Standing room only for Sharon McDermott reading from her recent book of poetry, Life Without Furniture at the Williams home. A lovely way to usher in Spring.
How lucky we are to have Sharon a talented poet and musician as a friend and as part of the Pittsburgh writing and teaching scene.
Poetry and friends has been a tradition in our home for many years. We hope we can feature more writers, poets and artists in our home in the future. Or just come and read a favorite poem or one you have written. We will let you know.
More about Sharon and her work:
Sharon Fagan McDermott is a poet, musician, and a teacher of literature at Winchester Thurston School in Pittsburgh, PA. Her most recent collection of poetry, Life WithoutFurniture, waspublished by Jacar Press in May 2018. Additionally, Fagan McDermott has published three chapbook collections, Voluptuous, Alley Scatting(Parallel Press, 2005), and Bitter Acoustic, which won the 2011 Jacar Press Chapbook contest. Her poems have been published widely in journals including Prairie Schooner, Poet Lore, and Seneca Review, as well as in anthologies. Fagan McDermott has been a recipient of both a Pittsburgh Foundation Artist Award and a PA Council on the Arts grant.
Sharon Fagan McDermott’sLife Without Furniture wrestles with the challenge of feeling at home in an oftentimes fraught world. It dives deeply into themes that will resonate with those growing older: loss, transitions, and loneliness, while also celebrating the beauty of the world given most freely to us all. These poems try to strike a balance between gratitude for the timeless natural world and the unpredictability of life in middle age. As National Book Award winner Terrance Hayes wrote of McDermott’s poems: “The whole world, visible and invisible, inhabits this wonderful new book.”
See more about my writing life here: https://karenlynnwilliams.com