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RE-ENTRY MADE EASY WITH J.C. TODD, JULIANNA BAGGOTT AND TRACIE MORRIS
I’m writing this on Saturday, April 21, just one week back in Philly after spending two-and-a-half months in New York City working on the 2nd People’s Poetry Gathering. A number of local poets attended (some of whom did it the smart-artist way by volunteering in exchange for a weekend festival pass!): Julie Margulies, David Mook, Susan Phillips, Deborah Richards, Bob Small, Laura Smith, Dave Steel, Mark Wilhelm, two Swarthmore students of Nathalie Anderson, Mara Fortes and Gabriel Hetland, and Aaren Yeatts Perry wielding a video camera for DUTV’s Voice literary arts program.
It didn’t take long to get back into the local poetry flow. On Saturday, April 14, the afternoon after my return, I saw J.C. Todd and Julianna Baggott engage the crowd with a wide range of beautifully languaged observations, while also making good on the humor part of the Laughing Hermit Reading Series at the Kelly Writers House (3805 Locust Walk, Philadelphia, PA, 215.573.WRIT).
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Three days later, on Tuesday, April 17, the irrepressible J.C. Todd participated in “Words Meet Music: a discussion of collaboration,” a Poets & Composers program organized by the Kelly Writers House and the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Composers Forum. Todd and composer Lona Kozik shared, with the audience of students, musicians, and poets, how their collaboration began in 1989 shortly after they had heard each other’s work at a Poets & Composers event, and birthed a song series performed earlier this month at the University of Pennsylvania’s Irvine Auditorium. Kozik was so drawn to Todd’s subject matter and the images it conjured that she began writing the music for it before contacting the poet. Much of the discussion among the artists and audience concerned the music’s adherence to the language’s integrity, or the rhythm’s working in service to the words, and Todd remarked that while Kozik’s musical rhythm differed from Todd’s reading rhythm, “the music surprised me but it didn’t disappoint me… the beauty of the collaboration was that the poem went farther than I ever thought it could.” Todd also appreciated how Kozik included the entire text of Todd’s poem series in their performance’s program booklet, bracketing those parts of the text that the composer edited for the song series. In fact, Todd had just read that previous Saturday one of her poems in Kozik’s edited version, and thinks it might be more interesting that way! An audience member summed up the evening perfectly with this imperative: “Get live poets and live composers together!” because, typically, poets use dead composers and composers use dead poets.
Also presenting that evening was Andrew Zitcer, 2000-2001 Kelly Writers House Junior Fellow, who curated, and created in collaboration with Diana Prescott, Aaron Levy, Jeremy Braddock, Douglas Boyce, and Kyle Bartlett, “Aural Text,” an exhibition of several installations combining recorded audio and images, which comments on memory, place, voice and sound/silence. “Aural Text” and other writings and projects-in-progress can be found at Slought Networks.
Catch J.C. Todd one more time before she leaves for Lithuania to read in the Vilnius International Poetry Festival as a guest of the Lithuanian Writers Union. On Wednesday, May 2, at 7:00 pm, at Robin’s Bookstore, 108 S. 13th Street, Philadelphia, 215.735.9600, Todd will share her work in celebration of the publication of Meridian Bound, the 10th-anniversary anthology of the Meridian Writers Collective.
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The only bummer about Morris’ reading was that its timing conflicted with “Double Exposure: A Conversation in Poetry,” featuring blind-since-birth identical twins, Dan and David Simpson, at the Willow Grove Barnes & Noble. I was lucky to hear Dan read his lushly imagistic poetry one time at the monthly open mic series at The Point, 880 W. Lancaster Avenue, Bryn Mawr, PA, 610.517.0988, the next one of which is scheduled for Monday, April 30, at 8:00 pm.
UPCOMING POETRY EVENTS AT KELLY WRITERS HOUSE
Kelly Writers House will close for the summer from Tuesday, May 22 through early September, but there are a couple of poetry events in the schedule before they close:
- Saturday, May 5, 4:00 pm
Catherine Savage Brosman and Dzvinia Orlowsky, as part of The Laughing Hermit Reading Series
- Monday, May 7, 12:00 pm
Mary Julia Klimenko, co-sponsored by the Graduate School of Fine Arts
NEW POETRY VENUE AT THE POINT OF DESTINATION CAFE
Stephanie Renee has her katpaws in all kinds of poetry kibbles. This time she’s setting the vibe for the Friday, April 27 premiere of Poetry at The Point, a National Poetry Month celebration of the word at The Point of Destination Café, 6460 Greene Street (next to R8 Upsal Station stop), Philadelphia, PA, 215.849.7771. Putting some percussion behind the poetry of Tonya Marie Evans, Marj Hahne (me!), and the five-diva ensemble In the Company of Poets will be Leonard “Doc” Gibbs, leader of the Emeril Legasse house band. Doors open at 8:00 pm, cover is $5, and coffee specialties, dessert items, and sandwiches are available. Check out the Social Calendar on Stef Renee’s Inkspot Online for more spoken word and music events.
