POETRY FOR YOUR VALENTINE…If there’s ever a time for whispering sweet sonnets into your loved one’s ear, it’s February’s annual “love day”—which, in true American fashion, now stretches into a complete weekend, at least at the Thunderbird Bookstore. Friday at 7pm, Taelen Thomas performs his one-man “Ode on the Sunrise at Sunset,” which was commissioned by the City of Carmel last year to celebrating the re-opening of Sunset Center. He’s joined by Live Oak physicist-poet Len Anderson, the author of Affection for the Unknowable (Hummingbird Press, 2003) who used to work in experimental elementary particle physics in Europe and at UC Berkeley—hopefully the poetry he reads will be less obscure. Saturday at the same bookstore, at 4pm, four local poets who are part of the same weekly poetry workshop will share their work: retired clergyman and WWII pilot George Wilson; editor Megan Lee, author of a collection of short stories about China; retired teacher and golf author C. Jonathan Shoemaker; and Weekly freelancer Dan Linehan, author of the supernatural thriller Crash Pattern. Call 624-1803 for details.

EROTIC ART FOR YOUR VALENTINE… Lots of fun stuff to enjoy Saturday evening at the Erotic Art Show, including Carol Fendall’s “Pussy du Jour” calendar. Fendall, who used to draw the “Fishwrap” cartoon for the Monterey County Post, was commissioned by Meals on Wheels to do this 2004 calendar, which was sold at the group’s annual black-and-white cartoon benefit last November. The cartoons are kinda racy, in a playful, tongue-in-cheek way (“Nude with Bushed Pussy” shows a zoftig woman napping with her obviously tired cat). She’s now selling the calendar directly, at $15 a pop, and will have a supply with her at the Art Show, along with limited edition prints of the accompanying cartoons. “It’s selling really well in the lesbian community,” she notes.

SINGING TELEGRAM FOR YOUR VALENTINE…The Cypressaires, Monterey’s chapter of the national Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Quartet Singing in America, have been singing on the Peninsula for more than 50 years, for fun and to raise money for local charities. This Friday and Saturday they’ll be delivering “valagrams” (singing telegrams) for $40. Call Steve Brooks at 624-7022 to order. The group meets Tuesdays at 7:15pm at York School, and they invite anyone who enjoys singing four-part harmony to join them.