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MUSELETTER #67
3.17.2001

Hi everyone,

We begin this week with a news flash from New York:
The Peoples Poetry Gathering is more than a roll-out for NatPoMo. It's a poem of poems, a one-of-a-kind delve into internationalism, oral ves/& text, endangered languages and loggers and lagers. Write citylore@citylore.com to sign up for their sweet e-zine, The Gathering; visit their Web site at www.peoplespoetry.org, and by all means catch the show if you can get to New York: Friday, March 30 - Sunday April 1, all over Lower Manhattan but centered at Cooper Union, St. Marks Place and Bowery.

In the interest of making National Poetry Month international here at About Poetry (after all, it's a World Wide Web), we've been working to expand Museletter's coverage across the planet. This week we bring you the first report from our new United Kingdom correspondent, Tim Gibbard. Tim produces a bi-monthly poetry show for BBC Radio (Bristol), writes & produces live literary events, has done a number of poetry+music+film projects & is currently combining his own works with audio/visual recording (DAT, Super 8mm film, slides and video) to recreate the power of ‘live’ interaction through the use of recorded words and related, moving images. He has toured annually in the US and Europe since 1996 (in fact, he's in California right now).

We also have lots of news & links from the northeastern corner of the US, courtesy of our always-on-the-move New England correspondent, Robyn Su Millerz.

Enjoy! Happy St. Paddy's Day!

Margy Snyder & Bob Holman
Poetry Guides


POETRY IS EVERYWHERE AT ABOUT
  • “Looking at Emily Dickinson”
    Women Writers Guide Colleen Devlin begins with a close scrutiny of the only extant photograph of Emily Dickinson & explores the evolution of our vision of Emily as woman & poet: “For such a seemingly benign figure, Emily Dickinson seems to scare people. We know just enough about her to pronounce all kinds of wild theories about her psychic health and little enough that she continues to be completely inscrutable.”

BRISTOL/ENGLAND

THE UNITED COLOURS OF BRISTOL
Tim Gibbard, Bristol, England, International Correspondent (UK) in the area.... As the first correspondent for About Poetry from outside North America, I feel that I should open with a few points on behalf of the poet abroad. Now of course poetry happens everywhere, but its international face is rarely fully understood by those who do not travel outside of their own country. The World Wide Web disseminates information across this entire planet. It is important for those using it to realise the power they have at their fingertips but it is imperative that, as Artists, we understand our responsibilities when wielding that power.

Web discussion and publication is often so easy that we forget how far-reaching our words have become. We believe in the beauty of the images we create without questioning their effect or meaning to other cultures. Imagine a traveller, in unusual attire, appearing before you as if from nowhere, holding a small collection of papers in one hand. Straightening the first sheet, he begins to recite an almost memorised poem. She points up, points down, her voice rising and falling with her actions. He smiles, laughs, looks sad, sighs deeply, then tumbles excitedly through the next two pages before dropping humbly to one knee with his arms stretched out in greeting....

Forget what this traveller said -- language is inherited so it isn’t important that you understand the words. Forget how she said it -- we already know enough about her, just from her humanness, to start a family. What is important is the length he went to bring you that poem.

From simple tone of a voice to complex cultural imagery, the one thing that underpins it all is the poet’s desire to communicate, the way the poet sees, his land, her planet, his universe, her ‘One boy, singing in the darkness.’ In my mind we all share that darkness simply by living on the same planet and since our lingual athletics are surely only semi-tones in the same vocal chords, what we are left with, in poetry, is a living form of human, global communication.

Here’s the point: I write, read and listen in both English and American. I’ve heard Spanish poetry, French poetry, Dutch poetry and Danish poetry. I’ve read Polish, Czech and Russian poetry in translation. I’ve heard the glöckel stops of the Germans, the clicking tongues of Africa and the magical sounds of Tuvan throat singers, all produced with the same mouth with which I produce my own words -- and I can safely say I have found beautiful reference in it all.

