Narrow Gauge hosts poetry reading

To celebrate Independent Bookstore Day, Narrow Gauge Book Cooperative will host a poetry reading and open mic night on Saturday, April 26. Local poets Hanna Hays, Rachel Kellum, Maira Rodriguez, Bill Tite and Mary Van Pelt will each do a reading. 

Following the readings will be an open mic for all to share. Here’s a bit more on each of the local poets:

Hanna Hays is a lover of literature from Alamosa. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing/Poetry from Western Colorado University and teaches English Language Arts at Center High School. A self-proclaimed writer of “dead dad poetry,” Hanna uses writing as a way to process grief and to share her experiences with others, so that they may see themselves reflected in the work and maybe find some solace. Her poems have appeared in Twenty Bellows, Duck Head Journal, Southern Arizona Press’ “Home for the Holidays” anthology, and Hysteria Heart Press’ Heartthrob Zine.

Rachel Kellum lives with her family at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo mountains where she has made a life teaching greenhouse gardening, visual and language arts to Valley children, writing at Adams State University, and humanities and literature courses for Trinidad State College. For seven years running, she and a posse of local poets have put on the Crestone Poetry Festival. Kellum earned a BFA in Art from Millikin University and an MA in English from Colorado State. Her career began as an English and art instructor at Morgan Community College for eleven years, during which time she served six years as director of the MCC CACE Gallery of Fine Art and host of Open Mic Poetry Nights, featuring Colorado’s finest poets. A Pushcart Prize nominee and NFSPS award winning poet, her poetry has been featured in several online journals and print collections. She leads writing workshops, performs her poetry around Colorado and blogs at wordweeds.com. Her first book, “ah,” published by Liquid Light Press, was released in 2012.

Maira Rodriguez is a writer from Antonito. She holds an MFA from Western Colorado University, and she is the poetry editor for The Santa Fe Literary Review. Maira enjoys working with young children and when she’s not working or writing she’s going for walks, going to concerts, and spending time with her family. Rodriguez’s poetry is centered heavily on family, trauma, the power of place, and all things real and beautiful. She has previously been published in High Desert Journal, The Santa Fe Literary Review, Sky Island Journal, Kansas City Voices, and Hysteria Heart Press

Bill Tite has a background in art, design, photography and writing in commercial advertising and marketing agencies in the Detroit area. He has always been a story-teller. Six years ago, he writes, “I was adopted, welcomed, embraced by the Sangre de Cristos, San Juans, and the San Luis Valley, and they saved me.” For Tite, language is multi-sensory… words spring us far beyond visuals… aromas, sounds, tastes, touch, feelings, and movement… memories of the past and the future. His most recent work is his first exploration into long-form creative non- fiction, “Me Raven Mom,” available now at the Narrow Gauge Book Co-op. He has been published in the Willow Creek Journal, Messages from the Hidden Lake, and the Conejos Writer’s Circle Book. He has self published the poetry chapbooks “blue” and “X04,” and “strange pilots,” an illustrated children’s book for adults.

Mary Van Pelt gives voice to those who are marginalized. She writes in the genres of creative nonfiction and non-rhyming poetry. With a Spanish language major she graduated from Adams State College when yellow sticky notes were first launched into the world. Her newest title is “Angela: Friendship at the Edge of an Abyss.” Previously published works: “Shaped by the Wind,” “Finding my Pieces,” “In Silence I Speak” and “After the Murder.” Her stories have appeared in local and regional anthologies.