Wednesday, February 8th, 2023

Back in the winter of 2006, I applied for a tenure-track teaching job at CSU Long Beach, which was conducting a search for creative writers to replace Gerald Locklin and Elliot Fried, both of whom had started teaching only part-time after decades of work in the academic trenches. The school ended up hiring three one fiction writer, Lisa Glatt, and two poets, myself and Patty Seyburn. I was familiar with Lisa’s work, since she had been published in PEARL magazine, but I was not at all familiar with Patty’s work, nor was she acquainted with mine. Over the years I have gotten to know her work and appreciate the way she can take a topic that has a public presence and write a poem that does not yield to gratuitous sentiment even as it flaunts its accessibility. Today, the L.A. Times ran one of her poems in the Opinion section, and even though it is not a “typical” poem of hers (though it would be hard to say what is “typical” of her poetry), I still savor how her leap toward the metaphorical apposition of “frenzied bacchanal” stamps this homage as having been filtered by none other than her sensibility. Her writing often imbibes of what might be categorized as feminist devotional, and there is a through-line between her work and Anne Bradstreet that deserves critical attention. On the other hand, would a reader be mistaken in comparing her deftness as a poet with someone such as Howard Nemerov, whose book SENTENCES I was reading just yesterday? Seyburn’s poems always keep me slightly off-balance, and if you enjoy that sensation as much as I do, rest assured that a search in your browser will quickly yield many more links to her poems.

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-02-08/ode-to-the-santa-anas

Punk music and performance art were fellow travelers in the late 1970s and early 1980s in Los Angeles; among the most prominent of the artists who integrated the poetics of each genre was Johanna Went, whose extraordinary performance at Beyond Baroque I was lucky enough to catch back then. The most recent example of the intermingling of punk and performance art has been taking place at a bar in Long Beach, California called Vine. The proprietor of a record store, “Dizzy on Vinyl,” less than a mile away from that bar, has been leading a band of musicians called PLASTIC HORSESHOES in a raucous celebration every Tuesday night in January, starting at 9 p.m. and ending promptly at 10. Tonight, January 31, is the final performance.

I caught last Tuesday’s show, which included several costume changes by Dizzy in the course of “unhitching his trailer” and unpacking his suitcase: “This is not mine. This is not mine.” This show was not the first time I had seen Dizzy perform, as he had presented a version of it in the small side-room of his record store late last year; but the bar’s full length was made use of during the course of the show, with Dizzy twirling his suitcase in a perpetual wind-up motion like a clock recording, absorbing, and discharging simultaneously perfect time of all 24 hours. No doubt, on several continents on this planet, a couple thousand other musicians were equally embedded in their grooves that night; but for those fortunate enough to be in the presence of a relentless artist in Long Beach last Tuesday, there was no other place they’d want to be.

Vine 2142 E. Fourth LB 90814
Dizzy on Vinyl 3004 E. 7th 90804

Sunday, January 29, 2023

Tom Verlaine (1949-2023)

I was driving north on Cherry Avenue in Long Beach yesterday afternoon listening to music on KCRW’s late afternoon show when an announcement was made at the start of a new set of songs: “We learned about an hour ago that Tom Verlaine of the band Television died today.” And they played one of Television’s songs in his honor.

https://www.npr.org/2023/01/28/1152357360/tom-verlaine-guitarist-and-singer-of-influential-rock-band-television-dies-at-73

Much of the commentary on Verlaine emphasizes that his music was not easy to categorize. Indeed, the contumacious deviancy from the strictures of commodified composition that marks Verlaine’s work is precisely what so many young musicians find inspiriting about his legacy. Of course, it came with the usual price tag, which Verlaine once summed up in a response to a reporter’s request for a description of his artistic life: “struggling not to have a professional career.” But if influential fame was the only major compensation that Verlaine attained in a half-century of relentless effort, it came with the intimate friendship of other artists. The percentage of people who get to collaborate with their equals is very small. Any other career marks the amateur, and to that extent Verlaine was a consummate professional.

