MUSELETTER #14
1/16/2000
Greetings poetry folks,
Your guides have hopped rides on the winds of poetry to the far corners of the earth this week -- Bob Holman is in Asmara, Eritrea at the Against All Odds conference on “African Languages and Literatures into the 21st Century” & Margy is sending this Museletter to you from Santa Fe, New Mexico where she was part of Gary Glazner's new Fireside reading series Friday night, along with Whitman McGowan, Danny Solis & a Dead Poets Slam between Witter Bynner & Robert Frost. You'll hear more about both of these later, but now we have a report for you from our Austin/Texas correspondent Stazja McFadyen, and an account of how local pioneers keep the word going in a more out-of-the-way corner, Oklahoma, gathered for us by Museletter correspondent Larry Jaffe.
Margy Snyder & Bob Holman
Your About.com Poetry Guides
POETRY IS EVERYWHERE AT ABOUT.COM
For Weimar's celebration of his 250th birthday last summer, German Culture Guide Tatyana Gordeeva scoped out all the links on Germany's most famous poet, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
AUSTIN/TEXAS
For more detail on poetry happenings in Austin, Texas, check the Austin Poetry Calendar Web site, updated weekly.
Austin International Poetry Festival 2000 Registration Deadline Extended
Note: The following announcement was stolen from loudNOTES, published weekly by Guy LeCharles Gonzalez, one of AIPF 2000's featured guests. Thanks, Guy.
It's open registration season for the Austin International Poetry Festival 2000. The festival will be held April 13 - April 16 in Austin, TX, but they need you to get your registration forms and di-verse-city 2000 anthology submissions in by the newly extended January 31 deadline. You can download the registration packet at the AIPF Web site.
Texas Slam Challenge: Corpus Christi takes on Austin and San Antonio
Just two months old, the slam scene in Corpus Christi has been drawing crowds. Colin Sykes, the coordinator, schedules the slams based on “periods of insanity that coincide with phases of the moon.”
Texans being the kind of folks who think nothing of driving a couple hundred miles to a slam, Third Coast slam teams and thrill seekers from Austin and San Antonio will head to Corpus Christi on Saturday, January 15 for a new millennium challenge.
Sykes has invited Austin and San Antonio to a match against Corpus at the Unihorne Coffee House, 3125 Horne Road on Saturday, January 15, 8 p.m. Admission is $5. The Austin team includes Sonya Fehér, Mike Henry, Rich Perin and Phil West, the top four winners of Austin's December 9th weekly slam at Gaby & Mo's. Representing San Antonio's El Toro ˇSLAM! are Ish, Wyle Killshire, Dragonfly, and Jacquie Kickassis (of the San Antonio “Kickassis” family.) Sykes named Robin Carstensen and Dennis Flinn as two of the four-member Corpus team. Contact Colin Sykes by email at jucosy@worldnet.att.net or call (361) 853-7992 for more information.
Ruta Maya Reading Series
It wouldn't be Tuesday night in Austin without the Ruta Maya Coffee House open mic. Voted the “best place to hear poetry” in the Austin Chronicle's 1998 readers poll, the venue was founded in 1996 by Austin Poets at Large, welcoming first time readers as well as features the likes of past Buddy Ray McNiece, Taalam Acey and Faraji Salim of the Nuyorican 1999 national slam team, Museletter's L.A. correspondent Larry Jaffe, and, well, the list goes on. . . Visiting from Boston during the holidays, Tommy Mendez graced the stage with polished performance that won him first place and $50 at the Austin slam that week.
Co-hosts Mark Maslow and Aaron Sanders have been bringing the Austin poetry community together in the Ruta Maya Featured Venue series, each week featuring the emcee and guests from the venues around town. The Austin Slam venue from Gaby & Mo's Coffee House, led by Mike Henry, will feature on Tuesday, January 18.
Ruta Maya is located in downtown Austin at the corner of 4th and Lavaca. Sign-up begins at 6 p.m. or email rutamayapoetry@austin.rr.com to reserve a place in advance. The rule is: five minutes or 3 poems, whichever comes first. And if you take your shoes off on stage, you have to remove another article of clothing. Socks are recommended. The open mic begins at 6:30 p.m., and sometimes ends at 8 p.m. Sometimes not. They rarely turn down a sign-up, although the hind-tit sign-ups sometimes get cut down to one poem to make way for the open mic musicians. Reading poets are always welcome to display and sell their chapbooks and cd's; no percentage to the venue is required. Non-smokers be forewarned, cigarette smoking is allowed.Ruta Maya Poetry Info
Tammy Gomez Will Return For BYOB's 2nd Anniversary
No sign up sheets -- just take the mic when the spirit moves you. And the spirit moves free and unfettered at Movements Gallery, 211 E. 6th Street in Austin, home of BYOB: Blast Your Own Breath. Can you believe it's been two years since Tammy Gomez opened the venue and poets began climbing that narrow wooden staircase every Wednesday night to BYOB? Rich Perin has done a helluva job keeping BYOB going, since Tammy turned the venue over to him last spring.
