Arrow Broken Poetry Collective

Featured artist Lester Batiste followed by Open Mic

Lester Batiste is a savage writer in living color who writes for political, social, economic change and Black futures. Born in Chicago, IL, he holds an MFA from the University of Southern Maine’s Stonecoast writing program, and an M.S.Ed. from the University of Pennsylvania. Influenced by Gwendolyn Brooks, Carl Sandburg, and Toni Morrison, Lester strives to weave traditional forms and techniques with the vibrancy of African American experience and speech. Rich details are enhanced by the musical tones from Lester’s childhood on the Southside of Chicago to his present on the Northside of Minneapolis. Lester’s work has appeared in print in The Stone House Anthology (2014), the Southern Griot Journal (2012), Tulane Review (2017), A Garden of Black Joy (2020), and digitally in the Brushfire Literary and Arts Journal (2020), Hidden Peak Press (2022), The Indianapolis Review (2023), and The Bitchin’ Kitsch (2023). In 2025, he received the BIPOC Emerging Writer award from Blue Earth Review. Lester’s debut poetry collection, Angel and Night’s Youngest, is forthcoming with the Black Spring Press Group (UK).

Date and Time: Thursday, September 24 from 7:00 to 10:00 P.M.
Location: Marine Village Hall, 121 Judd Street, Marine on St. Croix
Free. All are welcome.

Arrow Broken Poetry Collective is poetry cohorts, contemplative writing groups, monthly poetry readings, and outreach and education. Founded in 2024. Based in Marine on St. Croix, Minnesota.

This event is sponsored by the Marine Library Association and St. Croix Valley Foundation with support from the Brookside Bar and Grill, Christ Lutheran Church and the Marine Mills Folk School.