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/p>\nDrawing from his poetry collection \;< a href="https://www.carbonationpress.com/catalog-2/011-ptsd-martini-by-dar io-cvencek">PTSD Martini\, Dario Cvencek will share poems sha ped by war\, immigration\, trauma\, gun violence\, and resilience\, weavin g together Balkan stories\, Slavic folklore\, and reflections on identity and belonging in America. Tender yet provocative\, the collection explores survival\, healing\, and the emotional legacy of displacement.
\nTh e reading will continue with selections from \;Mirror Made of Words \, a lyrical meditation on self-discovery\, love\, pain\, growth\, and tra nsformation. Through vivid imagery and musical language\, the poems naviga te the search for meaning and self-acceptance while illuminating the emoti onal and philosophical struggles of the inner life.
\nFollowing the readings\, the author will engage in a discussion with the audience on som e of the collections&rsquo\; most prominent themes\, including trauma and recovery\, immigrant identity\, the role of memory and storytelling\, emot ional resilience\, and poetry as a vehicle for healing and self-understand ing. The evening will also include a brief guided writing workshop invitin g participants to reflect on themes of memory\, identity\, resilience\, an d belonging through their own creative expression. Writers of all experien ce levels are welcome.
\nAbout the presenter: \;Dario Cv encek is an immigrant poet from the Balkans and a research scient ist at the University of Washington. By day he studies how children constr uct identity. By night&mdash\;or by whatever hour the poem arrives&mdash\; he writes about war\, trauma\, displacement\, and the slow\, stubborn work of rebuilding a self in a new language. His words have appeared in Rattle \, Zone 3\, Hobart\, and numerous other independent literary magazines and presses. His debut full-length collection &ldquo\;PTSD Martini&rdquo\; wa s \;published by Carbonation Press in 2025\, with his follow-up collec tion &ldquo\;Mirror Made of Words&rdquo\; being released in 2026. He start ed writing poetry as a teenager during the Bosnian War. He has not stopped .
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