Western Slope poets Joan Shapiro & Ray Harvey to read in Norwood Sep. 18

Joan Shapiro of Ridgway has been a staunch supporter of the Talking Gourds program for many years. The Telluride Institute is very pleased to feature her and her friend Ray Harvey as guest poets at the monthly Stories & Poems series at the Lone Cone Library Sept. 18th at 6 pm.

 “Joan and I had the good fortune to travel together to San Miguel de Allende one year to attend the famous Mexican writers’ conference,” said Talking Gourds Director Art Goodtimes. “We’ve been partners in poetry ever since.”

 Joan is a retired psychotherapist and community organizer. Her work as a writer is informed by her study of cultural psychopathology, a baccalaureate degree in Comparative Literature, and as she notes “many years on Planet Earth.” In 2023, she published “Stolen Seasons: Observations, Poems, Lyrics and Rants.”

 Current projects include The Dog Poem, a children’s book about dogs being “bad” and an album of music with the group Jack Plus Jill, inspired by her lyrics from Stolen Seasons. Her presentation in Norwood will elaborate on the organic process of setting lyrics to music, enhancing and transforming a print medium using musical treatment, and the intricacies of collaboration with gifted musician/composers such as Jessica and Aaron Seibert and engineer/percussionist Taylor Riley – all of Grand Junction.

 Ray Harvey was born and raised in Ouray and graduated from Ouray High School. He has worked as a short-order cook, construction laborer, crab fisherman, janitor, bartender, copy editor, pedicab driver, and more. But as he explains it, “No matter where I've gone or what I've done to earn a living, literature has always been the driving force in my life.”

This free series happens on the third Wednesday of each month. With the new dual format, each featured guest will give a 1-20 min. presentation, followed by a short question and answer period after each presentation. After that, there’s a passing of the gourd, where community members are encouraged to share their own work, or others’ that they know and like.

 A collaboration of the Lone Cone Library and the Telluride Institute’s Talking Gourds poetry program, Stories & Poems is free and open to all ages, thanks to the generosity of the library, private donors and Talking Gourds’ Fischer & Cantor poetry contests. For more information, text 970-729-0220 or email Goodtimes at <art@tellurideinstitute.org>. To visit the website: <www.tellurideinstitute.org/talking-gourds