Tuesday, May 14th, 2013
Wonder is accepting manuscripts March 15 – May 15 for its first annual Wonder Book Prize, judged by Macgregor Card. They’re accepting full-length manuscripts of any genre. The author of the selected manuscript will receive a $300 prize and publication.
Please send a cover letter, your manuscript, and a $10 submission fee ($15 if you would like a final copy of the selected book). Please do not include your name in the manuscript. Each submission will be read blindly by the judge.
Monday, April 29th, 2013
A warm welcome to Michael Wilson, who will be covering Santa Fe for Coldfront. We’re thrilled to have him on board and to get word out about events in this vibrant poetry community. Here is his first post:
What: Ramona Ausubel reads from A Guide to Being Born
When: May 14, 6:00PM – Collected Works Bookstore. 202 Galisteo St. Santa Fe, NM 87501
The cover for Ausubel’s book is one of my recent favorites.
Ausubel’s work has been published in The New Yorker, One Story, The Paris Review Daily, The Best American Fantasy and elsewhere and has received special mentions in The Best American Short Stories, The Best American Nonrequired Reading. She was a finalist for the Pushcart Prize, as well as a recipient of the Glenn Schaeffer Award in Fiction. She is a graduate of the MFA program at the University of California, Irvine.
FREE
What: Eduardo Galeano reading and Q&A
When: May 15, 7:00PM - Lensic Performing Arts Center. 211 West San Francisco St. Santa Fe, NM 87501
Eduardo Galeano will be in the U.S. in May 2013 to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and to promote his new book, Los híjos de los días. The English edition, Each Day’s Child, is forthcoming in April 2013 by Nation Books. Mr. Galeano will speak about and read from the book, followed by a conversation with Marie Arana.
This event is part of the Lannan In Pursuit of Cultural Freedom series.
Admission: $6, Students $3
What: Jon Davis reading
When: May 23, 6:00PM - Collected Works Bookstore. 202 Galisteo St. Santa Fe, NM 87501
Davis does few full readings. This will be work from a new manuscript (!!!) and from his last book – Preliminary Report (Copper Canyon 2010)
Jon Davis has been a member of the Creative Writing faculty at IAIA since 1990. He is a noted poet who has published six collections of poetry. In 2012, the City of Santa Fe selected him as the city’s fourth Poet Laureate. Davis’ books are Preliminary Report, Scrimmage of Appetite, for which he was honored with a Lannan Literary Award in Poetry, and Dangerous Amusements.
FREE
Here are a few other exciting things going on:
What: Graffiti Workshop
When: Saturdays in May 11:00-1:00PM – Santa Fe Art Institute. 1600 St. Michaels Dr. Santa Fe, NM 87505
Every Saturday from 11:00am to 1:00pm join The Santa Fe Art Institute for our graffiti workshop. Work with experienced local graffiti and street artists. Learn new techniques, and the connection between hip-hop culture and fine art.
FREE
What: Battlefield New Mexico
When: May 4-5, 10:00-4:00PM - El Rancho de las Golondrinas. 334 Los Pinos Road, Santa Fe, NM 87507
2012 was the 150th anniversary of Civil War battles fought in New Mexico. Experience military drills, camp life, lectures, demonstrations and reenactments of those battles. Full schedule.
Admission: Adults $8, Seniors/Teens $5, 12 and under: FREE!
What: Santa Fe Youth Writers Group w/Rosemary Zibart
When: May 5, 2:00PM - Collected Works Bookstore. 202 Galisteo St. Santa Fe, NM 87501
Join these young writers as they welcome special guest Gunther Aron as he speaks about his childhood in Nazi Germany and leaving as a teenager for England in 1939. His three siblings also escaped – each in a different direction.
FREE
What: Poetry in the Orchard
When: May 5, 2:00PM – James McGrath’s Apple Orchard. 83 Via de Los Romero, La Cieneguilla, NM 87507
Daniel Forest, Dale Harris, Stewart Warren, and Cynthia West read poetry under the blooming trees in James McGrath’s apple orchard in La Cieneguilla. The event is hosted by HeartLink Publishing.
FREE
What: Collected Works Open Mic
When: May 26, 3:00PM - Collected Works Bookstore. 202 Galisteo St. Santa Fe, NM. 87501
Collected Works monthly open-mic is for unpublished poets, writers, and acoustic musicians, stage performers and anyone who wants to showcase his/her work. Open Mic will be held on the fourth Sunday of each month from 3-4:30 pm. Sign up in person at 2:45 pm for 10-minute spots.
