Author: Kristin Kowalski Ferragut

Join this special reading of five amazing Poets to kick-off National Pride Month!!

Open Mic following the Featured Readers — feel free to share one poem, one page.
Free and you’re welcome to just walk in but if you get tickets on Eventbrite, it would help us know how many people will attend https://www.eventbrite.com/e/diversecasey-poetry-nights-tickets-321426253577

Regie Cabico (he/him) is the first Asian American and openly queer poet to win the Nuyorican Poets Cafe Grand Slam. He is a pioneer of the genre, later winning three national titles. His book, A Rabbit In Search of A Rolex will be published by Day Eight. He is the producer and co-curator of Homo Stanzas with Casey Catherine Moore, and Capturing Fire Slam.  

Ishanee Chanda (she/her) is a prose writer and poet from Dallas, Texas. She is the author or two books of poetry titled Oh, these walls, they crumble (2017) and The Overflow (2018). Additionally, she has been published in the Eckleburg Project, Stoked Words: A Queer Anthology, Z Publishing House’s Emerging Texas Writers, Flypaper Magazine, and Apricity Press. She has participated in the BlackBox Writer’s Residency Program and was a part of a spoken word poetry scene in College Station, Texas known as Mic Check Poetry. Chanda currently resides in Washington, DC where she works full-time in the field of humanitarian aid and refugee response. She enjoys eating her weight in Thai food, singing loudly (and badly) to Taylor Swift, and playing the ukulele just to make people smile.

Heidi Mordhorst (she/her) is the author of two collections of poetry for young readers as well as contributions to journals and anthologies for both adults and children. She taught in early childhood classrooms for 35 years and recently served on the NCTE Excellence in Poetry Award Committee. Heidi now coaches young writers at WHISPERshout Writing Workshop in Montgomery County, Maryland.

H.L. Sudler (he/him) is the author of six books, including Patriarch: My Extraordinary Journey from Man to Gentleman (Archer Publishing, 2012), CafeLiving’s Favorite Cocktails (with Keith Vient, 2019), Man to Gentleman: A Beginner’s Guide to Manhood (2015), his short story collection The Looking Glass: Tales of Light and Dark (2018), and his thriller novel series Summerville (2014) and Return to Summerville (2017). His novellas include Sandman (2021), Midnight (2021), and Night As We Know It (2021). His short story “The Way of All Flesh” was selected for the PATHS Humanitarian Writing Award. He has served as a magazine publisher, a newspaper editor, and a contributing writer to numerous anthologies and periodicals. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and currently lives in Washington, DC.

Kim Roberts is the author of six books of poems, most recently Corona/Crown, a cross-disciplinary collaboration with photographer Robert Revere (forthcoming from WordTech Editions in November 2023). She is editor of the anthology By Broad Potomac’s Shore: Great Poems from the Early Days of our Nation’s Capital (University of Virginia Press, 2020), selected by the East Coast Centers for the Book for the 2021 Route 1 Reads program as the book that “best illuminates important aspects” of the culture of Washington, DC. For twenty years, she edited the literary journal Beltway Poetry Quarterly, and since 2010 she has co-curated the web exhibit, DC Writers’ Homes, with Dan Vera. Roberts is the author of the popular guidebook, A Literary Guide to Washington, DC: Walking in the Footsteps of American Writers from Francis Scott Key to Zora Neale Hurston (University of Virginia Press, 2018). In 2023, she was one named of five LGBTQ+ Poets-in-Residence at the Arts Club of Washington.

Open Mic following the Featured Readers — feel free to share one poem, one page.
Free and you’re welcome to just walk but if you get tickets on Eventbrite, it would help us know how many people will attend https://www.eventbrite.com/e/diversecasey-poetry-nights-tickets-321426253577

Casey Community Center, 1 mile north of Shady Grove Metro on 355 

810 S Frederick Ave, Gaithersburg, MD 20877

Fran Abrams’ poems have been published online & in print in Delmarva Review, The American Journal of Poetry, The Raven’s Perch, Gargoyle 74, & other journals, and in over a dozen anthologies. In 2019, she read at Houston (TX) Poetry Fest and at DiVerse Gaithersburg (MD) Poetry Series. In December 2021, she won the Washington Writers Publishing House Winter Poetry Prize. Her autobiographical book of poems titled “I Rode the Second Wave: A Feminist Memoir,” was released in November 2022. Her first chapbook, “The Poet Who Loves Pythagoras,” (Finishing Line Press) was released in March 2023. Please visit franabramspoetry.com.

