Madtown Poetry Open Mic - Featured Reader: Martha Kaplan

Art in the cafe...

Dottie and Josie Brand (Two Peas in a Pod)


"Summer Magic"


June 2026



We are self-taught artists who create work inspired by healing, nature, travel, and personal experiences. Growing up, art became a way for us to process emotions, express ourselves, and create spaces that felt meaningful and comforting. Our first “gallery” was our college apartment, which we transformed with our own artwork and nature-inspired design and the power of the feminine. Sharing our space and work with others encouraged us to continue creating and exploring art more seriously. Inspired by our Latin culture, color, emotion, and everyday moments, our work reflects themes of connection, growth,...
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Friday, March 2, 2018
8:00 pm

Martha Jackson Kaplan is a Pushcart nominated poet who writes from a love of words and a curiosity about how they speak to us of history, sense of place, and the personal. What do we see? What don’t we see? What and how do we say, or not say? Is it dangerous?

She has awards from Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets and from Möbius The Poetry Magazine. Poems of hers have been included in exhibits at the Monona Terrace, MMoCA, and the Chazen. Among those publishing her work are Blue Unicorn; Branch Redd Review; Hummingbird; Verse Wisconsin; New Verse News; Hospital Drive Anthology; Wisconsin Poets’ Calendar; Turn Up the Volume: Poems About the States of Wisconsin, and Möbius The Poetry Magazine, Burdock, and Ecolocations—A Poet’s Map Madison, as well as An Ariel Anthology; Driftfish. Most recently she has work in 56 Days of August; Unlikely Stories Mark V, and B(Oink) Voice.

The edition of the MadTown Poetry Open Mic will be hosted by Frandu.

Sign up starts at 7:30 / Show starts at 8

Martha Kaplan Poet
Open Mic