Posted on

Neon Moon Reading Raised $250 for Casa Juan Diego

By the Light of a Neon Moon: Poetry Out of Dance Halls, Honky Tonks, Music Halls and Clubs
Janet Lowery and Meg Spesia smile for the camera under a blue and white sign reading "Casa Juan Diego 4818 Rose Entrada"
Janet Lowery with Meg Spesia, a Catholic Worker from Chicago now working at Casa Juan Diego in Houston.

With support from the English Department at the University of St. Thomas, Houston, on Wednesday Oct 16th in the Art Gallery on campus, poet Janet Lowery hosted a reading of poetry from By the Light of a Neon Moon, the anthology of poems she edited for Madville Publishing. With the help of the Montgomery Arts Council, fiction writer Cliff Hudder, and 2011 Poet Laureate Dave Parsons, a reading from the anthology was also delivered on Thursday October 17 at Lone Star College, Montgomery campus.

By the Light of a Neon Moon: Poetry Out of Dance Halls, Honky Tonks, Music Halls and ClubsSales from the anthology at both readings amounted to $250.00, all of which was donated to Casa Juan Diego, a House of Hospitality in Houston which provides food, clothing, and shelter—both long-term and short term—to immigrants and the homeless. They accept donations of food, clothing and other items on their premises on Rose Street and online through their website.

Poets from the anthology who read at UST with Janet Lowery included Katie Hoerth,  Lesley Clinton, Winston Derden, and Dave Parsons. Poets reading at Lone Star with Dave Parsons and Janet Lowery included Houston poet Winston Derden and poet Karen Head, editor of the Atlantic Review.