Most pressing news of all! We raised $323 for WOAR (Women Organized Against Rape), Philly’s ONLY rape crisis center. This was thanks to all of our donors, and a last minute donation from Denise Ingram made a big difference.

The evening began with some mutterings and remarks by myself. Here is a picture of me taken by Sheila Squillante. The Halloween bucket at my feet that appears in some of the pictures is the “hat” we passed around for donations.

The evening really began with Sandra Beasley, poet superstar who just blew me away with her great imagination and performance style. Each hand gesture was deliberate. She very much does her poetry on the page justice. Also, one of the nicest people you could ever meet. Pictured below.

Next up was Dawn Manning, who read a number of tanka, a form I’ve never experimented with, but love hearing other people employ. She is a master of them! Her poems addressed great atrocities, everything from the Atomic Bomb to gendercide. Listening to her work felt important. Pictured below.

Then the wonderful Emily Cox from WOAR spoke! She’s pictured below speaking passionately about the work done by WOAR. If you have a friend, or you yourself, have experienced assault or rape, please reach out to them. They have counseling, a helpline, and many other resources.

Next was the great Sheila Squillante, a lovely soul who excitingly was reunited with her college roommate of 22 years ago for the reading! She read the poem that made me choose her for the reading, so that was a delight for me. She also has a wild relationship with the use of second person. Such a fan!

The evening closed out with the inimitable Annie Won, who read two of the poems from the Entropy series I had posted in the facebook group, and just really love. The link at her name will take you there. She also read some great poems about or influenced by walls, structure, constraints. And her second to last poem was hilarious, and my personal favorite. I tried to get a photo of her holding her beautiful books, but the below will have to suffice.

AND A MANDATORY GROUP SHOT, stolen from facebook and the wonderful Denise’s posting.

Time will tell if the series continues. Cross your fingers with me it does!

1! Thank you to Museum of Americana for nominating my poem “The Original Siamese Twins” for Best of the Net! Super cool! They also nominated my bud Denton Loving’s short story! Best of luck to him and my other friends who received nominations.

2) Rhino nominated my poem “I Want to Write a Memoir” for the Orison Anthology, a collection of writings about faith, and it was selected for inclusion! I feel a little bit like this.

The facebook event is here! Sandra Beasley, Dawn Manning, Sheila Squillante, and Annie Won will be reading. It’s the last one of the year, and possibly ever, so it’s a great one to attend!

I have two new acceptances to report, one is my visual/experimental poem “Bathroom Graffiti,” which was picked up by the forthcoming anthology Hysteria. This anthology is limited to lady-folk and non-cis gendered writers, and is being edited by E Kristin Anderson and Allie Marini. I’m really excited to see what the end product will look like!

Continuing the lady theme is the acceptance of my poem “I Want to Ask Grandfather Frank About the Stars in Panama” by Bone Bouquet (an all women’s and non-binary individuals’ journal). It will appear in Spring 2016, and is part of a project where I turn my family legends into poems. I was taking a hiatus from it due to life, etc., but this may have sparked my interest in the project again.

My grandpa pictured above. The poem takes place about the time this picture was taken. I miss him every day, as well as my grandmother, Maurine.

I recently (/months ago) got my contributor’s copies of Crab Orchard Review for my poem “Lucky Ones,” about the kidnapping of the Nigerian Girls (the title makes sense when you read it), and Washington Square Review for my poem “What if I Don’t Even Like You?” which is strangely enough a love poem borrowing two lines from Dorothea Lasky’s poem “Depression.”

I am very pleased to be in both of these amazing journals. Pick up a copy of either/both, if you like!

Last week we held the fifth Feats of Poetic Strength, and it was such a beautiful day outside of Brandywine Workshop’s windows, just a gorgeous August evening.

Our beneficiary for the evening was Girls Rock Philly, a group that empowers women, girls, and non-binary individuals through music and other activities. They are a truly great organization that I believe in wholly. And the great news is that, despite a lower attendance than normal, most likely due to the wonderful weather outside, we raised $319 for their cause! This is a tremendous deal, and wouldn’t be possible without all of our donors, including major donor Franny Forsman, my good friend from grad school and fabulous patron of the arts, as well as one heck of a writer herself. Big thanks also to Larry Robin of Moonstone Arts and Brandywine Workshop for hosting us.

