My lightning, my thunder
A Book Launch & Poetry Reading with
R.J. Lambert
OPEN MIC Featured Author
Thursday, June 23, 2022, 7-8:30 p.m. ET.
R.J. is the author of the Hot Off The Press debut book of poems
MIND LIT IN NEON
FROM OUR PRODUCER & HOST
KELLY DUMAR
(she/her) Boston based poet, playwright, daily blogger, and leader of creative writing organizations—in person and online—for 30 years. Kelly's philosophy about teaching and coaching is simple: Your stories are not only meaningful, they are beautiful, and they deserve to be written, crafted and shared.
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R.J. has been writing his newly published debut book of poems Mind Lit in Neon, for twenty years. Since it’s hot off the Finishing Line Press, we offered to make his poetry feature for the Journal of Expressive Writing a celebratory book launch, as well as a reading and Q&A, followed by our OPEN MIC this Thursday, June 23, 2022, from 7-8:30 p.m. ET.
We hope you will join us for this remarkable event.
. . . at times, we could all use
a little looking after. . . .
~ R.J. Lambert, from his award-winning poem, Morning People
Every poet hopes for/looks for a great cover design, and Mind Lit in Neon is an eye-catching, provocative gem by artist Loui Jover. It’s the kind of energetic cover that makes me want to jump right into the neon lit interior.
And, on the back cover, a detail that catches any reader’s eye, is R.J.’s personal history and biography—He is a survivor of the 1999 Columbine shootings in Colorado. His experience with post-traumatic stress, and his desire to use writing to help people heal from trauma, is why I trusted he would be an excellent feature for the Journal of Expressive Writing.
R.J. writes, “Surviving the 1999 Columbine High School shootings fostered [my] interest in the healing power of writing in response to individual and communal traumas, which [I have] explored through scholarly research, presentations, and poetry.”
It seems to me that his award-winning, powerful poem, “Fight, Flight, Freeze,” speaks to the long-lasting experience of trauma and the power writing gives us to cross chasms of emotional isolation by creating connections to an audience:
“. . . Sometimes the silence
Sounds like sirens. . .”
R.J.'s poem, Morning People won third place in the Oregon Poets Choice Award, and Jessica Mehta writes about why she selected it: “Morning People ushers readers across decades of a so-called ‘normal’ life, with all its perceived ups and downs, only to bring us back to our core and remind us of the fragility and vulnerability of life and who we are.”
As a professor of the Medical University of South Carolina, R.J.’s comments on a 2022 panel discussing the effects of gun violence speak to its long-lasting effects: “Lambert’s sense of safety — an essential human need — was disrupted following the tragedy. It affected everything else in his life and persisted long after the shooting, despite the fact Lambert wasn’t among the injured.”
“It’s this disruption to feeling safe which explains how gun violence is so wide reaching to people who didn’t even experience the actual violence, and also long lasting — long after the gun violence is over,” he said.
The poet Mary Ann Samyn writes that “In Mind Lit in Neon, RJ Lambert imagines a world where mother, father, and brother mingle with Camus and Borges and Stein, Nancy Reagan, and Whitney Houston. Let the revelations come as they may, this world is alive to itself and moving to the music Lambert paints: all our days and nights: the siren of an ambulance, the first robin, a morning’s breeze—so many sounds vivid against the skin.”
One of my favorites from this collection is a poem that I hope R.J. will read for us, Color Theory, which delves into the complication of family dynamics:
That’s what all my family does
on Easter since I’m gone. They sit
(not talking) & press stickers
where the color never seems to want to go.
R.J. won the 2021 Patricia Cleary Miller Award for Poetry, selected by Kaveh Akbar, for Habits of Creature, which begins:
My inner, my outer, my over & under
My thinner & fatter. My lightning
my thunder. . .
More than a book launch, more than a poetry reading, our event with R.J. on Thursday night is likely to be a powerful experience of poetry, healing, illumination and community—because we all could use a little looking after.
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See you then!
Kelly
About R.J. Lambert
R.J. Lambert (he, him, his) is a queer writer, editor, and teacher based in Charleston, South Carolina. Surviving the 1999 Columbine High School shootings fostered his interest in the healing power of writing in response to individual and communal traumas, which he has explored through scholarly research, presentations, and poetry.
R.J. was a James A. Michener Poetry Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin, where he co-founded and co-edited the journal Bat City Review. His poems have since appeared widely in journals and anthologies. He recently won the 2021 Patricia Cleary Miller Award for Poetry from New Letters and was nominated for a 2021 Puschart Prize by The Worcester Review. This is his debut poetry collection.
R.J. teaches science writing and health communication at the Medical University of South Carolina.
Find him online at rj-lambert.com.
R.J.’s debut poetry collection, Mind Lit in Neon, is newly available from Finishing Line Press.
REGISTER NOW to attend/hear R.J. followed by our OPEN MIC with 15 writers who will read their work.
Want to read your work for 3 min? We have a couple of spots left! First come, first served + a waiting list. Sign Up here.
All OPEN MIC events are FREE to attend and OPEN TO ALL, but you do need to register through Eventbrite here.
The Journal of Expressive Writing OPEN MIC is produced and hosted by Kelly DuMar.
Read about our upcoming featured authors on our OPEN MIC page.
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About the Editor:
Jennifer A. Minotti (she/her) is a Writer-in-Residence at the Center for Women's Health and Human Rights at Suffolk University. For the past 25 years, she has dedicated her professional life toward working for the betterment of society. For 17 years, Jen worked at Education Development Center (EDC)—a global non-profit working to improve education, health, and economic opportunities worldwide—in a variety of technology, research, writing, and leadership roles.