Featured Readers
Jalen EutseyJalen Eutsey is a writer from Miami, Florida. A recipient of the Wallace Stegner Fellowship from Stanford University, his poems have appeared in Best New Poets, The Yale Review, Poetry Northwest, and The Hopkins Review. His chapbook, “Bubble Gum Stadium,” was published by Button Poetry.
Michelle PeñalozaMichelle Peñaloza is the author of “All The Words I Can Remember Are Poems,” winner of the 2024 Lexi Rudnitsky Editor’s Choice Award and the James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets (Persea Books, 2025). Her debut, “Former Possessions of the Spanish Empire,” won the 2018 Hillary Gravendyk National Poetry Prize. The proud daughter of Filipino immigrants, Michelle was born in the suburbs of Detroit, MI and raised in Nashville, TN. She now lives in Covelo, CA.
Event Details
When Wednesday, February 18, 2026
7:30 pm
Where Haymarket House
800 W. Buena
PriceReading is free (registration recommended). The workshop is sliding scale with a suggested donation of $10 and requires registration.
About the Reading
Each event includes a brief open mic followed by two featured poets. Pre-registration is free and recommended. The open mic includes five readers drawn lottery-style from a hat that goes out at 7:15. The reading starts promptly at 7:30. Each open mic poet reads one poem or for three minutes, whichever comes first.
About The Workshop
The Blue Hour generative writing workshop is suitable for writers and poetry fans of all levels. We will discuss a poem together, then Marty will guide the group through individual writing on an exploratory prompt that draws on themes from the poem.
Accessibility, Health, & Safety
- All restrooms at Haymarket House are gender-neutral, including single-user and stalled restrooms.
- Each event includes ASL interpretation. Haymarket House is ADA compliant and fully wheelchair-accessible; email curator@poetrycenter.org to ensure ramp access and with any other accessibility needs.
- Masks are currently strongly encouraged for all indoor events, and the space is equipped with a professional air filtration system.
About The Host
Marty McConnell is a poet, educator, and healer based in Chicago. She is the author of when they say you can’t go home again, what they mean is you were never there, winner of the 2017 Michael Waters Poetry Prize; her first full-length collection, wine for a shotgun, received the Silver Medal in the Independent Publishers Awards and was a finalist for both the Audre Lorde Award and a Lambda Literary Award. Her first nonfiction book, Gathering Voices: Creating a Community-Based Poetry Workshop, is available through YesYes Books. She is the co-creator and co-editor of underbelly, a web site focused on the art and magic of poetry revision. An MFA graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, her work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies including Best American Poetry, Southern Humanities Review, Gulf Coast, and Indiana Review.
Learn more about the series and history >
