloquence. PDs: as April is National Poetry Month, this would be a great addition to the mix.