Atop An Underwood Reading Series #9 Hosted By Dream Poet For Hire

Join us at Philly Typewriter on Friday, May 9th at 6pm for the Atop An Underwood Reading Series #9. Hosted by Dream Poet For Hire We return to Philly Typewriter with jazz poems, travel stories, and songs of empowerment. We’ll channel the counterculture of the Beat Generation in community and spoken word. In addition, the typewriters will be set up to write an original scroll like Jack Kerouac’s On The Road together. All are welcome. Aspiring beatniks, dharma bums, and general poetry lovers encouraged. Come for the featured readers and stay for the open mic. A perfect community to try your hands at a typewriter and find your voice in a poem. Featured performers include: Vagabond Poetry Caravan (led by Mark Lipman) Queen Phierce and Kelpius (Lindsay Hargrave & Luca Farrell Refreshments will be provided. Bring your friends. Doors at 6pm. Open mic starts at 6:30pm. Philly Typewriter is a wheelchair accessible venue. Queen Phierce Ceshia Elmore, M.Ed. is a Black, Queer Activist, Educator, and Artist from West Philadelphia (born and raised). Also known as Queen Phierce, she creates safe and brave in-person and virtual spaces for people and artists of diverse backgrounds. She has curated 4P: People, Poetry, Potluck and Prose, a space that prioritizes Black Queer voices and stories, since 2010. Queen has used her art and influence to educate and empower Black Women as far as her voice and words can be heard through internet radio, webcasts, and podcasts. She is also a 2022 Unstoppable Voters Fellow with the Center for Artistic Activism and a 2023 Bartol/Marrazo Teaching Artist Micro-Grant recipient. She is a professional voice actor, public speaker, and event curator as well as activist, educator and artist. Vagabond Poetry Caravan Join the US National Beat Poet Laureate, Mark Lipman, as he travels with a caravan of poets across the entire continent, connecting poets and their communities together through the arts while spreading the message of peace. In Philly, the caravan will include Mark Lipman, Damian Rucci, Alexander Ragsdale, and Avila Sol-Rey. Mark Lipman, US National Beat Poet Laureate 2024-2025; founder of the press Vagabond, the Culver City Book Festival, and the Elba Poetry Festival; winner of the 2015 Joe Hill Labor Poetry Award; the 2016 International Latino Book Award and the 2023 L’Alloro di Dante (Dante’s Laurel – Ravenna, Italy), a writer, poet, multi-media artist, activist and author of fifteen books, began his career as the writer-in residence at the world famous Shakespeare and Company in Paris, France (2002-2003). Since then he has worked closely with such legendary poets as Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Jack Hirschman on many projects, and for the last twenty years has established a strong international following as a leading voice of his generation. He’s the host and foreign correspondent for the radio program, Poetry from Around the World, for Poets Café on KPFK 90.7FM Los Angeles. As Mark continues to travel the world, he uses poetry to connect communities to the greater social justice issues, while building consciousness through the spoken word. Damian Rucci is a poet and organizer from NJ who is the author of 10 books of poetry and founder of The Poetry Renaissance. He is the focus of the PBS documentary Voices in the Garden & writes Poets Like Us Alexander Ragsdale is, despite his appearance, not Kurt Cobain. He’s a New Jersey based writer and musician The current residing host of Poetry in the Port and assists in organizing with The Poetry Renaissance. More Info below.