MUSELETTER #38
7/4/2000
This Independence Day Museletter is chock full of poetry news & notes from all over, plus a special July 4th free-speech alert, so we'll get right to it:
- Bob Redmond reports from the Pacific Northwest, including a special preview of the poetry program at Bumbershoot.
- Shann Palmer has lots to say about poetry doings in Virginia & DC, plus all the names, dates & addresses you could ever want.
- Jason Pettus brings the news from Milwaukee, Detroit & BookExpo America.
- Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz has the skinny on New York poetry, a “Slamstravaganza” of competition, publication & performance.
Margy Snyder & Bob Holman
Poetry Guides
SPECIAL JULY 4th POETRY ACTION:
This article appeared in Friday's Las Vegas Weekly:
“FREE SPEECH ISN'T A FAMILY MATTER”
By Joe Schoenmann
Thank God Barnes & Noble is taking it upon themselves to clean up our foul-mouthed police department. Now we can buy Playboy and Penthouse in peace!
Harry Fagel, a Las Vegas cop who writes poetry about the city's mean streets, came face to face with the corporate book store's censors Friday, June 23, during a poetry reading at the B&N at 3860 S. Maryland Pkwy. Fagel, whose book Street Talk is about to enter its second printing, knew something was amiss when a B&N flunky warned him that his first poem, “Farmer John,” which is about masturbation, contained “too much innuendo.” Then he was about 80 percent finished with “Eggs,” a poem about supermodels selling their eggs over the Internet, when the B&N flunky grabbed the microphone.
“This reading is over,” the man said.
By this time, Fagel's audience had grown to about 50 -- including his 2-year-old son, 82-year-old grandfather, his mom, wife and other parents and kids -- so Fagel invited them to hear the rest of the poem outside. They followed him outside and Bruce Isaacson, whose Zeitgeist Press publishes Fagel's book, approached the offending store manager inside. “I told him if they didn't want to have readings out in the middle of the store, I could understand that -- put them in a corner so other customers wouldn't be upset. But to stop someone from speaking in the middle of their performance. . . I thought that was radically wrong.”
The manager's response? “He told me,” Isaacson recalls, “'Well, Harry said the F-word.'”
That's when Isaacson launched into a brief history lesson, noting first of all that Independence Day is approaching. And did the flunky realize that in Nazi Germany it was also considered profane to talk about Jews in a humane manner? Whose to judge what's “dirty” and what is not?
“I was 86-ed from the store,” Isaacson says. “He told me I should leave and never come back.”
While that store manager couldn't be reached for comment, a spokeswoman told Las Vegas Weekly that the store caters to children and adults. “We've tried to keep this a family atmosphere and have set forward some guidelines for poetry readings,” said the woman, who did not want to be named. “That said, this is a G-rated kind of show.”
Isaacson doesn't want to let it go at that. On July 4th, he wants poets around the country to enter their local B&N and read aloud something from the shelves “that will get them 86-ed.” “They're out there profiting from the sale of books on free speech and open speech but aren't tolerant of speech in their own store,” Isaacson says. “It just breaks my heart to see a book store act that way.”
EVERYBODY! Take a stand for free speech in your local B&N, & tell us what happened when you did. Use our Reader Submission page to report to Museletter.
SEATTLE/PACIFIC NORTHWEST
Hola tout le monde!
This month the poetry world blew up and everyone in the Northwest started speaking to each other in verse. Dogs barked anapests, fish blew dactyls and the sun rained hard candy on every city street. Bus schedules read in haiku and perfect strangers palmed the dog-eared back and forth, forth and back at the workplace. In other words, it did not rain and the temperature rose above 75. Amen! And the poetry, so much it just about blinded us!
Skagit River Poetry Festival (report by Judith Roche)
Modeled after the Dodge Poetry Festival, the first biennial Skagit River Poetry Festival was born May 18 through 20, in LaConner, Washington. About 90 miles north of Seattle, La Conner is a charming little community of 800 souls on the Skagit River, home of tulip fields, a handful of Zen poets and situated just across the bridge from the Swinomish Indian Reservation. It just so happens that Kathy Shoop, an administrator in the La Conner Schools, is sister to Jim Havre, the Director of the Geraldine Dodge Poetry Festival in New Jersey, the most prominent poetry gathering in the country. Sister and brother and Tim Burton, Superintendent of La Conner Schools, along with many local folks, most notably Anne McCracken, collaborated on making a “Dodge Poetry West.” The event has already outgrown the comparison and can stand on its own.
The Skagit River Poetry Festival featured such notables as Coleman Barks, Thomas Lux, Naomi Shihab Nye, Lorna Dee Cervantes, Heather McHugh, Kurtis Lampkin and Jane Hirshfield for headliners. A wonderful gathering of Northwest poet participants included Paul Hunter, Alicia Hokanson, Sam Green, Ed Harkness, Vi Hilbert, James Bertolino, Larry Laurence, Anne Spires, Michael Daley, Tim McNulty and Judith Roche. Programming especially honored Robert Sund, legendary, almost iconographic Northwest poet from La Conner. The Northwest poets selected to read here were largely of the “Ish River” school, whose work is deeply rooted in the land of the Swinomish, Stilligamish, Skykomish, Duwanish, Sammamish rivers.
