WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16 2014 >>>

1. In honor of National Poetry Month, the Olympia Poetry Network will allow local lit nerds to pay homage to their beloved late poets, as members read poems, hopefully, in full costume with accompanying props. The séance will summon Kenneth Rexroth, Adrienne Rich, May Swenson, Jane Kenyon, Denise Levertov and Frank O'Hara at 6:30 p.m. in Traditions Cafe. Those are certainly worthy poets to summon. An open mic is available for those attending to channel other dead poets. We'll give big ups to anyone who can pull off a Whitman beard, and we'd be pretty impressed to see someone show up in a full-on Emerson three-piece suit. At the very least, light a cig and say your Cummings.

2. Artist Yvette Endrijautzki presents "CONSTELLATION - an Overture to the Zodiac" featuring 40 local, national and international artists interpreting the 12 Zodiac signs via different media from noon to 6 p.m. at Tacoma's Fulcrum Gallery.

3. Metropolitan Veterinary Hospital in Tacoma hosts an artist reception for local artist Sandra Offutt and some of the Metropolitan Vet team, which will include raffle prizes, from 5-7 p.m.

4. Olympia Timberland Library presents "Celebration of the Species," four Wednesday evening events in April featuring presentations by experts on some of the wild animals that live among us, often in our own backyards or just over the fence. At 7:30 p.m., author and citizen scientist Maria Mudd Ruth discusses "The Marbled Murrelet.

5. Pink Martini's blend of American swing, Latin rhythms and chamber arrangements, along with vocals in five languages, give the group's largely original material mass appeal - meaning the audiences consist of people who normally don't sit next to each other. Thomas Lauderdale of Portland, Oregon, founded the "little orchestra" Pink Martini in 1994. It has gone on to become a genre unto itself. We adore the band's cosmopolitan mix of Disneyfied Latin rhythms, cabaret Orientalia and Arabic tunes kissed with carnival atmospherics and ragtime horns. Catch the band with the von Trapp Family Singers at 7:30 p.m. in the Washington Center.

LINK: Wednesday, April 16 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area