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A SIDE OF SONNETS You don't often see a help-wanted notice for a poet. "Contemp, Lexington's center for contemporary art, is looking for a poet to write on the subject of lunchtime interactions in a downtown Lexington restaurant," the announcement read. "Must be a motivated self-starter, a people person and have good reading and writing skills." The advertisement intrigued Tammy Ramsey, a Frankfort resident who recently earned a master's degree in writing at Spalding University in Louis-ville and teaches journalism and English at Lexington Community College. She is also a free-lance copy editor for the Herald-Leader. "I'd heard of poet-in-residence assignments before, but I had never heard of one in a restaurant," Ramsey said. "It sounded fun to me." Contemp accepted her cover letter and sample poem, and Ramsey took up pen and fork at Max's Loudon Square Buffet, 801 North Broadway, to begin her creative digestion. She visited Max's four or five times during her residency. Sometimes she sat quietly and just observed. Other times she went table to table and chatted with the many regulars of the 30-year-old business. She learned that one of the staff had a beloved golden retriever that had recently been put to sleep, that Max Flannery guarded the secret ingredient to his beer cheese closer than the Colonel and his 11 herbs and spices, and that Max's son was fond of food-related sayings such as "now we're cooking." "The food, the people, it's fantastic," Ramsey said. "I feel like I have found a little treasure out there that I had no clue about." Hear Ramsey read her poems inspired by Max's, as well as some of her other works, at 8 p.m. Saturday at the restaurant. Bluegrass band Blue Dawg featuring Joe Gierlack will perform. Admission is free. Max's buffet is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week. Visit http://homepages. transy.edu/~kgohde/contemp/ index.html for more about Contemp. You can even vote on the next project.
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