Live Poetry Reading: For the Publication of Smog Mother by John Wall Barger

Live at Fergie’s Pub – 1214 Sansom Street and on zoom – Registration Link

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAofu-sqDwqGtX7EDkZbTxSB21412j2TIl_

What a joy to have another book by John Wall Barger. Restless, passionate, and ambitious, Smog Mother is an ecstatic travelogue whose narrator is always on the move, full of yearning and curiosity, even as he remains an outsider in each country that he visits. The poems in Smog Mother ask probing questions about love and empathy, and about what it means to be a spectator to other people’s pain. Barger is introspective and self-critical, yet far more interested in others than in himself; his eye is continually drawn to the margins of society, and to those whose lives are most in danger of being forgotten or erased. A powerful collection. – —   James Arthur, author of The Suicide’s Son

This is deadly serious and absolutely precise poetry about the world in upheaval, in desire and its excess, in love and pornography, in political protest and ecological catastrophe, in the affirming flame sought but not found. Uncompromising, riveting, a kick in the conscience and the unconscious, a wake up call even at this late point in the evening, the world about to go dark, Barger writing with an infinitely bitter, sad and unforgettable pen.

—   Indran Amirthanayagam, author of Ten Thousand Steps against the Tyrant

John Wall Barger’s poems and critical writing have appeared in American Poetry Review, Kenyon Review Online, ZYZZYVA, The Cincinnati Review, Poetry Ireland Review, and Best of the Best Canadian Poetry. His sixth book of poems, Smog Mother (Palimpsest Press), just came out. He is a contract editor for Frontenac House, and teaches in the BFA Program for Creative Writing at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Pete Dennis (they/he) is a musician, improviser, composer, visual artist, and teacher. Living in West Philadelphia, Dennis is inspired by their beautiful community and the future. Other ever present inspirations include William Parker, the works of Octavia E. Butler, their partner Abigail, and the knowledge that all vibrations carry to potential to transmit the truths of life and death. Dennis’s recorded creations are released using the project name Search for the Infinite Light and include but are not limited to Killing a Dixie Hummingbird (2019), World’s End Welcoming Committee (2021), and pastē (2022). Their most current projects and collaborations include 99 Futures, Oarsman, Mitamu, St. John’s Wort, and an ongoing poetry/bass duet performance with Abigail Swoboda. They believe that sound is the foundation of healing and would like to acknowledge all master improvisers of the past, present, and future. The ZanyThing, also known as Z Murphy, is a multiracial multimedia Creative Writing Major at UArts and one of Philly’s rising stars in the drag scene. She is a reigning pageant winner, a show producer, and regularly hosts drag shows and the country’s longest running queer open mic Out Of The Box. John Wall Barger is one of her professors and she was THRILLED and honored when he asked her to be part of his book launch for Smog Mother. She’s been a fan of his since their first class together, and is grateful for everything he’s taught and every opportunity he’s afforded her.