On Monday (Nov. 18), students, faculty, locals and poetry lovers flocked to Broome County Arts Council on State Street, Binghamton, for the “Literati Reading Series.” The program featured poets Rachel McKibbens and Abby Murray and made the sometimes intimidating art of poetry accessible to everyone.
The session was headlined by McKibbens, an activist, playwright and essayist as well as a poet. She addressed themes of infidelity, loneliness, gender and motherhood in her poems, beginning with “Head Above Water,” a poem from her new book Into the Dark & Emptying Field. The piece confronts what she calls an “It,” which refers to any life-changing, personal, tragic event. The audience responded with murmurs of agreement to a few of McKibbens’ particularly haunting lines.
See the rest of the review on Binghamton University’s student-run newspaper, Pipe Dream