Of course poetry happens everywhere and it comes in more respected and distinct forms and factions than sometimes we give it credit for. But if you want to write for a global community you have to at least be aware that ‘The United Colours of Bristol’ means all of the colours (and colors) and all of the Bristols (UK, NH, VT, PA...) as well.

So next time you’re writing a poem, think on this. There is no meaning in simple existence (other than that assigned by religion) and poetry only makes sense in its action, in its communication. If we don’t consider whom we are talking to (outside of our own community, country or culture), we may as well be talking to ourselves.

IN DEFENCE OF RHYME
My love of words was instilled by my grandfather (a teacher of English, playwright and poet) and fostered by my father through his love of poetry. I was raised on epic poems of battle, love, mystery and mischief -- rhymed verse with regular (though not monotonous) meter.

Listen My Children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere
      (“Paul Revere’s Ride”)
I no longer remember the author but I’ll never forget Paul.
One if by land and two if by sea
I on the opposite shore shall be
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex village and farm
(Typed from memory.) For more of the same: “The Pied Piper of Hamlin” (Robert Browning), “The Jackdaw of Rheims” (Richard Harris Barnham), “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” (Samuel Taylor Coleridge) and my personal favourite, “Horatius” (Lord MaCaulay):
…Then out spake brave Horatius,
The captain of the gate:
‘To every man upon this
Earth death cometh soon or late.
And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers,
And the temples of his gods…
…Hew down the bridge, Sir Consul,
With all the speed ye may;
I, with two more to help me,
Will hold the foe in play.
In yon strait path a thousand
May well be stopped by three.
Now who will stand on either hand,
And keep the bridge with me?’…
Now I know that poetry does not always come in these nicely rounded song structures but at 6 years old those repeated sounds and rhythms excited me. It excited me that a few well-chosen words could convey such immensities and that with rhyme and meter I held the key that could make those few words special.

The rhyme and regular meter of my English heritage and the traditional poetic forms, which inspired me so much in my youth, are rather more frowned upon in today’s poetic world. At best, a schoolboy train set. At worst, cheap, childish and a restriction to freedom of expression. So in the true spirit of supporting the underdog I would like to raise a few points in defence of Classical Form.

Rhyme:
Rhyme is a foundation stone of language and its denial makes about as much sense as a denial of self. Parents are always delighted with their offspring’s first ‘Mama’ and ‘Papa’ but we need to realise that these ‘words’ are simply the first sounds a new-born is able to produce (beyond the basic scream or gurgle). We are Ma’s and Pa’s because that’s what baby calls us and they will continue to do so until they learn and practice new ones.

We don’t make up rhymes for kids. Kids create them naturally. The fu, gu, wu, du, mu, wu conversations we have with very small children are both rhythmic and rhymed. But as long as we believe that these poetic forms are passed from adult to child, rather than inherent in us all, we will always attempt to leave them behind, in the same way as we try to distance ourselves from childhood positivism and vivid imaginations.

Rhythm:
When used correctly, rhythm can have a greater effect than any individual word or phrase. The most popular piece of literature in the world (I don’t use the word song because no one ever expects you to be able to sing it) is ‘Happy Birthday.’ Now I know there isn’t much rhythm but there is enough for you to recognise the sentiment and be moved by it.

Rhythm is found in the beating of our hearts and in the passing of the years. Regulation and repetition are signatures that we use to animate the words in our poetic dictionary, to add movement to the encyclopaedia of images in our minds. The rumble of the rail track crosses cultures, far more diverse than any collection of words and can represent imagery without the necessity for any kind of lingual understanding.

