The May open mic at Terraza Café allowed readers extra time to share their poems and talk about their history. This provided a meaningful (and often comical!) context in which the stories behind the poetry could emerge.
The featured poet of the evening, Richard Jeffrey Newman, read several powerful selections from his book entitled The Silence of Men. His poems tended to center around the themes of sex and death—themes which, inevitably, can be the most relevant to life.
The 3-day poetry festival will take place from June 18-20 at various locations in Jackson Heights, culminating on Saturday June 20th with an all-day outdoor event at the Garden School. Featured poets for that day include Queens Poet Laureate Julio Marzan, Nicole Cooley, Lauren McClung, Richard Jeffrey Newman, Roger Sedarat, and Ocean Vuong.
Given that the aim of the Jackson Heights Poetry Festival is to develop community through poetry, we strongly encourage members of the Queens community to contact us with ideas, suggestions, poetry, art, and of course—financial assistance!
E-mails can be sent to jhpfest@gmail.com
Hope to see you next first Tuesday at Terraza Café, June 2nd, with Jon Sands scheduled to be the featured poet.
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