December Featured Poet: Michael Hettich

We're pleased to welcome poet Michael Hettich this December in another special event curated by Martha Highers of Under the Sun. Hettich will join us from Black Mountain, NC, and will read from his new collection, A Sharper Silence, as well as Waking Up Alone, forthcoming in April.

Michael Hettich was born in Brooklyn, NY, in 1953 and grew up in New York City and its suburbs. He has published over a dozen books and chapbooks of poetry, and his work has appeared widely in journals and anthologies. His awards include The Hudson-Fowler Award in Poetry (2023), The Brockman-Campbell Award from the North Carolina Poetry Society (The Halo of Bees), several Florida Individual Artists Fellowships, a Florida Book Award, The Tampa Review Prize in Poetry, the David Martinson–Meadow Hawk Prize, and the 2020 Lena M. Shull Book Award. He often collaborates with visual artists, musicians, and fellow writers.

Of A Sharper Silence, poet Marie Harris writes, "In this heartfelt, heartbreaking collection, Michael Hettich reaches into the wilds to find some measure of the eternal that might wedge itself between himself and the unthinkable: the death of his beloved. He calls upon memory as if to rewind their lives together and forestall the inevitable. He immerses himself in the forces that might provide some solace, might somehow outlast the darkness, the silence. In language as vivid as the pulsing life around him—the swollen creeks, the mountains; sky, stars, and wind; birds and bears—he contains those elements and lets them speak."

As always, Sawmill Poetry will also feature an open mic. Poetry, spoken word, dramatic monologue, short prose, and more are welcome. Songs? Yes, songs! Arrive by 6:45 to sign up.