Regular Form:
Anti-establishment tendencies in Art have led to a misunderstanding of the place of Regulation of Form in poetry. Shakespeare wrote plays for the people in a language and form that they all understood and yet today, having been forced into appreciating his Elizabethan tongue and deemed ignorant if we didn’t understand, many people wouldn’t go near him even if their lives depended on it. With the metaphysical poets (Andrew Marvell, for instance) much of their writing was never available to a class-imprisoned population. Whatever its qualities, it was class-based and therefore must fall with the fall of the system. The same could be said of academic poetry. We consider the poetry to be bad because we do not relate to the poet.

As a poet I feel the rhyme and regular rhythms (both simple and complex) are valid building blocks where their inclusion helps represent content. The repetitive rhythms of the ‘A’ train and the regular, end of line, station stops are all part of the same poetic journey. The problem is that some people think riding the subway will make them a poet whilst others think poets who ride the subway are cheap.

Poetry doesn’t have to rhyme. Neither does it need regular rhythms, but rhyme and rhythm are dances that any tongue can follow. We find them naturally in our lives and they are pleasing to both our mouths and ears.

‘Freedom of Form’ is espoused as an answer to the stifling of expression, a reaction against regulation and inherited formulas. Spoken word is the sword that releases us from the bonds of enslavement to tradition. Unfortunately instead of being turned into plough shears it has now been moulded into a poetic balance which will always find rhyme and rhythm wanting. The denial of their place in art stems from the same arrogance that attempts to place humans above all natural laws. The same arrogance with which some poets decry others’ work simply because it is produced in a classical form or employs any kind of image inherited rhythm.

UK EVENT LISTINGS
This list is only a beginning. There will be further information and updates in the next UK edition of Museletter. If anyone has information on poetry events around the UK and would like them included in my Museletter reports please contact me at: universal.poetry@virgin.net.

--Tim Gibbard

BOSTON/NEW ENGLAND

IT'S UNOFFICIAL: BOSTON DECLARES MARCH “POETRY MONTH”
At least, that's the way it will seem when the Cambridge Center for Adult Education presents this year's festival, “The World of Performance Poetry.” There will be an awesome array of performances, readings and workshops from the likes of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa, celebrated multi-Slam Champion Patricia Smith, and Sekou Sundiata.

Registration begins Saturday, March 10, at 10:30 am at 42 Brattle Street, followed by short performances from various poets in the festival. After lunch, there will be workshops and perfomances in the Blacksmith House, at 56 Brattle Street. The performances are $2 each, or $6 for all four performances. Last year, these were the hottest part of the festival. The schedule for this year's Saturday Afternoon Performances:

  • 1 pm, Yvette Leaphart & Zilla McCue
  • 2 pm, Li-Min Mo
  • 3 pm, Olga Broumas
  • 4 pm, Kevin Bowen and friends
There's a section for children as well, on Saturday at 3:30 pm. The Children's Open Mic and Poetry Reading is in partnership with the PEAL program at Lesley University and is free! For more info, call Maura Delaney at 617.349.8634.

Sekou Sundiata performs with special guest Elena Georgiou on Saturday, March 10 at 8 pm, $12 in advance, more at the door, at Longfellow Hall (13 Appian Way, Cambridge). “Sekou's music comes from so many places it is impossible to name them all. But I wager that if we could trace their common origin, we'd arrive at the headwaters of the soul.” --Bill Moyers

Don't neglect to hit the Lizard Lounge (1667 Mass Ave, 617.547.0759) for a late night capper with Mr. Lif, winner of the Boston Music Awards 2000 for Best Rap Artist. Visit jeffrobinsontrio.com for the Lizard's complete line-up this month. There are still a few weeks left to slam and qualify for the Lizard team that will go to Seattle this summer.

On Sunday March 11, the Cambridge Poetry Awards (dubbed the “shammies” by one of my favorite local wags), will honor (dubiously?) members of the local poetry community with (dubious?) honors, such as “Most Improved.” Hey, if I win that one it must be because the crowd deeply believed that my “Postslam Parley,” which landed me in the pro-curbial dog house, truly did rise above such early work as my “Welcome Mat.” Here's a category suggestion for next year: “Battle of the Banneds from the Cantab”! I hate to miss this event, but I will be sure to raise a beignet to all the lucky winners... from New Orleans. With special host Jimmy Tingle (always a treat) and performance by Patricia Smith (also always a treat -- be sure to check out her column in the current Ms. Magazine), the awards program runs from 2 to 4 pm, $10.

