John Wall Barger’s U.S. launch for his new book, The Mean Game (Palimpsest Press), was on April 24th, at A Novel Idea bookstore on Passyunk, in Philadelphia. It was an extremely sweet event, hosted by Fayyaz Vellani, with dynamic readings by Ernest Hilbert, Tim Fitts, Vasiliki Katsarou, Kyle Brown-Watson, and Cris Iacoponi.
Reading at Dahlak Paradise Ethiopian restaurant in West Philly — with David Jones and Tim Fitts, who both killed it. Thanks to David Hancock for inviting us. In my two years in Philadelphia I’d been to this reading series many times, just up Baltimore from our place, and it was a thrill to read here. Warren Longmire (amazing poet) challenged me to memorize a poem, and this was the first time I got through “Your Suitors” in public.
Reading at the launch of a great issue of Philadelphia Stories (Winter 2019)—with Amy Small-McKinney, Martin Wiley, and others—at the Free Library beside Rittenhouse Square. I read my poem “The Epic of Senge.” The whole issue is online here. Thanks to poetry editor Courtney Bambrick! (Thanks to Philadelphia Stories for the pictures!)
On May 30th, in Lambertville, PA, Vasiliki Katsarou organized an ekphrastic poetry reading in response to the very cool abstract paintings of Ravenna Taylor. The poems — by Shannon K. Winston, John Timpane, Lynn Shapiro, Vasiliki Katsarou, myself, and others — were quite amazing!
