Wednesday, July 31, 2019
Join Katy Comber at GoggleWorks Center for the Arts September 5th, 2019
Berks Bards welcomes Katy Comber to join us at GoggleWorks Center for the Arts to read selected poetry. Following his reading, we'll allow ANYONE to step up to the mic and read what moves them.
When: September 5th, 2019 at 6 pm
Where: GoggleWorks Center for the Arts Studio 238
201 Washington Street Reading PA 19601
Read Katy Comber's Bio below:
Katy Comber is the co-founder of Creative Light Factory Writers' Room (creativelightfactory.org), host of AC Presents Monthly Story Slam & Poetry Jam at Steel City Coffeehouse, and creator of Affinity CoLab Presents (affinitycolabpresents.org) online arts and lit magazine. Her work appears in Dreamers Creative Writing; Paragon Press, Lagom Journal; Meat for Tea Literary Review; Studio B's Wabi Sabi anthology; and Affinity CoLab Presents. Her first collection of poems 40 Portraits of a Family is available through Amazon.
Below is a sample poem from our featured poet:
Beckon the Wordsmiths
By Katy Comber
Beckon the wordsmiths
whose pens spear
creatures drawn out
toward false light
Beckon the musicians
whose notes drift steady
to carry us away
and embolden us to remain
Beckon the sculptors
the actors, the creators
who translate
the world with their hands
Beckon the mothers, the fathers,
the lovers who cradle
and nurture and know
the art of receiving and letting go
Beckon those who pray, wrestle,
dream; who build
and rest and deliver
the power to do right
Beckon heavy laden shepherds
who know the world
by its anchors and gears
called to serve, called to protect
Beckon the curious and canny
who untangle mysteries divine
linguistic in the numerical
tenaciously reverent in pursuit of fact
Beckon their beacons, reason; wonder
songs and theorems and paradoxical joy
gather all conceits of love, chaos, and woe
to compose a world for the future we owe.
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Tuesday, July 16, 2019
Join Grant Clauser at GoggleWorks Center for the Arts August 1st, 2019
Berks Bards welcomes Grant Clauser to join us at GoggleWorks Center for the Arts to read selected poetry. Following his reading, we'll allow ANYONE to step up to the mic and read what moves them.
When: August 1st, 2019 at 6 pm
Where: GoggleWorks Center for the Arts Studio 238
201 Washington Street Reading PA 19601
Read Grant Clauser's Bio below:
Grant Clauser lives in Hatfield, Pennsylvania. He is the author of the books Reckless Constellations (winner of the Cider Press Review Book Award), The Magician's Handbook, Necessary Myths (winner of the Dogfish Head Poetry Prize) and The Trouble with Rivers. Poems have appeared in The American Poetry Review, Cortland Review, Painted Bride Quarterly, Tar River Poetry and others. He writes and edits technology reviews for Wirecutter and teaches poetry workshops at Rosemont College.
Below is a sample poem from our featured poet:
Valiant
The car sat in the side yard
after a constable told my father
to get it off the street.
We mowed around its rust for years,
watched the tires sink
with spider cracks and the vinyl roof
peeled by a decade of squirrels
until a mullet head from Nazareth
pulled up in a Firebird,
gave us thirty bucks to take it away.
Said it would make a great target
at the demolition derby.
I went to watch it happen,
a hundred bucks to the driver
who could total my grandfather’s Valiant
now resurrected with bright paint,
a bull’s eye drawn on its side.
So with shouts from the bleachers
each driver sideswiped
another piece off the car.
One Malibu limped away
with a bumper caught
in the axle, then an El Camino
with eyes painted on the hood
came at it for the final finish,
and my grandfather’s ghost
straightened his back
like it was before the wheelchair,
put all his weight on the brakes
and let that prick know
he wasn't about to budge.
(published in Gulf Stream Magazine, 2018)
Learn more about Grant Clauser by visting: https://uniambic.com/
Find Berks Bards on Facebook and Twitter or join our Mailing List for more information
Wednesday, May 29, 2019
Join Luke Stromberg at GoggleWorks Center for the Arts July 11th, 2019
Berks Bards welcomes Luke Stromberg to join us at GoggleWorks Center for the Arts to read selected poetry. Following his reading, we'll allow ANYONE to step up to the mic and read what moves them.
