'Word Music' -- They're pretty much the same at this festival

The commingling of music and poetry is nothing new; the disciplines lend themselves to it.

The Seasons Fall Music Festival, however, goes further than most. The festival, just by calling its entry into the genre "Word Music," erases the distinction between poetry and music entirely. It's an acknowledgment that poetry read aloud is music already.

That's kind of the idea, anyway. What it means in practical terms is that Sharon Cumberland, a Seattle University professor and the festival's poet in residence, will read her work at lunchtime today, accompanied by festival musicians Gilda Lyons and Robert Frankenberry.

Cumberland, whose poems deal with real-world issues in unflinching real-world language, has had her work published in The Cortland Review, Kalliope, The Indiana Review and The Iowa Review.

"Word Music" kicks off The Seasons 2010 Brown Bag Concert Series. Tickets cost $5 and are available at the venue, 101 N. Naches Ave.

Later the same day, The Seasons hosts the penultimate performance in this year's Fall Music Festival, a concert by The Martin Wind Trio featuring guest saxophonist Scott Robinson, acclaimed drummer Matt Wilson and vocalist Dee Daniels. Wind, a bassist, leads the trio starting at 7:30 p.m. Tickets cost $23. For more information, visit www.theseasonsyakima.com or call 509-453-1888.

-- Pat Muir