Literary Night: A Galère of Poetic Autopsies

This galère gathering isn’t simply about the poems, but also the poet’s muse, how the verse came to be. So, if writers write to expose themselves and actors act to hide themselves . . . poets pose as spiritual coroners—examining both the living and the dead—via self-evisceration. A psychic operation that allows the assemblage to decide if the work’s DNA is that of an archangel . . . or Frankenstein.

Matthew Hupert is a writer and multi-media artist from New York City. Matthew hosts several poetry reading series, including the annual showcase for New York voices, Night in the Naked City, and the monthly series NeuroNautic Institute Presents. He is a recipient of the 2020 New York Acker Award for Show Organizer and Host. He has two full-length poetry collections, “Ism is a Retrovirus” and “Secular Pantheism,” and is also the author of several chapbooks. His writing appears in numerous journals and anthologies.

George Wallace is Writer in Residence at the Walt Whitman Birthplace and is the author of forty-two books and five spoken word albums. He is winner of the Orpheus Prize (Bulgaria); Alexander Prize and Aristotle Medal (Greece); Silk Road Prize, Poet of the Year (China); Naim Frasheri Laureateship (Macedonia); Corona d’Oro (Albania); Naji Naaman Literary Prize (Lebanon). Recent major appearances include Colombia, Guatemala, England, and Lyric Recovery at Carnegie Hall (United States). He is a National Beat/Next Generation Beat Poet and a 2024 Honorary Doctorate, CiESART/Royal Academy in Spain.

Debra Wanner creates interdisciplinary, inquisitive, imagistic works about notions of being. Her performances have been presented primarily in dance venues in the US and her videos internationally. Debra has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, and New York State Council on the Arts as a member of Interaction Arts, an artist’s collective. One audience member said of her work, “I felt nauseous, sad, exhilarated, comforted, and impassioned. I believed everything you told me – even your lies.”