Fort Collins very own Poet Laureate is publishing her first collection of poetry, Portrait Lands, and this night celebrates the kick off of her chapbook's launch. Melissa will be performing with other local artists, Hanna Doreen Brown, Ally Eden, Alysia Kraft, Robin Lewis, and Jess McMaster for a truly unique and tender evening of music and poetry.

You will have the opportunity to order your copy of Portrait Lands at the event. Portrait Lands delves into grief’s incredible acceleratory effect on personal transformation. The throughline of the work asks the question, “What happens to our internal landscape as our emotions and identities evolve within us?” Through close observation of the landscape that surrounds us, these poems suggest their mirror image within us and track the stream of a life as it begins to cut a canyon.