Flyleaf Books hosts first Second Sunday Poetry event of 2025

On Sunday, Flyleaf Books hosted their first Second Sunday Poetry Series event of the year. Each month, the event features two published poets, a book signing and an open mic where community members can share poetry of their own.

The series began in 2010 and ran until the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. In January 2023, local poets Ralph Earle and Janis Harrington,who co-hosted Sunday’s event, revived the program. 

Earle said that the only requirement for featured poets is that they had a book published by a publishing company within the past year. Additionally, while it is not a requirement, many of the featured poets have ties to North Carolina or the Chapel Hill area.

“North Carolina is very rich in poetry and writing in general, but we’ve had big name poets from the most prestigious presses, John Hoppenthaler, John Balaban," Harrington said. 

Earle said that the Second Sunday events have open-mic participants with ages ranging between 16-80, some of whom have never shared their poetry before. He said that one of the greatest things about the poetry community at Flyleaf is its appreciative and encouraging nature. 

This month, Flyleaf hosted poets Ashley Lumpkin and Colin Dekeersgieter, both of whom are local to North Carolina. 

Lumpkin opened the reading with excerpts from her book, "I Hate You All Equally," which recounted her experiences during her time as a high school math teacher, as well as from her more recent publication, a genre-fluid memoir entitled "The Sad Stays." 

“I fully believe in the power of storytelling to change the world, particularly through poetry, because I think it gives us a new lens at looking at some older things,” she said. 

After Lumpkin’s reading, which highlighted themes of grief, mental illness and social justice, Dekeersgieter read an excerpt from his collection, "Opium and Ambergris," speaking to themes of family and love.   

Both poets encouraged community members to attend the Flyleaf Second Sunday Poetry Series and similar events in the triangle. 

“Language is the way that you operate in the world,” Dekeersgieter said. “It’s the one thing that we all share, really. And if you give yourself access to different types of language and different types of people, you’ll become a more empathetic person, probably a better student, open to different creative ideas.” 

He also encouraged those interested in writing and performing poetry to attend and participate in similar open-mic opportunities in the latter half of the Second Sunday events. Dekeersgieter said that poetry is often written in solitude, but it is ultimately all about community. 

“Whatever avenue you can find to find your people, people who share love for the real world, share love for storytelling, anything, any opportunity you have, I highly recommend that you take it,” he said. 

Lumpkin shared this sentiment, stressing the importance of forming relationships within the poetry community as an aspiring poet.

“The way to get better at this craft is by reading, is by writing, is by getting in front of the microphone and sharing and hearing other people and letting those people pour into you,” she said. 

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