🌭 Is the Chicago hot dog actually good? (Yes.)

Johnson Reconsiders ShotSpotter

Mayor Brandon Johnson ended the city’s contract with the gunshot detector now known as SoundThinking last year, calling it “a walkie-talkie on a pole.” But amid a drawn-out bidding process for new police tech, he’s reconsidering. [WBEZ]

• The search to replace ShotSpotter is ongoing. [City Cast Chicago 🎧]

Cherry Blossom Season in Chicago

Yes, Chicago has cherry blossoms too. And right now, they’re blooming in Jackson Park. It’s a sweet sight after two years of wimpy blooms, owing to the city’s consistently inconsistent weather. [City Cast Chicago 🤳]

Alder Aides Are Earning Big Bonuses

Between October and December 2024, more than $260,000 in taxpayer funds went to City Council aide bonuses, with a few receiving tens of thousands of dollars. The payouts are raising eyebrows, though some alders defend the practice. [Illinois Answers Project]

Every month is Poetry Month in Chicago. The City of Broad Shoulders is home to the Poetry Foundation, home of “Poetry” magazine, plus constant spoken word events and countless workshop opportunities. We’re on it year-round. But since April is actually National Poetry Month, consider diving in deeper.

Where to Learn
The Poetry Foundation

The glass building of the Poetry Foundation is nestled on the corner of Superior and Dearborn streets. “Nestled” may seem like an odd description for the middle of bustling River North, but it’s like a portal, bordered with trees with a public garden beckoning readers inside. The free library is home to 40,000 volumes, a busy event space, and “Poetry” headquarters. The national magazine has printed in Chicago since 1912.

The Poetry Foundation has three more events before the end of April:

• Escaramuza, the Poetics of Home | Exhibition opening | April 17 | 6-8 p.m. | Free
• Poesía en Abril: Dialogo entre Poetas | A Spanish-language conversation and reading | April 26 | 2-4:30 p.m. | Free
• Annie Allen: By Any Art Necessary | A celebration of Grendolyn Brooks’ “Annie Allen” in Woodlawn | April 25 | 6-9 p.m. | Free

Chicago Public Library

The library is celebrating National Poetry Month with a full-day bash at Harold Washington Library on April 26. The event runs from from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and includes workshops, open mics and other poetic presentations.

You can also find poetry writing workshops and book clubs at neighborhood libraries year-round.

Other Readings, Workshops, and Performances

• Generative Writing Workshop | April 16 | 6-7 p.m. | Free | Buena Park
• Live Poets Night | April 17 | 6-7 p.m. | Chicago Public Library | Pullman Branch
• General Readings: Ecologies | April 26 | 5 p.m. | Free | Logan Square
• Poetry Open Mic | April 26 | 5-8 p.m. | Free | Bucktown
• StoryStudio Student Reading | April 27 | 6:30 p.m. | Free | Lincoln Square
• ​​WordPlay | Youth | April 29 | 6-8 p.m. | Free | Wicker Park

What To Read: 7 Poems About Chicago

Poetry Month is national, but we’re making it about Chicago. It’s what we do. Check out some classic and contemporary lyric odes to the complicated city we love.

• “Chicago” by Carl Sandburg
  • ✒️ Favorite line: “Hog Butcher for the World … City of the Big Shoulders”
• “Chicago’s Congo” by Frank Marshall Davis
  • ✒️ Favorite line: “Chicago who wears her skyscrapers like a necklace ...”
• “Chicago: City on the Make” by Nelson Algren
  • ✒️ Favorite line: “Chicago … Like loving a woman with a broken nose, you may well find lovelier lovelies, but never a lovely so real.”
• “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks
  • ✒️ Favorite line: The whole thing! (It’s short.)
• “Chicago and December” by W.S. Dipiero
  • ✒️ Favorite line: “the great stone lions outside monumentally pissed by jumbo wreaths and ribbons”
• “whenever i’m at that land is chicago” by José Olivarez
  • ✒️ Favorite line: “underneath my gym shoes. is a trail of salt. that last sentence is a test.”
• “eschatology” by Eve L. Ewing
  • ✒️ Favorite line: “i’ll miss crossing guards ushering the grown folks too, like ducklings”