Wednesday, May 3: UM alumnus Mark Gibbons reads from his new poetry collection, The Imitation Blues. 7pm.

At times weary, at times sparkling with wonder, The Imitation Blues is a fierce meditation on what is lost, what is found. The poems here are burly, flexing, but there is grace in all the musculature. Political, but never indulgent; profound, but never ephemeral. These poems are deeply rooted. A tough guy eye on mortality, but a tender heart revealed as he squints. "This losing is what we do," Gibbons professes, but this collection is a gift you will find meaning in, again and again. --Richard Fifield, author of The Flood Girls

Mark Gibbons, a poet from western Montana, has lived and worked here his entire life. He is the author of eight collections of poems. Gibbons' work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. His most recent book, Shadowboxing, 2014, is available from FootHills Publishing. An MFA graduate from the University of Montana, Mark received the Artist Innovation Award in 2013. He lives in Missoula with his wife and two cats where he continues to write, teach, and eke out a living. Mark has worked for the Missoula Writing Collaborative for two decades.