Fiction writer Thomas Pierce and poet Ansel Elkins shared their latest works at The Bridge Progressive Arts Initiative earlier this month. Located across the Belmont Bridge, the nonprofit organization offers a multitude of exhibits and encourages emerging artists, writers and performers to share their talents with the community. The third Friday of each month, The Bridge hosts its free Reading Series, featuring a prose and a poetry writer who share excerpts from their work.
Elkins began the night with poems from her first collection, “Blue Yodel,” which won the 2014 Yale Series of Younger Poets contest and will be released in April. The collection of poems spanned vastly different topics, from “Mississippi Pastoral,” her social commentary on racism in the 1950s south, to “Tornado,” which describes the anguish of a mother whose child is ripped from her arms during a storm. The unique collection communicates human emotion with breathtaking beauty, encapsulating the anguish and tragedy in life while giving humanity hope and reminding the readers how to find joy in the simple beauty of everyday life.
“The Girl with the Antlers” — the final poem Elkins shared — defines different perspectives of beauty and abnormality as a girl born with antlers and abandoned by her horrified mother, embraces herself as being “fearfully and wonderfully made.” Based on the work shared, it is clear Elkins will continue to create stunning poetry in her progressing career.
Pierce — the second writer to share — is known for his work with National Geographic and his short stories, which appear in notable magazines such as The New Yorker and The Atlantic. Pierce earned his Master of Fine Arts from the University and is close to the heart of the Charlottesville community.
During the reading, Price delighted the audience by sharing content from his masterful new selection of short stories, “Hall of Small Mammals”. The story “Shirley Temple Three” follows a wooly mammoth cloned for a futuristic TV series “Back from Extinction”. A worker on the show rescues the mammoth from being put down and asks his mother to care for it. Although the story is whimsical, and interactions with the mammoth are brimming over with humor, the story also asks the reader question the ethics of cloning and humans’ responsibility to do the “right thing” as we explore uncharted territory in science. Pierce knits his stories together flawlessly, capturing the easy humor and absurdity of everyday life. “Hall of Small Mammals” is thoughtful and funny — fiction at its best.
Join The Bridge for the next installment in the reading series on Feb. 20, featuring Amy Woolard and Lulu Miller.
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