a poetry reading for the release of "the sexuality poems" by foothills publishing.

toward the end of march, liz stanley and i made our way, highway-bound, northwest to corning, new york, for a poetry reading as a book release and celebration for the sexuality poems by foothills publishing in collaboration with the gallery @ the ARTS council of the southern finger lakes. liz and i were two people from our region in southeastern pennsylvania who were published in this book, and we're also members of berks bards.

171 cedar arts center hosted the poetry reading which had more than 60 people in its audience. we were thrilled to see so many people there as supporters and fellow poets all in one place.

before the reading, many of us met at hand and foot, a restaurant and bar establishment with plenty of pretty visuals in the front window scenery. i ordered fried pickles, as i do anytime i find them on a menu. these were tiny sweet gherkin bites, though, not a more sour-oriented, typical kind.

we write on money sometimes when it's for the greater good.

i hunted fiercely for postcards, and the source served as one place which had some, as did the visitors' center run by the chamber of commerce. i wish i had thought to photograph my plentiful pile of postcards before i mailed them. i don't travel far often, but when i do, postcards are always the first thing on my mind. i probably bought 20+ of them, at least.

we didn't make it downtown in time for the exhibit which matched the theme of the poetry reading, but we enjoyed noticing the unexpected critter on the upper thigh in the poster of the painting to advertise the show. look closely. ohhh symbolism and half-jokes.

and then here are more glimpses of the poetry reading again. in this first eye-scene is michael czarnecki who published the book with so many different people's poetic voices in action. he is also the publisher for several berks county poets and my three-year poetry project on manufacturing history of berks county. we are lucky michael and his wife carolyn have their hearts as deeply into pages of poetry as they do !

we would have loved more sunshine and a little less rain while we were in town, but all things considered, we were grateful for our stay and the escapade made possibly by poetry.