POETRY READING
Cort Bledsoe
Michael Gushue
Don Illich
Thursday, October 12, 2023 at 6:00 pm
FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
(RSVP required)
Just in time for Halloween, a poetry reading that celebrates all that is eccentric, from drive-in movies to space aliens. Poets Cort Bledsoe, Michael Gushue, and Don Illich dive into pop culture and science fiction to create poems that are quirky and questioning, as in this excerpt from Michael Gushue's latest book, Sympathy for the Monster:
Dr. Genessier peels the skin of her face like a tangerine.
Gee, thanks, Doc, for restoring my faith in science!
Your lack of autoclave and sterile instruments
is a tribute to your sincerity.
The reading begins at 7 pm and will be followed by a question and answer session and a book signing.
Raised on a rice and catfish farm in eastern Arkansas, CL Bledsoe is the author of more than thirty books, including the poetry collections Riceland, The Bottle Episode, and his newest, Having a Baby to Save a Marriage, as well as his latest novels Goodbye, Mr. Lonely and The Saviors. Bledsoe lives in northern Virginia with his daughter.
Michael Gushue is co-founder of Poetry Mutual Press, a poetry incubator. His books are Pachinko Mouth, Conrad, Gathering Down Women, Sympathy for the Monster, and—in collaboration with CL Bledsoe—I Never Promised You A Sea Monkey and The Judy Poems. He has been published in many journals, including the Indiana Review, Third Coast, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, Gargoyle, and American Letters and Commentary. He lives in the Brookland neighborhood of Washington, DC.
Donald Illich's work has appeared in literary journals such as The Iowa Review, LIT, Nimrod, Passages North, Rattle, Fourteen Hills, The Louisville Review, Cimmaron Review, Map Literary, Spork, Cream City Review, and Sixth Finch. He has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and received a scholarship from the Nebraska Summer Writers Conference. He won Honorable Mention in the Washington Prize book contest and was a “Discovery”/Boston Review 2008 Poetry Contest semifinalist. His full-length manuscript, Chance Bodies, was published in 2018 by The Word Works. He is a technical writer who lives and works in Rockville, Maryland.
Doors open at 6:30 pm and program will begin 7:00 pm.
Discounted parking available 2001 Pennsylvania Ave.
