When Words Become Breath

The Grand Mesa Arts & Events Center invites you to join your host Rene’ Janiece, for an opportunity to share your own work and listen to the work of others, all coming together in love of the written word.

First Tuesday of the month | Free and open to the public | $5 suggested donation

6:00 pm in the Starr Family Gallery | Sign up begins at 5:30 pm | Speaking/Reading times - 5 minutes

Writing tends to be a very solitary endeavor. And while this is necessary to the process, it can become isolating and even discouraging at times. Readings and open mic forums have long offered a place for writers to share their work and works-in-progress in a welcoming environment. This allows writers a chance to experience first-hand reactions to their pieces, to step outside the page, to hear what happens when their words become breath.

Rene’ Janiece is fascinated with the play and power of words - how they string together, how they hold space, how they resonate, how they hang in the air when they are offered the opportunity to breathe. While she is many things, she is a writer, musician, and artist, exploring what it means to meet this world with the heart of a poet. She finds inspiration in what is often overlooked – rusted wire, a fallen bird’s nest, the blooming bindweed, the moment right in front of us. She believes it is her job to be witness to all of it.

Rene’ is a six-year Inflammatory Breast Cancer survivor, still in treatment, doing her best to be present with whatever each day brings. She has released two music albums with her husband, Wayne McKinzie, as part of the duo Bittersweet Highway, and she is the creator of the on-line writing workshop A Moment’s Notice. Her new poetry chapbook, Rosemary and Rust, will be released in July of 2025. She lives in Cedaredge, Colorado with her husband Wayne, dog Naia-Grace, still-sometimes-feral house-cat Sydney, and her rescue cows (steers) Remy and Connor.