Hear Me at the Houston Poetry Fest

Picture yourself seated in a small auditorium with a well lit stage in front.  A narrow podium stands in the middle, spotlighted.  The crowd is mumbling, but settling down.  In the moment before the Master of Ceremonies walks up to speak, the crowd quiets, sudden as the end of a summer rain.  The M.C. welcomes the attendees, thanks the sponsors, and introduces the first reader, who replaces the M.C. amid clapping hands, sounding as if the rain has returned.  Next, the poem infuses the air with lyrical lines, images opening into your mind like flowers and layering there with the sounds of the words as your emotions wake up and seal away the memory of the experience for you to recall another time.

This is the intimacy of poetry.  I hope I have sparked your interest in attending one of my poetry readings.  If you cannot attend one of my upcoming readings, I hope you will find a local reading to attend.  You won’t be disappointed, so give it a try.  Too busy to attend a scheduled reading?  Believe me; I know how hard that can be!  I’ve got you covered.  Details about a free audio recording of poems written about artwork here (includes links to full color reproductions of the art).  No excuses, now; go listen to some poetry.

Image courtesy of The Houston Poetry Fest

I just received news that I will read as a Juried Poet at this year’s Houston Poetry Fest.  This three day celebration of local poetry has been held each October for nearly thirty years.  I am honored to be chosen to participate for a third time (each through blind jury selection).  Previously, I read as a Juried Poet in 1993 and 2001.

The first time I participated, I was very young, still learning the craft of writing poetry, and extremely humbled that I was chosen to read on a stage with more experienced, published poets.  Now that I am one of the more experienced (and published) poets, I remain humbled, as the field of local and regional poets who apply is very deep, very diverse, and wonderfully talented.

This year, you can hear me read on Saturday, October 13^th at 7:30 p.m. at Willow Street Pump Station (part of the UH-Downtown campus, east of the main building), 811 North San Jacinto.  See the list of other poets here.  Come join us!

Each night of the Fest, you will hear Juried Poets, a Featured Poet, and a Guest Poet, starting Friday the 12^th, continuing Saturday (both at 7:30), and culminating Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m.  An open mike event runs Saturday afternoon from 1 p.m. to 4:30.  Full list of events here.

Also, I have more details about my reading at the South Central MLA Conference in November.  I will read on Saturday, November 10^th at 9 a.m. in the Magnolia Room of the Sheraton Gunter Hotel in downtown San Antonio, Texas.  I will share the podium with three other regional poets: Juan M. Perez, Reggie Scott Young, and Eduardo R. del Rio.

You can learn more about the conference here.  I hope you will stop by if you happen to attend the conference or live in San Antonio.

You will always find me linked at The Catholic Bloggers Network Monthly Round up.

Karri at My Life’s a Treasure hosts a weekly My Favorite Things Link up, and I am linking this post there.  

L.L. at Seedlings in Stone hosts the weekly On, In, and Around Monday Link up, “an invitation to write from where you are… [with] a sense of place.”