Art Show at Grasshopper Gallery

“Fantastic Creatures of the Highlands” – Featuring work by Kelly McQuain

June 27th – August 14^th, 2020

Grasshopper Gallery at Lost River Trading Post
295 E. Main Street
Wardensville, WV 26851
Store: 304-874-3300

Fox birds in one of McQuain’s paintings

Kelly McQuain next to three of his paintings

About the Artist: Kelly McQuain grew up surrounded by the lush mountains of West Virginia’s Monongahela National Forest. This proved a rich source of inspiration for his artistic imagination and his development of a style influenced by folk art and laden with evocative symbolism.

These works in watercolor and acrylic reflect the artist’s practice of layering paint in different ways.  “Whether on canvas or paper, I generally start a work with abstract layers of color laid down in soft washes,” McQuain states. “Then I tease out different forms based on how the washes speak to me. I try to let old layers peek through as I add new ones, conjuring figures and tiny details. It’s not my goal to transcribe nature in a realistic way. Rather, I try to find the essence of a thing and use dreamlike imagery to convey its spirit.”

Take a virtual tour below!

Video tour of Grasshopper Gallery art show featuring work by Kelly McQuain, Summer 2020.

“Never Stop Dreaming” Kelly McQuain

The result is a body of work rich with enchanting motifs. In some portraits, for instance, tiny robots appear, hinting at humankind’s need to reconcile life with technology and ever-advancing artificial intelligence. In other works, like “Fox Birds Hiding in the Brush”, a mash-up of birds and animals appear. Floral shapes also abound, evoking the exotica of the imagination as well as the wildflowers of McQuain’s youth. While McQuain is adept at painting human and animal forms, he often uses silhouettes to suggest the iconic power of his subjects. “Shape and pattern are as important to me as the richness of my colors,” McQuain notes. “I like images that pop, that have a sense of mystery and playfulness about them, that hint at stories.”

McQuain’s work hangs in many private collections. He recently displayed works at the Barnes Collection and the William Way Center in Philadelphia, the latter of which awarded him a showcase exhibit. His three-dimensional work celebrating the 200^th birthday of poet Walt Whitman is currently on display at the Free Library of Philadelphia. McQuain’s portraits of writers appear regularly on the cover of the literary journal, Fjords Review—reflecting another interest of his: poetry. As a writer, McQuain’s poems have appeared in scores of national journals, and his poetry chapbook, Velvet Rodeo, won the Bloom prize. McQuain works as a professor of creative writing in Philadelphia when he’s not visiting family and friends in his home state.

www.KellyMcQuain.wordpress.com

https://www.facebook.com/grasshoppergalleryatlostrivertradingpost/  @grasshoppergalleryatlostrivertradingpost

“Sunshine Flowers” Kelly McQuain

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Whitman Sampler Talk at Free Library of Philadelphia

UPDATE: Due to COVID-19, my artist’s talk at the Free Library of Philadelphia has been cancelled. I’ll provide updates if something changes in the future. –Kelly

Original post:

So this is happening in April. Come if you can!

 Fri, April 24, 2020 3:00 p.m.Add to your calendar
First Floor Gallery West at Parkway Central Library

Join Voyages by Road and Sea featured artist Kelly McQuain in the West Gallery for an up-close look at his Whitman Sampler. McQuain will share the origin of this unique sculpture and explain the significance of its hidden parts.

https://libwww.freelibrary.org/calendar/event/99307

Detail of Whitman Sampler.

What is the Whitman Sampler?

The Whitman Sampler is a box designed to delight and surprise. It became a way for me to slip inside Whitman’s Leaves of Grass and grapple anew with the good gray poet’s famous life’s work. I think of it as a visual poem, an homage to Whitman’s opus and an educational tool.

Based on an advent calendar, each box of the Sampler opens to reveal excerpts of Whitman’s verse as well as found objects repurposed to reflect and critique his text. My hope is that curious viewers will use the Sampler as a springboard for investigating Whitman’s poetry more fully. Think of it as play, a means to see how Whitman’s myriad ideas echo and resonate against each other in a visual way.

A Walt Whitman Sampler

 

Nov. 15, 2019

My art project on Walt Whitman, “A Whitman Sampler” is now on display at the Free Library of Philadelphia’s exhibition, Voyages by Road and Sea: Philadelphia Perspectives on Walt Whitman and Herman Melville. The artwork is now installed in the West Gallery at the Parkway Central Library, Free Library of Philadelphia, located on the Ben Franklin Parkway. This project is a collaboration of the Free Library and the Rosenbach Center and features historical context on the authors as well as newly commissioned artwork related to the works of Melville and Whitman.

