Throughout his reading at Grise Hall Monday, Manny Grimaldi acted out the emotions behind his work, speaking in accents, shouting and walking barefoot through the audience.
Grimaldi has been writing poetry since 2019 and is also an author, father, musician and writer. Throughout his longest performance to date, he read for 30 minutes from his poetry collections and some of his unpublished work.
In 2021, he co-founded Yearling, the poetry journal for Lexington’s publishing company Workhorse. Grimaldi is currently pursuing Master’s of Fine Arts in the creative writing program at Spalding University.
Grimaldi’s poetry reading began as a “happy accident” when he submitted and was published in WKU’s Zephyrus journal in 2025, meant for WKU students.
Upon realizing that Grimaldi had been published after he had asked for contributor copies of the journal, graduate student Jessica Levine asked if he would come to WKU for a reading to receive them.
“I was surprised that he said yes,” Levine said. “It was very generous of him to come and give his time to us. He’s very generous with his energy, very generous in his performance and in his reading.”
Before the reading, Grimaldi took time to greet every audience member, introducing himself and asking their names. He said he was very nervous before the reading started since it had been a while since his last one.
“Jessica was expecting a lot from me, that’s all the ego stuff,” Grimaldi said. “When you get past that and start having fun with everybody, that’s when it all goes away.”
Grimaldi read from his poetry collections Finding a Word to Describe You, Riding Shotgun with the Mothman, and ex libris Ioannes Cerva. He also used the audience as “beta testers” for his most recent unpublished work.
For Grimaldi, it is very important to engage with his audience throughout his readings.
“I performed at an early age, I learned people would laugh and love me,” Grimaldi said. “I was a really happy child, but I worked so very hard, I really wanted (people) to like me. I was a happy little clown.”
Levine said that while he recited his work, she was struck by how Grimaldi fully embodied his poetry and performance.
“It’s always really surprising and exciting when a poet performs their words,” Levine said. “He has a lot of stage presence and a lot of energy.”
After Grimaldi closed the curtain on the night with a choral rendition of parts of his poetry, audience members asked questions about his work, process and personal life.
Fellow poet and former teacher Rosemarie Wurth-Grice had previously met Grimaldi through the Kentucky State Poetry Society, and came to support Grimaldi as an audience member and book buyer.
Wurth-Grice said while prefers to focus on the anayltical and abstract side of writing, she was excited and curious to see a poet who is more performative in his reading.
“Words have a purpose,” Grimaldi said. “They are there to communicate, and sometimes, when you’re on a stage, you need to be a little larger than just (reading).”
