Poetry on the Patio: An EC Poetry and Prose Collective Reading

Join the EC Poetry and Prose Collective as they host a reading as a part of Free Fall Baltimore, with Zorina Exie Frey, Clifford Bernier, Blair Ewing, and Patti Ross!

EC Poetry and Prose is a collective of poets and writers who believe in the power of language to convey truth and promote peace. Our members are spoken word artists, published authors, and new and emerging writers. https://ecpoetryandprose.org/about-us/

Zorina Exie Jerome Frey has over a decade of publishing experience. She has edited and published for Indiana University South Bend’s Michiana Monologues non profit organization serving annual titles of president, director, editor, and Public Relations Associate. As a poet, Zorina’s work has been recognized by The White House. She was a semi-finalist for the TV pilot, America’s Next Great Author. Her work has been published in Chicken Soup for the Soul: I’m Speaking Now, Shondaland, Filter.org, Voyage MIA, Worcester Business Journal, Analecta, and New Views on Gender. Her poems and short stories have won several South Florida Writers’ Association awards. As a performance artist, she has been featured at the Miami Book Fair, Broward College’s Music, Film, Literature and Arts Festival, Miami Dade College’s Arts & Letters Series, and Lip Service: True Stories Out Loud. Zorina is also a spoken word performer with a background in improv. She has acted in commercials, co-hosted PBS WNIT Television’s campaign, and hosted the Mid-Day Morning Drive for WSMK 99.1 FM Radio in Buchanan, Michigan. Her small press, I.W.A. Publications was nominated as Young Adult Teen Readers’ Best Indie Publisher in 2013. I.W.A. Publications specializes in SEO content, graphic design, video, and consulting aspiring writers and experts on book publishing. She also founded 45 Magazine Literary Journal, an online publication. Zorina graduated from Indiana University South Bend with a bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications/Journalism along with a Web Design certificate. She then earned a certificate in Literary Publishing from Emerson College. Zorina is also an MFA Creative Writing candidate of Converse University; she’s certified in Google Analytics and a contributing editor for South 85 Journal. Other Achievements: Pushcart Prize for Poetry, 2023

Clifford Bernier’s The Silent Art won the Gival Press Poetry Award. He is also the author of Dark Berries and Earth Suite, each selected by the Montserrat Review as a Best Chapbook. A new book, Ocean Suite, was published in September 2024; his books Wetlands will be published in spring 2025 and Bakary and the River will be published in summer of 2025. He appears in The Write Blend poetry circle collection among other print and online journals and anthologies. In addition, Mr. Bernier appears on harmonica in the Portuguese Accumulated Dust world music series and is featured on the EP Post-Columbian America. He has been featured in readings in Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, Buffalo, Detroit, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and the Washington, DC area, including the Library of Congress, the Arts Club of Washington, George Washington University (where he is a member of the Washington Writer’s Collection) and the Bethesda Writer’s Center. He has been a reader for the Washington Prize and a judge for the National Endowment for the Arts’ Poetry Out Loud recitation contest. From 2003-2008 he hosted the Poesis reading series in Arlington, Virginia and performed with the Jazzpoetry band at venues in and around Washington, DC. He has been nominated for two Pushcart Prizes and a Best of the Net Award. He lives in Alexandria, Virginia.

Blair Ewing is Executive Producer of Word Up Baltimore, a poetry CD produced in 1997 in honor of Baltimore’s 200th birthday, featuring 50 of Baltimore’s best poet-performers. His poems have been widely published in lit magazines and journals. He is the recipient of the 1999 Randall Jarrell Prize, awarded by the Southeastern Regional Poetry Society. His latest project Baltimore Sessions is available now on Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp. The album is available now.Patti Ross graduated from Washington, DC’s Duke Ellington School for the Performing Arts and The American University. Retiring from a career in technology Patti has rediscovered her love of writing and shares her voice as the poet and spoken word artist “little pi.” Her poems are published in various literary journals, PoetryXHunger website, Oyster River Pages: Composite Dreams Issue and several ekphrastic and nature anthologies. Her debut chapbook, St. Paul Street Provocations, was released in July 2021 by Yellow Arrow Publishing. Her poem "Indemnity" was nominated for the Pushcart Prize in 2021. She is the founder of EC Poetry and Prose collective.

Patti Ross graduated from Washington, DC’s Duke Ellington School for the Performing Arts and The American University. Retiring from a career in technology Patti has rediscovered her love of writing and shares her voice as the poet and spoken word artist “little pi.” Her poems are published in various literary journals, PoetryXHunger website, Oyster River Pages: Composite Dreams Issue and several ekphrastic and nature anthologies. Her debut chapbook, St. Paul Street Provocations, was released in July 2021 by Yellow Arrow Publishing. Her poem "Indemnity" was nominated for the Pushcart Prize in 2021. She is the founder of EC Poetry and Prose collective.

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