*************

Patrick McKinnon (1957-2021)

If most young writers and artists head to a “big city” in order to be part of the formation of a scene that will at least partially contextualize their projects, there are always a handful wo will move in the opposite direction.

I passed through Duluth, Minnesota once in the mid-1980s. My first wife, Cathay, and I had visited her father and her siblings in Bismarck, North Dakota and then driven up into Canada and headed back to Minneapolis-St. Paul to catch a flight back home to L.A. There was something about Duluth’s “vibe” that was different than I expected, and I remembered thinking how it would be the kind of town I would pick to move to if I were ever in a witness protection program.

Patrick McKinnon’s bio on the back of his full-length collection, CHERRY FERRIS WHEELS (1990), says that he moved to Duluth in the late 1970s in order to get away from the increasingly dense population of California. McKinnon became known not just as a poet, but also as an editor of POETRY MOTEL, one of the unflinchingly underground magazines to emerge in the last century. McKinnon himself had hundreds of poems published in dozens of magazines. It is dismaying to realize how little attention has been given to CHERRY FERRIS WHEELS since its publication over 30 years ago. This collection of poems is easily one of the 500 best books of American poetry published in the past century. It might even be in the top 200 books.

McKinnon was born in 1957 in San Francisco and died in Duluth in 2021, age 64. I missed the announcement of his passing when it happened, but having very recently learned of it, don’t want to neglect acknowledging his accomplishments as a poet and editor. For those who want to read a tribute that is equally enthusiastic about his work, here’s the link:

todd moore | patrick mckinnon and the drunken shamanic

Thomas Mann book

Both Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center in Venice, California and the Poetry Project at St. Mark’s Church in New York City are well past their 50th anniversary celebrations at this point. In fact, it won’t be long before the Poetry Project will begin thinking of ways to mark its 60th anniversary. No doubt the New Year’s Day marathon reading that is held in the sanctuary of the church will give both its audience and participants a chance to reflect on the ways that the Poetry Project reflects the local scenes that constitute “the radical margin, the flagrant underground—a true gathering of the many counter-cultural lineages” associated with the Poetry Project. (The quotation is from the promotional material of the Poetry Project.)

I watched a fair portion of this year’s reading, and I did so last year, too. I can’t say that I heard much work that had much chance of being influential outside of its own purlieu. I did attend that reading in NYC when I was living in Long Island, and I enjoyed it enough back then to make me wish that Beyond Baroque would do something similar. However, I don’t see wha would be gained by making that effort. Beyond Baroque held an end of the year fund-raiser, and Quentin Ring recently reported that Beyond Baroque exceeded its goal of $40,000 by over thirty percent.

Mr. Ring also announced that a new series of interdisciplinary presentations is starting up at Beyond Baroque: “The Haircut.” There weren’t many details given except that it will include writers whose collaborative projects include poetry, film, music, and performance. The very recent death of Doug Knott (on December 23, 2022) becomes all the more sad when one considers that he would have been someone whose work would have been part of that series. So, too, would have Linda Albertano’s, who died just a few months ago.

The “lineages” of Beyond Baroque and the Poetry Project have a fairly large overlap if one were to create a Venn diagram of cultural work. The challenge for those who are interested in non-academic poets is to stay alert to the expanding overlap between “alternative” cultural centers who share the problem of surviving without an endowment to bolster their efforts through lean times. How many people at the Poetry Project and Beyond Baroque are equally familiar with the work of Doug Knott, Linda Albertano, AND Lewis Warsh.

Warsh is one of the crucial poets in the “lineages” of post-World War II American poetry, and yet I find few poets in the L.A. area who seem familiar with his work at all. Poet, editor, publisher, teacher: his contribution was extraordinary, and he deserves to be as remembered on the West Coast as I would like to think he would be at the Poetry Project. I have my doubts, though, how often the young poets at the Poetry Project are encouraged to read Warsh.

