SAUL LOEB/Arizona Daily Wildcat Graduate poet Mark Horosky takes a break from his poetry yesterday afternoon outside of his apartment. Horosky and several other poets will present their work tonight at 8 in the Modern Languages auditorium.

Many of this year's graduate students in UA's creative poetry writing program are taking it to the stage tonight.

Twice each academic year, once in November and once in April, graduate students in their final year take turns performing their latest and greatest pieces of poetry. Eight of these students are now in the program, four who performed in November and four who will perform tonight.

Featured poets are Alison Hoffman, Mark Horosky, Rachel Lehrman and Morgan Schuldt. The performance is a rare opportunity for University of Arizona students to experience the poets' award-winning work. The four are experiencing an especially wordy workload this week, combining anticipation of their performances and that of graduation. All the poetry grads have a manuscript due next week, a required-to-graduate collection that must include 40 pages of original writing.

Mark Horosky, winner of the Tucson Poetry Society Prize for his "Variation of Light," is excited at the chance to deliver his poems in front of fresh faces, but is concerned with how poetry is oftentimes received.

"Readings can be entirely too academic. That is the problem," Horosky said.

"Students exposed to a poetry reading for the first time often experience a really dry affair. We as readers go up there with one big light shining on us - we can barely see the audience - and finish up many times with no reaction from the audience. I would want students to feel free to applaud when they hear something they like."

Alison Hoffman, another performer, said she thinks poetry readings such as tonight's are crucial in continuing a revival of appreciation for the poetic tradition.

"Important events like this keep poetry going as an oral form," Hoffman said. "In teaching my undergraduate poetry classes, I focus the students a lot on the difference between performing your poetry and having someone read it off a page. That is the difference I think between poetry and fiction. Poetry can be incredibly engaging and exciting when read out loud. If you are a great reader, you can really bring the audience with you and into you."

Tonight's reading is presented as a portion of the Poetry Center's Visiting Poets and Writers Reading Series. The poets can be heard at 8 p.m. in the Modern Languages auditorium. Admission is free and open to the public, with an informal reception to follow.