FREE
Monday, April 1st, 2013
The 2013 National Book Award judges were announced today. For poetry, they are:
Nikky Finney won the 2011 National Book Award in Poetry for her book Head Off & Split. She has published three other books of poetry. She will chair the poetry panel.
Ada Limon’s first collection of poetry, Lucky Wreck, was the winner of the 2005 Autumn House Poetry Prize. She is also the author of This Big Fake World, winner of the 2005 Pearl Poetry Prize, and Sharks in the Rivers.
D.A. Powell won the 2013 National Book Critics Circle Award for his collection Useless Landscape: A Guide for Boys. His second collection, Lunch, was a finalist for the National Poetry Series, and his third book, Cocktails, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry.
Jahan Ramazani is Edgar F. Shannon Professor at the University of Virginia. He co-edited The Norton Anthology of English Literature, The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, and The Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry.
Craig Morgan Teicher is the author of Brenda Is In The Room And Other Poems, which was chosen for the 2007 Colorado Prize for Poetry. His collection of short stories and fables, called Cradle Book, was published in 2010 and his most recent book, To Keep Love Blurry: Poems, was published in 2013. He is Poetry Reviews Editor of Publishers Weekly.
Powell and Teicher were featured in Coldfront‘s Top 40 Poetry Books of 2012. Finney was featured in Coldfront‘s Top 30 Poetry Books of 2011. Limon was featured in Top 30 Poetry Books of 2010. You can also read my interview with D.A. Powell here.
–John Deming
Monday, January 21st, 2013
Every week, Coldfront features five cross-borough readings in NYC. Here’s this week’s top picks.
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Urbana Poetry Slam
Tuesday, January 22nd, 2013 @ 7pm
The DL, 95 Delancey St., New York, NY
Urbana Poetry Slam is on track in The Red Room at THE DL LOUNGE (95 Delancey) with an Open Mic, Open Slam, and your feature, the amazing SUZI Q!!
Bio: SUZI Q. SMITH lives with her brilliant daughter in Denver, Colorado. She is the founding Slammaster of Slam Nuba, and she is currently among the highest ranked slam poets in the nation. Her work has appeared in a few literary magazines and anthologies, and she lives her life performing and teaching poetry and a bit of music.
Here’s a teaser: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMp3oBjd36k
6:30 Sign Up Lists Open
7:00 Open Mic
7:35 Feature
8:00 Slam
9:30 Lights Out
$8 / $5 with a Student ID Admission
…and as always follow us on twitter @urbanaslam
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UPDATE: CANCELED DUE TO INCLEMENT WEATHER (Reschedule TBA)
STAIN OF POETRY presents THE FOUNDERS’ READING
Friday, January 25th, 2013 @ 7pm
Goodbye Blue Monday, 1087 Broadway, Brooklyn, NY
♥♥♥ featuring ♥♥♥
Ana Božičević
Amy King
Erika Moya
Christie Ann Reynolds
& your host
Jenny Zhang
CHRISTIE ANN REYNOLDS is the author of Revenge for Revenge just out with Coconut Books in December. She has an MFA in poetry from The New School and is a curator of the reading and performance series, TOTEM: poetry + film. Christie Ann recently won a 2012 Poets & Writers Amy Award. She lives in Brooklyn and teaches poetry, creative writing and science in a middle school. She curated the Stain of Poetry reading series for two years and is honored to be on the other end this evening.
ERIKA MOYA is an artist living in Bushwick. Her work can be found on real poetik, elimae and forklift ohio among other places.
Of her most recent book from Litmus Press, I Want to Make You Safe, John Ashbery described AMY KING‘s poems as bringing “abstractions to brilliant, jagged life, emerging into rather than out of the busyness of living.” Safe was one of the Boston Globe’s Best Poetry Books of 2011, and it was reviewed, among others, via the Poetry Foundation and the Colorado Review. For more, check http://www.litmuspress.org/iwanttomakeyousafe.html
ANA BOZICEVIC is the author of Stars of the Night Commute (Tarpaulin Sky Press) and the brand new Rise in the Fall (Birds, LLC). She flirts with knowledge at The Graduate Center, CUNY, where she helps run the Annual Chapbook Festival, Lost&Found: The CUNY Poetics Document Initiative, and the Transculturations Seminar. On some days, Ana is a translator; on all, a troubadour.
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SIX NON LECTURES
Friday, January 25th, 2013 @ 7pm
Kunsthalle Galapagos, 16 Main Street, Brooklyn, NY
LECTURE TOPIC: Windows/Mirrors
“Six Non Lectures” features six contemporary poets lecturing on topics they are non-experts in, with little to no time to prepare to speak about.
