Bernadette Geyer and Rachel Richardson for the Joaquin Miller Poetry Series, July 21, 2013

This past Sunday, July 21, we closed the 2013 Joaquin Miller Poetry Series with beautiful performances from Bernadette Geyer and Rachel Richardson. In her introduction, Deborah Ager invoked the series' namesake, Joaquin Miller, a man whose legacy remains an inextricable mix of myth and truth.

Bernadette, whose book The Scabbard of Her Throat was published as a part of the Word Work's Hilary Tham Capital Collection, read first. Her performance included pieces on motherhood - "Thumbelina's Mother Speaks to Thumbelina" and "Nature Center" - and the summer weather - "Heat."

Rachel read next, also touching on themes of motherhood, as when she reflected on her grandmother's hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana in pieces like "Portrait of Lead Belly in a Pin-Striped Suit" and her Signs series.

These lovely performances were followed by several readers for the open mic portion.

  
 


It has been a wonderful summer of poetry and community in the Joaquin Miller Series! Thank you for joining us. We hope to see you all again next summer. Sail On! sail On!

Hilary Tham: Memorial Reading June 2013

On the eve of the anniversary of Hilary Tham's death June 24, poets Karren Alenier and Judith McCombs joined with Hilary's daughter Ilana and her two children Lia and Elijah to read from Hilary's work.

Hilary's daughter Ilana read "On Buying a Burial Plot One Sunny Day," which details how Hilary came to buy the burial plot she now occupies and which is just a few feet away from her friend and ours, poet Maxine Combs.

Karren and Judy read selections from Hilary's books Bad Names for Women and Counting.







Lia read "Mountains" from Bad Names for Women.

The Word Works keeps Hilary's name and work alive through our imprint series known as the Hilary Tham Capital Collection. In 1989, Hilary's book Bad Names for Women was the first book published in the Capital Collection. Later, she became editor-in-chief and revitalized the imprint. In 2013, Word Works is expanding the imprint by inviting poetry manuscripts from any volunteer volunteering for literary nonprofit. Please help us do this by pledging your donation through Kickstarter by July 14, 2013. We have already have pledges over 1/3 of the modest sum we are trying to raise. Stayed tuned for the announcement of who judge Jeanne Larsen has selected as the two winners of the 2013 Hilary Tham Capital Collection.