Thursday night featured a special reading and music performance by Coleman Barks for a capacity, largely local crowd. The event gathered several hundred students from seven local school districts for the Friday readings, workshops and lively panel discussions. Friday night and Saturday performances drew about half their audience from Seattle and the other half locally. Most of the ten separate venues were full much of the time. The beauty of the natural scenery, the charm of the town, and the serene brilliant blue of the river added immeasurably to the event, which was considered to be a smashing success in its first appearance. The organizers have big plans not only to continue the poetry festival but to build on that to make La Conner a major center for art in the West.
Bumbershoot Preview
Thank you Judith! Judith is the Literary Arts Director at Bumbershoot, the amazing arts festival celebrating its 30th anniversary this Labor Day here in Seattle. Here's a sneak preview of some of what she's got lined up, featuring a wealth of writers especially from the NY/San Francisco axis, notably those who came of age in the 60's. You can get an early taste of the Festival by following the following links:
- Clayton Eshleman
Heavy hitter from the Black Mountain school and beyond mountain rock, goes farther back even than Rothenberg in tracing the origins of poetry -- that is, to the Paleolithic age itself. It should be a mind-blower to hear him. - Duncan MacNaughton
From San Fran: check out his poem “poem” on the fine Big Bridge poetry site. - Janine Pommy Vega
From the same generation as MacNaughton, among the Beat pantheon (but the women always get short shrift), and with a new exciting book: Mad Dogs of Trieste: New & Selected Poems (Black Sparrow). You can read her “Greeting the Year 2000, With Respect” in Poets on the Line #3. - Billy Collins
The Michael Collins of poetry? Someone, oh it was the New York Times, called him the “most popular poet in America,” and there was a recently huge industry to-do about his dealings with the wrong side of the independents, Random House v. Pittsburgh Press. Check it out in Salon, and of course the poetry, audio and literal, at his own site, in The Cortland Review #7 & at Poetry Daily. - bill bissett
If John Cage and Shel Silverstein had a baby and it lived in Toronto, would it be bill bissett? Hear and see his pure language poems, and drawings at qwerte. His new book, b leev abul char ak trs, is out this year on Talon Books. - June Melby
From LA, June has already swept crowds at the 1999 Seattle Poetry Festival, and got her entire recorded set (with Matthew Niblock) selected to air on Seattle's NPR. June just got back from touring Europe and now will come steal the show again. Her “Quiet Time” is on audio at SpokenWar.
Northwest Bookfest
While we're on major literary events, the fifth annual bookselling event of the region, Northwest Bookfest, features lots of readers, panels, and of course their wares. Heads up, anyone who is publishing a book of poems this year, and wants to head up to Seattle: the Poetry Committee is still booking folks, through July. It doesn't pay, but there's lots of exposure: some 30,000 in attendance. Last year Roger Bonair-Agard made headlines.
Slammings and Goings
The SlamAmerica tour kicks off from Seattle on July 9th. Paula Friedrich is going on the bus for sure; the others keep changing but we're having a big send-off for all of them at 8 pm at the Sit N Spin. The Jezebelles and The Morrigan, bad-ass groups of women, show up the same weekend, from NYC and Chicago, respectively. And the original Sister Spit (will they do a reunion tour in 30 years?), Michelle Tea and Sini Anderson, come to town July 11 for the Home Alive Awareness week, 9 pm at the OK Hotel; the night features the 2nd all-femme slam. Also, from the testosterone side, Big Poppa E, from San Fran, is in town on July 5 at Dutch Ned's.
The new Slam CD is out! Live recording from February, featuring many voices from the last three years of Slam in Seattle. Contact Seattle Poetry Slam for details.
Slam Hostess Allison Durazzi also writes: “Special Kudos to SPS Board President Paula Friedrich. Paula teamed up with Danny Solis (Albuquerque, NM) and Coach Sonya Feher (Austin, TX) to do the Taos Poetry Circus Tag Team Poetry Bout. And won! Paula and Danny are the first slam poets to win this award (they actually get a trophy and it looks like a 'people's choice award,' very nifty and apropos)!”
Also: Poets Coy King (Austin) and Karen Finnefrock (DC) are new Seattleites, already shaking things up at the Slam, and Nancy Depper (San Fran) has been here a few months now. J. Love from Chicago liked Sea-town so much when he came for the Po Fest that he is moving here, and we will miss dearly Max Cubriz when he moves to San Francisco to get married!
Poetry Bash?!?
Danika Dinsmore writes: “A few weeks ago my friend Tod and I were cruising poetry Web sites and found the poetry.com contest. Since most of the entries (you can view them) seemed pretty lame, we decided to enter the contest. Why not? A few weeks later, I discovered what an entire scam it all is (see Dennis Gaughan's article). Every single person 'wins.' They send a letter saying you are a finalist and are being published in a book (over 1,500 poems), which you can purchase for $49.95. You do the math. Even if they give certain cash prizes away, they are still making tons of money. I contacted them immediately and asked that my name and poem be removed from the site. They still haven't taken it off. Warn others. Boycott poetry.com.”
