Sally is one of two of the Kalamazoo Poetry Fest 2019’s Keynote speakers E.T. gets blown away by this poet’s ability to braid serious research skills with deep compassion for the characters of history… and you will too! Check out and/or buy her new book Oculus to explore this historical, Asian-American futurist journey from the pain of our past to truth to hope. **This is only the abridged version. More of Sally Wen Mao to come ..read more

Kalamazoo Poetry Fest keynote speaker gets real about her life as a touring as a poet for seven years and the many changes her work and life has taken. Hosts: Denise Miller and E.T. Townsend Music: The Last Gasp Production: FREQ Flag Media ..read more

Block your calendars for Thursday, April 11, 2019 – Saturday, April 13, 2019 The Full 2019 Kalamazoo Poetry Festival Program ..read more

Interviewing Anne Marie Oomen and Linda Nemec Foster had me believing in magic. I arrived at Oomen’s remote and northern ‘she-shed’, warmed with a wood-fire stove, filled with thousands of poetry books, and I believed in the magic of a writer’s life. We dialed up Oomen’s co-author Linda Nemec Foster and they told me how, over a decade, they created a tale in poems, and I believed in the magic of collaboration. And through reading their recent award winning illustrated narrative about a lonesome little girl in the north, I believed in the Lake Michigan mermaid. We will hear more of Anne Mar ..read more

There was so much goodness from our conversation with poet Keith Taylor that we unearthed a few more poems on his time teaching in the Upper Peninsula with University of Michigan Biostation, a French ex and his daughter’s travels through Denmark ..read more

This month, ET sat down with well-known Great Lakes poet Keith Taylor, in his Ann Arbor kitchen for a reflective and riveting conversation on new found birds, the concept of grace, running away from home, desperately seeking bohemianism and of course, his poems. He read several pieces from The Bird-while, released last year from Wayne State University Press. For more writing from Keith and upcoming event information, check out his website at: http://www.keithtaylorannarbor.com ..read more

Episode is explicit with a few swear words. Once again, we are breaking the rules on KPP. This month we spoke with a fiction writer (scandal!), “who is often seduced by poetry,” as she puts it. Laura Citino read her own flash pieces including “Take a look at yourself” “APPLICATION FOR SUPERFUND CLEAN-UP WORKER, TEMP.” and “Vanishing Point”. We discuss midwest mundanity, the very specific and the end of the world. Laura’s Prompt: Find a rural newspaper headline that is surprising weird and write what’s not being said. Check out the great reading list below from Laura  in her Kalamazoo Poetry Po ..read more

The Poetry Foundation lists this month’s guest, Traci Brimhall accolades as follows: “Winner of a 2013 National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship in poetry, Brimhall has also received grants and fellowships from the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, the Writer’s Center of Bethesda, the Vermont Studio Center, the Disquiet International Literary Program, the Arctic Circle Residency, and the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund. Her awards include a Prairie Schooner Jane Geske Award, a Passage North Just Desserts Shor ..read more

On this episode of the Kalamazoo Poetry Podcast, Denise and E.T. tell what’s occupying their present world, from new jobs to this post #metoo moment. Sit back and listen to words from their favorite poets, both the contemporary innovators and our poetry elders. Below is a list of actual footnotes for your researching and reading pleasure! Footnotes by Show Segment Roses and Thorns Doing the work you are called to – Denise’s new post as ED of Out Front Healing Justice work – the long game of restorative justice The Roundhouse by Louise Erdrich The Revolution Starts at Home HotHotHot in Poetry ..read more

Casey Grooten is a poet, fashion maker, collage artist and musician. She and I discuss what’s it like to live in a mid-size city as a non-bianary artist and her more recent forays into musical performance and the painting of hundreds of faces. Content warning: Grooten speaks about sexual assault and we both swear. For more of the artist’s work, visit: https://www.instagram.com/ardisgrooten ..read more