The Last Red Dock Poetry Reading

Here’s the scoop on this wonderful reading series as it comes to an ignoble close… Hope to see you there!

.

The Last Red Dock Poetry Reading — Isabel’s Market & Eatery, September 22, 6pm

There have been a lot of “lasts” in this last season for the much-celebrated “last hippie bar,” the Red Dock in Douglas Michigan. 

The last of the Red Dock’s events wrap up with The Last Red Dock Poetry Reading, sponsored by Tony and Dona Amato and Isabel’s Market and Eatery, where the reading will be held, at 310 Blue Star Highway, in Douglas, on September 22, at 6pm.

The featured poets will be Jack Ridl, Douglas’ Poet Laureate, the instigator — along with the Amatos, of the Red Dock Poetry Series. Jack and Tony welcome Kathleen McGookey to the stage this year.

Kathleen McGookey is author of four books of poetry, including Instructions for My Imposter and Stay. She also has three chapbooks, a book of translations of French poet Georges Godeau’s prose poems called We’ll See. McGoogkey’s poems and translations have appeared in many journals and anthologies, including Best Microfiction 2019, Best Small Fictions 2019, Copper Nickel, Crazyhorse, Denver Quarterly, Epoch, Field, New Micro: Exceptionally Short Fiction, Ploughshares, Prairie Schooner, Quarterly West, Quiddity, and The Southern Review. She has received grants from the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation, the Arts Fund of Kalamazoo County, the Sustainable Arts Foundation, and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. McGookey has taught creative writing at Hope College, Interlochen Arts Academy, and Western Michigan University. 

Jack Ridl is the author of several national award-winning collections, as well as poetry textbooks and anthologies. His most recent collection, St. Peter and the Goldfinch, Wayne State University Press, was released in 2019. His poems have appeared in more than 300 journals, and his work has been featured in numerous literary anthologies. He has given readings of his work and led workshops at colleges, universities, art colonies, elementary and high schools, and other venues around the country. More than 90 of his students’ work has been published.

The reading will be held outdoors, and the organizers recommend bringing a lawn chair to ensure enough seating. An outdoor bar will offer beer and wine for purchase, and food may be purchased from the market.

This program is free and open to the public.