Just to update you about some recent additions and edits to my Events page, here’s the rundown of what I’m up to the next thirty days:

Thursday, May 31:

Word Fountain’s Spring/Summer release party and reading at the Osterhout Free Library, 71 South Franklin Street in Wilkes-Barre, PA. Though I won’t be reading my stuff, I will be reading a few pieces from the issue. Contributors reading from their work include Harold Jenkins, Jenica Lodde, Eric Chiles, and Laurel Radzieski.

This is a bitter-sweet event for me, as I’m not sure I’ll be able to continue as lead editor for Word Fountain now that I’ve moved on to a new library. I kept up the job on the side as a volunteer because I didn’t want to see it go into hiatus. When I managed the Plains branch of the Osterhout library, I could do some of the work on the job—was encouraged to, in fact. It was a wonderful gig. I remember one of my college professors from Bloomsburg University coming up to me at a reading and saying, “Don’t you feel like a kid in a candy store?” I think they can carry on without me, though. They’ve come such a long way, and I’m terrifically proud to have played a part in making the magazine what it is today.

Sunday, June 3:

I will be the featured Poet in Northumberland, Pennsylvania at the historic Joseph Priestley Memorial Chapel’s first-Monday, monthly service of music and the spoken word. The service starts at 9:30 am, but I’m planning a rowdy brunch after with a bunch of old, dear, beautiful friends of mine from the Norry and Lewisburg area.

This is always such an honor to attend and be featured. There will be local music on the old John Wind pipe organ and the hammer dulcimer. This is a secular service, run at the historic old chapel by the Unitarian Universalists, some of the kindest religious folks you could ever meet. I liked attending their church (briefly and infrequently) because they didn’t care what I believed, they just wanted my help in making the world a better place. They cared about feeding children, helping the needy, standing up for other local worshipers at the mosque and temple nearby. Just good, good people. Plus, many of them still attend the Poetry Under the Paintings reading series in nearby Lewisburg. If you are ever in central PA, check this place out, where the west and north branches of the mighty Susquehanna river meet. My home town for many years, and I do miss it.

Tuesday, June 26:

Poetry at the Pub! 7 to 9 pm at Dugan’s Irish Pub in Luzerne, Pennsylvania. Reading and drinks to celebrate the release of Angels & Adultery and Moons, Roads, and Rivers. Special guest readers will be Erin L. Delaney, Joel Showalter, and Micah James Bauman. Here’s a link to the event details on Facebook. You can feel free to click and share that invitation, especially if you are in the NEPA region and can attend!

I mentioned my friends, Joel Showalter, Erin L. Delaney, and my son Micah James Bauman. They will each be reading a set of poems from their own fine work first. Here’s some info about each of these beautiful, dear people:

Erin’s poems have been published in Down the Dog Hole, 11 Poets on Northeast Pennsylvania, Paper Kite Press, and with Poetry in Transit, and Word Fountain. She has an MFA in nonfiction and poetry at Wilkes, and I love hearing her read. She’s good, dang it, she’s good! Her husband and my hubby-to-be have been friends since grade school, so it’s only natural that we would hit it off as poetry accomplices. 

Joel has had poems recently published in Christian Century, Mud Season Review, Delmarva Review, and Third Wednesday. But I remember one of his first public readings back in college at Indiana Wesleyan University in a year that shall not be named. He passed out printed copies of a few of the poems. Class act! Joel is the editorial director at a marketing company in Columbus Ohio where I will be traveling just a couple of weeks after this event to celebrate his wedding!

Micah has been published in Word Fountain, the Green Rune Anthology, and other places, including the local newspaper. He has read his poems at coffee shops, art galleries, and libraries around central and northeastern Pennsylvania. Micah has a gift for wordplay that surprises with sharp insight and imagery. He’s been keeping me on my toes as we work on our upcoming father-son collection. We’ll both read some selections from that to give you a preview of what’s to come!

The idea is for this event to be exactly what it sounds like, a pub reading, casual, with a server taking drink, burger, and wing orders in between sets. We’ll be in their upstairs room. You can’t see it in this photo, but around the corner on the left is a curved old beautiful wooden bar. I’ll try to get some pictures in person before the event. Back in the corner there’s an antique barber’s chair from the old Hotel Sterling in Wilkes-Barre. I doubt we’ll use that pool table for anything, except maybe a place to lay out books for sale.

But more important than buying a chapbook or two is that people buy a drink and order some food and tip the server. The wings, burgers, and pizzas are all pretty fantastic. And if we take care of the person waiting on us, I think the owner will see it as a successful venture, and “Poems at the Pub” could become a regular feature at Dugan’s!  I’m starting to feel at home here after two and a half years. I hope you’ll come visit soon.