James J. Siegel @ Pride Poetry Panel

Poet James J. Siegel will read at Perfectly Queer June 13 as part of the 2016 Pride Poetry Panel, the last event at Books Inc. Castro before the bookstore closes its doors forever. James is the author of the new poetry collection How Ghosts Travel, published by Spuyten Duyvill Press.  He has also, for the past 10 years, been a literary arts organizer in San Francisco. He currently curates Literary Speakeasy, an evening of poetry and prose at Martuni's Piano Bar on Market Street.

"How Ghosts Travel is James Siegel's beautifully-atmospheric explication of his past, which here is ever-present.  His voice, though casual and colloquial at times, is always tuned to the lyrical as he resurrects his childhood and young adulthood in industrial and small-town Ohio in poems scarred with heartbreak and loss.  But what is perhaps most impressive about this debut collection is the sheer number of poems that remain vibrantly in mind long after they're read, among them "Fishing Photo, Circa 1984," "Boy Scout Blue," "Massillon," "Flatlands," "The Road," and "Serpent Mound," one of the most skillful love poems I've encountered. This is a book well worth the price of admission." (Myrna Stone, author of in the Present Tense and The Casanova Chronicles)

There is no price of admission at Perfectly Queer.  Enjoy free champagne and chocolate at 6:45pm and poetry readings at 7pm, followed by the four poets in a panel discussion on writing Queer poetry. Author book sales and signings finish the night.