WORKING TITLE: Poetry Night

Seating Begins 6pm | Showtime 7pm | Free Admission | All Ages Welcome*

A Time Traveler crashes into a gay bar… so begins T.S. Leonard’s debut poetry collection Another Anthem of Fabulous Survival. Moving through glitter, ash, memory, and music, these poems follow a queer time traveler across decades and geographies, from turn-of-the twenty-first-century Missouri to 1970s San Francisco to imagined origins of music itself. Along the way, they come of age, try drag, lose friends, and fall in love, tracing a life shaped by history’s ruptures and its celebrations.

T.S. Leonard is joined in conversation by Stuart Hinds, co-founder and curator of the Gay and Lesbian Archive of Mid-America. The Mighty Mo Jazz Orchestra will take the stage to play two sets of fabulous tunes. Flagship Books will be on-site with a selection of books for sale. Laugh, cry, dance, and imbibe at this sure-to-be special evening of poetry, history, and song.

Seating for this free show is first come first served and there are plenty of tables and seats at the bar available for early arrivals. If you need to guarantee a table, purchase a table reservation and we'll hold it for you until showtime.

T.S. Leonard is a poet, performer, and author of Another Anthem of Fabulous Survival (Fordham University Press, 2026), selected for the 2024-2025 Poetic Justice Institute Prize. Leonard’s poetry has appeared in Foglifter, Fourteen Poems, and Poetry and his collaborative work has been featured in the audio chapbook Even Still They Shook (2020), the Portland Art Museum, and the Pacific Design Center. Leonard has led community workshops through the Poetry Foundation, Abode Press, and the Palm Springs Public Library. Originally from Kansas City, Missouri, he lives and teaches in San Francisco.

More Info: Website | Instagram | Substack

Stuart Hinds is the Curator of Special Collections and Archives at the Miller Nichols Library of the University of Missouri – Kansas City. He has an additional role as Curator of the Gay and Lesbian Archive of Mid-America, a collecting initiative he co-founded in 2010 to collect, preserve, and make accessible documents and artifacts that reflect the heritage of Kansas City’s LGBT communities. He presents widely on a variety of topics drawn from GLAMA and co-taught the first-ever course on U.S. gay and lesbian history at UMKC.

The Mighty Mo Jazz Orchestra, established in 2011, is a volunteer community jazz ensemble based in Kansas City, composed of LGBTQ+ and allied musicians from the Mid America Freedom Band. MMJO brings people together through the rich and diverse sounds of jazz, offering performances that span swing, pop, Latin, Broadway, and more. Whether you're a jazz enthusiast or simply love live music, Mighty Mo Jazz Orchestra delivers a memorable experience that celebrates both musical tradition and community connection.

Flagship Books is a neighborhood bookstore in Strawberry Hill.