By Rohan Preston

The Loft literary center in Minneapolis has a wait-list for free tickets to a rare reading by Nobel prize-winning poet and playwright Derek Walcott.

The St. Lucia-born Walcott, who is also painter, will share selections from his dozens of books, including "Omeros," the epic poem that came out ahead of his winning the 1992 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Walcott weaves in mythic themes, dreamscapes and displacement in his both his poetry and plays. His "Dream on Monkey Mountain" was staged by Bill T. Jones at the Guthrie in 1994. His visit to Minneapolis is a side trip. He has been in residence at Gustavus Adolphus College over the past couple of weeks.