TAZZA'S TEEMING WITH STEAMING POETRY IN OLD CITY
Every other Saturday, co-hosts Greg Fuchs and Frank Sherlock do a decent job of bringing together one boy and one girl, one New Yorker and one Philadelphian, to read poetry of different styles at La Tazza, 108 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, 215.922.7322. Like most Philly poetry venues, it doesn’t start at its scheduled time of 7:00 pm, but the punctual will at least get a good seat. Here’s the updated schedule:
- April 28, Jenn McCreary and Pattie McCarthy
Both McCreary and McCarthy are publishers as well as poets (Ixnay Magazine and Beautiful Swimmer Press, respectively).
- May 12,CA Conrad and Mariana Ruiz-Firmat
CA Conrad’s latest enterprise in verse is a collaboration with Frank Sherlock entitled (end-begin w/chants), available for $5 from Mooncalf Press, PO Box 22521, Philadelphia, PA 19110 (make checks payable to CA Conrad).
- May 26, Tom Concannon and Jen Coleman
- June 2, Kyle Conner and Karen Weiser
POETRY THAT GOES THE DISTANCE AT THE WRITERS ROOM OF BUCKS COUNTY
To salute National Poetry Month, The Writers Room of Bucks County is hosting a Poetry Marathon from 1:00 to 6:00 pm on Sunday, April 29, at Blue 52, a jazz club on Market Way, a pedestrian alley between State Street and Oakland Avenue, near the County Theater, in Doylestown, PA. All former Bucks County poet laureates have been invited to read, and all other poets may inquire about how to be scheduled to read (3-minute maximum) by contacting The Writers Room at 215.348.8170 or info@WritersRoom.net. A $5 reading fee will be charged to cover the cost of the venue, and poetry appreciators are invited to listen for free! One poet will win a year’s Salon membership to The Writers Room, and door prizes will be provided by Doylestown Bookshop, Central Books, and Kenny's News Agency.
The Writers Room of Bucks County, 4 W. Oakland Avenue (corner of Main Street), Doylestown, PA, 215.348.8170, is a volunteer community of writers that provides low-cost desk space and workshops and salons in all genres for writers at all stages of development.
DEIRDRE GREENLEAF ALLAN NAMED 2001 POET LAUREATE OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
Deirdre Greenleaf Allan, recently chosen by former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Hass, will read her poetry on Monday, April 30, at 7:00 pm, at the Barnes & Noble in Montgomeryville, PA (out Rte. 309 N on left, 1½ miles past the 309 Cinema, just before the Montgomeryville Mall, behind Appleby’s Restaurant), 215.699.3099. An open mic will follow Allan’s reading.
BOOKS AS BRICKS AT THE FREE LIBRARY OF PHILADELPHIA
As part of its Rebuilding the Future lecture series, The Free Library of Philadelphia, 1901 Vine Street, 215.567.4341, has included a couple of poets in its Winter/Spring 2001 lineup. On Thursday, May 3, poet and novelist Michael Ondaatje will lecture alongside novelist Russell Banks, and on Thursday, May 17, the multi-genred Judith Viorst will have the entire evening to herself. All presentations begin at 8:00 pm in the Central Library’s Montgomery Auditorium, with booksignings to follow. Tickets are $12/$8 for students/$6 for simulcast (auditorium seats tend to sell out), available by calling UpStages at 215.569.9700.
GLUE JOINS TOGETHER ARTISTS IN A LIVE PERFORMANCE COLLAGE
One weekend a month, dancers, actors, playwrights, poets, musicians, and other performance artists fill up the intimate theater space at the Community Education Center, 3500 Lancaster Avenue, Philadelphia, PA, 215.382.2955, to see their peers perform new work that may still be in its formative stage, to give feedback, perhaps, during the reception following each performance, and to meet kindreds interested in experimental collaboration. In its fourth year, GLUE will feature on Saturday, May 5 and Sunday, May 6, at 8:00 pm, performance artist Clinton Davis, the band Unspecified Jazz Ensemble, dancers Ann Potter, Amanda DeOrio, and Katherine Livingston, and poet Marj Hahne (me!). Tickets are $10 with a reduced rate of $8 for students and artists.