Barbara Henning Remembers Lewis Warsh
https://www.poetryproject.org/library/poems-texts/in-memoriam-lewis-warsh/on-lewis-barbara-henning

Unlike Beyond Baroque, the Poetry Project is quite limited in when it is able to present its programming at St. Mark’s. Beyond Baroque controls its performance space and art gallery seven days a week, 52 weeks of the year. The Poetry Project, on the other hand, has limited access to the space at St. Mark’s. I remember when I moved to Long Island midway through the first decade of this century and attended the Poetry Project, I was a bit shocked to realize that they had no weekend events at that time. Mondays and Wednesday evenings! That was it!

Since then, the reading series has shifted to three days a week, though two of the days are “biweekly”: “the weekly Wednesday Night Reading Series features nationally/internationally recognized poets as well as those of local renown. The biweekly Monday Night Reading Series serves as a forum for emerging poets as well as the open-mic readings. The biweekly Friday Night Reading Series provides space for poets and artists whose work is multidisciplinary.”

The “Curatorial Statement” for the Fall, 2022 programming at the Poetry Project is a fairly interesting statement, and I would recommend it for your perusal. The emphasis on “touch” is ultimately an anti-Platonic poetics, of course, and the curatorial statement stops short of addressing how that emphasis would affect poetry ability to sustain “knowledge.” It is only a “statement,” however, and not a manifesto, and in fact the statement is far more eloquent than most such gestures, especially given that its social context is self-described as a “courageous circus and madcap effort” in its New Year’s Day reading promotion.

https://www.poetryproject.org/fall-2022-curatorial-statement

Beyond Baroque should continue to savor its good fortune in having a founder such as George Drury Smith, as well as a plethora of advocates and reading series curators and workshop leaders over the years such as James Krusoe, Alexandra Garrett, John Harris, Joseph Hansen, Jack Skelley, Jocelyn Fisher, Jack Grapes, Bob Flanagan, Dennis Cooper, Dennis Phillips, Benjamin Weissman, Tosh German, Fred Dewey, Richard Modiano, Quentin Ring, Laurel Ann Bogen, and Doug Knott (who served as.a Trustee and President of its Board of Trustees).

The Beyond Baroque reading series schedule for the next two months can be found at:

https://www.beyondbaroque.org

Poetry Reading: Nathan McClain, Angela Peñaredondo, & Marci Vogel
Friday, January 13,
8:00 PM PDT
In person at Beyond Baroque and live on Youtube

Poetry Reading: Sandra Simonds, Rodrigo Toscano, Prageeta Sharma, & Harmony Holiday
Sunday, January 15,
8:00 PM PDT
In person at Beyond Baroque and live on Youtube
An in-person poetry reading at Beyond Baroque with authors Sandra Simonds, Rodrigo Toscano, Prageeta Sharma, & Harmony Holiday

Three Years Later: Tweets From Hell by Suzanne Lummis
Friday, January 20,
8:00 PM PDT
In person at Beyond Baroque and live on Youtube
In 2020, Suzanne Lummis presented to a large, enthusiastic Beyond Baroque audience the entirety of her COLA (City of Los Angeles) project, 71 transmissions of no more than 280 characters each that she received from the future, and a famous figure confined in a realm of the afterlife. Tweets from Hell. In a renewed installment on January 20, 2023, Suzanne will be presenting a limited number of Tweets from Hell made available in the form of a 19th-century political pamphlet designed by Liz Camfiord.

L.A. Book Launch: The Forbidden Lunchbox by Richard Modiano
Saturday, January 21,
2:00 PM PDT
Beyond Baroque is honored to welcome back Executive Director Emeritus, Richard Modiano, in celebration of Forbidden Lunchbox, a new collection of poetry published by Punk Hostage Press. The author will be joined by poets Iris Berry, Michael C. Ford, S.A. Griffin, & K.R. Morrison.