PARTICIPATING POETS:
Thom Donovan
Andrew Durbin
Allison Power
Katie Raissian
Ariana Reines
Emily Skillings
OUR HOSTS:
“This Red Door” is a collaborative attempt by artists Jomar Statkun, Jared Friedman, and Christopher Stackhouse to expand terms and conditions that may define ‘studio practice’.
FURTHER INFORMATION:
http://www.thisreddoor.com/
Thom Donovan lives in New York where he works as an archivist, art writer, and professor. For more of his work check-out The Hole and Wild Horses Of Fire.
Andrew Durbin co-edits Wonder, a publisher of art books, ephemera, pamphlets, and glossies. He is the author of the chapbook Reveler (Argos Books 2013). His writings have appeared (or are forthcoming) in the Boston Review, the Brooklyn Rail, Conjunctions, Maggy, and elsewhere. He is an associate editor of Conjunctions and lives in New York City.
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The Highwaymen NYC #9
Saturday, January 26th 2013 @ 7pm – 10pm
Fort Useless, 36 Ditmars Street, Brooklyn, NY
Chapbooks available at reading
<>
*Special guest & past Highwaymen NYC contributor Lisa Marie Basile will present excerpts from her new manuscript fated for publication in 2013. TRISTE: MORNING STORIES is about “A place of gladioli, trinkets, boys named Matthew who suck in bed, obsession over ankles and wrists, clawfoot tubs, boys named Benjamin with beautiful overbites, grappa miel, Monica Bellucci sex appeal, the male gaze & broken families.”
Adam Fitzgerald is a founding editor of the poetry journal Maggy, and received his MFA from Columbia University’s School of the Arts in Poetry. Recent poems have appeared or are forthcoming in A Public Space, Boston Review, Conjunctions, The Brooklyn Rail, and elsewhere. He teaches at Rutgers University and The New School. His debut collection of poetry, The Late Parade, will be published by W. W. Norton’s Liveright imprint in June 2013. He lives in the East Village.
Monica McClure hosts Atlas, the monthly reading series in conjunction with The Atlas Review held at 61 Local. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in The Los Angeles Review, The Lit Review, Lambda Literary Review Online, Loaded Bicycle, Indigest, and elsewhere. She teaches in the English Department at Bloomfield College and lives in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.
Ted Dodson is the co-founder and editor of the filmed journal On the Escape, a curator for the Triptych Reading Series, and an editor and the program director for Futurepoem. Select publications can be found in The Death and Life of American Cities, la fovea, SET, Tim, and Well Greased, and an untitled chapbook is forthcoming from Diez in early 2013.
Samantha Zighelboim recently received her MFA from Columbia University. Her poems, translations, and book reviews have appeared or are forthcoming in Ragazine, Thethepoetry Blog, Maggy, Thumbnail, BOMB, Rattapallax, and The People’s Poetry Project. Currently she’s working on her first collection of poems, and lives in New York City with her cat, Buddha. She teaches English and Creative Writing at Mercy College.
Lisa Marie Basile is an MFA candidate at The New School. She is the author of Andalucia (Brothel Books.) A Decent Voodoo (Cervena Barva) and Triste (Dancing Girl Press) are both forthcoming in 2012. Her work can be seen inWord Riot, PANK, kill author, Moon Milk Review, elimae & Pear Noir!among other publications. She is the founding editor of Brooklyn-based Patasola Press & the Patasola Review, and was a reader for Weave Magazine. She is a managing member of The Poetry Society of New York. She is a identity/background writer by day.
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A Shitluck Reading
Saturday, January 26th, 2013 @ 8:30pm
Tip Top Bar & Grill, 432 Franklin Avenue, New York, NY
Saturday January 26th Shitluck is back with another night of poetry, hot jams, and beers with napkins tucked in to the bottles.
Readings by
Katie Byrum
Polly Bresnick
Andrew Durbin
Christie Ann Reynolds
“The best poetry reading series in Bed-Stuy, if not Brooklyn, if not America!”–everybody.
Come see the magic for yourself!
Wednesday, January 16th, 2013
The Centennial Speaker Series presents an afternoon with Natasha Trethewey at 2 PM on Wednesday, January 16th. The reading will be held at Rialto Center for the Arts (80 Forsyth Street Northwest, Atlanta, GA 30303). A reception and book signing will follow the reading. Tickets are free, but reservations are encouraged.
The Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta Noontime Series presents “The Poet’s Love and Life” at 12 PM on Friday, January 18th. Natasha Trethewey will read her work “in between the songs from Robert Schumann’s ‘Dichterleibe; sung by tenor Bradley Howard.” The program will be held at the Reception Hall of the Michael C. Carlos Museum (571 Kilgo Circle Northeast, Atlanta, GA 30322). The event is free and open to the public.
solar anus readings hosts Aaron Belz and Matt Sailor at 8 PM on Saturday, January 19th. The reading will be held at Beep Beep Gallery (696 Charles Allen Drive, Atlanta, GA 30308). The reading is free and open to the public.
-Jenny Sadre-Orafai
Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013
Hyde and Vouched present Holiday Hangover at 7 PM on Saturday, January 5th. Featured readers include: Jayne O’Connor, Laura Straub, Lauren Traetto, Noah Gardenswartz, Tony Jenkins, Suehyla El-Attar, Johnny Carroll, Julian Modugno, and Nick Tecosky. The event will be held at Highland Inn Ballroom Lounge (644 N. Highland Avenue, Atlanta, GA 30306).
Caroline Crew will read at 1 PM on Saturday, January 12th. The reading will be held at HodgePodge Coffeehouse and Gallery (720 Moreland Avenue SE, Atlanta, Georgia 30316). The reading is free an open to the public.
FUSEBOX Presents: Thomas P. Balázs and Abigail Greenbaum at 7 PM on Saturday, January 26th. The reading will be held at Front Gallery at Chenoweth.Halligan Studios (1800 Rossville Avenue, Suites 1 and 2, Chattanooga, TN 37404). The reading is free and open to the public. For more information, contact avlenahan@gmail.com.
What’s New in Poetry? hosts Chris DeWeese, Heather Christle, Mark Leidner at 8 PM on Thursday, January 31st. The reading will be held on the first floor of the Emory University Bookstore (1390 Oxford Road, Atlanta, GA 30322). The reading is free and open to the public. Listen to past readings here.
-Jenny Sadre-Orafai
Wednesday, December 12th, 2012
We’ve compiled a list of Georgia literary journals that offer subscriptions. Give one or two as gifts.
-Jenny Sadre-Orafai
Wednesday, December 5th, 2012
The deadline to apply online for Poetry @ Tech’s Spring community workshops is December 10. Workshops with the following poets will be offered: Ginger Murchison (February 9, 2013), Thomas Lux (March 9, 2013), and Travis Wayne Denton (April 13, 2013 and May 11, 2013). Workshops are held in the Skiles Classroom Building on the Georgia Tech campus. If interested, please submit one poem (no longer than 30 lines) and application. Applications will be considered in the order they are received. The workshops are free.
-Jenny Sadre-Orafai
Sunday, November 18th, 2012
Sundays, Coldfront features 5 upcoming cross-borough readings in NYC.
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Real Characters
Monday, November 19th, 2012 @ 7-8:45pm
McNally Jackson Books, 52 Prince St, New York, NY
Real Characters is back for its last show of 2012 on a special night at McNally Jackson. Come see hilarious readings by:
AJ Jacobs (author of Drop Dead Healthy & The Year of Living Biblically)
David Rees (Get Your War On, author of How to Sharpen Pencils)
Anna Goldfarb (author of Clearly I Didn’t Think This Through)
and
Courtney Maum (Electric Literature, Slice Magazine, Literary Death Match)
Hosted by Andy Ross. Produced by Ann Marie Lonsdale.
Are you kidding me with that lineup? Am I kidding you? No, neither of us is kidding the other about that lineup.
Note: Normally, the show is every second Wednesday of the month, but this one falls on a Monday. Fun, right? Now all of you with regular Wednesday commitments can come and stop being sad. Don’t be sad, you guys!
It’s not your fault.
[Softly, still staring off] I know…
No you don’t. It’s not your fault.
[Serious] I know.
No. Listen to me, son. It’s not your fault.
I know that.
It’s not your fault.
[Silent, eyes closed]
It’s not your fault.
Don’t fuck with me, Sean. Not you.
It’s not your fault.
Oh my God! I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry, Sean!
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Urbana Slam 2.3 Featuring Sam Sax
Tuesday, November 20th, 2012 @ 6:30pm
Bar 82, 136 2nd Ave., New York, NY
Sam Sax is the first ever Bay Area Unified Grand Slam Champion and Oakland’s first two-time queer Grand Slam Champion. He curates ‘the new sh!t show’, a reading series in San Francisco and is the poetry curator for The Modern Times Bookstore.
Proof of slam: http://samhsax.wix.com/samsax#!media/c3c1
6:30 sign up
7:00 open mic
7:30 feature
8:10: Slam
9:30 world war cute III
21+ to get in/ 8 dollars/ 5 dollars with a student I.D.
twitter @urbanaslam
#samsaxisthatdudeb
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The Organic Open Mic
Tuesday, November 20th, 2012 @ 7-11pm
Bareburger, 2nd floor, 85 Second Avenue (@ 5th Street), New York, NY
Looking for special – and very unique – open mic in downtown Manhattan?
