June Castalia

In the first half of this evening's reading, we hear from first-year poet Constance Hansen about the lessons of brotherhood a little sister learns; from second-year fiction writer Daisy Wilson-Morrow, whose voice--hers and her story's--carries us along unsuspecting until the moment we begin to feel ourselves, feeling; and from poet and Professor Emeritus David Wagoner, whose studied, compassionate poems observe the inner landscape no less intensely than the outer.

In the second half of the evening, we learned of the importance of batteries. Juice. Power. Devices that depend on them to work and record--or, as the case may be, not record--voices. As in, the voices of our final two readers: Simone Sachs and Evan Klavon.

Second-year writer Simone Sachs captures her self, and a not-so small piece of the world, on the page, hooking both up to a lie detector whose needle marks a steady, unwavering line. Putting both to a test of words.

And first-year poet Evan Klavon, who ends the evening--and this year's reading series--with class; thoughtfully and with intelligence, Evan offers anecdotal & poetic evidence of origins and inspiration from fellow writers. In doing so he reminds us that what we do as writers we may often do alone, but that we must go out and be alone together, often as we can.

photos of June Castalia