The Chicago Poetry Center presents BLUE HOUR, a free monthly in-person reading series and generative writing workshop at Haymarket House, 800 W. Buena. Our November featured readers are Monica Rico and Kush Thompson.
The Blue Hour reading includes a brief open mic followed by two featured poets from Chicago and beyond. The open mic includes five readers drawn lottery-style from a hat that goes out at 7:15. The reading starts promptly at 7:30. Each open mic poet reads one poem or for three minutes, whichever comes first.
The name comes from a line by Chicago poet Li-Young Lee, from a section of “The City in Which I Love You”: I wait in a blue hour and faraway noise of hammering, and on a page, a poem begun, something about to be dispersed, something about to come into being.
EVENT DETAILS FOR NOVEMBER 21:
- Workshop (registration required) begins promptly at 6 p.m., ends at 7 p.m.
- Open mic sign-up begins at 7:15.
- Reading (registration recommended but not required) begins at 7:30, followed by community gathering time.
- Reading registration is free; the workshop is a sliding scale with a suggested donation of $10.
- Register for the workshop here.
- Get your free ticket for the reading here.
- Livestream is available here.
ABOUT THE READING:
The Blue Hour reading features readings by two poets from Chicago and beyond, preceded by a five-person lottery-style open mic and followed by a community gathering time.
ABOUT THE WORKSHOP:
The Blue Hour generative writing workshop is suitable for writers and poetry fans of all levels. We begin by discuss a poem, and then Marty guides the group through individual writing on an exploratory prompt that draws on themes from the poem.
ABOUT THE SPACE:
Accessibility, Health, & Safety:
– All restrooms at Haymarket House are gender-neutral, including single-user and stalled restrooms.
– Each event includes ASL interpretation. Haymarket House is ADA-compliant and fully wheelchair-accessible; email curator@poetrycenter.org to ensure ramp access and any other accessibility needs.
– Masks are currently strongly encouraged for all indoor events, and the space has a professional air filtration system.
NOVEMBER FEATURES:
Kush Thompson is a Chicago-born poet, painter, educator, and fellow of Luminarts, Pink Door, and Cave Canem. She is the author of “A Church Beneath the Bulldozer” (2014) and creator of the pink-haired Blk Hottie portraiture series. Voted the runner-up for the Best Local Poet of 2014 by Chicago Reader, she creates archival art centering often on girlhood and the mechanics of memory. Her work has appeared in Poetry Magazine, Chicago Reader, and The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip-Hop (Haymarket Books, 2015).
Monica Rico is a Mexican American poet and author of “PINION,” winner of the Four Way Books Levis Prize in Poetry selected by Kaveh Akbar. She holds an MFA from the University of Michigan’s HZWP and is the Program Manager at the Bear River Writers’ Conference. She has published poems in The Atlantic, The Academy of American Poets’ Poem-A-Day, The Slowdown, Ecotone, The Nation, Gastronomica, and The Missouri Review. Follow her at www.monicaricopoet.com.
ABOUT THE HOST:
Marty McConnell is a poet, educator, and healer based in Chicago. She is the author of when they say you can’t go home again, what they mean is you were never there, winner of the 2017 Michael Waters Poetry Prize; her first full-length collection, wine for a shotgun, received the Silver Medal in the Independent Publishers Awards and was a finalist for both the Audre Lorde Award and a Lambda Literary Award. Her first nonfiction book, Gathering Voices: Creating a Community-Based Poetry Workshop, is available through YesYes Books. She is the co-creator and co-editor of underbelly, a web site focused on the art and magic of poetry revision. An MFA graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, her work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies including Best American Poetry, Southern Humanities Review, Gulf Coast, and Indiana Review.
To learn more about the series and history, go here.
