July 12, 2025 - Sandra Marchetti & Jamie Wendt Reading + Poetry Open-Mic
Saturday, July 12, 2025
4PM - 6PM
@ Wayfarer Theater Office
1850 Second Street, Highland Park.
Highland Park Poetry welcomes Sandra Marchetti and Jamie Wendt as our feature poets.
Sandra Marchetti is the 2023 winner of The Twin Bill Book Prize for Best Baseball Poetry Book of the Year. She is the author of three full-length collections of poetry, DIORAMA, from Stephen F. Austin State University Press (2025), Aisle 228 (SFA Press, 2023), and Confluence (Sundress Publications, 2015). She is Poetry Editor Emerita at River Styx Magazine. Sandy earned an MFA in Creative Writing—Poetry from George Mason University and now serves as the Assistant Director of Academic Support at Harper College in Chicagoland. You can find out more at: https://sandramarchetti.net/
Jamie Wendt is the author of Fruit of the Earth (Main Street Rag 2018), which won the 2019 National Federation of Press Women Book Award in Poetry. Laughing in Yiddish (Broadstone Books, 2025) was a finalist for the 2022 Philip Levine Prize in Poetry. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Nebraska Omaha. She is a middle school Humanities teacher and lives in Chicago with her husband and two kids.
Open-mic follows the feature. Poets may bring up to 3 short poems to share, though HPP reserves the right to reduce the number read to ensure all participants have an opportunity. Come a few minutes early to sign up for the line-up.
*Location* Next door to movie theater. Recommend using Renaissance Place 3-hour free underground parking garage. Stairs in southeast end take you to Second Street or follow signs to movie theater.
There is no cover charge. We hope attendees will support the businesses that support us. Consider seeing a film at Wayfarer Theater before or after.
Upcoming Dates for Readings & Open-Mics at The Wayfarer Theater, 1850 Second Street, Highland Park, IL
July 12 - Sandra Marchetti & Jamie Wendt
August 9 - Virginia Bell
BONUS EVENT August 23 - Message in a Bottle Anthology Reading (2PM at Secret World Books, 1774 2nd Street)
September 13 - Sheila Elliott, the 2025 Prairie State Poetry Prize Winner
October 11 - Caroline Johnson
BONUS EVENT October 18 - Stephen Haven & Rosa Lane (2PM at Secret World Books, 1774 2nd Street)
November 8 - Lynn Fitzgerald
December 13 - Holiday Open-Mic
January 10 - TBD
February 14 - Donna Vorreyer
March 14 - TBD
April 10 - TBD
May 9 - Carol Alfus & Terry Loncaric
If you are interested in becoming a featured poet, please reach out.
Virginia Bell, our featured poet on August 9
2025 Helen Schaible International Sonnet Contest
Poets & Patrons of Chicago manages this esteemed annual sonnet contest. Go traditional and channel your inner Shakespeare and Petrarch. Or embrace the modern sonnet. Submission period is open now and ends July 15, 2025.
Click to download submission guidelines or visit www.poetsandpatrons.net
Photo by Jennifer Dotson. Click to download guidelines.
Volo Bog's Peatland Poetry Challenge
Celebrate International Bog Day on July 27, 2025 and write a poem in 1 of 3 categories. Deadline is 3 PM on July 1st. Click here to download .pdf guidelines.
Daily Poems from June 2025
Here are the poems posted on Highland Park Poetry's Facebook page from June 2025.
Thank you to our contributors to this special section: Carol Alfus, Mukut Borpujari,MJ Boyd, Mary Beth Bretzlauf, Joseph Kuhn Carey, Brian Carlson, Jan Chronister, Whitnee Coy, Gail Denham, Michael Escoubas, James Lowell Hall, Colleen McManus Hein, Irene Hoffman, Dave Karpowicz, Richard V. Kaufman, Maggie Kennedy, Nancy Kennedy, Pauline Kochanski, Jill Angel Langlois, Terry Loncaric, Carolyn Martinez, Tim Mueller, Drew Pisarra, Marjorie Rissman, Sandy Rochelle, David J. Rogers, Jill Spealman, Richard Stimac, Janet Hale Tobin, and Peter A. Witt. Please also enjoy our Muses' Gallery. Join us on Facebook and Instagram.
Highland Park Poetry seeks submissions of shorter poems for our Daily Poem posts. Collaborations are welcome as are poems in non-English languages when accompanied by an English translation. Send 1 - 5 short poems as text in an email with "Daily Poem Submissions + your name" in the subject line. If you must, send only a single attachment - either .doc or .pdf. We don't do Google docs. Send to jennifer[at]highlandparkpoetry.org.
Celebrate words and carry poetry in your heart!
Thank you to our contributors to this special section: Carol Alfus, Mukut Borpujari,MJ Boyd, Mary Beth Bretzlauf, Joseph Kuhn Carey, Brian Carlson, Jan Chronister, Whitnee Coy, Gail Denham, Michael Escoubas, James Lowell Hall, Colleen McManus Hein, Irene Hoffman, Dave Karpowicz, Richard V. Kaufman, Maggie Kennedy, Nancy Kennedy, Pauline Kochanski, Jill Angel Langlois, Terry Loncaric, Carolyn Martinez, Tim Mueller, Drew Pisarra, Marjorie Rissman, Sandy Rochelle, David J. Rogers, Jill Spealman, Richard Stimac, Janet Hale Tobin, and Peter A. Witt. Please also enjoy our Muses' Gallery. Join us on Facebook and Instagram.
Highland Park Poetry seeks submissions of shorter poems for our Daily Poem posts. Collaborations are welcome as are poems in non-English languages when accompanied by an English translation. Send 1 - 5 short poems as text in an email with "Daily Poem Submissions + your name" in the subject line. If you must, send only a single attachment - either .doc or .pdf. We don't do Google docs. Send to jennifer[at]highlandparkpoetry.org.
Celebrate words and carry poetry in your heart!
