Tomorrow night — What Is American About American Poetry?

POETRY IN COMMON
 &
THE GREEN LINE CAFÉ POETRY SERIES
In Association With
WHITMAN At 200: Art & Democracy
PRESENT

A Poetry Reading & Conversation:
What Is American About American Poetry?
With 

Ahmad Almallah, Catherine Bancroft,

Charles Carr, Barbara DeCesare,

M. Nzadi Keita, Peter Krok,

Cliff Lynn, Andrew Nurkin



Tuesday, January 22, 2019, 6 – 7:30 PM

Hosted by LEONARD GONTAREK

Each poet will read poems of their own which they consider 
American. Poems by other American poets will be read as well.
Each poet will say a few words, informally, on what they think
makes a poem American. There will be a Q & A.


THE GREEN LINE CAFE IS LOCATED 
AT 45TH & LOCUST STREETS
PHILADELPHIA
(Please note the address, there are
  other Green Line Café locations
& the 6 PM start time!)


greenlinecafe.com
gontarek9@earthlink.net



This Event Is Free




Ahmad Almallah holds a Ph.D. in Classical Arabic Poetry from Indiana University Bloomington. He is currently a Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, working on writing a book on Arabic love poetry and the ghazal. He held the position of Assistant Professor of Arabic and Arabic Literature at Middlebury College. Since then he has found inspiration in Philadelphia to work on writing poetry and has been involved with the Arab arts and education organization, Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture, in West Philadelphia. He is currently managing their project “Words Adorned: Andalusian Poetry and Music.”


Catherine Bancroft   writes poetry and makes art and sometimes combines them.  She has read
her poetry at Blue Marble Bookstore, Fergie’s Pub, PAFA, and other local spots. Her visual art
has appeared, among other places, at Muse Gallery and 3rd Street Gallery. A work in her Ellis
Island Series recently won Best Painting at Main Line Art Center’s Members’ Show.


Charles Carr is a "native" Philadelphian.  He has two published books of poems: paradise pennsylvania & Haitian Mudpies & Other Poems.  For five years Charles hosted a poetry series at Fergie's Pub and for the past two years has been the host of Philly Loves Poetry broadcast live on Philly Cam the first Tuesday of each month.


Barbara DeCesare is a writer in York, PA, and an editor in the streets.


M. Nzadi Keita’s most recent collection, Brief Evidence of Heaven, sheds light on Anna Murray Douglass, Frederick Douglass’s first wife.  Publications including Poet Lore   journal and The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South  have featured her work.  She is a 2017 Pew Fellow in the Arts. Other supporters of her projects include the Leeway Foundation, Fine Arts Work Center, and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.  As an associate professor at Ursinus College, Keita teaches creative writing, American literature, and Africana Studies.


Peter Krok has been the Editor-in-Chief of the Schuylkill Valley Journal since 2001. 
He also serves as the humanities/poetry director of the Manayunk Roxborough Art Center where he has coordinated a literary series since 1990. His poems have appeared in the Yearbook of American Poetry, America, Mid-America Poetry Review, Midwest Quarterly, Poet Lore, Potomac Review, Blue Unicorn, and other journals. His book, Looking For An Eye, was published by Foothills Press in 2008.


Cliff Lynn is an American poet, a Gong Show reject and a Literary Death Match survivor. Literary journals such as Free Lunch, Third Point Press, Smeuse and Mount Hope have published several baker's dozens of Cliff's poems and short stories. With Rocky Jones, Cliff co-hosts The Evil Grin Poetry Series in Annapolis Maryland the second Saturday of every month. Cliff was the lead vocalist for the four-piece rock/n/roll band the Bert Harbinson Trio, which performed one song one day at the Shakemore Festival in Westminster Maryland.


Andrew Nurkin's poems have appeared in The Believer, Cimarron Review, North American Review, The Massachusetts Review, FIELD, Iron Horse Literary Review, and elsewhere. He was a 2016 Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation Fellow at the Millay Colony for the Arts and holds his MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. He currently serves as Deputy Director for Enrichment and Civic Engagement at the Free Library of Philadelphia.