CLOSE READINGS IN A VIRTUAL SPACE: with Tommye Blount

This free, participatory event (taking place via Zoom) features Tommye Blount , one of Flow Chart’s favorite poets, leading an intimate, virtual group thinking-and-reading-through of “O” by Atsuro Riley. Neither explicitly teaching nor explaining, our special guest poet will serve as your expert tour-guide to explore this featured poem as a group.

Whether already well-versed in the “close reading” of poems or having never been quite sure you’ve been “getting it,” CLOSE READINGS IN A VIRTUAL SPACE provides a digital gathering for taking a refreshing deep dive into poetry.

Actively participate or simply listen and learn!

The event will last about an hour and conclude with a brief reading of poetry by our special guest poet.

Tommye Blount (he/him) is the author of the chapbook What Are We Not For (Bull City Press) and the full-length collection of poetry Fantasia for the Man in Blue (Four Way Books)—which was finalist for: the National Book Award, the Kate Tufts Discovery Award, the Lambda Literary Award in Gay Poetry, the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, and others. He is the recipient of commendations, fellowships, and grants from: the Whiting Foundation, Cave Canem, Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Kresge Arts in Detroit, and the Aninstantia Foundation. Just a few miles shy of his hometown in Detroit, Tommye now lives in Novi, Michigan.