Read the details for yourself at Poetry Cafe. And if you visit poetry.com, you'll hear all about the “Poetry Bash,” and how it picks up on “roots” in Chicago, and in which poets face off against each other and are judged by audience members picked at random. They're having a big “bash” in DC this summer. Sounds like a pretty clear rip-off to me. Where's Vince McMahon anyway?
Poetry Northwest
Meanwhile, the oldest exclusively-poetry publication in the country, Poetry Northwest, just missed the fiscal guillotine from its parent University of Washington. It's been published continuously for 41 years, and edited by the highly respected David Wagoner since 1966. I won't pretend to love the magazine or the whole university literary journal scene, but hey, for $4000 a year you'd think the UW could continue funding it, even though it isn't “profitable.” Did you know the UW is the largest landowner in Seattle? They own half of downtown. $4,000 is petty cash. Anyway, between a commencement address by Robert Pinsky and 60 emails to the authorities in two days (see? democracy works!), the UW relented and agreed to fund the mag for two more years. Of course, Wagoner will have retired by that time and perhaps they're hoping to give it a surreptitious death. Details at SeattleP-I.com.
In Memoriam: Carol Harper
Carol Harper, 96 year old poetry and arts pioneer of the NW, died in a house fire last Wednesday, June 21st. Harper, who lived on her own, had helped start the poetry publishing movement in the NW: she began publishing Experiment magazine in the late 1940's and wrote and ran it out of her own home for 20 years. No doubt these efforts led to the later 60's mags such as Consumption (brought forth by the fine poet and pressman Paul Hunter) and others.
Roasted Goat
Bill Shively, one of those links in the continuing NW literary scene, is organizing another country fair of poetry, August 11th, 12th, and 13th, at a farm in Western Oregon. Performers and musician-friendly poets welcome. “No ravers or folks who can't maintain,” says Bill. Besides the host band and Coincidences of the Realm, a great poetry fusion group with poet Phoebe Bosché, expect Ritah Parrish, Kevin Sampsell, Mary Misel, Bob Phillips, Stan Cassells, Mari-Lou Rowley from Canada. Doug Marx is going to do some finger-picking blues, Brian Christopher's band, Fiction, outside-jazz Stinkhorn.
“Dinner Saturday, early evening, is roasted goat, hence the name. We'll get some corn and the rest will be pot luck. The goat is from a carneceria in nearby Lafayette.” Details, shively@spiritone.com.
Beat Resurrection
Mark Leair from Portland writes to announce “Beat Resurrection,” a new reading/open mike every Tuesday evening at 8:30 pm at the Viscount Ballroom, 722 E. Burnside, Portland. The jazz quintet Cat Daddy improvises alongside local area poets in an open mike format. It's happening. The event is put on by Harvest Art Productions Inc. Contact David Miller at poetryordie@uswest.net for more info.
Calls for Subs & Other Notes
- Kota Press Contest
Kara LC Jones writes about the snazzy, Seattle based Kota Press Web-zine and poetry contest. No entry fees! Hooray! Plus, lots of winners (5-7), and print for the winners (15-25 pages each in a perfect-bound anthology). Next deadline is August 30. Details at The KotaPress Poetry Journal.
- Isangmahal Call
Mixt up Productions in collaboration with isangmahal arts kollective Los Angeles are currently accepting submissions of works by Asian American multiracial artists for the second in a series of three chapbooks. Mixt up was released in April 2000 to much success and critical praise. The chapbook will be featured in the forthcoming issues of Mavin, CrossCurrents, and What's Hapa'ning. Sixteen artists are featured, including Angela Dy, Sesshu Foster, Victoria Namkung, Alison De La Cruz and Valorie Slaughter-Bergonia. A wide range of works includes poetry, short stories, monologues, prose, and visual art on themes including sexuality, body image, class, and interpersonal relationships. Due to the phenomenal reception of the book, it was decided to produce a series of three volumes devoted to the multiracial Asian American voice, with emerging and more established artists. Deadline is August 15, with selections made by August 31 for October publication. For full details contact Jamie Ardena at Mixt Up Productions, mixt_up@hotmail.com.
- Call for Audio Poetry Work
Jayne Fenton Keane (Australia) is looking for subs! She says “if u can, i'd like to have an audio version of the poems, so send those in mpeg3 format. if u have visual poems, animated poems or images of any kind, send those as well. my site is multimedia, so i'd really like to put your voices online. any interesting photographs of you or others at poetry related events can be sent in jpeg format. i can take word 97 attachments or paste the poems in the body of the email. send anything u think i might be able to use and i'll consider it. i am getting quite a few hits, so hopefully it will be worth your effort. make sure you send Web and email addresses as well, if u have them.” Her site is The Stalking Tongue.
- Poetryism
Poetry is Global at )ism(.
- Agent from Budapest
Todd Swift's new mag Agent is barreling ahead from Budapest, a place for meetings between the “multiplicity of small p poetries” from all over the world.
