Racine – The next event held by the BONK! performance series will take place on Saturday,
April 27th beginning at 6p.m. This month's BONK! will feature Medford-based poet Daniel
Bosch, Madison-based poet Matthew Guenette, and Kenosha-based musician Serita Cheeks.
Created to expose the public to both local and nationally recognized artistic talents, the BONK!
series showcases poets, writers, musicians, film makers and all sorts of talents in between.
Founded in fall of 2008, the BONK! series has been running with an event every month for over
4 years now. A completely free program, BONK! is usually held at The Racine Arts Council at
316 6th Street. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. with seating available on a first come/first served basis.
Each BONK! event features a short question and answer session with the artists at the end of the
program.
Daniel Bosch's poems, translations, and reviews have appeared in magazines such as Poetry,
The New Republic, The Paris Review, The Times Literary Supplement, Slate, Partisan Review,
Agni, Poetry Daily, and Harvard Review, where he was Poetry Editor for Issues 19 and 20. His
set of four poems riffing on the films of Tom Hanks won the first Boston Review Poetry Prize
(1998), and his book Crucible was published by Other Press in 2002.
Matthew Guenette was born in Syracuse, NY, and raised in Newport, NH. He is the author of
two books. His most recent collection, American Busboy (University of Akron Press, 2011), was
inspired by his years busing tables at a vast and horrifying warehouse of a seafood restaurant.
His first book, Sudden Anthem (Dream Horse Press, 2008), won the 2007 American Poetry
Journal Book Prize. Matthew has been awarded residencies for the Hessen-Wisconsin Literary
Fellowship and the Vermont Studio Center. His poems have been nominated for the Pushcart
Prize, and have appeared in numerous journals, including Another Chicago Magazine, Cream
City Review, The Spoon River Poetry Review and others. He lives, works and loses sleep in
Madison, Wisconsin.
Serita Cheeks grew up with the sounds of Motown, funk, gospel, and old school R&B as the
four walls surrounding her childhood in Aurora, Illinois, discovering a love for music in her
youth. She currently lives in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where she has developed a style that is truly
unique and unlike other female singers in sound, style and show. Writing all of her own songs,
Serita’s earthy sound is rooted in rich tones that embrace experiences and blend them down into
a smooth collection of life that’s easy to catch hold of. Serita’s music reflects her influences.
She pulls in various musicians, always creating a unique show with fresh songs – pop beats
with cool R&B, soul, funk rhythms, and rock, allowing for nothing less than an internal jam
session. Cheeks has played local coffee shops to arena shows – in Texas, West Virginia, Indiana,
Illinois, and Wisconsin. Local performances include Music on the Monument, Harborfest,
Bastille Days, and opening for Jon Mclaughlin at Carthage College in Kenosha, WI as well as
Shank Hall in Milwaukee, WI. Internationally, Serita has played in various cities in Germany,
Wales and England.
BONK! is made possible by the Osborne and Scekic Family Foundation, the Friends of the
Racine Public Library, The Racine Arts Council, Olde Madrid restaurant, Pink Magnolia
restaurant and The Urban League of Racine and Kenosha.
For more information or to view video of past BONK! performances please visit http://
bonkperformanceseries.wordpress.com. You may also contact Nick Demske at the Racine Public
Library: 262.619.2570 or nick.demske@racinelibrary.info. If you would like to receive monthly
e-mail updates about the BONK! series, please send a blank e-mail to the address above with the
subject heading “BONK! e-mail.”