Poetry is coming back to Che’s Lounge in Vineyard Haven. The popular music venue has hosted several poetry events including Vineyard Slam, Hot Words, and the Warrior Writers (Iraq Veterans against the War). Linda Black and Michael West, organizers of the new Island Voices series, invite Island poets of all ages, styles, and levels of accomplishment to come and share their work in celebration of National Poetry Month.

Opening night is April 15 and will feature performances by Richard Skidmore and hosts Ms. Black and Mr. West, three highly accomplished and entertaining performers. Featured readings will be followed by an “anything goes” open mike session. The open-mike segment is open to all rhymes and reasons, prosey reminiscences, tightly-crafted sonnets, impressionistic free verse, or fire-breathing slam performances. The evening begins at 7:30 p.m.

Island Voices at Che’s will continue through the summer and into the fall. A varied program tapping a wide pool of Island poets is planned for the series, including spoken word performers, rappers and freestylers, slam poets, singer-songwriters, and free-verse and traditional poets.

Future Island Voices performances at Che’s are set for May 6, June 3 and 17, July 8 and 22, August 5 and 19, and Sept. 9 and 23.

This Wednesday, you can hear from Richard C. Skidmore, who has been reading from his works on paper since he was eight years old. He’s older now, and still willing — if he has his glasses. Also appearing is Linda Black, the associate editor of Martha’s Vineyard Magazine, who has performed spoken word poetry internationally for 15 years, from Toronto to New York, and from Paris to Martha’s Vineyard. Finally, Michael West, who received his master’s degree in creative writing from Johns Hopkins University and has taught writing and conducted creative writing classes at John Hopkins, American and Northeastern universities.