- Nature Lovers
And Walla Walla, WA poet and editor Charles Potts has another hard-cover book out, a surprise in my mailbox just yesterday: It's called Nature Lovers, on Pleasure Boat Studio, a literary press. I will read it on my way to Vancouver, destination for a long-delayed break. The train leaves in 7 hours!
Thanks for reading, and please! Send all ticket stubs to: bubba@speakeasy.org.
VIRGINIA/DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Kim Holzer Leeds at Cheers
What a great summer it's been so far! At Cheers, a charming little bar in Carytown, I hosted what I hope will become a future summer festival the third Tuesday in June with Kim Holzer Leeds presenting her exciting poetry to a small but enthusiastic crowd. She is a dynamic and talented performer, with great insights into the minds of men and women who chart the scary shores of advertising, body image and getting along in the world. She's preparing to compete as an individual at the National Slam in August. We wish you luck, Kim! Visit her Web site, the lioness den -- she's working on a litzine, asking for submissions. Thank you, Kim!
Muse Convention
The next weekend, I attended a workshop with Georgia Popoff in Frederick, Maryland at the home of slam host Nicki Miller. Special guests included Stazja McFadyen and Robyn Su Millerz: it was a Muse convention. We ate great food, wrote some fabulous poetry and talked ourselves silly!
Bit By the Slam Bug
The next night Kim Leeds and I drove to DC for the slam event at Julios, where I got to read in the open mike and then they made me a judge for the slam -- where the Cape Cod Team (with Robyn Su) and the DC Team, and the individuals (such as Kim) all looked at me to give them 9.9's! But I'm a tough judge and the highest anybody got out of me was a 9.7, which I gave to Adam Hill, a visiting guest from the Boston team. He read a poem he had written at the workshop the day before; it was incredible to see how he had taken an idea and fleshed it out into something beautiful. I was dead tired when I got home at 2:30 am, having driven home in the rain. But now, now! I want to go back every weekend I can. I've got the slam bug! Maybe I'll even make it up to the Nationals in Providence to watch the proceedings!
Georgia Popoff in “June Jaw”
When Georgia Popoff came to Richmond Tuesday night (June 27) to close the “June Jaw” series, the crowd doubled, including some of my students who came and read after Georgia. She was inspiring, beginning with an a capella spiritual that we all sang, going right into a poem dedicated to her mother. I was blown away by her talent and presence. I am trying to get her back in the fall, to feature at Barnes & Noble and come to my school writing classes. You can get her book, Coaxing Nectar From Longing online at the major booksellers or at her “Angel Light” Web site. I highly recommend it.
Kids Poetry Club in Charlottesville
Check these community links for upcoming events:
Here is a summer ideas for kids and poetry at the Virginia Discovery Museum: Poetry Club. Write and publish your original poems in our bimonthly poetry magazine, Museum Muses. Ages 7+. Free with museum admission. East End of the Charlottesville Downtown Pedestrian Mall. Museum's regular operating hours Tuesday-Saturday 10 am to 5 pm, Sundays 1-5 pm, closed Monday. Admission ages 1-13 & Seniors: $3; Adults: $4. For more information call 804.977.1025.
Lexington Venues
Maurice Ferguson reports: “Cantos Bookstore in Lexington has readings about twice a month and these are not slams. Upcoming readers include Kathryn Hankla, reading from her recent book of poetry, and Alison Hagy. Other Lexington venues are the Georgetown Deli (mostly slams), Second Street Coffeehouse (a mix of slams and more traditional renditions), In The Belly of the Beast (all slams) and Saltori's (a mix). In addition to this, each college schedules about four featured poets a year. I'll send what I can. Meanwhile, may the Muses keep your inkwell full all the days of your life.”
Any Poets in Norfolk/Hampton Roads?
Kwan Booth writes: “Please, please, anyone interested in getting a slam going in this area write kwan360@hotmail.com or call 757.423.4575.” Well, Kwan, after scanning every paper in the area, I can only tell you there isn't any poetry going on this summer in Norfolk/Hampton Roads. The best I can suggest is to go down to the beach with Alan Kaufman's Outlaw Bible of American Poetry under your arm and see if anyone shows interest. Wear sunscreen! Can anybody help out with info from this area?
Finding Northern Virginia/Maryland Events
To find spoken word events try AllNVA.com's calendar search. Always consult local newsgroups and print papers for changes; call before going to make sure things are still happening.
On July 7 from 7:30-10 pm at the Reston Community Center in Fairfax County, attend a free evening of poetry readings. These readings are held the first Thursday of every month. The address is 2310 Colts Neck Road, Reston, VA 20191; call 703.476.1111 for more info.
Dean Blehert's Words & Pictures calendar, just updated, lists readings aplenty, but it is summer -- some groups suspend a week or a month during the heat, some groups meet anyway, so call ahead. You can find locations and phone numbers on his local events page for Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax, Leesburg, Manassas and Reston in Virginia, & for Bethesda, Bowie, College Park, Frederick, Gaithersburg, Waldorf, Rock Creek and many other venues in Maryland.
Richmond Readings & a New Venue!
