Love and Poetry Have No Limits LGBTQ+ Poetry and Open Mic

Event: fb://event/912022307589965
Firefly Bookstore is proud to be hosting a special evening for April’s National Poetry Month. The focus on the evening will be LGBTQ+ voices. We are very pleased to have five poets with their published works sharing with us. Featured will be poets Jayne Brown, Robin Gow, Magnus Mateo, Nico Sica, and Florence Susanne Reppert.
We will follow this with an Open Mic Session. Attendees are encouraged to share their own work or read others’, but if you just want to stay to listen, that’s ok too!
This is a free and public event. Refreshments and coffee/tea will be provided, and BYOB is available to 21+ attendees. Please take note that some content may not be appropriate for all ages.
We particularly want to thank the Eastern PA Trans Equity Project, for their support of this event.
Author Bio: Jayne Brown
Jayne is the author of My First Real Tree from Foothills Press, and her poems have recently been published in Calyx Journal, The Crone Issue of Gyroscope Review, Persimmon Tree, and Passenger. Brown received an MFA in Creative Writing From San Diego State University, and taught college writing courses in San Diego and at Penn State Berks before retiring in 2016. Jayne was the 8th Poet Laureate of Berks County, PA. She has a new chapbook manuscript, River of Years, which is looking for its home.
Book Description
“My First Real Tree is a daring expedition into the treacherous realm of open-heartedness. By delving into intimacies’ varied forms–and the many forms of courage that true intimacy requires–Jayne Relaford Brown directs our attention to where it is most needed and reminds us of things we need to remember.”
Author Bio: Robin Gow
Robin grew up in rural Pennsylvania and lives with his queer family on unceded Lenape land also called Allentown Pennsylvania. Gow is an out and proud autistic bisexual genderqueer person passionate about LGBTQIA+ issues. Fae is also the author of an essay collection, Blue Blood, with Nasiona Publishing House. Gow also writes Young Adult and Middle-Grade books. It is the author of YA novels in verse, A Million Quiet Revolutions, “Ode to My First Car”, and “Dear Mothman”.
Publication Descriptions
In Robin Gow’s collection of poetry “Lanternfly August”, Gow contends with the emotional geographies of home through the lens of an often-demonized species of insect. Robin is also the author of the chapbooks “Honeysuckle” at Finishing Line Press, “Backyard Paleontology” at Glass Poetry, and “A Museum for That Which No Longer Exists” at Alternating Current Press, as well as the collections “Our Lady of Perpetual Degeneracy” by Tolsun Books and “The Moon Crawls on All Fours” by Weasel Press.
Author Bio: Magnus Mateo
Magnus is a Lehigh Valley poet who started performing live in May 2019. She has been published in the Pennsylvania Bards East PA Anthology 2023, Stick Figure Poetry, and Poetry as Promised. They also have a debut poetry chapbook, ‘She’s Jealous of my Purple Sky’ published by AlienBuddha Press, available to purchase through Amazon. They are also the main host of Noble Quills in Easton, PA and of IceHouse Literary Arts Committee in Bethlehem, PA.
Chapbook Description
“She’s Jealous of my Purple Sky” is a poetry chapbook that explores Magnus’s relationship with the first girl to like her. This collection begins as their tumultuous dynamic cycles through infatuation, uncertainty, love, betrayal, and acceptance. As Magnus learns to move on from their favorite crutch, the first girl to like her passes away. Now Magnus sinks into and cycles through the stages of grief in this love letter to her ghost.
Author Bio: Nico Sica
Nico Sica is an interdisciplinary artist from Kutztown, PA. Their work lately has revolved around mythologies, the dominating ones that form religions, and the personal ones like childhood memories that become mythic over time. In early 2023, Nico published their first chapbook entitled (Un)faith Songs through Bottlecap Press. Currently, their focus resides on their new solo podcast entitled Omnimania. Nico writes poetry, plays, and essays, makes music and YouTube videos, and does photography and comedy.
Chapbook Description
“(Un)faith Songs” is an exploration of mythologies, the dominating ones that form religions, and the personal ones like childhood memories that become mythic over time. Written over the course of the author’s first postgrad year, (Un)faith Songs is a critical reflection on growing up under the influence of Catholicism and an attempt to find the divine in the beauty of the everyday.
Author Bio: Florence-Susanne Reppert
Florence Susanne is a non-binary Poet/Photographer from Allentown Pennsylvania. They run Poetry as Promised Literary and Art Magazine as well as Nowhere as Promised Open mic at Nowhere Coffee Co in Allentown every third Saturday of the month. They have been published in multiple literary magazines and anthologies. You can find them on IG- Schizo_trash_poet where they post about upcoming poetry events, art, and new projects.