Final Thursday Reading Series

FINAL THURSDAY READING SERIES

While you're waiting for the new season, check out the Summer 2009 FTP Poetry Contest: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=94834461959

Thursday, August 27, 2009
Hearst Center for the Arts
Cedar Falls, Iowa

Featured Reader:
Luke Pingel

Luke Pingel

The Hearst Center is located at 304 W. Seerley Blvd. in Cedar Falls. Enjoy the art on your way back to the reading. Open mic signup begins at 7:00 p.m. Bring your best five minutes of poetry, fiction, or creative non-fiction. Singer-songwriters are also welcome, and now we have access to the Hearst's grand piano. The open mic begins at 7:15. Luke Pingel takes the stage at 8:00. There will be a short question and answer period as time allows.

Luke Pingel is the author of two chapbooks: All Types of Breath Included (Further Adventures 2009) and The Storm That Killed the Tree (Pudding House, 2008). His poetry has appeared in Ellipsis, The William and Mary Review, and The Green Hills Literary Lantern among others. He received a B.A. and M.A. in English at the University of Northern Iowa, and recently completed an M.F.A in Creative Writing at the University of Minnesota, where he was awarded the Gesell Prize for excellence in poetry. He currently teaches at St. Catherine's University in Minneapolis, where he lives with his wife, Autumn. You can read a sample of his work below.

Hearst Center for the Arts

The James & Meryl Hearst Center for the Arts is located at 304 West Seerley Blvd. in Cedar Falls. Stop by early to check out the current exhibitions.

Communion With Birds
by Luke Pingel

I love you most when
you fold into yourself,
your wings creased

in delicate thirds. I do not
have a morning interval
as you do, do not know how

to caress the air’s palm.
Oh, rascal fortune-teller,
I know I have been lied to

and cannot get my money back.
Go ahead, draw your question
marks across my window,

I will not shut the shades
for you. Do you feel
God’s breath across

your feathers? Is this
your confession?
I cannot know

these things, cannot retrace
the paths you carve for me.
Because I am weak? Foolish?

Once, when I was a boy,
I tried to catch you.
I toppled clumsily

from the shed in my backyard
that contained scrap metal
and dirty screen doors.

You were lunching at the edge,
nibbling on a pipe.
I extended my hand

in friendship, and you
had nothing to say
about it, not even

the two notes I would expect.
There was a clang,
then a thud,

then you were gone,
as I lay on the ground weeping,
folded into myself.

The Fall 2009 Lineup
Final Thursday Reading Series

August 27: Luke Pingel
September 24: Patrick Irelan
October 29: Adrianne Finlay
November 19: Grant Tracey

Read Work By Featured Readers

Chaveevah Banks Ferguson

Scott Cawelti
Bill Chene

Rebecca Dunham
frje Echeverria

Kathleen Kelly
Rauan Klassnik

Jerry Klinkowitz
Adrienne Lamberti

Catherine A. F. MacGillivray

Nate McKeen
Aaron McNally

Pierre-Damien Mvuyekure

Cherie "Chillin'" Nelson
Amy Nolan
Elizabeth Oness

Loree Rackstraw

James P. Roberts

Ralph James Savarese
Jeremy Schraffenberger

John Wilson Swope

Ray A. Young Bear

New Release from
Final Thursday Press

When I Think About Rain

When I Think About Rain
by Paul Hedeen

Available from
Final Thursday Press

cover

Welcome to the Future Past:
Poems About America
Poetry by Bill Chene

Lamentations on the Rwandan Genocide
Poetry by Pierre-Damien Mvuyekure

cover

Kyrie
Poetry by Jonathan Stull

cover

Ghost Wars
Poetry by Vince Gotera

***Winner of the 2004 Global Filipino
Literary Award for Poetry***

cover

Laugh. Damnit.
Poetry by Ahkos

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updated June 6, 2009 by Jim O'Loughlin