When: July 11th, 2019 at 6 pm
Where: GoggleWorks Center for the Arts Studio 420
201 Washington Street Reading PA 19601
Read Luke Stromberg's Bio below:
Luke Stromberg's work has appeared in The Philadelphia Inquirer, The New Criterion, The Hopkins Review, The Dark Horse, The Raintown Review, Think Journal, and several other venues. He works as an adjunct English instructor at Eastern University and La Salle University; helps organize the West Chester University Poetry Conference; serves as Associate Poetry Editor for the arts and culture blog E-Verse Radio; and co-hosts, along with Kevin Cutrer and Luke Bauerlein Works Cited: A Podcast About Poems. Luke lives in Upper Darby, PA.
Below is a sample poem from our featured poet:
The Mugging
I had the muzzle of a gun, or something,
Pressed against the small of my back. “Your wallet,”
A voice demanded: dry, succinct—like breathing
In my naked ear, unasked, a secret.
As much as the gun, the robbery, his lifting
out my wallet, himself, from my back pocket,
his hand’s invasion, was what was violating.
After, the thought of that’s what made me vomit.
My private world lost its private affect.
Now even sitting in my kitchen alone
I fear I cannot live my life apart.
For weeks, when walking from the El to home,
I’ve felt the condensation of his breath
on my earlobe in the newly pregnant dark.
Find Berks Bards on Facebook and Twitter or join our Mailing List for more information
Tuesday, May 7, 2019
Join Michael Brown at GoggleWorks Center for the Arts June 6th, 2019
Berks Bards is excited to welcome Michael Brown! Join us at GoggleWorks Center for the Arts to hear selected poetry. Following his reading, we'll allow ANYONE to step up to the mic and read what moves them.
When: June 6th, 2019 at 6 pm
Where: GoggleWorks Center for the Arts Studio 238
201 Washington Street Reading PA 19601
Read Michael Brown's Bio below:
Michael R. Brown was born in Philadelphia, raised in Lancaster County, and went to college at the University of Scranton. He started teaching in inner-city Philly, then Bucks County, and left for the University of Michigan where he majored at the Ph.D. level in English and Education. His dissertation was a literary history of the poetry of the Harlem Renaissance directed by Robert Hayden. By then he had his own poetry published and had become expert in the teaching of writing.
He left Ann Arbor to teach in East Texas, Central (Ohio) State, Western Michigan, and the University of Illinois. He taught in Chicago storefronts and community centers, then settled into Chicago State University as Director of Composition, with a two-year sojourn at Suwon University in South Korea. On his return to Chicago he became engaged in the Poetry Slam, and he and his wife Patricia Smith moved to Boston and established a slam that continues till this day. In 1992 he organized the third US National Poetry Slam, and in 1993 he led the US National Slam championship team in San Francisco. He also published travel articles, political columns, and short stories.
While resident in Boston, Brown taught at the University of Rhode Island, Suffolk University, Clark University, and Mount Ida College where he became head of the Communications Program. Meanwhile, he had five books of poetry published: Falling Wallendas (Tia Chucha, 1994), The Man Who Makes Amusement Rides (Hanover Press, 2003), Susquehanna (Princeton, Ragged Sky, 2003), The Confidence Man (Princeton, Ragged Sky, 2007), and The Martin Bormann Dog Care Book (Robbinston, Maine: Resolute Bear Press, 2017). The last book is a collection of his political poems written over the past 50 years.
Since 2007, he and his wife, the poet and editor Valerie Lawson, have lived in rural Down East Maine, where the edited the poetry quarterly, Off the Coast, from 2008 to 2017. They now own Resolute Bear Press, where she published the 3 Nations Anthology which won the 2017 Maine Publishers and Writers Award for the best anthology. They are currently work on bi-lingual books of Passamaquoddy tales and poetry.
Learn more about Michael by visiting: http://michael.brown.name/
Don't forget to join Michael at the Pagoda Writer's Circle the Saturday following this reading for a Ekphrastik Writing Workshop!
When: June 8th, 2019 at 1 pm
Where: 1840 Lorraine Road Reading PA 19604
RSVP: via email ltjamesthepagoda@gmail.com or via phone (610) 413-0373
Learn more about this workshop by visiting: https://pagodawriters.com
City of Night
In a strange land,
there are no cool nights in hot cities.
Light is always dusty gray, air gritty,
sounds loud and muffled,
people warm and wary.
Love takes place among the ruins,
like trysts at the Coliseum,
sports cars left in the street,
girls in tank tops backed against stone blocks,
guys’ jeans hooked behind their knees,
cats watching from damp niches in the walls.
The most important things are said in other languages,
kisses laid on foreign tongues.
