Four prominent local poets will read their work about the physical and emotional trauma of serious illness. The poems invoke the rigors of treatment, the fear of death, and the comfort offered by family and caregivers who face their own battles with grief, guilt, and acceptance. How does one survive intense suffering with respect and dignity? How can that journey be transformed through the healing power of art?

The featured poets include Nancy Naomi Carlson, Ellen Aronofsky Cole, Judith Harris, and E. Ethelbert Miller, whose book "If God Invented Baseball" won a 2019 best poetry award from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. The event is part of the Third Thursday Poetry reading series in the City's Takoma Park Arts cultural series.