Poetry Open Mic Night featuring Clifford Bernier

The June 15th open mic will feature Clifford Bernier, a poet and musician whose work spans two arts, igniting jazz poetry for the ears. After Cliff's performance, Patti aka little pi 😊 will host the open mic. Poets who wish to register for the open mic slots should send an email with "Open Mic 061523"  in the subject line to: ecpoets@gmail.com.

About the featured artist: Clifford Bernier’s, The Silent Art, won the Gival Press Poetry Award. He is also the author of Dark Berries and Earth Suite, each selected by the Montserrat Review as a Best Chapbook. He appears in The Write Blend poetry circle collection and accompanies the Voices of Woodlawn poets on harmonica. In addition, Mr. Bernier appears on harmonica in the Portuguese “Accumulated Dust” world music series and is featured on the EP Post-Columbian America, performs “harmonica poems” at Poetry X Hunger events and plays regularly in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. 

Clifford  has been featured in readings in Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, Buffalo, Detroit, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and the Washington, DC area, including the Library of Congress, the Arts Club of Washington, George Washington University (where he is a member of the Washington Writer’s Collection) and the Bethesda Writer’s Center. He has been a reader for the Washington Prize and a judge for the National Endowment for the Arts’ Poetry Out Loud recitation contest. From 2003-2008 he hosted the Poesis reading series in Arlington, Virginia and performed with the Jazzpoetry band at venues in and around Washington, DC. He has been nominated for two Pushcart Prizes and a Best of the Net Award.

Bibliography: 

The Silent Art – Gival Press Earth Suite – Finishing Line Press Dark Berries – Pudding House Press Post-Columbian America - https://open.spotify.com/album/04XLQOIpEV2Ga0Mpc6L7Wi

Open Mic- is hosted by ECPoetry and Prose and sponsored by The Baltimore County Arts Guild. The group meets on the 3rd Thursday of each month at 6 p.m. at the Guild's Catonsville Clubhouse, 10 St. Timothys Lane in Catonsville, Maryland.  Open Mic Nights are for community wordsmiths to share their work and love for language and performance.

Open Mic: There will be a sign in sheet at the door 15 minutes before start. Each reader will have five minutes to share their work. The evening lasts from 6pm to 7:30pm. Every other month you can expect a featured reader/performance artist!

About the Facilitator: Patti Ross graduated from Washington, DC's Duke Ellington School for the Performing Arts and The American University. After graduation several of her journalist pieces were published in the Washington Times and the Rural America newspapers. Retiring from a career in technology Patti has rediscovered her love of writing and shares her voice as the spoken word artist "little pi." Her poems are published in the Pen In Hand Journal, PoetryXHunger website and Oyster River Pages: Composite Dreams Issue. Her debut chapbook, St. Paul Street Provocations, will be released in July 2021 by Yellow Arrow Publishing. Follow her blog at: https://littlepisuniverse.com

About the Venue: The Clubhouse is a 100-seat, intimate performance space located in the heart of the Catonsville Arts District. Recently acquired, it is owned and operated by the Baltimore County Arts Guild and serves as a center of the arts in Baltimore County. Additional classrooms provide space for classes and workshops.

This program is made possible in part by the Citzens of Baltimore County, the Catonsville Arts District, Baltimore County Arts Guild, and the Maryland State Arts Council