Read Your Poetry

Join poets Virginia Shank, Raven Mcgill, and Cortland County Poet Laureate Philip Asaph for a monthly poetry reading by and for the poetry community in and around Cortland, New York. Old pros and newcomers alike share their work in an upbeat, friendly atmosphere. Proceeds benefit YWCA Cortland’s Wellness program.

What to expect:

~Sign up to read when you arrive or relax and enjoy the performances! Poets will read 3 poems, or for 5 minutes, whichever is shorter.

~Build your confidence and public presence by sharing your work with a community of language-loving friends

~Hear a wide variety of poetry and enjoy refreshments as you listen

More about Philip Asaph:

Poet, educator, meditation instructor, and Cortland County’s first poet laureate, Philip Asaph has been in love with poetry since childhood. As a student, he received scholarships and fellowships to Eckerd College, Bucknell University, and NYU, where he studied under some of America’s most prestigious poets and earned his MFA. As a teacher, he taught poetry, creative writing, and public performance for 20 years at The Long Island High School for the Gifted and Talented in the Arts and at numerous other schools and colleges before making Cortland his home ten years ago. His poetry has been described as “tough and tender, playfully serious, and almost always accessible.” His work has been published in journals here and abroad, including Poetry, Tampa Review, and The Humanist. Philip is also a well-known meditation instructor in the region and at the Cortland YWCA and is currently completing a self-training manual for meditation and a collection of poems entitled Here at the Heart of Western C