Talking to the Night is the first book of poetry by 2017 DC Poet Project winner Susan Meehan. In the book, Meehan discusses her years as an activist, mother, civil servant, and advocate.
“Talking to the Night is populated with works that grab your attention with their clarity and fierce honesty.” — Terence Winch, national book award winner
“These poems gaze into life’s sighs and pauses, with the courage to hold the pain close.” —Joseph Ross, author of Meeting Bone Man
“Susan Meehan’s ‘Talking to the Night’ is bursting at the seams with decades of braided memories…. Meehan gives us honest-to-goodness time travel through tablecloths, alleys, and blood. Meehan’s work is endlessly satisfying with its steady refrains and burgundy hues. The curve at the end of the road always catching you by surprise.”— Danielle Evennou
Susan Meehan grew up on Long Island’s North Shore during World War II. After graduating from Wellesley College she completed graduate school in Politics at Boston University. Susan moved to DC shortly after President Kennedy was assassinated, and spent the subsequent thirty years working in the DC city government -- as Marion Barry's constituent services director for Ward 2 and subsequently as DC’s first citywide Patient Advocate for persons in drug or alcohol treatment. Susan also served 12 years as an elected-at-large member of the DC Democratic State Committee, and 12 years as an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner in the Dupont Circle neighborhood. She represents a Quaker point of view on the DC Council of Churches, and is its Vice President.
The 2017 DC Poet Project competition was produced by Day Eight with support from the DC Commission on the Arts, LISC DC, and participating poets and partners including the DC Public Library, Upshur Street Books, BRINK media, and poets Gregory Luce, Elizabeth Ashe, Abdul Ali, Ethelbert Miller, Melanie Figg, Joseph Ross, and Danielle Evennou.
Cover art for the book is (c) conservation photographer Jim Dougherty, used by permission.