That’s where I come in. The Library commissioned artwork from me that consists of a box similar to an advent calendar. Each box contains pictures and text that correspond with Whitman’s Leaves of Grass. Part puzzle, part Whitman fortune-telling device, the box is designed as an interactive tool to help readers engage with the Great Gray Bard in a new and compelling way. In the spring I will be participating in an event where I take the box out of its display case to show off its possibilities. Time and date to be announced.

Special thanks to the team that created the exhibition: graphic designer Nathanael Roesch, writer/editor Clare Fentress, registrar Jobi Zink, FLP Deputy Director Andrew Nurkin, the Rosenbach’s Alexander Ames, and co-curator Professor Ed Whitley. In the coming year, a series of related events and programs in support of the exhibition will be held. Watch for details!

 

Update: On the back of the sampler there is an illustration of Walt for the 21st century, departing as air, waiting for us along life’s path in the grass beneath our soles/souls:

I depart as air, I shake my white locks at the runaway sun,I effuse my flesh in eddies, and drift it in lacy jags.
I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love,If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.

—Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman

Philly Writers Resist!

#writersresist    January 15 is the date for Philadelphia Writers Resist: United for Liberty. The event is part of PEN America’s country-wide mobilization to let the Trump administration know that we writers will not back down or backtrack when it comes to human rights and civil liberties. I’ll be reading alongside many Philly friends from works that speak to empathy and justice. Nathaniel Popkin, one of the organizers, writes, “We chose the word united because this event is meant to bring us together as a literary community with abundant shared interests. We are poets, novelists, filmmakers, artists, publishers, readers, promoters, journalists, essayists, narrative non-fiction and experimental writers, editors, scholars, and translators, all to say, loudly, that we will stand for the freedoms written right here.”

The event will happen on Independence Mall at the location of the Centennial Religious Freedom sculpture, the National Museum of American Jewish History, and in sight of Independence Hall.

This event is co-facilitated by Nathaniel’s fellow organizers Alicia Askenase and Stephanie Feldman.

Philadelphia #WritersResist: United for Liberty

Sunday January 15, 2017

National Museum of American Jewish History Dell Auditorium

5th and Market Streets

2:00-5PM

The Museum is generously donating the auditorium for our event.

More on ways you can #WriteOurDemocracy at this link.

Are Santa and Sinterklaas the same character?

Last year I was part of a Facebook discussion thread where JH Cové, a Dutch anthropologist, took to task someone who equated the two: He wrote, “The Dutch Sinterklaas, or Sint Nicolaas, has nothing to do with Christmas. It is celebrated on Dec. 5th [the eve of St. Nicholas’s Feast Day], after which he goes back to Spain, and Christmas preparations can begin all over Holland. He’s got his own songs, his own history (from Myra, Turkey, correct), and, these days, is rivaled by Santa Claus (or Father Christmas or Papa Noel). I’m sure there are anthropologists that find connections somewhere—and there is a resemblance in the fact that they both use chimneys (who came up with that first?), even though in Holland Santa Claus doesn’t!—but take it from this Dutch anthropologist, they’re very different.”

 

A lot of strong Dutch pride there. My take? Santa and Sinterklaas both share the same Catholic saint as their inspiration, and Santa derives from the Dutch version via the Dutch immigrants arriving in the New York area in the 1600/1700s. Without Sinterklaas, and perhaps without Father Christmas from England, there would be no modern Santa, since he is essentially a mash-up of the two. It’s true, Sinterklaas and Santa have markedly different personalities in the way they are portrayed. I think of them as cousins, or brothers in the Yuletide spirit.

Someone else in the conversation brought up the Dutch customs surrounding the black men mentioned in the David Sedaris story “Six to Eight Black Men” (from Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim). Those characters are Sinterklaas’s Zwarte Piet companions, and they sometimes play a role similar to Santa’s elves. At other times, as in the Sedaris story, they play a “bad cop” role to Sinterklaas’s good cop. Like Krampus, the Zwarte Piet characters are sometimes said to carry bad children off. In the Sedaris essay, that’s back to Spain, where Sinterklaas is said to live. Unlike his cousin, Santa, who lives at the North Pole. I’d say Sinterklaas has the better deal there.

