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The Writers Guild at Bloomington presents the first Last Sunday Poetry program of 2026, featuring April Ridge and Hiromi Yoshida. This LSP program is also a double book launch reading showcasing selections from April Ridge's A THREE NIGHT AFFAIR (Keeping the Flame Alive, 2025) and Hiromi Yoshida's ICARUS IN CRETE (Alien Buddha Press, 2025).JOAN HAWKINS will host.
"April Ridge’s A THREE NIGHT AFFAIR offers tantalizing glimpses of women leaping beyond glass ceilings of the imagination—leaving scintillating shards in their surreal wake. The Arthurian Deirdre smirking at her iPhone; the tightrope walker who prays she will not 'get the spins this time'; the singles barfly Ms. Frankenstein who tosses away patriarchal norms 'like so much salt over her shoulder'; Pandora who struggles with her 'blood red' box that has 'a blinking third eye'; and Disney’s Ursula, the clammy insomniac. While all of them inhabit the carnivalesque kaleidoscope of Ridge’s first full-length poetry collection, the most intriguing heroine is her very own first-person confessional persona. This woman stands before her mirror reflection unflinchingly in 'bra and underwear,' contemplating her 'rotund belly, aged 41 meat.' These poems offer a woman-positive feminist manifesto with much bravado, one that is sure to delight, entertain, uplift, and empower all readers."
- Hiromi Yoshida, author of Green Roses Bloom for Icarus
APRIL RIDGE lurks in the rural hilltops of Monroe County, akin to Mothman’s tomboy cousin, listening for hints of poetry on the wind. She enjoys horror films, the sordid affairs of 1920s circus performers, long walks in pitch black tunnels and the occasional waffle cone from Jiffy Treet. April prides herself on finding the perfect outfit in which to adorn the skeleton of the soul. She hopes to highlight the needs of poems in danger, on the run, escaping from the need to fit into one form or another, on their way to the freedom of epiphany. Her work has appeared sporadically in deep space, circling black holes until the dinner bell of eternal fame rings in its echoing chambers.
"In ICARUS IN CRETE, Hiromi Yoshida delivers 21 poems that reimagine the myth not as a fall but as a struggle of birth, flight, and defiance. Inspired by H.D.'s Helen in Egypt, this collection moves through the voices of Naukrate, Daedalus, and Icarus himself, shaping a story of bondage, liberation, and the gift of identity. We see the boy become an apprentice, a sharpshooter, and ultimately a figure unshackled from Minos' power, his destiny written in feathers, fire, and the sea. Through charged imagery and layered voices, Hiromi Yoshida transforms Icarus into her 'green brainchild,' giving readers not only a retelling but also a reckoning with freedom, lineage, and the cost of soaring too close to light."
- Nicholas "Red Focks," Alien Buddha Press publisher
Author of two full-length poetry collections and five poetry chapbooks, HIROMI YOSHIDA is a finalist for the Finishing Line Press New Women’s Voices Poetry Prize, and a semifinalist for the Silverfish Review’s Gerald Cable Book Award. The Poetry Editor of Flying Island Journal, she is the incoming chair of the Writers Guild at Bloomington, and the curator of the Guild’s Last Sunday Poetry reading series. Her third full-length poetry book is Red for Kanreki Roses, forthcoming from Stubborn Mule Press in 2026.
Copies of A THREE NIGHT AFFAIR and ICARUS IN CRETE will be available for purchase at the reading venue.
Emerging and established poets who need a supportive audience, and who want to share ongoing, forthcoming, or published work: Sign up for open mic! Your words are precious. The time limit per open mic participant is 3-5 min. depending on the number signed up (e.g. 3.75 min. if 12).
Arrive 20-50 min. before the 7pm program start time so you can:
- Sign up for open mic
- Meet and greet featured poets, and each other
- Purchase the store's books and other gift items
- Order and enjoy cafe food and beverages
More information about the Writers Guild at Bloomington:
https://writersguildbloomington.com/
The Writers Guild at Bloomington is committed to fostering diversity, and welcomes members regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, and ability.
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