Students could sit back in the comfort of their own room and listen to poetry by young poets on Friday, Oct. 8. for the Bone Music Virtual Reading series.  

Joel Peckham, organizer of this event, said the series began this summer with two readings in affiliation with Uncollected Press.

Peckham had a book out with the press (MUCH) and was looking to promote it with a reading.  

“When I floated a press reading past Henry Stanton, who is the publisher of Uncollected Press, and he loved the idea,” Peckham said. “I’ve always wanted to do something like it, so I said yes. Now I’m hoping to continue the series, promoting authors that I like through readings and interviews by poets, essayists, and fiction writers.” 

The poems read were all the original works of undergraduates Athena Nassar, Darius Atefat-Peckham, Tawanda Mulalu, and Rajon Staunton.  

“Frankly, I wanted to show that one of our students could read along some of the best young writers in the country,” Peckham said. “I have always believed that our students, especially our young writers, are as good as anyone’s. I also wanted to show just what amazing work is being produced by young poets right now.” 

Tawanda Mulalu has two collections forthcoming named, ‘Please make me pretty, I don’t want to die,’ in Princeton University Press in 2022 and ‘Nearness’ in The New Delta Review in 2021. 

Darius just recently came out with his new collection named ‘How Many Love Poems’ that appear from Seven Kitchens Press in 2021. 

“I definitely plan to have more readings in the future, at least one or two per semester and two more in the summer,” Peckham said. “I hope to use the platform to launch my forthcoming anthology, Wild Gods: The Ecstatic in Contemporary Poetry and Prose and to champion writers that I love both local and national, who are at various stages of their writing careers.” 

All of the Bone Music Virtual Readings can be found on Joel Peckham’s YouTube page. 

For more information on the poets, their work or about upcoming/recent readings, contact Joel Peckham at [email protected].