The one down part of the evening was that Celeste Doaks was unable to read, due to serious illness, so I sent her flowers and we all wish her a speedy recovery. I read in her place, opening the show, and while I was no Celeste, I think I did okay. Not pictured: me going “Yak Yak Yak Yak Yak”

Next was Violet LeVoit (link to her Goodreads page, which has some naughty words on it, just for those of you reading this at work!), who performed some amazing feats of tongue-twisting poetry. Her sound is super well-honed, as are the dynamics she creates between the figures in her poems. It was such a joy to hear her read!

(a note on some of the photos: depending on height, the reader may appear to be wearing a winged cap, akin to Mercury, the god of poetry, so this can feel appropriate to the occasion. It may also be funny.)

Next Cat and Noelle gave us background on Girls Rock Philly (they serve on the board), and did a great job representing the organization while a shoebox (can someone please donate a hat to me? I have collected money at these events in the oddest containers) was passed around the VERY generous crowd. (But seriously, when we were fundraising for Ysabel to go on her residency in Feats of Poetic Strength III, I passed around a crumpled paper wine bag. Only the finest).

Next was Gwendolyn Mintz, who took a bus for three days to attend the reading! I think she may have beaten Kita, who traveled from Los Angeles, but on what was, I suspect, a plane. Gwendolyn forego the mic, and read her poems about her daughter, her grandmother, quilting, what connects one person to another, one square to another, her poems, if you’ll forgive me, interwove magically.

Carrie Reilly, who had a slightly shorter journey, what with living fifteen minutes away from the reading site or so, read following Gwendolyn, and blew me away with the romanticism and beauty in their work. They only read four poems, but each evoked the bonds that connect people to each other (this was sort of the theme of the reading), whether they be romantic, or familial. The third poem they read about their mother was particularly moving, and I was so glad to hear Carrie read it.

When we got to our last reader, Lori Wilson, I was genuinely disappointed the evening was coming to a close. But Lori gave it such a great send-off! She read poems about journeys, about returning, about leaving, people, places, pausing with your hand on a gate. It was a perfect way to close a reading. Thank you alphabet for blessing us with this order!

I was excited because Lori’s daughter was able to see her mom read for the first time in five years. It felt wonderful to make that happen.

And then we closed out the reading with some group photos (disclaimer, I hate my hair in this picture, wish I were wearing a winged cap instead)

It was a great night. Next one takes place October 24th, same 7 pm, same Brandywine Workshop. See you there!

So I got another finalist placement, this time with DISTRICT LIT‘s contest judged by Sarah Vap. She chose my poem “Everyone Love Me All the Time” as one of four finalists, along with my friend Laura Madeline Wiseman and her poem, “When We’re Not Hiking.” Congrats to winner Sarah Katz for selection of her poem, “The Beginning of Prayer.”

I am super grateful to have my work recognized four times this year with a finalist status, and actually do kinda like that dress…

I have a new poem, “Stars–They’re Just Like Us,” up at The Good Men Project.

It is about the same man as these poems, “Local Church at Area Library,” “Ode to Kingsessing,” “Thin Walls” and many others that haven’t yet been published.

Exhibit A:

That’s me pictured with my muse, Joe. He is also very supportive of my reading series, and is just in general a great advocate for me and my craft. I am so grateful to him.

My 2015 Booth Poetry Prize finalist placing poem, The Daughter, is up at the following URL for a brief week, before it is archived, so check it out before it is replaced with another creative piece. The folks at Booth were so kind, I highly recommend submitting to them.

The next link will be to a PDF of The Tishman Review, featuring my finalist poem in their 2015 contest, “Interior with Snow” on pg. 12, there is also the option to click here and buy a print copy. I can’t speak highly enough of The Tishman Review. First off, it is run by some of the best creatures ever to graduate from Bennington (which I believe was ranked top three in creative writing programs in the history of mankind, check Poets & Writers though to be sure), secondly they are so responsive and kind to issues, thirdly, THEY DONATED TO MY FUNDRAISER, fourthly, the journal is print and online, and I just can’t say highly enough to SUBMIT to them, because they are good, good people who will treat your work well. Oh! and they pay!

These poems are two of my favorites I’ve written this year, so I am happy to share them in the same blog post. They are also both finalist poems, and these, plus The Feminist Wire’s Honorable Mention poems, mark the third time I placed in a literary contest this year. OR IS IT?

I may have a fourth to announce soon. I’ll keep y’all posted.

and can be found here. Please consider donating or sharing, it is such a worthy cause!

The Facebook event is here. You should come!