Electric Euphoria is featuring powerful poetry by Hillary Gonzalez, and musical artist Just Iris, and hosted by Casey Catherine Moore.

Sign ups for the open mic will begin in person with Casey at 6:45pm. Show starts at 7:15-7:30.

Live ASL interpreters.

Hillary Gonzalez (they/she) is a Baltimore based queer, disabled, and AuDHD poet,
whose work explores themes of ecopoetry, identity, and healing. They are the authors
of Seasons, and the ecopoetry collections, Wild, Unfelt World (Gnashing Teeth
Publishing 2026), and Where the Osprey Nest (Palewell Press 2026). Their poems have
been published by South Broadway Press, Cosmic Daffodil Journal, Canid Press, and
in anthologies by Bi+ Book Gang, Yellow Arrow Publishing, Loblolly Press’ anthology:
Understory, a fundraising anthology for the victims of Hurricane Helene, and In
Praise of Despair, an anthology for disabled artists and writers by Beyond the Veil
Press.

Iris (she/her) is an indie pop/electronic artist from Loudon County, Virginia. She writes, records, and produces all her music in her bedroom, and her goal is to make music that sounds like how the sky looks.

Casey Catherine Moore (she/her) is a bipolar, bisexual writer, educator, and writing coach. She holds a Ph.D. in CompLit from U of SC with a focus on Latin poetry, invective, and gender studies. Her disability and mythology-inspired poetry collection, Psyche, was published by Anxiety Press (2024).

Special thanks to the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities for funding this project.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/seeds-of-resistance-poetry-open-mic-tickets-1983988538125?aff=oddtdtcreator

A poetry open mic in honor of Stony Run Park and the Remington Ave trees. Join host Hillary Gonzalez, of Sacred Parks and Waterways, and Crow’s Nest Baltimore, for an evening of poetry on climate justice, the Baltimore City parks we love, trees, and the harms of AI.

Each poet will have 5 minutes to perform. This is a free event, but space is limited, so be sure to RSVP!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wild-unfelt-world-book-launch-party-poetry-reading-tickets-1984248964066?aff=oddtdtcreator

In partnership with Urban Reads Bookstore, join author Hillary Gonzalez, for the launch of their new collection of eco-poetry, Wild, Unfelt World.

Hillary will be joined by local Baltimore and DMV poets, Retro, Katia Matychak, Ted Eccleston, Micki Topham, Gabriel Carter, and Joseph Colona. This is a true evening of revolutionary poetry. In the spirit of eco revolution, each poet will read a piece of their own, before we hear the poems from Wild, Unfelt World, followed by a panel discussion. Signed copies of Wild, Unfelt World will be available for purchase.

Hillary Gonzalez (they/she) is a Baltimore based queer, disabled, and AuDHD poet, activist, birder and wildlife photographer, whose work explores themes of nature, identity, and healing. They are the authors of Seasons, and the ecopoetry collections, Wild Unfelt World (Gnashing Teeth Publishing, April 2026), and Where the Osprey Nest (Palewell Press, August 2026). Their poems have been published in numerous publications, including South Broadway Press, Canid Press, and in anthologies by Bi+ Book Gang, Yellow Arrow Publishing, Loblolly Press’ anthology: Understory, a fundraising anthology for the victims of Hurricane Helene, The Body Archive by Cosmic Daffodil Journal, and In Praise of Despair, an anthology for disabled artists and writers by Beyond the Veil Press.

Jason Jackson commonly known as Retro is a Baltimore Native. His poetry is considered both raw and prolific. He uses poetry to both examine and interrogate unique challenges and complexities that young Black men face in the inner city. He was ranked top five of Baltimore’s grand slam in 2024. He has been featured at open mics around the region, and competed in slams throughout the united states. In March of 2025 Nevermore slam a Baltimore slam team he was a part of placed 3rd in Chicharra regional slam in New Mexico.

Katia Matychak (she/they) is a Baltimore-based poet, inspired by her Ukrainian and Appalachian upbringing. She is the author of 4 poetry collections, including her latest, Poems about Death and Transformation. Her work has been featured in many literary collections, such as Overgrowth Press, reference mollusk, and Pennsylvania's Best Emerging Poets. Being a neuroscientist, she explores the aesthetics of the human body and how we react to the world, from molecule to measure.

