Smartish Pace

The HOT L Poets series, September 13, 2026, at The Ivy Bookshop (Baltimore). Open mic readers Christian Thiede, Juniper Greenawalt, Marc Nasdor & May Laverne.

The HOT L Poets Series is presented by Smartish Pace and Baltimore Poets Theatre. Readings are held on the second Sunday of the month at Bird in Hand or The Ivy Bookshop in Baltimore and include 2 featured poets, reading from their recent books, along with an open mic, usually 8-12 poets reading one poem each.

Jan Beatty reading on March 6, 2026 in The HOT L Poets Series (for AWP) at the Mt. Vernon Place Church, an iconic long-shuttered 19th-century church in Baltimore, MD. Introduction by Stephen Reichert, editor of Smartish Pace. Thanks to Peabody Heights Brewery for their generous beer sponsorship and to The Ivy Bookshop for selling the poets books. Unfortunately the recording was cut short due to technical artist problems.

The HOT L Poets Series is presented by Smartish Pace and Baltimore Poets Theatre. Readings are typically held on the second Sunday of the month at Bird in Hand or The Ivy Bookshop in Baltimore.

Jan Beatty’s eighth book, Dragstripping, was published by the University of Pittsburgh Press in 2024. She’s the winner of the Red Hen Nonfiction Award for American Bastard, and the Paterson Prize for Jackknife: New and Selected Poems (Pitt, 2017). She worked as a waitress, abortion counselor, and in maximum security prisons.

Chris Watkins reading on March 6, 2026 in The HOT L Poets Series (for AWP) at the Mt. Vernon Place Church, an iconic long-shuttered 19th-century church in Baltimore, MD. Introduction by Stephen Reichert, editor of Smartish Pace. Thanks to Peabody Heights Brewery for their generous beer sponsorship and to The Ivy Bookshop for selling the poets books.

The HOT L Poets Series is presented by Smartish Pace and Baltimore Poets Theatre. Readings are typically held on the second Sunday of the month at Bird in Hand or The Ivy Bookshop in Baltimore.

Chris Watkins is a trans poet, environmental activist, and author of The Drag Gospel of Q***r Jesus (Saturnalia, 2026), winner of the publisher’s Alma Book Award. They live in North Florida and work as the Academics and Partnerships Coordinator at FSU’s Office of Sustainability and teach writing and sustainability courses.

Campbell McGrath reading on March 6, 2026 in The HOT L Poets Series at the Mt. Vernon Place Church, an iconic long-shuttered 19th-century church in Baltimore, MD. Introduction by Stephen Reichert. Thanks to Peabody Heights Brewery for their generous beer sponsorship and to The Ivy Bookshop for selling the poets books.

The HOT L Poets Series is presented by Smartish Pace and Baltimore Poets Theatre. Readings are held on the second Sunday of the month at Bird in Hand or The Ivy Bookshop in Baltimore.

Campbell McGrath is the author of eleven books of poetry, most recently Nouns & Verbs: New and Selected Poems, and XX: Poems for the Twentieth Century, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. His writing has been recognized with a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Witter Bynner Fellowship from the Library of Congress, a United States Artists Fellowship, and a MacArthur Foundation "Genius Award."

Dean Bartoli Smith reading on March 6, 2026 in The HOT L Poets Series at the Mt. Vernon Place Church, an iconic long-shuttered 19th-century church in Baltimore, MD. Introduction by Stephen Reichert. Thanks to Peabody Heights Brewery for their generous beer sponsorship and to The Ivy Bookshop for selling the poets books.

The HOT L Poets Series is presented by Smartish Pace and Baltimore Poets Theatre. Readings are held on the second Sunday of the month at Bird in Hand or The Ivy Bookshop in Baltimore.

Dean Bartoli Smith's second collection of poems is Baltimore Sons (Stillhouse, 2021). His nonfiction work, Never Easy, Never Pretty (Temple,2013), chronicled the Baltimore Ravens 2012 Super Bowl season. He is Director of Duke University Press.

Clare Banks reading on March 6, 2026 in The HOT L Poets Series at the Mt. Vernon Place Church, an iconic long-shuttered 19th-century church in Baltimore, MD. Introduction by Stephen Reichert. Thanks to Peabody Heights Brewery for their generous beer sponsorship and to The Ivy Bookshop for selling the poets books.

The HOT L Poets Series is presented by Smartish Pace and Baltimore Poets Theatre. Readings are held on the second Sunday of the month at Bird in Hand or The Ivy Bookshop in Baltimore.

Clare Banks is the author of Notes on Endings (Terrapin, 2025). A recipient of two Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Awards, she has an MFA in poetry from the University of Maryland and lives in Baltimore City where she is an associate editor for Smartish Pace.

Amy Raasch reading on March 4, 2026 at the Mt. Vernon Place Church in Baltimore, MD; introduction by poet Steven Leyva. The reading was hosted by Smartish Pace, 32 Poems Magazine & Barrelhouse for AWP. Thanks to Peabody Heights Brewery, LLC
for their beer sponsorship & The Ivy Bookshop for selling the poets books. Part of the fun of the event was seeing inside an iconic historic space in Baltimore, a long-shuttered 19th-century church.

Amy Raasch is a Los Angeles-based artist whose projects include the album Girls Get Cold, animated film Cat Bird Coyote, and theatrical show The Animal Monologues. Her poems have appeared in Smartish Pace.