Sunday afternoons at Ashland Coffee & Tea are suspended until the fall. Watch this space for announcements, and perhaps a location change.
Tuesday Night Poetry will be held as usual at Borders Books and Music on Broad Street on July 25, 9750 West Broad Street in Glen Allen, 804.965.0733.
Shann Palmer, your Museletter correspondent, will be reading at Barnes & Noble, Midlothian on August 4 at 7 pm. This is a rescheduled event from April 15, when I was unable to read because of a broken tooth. I'll be accompanied by some manifestation of Villanelle, my jazz group. I'm spending the summer working on new material and adding electronic music with physics teacher and jazz pianist Rich Harman.
New new new new! A brand new poetry venue opens at Barnes & Noble at Libbie Place in Richmond! Third Tuesdays beginning in August there will be a featured poet followed by an open reading. The first event is August 15 and features yours truly, Shann Palmer to get the series started. This is a brand new fabulous bookstore and I want to thank June Stephenson, the community relations manager, for her enthusiasm and help in setting this up. It's at 5501 West Broad Street, Richmond, 804.282.6704.
Here's a summer contest being offered by the local newspaper: “This year, we're working ahead -- way ahead -- to bring you the best inSync poetry issue ever. So, if you're age 12 to 18, haven't graduated from high school and live in the greater Richmond area, send us your poems. To enter, send submissions to:inSync Poetry ContestThe rules are as follows: Poems must be received by 6 pm July 14 to be eligible. They should be written legibly by hand or typed. Entries must include the writer's name, address (including ZIP code), phone number, age and school. inSync writers may enter this year, but will be judged separately. All writers must put 'inSync writer' on each poem submitted. Poems without the above information will not be considered. You can enter as many poems as you like, but each must be mailed separately. No mass submissions of any kinds will be accepted. Any poems arriving in bulk will not be considered. Poems will not be returned, so please do not send us your only copy. Selected poems will be published in a future issue of inSync.”
c/o The Richmond Times-Dispatch
P.O. Box 85333
Richmond, VA 23293
The Times-Dispatch also covers poetry for grownups: Read what Richmond poet and teacher Ron Smith says about the new translation of Rilke's Duino Elegies here in the book review section.
And in September, the Poetic Principles series sponsored by the New Virginia Review and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts gets underway with Donald Hall as the first guest. That will be September 14 at 6 pm. There is an admission charge and you can purchase tickets in advance for the entire series. I'll give more info on that and how to order tickets in the next Virginia/DC Museletter.
Roanoke Events
Scott Dickinson reports that poets NOW meets every Monday at Chilli Peppers at 9 pm. They are located at 19 Salem Avenue (near the market building). Alas, the Wit's End is closed so no more Thursdays. For more Roanoke info, visit the Roanoke Poetry Slam discussion list or their Web site.
The Nicolo Whimsey Show in Williamsburg
There's not much going on in the colonial city except tourists, tourists, tourists! In the fall, more information will be available from the College of William & Mary and other local groups. In the meantime, there's The Nicolo Whimsey Show -- Variety Arts Entertainers Extraordinaire! -- as part of the Williamsburg Regional Library's Summer Reading Programs. Thow will combine poetry, music, comedy, pantomime, ropewalking & audience participation. Location: Williamsburg Library Theatre, 515 Scotland Street, Williamsburg, 259-7733.
D.C. Calendars & Slam
The Washington Post online entertainment guide is the single best source for what and where it is, poetry-wise. If you type in “poetry” for a keyword, you can get maps and phone numbers. Every Borders Books & Music has some kind of poetry/spoken word events -- check out the Borders store directory for the local ones.
The Myth, Washington DC's hottest weekly poetry slam, has moved to a new location in Adams Morgan!Julio's Rooftop PizzaIt's just three blocks west of the Green Line Metro Stop U Street-Cardozo on U Street, five blocks north from the Red Line Metro stop Dupont Circle on New Hampshire Avenue.
1602-4 U Street, NW
Washington, D.C.
202.483.8500
Sunday Nights 7:00-10:00 pm ~ Open mic and slam sign ups begin at 7 ~ Greater Washington DC's track to the National Poetry Slam ~ Emceed by DC Slammaster Toby DeBarr ~ $5 cover charge ~ Meet your friends, bring your poetry ~ Great food and drink specials ~ Check out CafedeSoul.com for Internet rebroadcasts of certain Myth dates, including a WebTV rebroadcast of the Myth Grand Slam Championship Finals! For more info, holler @ Nicki Miller at GalAengus@aol.com.
Note: New qualification period for the 2001 DC Slam Team! A total of 8 points will be required to become a semifinalist: points are assessed as follows: 1st place, 4 points; 2nd place, 3 points; 3rd place, 2 points. Poets on a winning team during a team slam competition will each receive 2 points. After a poet has accumulated 8 points, he/she will be added to the pool for the semifinals in 2001, to be held in May next year.
