R.B. Simon, Lisa Marie Brodsky

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Kandra Shefchik

Madison-based writer R.B. Simon.

Join poets R.B. Simon and Lisa Marie Brodsky for readings from their poetry collections. Simon’s Not Just The Fire is the queer, Black poet’s first full-length collection. The work, published in March, dares to discuss difficult subjects with a tone of hopefulness for what the author refers to as “the blessed new day.” Brodsky explores the experience of a mother-child relationship over the course of the child’s life in her collection Motherlung. Published in 2014, the book was recognized as an Outstanding Achievement in Poetry by the Wisconsin Library Association.

media release: A Room of One's Own is thrilled to welcome RB Simon and Lisa Marie Brodsky for a poetry reading from each of their books Not Just The Fire and Motherlung

This is an in person event at A Room of One's Own

About the Books

Not Just The Fire: In her powerful debut, R.B. Simon confronts subjects that we often dare not talk about in our daily lives, topics we shy away from in our water-cooler conversations. From miscarriage to addiction and overdose, and from bullying and racism to mental illness and eating disorders, nothing is off limits. Ultimately, Not Just the Fire is a story of resiliency. Weaving a narrative of overcoming in a world often harsh and unfair, the narrator returns again and again to the hope of “the blessed new day.”

Motherlung: In this wise and intimate book, Lisa Marie Brodsky tells the story of a life, embracing love, sorrow, loss, memory, and hope. As the book moves through childhood, Brodsky's poems open to the reader, sharing the enduring bond that exists between a mother and child. Beyond, in the adult world, the poems explore the loss of that mother and the adult loves that follow. Brodsky's poems are sometimes headlong, sometimes contemplative and deep, but her unsparing approach to both pain and love makes Motherlung a powerful book, one you must read.

          - Jesse Lee Kercheval author of Cinema Muto, Dog Angel, and World As Dictionary

R.B. Simon is a queer, black writer who has been published in multiple journals, among them pacificREVIEW, The Poetry Coop, Strange Horizons, Literary Mama Obsidian, and CALYX. Her chapbook, The Good Truth, was released in July 2021 from Finishing Line Press, and was a Finalist in the WI Fellowship of Poets Chapbook Contest. Her upcoming full-length collection, Not Just the Fire, is forthcoming in March 2023 from Cornerstone Press. In her free time, she enjoys creating art, napping, and coffee-flavored caffeine. She is currently living in Madison, WI with her spouse, newborn daughter, and several unruly little dogs.

Lisa Marie Brodsky is the author of “We Nod Our Dark Heads” (Parallel Press, 2008) and “Motherlung” (Salmon Poetry, 2014), the latter awarded by the Wisconsin Library Association as an Outstanding Achievement in Poetry. Her poetry has been published in The North American Review, Mom Egg Review, Diode, Painted Bride Quarterly, Poetry South, among others. She is a Poetry Therapy Practitioner in training and works as a Peer Support Specialist and Supervisor in the mental health field, guiding others in discovering how poetry can be a catalyst for recovery, a focus in Lisa Marie’s poetry for the past 30+ years.