I am proud to share that my poem, “Wanderstar,” is forthcoming in the 40 West Arts District anthology Progress, not Perfection. “Wanderstar” honors Colorado Poet Laureate Andrea Gibson, who died of cancer last summer. The anthology includes a special subsection of poetry dedicated to Gibson, each one written after a different poem of theirs. “Wanderstar” is written after Andrea Gibson’s Orbit.
I will be reading “Wanderstar” at the anthology launch party from 3-6 pm on Saturday, December 13, at Mint & Serif, 1388 Carr St. in Lakewood, CO. Progress, not Perfection can be purchased using the online order form, and all preorders receive 10% off. Please join us for this unique opportunity to celebrate Andrea Gibson and this amazing collection!
The bravest poems are magic. When spoken aloud, they make our armor disappear in thin air. They open our eyes and hearts. Then the next heart finds a voice, and the next. Queer Lit Night, at the PPSC Learning Commons last month, was that kind of magical poetry reading.
The evening included poetry from visiting authors Ashley Cornelius and Nico Wilkinson, faculty members Kenny Idleman and me, and students and community members who shared on the queer open mic. It was an experience of beauty, art, and community I’ll never forget. Thank you so much to everyone who came and helped make it possible, especially Ashley, Nico, Dean Deidre, Cecilia Kruger, Rotimi Ariyo, Laurie Anderson, Amie Sharp, Emily Forand, and Sharon Bjorkman and the Queer Empowerment Club.
I’m happy to share that Queer Lit Night has been rescheduled for Wed, Nov 12 from 5-7 pm at the Pikes Peak State College Downtown Learning Commons, 100 W. Pikes Peak Ave, Colorado Springs. The evening will feature readings and performances from two amazing queer writers, Poet Laureate Ashley Cornelius and Nico Wilkinson. I’m the host/organizer/MC, and I’ll read my work as well.
Next, we’ll open up the mic to all LGBTQIA+ voices from PPSC and the larger Colorado Springs community (3-5 min. each- sign up at 4:45 pm). Book signings & sales to follow- meet the authors and learn about student clubs. This event is free and open to the public.
The purpose of Queer Lit Night is to celebrate the creativity and joy of the queer community at PPSC and beyond, and give these voices a platform. Art in all its forms serves to crystallize emotions: when we listen to music or poetry or stories, it becomes easier to laugh, to cry, to hope or rage or dance. Art helps us feel, and it reminds us that we all feel the same things, that we are not alone.
LGBTQIA+ folks, especially young people, suffer higher rates of abuse, addiction, suicide, and hate crimes. Self-expression through visual art, music, writing, theatre, etc. is a kind of magic—it makes us feel alive and helps bring meaning to life. Sharing that art brings the magic to another level and creates community. Seeing queer role models like Ashley Cornelius, Nico Wilkinson, and faculty members sharing their work can be inspirational, showing ways to thrive in a world that does not always welcome us.
Students can share on the mic or just listen and make connections at this event. Ashley and Nico each run local organizations—Poetry 719 and Keep Colorado Springs Queer, respectively—that hold events and gatherings that encourage self-expression. There will be tables where students can learn about PPSC clubs like Spectrum and Queer Empowerment as well. All these organizations provide ways to deepen and maintain connection and community.
Violence is always a failure; it means people have failed to see each other’s humanity. The killing of Charlie Kirk was one such failure. In the wake of this tragedy, which happened just two weeks before Queer Lit Night was planned in September, our event was postponed, like other local and national events, out of an abundance of caution.
Conversely, rescheduling Queer Lit Night feels like a small triumph. It is a sign that we are once again on the path of finding common ground, recognizing and celebrating the light in each of us, the building blocks of making this world a better place.
A lovely time was had by all at the literary reading and grand opening of the Pikes Peak State College Authors Collection, a special collection in the college library of books by PPSC students, staff, and faculty. I was honored to read alongside Colorado Poet Laureate Bobby LeFebre and PPSC authors Michelle Harris, M.R. Hyde, and Jason Dias. Special thanks to artist Connor Dias and librarian Larissa Powers, who made this unique collection and memorable event possible!
