Poetry Events

See photos from our recent book launch of Poets of Manor Mill.

Our next Poetry Day is scheduled for Sunday May 18th, 2025. Watch this space for more information.

Please visit our free monthly writing workshops and open mic nights for all experience levels:

1. Open Mic and Featured Poetry Series: Manor Mill

First Monday of each month. Doors open at 6:15pm and readings start 6:30pm. Hosted by British poet, Mel Edden.

Each open mic night begins with readings from guest Featured Poets (established writers with published work). See details below.

As the event grows in popularity open mic participants should limit their reading to one poem lasting a maximum of three minutes. Paper copies of poems are no longer requested.

Featured poets and participants are also encouraged to bring their books for sale.

2. “Get Your Poetry On” WORKSHOPS: HerEFORD LIBRARY

Third Saturday of every month 2:30 PM-4 PM at the Hereford Branch of Baltimore County Public Library. Work with poet and Professor Emeritus Michael Fallon, who has taught poetry for 35 years, to create and critically discuss each other's works in a welcoming and supportive atmosphere.

Please email one poem you’d like to review ahead of time to fallon [at] umbc.edu and bring eight hard copies to the workshop.

Please also review our Guidelines for how to prepare for the workshop, and for participation etiquette.

Registration required. To register for the next meet-up click here or search for “Get Your Poetry On” on the BCPL website.

FIRST MONDAY OPEN MIC FEATURED POETS

richard peabody
FEATURED POET - march 3, 2025

Richard Peabody, born in Washington, DC., raised in Bethesda, MD., and now living in Arlington, VA., is a poet, writer, editor, teacher, publisher. The author of a novella and three short story collections, he taught graduate fiction writing at Johns Hopkins University for 17 years. His Gargoyle Magazine (founded 1976) released issue 76 in August 2022. The magazine has since moved online. His most recent poetry volume, Guinness on the Quay, was published in Ireland (Salmon Poetry, 2019).  The Richard Peabody Reader, a career-encompassing collection, was released in 2015 by Alan Squire Publishing.  

NANCY MITCHELL
FEATURED POET - APRIL 7, 2025

Nancy Mitchell is a Pushcart Prize Winner and the author of three acclaimed collections of poetry: The Near Surround, Grief Hut, and The Out-of-Body Shop. Mitchell publishes widely and has been awarded numerous residency fellowships including two in Auvillar France. A featured guest at the Library of Congress’ The Poet and The Poem 2019 podcasts, she taught in the English and Environmental Studies Departments at Salisbury University and has worked extensively in community outreach. Poet Laureate of the City of Salisbury, Md, she hosts national and local poets at Poets’ Corner at City Headquarters in Salisbury. She is the Associate Editor for Special Features for Plume Poetry.

BETH DULIN
FEATURED POET - APRIL 7, 2025

Beth Dulin’s writing has appeared in The American Journal of Poetry, Atlanta Review, Little Patuxent Review, New York Quarterly, and Wigleaf, among others. She’s the author of Truce, a limited edition artists’ book, in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum and the Museum of Modern Art. A graduate of The New School, she lives on the Eastern Shore of MD. Visit her online: https://www.bethdulin.com/

DORA MALECH
FEATURED POET - May 5, 2025

Dora Malech is the author of five books of poetry, most recently Stet (Princeton University Press, 2018),Flourish (Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2020), and Trying × Trying (Carnegie Mellon UP, 2025). She recently co-edited The American Sonnet: An Anthology of Poems and Essays, published by the University of Iowa Press. Her poems have appeared in numerous publications, including The New Yorker and Best American Poetry. She is on the faculty of the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University, where she is the editor in chief of The Hopkins Review, which recently won a Phoenix Award for Editorial and Design Achievement. She lives in Baltimore.

alejandro lucero
FEATURED POET - May 5, 2025

Alejandro Lucero’s chapbook, Sapello Son, was named the Editors’ Selection for the 2022 Frost Place Competition (Bull City Press, 2024). His work appears in Best New Poets, The Cincinnati Review, Gulf Coast, The Florida Review,RHINO, and The Southern Review. He lives in Baltimore, where he is an MFA candidate in the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins and is a managing editor for The Hopkins Review.