Serena Agusto-Cox, one of the first featured poets of the DiVerse Gaithersburg reading series in Maryland, coordinates poetry programming for the Gaithersburg Book Festival. Poems are in ArLiJo Issue #166, Live Encounters 13^th Anniversary Edition The Curator, Poetry X Hunger, & more. Work also appears in the anthologies: The Great World of Days, This Is What America Looks Like, Mom Egg Review’s Pandemic Parenting, The Plague Papers, & H.L. Hix’s Made Priceless & Love_Is_Love: An Anthology for LGBTQIA+ Teens. She also runs the book review blog, Savvy Verse & Wit, & founded Poetic Book Tours to help poets market their books.

Dear DiVerse Community, Casey Community Center is giving us a table for their Be Your Best Fest, May 6th, 1:00-3:00. Last year, I had a great time with a couple of Poets here and the other tables were wicked cool too — I picked up knick-knacks enjoyed by my kids, students, and colleagues for the rest of the year. It’s a great community to share time and energy with! Let us know if you can help.

https://www.gaithersburgmd.gov/…/case…/be-your-best-fest

https://www.gaithersburgbookfestival.org/

Open Mic following the Featured Readers — feel free to share one poem, one page.
Free and you’re welcome to just walk but if you get tickets on Eventbrite, it would help us know how many people will attend https://www.eventbrite.com/e/diversecasey-poetry-nights-tickets-321426253577

Casey Community Center, 1 mile north of Shady Grove Metro on 355 

810 S Frederick Ave, Gaithersburg, MD 20877

Christopher Goodrich teaches in Montgomery County, MD. He has also taught at New York University & Frostburg State University. His poems have appeared in Margie, Hotel Amerika, Rattle, The New York Quarterly, Sycamore Review, Cimarron Review, Cider Press Review, & The Worcester Review, among others. He has been featured on Verse Daily & NPR. He is the recipient of two Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Prizes, an Emerging Writer Fellowship from The Writer’s Center & holds an M.F.A. from New England College. A chapbook, By Reaching, was published in 2007. His first book, Nevertheless, Hello, was published by Steel Toe Books & his 2^nd book, No Texting at the Dinner Table was published by NYQ Books. He recently received an MSAC Independent Artist Award. He loves his family, the wind, and finding $5 in a pants pocket that you haven’t worn in months.

Katherine Smith’s recent poetry publications include appearances in Boulevard, North American Review, Ploughshares, Mezzo Cammin, Cincinnati Review, Missouri Review, Southern Review, & many other journals. Her short fiction has appeared in Fiction International & Gargoyle. Her first book Argument by Design (Washington Writers’ Publishing House) appeared in 2003. Her second book of poems, Woman Alone on the Mountain (Iris Press), appeared in 2014. Her third book Secret City appeared with Madville Press in 2022. She works at Montgomery College in Maryland.

(Sarah Katz is rescheduling to read with us another month soon.)

Open Mic following the Featured Readers — feel free to share one poem, one page.
Free and you’re welcome to just walk but if you get tickets on Eventbrite, it would help us know how many people will attend https://www.eventbrite.com/e/diversecasey-poetry-nights-tickets-321426253577

Casey Community Center, 1 mile north of Shady Grove Metro on 355 

810 S Frederick Ave, Gaithersburg, MD 20877

Indran Amirthanayagam produced a “world record” in 2020 publishing three poetry collections written in three different languages. He writes in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese & Haitian Creole. He has published twenty two poetry books, including Isleño (R.I.L. Editores), Blue Window (translated by Jennifer Rathbun) (Diálogos Books), Ten Thousand Steps Against the Tyrant (BroadstoneBooks.com), The Migrant States, Coconuts on Mars, The Elephants of Reckoning (winner 1994 Paterson Poetry Prize), Uncivil War & The Splintered Face: Tsunami Poems. In music, he recorded Rankont Dout. He edits the Beltway Poetry Quarterly; writes a blog; co-directs Poets & Writers Studio International, writes a weekly poem for Haiti en Marche& El Acento; has received fellowships from the Foundation for the Contemporary Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts, The US/Mexico Fund for Culture, the Macdowell Colony. He is a 2021 Emergent Seed grant winner. His poem “Free Bird” has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Hosts The Poetry Channel. His newest books include Powèt nan po la (Poet of the Port ) & Origami: Selected Poems of Manuel Ulacia (2022). Indran publishes poetry books with Sara Cahill Marron at Beltway Editions.

Joseph Ross is the author of four books of poetry: Raising King (2020), Ache (2017), Gospel of Dust (2013) and Meeting Bone Man (2012). His poems appear in many publications including, The New York Times Magazine, The Los Angeles Times, Poet Lore, Drumvoices Revue and the 2022 anthology, WHERE WE STAND: Poems of Black Resilience. He has received multiple Pushcart Prize nominations and won the 2012 Pratt Library / Little Patuxent Review Poetry Prize for his poem “If Mamie Till Was the Mother of God.” Recently, Ross served as judge for the 2021 Ken Ebert Poetry Prize from Iris G. Press. He currently serves on the Poetry Board at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. where he teaches English and Creative Writing. Ross writes regularly at www.JosephRoss.net.

