Andrew Periale is an Emmy-nominated artist, and has toured throughout the US as actor and puppeteer. He’s been the editor of Puppetry International magazine for 33 years, and has written plays that have been performed all over the country. His poetry has appeared in such publications as Light Quarterly, Yellow Medicine Review, Entelechy International, and Burnt Bridge as well as numerous anthologies. A long-time member of City Hall Poets (Portsmouth, NH), he also served for four years as the Poet Laureate of Rochester. In 2013-14 he was the state coordinator for the national poetry recitation competition Poetry Out Loud. He is currently tours a one-man show called “Mano-a-Monolog,” and newly premiered a second show: “Forman Brown, New Hampshire’s Forgotten Poet.”
Chris Bernstorf: If Matthew Dickman and Pablo Neruda conceived a child while crowdsurfing at a punk show and then raised the newborn in one of those bio tubes from a sci-fi movie, amalgamating the pseudo-amniotic-fluid from church, Chipotle, and pop culture, then you’d have something akin to Chris Bernstorf’s poetry. Begun as a passion project while studying creative writing at Lycoming College, Bernstorf’s poetry has since taken him to 47 states and 6 other countries. He has clocked in over 500 performances in every imaginable space, from living rooms to a micronation to bars to churches to a converted Soviet airfield to art spaces to bathrooms. In fact, there’s at least a 40% chance he and his wife are sleeping on your floor/couch tonight. Bernstorf’s poems run the gamut from shout-along punk pieces to quiet love poems to post-rock-length journeys, all united by an indomitable sense of joy, awe, and gratitude. His work is an open hand, a smile, a hug, a handshake, an invitation to conversation, and, ultimately, to love. He makes all of his work available for free via Bandcamp and his website out of a deep conviction that art belongs to everyone, regardless of their ability to pay. Bernstorf’s art is poetry for people, and he wouldn’t have it any other way. Website: Chrisbernstorf.com