Gabriel David Carter is a Baltimore writer tracing grief and grace through worlds seen and felt. He writes about big feelings and the natural world, moving as both witness and wanderer.

Micki Topham (she/her) is a spoken word artist and poet. She has participated in countless poetry events, slams, and competitions, and has taught poetry workshops and performed across the nation, including featuring at an official 2025 World Pride poetry reading. Her poetry has been published in the Mid-Atlantic Review. She was a finalist in the 2025 DC Poet Project and is now an assistant editor with The Mid-Atlantic Review. You can find her most weeks passionately snapping for the incredible poets and performers across the DMV.

Joseph E Colona is a poet. His words can be found in Maryland Bards, Reference Mollusk, Overgrowth Press, Allium, a Journal of Poetry and Prose, his chapbook standing prayers. (Bottlecap Press, 2023), or hosting open mics. He lives in Baltimore where he works in public housing.

Ted is a person, husband, father, friend and poet living in Baltimore City. His poetry spans ten years trying to build relationships with the creatures and beings living in city neighborhoods. Ted turns to the page to share the lessons that the creek, the winged ones, and the blossoms share with him, inspiring readers to remember our intimacy with the living, breathing world. Ted's writing was first published in Baltimore Tree Trust’s Canopy Lit Magazine. You can often find him in Stony Run, lightly crossing the creek or perched up on a boulder with his gaze toward the sky. To read more of his work you can go to: tedinbaltimore.substack.com

Join me at the Virginia Osprey Festival, April 11th from 9am-4pm. I will be vending, and will have copies of Wild, Unfelt World on hand for purchase.

https://www.virginiaospreyfoundation.org/2026-festival

More about the festival & guests:

Keynote Speaker
Dr. Richard (Rob) Bierregaard

Dr. Richard (Rob) Bierregaard is a research associate of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University in Philadelphia and president of the Raptor Research Foundation.

From 1979 to 1988, working for the World Wildlife Fund and the Smithsonian Institution, he directed—in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon—the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project, which has been described as the largest and most ambitious ecological experiment ever undertaken.

​

Upon his repatriation in the late 80s, he taught in the Biology Department of UNC-Charlotte and returned his studies to his true passion—birds of prey.

His work over the past three decades has focused on Barred Owls in Charlotte, NC, and Ospreys in northeastern North America. In 2014 he was the lead author on a paper chronicling the post-DDT return of the Osprey population in southern New England. From 2000 to 2017, Rob and his colleagues deployed satellite transmitters on 108 Ospreys, from South Carolina to Newfoundland. The data from 67 juvenile Ospreys, tracking their first migration to South America and back, have provided startling insights into how naïve Ospreys discover the migration route taken by virtually all adults.

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In 2018 he published his first children’s book, Belle’s Journey, a narrative non-fiction account of a young Osprey’s first migration to southern Brazil and back again. Belle’s Journey received one of two Honorable Mentions in the 2018 National Outdoor Book Awards' Children's Division, was placed on the National Science Teachers' Association list of outstanding trade books for 2019, and was listed in the University of Wisconsin's Cooperative Children's Book Center's Choices 2019.

Dr. Ann-Marie Jacoby

The Potomac-Chesapeake Dolphin Project (pcdolphinproject.org) is a nonprofit research organization based out of Georgetown University with the mission to better understand and protect the Tamanend's bottlenose dolphins of the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay.

Dr. Ann-Marie Jacoby is the associate director of the Potomac-Chesapeake Dolphin Project and a postdoctoral associate at Georgetown University. Her research focuses on reconstructing the historical occurrence of dolphins in Potomac River and establishing a baseline of their current occurrence in the region using interdisciplinary approaches.

Will Poston 

Will Poston is a lifelong fisherman, hunter, and conservationist, who has leveraged these passions for a career in conservation and fisheries policy. He currently works for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation as its Forage Campaign Manager, primarily working on menhaden issues in the Bay. In this role, Will serves as CBF's point contact on menhaden, coordinating the organization's advocacy, policy, and education efforts around this critical forage fish.

Will's background as an avid outdoorsman and experience in fisheries management assists his work to build a broader group of effective and passionate advocates to promote much-needed menhaden conservation and awareness here in Virginia. Will can be reached at wposton@cbf.org. 

