Brooklyn Reading Works presents Poetry Punch, a festive, fun,
celebratory group reading by poets curated by Michele Madigan
Somerville.
And, yes, there will be punch. Lots of it.
This year’s reading really packs a punch with Bill Evans, Jeff
Wright, Joanna Sit, Ilene Starger, Will Nixon, Louise Crawford and
Michele Madigan Somerville. Says Michele: "The poets on the bill are
all very high interest, high energy poets: juicy, libidinous, good
performers, not dry."
Yes, there are a bunch of poets (seven in all) but each one will
read for ten minutes. Meaning you won’t be there all night. Books will
be on sale.
Bill Evans: "I always think if God were a New York
poet he’d sound like Bill. Bill is funny and speechifying in a
philosophical yet embracing way," Michele writes.
Jeff Wright: "He used to call himself a "new
romantic" came up as a boy wonder among New York School and Beat
legends, edited Cover Magazine for a long time, has a bunch of books
and chap books out, and writes lush, sexy, surreal and funny — he’s a
latter day troubadour! In sillier moments I have referred to Jeff as
"The Dean Martin of the Downtown Poetry Scene" That’s Michele again.
Joanna Sit: "Chinese born Medgar Evers Professor
Joanna Sit is a middle-aged knockout who writes like an Irish woman
high on Absinthe," says Michele.
Ilene Starger: A New York-born poet whose work has
appeared in such publications as Folio, Georgetown Review, Paper
Street, Oyez Review, Oberon and Ibbetson Street. Ilene’s brand new
chapbook Lethe, Postponed will be published in August 2008 by Finishing
Line Press. She is currently putting together her next collection of
poems.
Michele Madigan Somerville: The author of Wisegal
from Ten Pell Books: "A multilingual hardrock reverie…going upside
your head to whisper whipsmart secrets about cracked-out big-city
survival.” She runs the Ceol Poetry Series at the Ceol Pub on Smith
Street.
Louise Crawford: Louise runs OTBKB and Brooklyn Reading Works
and is the Smartmom columnist for the Brooklyn Paper. She will read
from her unpublished collections, Therapy and Anarchists Don’t Return Phone Calls.
Will Nixon: His book, My Late Mother as a Ruffed
Grouse (FootHills Publishing), offers poems inspired by his experiences
growing up in the Connecticut suburbs, then living in Hoboken and
Manhattan as a young man, and finally moving to a Catskills log cabin.
His previous chapbooks are When I Had It Made (Pudding House) and The
Fish Are Laughing (Pavement Saw). His poems have also appeared in many
journals, including Rattle, The Ledge, Slipstream, Wisconsin Review,
Tar River Poetry, and others. His work has been nominated for a
Pushcart Prize and and listed in The Best American Essays of 2004. He
now lives in Woodstock.
The Where and When
Thursday, October 16th at 8 p.m.
Brooklyn Reading Works at the Old Stone House
Fifth Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets
It’s the stone house in JJ Byrne Park
$5 donation appreciated. Punch and light refreshments will be served