SNS | 2-22-25
Join us online for an evening of literary performance and open mic reading
Featuring: Cindy Huyser + Irvin Weathersby Jr.
Theme: Mad Love
(scroll down for writing prompt)
Hosted By: Hollie Hardy
Saturday, February 22, 2025
6:00pm Pacific Time
(8:00pm Central time)
Online Event
Free Admission
Sign Up in Advance to Get on the Open Mic List
The theme is optional | Time limit is not optional
Please plan ahead and keep your reading to 3 MINUTES MAX
Scroll down for monthly writing prompt
Join Event on Zoom
Meeting ID: 813 7985 9004
Passcode: 185550
Author Bios
Cindy Huyser is the author of the chapbook Burning Number Five: Power Plant Poems (Blue Horse Press, 2014) and the full-length collection Cartography (3: A Taos Press, 2025). She is the long-time host of Austin’s BookWoman 2ndThursday Poetry Series and holds an MFA in Writing from Pacific University. Learn more on her website: cindyhuyser.wordpress.com
Irvin Weathersby Jr. is a Brooklyn-based writer and professor from New Orleans, and author of In Open Contempt: Confronting White Supremacy in Art and Public Space released in January from Penguin Random House. His writing has been featured in LitHub, Guernica, Esquire, The Atlantic, EBONY, and elsewhere. He has earned an MFA from The New School, an MA from Morgan State University, and a BA from Morehouse College. He has received fellowships and awards from the Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation, the Research Foundation of CUNY, the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the Mellon Foundation. irvinweathersby.com
Write with Friends! Register for The Write-In!
LET’S WORK ON THE THEME TOGETHER!
Join me the week before SNS, on Saturday afternoon, February 15, for the monthly Write-In, a generative online workshop with Hollie Hardy.
Write-In Details/ Sign Up
February Writing Prompt: Mad Love
In grad school, Jacob Evans, fellow a poet, once said, “There ain’t no poetry like the poetry of longing,” and it was one of those phrases that hummed with lasting truth, like the deep resonance of a Japanese Bonshō bell.
Even after writing Lions Like Us, a whole book of love poems, it’s still my favorite subject for poetry. And so, with Valentine’s Day as our annual excuse, we turn once again to a familiar theme.
Your challenge this month is to write a poem, or short prose piece (3 minutes or less) inspired by Mad Love.
SOME IDEAS
You could write a classic poem or story of love or desire, romantic love, longing, wild and crazy love, new love, lost love, anoymous love, forbidden love, anti-love, angry love, love/hate, etc, or you could write about loving everyday objects, shoes, pets, your body, your favorite movie, your favorite child. You could write about the risks or grand gestures you’ve performed for love. Maybe “mad” means deep or insane, but maybe it means angry. What about loving your country and being mad at the same time? Feel free to interpret loosely. ❤️💔❤️🩹💙💛💝
INSPIRATION
Ditty by Kevin Young
Dirty Valentine by Richard Siken
I Love you to the Moon & by Chen Chen
Husky Boys' Dickies by Jill McDonough
Aimless Love by Billy Collins
Flirtation by Rita Dove
Movement Song by Audre Lorde
Pupil by D.A. Powell
Love Like Salt by Lisel Mueller
The Hush of the Very Good by Todd Boss
Wild nights - Wild nights! (269) by Emily Dickinson
Write More: If you like the SNS writing prompts, consider signing up for my subscription service, Praxis Poetry: Weekly Prompts for Poets. Learn more and sign up for inspiration, accountability, and community!