For more details on these events, visit the Festival Web site.

HEARING VOICES, SPEAKING IN TONGUES: A POETRY OF SCHIZOPHRENIA
There may be those who have seen Michael Mack slam at local venues over the years and think they have a good idea of his work. But unless you have seen his “Hearing Voices, Speaking in Tongues” in its entirety, which he has been performing at hospitals and mental health conferences, you have yet to see the true power of his work. When I saw him at the Atlantic House in Quincy last year (cosponsored by NAMI, the National Alliance of Mentally Ill) there were people so overcome they wanted me to convey their feelings to him after the show -- even though he was standing right there.

Michael Mack will be presenting “Hearing Voices, Speaking in Tongues” for six performances at the Blacksmith House in its debut to a general audience outside the health field. Over a dozen years in the making, this 90-minute one-man show draws on his life as a child raised by a mother with schizophrenia.

Michael, who may be MIT's only graduate with a major in Poetry, credits his mentor there, the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Maxine Kumin, with encouraging him to mine his childhood memories for all they were worth. “My mother's illness profoundly shaped me,” he said. “For decades I felt shadowed by it, and afraid I'd get sick too.” Mental illness is far more common than most people realize -- one in every five families is affected. Michael is driven to face the deeply rooted stigma society places on mental illnes and to counter the demeaning stereotypes of it exploited in such shows as Fox network's “Titus.”

Michael Mack will perform on March 16-18 and again on March 23-25. Showtime on Fridays and Saturdays is 8 pm, Sundays is 3 pm. The Blacksmith House is located at 56 Brattle Street in Cambridge. Tickets are $12 at the door and $10 reserved. For reservations, call 617.497.6626.

  • I am deeply moved by his ability to transform something so personal into an instrument to captivate and educate others. He speaks to a universal experience of healing. --Jacqui Turpin, Beth Israel Deaconess Social Work Department
  • We received Michael Mack's remarkable and touching work with a sense of awe. --Joan Rosenson, Director of Social Work Training, South Shore Mental Health Center

OUR LOSS, OUR GAIN
Boston has had some significant comings and goings these past few months. Presumably for business and not because he tired of our company, Sean Shea (a man with a let-me-put-it-this way with words) streaked out of here to settle in the Northwest. Not literally “streaked.” He had this to say about nakedness, on a list discussion I mysteriously found myself receiving:

________________________
Nietzsche on poets:
      “...the poet -- how passionately doth he accuse life in words! Hearken to him, but do not fail to hear the delight which is in all accusation!”
________________________
Fuck Nietzsche he's a pussy.
      --hipchicwcoolcar
________________________
Howdy!
      I used to think that Nietzche showed some promise in Also Sprach Zarathustra, like he nearly broke out his boundaries, but then he slumped back into being a typical 19th century patriarchal thinker with a One True Way philosophy, sort of like Karl Marx. These days, though, I think of the lot of them as being Cro-Magnon Beats. “Beyond Good and Evil,” my ass. Try getting Beyond Giant Ego, Friedrich.
      Later, y'all!
      --Onkudraku, Last of the Giant Atomic Rubber Monsters, transmitting from his secret lair deep beneath Tokyo Harbor ________________________
Agreed, Drac -- you, too, Laurel. As we Quakers say, “That Friend speaks my mind.” Here's something else to ponder:
      The poet must be free to love or hate as the spirit moves him, free to change, free to be a chameleon, free to be 'enfant terrible.' He must above all never worry about his effect on other people. Power requires that one do just that all the time. Power requires that the inner person never be unmasked. No, we poets have to go naked. And since that is so, is it better that we stay private people; a naked public person would be rather ridiculous, what? --May Sarton
      Personally, I love being naked -- and would do it all the time if it weren't so damn cold! :-)
      --Cris
________________________
“Clothes make the man... because naked people have very little influence on society” --Mark Twain
      --Sean Shea
________________________
We expect a revealing guide to Seattle for next year's Slam Nationals, Sean -- get to work!

