BLUE HOUR / HAYMARKET HOUSE

I’ll be happy to affirm my dependence upon poetry and community for survival this week via the Chicago Poetry Center, as part of BLUE HOUR, a free, public monthly in-person reading series and generative writing workshop.

Each event features two readers from Chicago and beyond, preceded by a limited-space workshop focused on a poem by one of the featured readers and including guided generative writing time.

EVENT DETAILS FOR NOV. 16, THIS WEDNESDAY:

Workshop (registration required) begins promptly at 6 p.m., ends at 7 p.m.

Doors open for the reading (registration recommended) at 7:15 -- the reading will begin promptly at 7:30, followed by community gathering time.

Reading registration is free; the workshop is sliding scale with a suggested donation of $10.

And get your ticket for the reading here (recommended):
https://BHnovRdg.eventbrite.com

NOVEMBER FEATURES:

Carlos Cumpián is a Chicagoan originally from Texas. Human Cicada marks his fifth poetry collection: Coyote Sun (March Abrazo Press), Latino Rainbow (Children’s Press/Scholastic Books), Armadillo Charm (Tia Chucha Press), and 14 Abriles: Poems. In 2000, he was recognized with a Gwendolyn Brooks Significant Illinois Poet Award. Cumpián has been included in more than thirty poetry anthologies, including the Norton Anthology Telling Stories. Before becoming a teacher, he worked with various social service organizations such as ASPIRA and public relations for the Chicago Public Library. Cumpián has taught creative writing and poetry through community arts organizations including the National Museum of Mexican Art and Urban Gateways and as a writer-in residence funded by the Illinois Arts Council. Cumpián taught in the English Department of Columbia College Chicago and in the Chicago Public School and Charter school system. In addition, he has hosted live readings with Galeria Qui Que & La Palabra Series and published over 20 poets/writers with MARCH ABRAZO PRESS between 1978-2015. His most recent essay, “Learned to Read at My Momma’s Knee,” appears in With a Book in Their Hands: Chicano/a Readers and Readerships Across the Centuries (University of New Mexico Press, 2014). His first in a series of true supernatural accounts, “A Chicago Premonition” was published in Hombre Lobo #2, True Xicanax Spooky Stories, (Ponte Las Pilas Press, Los Angles, Ca. 2021). Cumpián is currently working on his “anti-war years” memoir Accidental Rebel: 1968-1976.

Jennifer Scappettone works at the confluence of the literary, scholarly, visual, and performing arts to rethink the way language shapes our relation to built and natural environments. Her poetry unfolds in counterpoint to documentary research. Recent books include The Republic of Exit 43: Outtakes & Scores from an Archaeology and Pop-Up Opera of the Corporate Dump (2016) and Belladonna Elders Series: Poetry, Landscape, Apocalypse (with Etel Adnan and Lyn Hejinian, 2009). As translator she has published Locomotrix, devoted to the poet-refugee from Fascist Italy Amelia Rosselli (2012). Scappettone has collaborated with musicians, architects, and dancers to sound counter-histories of sites ranging from the tract of Trajan’s aqueduct beneath the Janiculum Hill to Fresh Kills Landfill. She teaches at the University of Chicago.

ABOUT THE WORKSHOP:
The Blue Hour generative writing workshop is facilitated by Marty McConnell, begins promptly at 6 p.m., ends at 7 p.m., and is designed for writers and poetry fans of all levels. Each workshop includes discussion of a poem by one of the night’s featured readers, followed by guided individual writing using an exploratory prompt that draws on themes from the poem. Registration is required, and the workshop is sliding scale with a suggested donation of $10.
ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION:
The mission of the Chicago Poetry Center is to connect people with poetry, equitably engage poets with communities, and foster creativity and literacy in schools. We envision a world where poetry catalyzes reflection, connection, and change. Since the Chicago Poetry Center’s first readings took place at the Museum of Contemporary Art in 1975, the Poetry Center has been a mainstay of Chicago’s cultural scene. Free public readings continue to be offered monthly.
ABOUT THE READING:
The Blue Hour reading features readings by two poets from Chicago and beyond, followed by community gathering time. Pre-registration is free and recommended. The event begins at 7:30 p.m., followed by community gathering time.
ABOUT THE SPACE:
Haymarket House is a community space in the heart of Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood committed to uplifting the work of writers, artists, thinkers, activists, and educators who are committed to all struggles for a better world. The space is fully wheelchair-accessible, masks are currently required for all indoor events, and the space is equipped with a professional air filtration system. Please direct any accessibility or safety questions to Marty@poetrycenter.org.