Wednesday, February 3, was a dreary day.  Following the piles of snow and cold weather, some heat was in order, so the BAWA* readers did their best to express heat via temperature, love, romance.  In addition, we learned about the color red–its associations from the political to the medical.  If you missed the reading, don’t be blue–here is a list of the poems we read so you can feel the heat of the evening!   RED HOT POEMS FEBRUARY 3,

We had a wonderful reading on Wednesday, August 5, 2015.  Although our space was a little too warm for sweaters, we started our reading with poems about ice, snow, and wintery winds.  By the time we hit the break, and time for some home-made peach ice cream, the fan was swirling cool air from our toes to the top of our heads. In addition to Natassja Linzau and Sue Scheid, we were joined by Michael Gushue who was a founding

In honor of our nation’s birth, BAWA* dedicated its July reading to poems about Independence.  But finding poems about independence was not as easy as it might seem.  There are many poems about American history but about the concept of independence is another thing.  Each of our readers took different tacks with this.  Our readers looked at some poems that played with mis-hearing the words to famously independent parts of our heritage (the Star Spangled Banner and the Declaration of

Dog Days is the longest running annual Dog Poetry reading maybe in the world!  Oh, our 4-legged beasts are so dear to us and we find much inspiration in them.  This reading was no exception. Sabrina, our BAWA baker, made delicious treats for us to enjoy:  sugar cookies in the form of dog bones, fire hydrants and squirrels. There is something about the relationship we have with our dogs that inspires some of the most wonderful and heart-wrenching poems.  I

On May 6, our BAWA reading was a tribute to Sterling Brown.  Sterling Brown was born in Washington, DC May 1, 1901.  He graduated from Dunbar High School.  He earned a B.A. from Williams College and a Master’s degree from Harvard University.  He was considered a writer of the Harlem Renaissance (a term he eschewed) and was a contemporary of Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and others. Brown’s seminal work Southern Road was published in 1932.  The poems contained in this

You can see by the pictures that laughter, good desserts and bright colors dominated our April Reading.  The audience laughed at poems about clowns, the silliness of human nature and the misunderstandings between cultures.  Our specialty dessert for the night was “Raspberry Fool” in honor of our theme.  For a list of poems that were read, please scroll down. The audience enjoys a chuckle at Steven Dunn’s “If a Clown”     Delicious and light dessert, made by Sabrina Linzau.  Raspberry

The rain and the threat of bad weather did not keep Bawans and our fans from turning out for a reading to honor women poets.  We had a lovely warm room, some homemade cupcakes from our youngest member, Sabrina Linzau (also our BAWA photographer), and glasses of prosecco.  Our BAWA poets Natassja Linzau, Dan Vera, Susan Scheid and Peter Montgomery read from a number of their favorite women writers.  For a complete list of the poems and their authors see below.  We

The first reading in BAWA*’s rekindled reading series was a smashing success.  Thanks to Natassaja Linzau, Pete Montgomery, Sue Scheid and Dan Vera for reading.  Thanks to Chris Girardot and Sabrina Linzau for baking.  Also big gratitude to The Center for Poetic Thought for giving us a new home. The poets included in this reading ranged from Poets Laureate (Rita Dove, Mona Van Duyn) to 5th grade poetry students and the theme of “Chocolate” took us from a love of candy

Coming soon to a blog near you, the writings/musings of BAWA* members.  Lists of poems from our reading series.  Perhaps some writing prompts for the month of April.   Stay tuned for updates!