Published faculty to read their works at virtual poetry festival

Three faculty members of Lamar University’s Department of English are featured authors in “The Langdon Review.” Jerry Bradley, Jesse Doiron and Katherine Hoerth have published poems and essays in a special issue dedicated to COVID-19. All three will be reading their works this weekend from 7:30 – 9 p.m. during a Langdon Review Tejascovido online Zoom festival.

The Zoom festival invites authors, published in “The Langdon Review,” a publication of Tarleton State University, to read their published works. Once appointed authors have read their works, the remainder of the festival will be a round-robin, open-mic allowing authors to read more of their works.

The festival will follow the same format for three nights, Thurs., Sep. 10; Fri., Sep. 11 and Sat., Sep. 12, with different authors scheduled to read each night. Bradley, Doiron and Hoerth are the first three authors slated to read their works Fri., Sep. 11 beginning at 7:30 p.m. Authors and spectators can come and go as they need

or wish.

Bradley, a professor of English and modern languages and the Leland Best Distinguished Faculty Fellow, will lead the poetry reading Friday evening with his poem, “Intubations of Immortality.”

“This project is important for a number of reasons. One is that is produced by friends, and I've seen too little of my friends since quarantine began,” said Bradley, a member of the Texas Institute of Letters, author of eight books and has published in “New England Review,” “Modern Poetry Studies,” “Poetry Magazine” and “Southern Humanities Review. “Another is that we don't know what we think until we put those thoughts into words. Poetry, the articulate compression of those words, causes us to feel and think. When we're happy, we're not compelled to write.  But give us some hurricanes and a pandemic (what A. E. Housman called ‘the embittered hour’), and we're ready to jump in.”

Doiron, an instructor of English and modern languages, will follow Bradley on Friday evening, reading, “Non Memoriam,” a poem written May 30 that relates COVID-19 to a near-death experience Doiron had in 1983 in the

Texas panhandle when two men beat him with a hammer and left him for dead.

“’Tejascovido’ and ‘The Langdon Review’ gave me hope and an audience and the chance to breathe the words with other writers,” said Doiron. “Creative writing is a solitary experience.  You hope there is an audience for your words, that someday someone may read them.  But while you think of them, you are alone.  Quarantined, so to speak, until it’s safe to bring them out and breathe.” 

Hoerth, an assistant professor of English and modern languages and editor-in-chief of Lamar University Literary Press, will be the third LU faculty member to read her poem, “Praise the Grocery Worker,” on Fri., Sep. 11.  

“’The Langdon Review’ is one of my favorite literary journals because it represents a community of Texas poets. Each year, the journal is published and released at Langdon Review Weekend, and we gather for readings, events and friendship in Granbury, TX,” said Hoerth, a member of the Texas Institute of Letters, is the winner of the 2015 Helen C. Smith Prize for the best book of poetry in Texas for “Goddess Wears Cowboy Boots.” “Of course, we couldn’t do that this year due to COVID-19, but it has been so refreshing and inspiring to ‘see’ my fellow poets and artists virtually from across the state, country and world. I’m honored to have a poem in the journal and to be able to share a poem at the event.”

Hoerth, who is also published in journals such as “Valparaiso Review,” “Summerset Review”

and “Southwestern American Literature,” will release her fourth poetry collection, “Borderland Mujeres,” this year through SFAU Press. The book is a bilingual collection of poetry and art created with poet Julieta Corpus and artist Corinne McCormack Whittemore.  

All of “The Langdon Review” published poems also appear in Laurence Musgrove's online publication, “Tejascovido.”  That publication can be accessed at  https://www.tejascovido.com/.

Additionally, everyone - friends, family, students, loved ones and anyone interested in a virtual poetry festival - are invited to attend the event each night or one of the nights. Preregistration for the Zoom festival is available at: https://tarleton.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYoce-qqj0sHNFLR8a5J2rVxo2ztslawQ-B.

“The journal, and the event, are excellent examples of how LU faculty are moving forward in these difficult COVID times to celebrate our literary talents and communicate our deepest feelings about what it means to be alive,” said Doiron.