Coming to Cafe Myth in July:
- July 2
1999 National Poetry Slam Champ Roger Bonair-Agard/NYC - July 9
Kirk Nugent/NYC & Alexander Fisby/DC plus team scrimmage: DC vs. Team Pittsburgh - July 16
Daniel Gray Kontar/Cleveland - July 23
Pat Rosal/NJ & Josh Kellar/DC - July 24
Team DC travels to 13 Bar Lounge in NYC for a scrimmage bout! - July 30
Brenda Moossy/Fayetteville, Arkansas & Stazja McFadyen/DC
A couple of other DC venues:
- Every Monday:
Blue Nile, 1300 block, U Street, NW, Washington, DC. 8 pm. - Every Tuesday: (please confirm)
Mango's, free open reading, 8 pm, 2017 14th Street, NW, for info call 202.332.2104. - Kwasawa Café, 2400 block, 18th Street, NW, Washington, DC, 8 pm.
- Cup of Dreams, 12 Street, NE, Washington, DC, 8 pm.
- Every Thursday: (double check this)
Open readings at Kaffa House, 1212 U Street, NW, free, 8 pm. For info call 202.462.1212.
Get Ready for SlamAmerica!
DC and Baltimore are stops for the SlamAmerica bus tour on August 3rd and 4th, respectively. SlamAmerica is a national bus tour of 100 slam poets sponsored by Schieffelin-Somerset and Poetry Slam, Inc. & organized by my fellow Museletter correspondent Gary Mex Glazner. Alternating groups of 16 poets will ride the bus doing slams, readings and workshops across the nation as they make their way to the 2000 National Poetry Slam in Providence, RI in mid-August. The bus will begin its sojourn in Seattle on July 9, and visit 40 cities in 30 days, including us! Scott Kirkpatrick and Denise Johnson will be boarding the bus in DC; Tonya Matthews and one other poet in Baltimore. They will be promoting the book release of Poetry Slam; the Competitive Art of Performance Poetry, published by Manic D Press and edited by Gary Mex Glazner.
Watch for updates, & I'll see ya in the poetry section of your local bookstore!!
MIDWEST
Milwaukee Poetry Events
Finally, some news about our fine neighbors to the north. This list comes to us from Marlynne Hodges, who herself culled them from the Shepherd Express. Marlynne mentions in her email that she has not gotten to visit all these venues yet, so make sure to call ahead before heading out. But you're all poets, so you should know that anyway.
- Gallery 218, 218 S. Second Street
Monthly open mic, last Friday of each month, sign up 7:45 pm, starts 8 pm, 270-1043 - Gasthaus Zur Krone, 839 S. 2nd Street
Poetry Slam 8 pm, 1st & 3rd Thursdays monthly, 647-1910 - Jitterz Coffee House, 7606 W. State Street
Poetry Night first & third Fridays monthly, 7:30 pm, 774-5952 - Rory's Cafe, 3041 N. Oakland Avenue
Poetry night with Russ, 8 pm Thursdays, 332-3959 - Thai Joe's/Bangkok Orchid, 2239 N. Prospect Avenue
Poets' Monday, 8 pm Mondays, call 223-3333 - Y-Not II, 706 E. Lyon
Poetry Slam, 2nd & 4th Wednesdays monthly, open mic and featured performer, 8:30 pm, 347-9972 - Words in Motion
Web magazine dedicated to voices of black women writers seeks poetry and short stories. Send email: cbl@execpc.com or mail: P.O. Box 893, Milwaukee, WI 53201 - Women's Writing Circle, Borders, 8705 N. Port Washington Road
All free spirits and serious writers welcome, 5:30-7 pm Wednesdays, pre-register with Karen Howland, 351-1825 - Redbird Writing Studios, 3195 S. Superior Street
Writers' Roundtable 1-3 pm & 6:30-8:30 pm Tuesdays, writers of all levels, interests and ages welcome, 481-3029 - Bluff Magazine
Milwaukee-based Webzine featuring local and worldwide poetry, camp, satire and comics.
The Latest From Detroit
Here's a selected list of upcoming Detroit-area events, courtesy Liberty R.O. Daniels:
- Every Friday
The Cosmic Groove series continues at the Serengeti Ballroom, 2957 Woodward Avenue. Open mic starts at 8 pm with a live broadcast at 10 pm on WHPR 88.1. Lawrence X is the host. Donation $5. - Every Friday
The Poetically Speaking series continues at 736 Java, Inc., 736 Lothrop at 7 pm. Talitha Johnson and Javonna Williams are the hosts. $2 donation. - Every Friday
The ArtTalk Poetry Series continues at 736 Java, Inc., 736 Lothrop Avenue at 9 pm. MWade is the host. $3 donation. (313) 875-5282.
Bookorama
Since the last Museletter report from the Midwest, the annual BookExpo America literary convention has come and gone. Sponsored by the American Booksellers Association, it's easily the largest literary convention in the country. Highlight of the weekend was a basement-press party at local punk epicenter Fireside Bowl, jointly sponsored by such kickass groups as Soft Skull Press (winner of “best small press” at this year's Firecracker Awards) and Incommunicado. The party featured lots o' punk rock bands, plus a small performance by Bomb the Suburbs' William Upski.
