Today, it’s not hot in Miami. There’s a very special crisp blue breeze only November in the subtropics can host. These are excellent conditions for taking the Miami metrorail to a very epic Miami festival. Today is the last day of the Miami Book Fair, and I’m honored to be a part of this particular event:

A group of local poets will pay tribute to award-winning poet and LGBTQ+ activist Maureen Seaton. Hosted by poets Denise Duhamel and Nicole Tallman, the group will read their favorite poems from Seaton’s expansive collection in memory and celebration of her remarkable literary accomplishments. Seaton served as a professor and longtime chair of the creative writing program at the University of Miami College of Arts and Sciences. Get additional information.

This reading honors the life and work of award-winning poet, professor, and LGBTQ+ activist Maureen Seaton (October 20, 1947 – August 26, 2023), author of more than two dozen solo and collaborative books, who touched the lives of so many in Miami and beyond through her poetry, teaching, and kindness. Hosted by poets DENISE DUHAMEL and NICOLE TALLMAN, this tribute gathers a group of local poets to read their favorite poems from Seaton’s expansive collection in memory and celebration of her remarkable literary accomplishments. Among the featured poets are JUBI ARRIOLA-HEADLEY, CARIDAD MORO-GRONLIER, and JULIE MARIE WADE.

I will be reading two poems from our forthcoming chapbook, How to Get Into Trouble. It’s weird to say “our forthcoming” book, since one of the collaborators, Maureen Seaton, is passed away. Do I say posthumously even though the rest of us that worked on it are alive? It’s a pickle I can’t say I’ve ever been in before. We aren’t Tres Abuelas y Una Mama anymore like when Myth America came out. I guess we are Two Abuelas y Una Mama? Or do we just not exist anymore. Technically we aren’t the same group, so is the group itself also passed on? Okay, so it is technically posthumous. I don’t know the answer, but I do know that Maureen would love to be a part of this discussion 🙂 !