Jack Straw Writers at SoulFood Poetry

Thursday, December 18, 6pm
SoulFood Poetry Night
SoulFood CoffeeHouse, 15748 Redmond Way, Redmond
FREE

@billhollands.bsky.social, @nhattnichols.bsky.social, and @connorwatkinsxu.bsky.social join this long-running reading series, in our last reading of 2025.

"Hollands’s poetry also teems with references to the famous faces of his youth, all while he explores those personal memories...Mangrove is a moving reflection on a queer life lived to the fullest."

@newohioreview.bsky.social on @billhollands.bsky.social's exception new collection!

Congratulations to @billhollands.bsky.social, whose collection "Mangrove" is a finalist for the Last Syllable Book Award! "Mangrove" is a stunning poetry collection that takes the reader on a journey from denial and shame to acceptance and love. Check it out today! (bit.ly/3VZGzd5)

Really enjoyed talking with @timothygreen.bsky.social on @rattlepoetry.bsky.social's excellent Rattlecast podcast last night. Recording available here, if you'd like to watch:
www.youtube.com/live/XHYVzdp...

Virtuoso scream queens. Cuckholding cockroaches. Scorned mermaids. Orphaned trapeze artists. Young love. True love. Secret love. Consuming love. Sex, strippers, Stoli, and a severed human hand. A collection of 22 micros and #flashfiction from @keithjpowell.com to light your fire & break your heart.

Set inside a crumbling rural landscape where preachers don’t do as they say and men die by violence, neglect, and strange new viruses, @benkline.bsky.social revisits and reconfigures narratives about Appalachia and the AIDS Crisis years of the 1980s and early 1990s. #poetry

"If you could have one wish granted, would you ask for another? Make a Wish would. Childhood cancer, the aftermath of divorce, sexual violence, and a teenage girl’s disappearance haunt Sarah E. Azizi's poems, while desire and love and the sweetness of mornings triumph."

Order your copy today!

Mangrove takes the reader on a journey from denial and shame to acceptance and love. In poems, narrative and lyric, comic and tragic, accessible and multilayered, @billhollands.bsky.social explores growing up gay in the late twentieth century, dealing with grief, and creating a family of one’s own.

Very happy to be holding my book in my hands. Thanks to everyone who supported me on my journey back to poetry, particularly my husband and son. You can order it here, if you're so inclined:
elj-editions.com/mangrove/

The first night of our May Reading Series is coming up. Stop by in person or visit us on Facebook or YouTube to hear the 2025 Jack Straw Writing Fellows read!

Friday, May 2, 7pm: @billhollands.bsky.social, Asha Dore, Jenny Harrington Lill, Sigrun Susan Lane

Curator @alqalaqat.bsky.social

This year's edition of the Jack Straw Writers Anthology is now available for sale @openpoetrybooks.bsky.social. Make sure to pick up a copy!

bit.ly/4jJ91tJ

#JackStrawWriters #JackStrawWriters2025

Here's a peek at #JackStrawWriter Bill Hollands' poetry ahead of his reading on May 2nd. Swing by and hear more!

Empty Nest Triolet

A measure of success:
that it ends
in time. Unless
I measure success
in days. Hours? Less
but I pretend.
A measure of success,
that. It ends.

I'm kind of taking a break from social media, so I'm not sure anyone will see this, but...my book is now available to pre-order: elj-editions.com/mangrove/. Endorsements from Denise Duhamel, Ellen Bass, and David Trinidad in the comments below. Thanks!

"A dream within a dream within a dream—
was that what it was like?"

Read this week's sonnet: "Memory Sonnet" by Bill Hollands