SUCH SWEET SORROW ON THE EAST SIDE
Gaby & Mo's (1809 Manor Road in Austin) closed its doors for the last time on Sunday, December 16, 2001. With its closure, Austin lost an irreplaceable coffeehouse & café, as well as a bastion of free speech and art. Host to a myriad of events from poetry readings to music to art exhibits, Gaby & Mo's will be fondly remembered and sorely missed. Even though the space is gone, the ladies are not! Keep your eye on them at the Gaby & Mo's Web site.

With the loss of Gaby & Mo's, a couple of readings are on the lookout for new homes. The Queer Poets series, hosted by Scott Wiggerman, normally took place every second Tuesday of the month, but it will not be meeting in January due to the closure. Check out Scott's Web site to stay in the know. If you have a space available, please contact Scott at swiggerman@austin.rr.com. Let him know I sent you.

Also, one of the hottest, hippest readings in town (and one of the hottest poetry Web sites on the Net) has been left homeless after Gaby & Mo's untimely demise. It appears that Xenogia is on hiatus for the time being. Keep clicking to their site to find out where they will take root again. We know they'll be back because you can't keep a good poet reading down.

The grapevine bore some more sad news recently. The Reverend Valerie Bridgeman Davis will be hosting her last verbal feast, Soul Food, at the Victory Grill this weekend. For quite some time, this beautiful woman has been keeping this free event alive by paying the venue owner over $150 out of her own pocket and the kindness of her heart. Unfortunately for the poetry community of Austin, she can no longer do this. Please come Sunday, January 20 to the Victory Grill, 1104 East 11th Street, Austin, for some Soul Food. Plus, it's Valerie's birthday!

NEW YEAR, NEW NEWS, NEW VENUES

• Poetry in the Arts, Inc. reading and open mike will not be meeting in January. Their next meeting will take place on February 2 at the Austin History Center, 810 Guadalupe. Contact MargretteL@aol.com for time and directions.
  
  
• Amy Allen now hosts an open mike at CC's Coffeehouse, 1206 West 38th, Austin. Dates vary, so contact Amy at scribefish71@hotmail.com for more information.
  
  
• Michael Hood has started the Starbucks' Poetry Night in Round Rock every third Saturday of the month. Starbucks is located in the La Frontera Shopping Center at 115 Sundance Parkway, #520. For more information, contact Michael at MOHoodJr@aol.com.
  
  
• The Lindsay Literary Series at Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas has definitely favored the poets this spring. Here's the lineup:

  • Compare prices  to buy the books • Dream Barker and Other Poems • Home Deep Blue • The River at Wolf • The Cradle of the Real Life

    Award-winning poet Jean Valentine is the author of eight books of poetry, including Messenger, Dream Barker and Other Poems (Yale Series of Younger Poets, 1984), Home Deep Blue (Alice James Books, 1989), The River at Wolf (Alice James Books, 1992), and The Cradle of the Real Life (Wesleyan University Press, 2000). She reads Wednesday, February 6 at 7:30 pm at the Alkek Teaching Theater on the SWTSU campus, and February 11 at 7:30 pm at the Katherine Anne Porter House in Kyle, Texas.
    
    

  • Compare prices  to buy the books • Turtle, Swan & Bethlehem in Broad Daylight • My Alexandria • Atlantis • Sweet Machine

    Mark Doty is the author of four poetry collections: Turtle, Swan & Bethlehem in Broad Daylight (University of Illinois Press, 2000), My Alexandria (University of Illinois Press, 1994), Atlantis (Harper Perennial, 1995), and Sweet Machine (Harper Collins, 1998). This award-winning poet will read February 20 at 7:30 pm at the Alkek Teaching Theater on the SWTSU campus, and February 21 at 7:30 pm at the Katherine Anne Porter House in Kyle, Texas.

SLAM, IF YOU PLEASE, MA'AM
From Mike Henry, Austin's Slam Master:

The Austin Poetry Slam busts a move at its new home, Ego's (510 S. Congress) on Thursday, January 10 & every Thursday thereafter. Sign-up starts at 7:30 pm, slam kicks off at 8 pm. Cash prizes for the top three poets. Hosted by Mike Henry. No parking woes because Ego's is a bar in a parking garage! Yes, indeed. Come check out one of Austin's funkiest, coolest spots and enjoy some great poetry. Besides... can you think of a better name for a poetry venue than Ego's? You can email Mike at jacksabbath@yahoo.com with questions.

puro ¡SLAM! is the sport of spoken word in San Antonio, home of the best #44 team in the nation (we wuz robbed at the 2001 National Poetry Slam)! Every Tuesday night, DJ Klassen spins at 9:30, sign-up begins at 10 and 10:30 is kickoff time. To the world it's Sam's Burger Joint, 330 E. Grayson (at Broadway), but they call it home. On January 15, representatives from the Worst Team in the Nation, West Palm Beach (placed 56th out of 56 teams at the 2001 National Poetry Slam) graced the joint. February 19 the Messyhair Tour featuring Lucy Anderton (Chicago) and Dawn Saylor (Kalamazoo) makes a stop in San Antonio for your aural pleasure.

And now, for the one you've all been waiting for! Conroe, Texas doesn't bring much to mind poetically with one exception: the annual Bluebonnet Slam hosted by the grandpappy of Slam, Marc Smith himself. First prize is a thousand big ones, so it's understandable why some of the best Slammers in the nation come to strut their stuff in this one. Well worth the drive be ye poet or patron. This is definitely one of Slam's biggest events, next to the National Poetry Slam itself. The good news is that there are no pre-qualifiers other than $30 and an application form. Contact Carol Schneider, the event's coordinator, at carolsch@hotmail.com for more information about dates, times, and directions. Tell her I sent you. Check out last year's lowdown at Austinslam.com.

POETRY FESTIVAL PREVIEW
April is National Poetry Month, when happily poets come out of the woodwork, and Texas is no exception. The San Antonio International Poetry Festival will be held at the beginning of April at various venues in San Antonio. According to Rod Stryker, the event coordinator and a smashing poet, tentative dates April 1 through April 3 will find San Antonio home to poets from all over. Contact him at sunpoets@hotmail.com for booking and more information about the event.

This year is the Austin International Poetry Festival's 10th anniversary. Scheduled for Thursday, April 18 through Sunday, April 21, this year's AIPF promises to be the biggest yet. It's possibly the world's largest open festival -- anyone can participate. Anyone who submits work gets a featured reading time and their poems are considered for AIPF's anthology, and if accepted, considered in the Christina Sergeyevna - Anthology Contest for cash. You even get your name on a T-shirt! The deadline has been extended until February 1, so register today!

If you have poetry news for Texas, drop me a line at beamishgirl@hotmail.com.

Courtney O'Banion