For ten years, Tammy paved roads no one else was taking. She masterminded the poetry van, mounted with loudspeakers, that cruised around town blaring poetry for free for those who couldn't afford, or even scalp, a $10 ticket to the 1998 National Poetry Slam finals; hosted KO-OP 91.7 FM's “Mandatory Prison Talk”; founded of the all-woman “Yoniverse” ensemble, whose anthology In A Loud Kitchen she skillfully edited, and that's the Evelyn Wood version of her accomplishments. Tammy was described in a 1996 article in the Austin Chronicle: “In a room full of weary judges and noisily mumbling competitors, at the MTV spoken word competition. . . Gomez managed to shut them all up and make them pay attention. . .”
From Tammy's “Hunger Poem,” published in Heritage Blue, 1999, from Poet Warrior Press:“I've consumed the flames of every angry computer messageOn January 26, 2000, BYOB will celebrate its 2nd anniversary, and Tammy will return to head the list of special features, among them Mike Henry, 3rd Eye's Da'Shade, Diane Fleming, and more.
and I'm still happy. I've eaten the games off every
afternoon television set and I'm still dumb. I've
swallowed the footprints of every student who's walked
across this campus and I haven't gotten anywhere. I
haven't moved a bit.
because I hunger. I still hunger.”
© 1998 Tammy Gomez
BYOB is occasionally online in the University of Texas' ACTLAB in UTOPIA for the virtual traveler VMRL world, Wednesdays from 9-10:30 p.m. If you can't make it by the gallery for the reading, you can still listen, watch (kinda), and even read your poems from afar, at home on your own computer, through to the PA system at the gallery. See the BYOB Web site at Movements Gallery: Spoken Word for more info.
Poetry Tonight Is Back
Spend the night with a poet at Poetry Tonight: “There has always been something about poetry and the night -- for both the poet and the reader. I'd like to imagine that there are those who come to this site in a dark, quiet stillness somewhere and sip coffee and smoke a cigarette or two while reading our excellent collection of poets,” says Austin-based Brian Robertson, webmaster for Poetry Tonight.
Now that Robertson has returned from his mysterious disappearance last summer, I can stop circulating the rumor that he was sucked into a nightmarish Sanka vortex.
“Poetry Tonight is dedicated to bringing the finest poets and poems to the Web. Unlike other sites where the ability to type guarantees publication, Poetry Tonight is an online literary ezine.” Guidelines and submission form are on-site. Six new poets have already been posted, including yours truly.
And coming soon - the First Poetry Tonight Contest, offering a $1000 first prize. Watch for details. . .
Sun Poetic Times
The San Antonio Sun Poets have a new time and location: still on Tuesdays, their weekly open mic reading series, hosted by Rod C. Stryker and Shannon McGarvey, has moved to Bridges Books and Gifts, 935 S. Alamo, San Antonio, 7-9 p.m. And a new issue of the Sun Poetic Times Literary and Artistic Magazine was unveiled at the release party last Tuesday. For more information, visit their Web site.
Houston in the House
Kim Cotton checks in with Houston Spoken Words. The online zine showcases a featured poet each week, with a guide to Houston's weekly Spoken Word action at Instant Karma, Cafe Artiste, and Swank Lounge, and links to poetry festivals and select poetry Web sites.
Attention High School Teachers
Beyond Doggerel, a national/international poetry journal for high school teachers, welcomes quality “story-image” poetry submissions (10-20 lines max.) from high school teachers on any subject except “what happened in the classroom.” Begin submitting poetry in January 2000. Be sure to enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope and bio. Be sure to include the name of the high school where you teach and specific city/state/country location. Back or sample issues are $4.00. The editor pays 1 copy of the issue a poet's work is accepted for. Beyond Doggerel (a quality paper publication) is published annually (in the fall). Please send snail mail submissions or requests for back or sample issues to the following address:Claire T. Feild, Editor/Publisher
Beyond Doggerel
1141 Knollwood Court
Auburn, Alabama 3830-6126
OKLAHOMA
Local Pioneers Keep the Word Going in Oklahoma
It’s a Thursday in la la land. And I had a thought about series of readings that are in Oklahoma that folks just never hear about and I thought it only proper to muse on them 'cause these poets have been in action since 1978 carrying the word in the Southwest. Actually I have been in touch with the poetry committee chair of an organization called The Individual Artists of Oklahoma, one Carol Davis Koss. Carol and I have been communicating online for a couple of years now and she once featured me in an anthology they did there. She is very persistent and aesthetic, two qualities I always find amazing and when they are together, it’s sometimes a miracle. I asked Carol to write up a short history of the readings. She was kind enough to provide some historical background including an interview with Frank Parman who at the time was the President of the Norman (Oklahoma) Arts Council. It’s only fair that we hear some poetic history from some other part of the world that is not a “big city.”
