A rainy election night might sound a little gloomy, but Tuesday was as cheery as a box of budgies at Malvern Books, as we spent a wonderful, cozy evening listening to work from two award-winning poets, Carmen Giménez Smith and Laurie Ann Guerrero (pictured below, left and right respectively, sheltering from the deluge while our smugly dry pirate looks on).

Laurie Ann, currently the Poet-in-Residence at Palo Alto College and the Poet Laureate of San Antonio, read from her collection A Tongue in the Mouth of the Dying, while Carmen, a CantoMundo Fellow and editor-in-chief of the literary journal Puerto del Sol, read from Milk and Filth. (And yes, both of these brilliant books are available at Malvern, along with Borderlands 40, which features Laurie Ann as the keynote poet.)

Our thanks to Carmen, Laurie Ann, and everyone who braved the torrential downpour to stop by the store. We’re confident this was a reading worth opening your umbrellas for, and we’re sure, watching the footage below, that y’all will agree!