WAVEMACHINE is a poetry and performance series in San Francisco, CA. It began in New Haven, CT in 2012 and took place briefly in Brooklyn, NY in 2019 before resuming in the Bay Area in 2024.

WAVEMACHINE24 will take place on Saturday, April 19th at 4 pm in Bernal Heights, and feature poetry by Alexis Almeida, Brandon Brown, Emily Martin, and Alli Warren. This is our last machine the season—please join us to celebrate!

At WAVEMACHINE23, we raised over $750 for the Palestinian poet and translator Batool Abu Akleen, a resident of northern Gaza whose home was recently bombed by Israel and who is trying to survive with her family during a severe food shortage. This fundraiser is still ongoing—please donate what you can by going to this GoFundMe page, hosted by the UK-based poet and translator Nashwa Nasreldin. On that page, you’ll also find a link to Batool’s debut poetry collection, 48Kg., forthcoming this year in a bilingual English & Arabic edition from Tenement Press. Thanks to all of you who have been able to lend your support!

The address for our upcoming events will be sent out via our mailing list in advance and on the day of the event. Sign up for our mailing list below.

You can read more about us in The New Yorker and The Yale Daily News. See a recording of Keston Sutherland and Geoffrey G. O’Brien reading for the series at the Boston Review.

Black-and-white posters by Adam Douglas Thompson. Color posters by Chika Ota.

Unless otherwise specified, our events take place in the backyard of our home in Bernal Heights. The yard is wheelchair accessible and there’s a first floor bathroom, but the house is on a steep slope, and if it is raining the event will need to move up one flight of stairs to our living room. If you have questions about accessibility or need help with accommodations, please send me an email or a DM on Instagram. Bring drinks and snacks for friends.