Poets In The Gardens: An EC Poetry And Prose Collective Reading!
Join us for a Saturday of poetry during National Poetry Month, out in the gardens of The Ivy Bookshop!
This event will take place on 4/20 at 2 p.m. It is free and open to the public.
EC Poetry and Prose is a collective of poets and writers who believe in the power of language to convey truth and promote peace. Our members are spoken word artists, published authors and new and emerging writers. https://ecpoetryandprose.org/about-us/
Zorina Exie Frey is a spoken word poet, SEO content writer, writing instructor, graphic designer, and video editor. Her poems are published in The American Journal of Poetry, Oyster River Pages, and Chicken Soup for the Soul, I’m Speaking Now. Zorina also contributes as a co-editor for South 85 Journal and hosts Writing Class Radio’s First Draft Happy Hour. You can follow her at FB, IG and Twitter: @zorinaexie
Zorina is a 2023 Pushcart Prize Winner for her poem Pee is for Prejudice. https://today.rowan.edu/news/2023/06/published-in-glassworks,-poem-wins-prestigious-pushcart-prize.html
Kari Martindale is a poet and spoken word artist living in Frederick County. She has been published in Pen in Hand and Maryland Poetry Review 2022, and featured in Berks Bardfest 2021. She sits on the Board of Maryland Writers’ Association as the President of the Frederick Chapter and was recently appointed co-editor of the literary journal Pen in Hand. Kari is a managing partner in EC Poetry & Prose and has participated in ekphrastic events at Baltimore
County Arts Guild and the Montpelier Arts Center and will soon host one at the Delaplaine Arts Center. She also served as a panelist for the Maryland State Arts Council Independent Artist Awards 2022. Kari has a Master’s in Linguistics from George Mason, is a veteran of the Air Force, and has visited all 50 States and nearly 40 countries. Kari is a Pushcart Prize nominated poet. https://kariannmartindale.com/
Patti (Spady) Ross graduated from Washington, DC’s Duke Ellington School for the Performing Arts. As a lifetime learner her most recent certificate is in Writing for Social Justice from the University of California, Berkeley. Her debut chapbook, St. Paul Street Provocations, was released in 2021 by Yellow Arrow Publishing; she was nominated for a Pushcart Prize for her poem “Indemnity”. She is the founder of the online series First Fridays under the organizational umbrella of Maryland Writers Association of which she is a former board member. She also actively supports several Baltimore youth nonprofits as a board advisor. A lifelong advocate for the disenfranchised and homeless, Patti writes poems about the racially marginalized as well as society’s traumatization of the human spirit. Her poems are published in the Pen In Hand Journal, PoetryXHunger website, and Oyster River Pages: Composite Dreams Issue, Writing the Land: Foodways and Social Justice Anthology (2022) as well as other online anthologies and zines. Patti is the first Poet in Residence for the AA Food Bank in partnership with PoetryXHunger. Follow her blog at: https://littlepisuniverse.com
Clifford Bernier is the author of two poetry chapbooks, “Earth Suite,” The Montserrat Review’s Best Chapbook Summer 2010 and recently nominated for a Library of Virginia award, and “Dark Berries,” one of The Montserrat Review’s Best Books for Spring Reading 2010. In January 2010 he appeared on the National Public Radio show “The Poet and the Poem from the Library of Congress.” He has published in the Potomac Review, The Baltimore Review, the online journals Notjustair and Innisfree, and elsewhere, and is featured on a CD of poetry duets, “Poetry in Black and White,” as well as on two jazzpoetry CDs, “Live at IOTA Club and Cafe” and “Live at Bistro Europa.” He is anthologized in the anthology “Ars Poetica.” Bernier has been featured in readings in San Francisco, Seattle, Buffalo, Detroit, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and the Washington, DC area, including the Library of Congress, the Arts Club of Washington, George Washington University (where he is a member of the Washington Writer’s Collection) and the Writer’s Center. He is founder and former host of the Washington, DC-area poetry reading series, Poesis. He has been a reader for the Washington Prize and a judge for the National Endowment for the Arts’ Poetry Out Loud recitation contest. He has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and a Best of the Net Award. http://cliffbernier.com/
Patrice Smith is a life-long resident of the Washington DC area, long-term educator and astute observer of the human condition has melded her experiences to become both a poet and a spoken word performer. In 2016, she released her first collection of poetry, Iris’s Eyes – Poetry for the Mind, Heart and Soul. The collection is the culmination of a lifetime of aspirations, inspirations, and experiences. Patrice’s first publication was quickly followed by a second volume, The Drum That Calls, and later Visions and Voices, a collection of poems and music from the two books. One of Patrice’s greatest joys has been to share her poetry and spoken word in performances throughout the area. She is published in the Sailors Review Art and Music magazine, the Marietta Museums Quarterly Newsletter and most recently in Anthology of Poetry by Maryland Bards. Patrice’s poetry and her performances exude passion, compassion, and power. Read her work and you will understand why she has been given the moniker “Poetic Blaze”.
Letitsa (Tisa) Melton is a poet, a self-published author of the poetry book Ever Evolving, and an entrepreneur based out of Richmond, Virginia. Tisa sees poetry as a way to heal the soul and as a means of unapologetic self-expression. She believes that there is no right or wrong way to express yourself through poetry. Ever Evolving is a book of poetry written from the heart. Each poem has a story behind it, whether it was life experiences or just the poet’s thoughts, feelings, perspective, and emotions. The work contains ten poems that touch on subjects of strength, trials and tribulations, perseverance, and sheer determination to overcome and move forward gracefully. The book is beautifully illustrated by Amina Coleman-Davis, an amazing artist whose drawings evoke the poems’ essence.
Marielle “Mari” Bugayong is a budding writer ready to turn her Notes app ramblings to publishing and performance-quality work. She received a Bachelor of Arts from Brown University, where she also led the spoken word group Archipelag-a, a collective of Filipino female-identifying poets. After completing a Master’s in Public Health in Baltimore, she has now settled into the warmth and creative vibrancy of the DMV with her dozens of houseplants, books, and musings.
