Coffee & Poetry, This Sunday at Jersey Art Book Fair

The debut Jersey Art Book Fair is coming to Jersey City this weekend, and how fitting that I hold my first public reading as Jersey City Poet Laureate there!

Bring a cup of coffee and join me Sunday morning at the Book Fair. I will read "The Porches of Strangers," the poem I wrote for the Jersey City Arts Awards event in December, as well as other poems inspired by life in our city.

Coffee & Poetry witJersey City's New Poet Laureate

11:30-11:50am

Sunday, January 29

Mana Contemporary

888 Newark Avenue

Jersey City, NJ

Purchase your ticke ($5, includes parking and access to exhibits and programs.)

Jersey Art Book Fair is a two-day event featuring over 60 book makers, independent publishers and small presses from across the US and Europe. Held in Mana Contemporary's light-filled Biergarten Gallery, attendees of all ages can peruse and purchase books, zines, posters and other print ephemera. In addition, there will be a packed schedule of demos, workshops, talks and performances on both days, and an after-hours party on Saturday evening.

Upcoming Poet Laureate Activities

TapInto Jersey City recently interviewed me about my work and plans as Poet Laureate; you can read the interview here. Please watch this space or follow me on Instagram for Poet Laureate events, including a reading in recognition of Women's History Month in March (details to be announced!).

A Poem on Silence

Before I sign off, I thought to share a meditative poem, published in the Winter Issue of Snapdragon: A Journal of Art and Healing. I have come to love walking in Jersey City, up and down my street and beyond, observing the way the neighborhood changes with the seasons. As I walk, I often listen to Krista Tippett's On Being podcast. Without fail, her guests' comments lead me straight back to my laptop, lines of poetry already taking shape in my head. This piece was inspired by an interview with acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton who studies silence and sounds from around the world. As I mulled over his remarks about how true silence is increasingly rare and also unique to each place, this is where I landed.

The Silence of a Place

We have all learned to hear

silence these years, but the quiet

that beats within is ours alone,

mine from yours, yours from mine.

The silence of each place

is different. You might locate

yourself by listening for how

the earth pulses beneath your feet.

Take care my friends,

Ann