Divine Blue Light: Will Alexander & Kamau Daáood in Conversation
Saturday, January 21,
7:00 PM PDT
Beyond Baroque’s poet-in-residence Will Alexander presents his new poetry collection, Divine Blue Light (For John Coltrane) Pocket Poets Series No. 63–published by City Lights. To celebrate this publication, he will be joined in conversation by another of Los Angeles’ iconic literary legends: Kamau Daáood, poet, activist, and co-founder of The World Stage Performance Gallery.

A Poetry Reading with Eloise Klein Healy & Ron Koertge
Ron Koertge is Pasadena’s current poet laureate and Eloise Klein Healy was the first poet laureate of Los Angeles (in 2012).
Friday, January 27,
8:00 PM PDT

January 4, 2023

(The poet Tim Reynolds “superimposed” himself on a photograph of a certain Wall Street character. This item was generated by Tim Reynolds and shared with me by him many years ago. It’s well nigh time it surfaced.)

Decades ago, the L.A. Times had a very savvy group of writers at work: Robert Kirsch reviewed the books; Jim Murray wisecracked about sports events with metaphorical ingenuity; and Joseph Conrad was a master of political cartoons. These three made it worthwhile to subscribe to the paper.

If I knew someone who could draw like Conrad, I would hire them on the spot for a cartoon in which an elephant is in double-wide bed in a hospital emergency room. The elephant has a hind leg up in a halter which is hanging from a wench chain attached to the inner edge of a Capitol-like dome. The leg is obviously wrenched and splayed. A nurse to the side with a Donkey emblem on her uniform says, “Break out the plaster for the traction cast.”

Just in case you’re wondering what the obstructionists in the GOP want, here are some of the highlights: dismantling the IRS and jettisoning the income tex in favor of a consumer tax (gee, guess who that would benefit the most?) and a federal balanced budget (guess how much the Pentagon’s budget would be reduced under that scheme?).

Jokes aside, it is staggering to see a political party that supported an insurrection against America’s democracy now find itself incapable of agreeing on who should be speaker of the house.

In point of fact, the Constitution of the United States does not say that the Speaker of the House has to be a member of the House of Representatives or ever have served in any political office whatsoever. Furthermore, it doesn’t say anything about where the Speaker of the House must have been born in order to serve, although the line of succession to the Presidency would be affected by the Speaker’s place of birth.

It’s possible, therefore, that John Boehner or Paul Ryan could serve as Speaker of the House as a compromise candidate. The former is 73 years old, while the latter is in his early 50s. Now there’s an outcome that has almost no chance of happening, and yet one is hard pressed to figure out what other options are available.

In the meantime, McCarthy’s home state is facing a storm that promises to disrupt air traffic. The atmospheric river that is the source of the storm has yet to be according a proper noun. The seriousness of the storm can be gauged by the email I received from United Airlines yesterday evening around 6 p.m.

“Important information about your trip
Severe storms across the San Francisco Bay Area have the potential to cause disruptions to our operation, including flight delays or cancellations. As of now, there are no changes to your itinerary. We will notify you if this occurs.”

And, pray tell, exactly WHEN will that notification arrive? If one needs to be at the airport two hours before boarding time in order to get through security, how soon will passengers know about their flight status, given that they will need to allot at least an hour, if not two, to drive to the airport through traffic in rain?

Governor Newsom has declared a state of emergency, but LAX is undaunted by the unfriendly skies. Full speed ahead.

Weather forecasters are producing that this winter must end up resembling the one in 1997-1998, “a season that ended with 17 deaths and more than half a billion dollars in damage in California.”

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-01-04/storm-train-aimed-at-northern-california-could-rival-el-nino-winter-of-97-98

The problem with this comparison is that the southern most portion of Southern California got hardly any rain at all in the winter of 97-98. In fact, the autumn of 1997 was brutally warm throughout Southern California. I was in San Diego at that time, and I remember wondering if the sun had actually gotten hotter. It was very warm straight through the end of November, with Thanksgiving day being no exception. Yes, L.A. had a exceptionally wet February, but I don’t remember the majority of those storms making their way down to Imperial Beach with any significant amount of precipitation.