The antidote is a walk along a river to catch
a homeless artist pretending to work late
against the stone embankment by the Seine,
listen to young ghosts murmur behind Westminster,
watch the kids on holiday just off the big piazza
imitating colossal statues with dwarfed good humor.
In the morning I climb several flights of wooden steps,
sit in a straight chair under a low ceiling
at a cluttered table in a rented space,
blocking out the sound of someone else’s TV
and traffic that blows in airless rooms
filled with other people’s belongings.
I clear a notebook-sized space,
look out a window facing windows,
and write as though I’m in prison,
even though it’s just another cage with an open door.
Friday, April 26, 2019
Join Leonard Gontarek at GoggleWorks Center for the Arts May 2nd, 2019
Berks Bards is excited to welcome Leonard Gontarek! Join us at GoggleWorks Center for the Arts to hear selected poetry. Following his reading, we'll allow ANYONE to step up to the mic and read what moves them.
When: May 2nd, 2019 at 6 pm
Where: GoggleWorks Center for the Arts Studio 420
201 Washington Street Reading PA 19601
Read Leonard Gontarek's Bio below:
Leonard Gontarek is the author of six books of poems, including, Take Your Hand
Out of My Pocket, Shiva (2016). His poems have appeared in American Poetry Review,
Poet Lore, Verse Daily, and The Best American Poetry, among others.
He coordinates Peace/Works, Poetry In Common, Philly Poetry Day, The Philadelphia
Poetry Festival, and hosts The Green Line Reading & Interview Series. He has received
Poetry fellowships from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the Mudfish Poetry
Prize, the Philadelphia Writers Conference Community Service Award, and was
a Literary Death Match Champion. His poem, 37 Photos From The Bridge, was
a Poetry winner for the Big Bridges Motion Poems project in 2015, and was the
basis for the award-winning film by Lori Ersolmaz. He is Poetry Consultant for
Whitman At 200: Art & Democracy.
Locust Trees
In my poor country, we poured sugar
on everything to not notice our hunger.
In spring, the shining coats of blackbirds
were turned gold by sunlight.
The locust trees were thick with petals,
but many had fallen to the ground.
Our neighbors lay scattered on battlefields,
some literally rose into heaven.
Friday, April 5, 2019
Celebrate 21 Years of Berks Bards
Sip & Celebrate 21 years of poetry with Berks Bards!
Join us on April 14th, 2019 from 3-5:30 PM at Brandywine Branch Distillery & Bistro!
With your purchase of a $25 ticket, you'll receive a signature cocktail and a salad crafted by Brandywine Branch Distillery & Bistro from local farm-sourced produce. Share a "coming of age" poem at the mic. Bring your friends along and encourage them to bring poems, too. And while "coming of age" poems are welcome, poems on any topic are gladly welcome, too.
We're so excited to celebrate sharing poetry locally since 1998 into now!
With your purchase of a $25 ticket, you'll receive a signature cocktail and a salad crafted by Brandywine Branch Distillery & Bistro from local farm-sourced produce. Share a "coming of age" poem at the mic. Bring your friends along and encourage them to bring poems, too. And while "coming of age" poems are welcome, poems on any topic are gladly welcome, too.
We're so excited to celebrate sharing poetry locally since 1998 into now!
What: Celebrate 21 Years of Berks Bards
When: April 14th, 2019 from 3-5:30 PM
Where: Brandywine Branch Distillery & Bistro
350 Warwick Rd, Elverson, PA 19520
Wednesday, March 13, 2019
Bard Fest 2019 - In Celebration of National Poetry Month
Berks Bards is excited to announce our Bard Fest 2019 Event Line-Up!
What: Poetry-Collaging Workshop for Homeschooled Students by Jennifer Hetrick
When: April 4th, 2019 from 10-11:30 AM
Where: Reading Public Library
100 S 5th St, Reading, PA 19602
*Call 610.655.6350 x 241 to RSVP
For more information visit: poetrywithjenniferhetrick.blogspot.com
What: 1st Thursday Poetry & Open Mic Featuring Darla Himeles
When: April 4th, 2019 at 6 PM
Where: GoggleWorks Center for the Arts
201 Washington St, Reading, PA 19601
Darla Himeles is a Pushcart-Prize and Best-of-the-Net nominee whose poetry can be read in recent issues of Talking River, Naugatuck River Review, Atticus Review, Storyscape, and Pittsburgh Poetry Review. An associate editor of The Stillwater Review, Darla holds an AB in English from Bryn Mawr College and an MFA in poetry and poetry in translation from Drew University. She is currently a doctoral candidate in American literature at Temple University, where she is also assistant director of the university's writing center. A 2018 K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders Award recipient, Darla lives in Philadelphia with her wife, daughter, and two orange cats. She is the author of the chapbook Flesh Enough (Get Fresh Books, 2017).
