Guest post: This poetry reading and author discussion panel at LBF made my friend cry

Guest post

I hate poetry.

Or at least I thought I did. Turns out I was just scared of it—scared of the intimacy, scared of the power, and scared of the empathy it invokes that can lead to so much pain.

But when I sat in the audience of this Poetry Reading and Author Discussion Panel at the 2024 Louisville Book Festival and felt my chest warm and my eyes wetten, I also felt that fear evaporate from my tears, and I was left with that all-important feeling of human connection.

I ended up purchasing books from each of the panel speakers; not because they were trying to sell them to me, but because they excavated something inside of me, and I wanted—no, needed—to fill that revealed space with the substance of their words.

The three authors and their books (in order of which they read/made me cry):

• Underscore by Roberta Schultz: At one point, she said, “I write because I don’t talk.” I love her for that. My favorite poem from her reading was “November drive-by.” This book of poetry is filled with beautiful, flowing descriptions.
• Between a Bird Cage and a Bird House by Katerina Stoykova: I heard amazing words of love and loss in her work. My favorite poem from her reading was “Eighth Floor Balcony Ghazal.” It’s about those important places in life that anchor our emotionally significant memories.
• Lemon by Isabella J. Mansfield: I must admit that I connected to her immediately because she wore a shirt that said, “faux poes foes.” IYKYK. Shout out to Gilmore Girls fans. My favorite poem from her reading was “What the Twelve Year Old Needed to Hear.” The poem contains one of the best lines I have ever read: “When they do not give / access, take it anyway.”

You can follow author, Erika Berglund on Facebook and Instagram!

Now available in print and on Kindle!

Now that Jack has been forced to reflect on everything he has to lose, he resolves to do better. He’s determined to spend more time at home with his family and repair the relationships that have suffered over the years while he’s been so focused on work. But as Callie’s behavior becomes increasingly bizarre, Jack realizes he has a lot more room to improve than he realized – and it might be too late to save his daughter after all.

For fans of We Need to Talk About Kevin, The Push, and Baby Teeth.