Open Mic following the Featured Readers — feel free to share one poem, one page.
Free and you’re welcome to just walk but if you get tickets on Eventbrite, it would help us know how many people will attend https://www.eventbrite.com/e/diversecasey-poetry-nights-tickets-321426253577

Casey Community Center, 1 mile north of Shady Grove Metro on 355. 

810 S Frederick Ave, Gaithersburg, MD 20877

Jeffrey Banks is poetically known as “Big Homey.” His credits include ESSENCE Magazine, Sirius/XM Satellite Radio, Radio-One Inc., the CBS Early Show, BLACK ENTERPRISE Magazine, performing nationwide, international broadcasts, multiple grant awards & publications through DC Public Libraries, the National Association for Poetry Therapy, Paris Lit Up, and Day Eight.

Maritza RiveraMaritza Rivera is a Puerto Rican poet and Army veteran who has lived in Rockville, MD since 1994. She has been writing poetry for over fifty years; is the creator of a short form of poetry called Blackjack; and is the publisher of Casa Mariposa Press. In 2011, Maritza began hosting the annual Mariposa Poetry Retreat, “where the magic of poetry happens,” which takes place in Puerto Rico in 2022. Maritza is the author of About You; A Mother’s War, written during her son’s two tours in Iraq; Baker’s Dozen; Twenty-One: Blackjack Poems; and creator of the Blackjack Poetry Playing Cards. Her work appears in literary magazines, anthologies & online publications and in the public arts project, Meet Me at the Triangle in Wheaton, MD.

by Alex Sater

Chosen words with subtle flair,
Float like bubbles in the air.
Some hit me like a cannon ball,
Some words go bouncing off the wall,
hit the post, hit the bed, hit three people in the head.
Then land exhausted at the feet of a woman, very sweet,
sitting right there next to me, she bends to pic up two or three.
Some words you pop to hear the sound, 
Some words float gently to the ground.
a thousand words they fill the pond
with image of  the great beyond.
and those rainbow words, red, yellow, blue,
Those are the words dun writ by you.
So do not let my words offend
With my lack of skill, for in the end
these words, I truly hope you’ll see,
come from my heart and not just me.

A poem shared about DiVerse Poetry Readings by regular Poet at DiVerse’s Open Mic last night.

Open Mic following the Featured Readers — feel free to share one poem, one page.
Free and you’re welcome to just walk but if you get tickets on Eventbrite, it would help us know how many people will attend https://www.eventbrite.com/e/diversecasey-poetry-nights-tickets-321426253577

Casey Community Center, 1 mile north of Shady Grove Metro on 355. 

810 S Frederick Ave, Gaithersburg, MD 20877

W. Luther Jett is a native of Montgomery County, Maryland and a retired special educator. His poetry has been published in numerous journals as well as several anthologies. His poetry performance piece, Flying to America, debuted at the 2009 Capital Fringe Festival in Washington D.C. Luther’s poem “Monuments” was among the winning poems in the 2021 “Moving Words” competition, sponsored by the city of Arlington. His poem “Zeta” was named a co-winner in the 2022 American Writers Review competition, sponsored by San Fedale Press.

He is the author of five poetry chapbooks: “Not Quite: Poems Written in Search of My Father”, (Finishing Line Press, 2015), and “Our Situation”, (Prolific Press, 2018), “Everyone Disappears” (Finishing Line Press, 2020), “Little Wars” (Kelsay Books, 2021), and “Watchman, What of the Night?” (CW Books, 2022). Luther is also the facilitator of a monthly virtual open mike sponsored by the Hyattstown Mill Arts Project in Hyattstown, Maryland. He still dreams of making it big in Nashville.

Yvette Neisser is the author of two poetry collections, Iron into Flower (2022) and Grip (2011 Gival Press Poetry Award). Her translations from Spanish include South Pole/Polo Sur by María Teresa Ogliastri and Difficult Beauty: Selected Poems by Luis Alberto Ambroggio. Founder of the DC-Area Literary Translators Network, she has taught writing at The George Washington University, The Writer’s Center, and other institutions. By day, she works in international development. Her website is: yvetteneisser.net

Open Mic following the Featured Readers — feel free to share one poem, one page.
Free and you’re welcome to just walk but if you get tickets on Eventbrite, it would help us know how many people will attend https://www.eventbrite.com/e/diversecasey-poetry-nights-tickets-321426253577

Casey Community Center, 1 mile north of Shady Grove Metro on 355. 

