Words are magic, poetry is magic, and summer is magic. So come hear some poetry + performance and hang out with us ♥ 

Ricardo Thomas Manuel Hernandez was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He works as a teacher’s assistant through the New York City Board of Education, and is union proud! Ricardo founded the Poets Settlement reading series in 2013. He was named Brooklyn Poets' Yawper of the Year in 2014 and was published in the Brooklyn Poets Anthology in 2017. Ricardo has been featured at many open mics throughout New York City, as well as starring as Allen Ginsberg in Oye Groups’ Ghetto hors D'Oeuvres Last Night of the Palladium.

A native New Yorker, & former social worker, Shafina Ahmed is a Muslim-Bengali American writer/poet. She has performed in several poetry stage & TV productions with the Full Circle Ensemble; Astoria Stand Up – Harmony & Dissonance Sessions; & “Around the Fire” QPTV with Frank Robinson. She has featured at various poetry venues in NYC such as Nuyorican Café, Union Square Slam, Great Weather Media, Wordat4F. She currently co-curates Poets Settlement monthly Reading/Poetry Series in Brooklyn, with fellow co-curators Ricardo Hernandez, Terence Degnan, and Samantha Vacca; and co-host of the storytelling series How To Build A Fire. She is currently working on a chapbook of poetry and prose. 

Clint Margrave is the author of Salute the Wreckage (2016) and The Early Death of Men (2012), both published by NYQ Books. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Threepenny Review, New York Quarterly, The Writer’s Almanac, Rattle, Cimarron Review, Verse Daily, The American Journal of Poetry, Word Riot, and Ambit (UK), among others. He lives in Los Angeles, CA.

Joanna C. Valente is a human who lives in Brooklyn, New York. They are the author of Sirs & Madams (Aldrich Press, 2014),The Gods Are Dead (Deadly Chaps Press, 2015), Marys of the Sea (Operating System, 2017), Sexting Ghosts (Unknown Press, 2018), Xenos (Agape Editions, 2016), and the editor of A Shadow Map: Writing by Survivors of Sexual Assault (CCM, 2017). They received their MFA in writing at Sarah Lawrence College. Joanna is the founder of Yes Poetry and the managing editor for Luna Luna Magazine. Some of their writing has appeared in Brooklyn Magazine, Prelude, BUST, Spork Press, and elsewhere. Joanna also leads workshops at Brooklyn Poets. joannavalente.com / Twitter: @joannasaid / IG: joannacvalente

Michael J Seidlinger is an Asian American author of a number of books including Standard Loneliness Package, My Pet Serial Killer, and The Fun We’ve Had. He serves as Library and Academic Marketing Manager at Melville House, Editor-at-Large for Electric Literature, and is a member of The Accomplices. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, where he never sleeps and is forever searching for the next best cup of coffee. You can find him online on Facebook, Twitter (@mjseidlinger), and Instagram (@michaelseidlinger).

Tony Gloeggler was born and raised in New York City. He is the author of several full-length poetry collections, including The Last Lie (2010), Greatest Hits: 1984–2009 (2009), My Other Life (2004), and One Wish Left (2002). His chapbook One on One won the 1998 Pearl Poetry Prize. Gloeggler’s work has been published in journals and anthologies such as the New York Quarterly, the Ledge, the Massachusetts Review, and Puerto del Sol.