Published on: Tuesday, January 17, 2023 Arts & Humanities

"Poetry of Struggle and Solidarity" Poetry Reading on Jan. 26

POETRY OF STRUGGLE AND SOLIDARITY 

Free Poetry Reading

Thursday, Jan. 26 at 7:30 pm 

Takoma Park Community Center

7500 Maple Avenue 

In a new Takoma Park Arts poetry reading, four local poets and a Ukrainian poet in Kyiv will share their original work highlighting perpetual struggles across the globe and our dogged efforts to find common ground.

The featured local poets include Amy L. Bernstein, Tara Campbell, David Ebenbach, and Margaret Flaherty. Slava Konoval also will share some of his poetry about the war in Ukraine in a video.

Bernstein’s poetry has been published in many online and print journals, including Yellow Arrow Journal, Loch Raven Review, and Lost Boys Press. She was awarded a poetry writer-in-residence fellowship from Yellow Arrow Publishing in 2022. Yellow Arrow will be publishing a chapbook by Bernstein and three other writing fellows titled Baltimore, we (want to) love you.

Campbell has been publishing poetry and participating in poetry readings in the D.C. area since 2015, including the Gaithersburg Book Festival, the Literary Hill Bookfest, Café Muse, and DiVerse Poetry.

Ebenbach is the author of three books of poetry, including We Were the People Who Moved, Some Unimaginable Animal, and What’s Left to Us by Evening.  His work also has been published in numerous literary magazines, including the Beloit Poetry Journal, Prairie Schooner, and the Southwest Review.

In 2020, Flaherty received an MFA in poetry from Pacific Lutheran University’s Ranier Writing Workshop. Many of her poems address climate change and environmental issues, and her poetry has been published in several journals.

Vyacheslav “Slava” Konoval is a Ukrainian poet whose work is devoted to the most pressing social issues of our time, such as poverty, ecology, and war. His recent poetry focuses on the devastation caused by Russian aggression during the war in Ukraine. His poetry has appeared in many publications, including Anarchy Anthology Archive, International Poetry Anthology, and Sparks of Kaliopa.

This poetry reading is part of the Takoma Park Arts series organized by the City’s Arts and Humanities Division. The series includes free art exhibitions, film screenings, poetry readings, concerts, theater, and dance performances at the Takoma Park Community Center. Please go to takomaparkmd.gov/arts for more info and to sign up for our e-newsletter.