MONDAY, APRIL 7 2014 >>>

1. Writing good poetry isn't something that comes naturally to everyone. It's hard to find that "inner voice" without sounding cliché. Maybe there's help: Poetry Matters is a two-session poetry workshop encouraging poets and poetry lovers to share feelings and words in a noncritical atmosphere, led by poet Joanne Clarkson. The inaugural session is at 7 p.m. in the Lakewood Library offering exercises in sound, form, voice, image, memoir and story inspiration from favorite poets using different styles and subjects. Writing prompts and suggestions to keep the muse singing, if you will. April 21 will be the day you share.

2. Perhaps no single substance, save for water, has had the vital impact on humanity that wood has. From the very trees that provide this resource, to myriad man-made uses, we interact with wood on some level every day of our lives. Now, a range of artists interprets the significance of one of nature's most abundant organic materials in The Meaning of Wood, which opens at noon in The Gallery at the Kenneth J. Minnaert Center for the Arts. 

3. The titanic burger throwdown finale in on! Voting for the 2014 Weekly Volcano Tournament of Burgers Readers' Poll Championship game is live. Online voting will end at 5 p.m. Voting will resume at 6 p.m. live at the Tournament of Burgers Party at Meconi's Tacoma Pub in downtown Tacoma. Ballots will be handed out, which will also serve as raffle tickets. The live vote will close at halftime of the NCAA Men's Tournament final and the South Sound Burger champion will be announced. Join us!

4. Our ears perked up and our stomachs flipped a little when we heard the phrase "ultra cool spy themes." It sounds dangerous and sexy. Blues, that most American of musical forms, will receive a dose of spy music, as well as surf tones, at The Swiss' Monday Blues Night at 8 p.m. Seattle guitarist and singer Chris Stevens will fill the downtown Tacoma watering hole with electric blues lines via a big Gibson archtop. Taking their unusual name from a song title by legendary blues guitarist Freddy King, Stevens' back band, the Surf Monkeys, keep a firm footing in the blues while stretching the boundaries with "ultra cool spy themes," reverb drenched surf twang and Chris' own "blues on the edge of jazz" originals.

5. Jazzbones has amped up its weekly live band karaoke. Every Monday at 9 p.m. for the next four weeks it's hosting a singing contest with the grand prize being two nights and flight to Las Vegas. Jazzbones will choose three finalists from each night to compete in the finals. The competition will be judged by the applause-o-meter.

LINK: Monday, April 7 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area