The Hidden Pleasures of Permaculture in the Holy City of . . .

“HolyCity of the SweetWaterSeas” is a Beat poet way of describing Milwaukee. For social activist/professional roofer/part-time poet Jim Godsil,

Milwaukee is a Promised Land of potential, a shining city on the bluffs above Lake Michigan. In his latest chapbook he dreams of the once-reviled Milwaukee transforming into a “city of city farms and gardens, And neighborhood co-ops, Of a Central Park/With a great river in the middle, A cleansing river/With cleansing shores.”

Sounding that note, Godsil is an appropriate participant in the 21st annual Earth Poets & Musicians performance, 7 p.m., April 18, at the Urban Ecology Center, 1500 E. Park Place; and 8 p.m., April 19, at the Coffee House, 631 N. 19th St. The weekend roster also includes performances by Jahmes Finlayson, Louisa Loveridge-Gallas, Jeff Poniewaz, Suzanne Rosenblatt, Harvey Taylor and Holly Haebig.