Katherine J. Williams reads from her new poetry collection, Still Life (Cherry Grove Collections, 2022).

Katherine J. Williams, art therapist and clinical psychologist, was the Director of the Art Therapy Program at George Washington University, where she is now Associate Professor Emerita. Her clinical articles have appeared in The American Journal of Art Therapy and Art Therapy. Poems have been published in journals and anthologies such as Poet Lore, The Northern Virginia Review, 3rd Wednesday, The Poet’s Cookbook, The Widow’s Handbook, and How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude and Hope. One of her poems was nominated for the Pushcart Prize.

Written with an artist’s eye, Still Life candidly and exquisitely explores moments of beauty, tenderness, doubt, and devastation. These poems from one life become a celebration of the human capacity for joy in its complexity. Readers will recognize themselves in Still Life, and will find ways to understand the world anew.

“With rich sensory detail and a keen perception of the natural world, Katherine J. Williams explores absence and presence and affirms that even after great loss, life is Still Life. Through the roles of daughter, mother, wife, widow, grandmother, and contemplative, she explores how sorrow ‘ties us to each other, wears our edges smooth, and over and over washes the world, leaving us rinsed and clean'”. -Ellen Bass, author of Indigo

“Katherine Williams’ poems have a crystalline quality, polished and honed over time. Yet they retain the rare ability to capture fully that moment when ‘something new flames into being’, surprising both writer and reader alike. Each poem brings glinting new insights to the surface, and I have no doubt her work will be read with relish for many years to come”.-James Crews, Poet and Editor of The Path to Kindness: Poems of Connection & Joy

“Elegance, intelligence, and a deep and tender wisdom run through this marvelous and much-anticipated debut collection. Katherine Williams asks us to slow down, to pay ever more close attention, as she explores family lore, mortality, the truths our bodies tell us, and the subtle unfolding mysteries of the natural world. Page after page, these clear-eyed and open-hearted poems unfurl their lyrical surprises. This is an achingly beautiful book”. – Rose Solari, co-founder of Alan Squire Publishing, author of The Last Girl.

More information can be found at the website katherinejwilliamspoetry.com

There is no charge to attend our poetry readings, but donations are very much welcome and appreciated, and the poets often will offer their books for sale. We encourage you to honor them by taking a book home to live awhile longer with their words and work, and to share your experience of their work with others. Keep in mind we have a monthly poetry series, first Thursdays, where we typically present to poets as featured readers followed by an open mic. Feel free to bring your own work to those sessions, and to encourage emerging and established poets of your acquaintance to read here as well.

Thank you for supporting the venues that present the poets and musicians who keep our culture alive and evolving. Bird & Beckett presents its music and poetry events under the umbrella of the Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, which counts on the donations of individuals like you to augment audience revenues in order to pay the culture workers who contribute their talents and labors and to help cover operating costs. Please consider making a donation today. Only with a healthy donor base can we do what we do. Click here for information on how to donate and be part of the Bird & Beckett family.