WEST ASIAN VOICES AT THE ASIAN ARTS INITIATIVE
“Grounded in the belief that the arts can provide an important political and cultural ‘voice’ for the Asian American communities in Philadelphia,” the Asian Arts Initiative, 1315 Cherry Street, 2nd floor, Philadelphia, PA, 215.57.0455, will lend earspace to four West Asian voices on Friday, May 18, at 8:00 pm. Spoken word artist Suheir Hammad, New York Times writer Tara Bahrampour, and filmmakers Ruba Nadda and Mona Hatoum will explore “West Asian” as an emerging category of identity that refers to the region spanning from Afghanistan to Turkey. Rameen Moshref, editor of the Afghan Communicator, a magazine for Afghan American youth, will lead the audience discussion. I was lucky to meet Tara Bahrampour when she excellently covered, for this year’s People’s Poetry Gathering, the story about Eritrean poet Saba Kidane and the United States’ refusal to grant her a visa to participate in the Gathering.
THE IRREPRESSIBLE INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S WRITING GUILD TO PRESENT IN PHILADELPHIA
On Saturday, May 19, from 9:00 am to 4:30 pm, the International Women’s Writing Guild (IWWG), in its 25th anniversary year, will present its first Philadelphia workshop, “Patchwork Prose and Poetry: Found Fragments of the Mind,” at the Philadelphia Ethical Society, 1906 S. Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia, PA. Writer and teacher Vicki Heland will deliver a day-long prose workshop interrupted only by lunch and a one-hour poetry workshop delivered by me right after lunch. I just love this organization and encourage all women writers to invest in its remarkably affordable membership. Visit the IWWG Web site, or email me at marjhahne@juno.com if you wish to discuss this workshop or IWWG in general.
DELAWARE HAS A NEW READING AND SLAM SERIES
I regret that my coverage of Delaware poetry news has been so spare, so I’m thrilled to report that The Nirvana Café at 168 E. Main Street in Newark, 302.369.1588, is now hosting The Tuesday Night Poetry Open Mike and Slam. This series features a poet every second Tuesday and an open slam on every last Tuesday of the month, both starting at 8:00 pm with a 7:15 signup. Host Rich Boucher invites you to visit the series’ Web site at WordDancing.com.
STEPHEN DUNN TO READ AT UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE
More Delaware po-news! This year's winner of the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry, Stephen Dunn, will read for free on Thursday, May 3, at 7:30 pm, at the University of Delaware's Newark campus, 127 Memorial Hall, 302.831.2361. In addition to the reading, Dunn will announce the winners of the Thomas Molyneux Prose Awards, The Elda Wollaeger Gregory Poetry Prizes, and the Academy of American Poets Prize, which will be presented to students whose work is published in the 2001 issue of Caesura, the University of Delaware's literary magazine. A reception and book signing will follow in the third-floor Memorial Hall lounge.
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Author and critic Judith Kitchen said of his work: “Stephen Dunn's subject has never been the large issue, the political or the abstract. What is at stake in his poetry is more immediate and more essential: how to live the one life we're given with integrity, with humor and exuberance, and yes, with grace.” Dunn's eleven books of poems include most recently Different Hours (W.W. Norton, 2000); Loosestrife (W.W. Norton, 1996), which was a finalist for the 1996 National Book Critics Circle; New and Selected Poems, 1974-1994 (W.W. Norton, 1994); and Riffs and Reciprocities: Prose Pairs (W.W. Norton, 1998). Dunn is a Trustee Fellow in the Arts and Professor of Creative Writing at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey.
THE DREXEL ONLINE JOURNAL IS LIVE, FREE, AND SEEKING SUBMISSIONS!
The inaugural issue of the nation’s newest university literary magazine, The Drexel Online Journal, is now on cyberstands, and features poetry by Barbara Daniels, Valerie Fox, Lynn Levin, Don Riggs, and Albanian writer Besnik Mustafaj, plus some short fiction and essays. Editor Albert DiBartolomeo and Poetry Editor Don Riggs are seeking submissions as well as entries for the First Annual Drexel Online Journal Fiction Contest, the first-place prize of which is $500 and publication in the DOJ. The DOJ wants short pieces that pack a punch and don’t take long to read. It’s free, easy to navigate, and tastefully Web-designed, and contributors receive payment upon publication. (Visit the site for contest and general submission guidelines.)
WHAT IS DHARMIC POETRY?
As part of the Philadelphia Shambhala Center's free monthly Open House, Bill Scheffel will be giving a poetry reading and speaking on the topic of “Dharmic Poetry” on Wednesday, May 2, at 7:30 pm, at the Philadelphia Shambhala Center, 2030 Sansom Street, 3rd floor, Philadelphia, PA. Scheffel has an MFA in Writing & Poetics from Naropa University, where he teaches Writer's Craft and Shambhala Meditation Practicum. In both courses he integrates mindfulness and awareness exercises with the creative process. A significant emphasis in his work and teaching is to promote creativity, which he regards as essential in human development.
