Join us for a reading from four accomplished Michigan poets! Charles W. Brice will present poetry from his newest book, Mnemosyne’s Hand, while Judith Alexander Brice is celebrating the release of her newest collection, Overhead from Longing. Monica Rico is an MFA candidate at the University of Michigan’s Helen Zell Writers’ Program and the author of Twisted Mouth of the Tulip; and rounding out the group is acclaimed Michigan Notable winning poet Keith Taylor, whose most recent book, The Bird-while, won the Bronze Award from the Foreword Indies Poetry Book of the Year for 2017.
About Mnemosyne’s Hand by Charles W. Brice
This collection deals with the challenges, dilemmas, joys, and struggles of living in a world that we often don’t want to live in, but don’t want to die in either. These poems explore the wonders of family, the horrors of war, racism, and prejudice against various minorities, as well as the heaps of hypocrisy our times produce, and the inevitability of the great equalizer-death.
Charles W. Brice is a retired psychoanalyst and is the author of Flashcuts Out of Chaos(WordTech Editions, 2016) and Mnemosyne’s Hand (WordTech Editions, 2018). His poetry has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and has appeared in The Atlanta Review, Hawaii Review, The Main Street Rag, Chiron Review, Fifth Wednesday Journal, SLAB, The Paterson Literary Review, Spitball, Plainsongs and elsewhere.
About Overhead from Longing by Judith Alexander Brice
Longing describes it all: the yearning for a “cradle of molten moonlight” to underpin the vicissitudes of daily life as we seek to watch “silken embers of sun topaz the sky.” In lyrical free verse and, at times, formal verse, Judith Alexander Brice depicts the treasured echoes of a life/our lives, even as they are interrupted by the vagaries of misfortune, illness and loss-and by the whims of our world.
Judith Alexander Brice, a retired Pittsburgh psychiatrist, has had poems published in many journals and newspapers including The Paterson Literary Review, Vox Populi.com,The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Versewrights.com, and Annals of Internal Medicine among others. Her first book, Renditions in a Palette, appeared in 2013. Her second book, Overhead From Longing, is brand new. One of her poems, Mourning Calls, was set to music by Tony Manfredonia.
Praise for Twisted Mouth of the Tulip
“How fine it is to have Monica Rico’s poems in the world. They are fierce, smart, fleshy and transcendent, animal and incarnate. Somewhere in Ms. Rico’s cloud of witnesses, Jim Harrison, hungry and hirsute, sits to the comida –a feast of gamy feeds, green shoots, buckets of wine and usquebaugh — tamales and cajeta, dulce de leche fresh from the word horde.” — poet, Tom Lynch
Monica Rico grew up in Saginaw, Michigan alongside General Motors and the legend of Theodore Roethke. She is an MFA candidate at the University of Michigan’s Helen Zell Writers’ Program and the author of Twisted Mouth of the Tulip (Red Paint Hill Publishing, 2017). Her poems have appeared in SiDEKiCK Lit, Dunes Review, Moonchild Magazine, The Ilanot Review, Up the Staircase Quarterly, Luna Luna, and Nasty Women Poets: An Unapologetic Anthology of Subversive Verse.
ISBN: Possible consignment
About The Bird-While by Keith Taylor
“A Bird-while. In a natural chronometer, a Bird-while may be admitted as one of the metres, since the space most of the wild birds will allow you to make your observations on them when they alight near you in the woods, is a pretty equal and familiar measure” (Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Journal, 1838).
Without becoming didactic or pedantic about the spiritual metaphor hidden in the concept of the “bird-while,” Keith Taylor’s collection evokes certain Eastern meditative poets who often wrote in an aphoristic style of the spirit or the mind mirroring specific aspects of the natural world.