Boston also says goodbye to guerilla poet James Leon Suffern, who is in for a treat, however. He's relocated to none other than Kalamazoo, where every Tuesday you can down Belgian beer at the Kraftbrau Brewery while crooning “I was born in Climax, Michigan” with Charlie, and -- incidentally -- share the stage with people who remember you by poem even after half a year has gone by. Kalamazoo is sure to embrace a wordsmith like James.

On the plus side of the ledger, mark Boston down as the new home for two of performance poetry's most distinctive artists, Reggie Gibson (Green Mill, Chicago Team 2000) and Kwesi Davis (Boston Team 2000). Kwesi is the Lizard Lounge's Poet of the Month, yet we've seen very little of him recently. I'd be tempted to say he's waiting on Thema Bryant (luminous host of Blackout Arts Collective) hand and foot, since Thema unfortunately sustained a foot injury, but after seeing Thema perform standing on one leg I would not want to hazard a guess that she's slowed down enough to be waited on. Reggie, on the other hand, has been in the house -- he one-upped the Jeff Robinson Trio to a quartet last week, joining them on conga drums and kalimba. He's been waiting on a different kind of one-legged performer. The stork. Best wishes all around.

JAAAACK IS BACK!
Possibly with a wild look in his eye, muttering “Redrum,” which would explain why a certain redhead has been misremembering the date for his head-on slam against Jack McCarthy. Jack took some time off to recover from an injury and will re-emerge for some key dates around New England. Jack placed in the top 10 at last year's poetry nationals, but around here he's #1 -- the poet everyone wants to hear but no one wants to follow.

Become a Fanatic! The Poetry Fanatics will present Jack McCarthy at BU on Saturday, March 24, at 685 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 130 (BU East T-stop on the Green B line). The reading is free, and there will be an open mic as well. 8 pm.

Then, on the millennium's first Friday the 13th, in April, Jack McCarthy will teach that upstart (the host's description, not mine) wonderbrat (trendy spin on his usual appellation), Adam Stone, to think again before he swaggers around boasting how he beat such and such an elder. Adam will descend from Green Mountain, where he has been co-hosting Burlington poetry events, and go head-to-head with Jack at Cool Beans (99 Green Street, Worcester, 508.752.2326).

WHY THEY CALL IT WORMTOWN
My guess? Because it's like opening a can of worms to try to track down all the poetry events happening in the Worcester area.

Take Cool Beans. The Poetry Oasis has been presenting a Sunday morning poetry series there and now Lex and Eric Thomas are hosting an OpenMike series there on Friday evenings. Ahem. It's supposed to be a “1st Friday series” but the WordWide Wrestling match between Jack “Redrum” McCarthy and Adam the Stone is on April 13th, and the Shane (yes, the number one Champion Poet of Slam Nationals 2000) is on March 30th (the Fridays just before and after the first Friday of April) so your best bet is to go to the Poetry Oasis events page for a listing of the many poetry series in Worcester. Or make frequent reference to the OpenMike Reading series schedule, which includes wonderful write-ups and excerpts and recordings of the featured artists.

The the OpenMike site also provides perfect driving directions to Cool Beans (99 Green Street, Worcester), which even I was able to navigate when I checked out Tony Brown's feature last month. (He's Headmaster at Poets' Asylum.) You can call Cool Beans at 508.752.2326. It's non-smoking during the reading, but there's plenty of expresso to make up for it, a small but select menu, and cozy seating arrangements, including a window alcove. You can also contact Lex & Eric Thomas at openmike@chezdesiree.com, telephone 978.466.9645, fax 978.840.4508.

