The Switch Reading, Art, and Music Series is happy to announce the successful result of our Kickstarter fundraising campaign! Thanks to generous donations from members of the community, the poet Hoa Nguyen of Austin, Texas, will be reading with local poet Jesse Morse on May 14 at 6:30 p.m.
Nguyen was born in the Mekong Delta, raised in the DC area, and studied poetics in San Francisco. With poet Dale Smith, she edits the journal and book imprint Skanky Possum. She is the author of eight books and chapbooks including Chinaberry (Fact Simile, 2010), Kiss A Bomb Tattoo (Effing, 2009) and Hecate Lochia (Hot Whiskey, 2009). She currently lives in Austin, where she curates a reading series and teaches creative writing.
Jesse Morse lives in Portland, Oregon. His work has recently appeared in Past Simple, Slack Lust and Unheimliche. He'll have two chapbooks out this year: Rotations (C_L Press) and paragraphs for dolphins (Thuggery & Grace). He runs the Smorg reading series. He plays guitar and sings in The Whirlies. He spends a lot of time outside with his dog Hank.
As far as we know, this is the first time ever that a reading series has attempted to raise funds in advance to bring a poet to town. We are grateful to our literary and artistic community for supporting the effort to bring exciting poets to Portland. We especially want to thank the following people (as well as others who asked to remain anonymous):
1. AmigoAmiga
2. Andrew R. Grow
3. Carol Ciavonne
4. Christopher Ashby
5. Elaine Fawcett
6. Evans
7. James
8. Jen C
9. Jesse Morse
10. Joel Bettridge
11. John Morse
12. Kaia Sand
13. Kathryn Carr
14. Kris Doty
15. Maryrose Larkin
16. Sam Lohmann
17. Sonya Philip
18. Stacy Elaine Dacheux
by Hoa Nguyen:
LOVE AND LEVEL
Love and level the sleeves
Eating is a hand
here Leave laughing if you must
like leave this creamy celery root
We push out jerking
a sleeve of we & I cover you
horses sourced in sea
(weave in waves and manes)
Love and level the sleeves
Eating is a hand
here Leave laughing if you must
like leave this creamy celery root
We push out jerking
a sleeve of we & I cover you
horses sourced in sea
(weave in waves and manes)
By Jesse Morse:
low, deep
(for ryan and jackie)
are the tunneled
hoots of great-horned
owls, easy silhouettes.
love is overrated,
i think, but
to prove otherwise
you both sink low
and deep into the
evidence of night,
change what follows.
you two
are one and one
but not one -
a thing real and naked,
casual and undone.
(for ryan and jackie)
are the tunneled
hoots of great-horned
owls, easy silhouettes.
love is overrated,
i think, but
to prove otherwise
you both sink low
and deep into the
evidence of night,
change what follows.
you two
are one and one
but not one -
a thing real and naked,
casual and undone.
