First Wednesday Spoken Word Series

presented by the Writers Guild at Bloomington

Sponsored in part by the Indiana Arts Commission, Bloomington Arts Commission, and the Bloomington Urban Enterprise Association

BACK IN PERSON

featuring Missouri poets Jason Ryberg and Mack Thorn, and music by The Hammer and the Hatchet

OPEN MIC to follow

At the Backspace Gallery, inside Bonne Fete, 112 W 6th St, on the square

BEER & WINE available for purchase

JASON RYBERG is the author of eighteen books of poetry, six screenplays, a few short stories, a box full of folders, notebooks and scraps of paper that could one day be (loosely) construed as a novel, and, a couple of angry letters to various magazine and newspaper editors. He is currently an artist-in-residence at both The Prospero Institute of Disquieted P/o/e/t/i/c/s and the Osage Arts Community, and is an editor and designer at Spartan Books. His latest collection of poems is The Great American Pyramid Scheme (co-authored with W.E. Leathem, Tim Tarkelly and Mack Thorn, OAC Books, 2022). He lives part-time in Kansas City, MO with a rooster named Little Red and a billygoat named Giuseppe and part-time somewhere in the Ozarks, near the Gasconade River, where there are also many strange and wonderful woodland critters.

MACKENZIE THORN, also known as Mack, is a poet/artist from St. Louis, Missouri. He is the author of 3 collections of poetry, The Black Paintings (2019 Bad Jackett), Fate of a Mullet (2020 Spartan Press), and Rattlesnakes and Flattops (Impspired 2022). He has also been featured in anthologies and other collections such as Strange Tales from Cherokee Street (Spartan Press 2022) and The Great American Pyramid Scheme (OAC Books 2022). His work can be found in literary journals such as 365 Days, Alien Buddha, The Gasconade Review, as well as online journals like Rye Whiskey Review. He is also a former resident artist at the Osage Arts Community. If he is not writing poetry or music, he can often be found eating chicken wings or collecting Jim Baker buckets.

THE HAMMER AND THE HATCHET are John Bowyer and Jayme Hood. Songwriting partners whose Americana originals and harmony rich bluegrass sound have earned a name as a folk roots duo on the rise. Their fourth album in eight years – Shake Off The Cold – came out last summer. John Bowyer is a highly respected singer and multi-instrumentalist who has been writing and recording for over 20 years. Jayme Hood, his versatile songwriting soul mate, is also a carpenter, multimedia artist, and a weaver. Hoosiers born and raised, based out of their cabin in the fabled hills of South Central Indiana.

The Writers Guild at Bloomington is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusivity.

Writers Guild at Bloomington

Annual Potluck Picnic and Open Mic

Bring some food to share, bring something to read in a casual open mic.