I’m del
ighted to be the featured poet at this limited-edition poetry slam series hosted by the incomparable Jesse Bradley at Stardust Video & Coffee in Orlando. Sign-ups start at 8 p.m. and the slam begins at 8:30. Eight poets will compete in a head-to-head slam, with the entire audience acting as judges, and I’ll take the stage after the first round. Two more rounds follow my reading, and the winner gets $20.
Jesse, host of the popular There Will be Words prose reading series, created this trial event to feature Central Florida’s finest performance poets, so please come and support him, me and the other poets. Don’t tell me you have something better to do on a Tuesday night!
Tuesday, Sept. 30, 8 to 10 p.m.
Stardust Video & Coffee
1842 E. Winter Park Road, Orlando
I’m grateful to Joe Benevento, Poetry Editor of Green Hills Literary Lantern, an excellent literary magazine, for his review of my book Hold Still (along with 2 other poetry collections). Joe, one of the first editors to publish my work, back in 2002, said:
‘Diagnosis’ is one of the most darkly humorous poems I’ve ever read. ‘You’ve got a little cancer going on, /the surgeon said,’ is its first line, which has to take a feature role in the ‘you can’t make this stuff up’ trope.
She speaks across class, gender or education level perhaps more effectively than most contemporary poets as she delivers her feelings with humor and grace and absolute accessibility in a way that anyone who has had cancer would probably applaud.
Godbey presents a final poem with the simple title ‘Alive’ and lets us know, in a particularly poignant lyric that … she ‘rode into the hush,/ the stars sparking,/ and drank the dark,’ happy to see … ‘Everything alive,/ even hope.’
Mark your calendars for July 10! I’ll be reading with the enchanting Susan Lilley on Thursday evening, July 10, at the Orlando Public Library. Our reading, which we’re calling “Double Trouble,” will start at 6:30 sharp in the Albertson Room on the 3rd floor of the library, 101 E. Central Blvd.
I’ll read from my new book, Hold Still, as well as dip into the others: Beauty Lessons, Flame and Behind Every Door. Susan will share from her collections: Satellite Beach, Night Windows and When We Were Stardust.
We’ll sign books afterward and then intend to carouse downtown in an attempt to live up to our billing. We don’t think it will be difficult.
I’m pleased to have an opportunity to read from my new book, Hold Still, at this fine independent bookstore, which has been one of my favorite bookshops for decades.
The Vero Beach Book Center has always been admired for its wide selection of books and its impressive calendar of author events and readings.
My reading will start at 3 p.m. on Saturday, June 7. Afterward, I’ll answer questions and sign copies of my books.
The store is at 392 21st St. in Vero Beach. The phone number is 772-569-2050.
