A newly released 13-track Compact Disc, "The Gift Outright," showcases the eclectic mix of M.L. Liebler's music and poetry.

Poetry you can dance to, says a review in the Woodstock Times about the CD that features Liebler and The Magic Poetry Band.

"The focus was to give people something not to get bored with," says Liebler, a faculty member of the English department and Labor Studies Program at Wayne State University. "The disc is very different."

The CD features Liebler reciting poetry with music. His spoken words take listeners on a reflective poetic voyage, says a review in his hometown St. Clair Shores Sentinel newspaper.

The review continues, he's backed by musicians who have fun with music­: Steve Bitto on guitar, Bill "Blank" Boyer on drums and Michael Smith playing bass guitar and violin. With guest artists Stewart Francke and Robert Jones the CD offers jazz, rock, funk, blues, ska and reggae music.

Although the CD is available at most area Harmony Houses and Car City Classics in St. Clair Shores, Liebler offers a less costly $10 mail order through his Ridgeway Press at P.O. Box 120, Roseville, MI, 48066.

Liebler is an established, widely published and nationally known poet and fiction writer who has been recognized for original musical forms. He has written several books, recorded albums and cassettes and performed his work throughout the country for more than 15 years.

Bob Talbert of the Detroit Free Press hailed Liebler as "the backbone of the new poetry renaissance."

Liebler, the performer, runs the gamut of sensitivity through word and melody, says another reviewer. Liebler, the educator, teaches literature, creative writing and labor studies. He directs the department's intern program, poetry series, and the composition area for the President's Task Force on Minority Education.

He wears other hats as well. Liebler is the Detroit director of the YMCA National Writer's Voice Project, and host of "The Vision of Words" poetry program heard at 9 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursday on WDTR-FM 90.0.

He has been appointed to the national faculty for the YMCA's Arts and Humanities Training Program. For more than a year he has been the weekly poetry reporter for CBS Radio WXYT-AM 1270 at 9 p.m. Saturdays on the Dave Dixon Radio Magazine. He is co-editing with Melba Joyce Boyd, chair woman of Africana Studies, a multicultural anthology of Detroit poets celebrating Detroit for the WSU Press due out in fall 1999.

Liebler's performances can be seen at the Detroit Public Library's "Poetry at Main" at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 17, at the main branch on campus and at the Detroit Festival for the Arts 5-7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 19, on the Music Cafe Stage, Cass at Putnam. A third free performance will be noon Tuesday, Sept. 30, at the Center for Creative Studies Lunchtime Concert Series.

For more information call the department at (313) 577-2450.