Getty images.

Most of the time the Zwarte Piet companions play the role of cheerful assistants, but they are not without controversy (for evidence, see the article below from a 2014 issue of The Economist).. As the Dutch become more racially diverse,  people are beginning to question the use of black-face as a means for white people to portray the diminutive imp, whose roots lie in the history of the Moors conquest of Europe. Some people now make up new stories (the black is ash from chimney soot) while others have turned to using  face paint in a variety of colors–red, blue, green etc, making the new Piets as colorful as a bag of Skittles. http://www.economist.com/news/europe/21635517-worsening-clash-over-tradition-and-racial-sensitivities-blacked-up

 

For more info on KRAMPUS, the star of a new horror film this year, check out this post. It tells how folks in Philadelphia are celebrating with an array of European characters and traditions.

For more on holiday folklore, join the Krampuslauf Philly Folklore group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/966987013330153/edit/

ALSO, if you live near Philadelphia and wish to take part in this year’s fun Alpine Christmas tradition, check out the Krampuslauf Parade of Spirits website.
Event: Krampuslauf Philadelphia 2015
Sat. Dec. 12, 3 pm. Parade is usually at dusk.
Venue: Liberty Lands Park
Philadelphia
913-961 N 3rd St, Philadelphia, US

 

Cheesesteak Murders in Philly?

#NakedCheesesteak    The first few chapters of NAKED CAME THE CHEESESTEAK are live at Philadelphia Stories here.   

NAKED CAME THE CHEESESTEAK is a serial murder mystery written by 13 Philadelphians for Philadelphia Stories magazine. While the novel is designed to be a fun romp, poking fun at the sacrilege of such things as vegan cheesesteaks, it also touches on  more serious themes. These include the exploitation of adjunct instructors that college towns like Philly use to staff various campuses.  NAKED CAME THE CHEESESTEAK is a wry portrait of Philadelphia’s neighborhoods, cuisines, educational institutions and legal systems, all wrapped up in greasy wax paper and shiny aluminum foil.

The idea was cooked up last winter by a handful of writers meeting over wine and chili in a Society Hill townhouse. The story centers on an intrepid Philadelphia detective trying to solve the puzzle of who is poisoning college students at campuses across the city. The novel features a huge cast of flamboyant Philadelphians:  an African-American police detective named Chelsea Simon; her bad boy restaurateur husband, Arturo; a crusty, trench coat-wearing news blogger named Ben Travers; the Nicholettis, a sprawling South Philly family with ties throughout the city; and a host of college skate boarders and scullers who get caught up in the malfeasance of the unknown serial killer.

It’s also a portrait of Philadelphia neighborhoods and college campuses. The action takes place in locales as varied as Strawberry Mansion, Allegheny Avenue, Boathouse Row, the Italian Market, Passyunk Avenue and Rittenhouse Square. Murder, mayhem and mystery-solving also takes place at Kelly Writers House at Penn, the Temple University Bell Tower, the Drexel Dragon and more.
The 13-chapter serial novel was written by Philadelphia area writers Diane Ayres, Randall Brown, Mary Anna Evans, Gregory Frost, Shaun Haurin, Victoria Janssen, Merry Jones, Tony Knighton, Don Lafferty, Warren Longmire, Kelly McQuain, Nathaniel Popkin and Kelly Simmons. Edited by Mitch Sommers and Tori Bond.

The novel will be published by the magazine’s books division, PS Books.

Learn more here.

Naked Came the Cheesesteak…

That next bite is MURDER! Philly friends, join me and a host of other Philly writers for the kick-off of NAKED CAME THE CHEESESTEAK, a serial murder mystery written by 13 Philadelphians for Philadelphia Stories. The novel will be serialized at their website starting in November. It’s definitely the freakiest fiction project I’ve ever been a part of.

