Check these bodies out! Vol. 3.1 Launch Photos!

We are so thankful to all the folks who came out last Wednesday night to celebrate the launch of the fifth issue of untethered, the “body issue!” It was a jam packed launch, we ran out of chairs, and truthfully, we couldn’t have been happier. We had so much fun and really hope you did too. The featured readers blew us away with their body (and sometimes bawdy) talk. We didn’t realize until after, but this was our first launch ever featuring solely poets. We were so impressed by everyone’s individual stage presence and reading style, we were completely immersed in the night. Sometimes we got so into the poets, we forgot we had to get on stage when they were done!

Big thanks again to everyone who read and came out to support the magazine and hear our talented contributors.

Here are some rad photos from the evening thanks to Julia Heximer and Michelle Liu!

launch_the stage view 2 — Our beautiful, body-filled stage!

First Half.

launch_will kemp — First up, William Kemp, co-founder of words(on)pages, reading his poem “SKINNY”

launc_terry — Terry Trowbridge reading us his poems about coyotes in Niagara in the new issue of *untethered*

launch_forrest jamie — Forrest Jamie reading “The Way We Used to Breathe”

Victoria Butler, before she reads her poem “Confessional”

Inspired by the last line of Victoria Butler’s poem, “Confessional” (“my body keeps leaving me voicemails telling me it’s tired of feeling weak”), we had a contest before the break. We asked launch attendees to write on our sweet mannequins, or tweet (@untetheredmag #untetheredbodies) their answer to the question: if your body left you a voicemail what would it say?

launch_the bar — Shout outs to the best launch bartenders ever, Joe and Fraser of the Monarch Tavern

Before we kicked off the second half, we pulled for raffle winners, and our Fairy Gawdmother, Lesley Kenny, joined us on stage to talk a little bit about DescantOnline, and to introduce Karen Mulhallen, the poet, and editor of Descant Magazine for over forty years.

launch_having fun mcing — Pulling for the raffle

launch_one stage with our fairy gawdmother — Introducing Fairy Gawdmother, Lesley Kenny to the stage

launch_fairy gawdmother introing karen mulhallen — Our Fairy Gawdmother, Lesley Kenny, introducing Karen Mulhallen, a real “gibbous moon”

Second Half.

launch_karen — Karen Mulhallen reading three poems published in *untethered* 3.1 from *Seasons In the Key of J,* forthcoming from Tightrope Books 2017

launch_anjalee — Anjalee Nadarajan reading her poetry

launch_yusuf — Yusuf Saadi reading his *Malahat Review’s* Far Horizons Poetry Award-winning poem

launch_trevor — Trevor Abes reads another haunting poem about the Mount Sinai Indigo store

After the readers, we pulled for more raffle winners, and read aloud the tweets and writings “on the body” of the mannequins while the audience cheered for a winner.

launch_the audience

launch_cute moment

launch_reading the tweets — Multi-tasking with mannequins

There were so many thoughtful, haunting and/or funny tweets and responses to the contest, but we let the audience decide which they liked best. Congrats to our “what would your body say if it left you a voicemail” contest winners, who got the biggest claps and laughs, and a prize of a drink on us.

We had SO much fun, and we were impressed by all of the readers who shared their work and inspired by the feedback we received from the audience. untethered would be nothing without all of you.

Big shout out to all of our helpers throughout the night: Kelsy Vivash and Lesley Kenny, raffle ticket pushers extraordinaire; Danielle Haldoupis, Michael Ricci, and Alex DiCintio, untethered table volunteers; Julia Heximer and Michelle Liu, our bad ass photographers for the evening; and all our friends and family who came out to support us.

THANK YOU!

We hope to see you all at the winter launch of 3.2!