Our most effervescent gratitude to everyone who helped make Reading #8 such a non-stop highlight reel: Deirdre, Monica, Armando, Devin, Oscar, Bill, Jeanann, and Dolan for performing your flappy lits; Alibi for your glamorous voice & exquisite photography; special guest Joseph SW Hasan for your wonderful music; Pacific Standard for continuing to be the best place to read in NYC; and of course, everyone who came out to be part of our gorgeous & enthusiastic audience! Let’s do this again on August 3rd…

photography by Alibi Jones

Deirdre Coyle kicks off the readings with a tale of sex demons & burn scars

Monica Lewis reads “Letter to Your Chromosomes,” one of her prose poems forthcoming in our Fall issue

Armando Jaramillo Garcia confesses that this last poem was inspired by Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Devin Kelly channels The Boss & his various characters with poems inspired by Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska

The late Oscar Wilde workshops a scene from his modern adaptation of “The Importance of Being Earnest”

William Lessard gives a lively poetic performance inspired by Jaco Pastorius & Spotify algorithms

Jeanann Verlee previews the flappiness to come in our Fall issue with her poem “The Extraordinary True Story of the Unmother Who Substantiated Darwinism”

Dolan Morgan slays the crowd with a subversive spin on “Monster Porn” from his new book INSIGNIFICANA

Joseph SW Hasan & Joseph P. O’Brien close the show with an acoustic cover of Green Day’s “Jaded”