Thursday, November 5 from 7:00pm – 9:00pm

Tattooed Mom, 530 South St, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19147

Join us at the launch party for “Naked Came the Cheesesteak,” a 13-chapter serial novel written by Philadelphia area writers

NAKED CAME THE CHEESESTEAK is a serial murder mystery written by 13 Philadelphians for Philadelphia Stories magazine. The idea was cooked up last winter by a handful of writers meeting over wine and chili in a Society Hill townhouse. The story centers on an intrepid Philadelphia detective trying to solve the puzzle of who is poisoning college students at campuses across the city. The novel features a huge cast of flamboyant Philadelphians:  an African-American police detective named Chelsea Simon; her bad boy restaurateur husband, Arturo; a crusty, trench coat-wearing news blogger named Ben Travers; the Nicholettis, a sprawling South Philly family with ties throughout the city; and a host of college skate boarders and scullers who get caught up in the malfeasance of the unknown serial killer.  The 13-chapter serial novel was written by Philadelphia area writers Diane Ayres, Randall Brown, Mary Anna Evans, Gregory Frost, Shaun Haurin, Victoria Janssen, Merry Jones, Tony Knighton, Don Lafferty, Warren Longmire, Kelly McQuain, Nathaniel Popkin and Kelly Simmons!

The novel will be published by the magazine’s books division, PS Books.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1658738927715339/

 

Green Line Cafe Poetry Presents Burke, McQuain, Hook & Wolf-Palacio

#PhillyPoets:  THE GREEN LINE CAFE POETRY SERIES PRESENTS:
https://www.facebook.com/events/112074619123477/
Steve Burke, author of After The Harvest
Jennifer Hook, author of This Is How He Left Me
Kelly McQuain, author of Velvet Rodeo
Donna Wolf-Palacio, author of The Other Side

Reading & Signing Their New Chapbooks

TUESDAY, May 19, 2015, 7 PM
*The Third Tuesday of the Month*

HOSTED BY
LEONARD GONTAREK

THE GREEN LINE CAFE IS LOCATED
AT 45TH & LOCUST STREETS
Philadelphia PA

(Please note the address, there are
other Green Line Café locations.)
greenlinecafe.com

This Event Is Free

Donna Wolf-Palacio has had two chapbooks of poetry, What I Don’t Know and The Other Side, published by Finishing Line Press.  She received an MFA in Poetry from Columbia University’s School of the Arts. She has published in Poetry, The Pennsylvania Gazette, Voices, The Musehouse Journal, Intro, The Interpreter, and Writing from the Heart: Poems about Adoption.  She wrote a collection of versions of Chinese poems, “The Heart of the Dragon”.  She has taught a poetry workshop at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and was editor/consultant for the UARTS Poetry Review. She has received grants and fellowships from The Leeway Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the University of Pennsylvania, Lyric Fest Opera Company, and the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts. She worked as Senior Staff Psychotherapist for Hall Mercer Community Mental Health Center of Pennsylvania Hospital/UPHS for 23 years.

Kelly McQuain is a 2015 Lambda Literary Fellow. His poetry book, VELVET RODEO (2014), won Bloom magazine’s chapbook award, and went on to receive two Rainbow Award citations. His work has appeared in The Pinch, Painted Bride Quarterly, Philadelphia Stories, Weave, The Philadelphia Inquirer,—as well as in numerous anthologies: The Queer South, Between: New Gay Poetry, Skin & Ink, Rabbit Ears: TV Poems, and Drawn to Marvel: Poems from the Comic Books. He has received fellowships from the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts in fiction and nonfiction. A native of West Virginia, he’s worked as both a pretzel maker and a comic book artist, and now he’s an English professor at Community College of Philadelphia.

Jennifer Hook is a California native who came to Philadelphia for the grit. She earned an MFA in Painting at the University of Pennsylvania. Following the death of her husband and creative partner of thirty-five years, she chose poetry as an entry into the territory of loss and self reinvention. She has read her work at 100,000 Poets for Change, Poetic Feats of Strength, The Osage Poets at the Green Line Café, Philadelphia Poetry Day, and Why Are They Called The Poetry Liberation Front? at the Big Blue Marble. She is the author of This is How He Left Me (2014).

Steve Burke lives in the Mount Airy section of Philadelphia with wife-Giselle & daughter-(also sometime-poet) Mariah; has read at multiple venues around the city; has been published in numerous magazines – including Apiary, the Mad Poets’ Review, Philadelphia Stories & the Broadkill Review – in January had his chapbook After The Harvest published by Moonstone Press. He agrees with Czeslaw Milosz that one of the purposes of poetry “is to remind us/how difficult is to remain just one person,/for our house is open, there are no keys in the doors,/and invisible guests come in and out at will.”

GSU Radio Broadcasts Philly Poets!