This winter has been unusual so far in having the entire coast of California getting well doused. Let’s hope ti continues at a steady pace.

January 2, 2023
“Forecasters are focused on an atmospheric river that’s expected to bring heavy rain and strong winds Wednesday and Thursday.”

Among my resolutions for the new year, the most peculiar is a desire for all of us on the West Coast to get our act together and stop letting the East Coast have all the “branding” fun.

Hurricanes get proper names, don’t they?

Why should atmospheric rivers be given any less dignity and recognition?

I hereby bestow on the West Coast atmospheric river of December, 2022 and January, 2023 the formal name of Adrianne.

I expect all future broadcasts to honor this designation.

January 1, 2023

I remember watching football games with my father on New Year’s Day back in the late 1950s when there were only a total of eight bowl games, and only half of them were played on January 1st: the Cotton; the Orange; Rose; and the Sugar Bowl. The names of the Bowl games were like a kind of bucolic mantra in those chin-to-chin days of the Cold War. (The other four games were the Tangerine Bowl; the Bluegrass; the Sun; and the Gator bowl.)

After moving to Los Angeles, there were a half-dozen occasions when I could have attended the Rose Bowl in person and watched my alma mater, UCLA, take on the Big Ten champion. I was always too busy, however, with various artistic projects to give priority to watching an athletic contest that had very little allure other than as some kind of perverse nostalgia.

Nevertheless, when January 1st arrives, I still yearn to see a TV screen fill with images of young men reiterating the elegiac benediction of James Wright’s poems about Martin’s Ferry, Ohio. It’s hard to explain this craving, which unlike my desire for nicotine (which only took two years to flush out of my system) somehow still quietly seethes in my social imaginary.

This year, though, because New Years Day is on a Sunday, there is no Rose Parade on Jan. 1st nor a football game in the Rose Bowl. They might as well cancel the whole thing, as far as I’m concerned, and just chalk it up to the bad karma of the pandemic and radical political turmoil. Our attention, after all, should be focused on the second anniversary of an insurrection that came all too close to pulling off its audacious goal of cancelling the legitimate election of Joseph Biden as president of the United States. January 6gh, 2021 was the ultimate bowl game of American democracy. The field goal that preserved our flawed but still somewhat viable political system was kicked at the last moment, even as the other team jumped off-sides.

It was amazing to watch a ball hang in the air that long, before it veered through the goal posts, far enough for the winning score even as gun shots went off at the very entrance to the stadium.

I still haven’t fully exhaled.

The Poetry Project at St. Mark’s Church in NYC has announced its lineup for the 49th nnual New Year’s Day reading. It will be presented in two five-hour increments. I am including an hour by hour sequence further along, but that will be preceded by an alphabetical list of the poets in each segment:

In particular, in each part, I am looking forward to hearing the following poets:

Part One (2:00–7:00PM): Edmund Berrigan; CAConrad; Stephanie La Cava; ; Jordan Davis; Ed Friedman; Peter Gizzi; John Godfrey; David Henderson; Patricia Spears Jones; erica kaufman; ; Brendan Lorber; Greg Masters; ; Eileen Myles with Ryan Sawyer; Minnie Bruce Pratt, Stacy Szymaszek; Lynne Tillman; Edwin Torres, & Don Yorty

Note: (Dinner Break — 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.)

Part Two (8:00PM–1:00AM): ; Jim Behrle; Anselm Berrigan; Erica Hunt; Wayne Koestenbaum; Rachel Levitsky; Tony Towle; Cecilia Vicuña; Anne Waldman with James Brandon Lewis; ; Nicole Wallace.

