Poetry Plus

Above, yours truly reading at the Arts Cafe Poetry Plus reading on Tuesday night; below, Jocelyne Dubois (my partner), launching her chapbook, Hot Summer Night, published by our own (that is my and Raphael Bendahan's) Sky of Ink Press. The place was quite packed, actually -- despite the empty seats up front (they had just been vacated), people were standing in the back. We were both well-received, and Jocelyne sold five copies of her book, all to "strangers" (close friends had already received a free copy.) Overall, the reading was a good one for Poetry Plus: Julie Mahfood read some particularly dark, touching and tightly written poems; Steven Manners read some ascerbic, conversational pieces that were well done; and there was a woman in the open set -- I forget her name, but she's the attractive woman with the loop earrings pictured to the far left in the picture up top -- who reada piece that blew us all away drawing on her harrowing experience surviving Hodgkin's Lymphoma. All three I'll keep an eye out for. Carolyn Souaid -- who happens to be my editor at Signature -- turned in a fine reading despite suffering the throes of a migraine headache. I look forward to reading Paper Oranges, her new book.


Here we are afterward, listening to another featured reader. Jocelyne is looking through another chapbook that was available for sale that evening.