Poetry Retreat at Howard University

Day Eight is pleased to announce the next event in our ongoing partnership with Howard University, supported in 2026 by grant from the DC Mayors Office of Community Affairs. Sunday, February 22, the Day Eight community is invited to join Howard University students for a poetry writing retreat reflecting on mindfulness. Directed by Teri Cross Davis and co-hosted by Howard University faculty and Mid-Atlantic Review contributors Susan Mockler and Kimberly Douglas and Mid-Atlantic Review managing editor Robert Bettmann, the retreat includes a workshop co-led by Day Eight book authors Rebecca Bishophall and Brandon Douglas.

Retreat Agenda:

1:00-1:30 Registration and check-in

1:30 Welcome from director Teri Cross Davis

1:35-3:15 Poetry workshop led by Rebecca Bishophall and Brandon Douglas

3:15-3:30 Break

3:30-5:15 Poetry reading and open mic hosted by Teri Cross Davis featuring Susan Mockler, Kimberly Douglas, Robert Bettmann, Rebecca Bishophall and Brandon Douglas. Open mic spots available for all workshop participants. Select writing from the workshop may be selected for publication in the Mid-Atlantic Review.

Retreat Faculty Bios:

Retreat director Teri Ellen Cross Davis is the author of A More Perfect Union, 2019 winner of The Journal/Charles B. Wheeler Poetry Prize and Haint, winner of the 2017 Ohioana Book Award for Poetry. She is the 2022 recipient of a Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Award and the Poetry Society of America’s 2020 Robert H. Winner Memorial Prize. Her work has appeared in print, online, and in many journals and anthologies including: Harvard Review, PANK, Poetry Ireland Review, and Kenyon Review. Until recently, she served as the O.B. Hardison Poetry Series Curator and Poetry Programs manager for the Folger Shakespeare Library.

Workshop leader Brandon Douglas is the 2023 winner of The DC Poet Project and author of the book Dipped in Cerulean (Day Eight, 2023.) Father of two young girls, Douglas works as a poet educator in schools, detention centers, and community centers. He began writing raps in middle school and later melded poetry and hip hop into spoken word compositions. Prince George’s County poet laureate Khadijah Ali-Coleman described Dipped in Cerulean, “Navigates the waters of deep parental love, social justice, and the Black experience with gentle honesty, thoughtful reflection and jolting sensitivity.”

Rebecca Bishophall is the co-author of Breaking the Blank (Day Eight, 2022)with Dwayne Lawson-Brown. Rebecca has featured at Spit Dat open mic, Capitol Hill book fair, the Afrocentric Book Expo, and elsewhere, and works in member services for a non-profit organization. She serves as workshop director for Day Eight’s Women and Girls writing program.

Featured poet and host Susan Bucci Mockler teaches writing at Howard University and was a writer in residence at Rocky Mountain National Park in the summer of 2025. Her poetry has appeared in the Mid-Atlantic Review, Maryland Literary Review, Maximum Tilt, Pilgrimage Press, Crab Orchard Review, Poet Lore, The Northern Virginia Review, Gargoyle, The Delmarva Review, The Paterson Literary Review, Lunch Ticket, and numerous others, as well as in several anthologies. Her full-length poetry collection, Covenant (With) was published by Kelsay books in 2022.

Featured poet and host Kimberly A. Collins, MFA, is a poet, Callaloo Fellow, Pushcart finalist, and Master Instructor in Howard University’s Writing and Poetry Program. She is the author of the poetry books, Bessie’s Resurrection (Indolent Books, 2018) and Slightly Off Center (1993) and her poetry appears recently in: It’s the Honey (2024) edited by Kwame Alexander, The 100-year house (2022), The Mid-Atlantic Review, Beltway Quarterly, Pittsburg Poetry Review, The Berkeley Review and more.

Featured poet and host Robert Bettmann is managing editor of the Mid-Atlantic Review. He serves as editor for the majority of books acquired and published by Day Eight. Robert is the author of the book, Somatic Ecology: Somatics, Nature, Humanity, and the Human Body and co-editor with Susan Meehan of the interfaith poetry anthology, Falling Leaves. In 2024 he co-edited, with Ori Z. Soltes, a special section of poetry for the Mid-Atlantic Review reflecting on the one year anniversary of October 7th, the Jewish Experience.

The Mid-Atlantic Review is a literary magazine published by the non-profit, Day Eight. View the literary magazine site here.

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