Athens, Ga. – Nationally-recognized poet Michael Waters will open the 2009 Georgia Poetry Circuit with a free, public reading on Thursday, Jan. 29 at 7 p.m. at Cine BarCafeCinema, 234 West Hancock Street in Athens. University of Georgia creative writing program graduate student Kevin Vaughn will open the reading.
Michael Waters’ books of poetry include Darling Vulgarity (2006–finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize), Parthenopi: New and Selected Poems (2001–finalist for the Paterson Poetry Prize), Green Ash, Red Maple, Black Gum (1997) from BOA Editions, Bountiful (1992), The Burden Lifters (1989), and Anniversary of the Air (1985) from Carnegie Mellon University Press. Waters’ poems have appeared in numerous journals, including The Georgia Review, Poetry, Yale Review, Paris Review, Kenyon Review, Southern Review, Gettysburg Review, American Poetry Review, and Rolling Stone. In 2004, he chaired the poetry panel for the National Book Award. The recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Fulbright Foundation, and four Pushcart Prizes, he teaches at Monmouth University in New Jersey, in the New England College MFA program, and will soon join the faculty of the MFA Program at Drew University.
Kevin Vaughn is a 29 year-old poet and Ph.D. student at UGA. He is a former Fulbright Fellow to Poland’s historic Jagiellonian University and a current fellow of the Cave Canem Foundation. He also is the recipient of artistic residencies and fellowships from around the world. Kevin holds an MFA in poetry from Columbia University. He lives in Paris and Athens.
The following poem by Waters was first published in the summer 2006 issue of The Georgia Review:
The Bells
Sanctuary Basilica
Malta
Pale novitiates flocked the bell tower
To shadow my wife one rooftop below.
Oiled, asleep, she remained unaware
Of cassock-clad boys pivoting the ledge
Until the priest appeared to knell their shame
The precise moment – punctual sinner –
I bumped open the rooftop door, bearing
In each fist a flute, orange fizz daubing
The blistered tar, the riotous mimosas
Two more slender flames expanding the near
Suburbs of hell where she sprawled, naked, stunned
Speechless on gaudy towels, below breathless
Boys, riding the pitch, not so far from God.
For more information, contact The Georgia Review at 706/542-3481, or see www.uga.edu/garev or tgrblog.blogspot.com