For those living in the vicinity of New York City, be aware that there is a limit of 300 tickets for sale to attend each part, which is separately ticketed. Tickets are $25 per section in advance, $30 at the door

LIVESTRAMING TICKETS
The entirety of the NYD Marathon will also be livestreamed. If you can’t join in person or prefer to tune in virtually you can do so by registering here:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/livestream-the-poetry-projects-49th-annual-new-years-day-marathon-tickets-484438918847?mc_cid=d7572af32d&mc_eid=56740cfab0

Part One (2:00–7:00PM):

Kimberly Alidio; Basie Allen; Nuar Alsadir; Genji Amino; Stine An; Jonathan Aprea; Jaye Bartell; Jennifer Belle; Edmund Berrigan; Max Blagg; Ernie Brooks, Pete Galub, Jeannine Otis, Steve Shelley, & Peter Zummo; CAConrad; Stephanie La Cava; Che Chen & Talice Lee; Abigail Child; Jordan Davis; DAYS; Garrett Devoe; Douglas Dunn with Steven Taylor; Marcella Durand; Tess Dworman; Ayano Elson; Kayla Ephros; Jared Daniel Fagen; Alan Felsenthal; Jameson Fitzpatrick; Foamola; Ed Friedman; Cliff Fyman; Peter Gizzi; John Godfrey; Suzanne Goldenberg; David Henderson; Lucy Ives; Emily Johnson; Patricia Spears Jones; Becca Kauffman; erica kaufman; Joseph Keckler; Shiv Kotecha; Benjamin Krusling; No Land with Luke Stewart; Brendan Lorber; Wendy Lotterman; Shanzhai Lyric; Filip Marinovich; Greg Masters; Airea D. Matthews; andriniki mattis; Iris McCloughan; Maggie Millner; Peter Mills Weiss & Julia Mounsey; Yesenia Montilla; Eileen Myles with Ryan Sawyer; Laura Ortman & Katherine Liberovskaya; Phoebe Osborne; Sarah Nicole Prickett; Diana Rickard; Jasmine Sanders; Samita Sinha; Jayson P. Smith; Stacy Szymaszek; Lynne Tillman; Edwin Torres; Aldrin Valdez; Anh Vo; Morgan Võ; Chavisa Woods; & Don Yorty

Part Two (8:00PM–1:00AM):

Andrea Abi-Karam; Rachel Allen; Penny Arcade; hannah baer; Ivanna Baranova; Jess Barbagallo; Joan La Barbara; James Barickman; S. Erin Batiste; Jim Behrle; Anselm Berrigan; Allison Brainard; Anna Cataldo; Wo Chan; Yoshiko Chuma; Christeene; Lonely Christopher; Anthony Roth Costanzo with Bryan Wagorn; Kyle Dacuyan;Mike DeCapite; Cyrus Dunham; Ry Dunn; Mel Elberg; Will Farris; Carolyn Ferrucci; Jennifer Firestone; Kay Gabriel; Nick Hallett; Laura Henriksen; Erica Hunt; Juliana Huxtable; Charlene Incarnate; Stephen Ira; Paolo Javier; Kamikaze Jones with Liam O’Brien; Vincent Katz; Wayne Koestenbaum; Yvonne LeBien; Rachel Levitsky; Kyle Carrero Lopez; Tracey McTague; Roberto Montes; Dave Morse; Aida Muratoglu; Edgar Oliver; Funto Omojola; sadé powell; E.R. Pulgar; Macy Rodman; Lucy Sante; Nathaniel Siegel; imogen xtian smith; Andrew Smyth; Pamela Sneed; Rosie Stockton; Sara Jane Stoner; Rebecca Teich; Tony Towle; Cecilia Vicuña; Anne Waldman with James Brandon Lewis; Harron Walker; Nicole Wallace; Ronaldo V. Wilson; Ariel Yelen; & Mohammed Zenia

HOUR BY HOUR BREAKDOWN

POETRY PROJECT NEW YEARS READING

New Year’s Day – January 1, 2023

2:00 – 7:00 p.m.