JESS YUAN
FEATURED POET - May 5, 2025

Jess Yuan is a poet, educator, and architect. She is the author of a poetry collection, Slow Render (Airlie 2024), and chapbook, Threshold Amnesia (Yemassee 2020). She has received support from Kundiman and Miami Writers Institute, and is currently an MFA candidate in poetry at Johns Hopkins. Her poems appear in Best New Poets, Tupelo Quarterly Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, Pleiades, jubilat, and elsewhere. 

NANCY MURRAY
FEATURED POET - JUNE 2, 2025

Nancy Murray is the author of the acclaimed memoir, One Child for Another; (11th Hour Press, 2015) as well as, No Experience Necessary, Stories from Life in the Works, (Wayword Books, 2024) and  The Colors of Fear, A Collection of Poems. (Cyberwit Press, 2023)  Her poetry, plays, and short stories have been published, produced, and performed locally and internationally. She teaches composition and creative writing at The Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC), and hosts, Words on the Thirds,  a monthly poetry workshop at The Arts Lab of South County. She curated and edited the poetry and art collection, Liminal Spaces which was published in June, 2024,  and she is a recipient of the Maryland State Arts Council creativity award for individual artists. Her website is https://www.nancymurray.net/

ASHLEY ELIZABETH
FEATURED POET - JUNE 2, 2025

Ashley Elizabeth (she/her) is a winner of the 2024 Garden Party Collective Chapbook Contest. She is a Pushcart-nominated writer and teacher whose work has appeared in SWWIM, Voicemail Poems, Rigorous, and Sage Cigarettes, among others. Ashley is the author of A Family Thing (Redacted Books/ELJ Editions, 2024) and chapbooks red line (Garden Party, 2024), CHARM(ed) (Fifth Wheel Press, 2024), black has every right to be angry (Alternating Current, 2023), and you were supposed to be a friend (Nightingale & Sparrow, 2020). She lives on the original land of the Piscataway (Baltimore, MD) with her partner and their cats.

sunayna pal
FEATURED POET - JUly 7, 2025

Sunayna Pal's poetry graces the pages of numerous international journals, anthologies, museums, poetry festivals, textbooks, and libraries, resonating with readers worldwide. Her debut book, Refugees in Their Own Country (B&W Fountain), vividly narrates the Partition of India through evocative verse and illustrations, while her second book, Please Go to the Park (Bottlecap Press), is an invitation to embark on a journey of self-discovery. As the Director of The Poetry Academy, Sunayna nurtures a deep appreciation for poetry in others. She is dedicated to Heartfulness meditation. Residing in Maryland with her family, Sunayna invites readers to explore her work and journey at sunaynapal.com.

INDRAN AMIRTHANAYGAM
FEATURED POET - JUly 7, 2025

Indran Amirthanayagam is a poet, editor, publisher, translator, youtube host and diplomat. For thirty years he worked for his adoptive country, the United States, on diplomatic assignments in Africa, Asia, Europe and North and South America. Amirthanayagam produced a unique record in 2020 publishing three poetry collections written in three different languages. He writes in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Haitian Creole. He has published twenty eight poetry books and translations. In music, he recorded Rankont Dout. He edits the Beltway Poetry Quarterly; writes a blog; writes a weekly poem for Haiti en Marche and El Acento; has received fellowships from the Foundation for the Contemporary Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts, The US/Mexico Fund for Culture and the Macdowell Colony. He is the IFLAC Word Poeta Mundial 2022. Amirthanayagam hosts The Poetry Channel. New books include Seer, The Runner’s Almanac,  and Powèt nan po la (Poet of the Port ) Indran publishes poetry books at Beltway Editions. Amirthanayagam’s first collection in Portuguese Música subterranea just appeared from Editora Kotter in Brazil.