I got to speak to Douglas Martin (Our Haiku Year, Soft Skull) who is set to have a new book of poetry out with the company at any moment, and will coincidentally be attending this year's National Poetry Slam in Providence, Rhode Island. My new best friend, Cat Tyc, also with Soft Skull, told me all about some very exciting new releases the company has planned. . . but she was drunk when she told me, so I promised not to blab! Last Gasp's Jon Longhi was running around in attendance, and San Francisco's Manic D Press made their presence known throughout the weekend as well. (Although, sadly, Manic D Press owner and Museletter correspondent Jen Joseph was not in attendance. Sigh. Jen, are you and I ever going to meet?)
The founder of Museletter's predecessor, Poetry Channel & Information Network, Juliette Torrez, was simply all over the place. . . as she usually is, as any of you who know her can attest. People were talking about her Kapow! series of chapbooks, combining contemporary performance poets with underground cartoonists. I asked Juliette when her company would be featuring a combo of me and Jessica Abel in a book. She just laughed and laughed and laughed.
But the high point of the weekend for me was the opportunity to meet NEA legend Karen Finley, who was the host of this year's Firecrackers, also held in Chicago that weekend. Karen. . . oh Karen. For a woman who has done so many daring and controversial things over your life, you sure do act like my drunk aunt a lot. Not that I'm complaining!
To let the rest of the nation know what's going on in your particular Midwestern town, write to me at jpettus@hotmail.com, or visit my Web site. I try to send out updates a week after anyone writes to me, so don't wait!
--Jason Pettus
www.geocities.com/jpettus.geo
NEW YORK/NORTHEAST
Slamstravaganza
Every year slam poets from across the nation battle each other for a precious spot on their local slam team. Well, we here in New York City are no different, except we've got three nationally recognized venues, which means come finals time we New York poets have got a pretty busy schedule. Want to know what happened at the three venues? Then read on:
Burning Down the House & the Little Bit Louda Finals
What a busy few weeks for Bar 13! At the end of May, it hosted the record-breaking evening of spoken word that was the Burning Down the House publication party! The book, with foreword by our own Bob Holman, celebrates the works of the 1998 National Poetry Slam Championship Team, Team New York. This was no dull book reading/signing. The evening was incredible as the team -- Roger Bonair-Agard, Steve Colman, Guy LeCharles Gonzalez, Alix Olson & Lynne Procope -- performed not only their own work from the book, but also joyfully performed other team members' signature pieces. You can buy the book online using the link above, or directly from the publisher, Soft Skull Press.
Celebrating 1998's team was not enough: the Little Bit Louda Reading series pushed forward and packed the house with an audience of 150+ for their five round slam finals. This brutal competition featured two sets of judges, two sacrificial poets, and seven competing poets (Marty McConnell, Jessica Blank, Bassey, Staceyann Chin, Yolanda Wilkinson, Tim Arevalo and Roger Bonair-Agard). When the dust cleared, five rounds later, only 0.4 points separated first from fifth place. Team Union Square, 2000 is: Staceyann Chin, Roger Bonair-Agard, Marty McConnell and Yolanda Wilkinson, with Bassey as alternate and Roger as coach. Whew! Bar 13 certainly doesn't equate summer with vacation. For more info, check the Little Bit Louda schedule online.
Nuyorican Poets' Cafe Team 2000 Gets Ready To Rumble
The Nuyorican Poet's Cafe started New York City on its love affair with slam poetry in the early 90s & is continuing the tradition to this day. They recently choose their Team New York 2000: Bryonn Bain (who is also the 2000 grand slam individual champion), Helena Lewis, Tehut-9 and Jamaal St. John, with 1999 grand slam champion Kirk Nugent as coach and alternate Thema Bryant waiting in the wings. They are also celebrating their community as a whole with Slambook, which showcases a year of pictures, persuasion & poetry at the Nuyorican. Pick it up for only $3 the next time you are at the cafe!
Urbana, The Basement Poets Clash
Bar 13 is located on the second floor of a building, while the Nuyorican Poets Cafe's stage sprawls all over the ground floor, so it only seems right that, Urbana, the third nationally recognized poetry slam venue in NYC, is located in a basement. All right, it's the basement lounge of legendary punk venue CBGBs, but it is below ground nonetheless. And Urbana also celebrated the end of its season in record-breaking style. The 160+ audience was so loud that when I announced the first poet on stage, the applause nearly knocked me over! However, it was no picnic for the 8 poets competing in Urbana's grueling four round finals, who were Frank Rempe, Amanda Nazario, Noel Jones,Morris Stegosaurus, Taylor Mali, Sage Francis, Celena Glenn and Beau Sia. The judges' tough scoring of Nuyorican Slammistress Felice Bell's sacrifical poem foreshadowed an evening of uncertainty. The poets gave their all with each performance, but were whittled down to the four members of Team Manhattan who will represent Urbana in Providence this summer: Celena Glenn (who was the top winner of the evening), Taylor Mali, Beau Sia and Noel Jones, with Morris Stegosaurus as the alternate. Special note must be paid to Morris though, for he actually tied with Noel for fourth place in the third round. The rules stated that whoever had the highest cumulative score for the first two rounds would prevail, so Noel moved on to the team. Yet this does allow Morris to defend his national title this year at the National Poetry Slam's Fifth Wheel Slam! For more info on Urbana, check the Web site.
