They should call it the Long Beach Poetry Marathon, as that’s what it seems when you walk in and encounter nothing but a stage, a gaggle of chairs, and a day’s long list of poets. But the Long Beach Poetry Festival, doesn’t feel like a race, or a competition. The day goes by like a breeze. It is one of the most enjoyable days of poetry I’ve ever experienced. The level of talent was beyond even what I had expected. So, thank you to the festival and it’s awesome team of hosts and organizers for both bringing the event to Long Beach for the 4th year in a row and for inviting me to read. It was a great day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I got caught on camera in all kinds of strange poses while reading prose poems from my manuscript. Thanks to my kind friends for capturing the magic. 

 

 

 

 

 

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Staring at the spread on the Gatsby Books table, I could have easily spent $100 on worthy reads. I settled for just three, but I’m very excited by these picks. I’ve already read 1 1/2 of them! It was an especially cool thing to meet Shawnte Orion and discover we have mutual friends in Phoenix, AZ. His book, The Existentialist Cookbook was a delicious read. I marked at least 8 poems in the book as my favorites (an honor reserved for about 4-5 poems in most poetry books). One of the most quotable lines was “I try to ignore missing you in the hush of the fireworks.” Mmmm-mm! Let’s all consider this day a success.