Double Visions

Brandel France de Bravo & Diane Seuss at Cafe Muse

I’ve often wondered what it would be like to be in that San Francisco coffee house listening to the hypnotic voice of Allen Ginsberg reciting Howl. Monday night’s Café Muse may be as close to that experience as we can get in Zoom. Brandel France de Bravo and Diane Seuss put on quite a spellbinding performance. In case you missed it, here’s a link to the YouTube, Brandel France de Bravo & Diane Seuss at Cafe Muse.

Romantic Poetry

The poem Romantic Poetry from her prize winning collection, Modern Poetry had me leaping from vision to vision on a long, slow moving journey of personal and emotional discovery. Here’s the prize winning poet reading her poem.

. . . we ride our lost loves out to sea or they ride us. It doesn’t matter. . .

And it doesn’t matter where you come from in the world of poetry, you’ll want to take this ride.

It’s a Joy To Be Hidden and a Disaster Not To Be Found

In her poem, from Locomotive Cathedral, Brandel France de Bravo is asking us, “What does it mean to be seen?”

de Bravo shows us how the world of longing shimmers above the reflective surface of the world we actually inhabit.

Lavender Mist

Diane Seuss’s mention of Frank O'Hara brought to mind the fact that he was a curator at the Museum of Modern Art during the heyday of the New York School’s abstract expressionists, of which Jackson Pollock was its leader. My poem, Lavender Mist, from Screens, details the actual day-to-day work of a visionary.

I still remember when I first encountered a Pollock while playing hooky from school in New York. Nothing in my working class education had suggested that an artist must also be subversive. It was my first glimpse of the light I eventually came to follow.

Coming Up

Sunday, February 8, 2026, 2:00 pm, Bonnie Naradzay will be reading from her book, Invited to the Feast in conversation with David Keplinger, at the Writers Center in Bethesda. Registration page: https://writer.org/bonnie-naradzay/

Sunday, February 8, 2026, 4:00 pm. Words Out Loud Sunday at 4 PM at Modena/Reserve, 10540 Metropolitan Avenue, Kensington, MD.

Saturday, February 21, 2026 2:00 pm, Poets in the Conversation Room, is featuring Michael Gushue and Kim Roberts.

Thursday, March 5, 2026, 7-8:30 pm, Bonnie Naradzay will be fearured at DI-Verse in Gaithersburg (Casey Community Center).

Sunday, March 1, 2026, Burgi Zenhaeusern and Susan Kay Scheid will be launching new books (White Door and True Blue, respectively) at the Writer’s Center, Bethesda Maryland.

Sunday, March 8, 2026, 4:00 pm. Words out Loud will feature Henry Crawford and Karren Alenier at Modena/Reserve, 10540 Metropolitan Avenue, Kensington, MD.

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Have a reading or event coming up? Let me know and I’ll pass it along. And as always, feel free to email me with questions or comments at henrycrawfordpoetry@gmail.com. Use the subject “Coming Up” Stay creative!

If you’d like me to list an upcoming poetry event in Everyday Poet, please let me know by emailing me at henrycrawfordpoetry@gmail.com. Use the subject: “Coming Up”.