I Think I’m Ready to See Frank Ocean: A Reading by Shayla Lawson

Each poem in Shayla Lawson’s newest collection, I Think I’m Ready to See Frank Ocean, riffs on a Frank Ocean song—but it does much more than that, too. Described as “a mythological mixtape of confession and surreal sleuthing,” the collection pays homage to the man while simultaneously investigating oceans, The Ocean, and the similarity between heartbreak and break beats.

Shayla will be joined by poet Jane Wong, a Kundiman fellow and author of Overpour. A Q&A session will follow the reading, led by Seattle Civic Poet and former Hugo House poet-in-residence Anastacia-Renee.

About the Readers

Shayla Lawson is the author of three hybrid poetry collections—A Speed Education in Human Being (Sawyer House, 2013), PANTONE (Miel Books, 2016), and I Think I’m Ready to See Frank Ocean (Saturnalia Books, 2018)—and a forthcoming collection of essays from Harper Perennial. Her work has appeared in Guernica, ESPN, Tin House, and Salon. She is the recipient of fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, Yaddo Artist Colony, and serves as director of creative writing at Amherst College.

Jane Wong’s poems can be found in Best American Poetry 2015, American Poetry Review, AGNI, Poetry, and others. A Kundiman fellow, she is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize. She is the author of Overpour (Action Books, 2016) and teaches at WWU.

Related Classes

Shayla Lawson will be teaching Writing Hybrid Forms, a one-session workshop, on Saturday, April 20, from 10 am–1 pm.

Jane Wong will be teaching Your Turn: The Volta and Ending Poems, a two-session workshop, on Saturday & Sunday, June 1 & 2, from 1–4 pm.