UNIQUE ROBINSON
FEATURED POET - OCTOBER 6, 2025

Unique Robinson is a poet/MC, professor, community educator, host, and proud Baltimore City native. She received her MFA in English/Creative Writing from Mills College, and a BA in Creative Writing/Black Studies from Hampshire College. Creatively, her work engages the power of language to transmute systemic harm. Professionally, Unique has a background in Community Organizing and national Reproductive Justice work, and is a lifelong artivist, with 20+ years of performance experience throughout the US and Havana, Cuba. Locally, Unique has worked as a Poetry Teaching Artist, and in administrative roles for various organizations, including DewMore Baltimore, LTYC, AFRO Charities, & The Lyric Baltimore. Unique received the Emerging Teaching Artist award from Arts Every Day in 2017, The Grit Fund Grant in 2019, and various other grants. She was the cover feature for Baltimore Magazine’s GameChangers in 2022. Unique is the Director of MICA’s MFA Community Arts Program, and the facilitator for The LightHouse, a FREE monthly writing workshop at Motor House for intergenerational communities. Unique has released three poetry collections: the chapbook, flicked/forgotten/FREED (2014), a full length book, Four Wings & A Prayer: A Charm City Churn (2019), and her most recent work, (not) in service, published with homie house press (2024). Unique has also released musical projects under the moniker of klefta*maniak, including vesica piscis EP (2019), Tha 27th Letter, Vol. I (2019) & II (2020), GETCHA LIFE! EP (2021), Cosmic Drama (2022), and Elevator Excursions (2023), which can be found on all streaming platforms. 

HIRAM LAREW
FEATURED POET - NOVEMBER 3, 2025

During his career, Larew guided US Government food security programs.   His seventh collection of poems, This Much Very, was published by Alien Buddha Press in 2025.  His poems have appeared in recent issues of Poetry South, Iowa Review, Poetry Scotland’s Gallus, and Contemporary American Voices, and have been nominated for four national Pushcart awards.  He’s received support from Arts Councils and Food Banks as well as the United Nations and Feed the Children for his Poetry X Hunger, an initiative that is bringing a world of poets to the anti-hunger cause.  And, he founded the Voices of Woodlawn, a powerful program of poetry, music and art that explores America’s tragic history and legacy of slavery. Larew is a Courtesy Faculty at five U. S. universities, is a former member of the Folger Shakespeare Library’s Poetry Board and serves as the poetry consultant to WBJC-FM classical radio in Baltimore, Maryland.  He lives in Maryland, USA. Websites: www.PoetryXHunger.com and www.HiramLarewPoetry.com

LADY BRION
FEATURED POET - december 1, 2025

Lady Brion is an international spoken word artist, activist, organizer and educator. Lady Brion currently serves as the executive director of the Black Arts District, an organization she founded in 2019. In 2024 she was appointed by Governor Wes Moore as the Poet Laureate of Maryland, making her the youngest Poet Laureate in Maryland’s history and the only spoken word artist to ever hold this position. She received her B.A. in Communication and Culture from Howard University and her MFA in Creative Writing & Publishing Design from the University of Baltimore. During her slam career she has won the 2016 and 2021 National Poetry Slam, the 2017 and 2019 Southern Fried Regional Slam, and the 2019 Rustbelt Regional Slam. In 2021 she became the Women of the World Poetry Slam Champion making her the number one ranked woman slam poet in the world. 

Upcoming Featured Poets

2025

March 3
Richard Peabody
Register

April 7
Nancy Mitchell
Beth Dulin
Register

May 5
Dora Malech
Alejandro Lucero
Jess Yuan
Register

June 2
Nancy Murray

July 7
Sunayna Pal
Indran Amirthanayagam

August 4
Zeina Azzam
Cathy Hailey

September 1
TBC

October 6
Unique Robinson

November 3
Hiram Larew

December 1
Lady Brion

Poetry Book

Our first collection of poetry, Poets of Manor Mill is now on sale for $15.

Stop by our gift shop during opening hours to pick up a book, or buy a copy during one of our monthly open mic nights.

Copies are also available for purchase at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other online book sellers. The Ivy Bookshop in Baltimore City will also be stocking copies.

This anthology contains poems written by forty-two local poets who have previously read at our open mic nights. It has been compiled by our poetry hosts, Robert R Bowie Jr. and Mel Edden, to celebrate our vibrant poetic community that been growing since 2022.

Click here for photos from our book launch!