Poetry Night - John Amen w/ Chad Weeden

Poet John Amen presents his acclaimed new collection Dark Souvenirs in this live reading and book signing event. John will be joined by Newport poet Chad Weeden. 

This event is free and open to all, but we kindly ask that you RSVP so that we can plan accordingly. See you there!

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John Amen's Dark Souvenirs was prompted by the suicide of his uncle, Richard Sassoon. Amen seeks clarity around Sassoon's death while expressing grief over the sudden and violent loss. The poems, however, quickly expand to include imaginative leaps, Amen diving into broader familial and cultural dynamics. In various poems, Amen recasts Sassoon as his brother, his son, a stranger he meets in random places, and a teacher who graced him and the world with a unique brand of wisdom, madness, and humor. Throughout his sixth collection, Amen navigates stunning imagery, memorable declarations, and language that shimmers with signature musicality.

This is a book that will remind you why you love poetry, a book that will make you start writing poetry. In the midst of a brother's suicide, the brutality of heroin addiction, and friends lost to drugs, Amen writes tight, beautiful lines of regret: There are rooms I never leave/no matter how far I wander. These poems go deep, and then deeper, with an authentic voice that has seen so much, yet rises with hard-fought compassion: Who's/beyond reloading, firing a prayer into the long night? When you read Dark Souvenirs, you're reading the red fields, the red skies, the red heart of an inspiring poet.

—Jan Beatty, author of The Body Wars (University of Pittsburgh Press)

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John Amen is the author of four previous collections of poetry: Christening the Dancer; More of Me Disappears; At the Threshold of Alchemy; and strange theater, finalist for the 2016 Brockman-Campbell Award. He is co-writer, along with Daniel Y. Harris, of The New Arcana. His work has been translated into Spanish, French, Hungarian, Korean, and Hebrew. In addition, he has released two folk/folk rock CDs: All I’ll Never Need and Ridiculous Empire. He founded and continues to edit The Pedestal Magazine.

Chad Weeden’s work has appeared or is forthcoming in various publications, including The New York Quarterly, The Appalachian Review, The Midwest Quarterly, Jabberwock Review, Asheville Poetry Review, Jet Fuel Review, Pedestal Magazine, great weather for MEDIA, and elsewhere. He is a portrait photographer and lives in Newport, Rhode Island. For additional information, please visit chadweedenphoto.com