Sunday May 10th Georgia State Radio broadcasted poems by writers with Philadelphia connections on an online radio show. CA Conrad, Ernest Hilbert, Jeffrey Lee, Elaine Terranova and I are in the mix, it looks like. Tune in on your computer here to hear the archived show.

The Queer South nominated for a Lambda Book Award

THE QUEER SOUTH anthology keeps getting accolades. Today it garnered a Lambda Book Award nomination, and earlier this year it made the American Library Association’s top ten LGBT Over the Rainbow titles. My two poems in that anthology, “Brave” and “Spirit Animal Chant”, deal with the trouble of reconciling multiple identities while growing up in West Virginia. Douglas Ray, the editor, deserves a big shout of praise for assembling this Sibling Rivalry Press collection, which features Dorothy Allison, Richard Blanco, and many others. Congtatulations, Douglas!

http://siblingrivalrypress.bigcartel.com/product/the-queer-south-lgbt-writers-on-the-american-south-douglas-ray-editor

Moonstone Poetry, 2/25: SCANLON, McQUAIN, JUEDS

Poetry with JUEDS, SCANLON & MCQUAIN
Wed., Feb. 25, 2015 – 7:00-9:00 pm – Fergie’s Pub, 2nd Floor, Philadelphia. Moonstone Reading with Kasey Jueds, Kelly McQuain & Eizabeth Scanlon. Hosted by Suzan Jivan.

Elizabeth Scanlon is the Editor of The American Poetry Review. Her most recent chapbook is Odd Regard (ixnay press, 2013). Her poems have appeared in many magazines, including Boston Review, Colorado Review, and Ploughshares.

Kelly McQuain is the author of Velvet Rodeo, winner of Bloom Books’ poetry chapbook prize. He has twice held fellowships from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and his work has been published most recently in The Pinch, Painted Bride Quarterly and Kestrel as well as the anthologies Rabbit Ears: TV Poems, Drawn to Marvel: Poems from the Comic Books, The Queer South and Best American Erotica. His criticism appears in The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Good Men Project and A&U (Art & Understanding). http://www.KellyMcQuain.wordpress.com

Kasey Jueds’ first book of poems, Keeper, won the 2012 Agnes Lynch Starrett Prize from the University of Pittsburgh Press. Her poetry has appeared in numerous publications, including Beloit Poetry Journal, Prairie Schooner, Manhattan Review, Salamander, Crab Orchard Review, Women’s Review of Books, and 5AM; it has also been featured on Public Radio International’s “The Writer’s Almanac.” Jueds has been awarded residencies at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Soapstone, and the Ucross Foundation. She has new work forthcoming in The American Poetry Review.

Monday Poets at the Free Library: McQuain & Small-McKinney

February 2, 2015 – 6:30, Kelly McQuain and Amy Small-McKinney

Kelly McQuain’s writing has appeared in many venues, ranging from the Philly Inquirer to the Painted Bride Quarterly to Drawn to Marvel: Poems from the Comic Books to The Queer South. His chapbook, Velvet Rodeo, recently won BLOOM magazine’s poetry prize. He has twice received fellowships from the Penn. Council on the Arts. Visit him at http://www.kellymcquain.wordpress.com.

Amy Small-McKinney is the author of a collection of poems, Life is Perfect, and two chapbooks of poetry, Body of Surrender and Clear Moon, Frost. Her poems have appeared in many journals, including The American Poetry Review. In 2014 she won the Open Reading Competition at the Green Line Reading & Interview Series. The prize for this is also a prize for Monday Poets, which has the honor of having her here to read for us.

Monday Poets Reading Series: The Free Library is pleased to present The Monday Poets on the first Monday of the month, October through April. Now in its 19th year, it showcases a variety of talented local and regional poets. Readings take place from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in Room 108 of the Parkway Central Library, 1901 Vine Street. Copies of the Featured Poets’ books may be purchased at the readings. For additional information, please call the Free Library of Philadelphia’s Literature Department at 215-686-5402.

Hosted by Lamont Dixon.
http://www.freelibrary.org/libserv/monpoets.htm

A Writer’s Thanks

May the Year 2015 Find You in a Peaceable Kingdom

Allegory Charles Prendergast (American, Boston, Massachusetts 1863–1948 Norwalk, Connecticut)

Family, friends and health take the top spots when it comes to giving thanks this time of season. Reflecting back, 2014 was a series of highs and lows, from celebrating weddings and publications with friends to experiencing the blistering reminders of how hard this country’s citizens often have it. The country’s grappling with racial and economic issues made for many an interesting conversation with family members and friends, and fed into the development of new teaching materials for my students as well as the occasional bit of political writing. I am lucky to teach students at Community College of Philadelphia, and I am often reminded throughout each semester of the hardships and hurdles they must overcome to achieve their dreams. I learn from them, too.