From Carol Davis Koss:
This goes back to around 1978 and gets real confusing, because I was also president of the Norman Arts Council. Ellen Binkley, who later became president of the Arts Council, and l would plan, like a gig for Tyrone Wilkerson, (who was part of the Poet in the Schools program), at the Norman Community Playhouse. The Norman Arts Council in the beginning sponsored the Norman poetry readings. There were a few readings at the Norman Public Library. Not many showed up. I read there with Betty Shipley. It was her first public reading. She stole the show. No one spoke to me after the reading.
Then, Mike Reynolds pushed to have the Norman readings at the Library Bar (no connection with the Norman Public Library). So, they were held there until the bar closed. We moved to the Town Tavern. (The readings were not sponsored by IAO until we moved to Town Tavern.) The owner of the Town Tavern was also on the Norman Arts Council. After a while, she objected to the emcees' public drinking and Robin Schulz took over. Town Tavern used to match the IAO grant money. This meant we could pay the poets up to $30 per featured reader. Even then, we were trying to combine the arts. Like on September 18th, 1979 or 80, we featured poetry and jazz, with Bob Gilkeson. I have a recording of that. The Street Players Theatre performed Betty Shipley’s first book CALLED UP YONDER at an IAO event at Town Tavern. Earlier, the Contemporary Arts Foundation’s Warehouse Theatre had readings - almost every month, it seemed. Arn Henderson and I did a multi-media reading for two voices there. It’s where Richard Whitman realized you could combine pictures and poetry. The arts were so intertwined.
I wrote the first IAO grant as a literature project cosponsored by Cottonwood Arts Foundation. The project included readings around the state and a newsletter. Arn Henderson and I started Cottonwood Arts Foundation back in 1974 as an umbrella for Point Riders Press. Although most of the previous Cottonwood Arts projects were for exhibits, multi-media theater, and a film, they also sponsored readings at various places, including the University of Oklahoma Art Museum and the performance area of a Norman restaurant. We also had reading programs in Lawton, Guthrie and Tulsa. So, Cottonwood Arts was the logical sponsor for the literary project with IAO. After the Warehouse Theatre burned down in 1976, Linda McDonald opened the Storefront Center (on 16th Street, close to where Diversity is now) as a Contemporary Arts Foundation project (this was around 1979). IAO cosponsored a reading series there. Carol Hamilton performed there, along with Betty Shipley, Lance Henson - and his poet-musician brother performed with his Native American rock band. IAO cosponsored two reading series in Tulsa. One was at the Open Door Coffee House. The other was the annual Living Arts series.
Ellen Binkley and I wanted the Norman Arts Council to share an office with IAO. This would include gallery space. But, the Norman Arts Council rejected that proposal, and I decided to move IAO to Oklahoma City. I consulted with Claude Anderson and Jenny Woodruff, and we rented lobby space at the Paseo Design Center. We hired Martha Mobley as a part-time director, started a newsletter and moved away from IAO being just for poetry. In the newsletter, we wanted original work, but we also wanted to write about all the arts. So, we had poets reviewing dance, plays, and the visual arts. This got other people to join IAO.
Our original plan was to be statewide. After all, the only cost of a reading is gas for the car to get there. But, after we moved to the Paseo, we were paying rent and a salary. We no longer had money to pay the artists. That’s when I stopped scheduling featured poets. After that, it was all open mic.
On November 12, 1995, after an extended hiatus, Individual Artists of Oklahoma resumed poetry readings. Poetry committee members Carol Davis Koss, Brian Poole, spontaneous bob and Taz created a forum where, in addition to open mic time, one or more poets would be featured. We began with monthly Sunday afternoon readings at the gallery at One North Hudson. That same November saw the start of semi-monthly readings at Bollinger’s Bookstore. The following November, we moved our monthly readings from second Sundays at the gallery to second Fridays at Between the Bread. In March of 1997, Bollinger’s announced its imminent closing and we had our last evening of poetry there on the 25th.
On September 2, 1997, the first Tuesday of each month became an IAO gathering of poets at Sandman’s Café. September 15th was the first of many monthly readings at Diversity, and - in November, we moved our second Fridays from Between the Bread to Harvey’s. We opened with fireworks; Betty Shipley, recently named Poet Laureate of Oklahoma, was featured. It was one of Betty’s last public readings. Second Fridays remained at Harvey’s just short of one year. The week following IAO’s publication and reading of POETS BITE THE BULLET, a collection dedicated to non-violence, Harvey’s was the victim of arson. On November 11th, Second Fridays moved to Diversity and we had a commemorative celebration of and for the lives and work of Betty Shipley, J. R. Witt, and Mike Mullin.
IAO now sponsors weekly open mic poetry readings and bi-monthly slams at Galileo’s on the Paseo, (under the aegis of the Wayward Poets), monthly poetry events at Diversity and Sandman’s in Oklahoma City, and at Prairie Moons in Norman, and special poetry performances, such as the one celebrating the publication of this anthology. As of today, more than sixty poets have been featured and hundreds of poets have volunteered their words and passions at the microphone. We have taken as our motto Emile Zola’s words: “If you ask me what I came into this world to do, I will tell you. I came to live out loud.”. . . Hope you all enjoyed finding out about some place other than big city poetry and how some of the local pioneers keep the word going.