Speaking of “Tony the Tiger” (for that moniker, blame Vermont, which is almost like blaming Canada), the Sunday night host of Java Hut mentioned that they'd filmed one of their Monday night slams (hosted by the ever-fabulous Sou MacMillan). It was put on the Web by a K-12 educational service called Riverdeep which also wrote a dynamite article about slam for the literary section of the site, where the video is also archived. Check it out!

The Java Hut, 1073-A Main Street in Worcester, MA, is now in its 11th year of bringing “the best in Performance Poetry to the heart of Central New England...” and you can peruse their upcoming shows at www.poetsasylum.org. You have one more chance to qualify for their slam team semifinals, on Sunday, April 8th. You might make a note to pick up a few pointers from their hot features this month: Leah Gardner (Burlington Team 2000) on Sunday March 18, and on Sunday March 25, four-time National Slam Champ Patricia Smith. For more info, contact Tony at tbrown@poetsasylum.org.

COMING TO TOWNS NEAR YOU: ELECT A POET
In An Exaltation of Larks James Lipton explores venereal terms. A “host” of angels stems from the Latin hostis, meaning “enemy” or, here, “army.” One might then wonder what a collection of poetry venue hosts would be called. A squadron? Or, perhaps, at the Slam Masters meeting in Chicago later this month, a squirmish? Lipton goes on to explain that angels are called a host because they are warriors of God. In that case, perhaps there is no better meaning of “host” than “warrior” for the former host of the Java Hut, the righteous Bill MacMillan, who (word has it) is running for mayor of Worcester. When asked under what party, he replied, “the Worcester party.” The man has my vote. I'm going to pull a Dick Cheney and cough up a “residence” in Worcester last minute, sp/h/ouse in Quincy be damned. In fact, when he wins, I'm going to apply to move into the Mayoral Mansion and serve the first family of Worcester as nursemaid to Liberty. “The Worcester party” is more than a platform, or platitude -- it's a Philosophy.

Not that Boston poets are slacking in punditry. Several came to our Not My President's Day rally in Boston (February 19), and Brock Satter, a Lizard Lounge regular, is running for Mayor of Boston. Anyone who wants to participate in TrustThePeople's next live-action metaphor, we will be dressing up as witches (not wiccans) at Salem State College when President Clinton comes on March 26 and telling the right wing, $60 million and one bj later, to Stop the Witchhunt. Contact Su at bushwhacked@stupid.com for more details.

SHORT TAKES

  • In Newburyport, MA, The Powow River Poets Reading Series presents featured readers, often celebrated, widely published poets, as well as an open mic reading for poets in the audience who sign in as they enter. All readings are at the Newburyport Art Association on Wednesdays from 7:30 to 9 pm and are free and open to the public. On March 21 they feature Bruce Bennet and on April 25, Len Krisak. For more info contact Rhina Espaillat at espmosk@juno.com.

  • From BostonPoet.com, an announcement:
    Bostonpoet.com is sorry to announce that the interactive feature of entering your own events is defunct due to the big brotherishness of mega Internet providers geek police! If you want to list your venue only send the particulars in an email to dianaesaenz@earthlink.net.

  • The Agape Poetry Series, every Tuesday at Community Church of Boston, 565 Boylston Street near Copley Square, is now hosted by Chris Fitzgerald. 8 to 10 pm, $1, open mic with feature readings, 617.489.0519. Last Tuesday, March 13, we celebrated your Boston Museletter correspondent's b-day (when she was 21 all over again with cake, champagne -- oh yeah, and poetry, too).

  • Illusion and Reality, on the third Saturday of every month, 3-5 pm, hosted by Gary Hicks at the Bookmarx/Center for Marxist Education, 550 Mass Ave., 2nd floor, Central Square, Cambridge, $3. For more information, call 627.354.2876 or 617.268.1703.

