Poetry Mutual: A New Washington DC Poetry Promoter

 

Washington, DC, has a new poetry promoter in town called Poetry Mutual.

 

Years ago, DC had the Poetry Committee of Greater Washington, DC Area which was hosted by the Folger Shakespeare Library. That poetry promotion group had a literary calendar and an award system (the Columbia Prize). It’s a brave thing to do because it takes staying power.

 

Behind Poetry Mutual are Kim Roberts (founder of Beltway Journal now hosted by Indran Amirthanayagam), Michael Gushue, and Dan Vera. These three poets have been involved in promoting other people’s poetry through small presses they have formed and supported. They are an awesome literary force.

 

The Steiny Road Poet is pleased to have had From the Belly: Poets Respond to Gertrude Stein’s Tender Buttons selected by Poetry Mutual as one of the three best anthologies of 2023. The other two selected were Dora Malech and Laura T. Smith’s The American Sonnet: An Anthology of Poems and Essays and Luisa A. Igloria, Aileen Cassinetto, and Jeremy S. Hoffman’s Dear Human at the Edge of Time: Poems on Climate Change in the United States.  There were many wonderful anthologies they could have singled out for recognition. Check out Poetry Mutual and sign up for all their news, including their selection of the ten best single author poetry collections.