Poetry Enthusiasts To Honor Milosz

In honor of the centennial of the birth of Polish-American poet Czeslaw Milosz, Palisadian Neven Karlovac is presenting an evening of poetry tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Village Books on Swarthmore.   ’I see this program as a meeting of friends of poetry who share a love of Milosz’ poetry and wish to remember the man,’ Karlovac says. ‘The format will include co-hosts Carol Davis, Judith Searle and Tim Vreeland, who will be reading, and an open microphone for those in the audience who wish to share their favorite Milosz poem.’   Milosz was born in 1911 in a village in Lithuania. His life journey took him from Czarist Russia to prewar Poland and France, and then during the World War II years to occupied Poland, postwar to postings in Europe and the United States for Poland’s diplomatic service and to his defection and exile in France.   Ultimately, Milosz found his way back to the United States, where he spent 40 years as a professor at UC Berkeley. In 1980, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.   ’In his life, he experienced the worst and the best of the last century, perhaps of any century, and through it all retained a deep faith in the worth and sacredness of human life,’ Karlovac says.   Karlovac’s love for the poet was unexpected and profound. ‘It was one of those things that just happened. I remember reading his poem ‘Youth’ in the New Yorker and it took my breath away. I thought, ‘Who is this guy?’ I couldn’t even pronounce his name. I have deep resonance with him.’   Karlovac, who has memorized many of Milosz’s poems, even one in Polish, says that his friend Alice Pero (of the monthly Moonday program at Village Books) now says when introducing him, ‘Now Neven will channel Milosz.’   Karlovac, an engineer and technology entrepreneur, enjoys memorizing poetry on his commute to work. ‘My ‘poetic’ commute started years ago on the 10 Freeway going downtown,’ he says, and he often takes a volume of poetry on business trips. ‘It’s an efficient thing to carry around, a little book that’s much lighter than fiction.’   He and his wife Mira have lived in the Palisades Highlands since 1994 and have a grown son, Harvey, who lives in Santa Monica.