It’s March Madness at 2nd Mondays Poetry Party! We have two pen-wielding warriors ready to share their street smart poetry. Both Mike “The Poet” Sonksen and Joe Gardner will tell you stories of growing up and searching for identity in Southern California. Join us at Fox Coffeehouse on Monday, March 14th at 7:00 pm with open reading sign ups starting at 6:45, hosted by G. Murray Thomas and Sarah Thursday.
Fox Coffeehouse, 437 W. Willow St., Long Beach
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Mike Sonksen is a 3rd-generation Los Angeles native that earned his Bachelors’ Degree at UCLA in 1997. In June 2014, he completed an Interdisciplinary Master of Arts in English and History from the California State University of Los Angeles. Following his graduation from U.C.L.A. in 1997, he has published over 500 essays and poems with publications and websites like KCET, Poets & Writers Magazine, Wax Poetics, Southern California Quarterly, LA Weekly, OC Weekly, The Architect’s Newspaper, LA Alternative Press, Los Angeles Review of Books, Cultural Weekly and many others. For the last four years he has written a column for KCET called “L.A. Letters,” which celebrates bright moments from literary Los Angeles. In 2013, the Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center awarded Sonksen for “Distinguished Service to the Los Angeles Poetry Community.” Most recently, Sonksen’s poetry has been published in two anthologies: Wide Awake: Poets of Los Angeles and Beyond, published by the Pacific Coast Poetry Series: An Imprint of Beyond Baroque Book and the forthcoming Tia Chucha Press anthology, Coiled Serpent: Poets Arising from the Cultural Quakes & Shifts in Los Angeles. His next book, Poetics of Location, is forthcoming from Writ Large Press.
Joe Gardner is an Army Airborne Veteran and a 2nd Generation American drifter and writer who calls East Lakewood, Ca home. His full-length collection, In the Shadow of the Bomb, was released in 2015. More nights than not he can be found at home, enjoying the comfort of his family and his dog. Joe is the Founder and hired gun for Working Class Production, as well as creator and co-producer of The Last Sunday, An Evening of Poetry and Art. He is also the 2013 Joe Hill Labor Poetry Award recipient and his work has appeared in The Modern Drunkard Magazine, The San Gabriel Valley Poetry Quarterly, Cadence Collective, Spilt Ink Poetry, and AMASS Magazine. He has also been published in the following anthologies: Gutters & Alleyways: Perspectives on Poverty and Struggle, The Men’s Heartache Anthology, Lummox Anthologies, 1 thru 3, and Edgar Allan Poet 3.
Cadence Collective: Long Beach Poets 