Learn more about Darla Himeles by visiting: https://www.darlahimelespoetry.com/
What: The Poet Tree Open Mic
When: April 6th, 2019 from 6-9 PM
Where: Custom IT AFS
1801 N 12th St #101, Reading, PA 19604
For more information visit: https://www.facebook.com/Customitafs/
When: April 6th, 2019 from 6-9 PM
Where: Custom IT AFS
1801 N 12th St #101, Reading, PA 19604
For more information visit: https://www.facebook.com/Customitafs/
What: Michael Czarnecki Poetry Workshop
When: April 6th, 2018 at 1PM
Where: L.T. James' Home
1840 Lorraine Road Reading, PA 19604
*RSVP via email ltjamesthepagoda@gmail.com
For more information visit: http://www.pagodawriters.com/
When: April 6th, 2018 at 1PM
Where: L.T. James' Home
1840 Lorraine Road Reading, PA 19604
*RSVP via email ltjamesthepagoda@gmail.com
For more information visit: http://www.pagodawriters.com/
What: Poetry & Music | Turtle Moon Native American Flute Circle
When: April 7th, 2019 from 1-4 PM
Where: Social Hall of the Bern Reformed UCC Church
3196 Bernville Rd, Leesport, PA 19533
For more information visit: https://turtlemoonnafc.wordpress.com/
What: 2nd Tuesday Poetry Open Mic
When: April 9th, 2018 at 6 PM
Where: Aladdin's Restaurant
401 Penn Ave, West Reading, PA 19611
Our regularly occurring 2nd Tuesday Poetry Open Mic meets at Aladdin's Restaurant at 6 PM every second Tuesday of the month. Join us downstairs for food, drinks, conversation, community, and of course...poetry!
When: April 9th, 2018 at 6 PM
Where: Aladdin's Restaurant
401 Penn Ave, West Reading, PA 19611
Our regularly occurring 2nd Tuesday Poetry Open Mic meets at Aladdin's Restaurant at 6 PM every second Tuesday of the month. Join us downstairs for food, drinks, conversation, community, and of course...poetry!
What: Bird Poems Workshop by Jennifer Hetrick
When: April 13th, 2019 from 9:30-11:30 AM
Where: Rock Hollow Woods Environmental Learning Center
615 Rock Hollow Rd, Birdsboro, PA 19508
$20 Registration Fee can be paid by visiting:
https://www.rockhollowwoods.org/store/p72/Bird_Poems_Workshop-Saturday%2C_April_13%2C_2019.html
What: Celebrate 21 Years of Berks Bards
When: April 14th, 2019 from 3-5:30 PM
Where: Brandywine Branch Distillery & Bistro
350 Warwick Rd, Elverson, PA 19520
$25 Ticket includes a signature cocktail & salad
Learn more at : https://TinyURL.com/BerksBards21st
What: Tanka: Poetry Reading & Mini-Workshop with Elizabeth Bodien
When: April 16th, 2019 at 6 PM
Where: Wyomissing Public Library
9 Reading Blvd, Wyomissing, PA 19610
Elizabeth Bodien is the author of two books of poetry: Blood, Metal, Fiber, Rock and Oblique Music: A Book of Hours as well as four poetry chapbooks all written since she retired from teaching at Northampton Community College.She is also the author of the spiritual memoir Journeys with Fortune: A Tale of Other Lives. She holds degrees in cultural anthropology, consciousness studies, religions, and poetry. She has worked as an instructor of English in Japan, an organic farmer in the mountains of Oregon, a childbirth instructor in West Africa, and as a professor of anthropology. She retired from teaching to devote time to writing. She has taught poetry workshops and given talks on poetry and poetics on radio and TV. Her poems, essays, and book reviews have appeared in Cimarron Review, Crannóg, and Parabola, among many other publications in the USA, Ireland, Canada, Australia, and India. Now she is working on a collection of her trance writings. Bodien grew up in the “burned-over” district of Western New York but now lives near Hawk Mountain, Pennsylvania.