The Poetry Project is very pleased to announce the lineup for the opening hour of the New Year’s Day Marathon. We’ll kick off the day from 2:00–3:00PM with readings and performances from Stine An, Che Chen & Talice Lee, DAYS, Ayano Elson, Jared Daniel Fagen, Jameson Fitzpatrick, Cliff Fyman, Brendan Lorber, Filip Marinovich, andriniki mattis, Yesenia Montilla, Aldrin Valdez, Morgan Võ, & Don Yorty. Hosted by Edmund Berrigan.

With readings and performances from Nuar Alsadir; Jennifer Belle; Max Blagg; Ernie Brooks, Jeannine Otis, Steve Shelley, & Peter Zummo; Abigail Child; Jordan Davis; Kayla Ephros; Ed Friedman; Peter Gizzi; Patricia Spears Jones; No Land; Greg Masters; Maggie Millner; & Phoebe Osborne. Hosted by Ira Silverberg.

With readings and performances from Basie Allen, Jonathan Aprea, Jaye Bartell, CAConrad, Douglas Dunn with Steven Taylor, Tess Dworman, Foamola, John Godfrey, Becca Kauffman, Shanzhai Lyric, Minnie Bruce Pratt, Stacy Szymaszek, Edwin Torres, & Anh Vo. Hosted by Jayson P. Smith.

Featuring readings and performances from Kimberly Alidio, Edmund Berrigan, Garrett Devoe, Marcella Durand, Suzanne Goldenberg, David Henderson, Emily Johnson, Airea D. Matthews, Iris McCloughan, Laura Ortman & Katherine Liberovskaya, Diana Rickard, Samita Sinha, Jayson P. Smith, & Lynne Tillman. Hosted by Patricia Spears Jones.

Featuring readings and performances from Genji Amino, Alan Felsenthal, Lucy Ives, erica kaufman, Joseph Keckler, Shiv Kotecha, Benjamin Krusling, Stephanie La Cava, Wendy Lotterman, Eileen Myles with Ryan Sawyer, Peter Mills Weiss & Julia Mounsey, Sarah Nicole Prickett, Tracy Rosenthal, Jasmine Sanders, & Chavisa Woods. Hosted by David Velasco.

7:00 p.m. – 8 p.m. – DINNER BREAK

8:00 – 1:00. P.m.

Featuring readings and performances from Lonely Christopher; Yoshiko Chuma; Anthony Roth Costanzo; Jennifer Firestone; Nick Hallett; Erica Hunt; Wayne Koestenbaum; Tracey McTague; sadé powell; imogen xtian smith; Andrew Smyth; Pamela Sneed; & Ronaldo V. Wilson. Hosted by Edgar Oliver.
Featuring readings and performances from Penny Arcade; Anselm Berrigan; Mike DeCapite; Paolo Javier; Vincent Katz; Joan La Barbara; Rachel Levitsky; Edgar Oliver; Lucy Sante; Nathaniel Siegel; Tony Towle; Cecilia Vicuña; & Anne Waldman with James Brandon Lewis. Hosted by Kyle Dacuyan.
Featuring readings and performances from Jess Barbagallo, S. Erin Batiste, Allison Brainard, Kyle Carrero Lopez, Carolyn Ferrucci, Juliana Huxtable, Dave Morse, Funto Omojola, E.R. Pulgar, Rosie Stockton, Sara Jane Stoner, Harron Walker, & Ariel Yelen. Hosted by Will Farris.

Featuring readings and performances from Andrea Abi-Karam; hannah baer; Wo Chan; Christeene; Cyrus Dunham; Ry Dunn; Charlene Incarnate; Stephen Ira; Kamikaze Jones with Liam O’Brien; Yvonne LeBien; Macy Rodman; Rebecca Teich; & Mohammed Zenia. Hosted by Kay Gabriel.

Featuring readings and performances from Rachel Allen; Ivanna Baranova; James Barickman; Jim Behrle; Anna Cataldo; Kyle Dacuyan; Mel Elberg; Will Farris; Kay Gabriel; Laura Henriksen; Roberto Montes; Aida Muratoglu; & Nicole Wallace. Hosted by Ry Dunn & Becca Teich.