Diva Publishes!
Douglas A. Martin, the only male participant in 1999's Diva Slam (he served as a standard-setting sacrificial poet with his amazing performance piece about Patti Smith), is celebrating his new novel Outline of My Lover and everyone is invited! It costs $10, but you get a free copy of his book and the opportunity to see fierceness incarnate himself reading excerpts. It all takes place Friday, June 30 @ New York Quarterly Meeting Hall, 15 Rutherford Place, NYC, from 7-9 pm. Also reading: K.C. Trommer, Debora Lidov, Regie Cabico, Brian Blanchfield, Dot Antoniades & Todd Colby.
Patricia (Word)Smith
Summer school can be so cool. Need an example? Well, I've got a doozy: author, journalist, poet and performer Patricia Smith will teach two writing workshops this summer at The Writer's Voice, 5W. 63rd Street (the 63rd St. Y) in New York City (212-875-4124). “Crafting the Memoir,” which takes place Tuesdays June 27-August 22, 6:30-9 pm, will explores “creative elements of the memoir, discuss tone and voice and the twisting of perspective, and learn how to break beneath the surface to write of pain, loss, doubt, anger and grief. [The class will] perform exercises to jostle memory and loosen inhibition and look at alternatives to 'the book' or 'the essay' -- memoir as poetry, memoir as theater. We'll become reporters, storytellers, unflinching witnesses and historians in the crafting of the most important story of all -- the one we're living.” And if that didn't send you immediately running to the phone to register, perhaps her second class, “The Poet As Storyteller,” (Thursdays June 29-August 17, 6:30-9 pm) will pique your interest. In this class, participants will “craft a series of poems, all linked to a specific theme, situation, environment or vision” and “discuss how to decide upon a theme, sustaining narrative, writing in persona and confronting the demons that rise in the telling of any tale... The goal is for each student to emerge with a themed chapbook, the beginnings of a publishable volume, or a cohesive group of poems which can be performed for featured readings.” Interested? Email Patricia at wordwoman@sprintmail.com for further info. Happy studying!
Web Sites To Check Out
Lastly, I am passing along some Web sites that people in the Northeast poetry community have sent me -- explore them and see what some of the Net-savvy poets in the area have to say. (If you want me to highlight your Web site in a future edition of NY Museletter, just send it along to me, preferably with a little description about why people will love this site, under the header “Poetry Web site”). Now get surfing!
- Lucid Moon Poetry Magazine Newsletter
This site was sent in by Ralph Haselmann Jr. from Lucid Moon Poetry Magazine. It not only archives his bimonthly Lucid Moon Poetry Magazine Small Press Newsletters, but also is chockful of info about small presses, poetry chaps, books, cds and broadside releases, new poetry Web sites, poetry book readings and signings and also includes three poems per newsletter. Check it out. - Acoustic Poets Network
This site is a wealth of info about the healthy spoken word community in Malverne, NY. All poets who live in the area should check it out, and also check out the Acoustic Poets Network's Open Spoken Word and Poetry mic every 1st and 4th Thursday of the month starting at 7pm, in the living room lounge at Java Joe's Cafe, 285 Hempstead Avenue. - Peter Nicholson
I have no idea how this hunky Australian got in contact with me, but check out his site, which includes his poems, essays and thoughts on writing. Make sure to take a look at his event poem for the Sydney Olympics! - SpokenWorld.com
This URL leads you to four diffent poetry related sites! However, I would suggest paying special attention to the SpokenWorld site itself. You can listen to live radio broadcasts and archived ones as well. This might be a great place to get exposure for a new CD, cassette or tour. For more info, email daisy@spokenworld.com. And check out the site! - Elis Eil Records
Find out more about these spoken word troubadours, their books, records and shows. They are touring this fall, so make sure to catch them in your hood, too. - Bulldog Breath
I really liked this site a lot. On the top of the page there is an adorable line-up of bulldogs. Click on a bulldog and get a randomly selected poem by Gregory Severance. You could spend forever just clicking around in here. - National Poetry Slam, Inc.
The national site for Poetry Slam, Inc. has been so overhauled by resident computer wiz Michael Saliger that it warrants a look every week. There is a chatroom, an interactive map so that you can plan your summer around the Slam America tour bus (which will be carrying amazing poets from Cali to Providence, so make sure to check it out) and a poetry slam shop that sells chatbooks, including my own chatbook DEAR FUTURE BOYFRIEND (this is what I sound like). - Poetry Slam 2000 Providence
Rhode Island poet John S. Powers sent me this URL utterly nervous that it wouldn't be good enough, but I think it is slick as hell. The Northeast can celebrate because Providence, RI is hosting the National Poetry Slam this year, meaning that poets from all over the US and the world (well, Canada) will converge on Providence for a weekend of competitive spoken word! Huzzah! Want more info? Check out the site! And don't forget to tell John what a good job he and the other organizers are doing!
All right, that's all for me. Wear sunblock, keep writing and keep reading!