The first phoenix is the PPSC Authors Collection, a sparkly brainchild that came to me seven years ago in the stellar nursery of the Nearby Universe, the employee writers’ group I had just created at Pikes Peak State College. The collection would feature not only faculty writers, like other universities, but also staff, making it uniquely inclusive, like our group. We could even include student authors in the collection. We’d brainstorm famous writers from PPSC’s past, like Ron Stallworth, the author of Black Klansman. It would offer our students a different way to connect with each other and their instructors–nothing makes psychology class more engaging than reading Professor Dias’s sci-fi novel first, right? Student success. Community. Engagement and connection. Another reason to go to the real, physical library. Incentive for faculty and staff to write and publish and share ideas and creations- all the reasons similar library collections exist on college campuses across the country. We’d have a plaque (or a sculpture or something), a grand opening, a reading, fancy bookmarks, and cake! Everyone would follow us on Instagram and buy our books. The idea felt obvious and easy, and it wouldn’t take much to bring it to life. Then, life happened.
We needed approval, of course, and another approval, and a form. A budget, a committee, another form, and meetings. A revised form. More research. More meetings. Many, many emails. A new form. As the months and emails rolled by, the once shiny, creative idea felt more like a pain in the Universe.
These could be considered normal bureaucratic hurdles, to be expected, when you start something new in a large public institution. Besides, we were succeeding, technically, getting enough droplets of yes to keep at it after all the time we’d already invested. Then, the hurdles got larger: Vacancies in the committee. Then, vacancies at the library, freezing acquisitions. Finally, the real, physical library’s greatest nemesis we never could have predicted: a global pandemic.
Nobody came back from Spring Break in 2020, and the PPSC Authors Collection project screeched off the rails. Submissions wound up in a pile in my office, rubber-banded to various iterations of The Form. Some Nearby Universe members worked from home for years. Some books were returned to authors; others seemed to have disappeared.
Then, in Fall 2024, something extraordinary happened. A small dot in the sky, which at first was thought to be a bird, was found to be an umbrella, or to be exact, a woman holding an umbrella. She drifted down through the clouds, landing gently at the checkout desk with a smile and all the ways to make the medicine go down. The legends were true: it was her. New Lead Reference and Research Librarian Larissa Powers.
Larissa salvaged the remnants of our neglected collection, which was still clinging to life. She ordered more books, and more books, and more books! She ordered special furniture to display the books. We would have our grand opening reading, she promised. We would eat cake in the library. I ordered the fancy bookmarks.
If this weren’t enough, a second phoenix graces the skies: Colorado Poet Laureate Emeritus Bobby LeFebre. LeFebre is an award-winning poet, writer and performer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, Huffington Post, The Guardian, American Theater Magazine, and NPR. He has performed at hundreds of cultural events, social actions, detention centers, conferences, and colleges and universities across the United States and abroad. He co-founded the award-winning nonprofit organization Café Cultura and was named Colorado’s 8th Poet Laureate, making him the youngest and first person of color to be appointed to the prestigious position in the program’s 100-year history.
I first heard him read and speak at PPLD’s first Poetry Summit in 2022, where I had been invited to speak on a panel. I got goosebumps and wished I could bring his voice and vision to my students at PPSC. After several Visiting Writers Series cycles and more than a few forms, the state Poet Laureate was coming to the Spring Reading in 2025! He was, that is, until the phone rang the night before. Bobby had the flu.
Please join us Friday, April 25th at 3:30 pm in the Centennial Campus Learning Commons for the Grand Opening Celebration of the PPSC Authors Collection. The reading will feature PPSC authors–myself included–very fancy bookmarks, a plaque (or a sculpture or something), and Colorado Poet Laureate Emeritus Bobby LeFebre. Needless to say, there will be cake.
PPSC welcomes all members of the community; please contact Larissa.Powers@PikesPeak.edu for accommodations or with any questions about the event. Just don’t touch her umbrella.
Brook Bhagat 