Blackberry Moon – A Reading
An invitation, a reflection and two recommendations walk into a tavern…
On Friday, August 23, I’ll be participating in a reading with poet Erica Anderson-Senter. The reading will take place at a private residence near Foster Park, in Fort Wayne, IN.
Our good-hearted, arts-loving hosts have staged a few readings and performances over the last couple years. Their home is a terrific setting; it offers a focused environment that attracts interesting, warm, open-minded patrons. Erica and I are excited and humbled to have been invited.
I’ll read an essay and, if there’s time left over, maybe lead a short cardio/core set. We’ll take a short break. Then Erica will dazzle us with her poems.
The doors open at 7PM, with words at 7:30PM.
Given the capacity of the residence, seats are relatively limited and RSVPs are required. If you’re interested in attending, just email me at mkelleyolg@gmail.com and I’ll get you details.
Erica is a seasoned reader, and if you haven’t been in her presence as she shares her work, you’re in for a treat.
Her first full-length collection of poetry, Midwestern Poet’s Incomplete Guide to Symbolism, was published in 2021 by EastOver Press. (EastOver’s page includes links to purchase, including from MLNP-favorite bookshop.org.)
Anderson-Senter earned her MFA at Bennington College, and teaches creative writing at Purdue Fort Wayne.
Her recent work includes the Transfiguration As Virtue collection, commissioned by ACRES Land Trust for their Ecological Reflections project, and poems published in Boats Against the Current, Ballast Journal, and One Art.
If you’ve never been to a poetry reading and aren’t sure what to expect, here’s a video (on Facebook) of Anderson-Senter reading at The B-Side at One Lucky Guitar’s penultimate event, Three Readers.
And, to be clear: Erica and I are a couple.
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Meanwhile, I speak in front of groups pretty often for my job, and I play in front of audiences with the band I’m in. But I’ve only done one other reading.
In August 2014—ten years ago!—I contributed an essay (“Confessions of a Yakuza”) to a Replacements-themed issue of the [260] zine.
[260]’s publishers staged a reading at The B-Side to celebrate its publication, and I participated with a small group of readers. It was an awesome night; I felt lucky to be a part of it all.
An excerpt from that essay was published on Most Likely No Problem in 2023.
I also—just once—played a solo set of music at The B-Side. This event took place on October 4, 2018 and was a co-bill with the talented and sweet Kevin Hambrick. It was a memorable night for me. Here’s the setlist:
One Time in California / Keep a Light / Ramble On II (lyric reading) / Keep the Mercury Moving (lyric reading) / Flow River Flow / Pretty Sure / Do It All Over / Letter to My Kids about The Replacements (letter reading) / There Will Be a Time (lyric reading) / Starting to Quit / I Can’t Sleep / Hey Hey America / Way Up / Buckets of Rain (Bob Dylan cover)
In other Most Likely No Problem news: I’m working on a few essays that I’m eager to share yet this year, but while I’m here, please accept these two recommendations.
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My friend Jason Beer has a terrific Substack, Take As Needed.
Jason is a long-form fiction writer and uses his ’stack to share shorter, essay-oriented work—personal reflections, travel writing, thoughts on his vocation as an educator, and more.
Though I’m ten years older than Jason, I consider him a mentor. Proof that age is just a number, right? I always benefit from Jason’s insight, passion and perspective.
Plus, his cadence is consistent and just right—both in each individual essay’s economical use of words, and the overall pace with which he shares his work. I look forward to each new one.
Highly recommended.
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And, I recently and finally read my friend (and frequent MLNP commenter) Mark Meyer’s book, Mon Petits Vignettes.
Mark’s book is an outstanding collection of short biographical stories. I laughed. I cheered. And I wept.
In conversation at a dinner party this summer, Mark shared with Erica and me that he wrote the book so his three daughters might better understand how their dad became the man he is. I was a bit gobsmacked—in a few words, Mark provided a clear and succinct way of capturing what I’m doing with Most Likely No Problem—one that I had never previously articulated, or actually even understood.
Here’s an Amazon link for ordering Mon Petits Vignettes. (I’m hopeful Mark will comment below if there’s another way folks can purchase his book and support his work, without funding Bezos’s space mission follies.)
I’m working to persuade Mark and Erica to start Substacks. Next time you see them, maybe suggest the same?
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Go easy—
MK
Truly honored to be included here, Matt. Thank you for sharing about my work, but even more so for your kind and generous words. Can't thank you enough for all the support over the years. The mentorship goes both ways, my friend.
Hoping at least one of us, if not both, will be at the reading. Can't wait!! It will be a special night, indeed. Looking forward to that, and, as always, to the forthcoming essays.
And I ebulliently second your recommendation of Mark's book and writing. So grateful I got the chance to read it and to have it shape my life -- as a writer, a father, and a human being. Mark is a beautiful soul, and his wisdom is reflected in his work.
Wait. Is there really going to be a tabata between sets?