Romaric (Remy) Moncrieffe
Policy Manager, Marine Conservation

Romaric (Remy) Moncrieffe is the Marine Conservation Policy Manager for the National Audubon Society. His focus is on promoting a healthy marine ecosystem, particularly fishing regulations, wetland and estuary protection, and the expansion and creation of marine national sanctuaries and marine protected areas. Remy is located near Washington, D.C., and works to engage the Audubon network in ocean conservation.

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Prior to joining Audubon, Remy studied fisheries policy and aquaculture in the European Union. There, he led research on microplastics and their effect on bivalves. Remy has a B.S. in Biology from George Mason University and a joint M.S. in Aquaculture and Fisheries Policy from the University of Nantes, University of Crete, and Scottish Association for Marine Science.

Bring a poem about how paying attention to this beautiful and fragile world we belong to might be what we need to save it.

Wild, Unfelt World (Gnashing Teeth Publishing), a spiritual collection of ecopoetry, rooted in the landscape of the Chesapeake Bay and Delmarva Peninsula, is an urgent plea to reconnect with this beautiful world we call home, resist the greed of capitalism that's destroying it, and a lesson on how to see the world with new eyes for a better tomorrow. Red Emma's spirit of resistance in this capitalist society we find ourselves in, would be the perfect setting for my book.

Hillary Gonzalez (she/they) is a queer, genderfluid, and AuDHD ecopoet and activist, whose work explores themes of identity and healing. Writing from the unique perspective of a birder, Hillary's poetry draws deeply from personal experiences in forests, marshes, and mountains–weaving together reflections on the natural world with a call to protect it. Growing up on a farm in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia, it was there where Hillary’s love of nature was kindled. They are the author of the poetry collections, Seasons, Wild, Unfelt World (Gnashing Teeth Publishing), and Where the Osprey Nest (Palewell Press). Their poems have been published by South Broadway Press, Canid Press, and in the following anthologies: Bi All Accounts (Bi+ Book Gang) , Unfurl (Yellow Arrow Publishing), In Praise of Despair (Beyond the Veil Press), The Body Archive (Cosmic Daffodil Journal), and Understory (Loblolly Press), a fundraising zine to benefit the victims of Hurricane Helene. Hillary lives in Baltimore, MD, with their husband and dog Wilbur, where they continue to connect with readers on the intersections of neurodivergence, queerness, disability, and environmental advocacy.

@hillarygonzalezpoetry (Instagram and Threads) www.facebook.com/hillarygonzalezpoetry

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/snug-books-presents-an-evening-with-poets-open-mic-book-readings-tickets-1984392967785?aff=oddtdtcreator

Join Baltimore based poets, E. Doyle Gillespie and Hillary Gonzalez. Both Gonzalez and Gillespie will be reading from their new collections.

Bring a poems to read with you for the Open Mic portion of the evening!

Event timing:

6:15 - arrival & signup for the Open Mic

6:30 - Open Mic begins

7:00pm - Readings with Hillary Gonzalez & E. Doyle Gillespie

Join us for an Earth Liberation Reading & Open Mic featuring eco-poet and activist Hillary Gonzalez, author of Wild, Unfelt World, a luminous collection of eco-poetry rooted in birdsong, seasons, and radical attention to the living world.

The evening will begin with an open mic, inviting attendees to share original poetry or prose centered on climate justice, environmental grief, resistance, healing, and love for the natural world. Pieces may be polished or in-progress. All voices are welcome.

Following the open mic, Gonzalez will read from Wild, Unfelt World and join us for a conversation and audience Q&A. Written during early-morning bird walks, the collection is shaped by forests, marshes, and mountains, inviting readers to slow down, notice, and reconnect. To smell salt marshes, feel bark beneath their hands, and listen as owls call the evening in.

A queer, genderfluid, and AuDHD poet who grew up on a farm in the foothills of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains, Gonzalez writes at the intersection of neurodivergence, queerness, disability, spirituality, and environmental advocacy. Their work asks a simple but urgent question: why have we stopped listening?

RSVP and sign up for the Open Mic here: https://www.fourseasonsbooks.com/gonzalez.html#/

https://www.parksandpeople.org/events/nature-poetry-open-mic

Nature is a movement/Water is a force: Poetry to reckon with
on nature, wonder, and our environment

Hosted by Gabriel David Carter & Hillary Gonzalez

@ Parks & People
2100 Liberty Heights Avenue
Inside the Stone House