Video
Hard Hat Reading: Paul Hlava Ceballos
Paul Hlava Ceballos—poet and former Poets House Fellow—reads from Divia Victor’s Curb, and three poems from his own recent book banana [ ].
Hard Hat Reading: Mai Serhan
Writer and editor Mai Serhan reads Emily Berry’s “A Short Guide to Corseting” and an epistolary poem from her chapbook Cairo: the undelivered letters.
Hard Hat Reading: Regie Cabico
Regie Cabico—poet, theater artist, and arts educator—reads a love poem from Drew Pisarra’s Infinity Standing Up, and his own love poems “Arboretum” and “Missing the Whitney Biennial Reading.”
Hard Hat Reading: Rachel James
Rachel James—poet, artist and audio documentarian—reads from Valerie Hsiung’s To Love an Artist, and her own new book An Eros Encyclopedia.
Hard Hat Reading: Mervyn Taylor
Poet, teacher, and masquerader costume designer Mervyn Taylor reads “The Season of Phantasmal Peace” by Derek Walcott and his own poems “The Mentor” and “Donde Estés” in memory of Derek Walcott.
Hard Hat Reading: Ellen Bass
Award-winning poet and editor Ellen Bass reads her late mentor Florence Howe’s “Seven Rooms” and her own poem dedicated to Howe, “Lightning Streak of White.”
Hard Hat Reading: Kaveh Akbar
Poet and scholar Kaveh Akbar recites and discusses “I came to you” by Jean Valentine, and his own poem “Reading Farrokhzad in a Pandemic” from his recent book Pilgrim Bell.
Hard Hat Reading: Asiya Wadud
Writer, poet, essayist, and teacher Asiya Wadud reads from Inger Christensen’s Alphabet, and her own poem “L” from the collection No Knowledge Is Complete Until It Passes Through My Body.
Hard Hat Reading: Indran Amirthanayagam
Poet, diplomat, and Beltway Editions co-publisher Indran Amirthanayagam reads “The Center of the World” by Mervyn Taylor and poems from his own collections The Splintered Face and Ten Thousand Steps Against the Tyrant.
Hard Hat Reading: Donna Masini
Award-winning poet, novelist and educator Donna Masini reads “Roman Poem Number Thirteen” by her mentor June Jordan and new poems of her own from a forthcoming collection.