Keith Taylor worked as a bookseller in Ann Arbor for more than twenty years, then taught in the undergraduate and graduate creative writing programs at the University of Michigan, and directed the Bear River Writers Conference. From 2010–2018 he worked as the Poetry Editor at Michigan Quarterly Review. He retired from the University of Michigan in 2018. He lives with his wife in Ann Arbor; they have one daughter.
His poems, stories, book reviews, translations and feature articles have appeared in many journals, magazines and newspapers in North America and in Europe, including The Chicago Tribune, The Iowa Review, The Los Angeles Times, Michigan Quarterly Review, Mondo Greco, Poetry Ireland Review, Poets and Writers, The Southern Review, etc. His work has also been included in anthologies and other books published by Oxford University Press, The University of Michigan Press, W.W. Norton, and others. He has also published a number of collections of his short stories and poetry, including the Michigan Notable winning book, Guilty at the Rapture.
Oct. 2 & 16. Open mike storytelling competition sponsored by The Moth, the NYC-based nonprofit storytelling organization that also produces a weekly public radio show. 10 storytellers are selected at random from among those who sign up to tell a 3-5 minute story on “Scandal” (Oct. 2) and “Disguises” (Oct. 16). The 3-person judging teams are recruited from the audience. Monthly winners compete in a semiannual Grand Slam. Space limited, so it’s smart to arrive early.
7:30-9 p.m. (doors open and sign-up begins at 6 p.m.), Greyline, 100 N. Ashley. $10. 764-5118. [map]
Talk by local novelist Lillian Li.
6-8 p.m., AADL Downtown multipurpose rm. Free. 327-4200
This award-winning local writer reads from and discusses Tazia and Gemma, her new novel that spans 1911-1961, moving forward in time with the story of an unwed pregnant Italian immigrant and then backward with the story of her daughter’s search for her father. Writer Deepak Singh calls it a “moving story of racial and religious conflicts.” Light refreshments. Signing.
7 p.m., Nicola’s, Westgate shopping center. Free. 662-0600.
One MFA student of fiction and one of poetry, each introduced by a peer, will read their work. The Mark Webster Reading Series presents emerging writers in a warm and relaxed setting. We encourage you to bring your friends – a Webster reading makes for an enjoyable and enlightening Friday evening.
Readings by U-M creative writing grad students, including prose by Samantha Bares and poetry by Daniel Neff.
7 p.m., UMMA Auditorium, 525 S. State. Free. 764-6330
Readings by 13 of the group’s most popular poets, including Marlin Jenkins, John Buckley, Cozine Welch, Chavonna Bigham, Ashwini Bhasi, Alex Kime, Dan Bigham, and others TBA.
7 p.m. Espresso Royale, 324 S. State. $5 suggested donation. facebook.com/AnnArborPoetry.
Reading by this Ann Arbor-based poet from Kerala (India), who writes poems about the connection between trauma and chronic pain and about her experiences as a genomic data analyst and poet. Her poem about the 2016 presidential election was nominated for a Pushcart prize. Preceded by an open mike.
7-8:30 p.m. Sweetwaters Coffee & Tea, 123 W. Washington. Free. 994-6663.
ToastMasters at SweetWaters is an opportunity to practice your personal and/or professional speaking as well as Leadership in a fun friendly atmosphere.
The club is open to everyone. Attendees have the opportunity to speak, give and receive feedback about speaking, presentations and current events.
We typically have 2-4 prepared speeches followed by (Kind and constructive evaluations) to provide feedback and growth. Attendees will have an opportunity for impromptu speaking as well.
Sweetwaters Cafe, 123 W Washington. Free. chrisjriley@hotmail.com
All adults and teens in grade 6 & up invited to learn about this nonprofit (also known as NaNoWriMo) encouraging teens and adults to write a 50,000-word novel by the end of November. Refreshments.
4-5 p.m., AADL Westgate. Free. 327-4200.
Halloween-themed storytelling program by Ann Arbor Storytellers Guild members.
6-8 p.m., Serendipity Books, 113 Middle, Chelsea. Free. 475-7148.