Somehow despite writing numerous poems and a few articles, I found time to start a new Facebook page on seasonal folk traditions, an interest of mine, and to catch up with friends in an old-fashioned Christmas Letter. I wrote new prose projects for The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Good Men Project, and Cleaver Magazine. As a poet, I was blessed with good reviews for Velvet Rodeo in Cleaver, Out in Print, MEAD Magazine, and the Philadelphia Review of Books blog by such wonderful writers as Jerry Wheeler, Kris Bigalk, Daniel Wallace and Suzanne Parker, and Matthew Girolami—and I thank them! I think there are even a couple others I am forgetting here (my apologies). These join a spate of early reviews from the summer. Thanks so much to all the reviewers who have shown support and made me see my little red book in new and different ways. These join a spate of early reviews from the summer.

As for poems, a handful have come out online lately. You can read “Architect” from the journal Codex. Two other new poems appear in the fall issue of The Fox Chase Review, “Ritual” and “Two Street, After the Parade”. The first is set in my home state of West Virginia and based on a true incident concerning a bat. The second is offered up as a love letter to Philadelphia and the holidays, especially the annual Mummer’s Parade on New Year’s Day and the after-party that occurs on 2nd Street.

It’s nice to share good news like this to offset the many lulls and lows we inevitably go through as writers. As I was working on this entry, another rejection popped in my mail queue. I choose to take that as proof that you need to keep writing and to believe in yourself. So believe in yourself!

Finally, a big shout out to editor Charles Flowers for shepherding Velvet Rodeo into print and to poet C. Dale Young for selecting it. Most of all, I thank John for continuing to put up with me for another year. And I thank you, for reading my words from time to time.

http://www.KellyMcQuain.wordpress.com

#Cleaver #Mead #GoodMenProject

Related Links:

http://www.cleavermagazine.com/velvet-rodeo-by-kelly-mcquain-reviewed-by-matthew-girolami/

http://phillybooksblog.wordpress.com/2014/09/05/no-bull-a-review-of-velvet-rodeo-bloom-2014-a-chapbook-by-kelly-mcquain/.

http://www.meadmagazine.org/velvet-rodeo.html

http://burlesquepressllc.com/2014/11/12/the-wild-bull-of-time-daniel-wallace-reviews-velvet-rodeo-by-kelly-mcquain/

http://outinprintblog.wordpress.com/2014/10/20/fall-poetry-roundup/

 

 

 

Moonstone Poetry Holiday Party, Dec. 14th

Get into the holiday spirit with poetry! Moonstone is hosting a holiday potluck and reading to celebrate the release of their new anthology of poets who have read over the past year. I plan to read some holiday-themed work.

Moonstone writes:
Book Launch and Holiday Party – Sunday December 14, 2014
The party will be at Brandywine Workshop (728 S. Broad Street) December 14, 2014 starting at 1PM.
· This will be a book release, mass reading party – similar to Poetry Ink but limited to poets who have been featured at Moonstone readings
· Holiday Party – Bring something good to eat to share
· This will be a terrific holiday gift for poetry lovers
· A terrific anthology for creative writing and poetry classes since most of the poets are from the Philadelphia area and they can be heard at readings around the city.

For more about the Moonstone Reading Series, which happens each Wednesday in Philadelphia, contact here:
Moonstone Arts Center
110A S. 13th Street, Philadelphia PA 19107
http://www.moonstoneartscenter.org, 215-735-9600
larry [at] moonstoneartscenter.org

“Architect”: A new poem in the journal CODEX

CODEX has a new fall issue out. I have a poem about my father in it. It seems a fitting season for it to come out now that the leaves are starting to change. Loss has haunted me lately, and the rage that goes along with it. I lost my father to cancer a long time ago, and more recently I lost a college friend who leaves behind her husband and two boys. I dream of better days.

You can read “Architect” here if you like: http://codexjournal.com/kelly_mcquain/. 

Maybe I will read this poem at Tattooed Mom’s bar at the reading tonight. I’ll be there with friends, celebrating this journey and what time is allotted to us.