We get it: it can be daunting to dip your toes into poetry. You may not be sure where to start. That’s why H&H Books started a new book club: Poetry is for Everyone.
Our next meeting is Sunday, August 17 at 2 PM at Valerio Coffee Roasters (2331 Frankford Avenue). We’ll discuss Open Source by Warren C. Longmire—and Warren himself will join us for our discussion! Warren is from North Philadelphia, and Open Source is published by Radiator Press, a Philly-based poetry publisher.
About the Book:
From Radiator Press: “Selected from two decades of work, the poetry in Warren C. Longmire’s Open Source chronicles the complexities of language, identity, love and time. Ranging widely in style, with a lyric intensity rooted in the Philly landscape, this book reveals the interconnections between public and private history, a black man’s daily struggle for self-acceptance and joy amidst ‘disastrous news and the grace/of each of arc of decay.’ Longmire addresses work in the tech industry as well as the gentrifying city as it grinds through a pandemic. At times raw, playful, painful and technical, Open Source is poetry alert to the particulars and subtle shifts from day to day in uncertain times, unafraid to grapple with the past inside the present.”
About the Author:
Warren C. Longmire is a Negro poet, performer, and technologist from North Philadelphia. A co-founder of the Excelano Project Spoken Word Collective, his work has appeared publications including Action, Spectacle, The Cleveland Review of Books, The Offing and The American Poetry Review. Warren was featured in The Best American Poetry 2021 (selected by Tracy K. Smith) and A Black Philadelphia Reader: African American Writings About the City of Brotherly Love. His latest book, Bird/Diz [an erased history of bebop], was published by Bunny Presse in 2022. He is currently completing his MFA in Poetry at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.
Participants are highly encouraged to read the book before the meeting in order to participate fully. H&H staffer Kristen will ask questions & facilitate discussion, and participants will share their thoughts and impressions of the month’s selection. There’ll be a brief writing exercise, too, so bring a pen or pencil and paper.
Attendance is free, but registration on Eventbrite is recommended.
Copies of Open Source will be available at H&H Books (2230 Frankford Avenue) in the weeks leading up to the book club meeting.
Need further enticement? Book club attendees will receive 10% off drinks at Valerio during our meeting!
Questions? DM @booksby_kb or email events@theheadandthehand.com.