This event will feature two musical acts, with open poetry reading in-between! Poets with any level of experience are invited to read, please plan to keep readings under 6 minutes so that more can participate.

Christine Burke is a composer from Iowa whose music has most recently been performed by LIGAMENT, UCLA's FLUX ensemble, the Valparaiso University New Music Ensemble, a.pe.ri.od.ic., Duo Axis, and line upon line. Her debut album, "Something kept close", was released on Sawyer Editions in 2022. In February 2025, Lex Leto x the Christine Burke Ensemble (a group Iowa-based experimental musicians) self-released their indie/experimental classical album "I am here but I must go". Current projects include tabletop organ improvisations and recording an album of recent works by members of the Christine Burke Ensemble.

Moving Lines Ensemble will be premiering a new piece featuring a combination of imaginative arrangements of the music of Johnny Cash, and autobiographical spoken word with musical improvisations. An Albuquerque and Iowa City-based ensemble, Moving Lines Ensemble was formed in 2018 with an aim of exploring interactions between music and spoken word. They create primarily through processes of collaboration and improvisation, establishing pieces which range from open frameworks to more traditionally notated scores and poems, playing with the relationship between the inevitable score and its moment-by-moment realization. The current ensemble consists of John Barney (poet/performer), Levi Raleigh Brown (percussionist/composer), saxophonist Charlotte Leung, and guitarist/bassist Ian Davis.