Poet, writer, critic and professor Lesley Wheeler of Virginia will be the featured poet for the Telluride Institute’s first Tuesday Talking Gourds’ Bardic Trails virtual Stories & Poems series Feb. 3rd at 7 pm MST.
Lesley Wheeler writes poetry, fantasy fiction, creative nonfiction and criticism. Her sixth poetry collection was Mycocosmic which appeared in March of last year from Tupelo Press and was runner-up for the Dorset Prize. Her debut work of nonfiction, Poetry’s Possible Worlds (2022), blends memoir and criticism to read 21st. century poetry in light of the cognitive science of “literary transportation” – getting lost in a book.
Her novel of dark academia, Unbecoming, appeared in 2020 and was called “an excellent feminist fantasy” in a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly. Her poems and essays appear in Poets&Writers, Best American Poetry 2025, Poetry, Kenyon Review, Guernica, American Poetry Review, Gettysburg Review, Ecotone, Massachusetts Review, Strange Horizons and many other venues.
For those that like prompts, we are suggesting “Mushrooms,” although poems on any subject are welcome. Virtual attendees are encouraged to bring a story or poem to share each month after the featured reader, their own work or someone else’s.
The Wilkinson Library and Talking Gourds has started a new live Stories & Poems series at Magazine Room on the third Tuesday of every month, although we are changing the time from 5:30 pm to 5:15 pm so we can wrap up for the library’s closing time at 7 pm. We began in December with Montrose metaphysical poet Tracy Lightsey, in January we had Montrose storyteller Tanya Ishikawa, and Feb. 3rd we will have writer Karen Bellerose and musician Bob Beer – both of Lawson Hill.
Talking Gourds’ Scot Rasor (KOTO DJ Razor Blaze) is talking with Telluride Arts to continue to bring poetry to Artwalk first Thursdays in selected galleries and is also working with a lot of local arts entities to start a monthly music and poetry event somewhere in town.
The Telluride Institute’s Talking Gourds Poetry Program hosts the free Bardic Trails virtual zoom series on the first Tuesday of each month. The Wilkinson Public Library continues as our collaboration partner, with town support from Commission for Community Assistance, Arts & Special Events.
No longer needing to register with the library, participants are encouraged to visit <https://www.tellurideinstitute.org/western-slope-calendar> to get the zoom link each month, if they aren’t already on our mailing list. Thanks to the Cantor Family, the Guttman Family Foundation, CCAASE and our Fischer and Cantor contest participants for supporting our program and projects.
