Poets

There are two things that the Dunbar basketball team learned from playing a Soviet Union team of high-school players last night at Morgan State. One, that the Soviets couldn't match the Poets' fast-paced, physical style of play, as evidenced by Dunbar's 119-105 victory.And two, that the score didn't matter much.Although the game was the culmination of the Soviet team's day-long stay with Dunbar, which included an afternoon tour of the Inner Harbor and a trip to the Science Center, the lopsided score failed to dampen the experience for either side.

Midway through the third quarter of last night's game against Dunbar, Lake Clifton coach Charlie Moore leaped to his feet to complain about what he considered a missed three-second call."

East Baltimore bragging rights are always on the line when Dunbar and Patterson play, and the Poets have a lot of talking to do after yesterday.After three years of surrendering the neighborhood strut, Dunbar came back with a vengeance, dominating the fifth-ranked Clippers, 30-0, at Patterson. It was a showdown of unbeatens in the Maryland Scholastic Association B Conference, and the unrated and underrated Poets (5-0, 3-0) responded with their third straight shutout.The game was every bit as lopsided as the score indicated.

Dunbar and Southern kept their unblemished records intact heading into tonight's showdown for the area's No. 1 ranking with victories yesterday at the Function at the Junction at Coppin State.But Poets interim coach Paul Smith was disappointed with his team's performance despite its 74-59 victory over Walbrook."There is no way I could be pleased with this performance," he said. "We had too many players on our team who are interested in individual statistics. My idea is that we play as a group regardless of what our skills are."

Joseph Cardarelli, a writing teacher at Maryland Institute, College of Art who wrote seven books of poetry and brought some of the nation's most renowned poets into his classroom, died of a heart attack yesterday at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. He was 50.Mr. Cardarelli, who lived in the Roland Park area, used the examples of the Beat Generation and Black Mountain poets to shape his own writings -- and even his life.He had taught at the institute since 1967 and during that time his classes were host to many respected poets, including Alan Ginsberg, Joel Oppenheimer, Ed Sanders and Robert Duncan, many of whom stayed at Mr. Cardarelli's home during their trips to Baltimore.

As a graphic designer who gravitated toward computerized design in the early 1980s, Diana Samet has put much thought into the infinite and intriguing possibilities of the "multimedia world of nonlinear thinking."It was only a matter of time before electronic books that made use of this technology became commonplace, Samet realized. She also thought that poetry, rich in imagery, would lend itself nicely to these tools. So, "why not do a book with my friends, the poets?" Samet thought.The poets, four of Samet's colleagues in the department of writing and media at Baltimore's Loyola College, responded differently to her proposal when she presented it more than a year ago.Christine Higgins, for one, eagerly accepted the challenge.

When a crowd of more than 6,100 witnessed Lake Clifton defeat Dunbar, 74-67, in boys basketball on Jan. 20, 1989, it was then the largest crowd at Morgan State's Hill Field House for any event other than a 1987 performance by comedian Bill Cosby.Since then, the Dunbar-Lake Clifton game has continued to be the highest-attended event at the field house.Tonight, another capacity crowd is expected for the renewal of one of the area's traditional rivalries. But recently, something has been missing from it -- a victory by Lake Clifton.

The biggest question facing No. 1 Dunbar enterin yesterday's season opener at Edmondson was who would run the offense after the graduation of Paul Banks and All-Metro selections Michael Lloyd and Diego Jones. Jeryl Singletary may have provided the answer.The smallest player on the court at 5 feet 7, the sophomore came off the bench to spark the Poets in an 88-67 victory over the No. 10 Redskins in a Maryland Scholastic Association Gamper Conference 4A-2A Division game.The Poets, ranked fifth nationally by USA Today, extended their winning streak to 53 games.

Like the first rain on the parched land of Israel after a hot, arid summer, a collection of poems leads the reader into a season of soul-searching, transformation and promise.Poets have always been interpreters of dreams and harbingers, says leading Israeli poet Moshe Dor, co-editor of "After the First Rain: Israeli Poems on War and Peace." Readings from the compilation of works by Israeli poets will be presented Sunday in Columbia."I think it's the first book of its kind because of the range of people involved," Dor said.

After 14 years as Dunbar's baseball coach, Don Gilbert has decided to take a break. "I have decided to leave now and watch my son, who is a rising senior baseball college prospect player at Glen Burnie High School," Gilbert said. "I have not had the opportunity to see him play that much, so I need to leave coaching at Dunbar to do so. " The Poets went 17-1 this past season and ranked No. 15 in The Baltimore Sun's final baseball poll. Gilbert said it was his best "team" because it had "a little less talent, but great chemistry.