Sunday, July 20, 2025

BIG JOE WILLIAMS TONIGHT ~

 



Milestones Records



POETS ON POETS ~

 


R E A D   M E


      University of Pennsylvania Press

      2022



Friday, July 18, 2025

JUNIOR PARKER TONIGHT ~

 


STEVEN ESPADA DAWSON ~

 





Elegy for the Four Chambers of my Heart


I'm always looking for a mirror

with a family inside it.

If a mirror breaks        which shard

is the family?

                        There are so many

ways to hold yourself

hostage I'm still learning

to love

            my captor.



When You Tell Me You've Grown Afraid


of the dark, it busts every lit bulb

inside me. Please —

put a flashlight in my mouth, Mom.

I will thin

                    my cheeks for you.

Let me light the way.



A River Is A Body Running


The first time I found my brother

overdosed, he looked holy. A thing

not to be touched. Yellow halo of last

night's dinner. His skin, blanched blue

fresco. Patron Saint of Smack. A cop,

flustered tugged up his shorts, plunged

a needle into a pale thigh. He hissed

awake like a soda can. The paramedic

spoke softly in his ear like a lover,

asked him what color yellow and red

make. What is the difference between

a lake and a river? In the corner

I whittle that used syringe into

an instrument only I can play.



Elegy for the Four Chambers of My Mother's Heart


This is an elegy and believe me, it will end

within the small walls of your townhome.


And because I am selfish it ends with your

words and a memory of just you and me


standing above your kitchen sink, pouring

water into an ice cube tray. You tell me


to watch as the water fills up one corner,

then overflows into every empty square.


This, you say, this is how I love you.



_______________________________

Steven Espada Dawson

Late to the Search Party

Scribner 2025



Thursday, July 17, 2025

Wednesday, July 16, 2025

Tuesday, July 15, 2025

THE POSITION OF SPOONS ~

 



R E A D   M E

     Farrar, Straus, Giroux

     2024




Monday, July 14, 2025

Sunday, July 13, 2025

A QUEER HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY ~

 


R E A D   M E


         photo: Nan Goldin (b.1953), Jimmy Paulette on David’s Bike, 1991© Nan Goldin



Wednesday, July 9, 2025

TWO-HEADED DOCTOR ~

 


R E A D   M E


     Strange Attraction Press

    MIT Press

     2024






Tuesday, July 8, 2025

AGNES MARTIN WITH PAINTING ~

 


R E A D   M E

                                  Agnes Martin in her studio (1960); photo by Alexander Liberman