Watermelon Dreams Listening Experience

Zeda Stew is a Milwaukee-born poet based in Cincinnati, and she created the project. Her work draws on memory, Black life, family and faith, and the watermelon at its center stands for protection, tenderness and legacy. She also hosts the house's open mic nights in its old tavern room. A special guest poet opens the evening before she takes the stage.

The evening starts with a relaxed mixer of music, light bites and a watermelon-inspired drink. Stew then performs selections from the album live, and the night closes with an artist conversation and time for merchandise. The house has sections restored to both its 1840 Beecher family years and its 1940s run as the Edgemont Inn. It feels more like a listening party than a standard poetry reading.

The album is not out yet, so this is an early chance to hear the work in a small room. The watermelon image gives the poems a clear thread, from protection to tenderness to what gets planted next. Harriet Beecher Stowe lived in this house in 1840, before she wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin, which gives the evening a particular place in Cincinnati's history.