John Philip Drury

I'm excited to announce that on Wednesday, June 22, at 7:00 pm, LaWanda Walters and I will read our poems together for the first time. The location is the Pendleton Art Center, 1310 Pendleton Street, Studio 600, Cincinnati OH, 45202. My beautiful wife will read poems from her first full-length collection, Light Is the Odalisque, which was recently published by Press 53 in its Silver Concho Series. I'll read poems from Sea Level Rising, along with some new ones.

I'll be participating as a Festival Author at the Ohioana Book Festival on Saturday, April 23, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Sheraton Columbus Hotel at Capitol Square in Columbus, Ohio. Copies of my books, including Sea Level Rising, will be available for purchase. From 3:00 to 3:15, I'll give a poetry reading at the Plaza Lounge (2nd floor), just after Maggie Smith and just before Jill Bialosky.

I gave a poetry reading on Wednesday, September 30, at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. It was part of the Fall for the Book Festival. I grew up in Bethesda, so returning to the D.C. area represented a homecoming. I read mainly from Sea Level Rising.

I also took part in an open-mic reading at the Writer's Center in Bethesda (4508 Walsh Street) on Sunday afternoon, September 27, starting at 2:00 p.m. I read “Sonnets for Mr. Lewis,” a sequence about my charismatic, terrifying, inspirational 9th grade English teacher.

Ted Kooser has selected my poem “Motor Lodge” for his column, American Life in Poetry (Column 540, July 27, 2015). It’s the first sonnet in a three-part sequence, "Summer Jobs," which originally appeared in The Paris Review (Number 131, Summer 1994). My thanks to Richard Howard for accepting the little sequence! It was reprinted in The Disappearing Town (Miami University Press, 2000), my first full-length collection of poems.

A review of Sea Level Rising appeared in New Pages on July 1, 2015. Click here to see the review on NEW PAGES. It was written by Kimberly Ann. Here's her review:

On June 26, I gave a reading at the Mercantile Library in Cincinnati, along with Margo Taft Stever and Jennifer Franklin. Margo read from her new chapbook, The Lunatic Ball (Kattywompus Press, 2015). Jennifer read from her first full-length collection, Looming (Elixir Press, 2015). It was a pleasure to read with them! The poems I read all had some connection to the Cincinnati area: "Sea Level Rising," "Falling in Love at the YMCA Pool," "Retreat," "A Boy's Room," "Thinking of Easter," "Matinee," and "Familiar World."

Earlier today, Jose Angel Araguz posted an entry about “A Boy’s Room,” a poem from Sea Level Rising, on his blog, “The Friday Influence.” Here's the link to Jose’s blog.

Tuesday, April 21, 7:00 pm: Poetry in the Garden series, Cincinnati Public Library (featured poet, along with Madeleine Crouse and John Cruze)

Thursday, April 23, 6:30 pm: Columbus College of Art & Design, Canzani Atrium, 60 Cleveland Avenue, Columbus, Ohio (poetry reading by John Philip Drury)

Sunday, April 26, 6:00-8:00 pm: Tongue & Groove, Clifton Bed & Breakfast, 500 Terrace Avenue, Cincinnati (I'll be reading for about ten minutes of the program)

“Glassy Apparatus,” a poem in the opening section of Sea Level Rising, was featured on Verse Daily on March 28, 2015. Here's the link to Verse Daily.