The Studio Series Poetry Reading & Open Mic September 8, 2024 (Sunday) @ 7:00 PM
Featuring Judith Montgomery and Mary Christine Delea
Judith Montgomery’s poems appear in Gyroscope, Poet Lore, and Epiphany, among other journals. She’s been awarded several residencies and fellowships and has received multiple nominations for a Pushcart.
Her chapbook Passion received the Oregon Book Award for Poetry. Her second full-length collection, Litany for Wound and Bloom, a finalist for the Marsh Hawk Prize, appeared in 2018 from Uttered Chaos Press. Her prize-winning narrative medicine chapbook, Mercy, appeared from Wolf Ridge Press in 2019. Her new chapbook, The Ferry Keeper, received the 2024 Grayson Books Chapbook Competition prize, and appeared in June 2024. On any poetry occasion, she applauds her poetry groups, the Odds and the Pearls, for their sharp-eyed and loving support.
When the Muse does not visit her shoulder, she compensates by weeding fiercely in her garden, while keeping an eye on the prize of her ripening Early Girl tomatoes.
Mary Christine Delea is the author of The Skeleton Holding Up the Sky (Main Street Rag Press) and three chapbooks. Her poems have appeared in Mid-American Review, The MacGuffin, The Comstock Review, Honest Ulsterman, New Ohio Review, Zone 3 and many other journals, as well as anthologies about, among other topics, Elvis Presley, Appalachia, and food. She grew up on Long Island and has lived in Ohio, Maine, West Virginia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Dakota, Colorado, and now Oregon City, Oregon.
Delea has a Ph.D. in English/Creative Writing from the University of North Dakota and has taught at several colleges and universities (in addition to doing social work, improv comedy, retail management, and a stint as an AmeriCorps volunteer). She quilts and makes beaded jewelry and up-cycled headdresses. Delea is a lifetime Girl Scout who now volunteers for various organizations in the greater Portland area—teaching, reading to kids, baking, leading poetry workshops, driving cats, and trying to make the world a better place.
The Open Mic is open to all audience members. Participants can sign up before the start of the reading or during the break. In the interest of time, Open Mic readers are asked to limit their readings to three minutes.
Did you know you can view clips of featured poets reading on our Facebook page? https://www.facebook.com/groups/1281329966139780/
The Ross Island Grocery and Café is a cozy space with capacity for 40 or so people. Tables are available, so people who arrive early can enjoy a light supper (i.e., a sandwich, salad or burger) while waiting for the reading to begin. If we run out of table space, folding chairs are available. A mic will enhance the readings. There is plenty of unrestricted parking on the streets around the Café.
Questions? Please contact host Leah Stenson at leahstenson@comcast.net.
