I Read at the Dead Bards New Year’s Poetry Bash
And you should too!
Well, folks, Andrés Cruciani of Toho Publishing here, and today we have Philadelphian poet Sean Hanrahan expounding on why you should read your poems at readings. Here’s Sean!
My name is Sean Hanrahan, author of the chapbook Hardened Eyes on the Scan published by Moonstone Press. I am a mid-life poet working to expand the reach of my poetic efforts as well as trying to promote and give back to the Philadelphia poetry community. I recently had the opportunity to read at the Dead Bards New Year’s Bash on Tuesday, January 22nd, at the Venice Island Performing Arts Center. This bash celebrated three or so poems from the featured readers of the 2019 series. The celebratory reading featured a diverse slate of poets including many I had heard before or had the pleasure of reading with in the past, including Veronica Bowlan, James M. Cory, Josh Dale, Philip Dykhouse, Cynthia Jones, Chris Kaiser, Anthony Palma, Brooke Palma, Aaren Perry, Amber Renee, Stu Stuart, and Jeremy Eric Tenebaum.
They are all remarkable poets with different, thought-provoking points of view, gorgeous turns of phrase, and an undying love of poetry and the suppleness of the English language. The Dead Bards reading series is emceed by a mean lyric master himself, James Feichthaler, author of the epic poem of our time The Rise of Covfefe. He also can be found on YouTube under the handles Taliesin/Big Tal.
I remember reading at the Dead Bards as a featured poet this past November. Imagine performing your poetry for twenty minutes and hoping each poem lands to at least one receptive ear. Initially, the Venice Island Performing Arts Center in Manayunk seemed to me to be an intimidating performance venue. It is a big stage where you look up into the raked audience; however, my intimidation quickly dissipated with the warmth and genuine appreciation of friends, fellow poets, and an engaged audience. I have always enjoyed performing and thoroughly enjoyed being able to read on a stage designed for full theatrical productions.
Through going to the Dead Bards series — along with readings for Moonstone at Fergie’s or traveling out to West Chester for the Livin’ on Luck series — I have happily discovered friends and delightful members of a seemingly wide-ranging poetry community. I love watching people read new poems and especially enjoy seeing a poem I have heard before evolve over several performances. It’s also great to talk mechanics or next projects before or after a reading — or just trade stories about life. Until I started attending readings more regularly, I did not know I hungered for such companionship and support.
I strongly encourage anyone reading this post to follow Dead Bards on Facebook to find out more information about the monthly poetry reading series. You can also checkout Facebook or other sources for the Moonstone and Livin’ on Luck poetry series. Also, there are several more series I would like to experience including Pecola Breedlove, You Can’t Kill a Poet, and Lo Nuestro. There are so many that maybe you have your own favorite reading series. As much as I love to perform, I also love hearing different poets and getting inspired. If you feel the need to perform, want to see if your poems get the reaction you are looking for, or just hear the diversity of Philadelphia poets, I highly recommend looking for several different open mic venues. Often, preparing to read is the best way for me to fine tune and edit a poem. Sometimes hearing someone creative awakens some dormant tangential (or perhaps unrelated) thought that then becomes your own poem.
I can conclude you will find a welcoming environment for you to show your talents to the world. Best of luck to all the writers reading this, I just want to encourage you all to keep writing, reading, and to follow your creative interests wherever they take you.
Sean Hanrahan is a poet originally hailing from Dale City, Virginia. He is the author of the chapbook Hardened Eyes on the Scan published by Moonstone Press. His work has been included in several anthologies, including Poetry Ink and Moonstone Featured Poets, and has appeared in the Peculiar and The Philadelphia Secret Admirer. He currently serves on the Moonstone Press Editorial Board and as a workshop instructor for Green Street Poetry.
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