810 S Frederick Ave, Gaithersburg, MD 20877

Alan King is a Caribbean-American poet, whose parents emigrated to the U.S. from Trinidad & Tobago in the early ’70s. He’s a father, husband & author of Crooked Smiling Light (chapbook, Plan B Press, 2021), Point Blank (Silver Birch Press, 2016) & Drift (Aquarius Press, 2012). King’s poetry caught the attention of U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo, who said: “Alan King is one of my favorite up-and-coming poets of his generation. His poems are not pop & flash, rather more like a slow dance with someone you’re going to love forever.” He lives with his family in Bowie, MD.

Gregory Luce is the author of Signs of Small Grace (Pudding House Publications), Drinking Weather (Finishing Line Press), Memory and Desire (Sweatshoppe Publications), Tile (Finishing Line) & Riffs & Improvisations (Kelsay Press). His poems have appeared in numerous print and online journals, and in several anthologies, including Written in Arlington (Paycock Press) & This Is What America Looks Like. (Washington Writers Publishing House). In 2014 he was awarded the Larry Neal Award for adult poetry by the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities. Retired from the National Geographic Society, he lives in Arlington, VA, and works as a volunteer writing tutor/mentor for 826DC.

Indran Amirthanayagam produced a “world record” in 2020 publishing three poetry collections written in three different languages. He writes in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese & Haitian Creole. He has published twenty two poetry books, including Isleño (R.I.L. Editores), Blue Window (translated by Jennifer Rathbun) (Diálogos Books), Ten Thousand Steps Against the Tyrant (BroadstoneBooks.com), The Migrant States, Coconuts on Mars, The Elephants of Reckoning (winner 1994 Paterson Poetry Prize), Uncivil War & The Splintered Face: Tsunami Poems. In music, he recorded Rankont Dout. He edits the Beltway Poetry Quarterly; writes a blog; co-directs Poets & Writers Studio International, writes a weekly poem for Haiti en Marche& El Acento; has received fellowships from the Foundation for the Contemporary Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts, The US/Mexico Fund for Culture, the Macdowell Colony. He is a 2021 Emergent Seed grant winner. His poem “Free Bird” has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Hosts The Poetry Channel. New books, including Powèt nan po la (Poet of the Port ) & Origami: Selected Poems of Manuel Ulacia will be published in 2022. Indran publishes poetry books with Sara Cahill Marron at Beltway Editions.

Kelly Bradley is an artist, poet, songwriter & senior product manager in the Washington, DC area where she writes stories & creates apps based on data. Her first collection of poetry, love, loss and the enormity of it all published by FootHills Publishing, addresses themes of grief, joy, love, heartbreak & perseverance. Connect with Kelly via Instagram.

Naomi Thiers grew up in California & Pittsburgh, but her chosen home is Washington-DC/Northern Virginia. She is author of four poetry collections: Only The Raw Hands Are Heaven (WWPH), In Yolo County, She Was a Cathedral (Finishing Line Press) & Made of Air (Kelsay Books). Her poems, book reviews & essays have been published in Virginia Quarterly Review, Poet Lore, Colorado Review & others. Her latest book Made of Air is available at www.kelsaybooks.com or directly from her at this PayPal link (Cost $14, with all profit made going to CASA MD for their DC-area work with local asylum seekers/immigrants if you order

Sara Cahill Marron won’t be able to make it so we will look forward to hearing her another time.

Free and you’re welcome to just walk but if you get tickets on Eventbrite, it would help us know how many people will attend https://www.eventbrite.com/e/diversecasey-poetry-nights-tickets-321426253577

Casey Community Center, 1 mile north of Shady Grove Metro on 355. 

810 S Frederick Ave, Gaithersburg, MD 20877

Linda Joy Burke
A 2020 Howie recipient from the Howard County Arts Council for Outstanding Artist, Burke’s poetry, has appeared in numerous publications or recordings, including: 2020-2021 season of “The Poet and the Poem” with Maryland Poet Laureate Grace Cavalieri, The Fire Inside; Vol 2, Dragonfly Review Arts Magazine, Fledgling Rag, on the Poetry/Photography site: http://www.danmurano.com/featured-poet/linda-joy & more. She is a co-host of the Wilde Readings Series in Columbia, MD, and on the review committee for Little Patuxent Review. Find her at www.lindajoyburke.com, on Blogspot at Moods, Minds & Multitudes and The Bird Talks Blog, as well as on Instagram @birdpoet.

Roderick Deacey is a performing poet in the DC area, based in Frederick, Maryland. He regularly performs with drummer and bass-player, presenting “neo-beat” poems inspired by the Beat Poets’ poetry and jazz forays of the nineteen-fifties. Deacey was awarded the 2019 Frederick Arts Council Carl R. Butler Award for Literature. Crossing genres, he won the Gold Award for Best Lyrics in the 2020 Mid-Atlantic Song Contest held by the Songwriters Association of Washington. Many of his contemporary poems have been published in literary journals & magazines. He is presently editor of Pen in Hand, Maryland Writers Association’s literary journal.