    The format:
    1. open mike
    2. featured poet, writer, or other wordsmith
    3. open discussion with the featured person -- nosy, personal stuff (yeah, right)
    So, for everything you always wanted to know about Eve Stern (performance poet-goddess) be there on March 17.

    April 21, TBA: possibly a slam, possibly qualifying for a slot in a Boston semifinals, possibly for the Lizard Lounge team... so you see the possibilities here!

  • Dana C. Lipp hosts an open mike and featured reader series at Braintree Borders every “Last Friday of the Month” at 7:30 pm, 255 Grossman Drive, Braintree, MA, 781.356.5111. (Please note: The material presented at Borders should be suitable for mixed audiences.)

    On March 30, Susan Mahan, published in the South Boston Literary Gazette and in the Spring 2001 edition of The Aurorean, a poetry quarterly published on the Cape, will be featured.

    On April 27, Nancy Brady Cunningham and Mike Morin, members of the Poets' Theater Troupe IYANU. Mike, percussionist for the Rose Wharf Band, has performed on Broadway. Nancy has just finished her fourth book, Visions Taking Form, with photos by Denise Geddes.

  • Nancy also co-hosts a reading at Blackthorne's Tavern on Route 138 in Easton, MA, every second Monday of the month at 8:30 pm. 508.238.9017 for more info.

  • Dana Lipp is a photographer and poet. To see his Night Photographs, Hand Manipulated Polaroid Images and Writing go to Mothwing Galleries and BostonPoet.com.

  • Watch this space for an announcement of a new outdoor reading series south of Boston.

  • I profess to being mystified by this announcement from the adorably shaggy John Powers (Slam Master, Providence):

    “Michael Brown, the Slam Master of the (Cantab) Poetry Slam... is am (sic) teaching a course on Poetry & Performance in the Brown Learning Community on Tuesdays from 7 to 9 pm beginning March 13 for 11 weeks.”

    As someone who has been through the (M) Brown Learning Commune, I thought MB only took joint credit for writing the poems of ex-wives and girlfriends. In all seriousness, I am sure John Power's guest slot on March 27th will be both entertaining and instructive. The workshop is being arranged through the Brown (University) Learning Community.

  • Finally, if you know any glib youths (even younger than Adam Stone) in the Vermont area, spread the news:
    Teen poets are slamming and qualifying for the 1st ever Vermont Teen Poetry Slam Team headed for the National Youth Poetry Slam Festival in Ann Arbor, Michigan, April 5-7. Qualifying slams are every other Wednesday at 7 pm, sign-up at 6:30.
    • March 21 at Rhombus Gallery in Burlington
    • Sunday, March 25, Vermont Youth Poetry Slam-Off
      at Contois Auditorium in Burlington, 7 pm in conjunction with The Breathing Poetry Project. For info call 802.862.9198 or 802.877.2236.

Please remember -- if you want me to list your event, send the information to wickedlit@mindspring.com and be sure to include the information in the body of your text! I can't open attachments. Thank you.

--Robyn Su Millerz

READER-SUBMITTED POETRY NEWS BRIEFS

From Jan McLaughlin:
Open Casting Call for “Poets”
What: 25.5-hour Poets' Pot Luck Dinner, Pajama Party and Play
When: May 4 - 5, 2001
Where: a secret Lower East Side location to be announced in Manhattan, USA
Wanted: Architects, engineers, sculptors, CEO's, butchers, bakers and candlestick makers, journalists and jokesters...all manner of poets
Audition details at PrincessAtLarge.com [Home of the World's Longest Open Love Letter] and from PAL@PrincessAtLarge.com.

Calling For Poetry News Items from Our Readers!

Keep in touch with Museletter! If you have news or views, gossip or announcements that belong in the About Poetry Museletter, please send them to your nearest correspondent, or submit them on our Reader Submissions page.


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