Learn more about Elizabeth Bodien by visiting: http://www.elizabethbodien.com/
When: April 16th, 2019 at 6 PM
Where: Wyomissing Public Library
9 Reading Blvd, Wyomissing, PA 19610
Elizabeth Bodien is the author of two books of poetry: Blood, Metal, Fiber, Rock and Oblique Music: A Book of Hours as well as four poetry chapbooks all written since she retired from teaching at Northampton Community College.She is also the author of the spiritual memoir Journeys with Fortune: A Tale of Other Lives. She holds degrees in cultural anthropology, consciousness studies, religions, and poetry. She has worked as an instructor of English in Japan, an organic farmer in the mountains of Oregon, a childbirth instructor in West Africa, and as a professor of anthropology. She retired from teaching to devote time to writing. She has taught poetry workshops and given talks on poetry and poetics on radio and TV. Her poems, essays, and book reviews have appeared in Cimarron Review, Crannóg, and Parabola, among many other publications in the USA, Ireland, Canada, Australia, and India. Now she is working on a collection of her trance writings. Bodien grew up in the “burned-over” district of Western New York but now lives near Hawk Mountain, Pennsylvania.
Learn more about Elizabeth Bodien by visiting: http://www.elizabethbodien.com/
What: Bad Poetry Workshop for Teens
When: April 18th, 2019 from 6-7:30 PM
Where: Boone Area Library
129 N Mill St, Birdsboro, PA 19508
What: Poetry Workshop with Anthony Orozco aka Glyph
When: April 18th, 2019 at 6 PM
Where: Barrio Alegria
140 N 5th St, Reading, PA 19601
What: Poetry with Dr. T | Workshop for Children
When: April 20th, 2019 at 1 PM
Where: Sweet Ride Ice Cream
542 Penn Ave, West Reading, PA 19611
When: April 18th, 2019 from 6-7:30 PM
Where: Boone Area Library
129 N Mill St, Birdsboro, PA 19508
What: Poetry Workshop with Anthony Orozco aka Glyph
When: April 18th, 2019 at 6 PM
Where: Barrio Alegria
140 N 5th St, Reading, PA 19601
What: Poetry with Dr. T | Workshop for Children
When: April 20th, 2019 at 1 PM
Where: Sweet Ride Ice Cream
542 Penn Ave, West Reading, PA 19611
What: Artress Bethany White Poetry Reading
When: April 23rd, 2019 at 6 PM
Where: Barrio Alegria
140 N 5th St, Reading, PA 19601
Artress Bethany White is a poet, essayist, and literary critic. She is the recipient of the 2018 Trio Award for her new poetry collection, My Afmerica (Trio House Press, 2019). Her prose and poetry have appeared in such journals as Harvard Review, Tupelo Quarterly, The Hopkins Review, Poet Lore, Ecotone, and Pleiades. She has received the Mary Hambidge Distinguished Fellowship from the Hambidge Center for Creative Arts for her nonfiction, The Mona Van Duyn Scholarship in Poetry from the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, and writing residencies at The Writers Hotel and the Tupelo Press/MASS MoCA studios. She is a visiting assistant professor of American cultural studies at Albright College in Pennsylvania.
What: Memory Poem Workshop with Nancy Yeager
When: April 24th, 2019 from 9:30-11 AM
Where: The Mifflin Senior Center of Berks Encore
30 Liberty St, Shillington, PA 19607
What: Joshua Surita Poetry Reading
When: April 27th, 2019 at 1 PM
Where: Park Road Cafe
840 N Park Rd, Wyomissing, PA 19610
Joshua Surita was born and raised in the Lehigh Valley, where he first discovered his love for poetry in a high school classroom. After graduating in 2010, he continued to refine his craft by writing in between classes at Penn State and presenting pieces at many schools, community conferences, and countless open mics. This passion eventually led to Joshua being invited to California for Rhetoric 2018, one of the largest Spoken Word Poetry events in the country. But when he’s not crafting poetry, he’s crafting lesson plans as a Special Education teacher. And while his audience may change from poet enthusiasts to middle school students, Joshua’s underlying goal is the same: to glorify Jesus Christ.
What: Candy Poems Workshop by Jennifer Hetrick
When: April 28th, 2019 from 1-3 PM
Where: The Peppermint Stick Candy Store
26 E Philadelphia Ave, Boyertown, PA 19512
What: 8th Berks County Poet Laureate Celebration Ceremony
When: May 1st, 2019 at 7 PM
Where: Miller Center for the Arts at RACC
4 N 2nd St, Reading, PA 19601
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