The Organic Open Mic at the gorgeous Bareburger organic restaurant in the East Village – the home of some of the best tasting food on the planet!
Produced by the long-running Inspired Word open mic series, which has featured Grammy winners, American Idol finalists, Golden Globe Award winners, Emmy nominated actors, and HBO Def Poetry stars, this open mic is open to ALL types of performing artists – comedians, musicians, storytellers, singers, poets, fiction/nonfiction writers, playwrights, spoken word artists, performance artists, dancers.
Hosted by Selena Coppock.
The event takes place on the second floor, with full-length windows on all sides that offers the most beautiful view.
25 slots, 6-minute time limit, 7pm-11pm.
No age limit. Doors open for open mic sign-up @ 7pm. Show starts @ 7:30pm. Cover charge: $10.
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Utopia Poetics
Wednesday, November 20th, 2012 @ 11am-12pm
Conference Room
The Institute for Writing Studies
St. Augustine Library, St. John’s University, 8000 Utopia Parkway, Queens, NY
Caitlin Scholl is a writer and artist originally hailing from the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York. She holds a BA inEnvironmental Studies from the University of Vermont, and an MFA inCreative Writing from Naropa University. Her first novel, Mocemoce, NaVanua (The Land Abiding), was published in 2006 by IPS Press in theFijiIslands. Makebelieve, published by UNO Press, is her second book. Her writing has appeared in Sonic Eclectic, Edna, r(e)volve, manifestanimists, Adirondack Life Magazine, not enough night, and is forthcoming in The Spirit of Black Mountain College (a book anthologyfrom Lorimer Press). She also tinkers away on experimental filmshorts, photographic journals, songwriting, and withacrylic oncanvas.
Caitlin has worked as a teacher, editor, and horticulturist, and presently writes and works in Brooklyn, NY.
Utopia Poetics is sponsored by the St. John’s University Department of English and the Institute for Writing Studies
This event was funded in part by Poets & Writers, Inc. through public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council.
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Rhyming Poets International
Saturday, November 24th, 2012 @ 2 pm
Hudson Park Library, 66 Leroy St, Downstairs, Greenwich Village, NY
Free
A reading of all kinds of poetry, songs and music.
Featured Poets: Ravi Shankar, Dr. Swapan Basu et al.
A moth undergoes metamorphosis,
To become a beautiful butterfly.
Rhyming Poets make melodies.
So, why don’t you give it a try?’ – S. Basu.
Rhyming Poetry is the mother of all songs. It calms agitated minds even in adults. It takes extra effort but not talent.
We want to revive the fine art, sharpen skills. If you are new we will help you. We read, revise and rhyme. We discuss different styles and read famous examples. We learn from famous poets and each other. We celebrate Birth Day of a famous poet each month.
Join us to expose your talent, get feedback, learn and have fun. All stylers are welcome. Singers, performers are welcome. We are inviting funded featured poets to read and conduct a workshop.
We videotape and telecast. We were telecasted by East Brunswick Cable and Time Warner, Cablevision of NYC. We have members from 22 US states and Canada, UK, Ireland, Switzerland, Slovakia and India. We are on Facebook and video clips are at youtube.com/SBRhyme. So join us.
We publish a webzine, Flute and hold an Annual Rhyming Poetry Contest. Please download directions from the file section and participate.
Sponsored by NYSCA, Poets & Writers
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–Stephanie Ann Whited
Monday, October 29th, 2012
Poet, musician, and adjunct professor Chet Weise is the founder of Poetry Sucks!, Nashville’s “Best New Literary Event.” A first-timer to this hybrid reading slash live music event this month at the Southern Festival of Books, I had difficulty imagining how multiple bands and poets could share a single stage in an organized, timely, and enjoyable manner. Poetry Sucks! manages them all with a celebratory, inclusive ease.
SW: Poetry Sucks! was named the Writers’ Choice Best New Literary Event by the Nashville Scene and calls out the series’ “drunken poetic realism.” What were your expectations/goals for the series? Have they been met or have you encountered any problems with constructing this reality?
CW: Before every Poetry Sucks! I go through a litany promising myself to avoid cocktails, cigarettes, etc. Nevertheless, the morning-after-soul-crushing hangover always reminds of my weaknesses. Still, that’s part of what I hope for with the series. Attendees should be able to come and have a good time enjoying the experience of language just as they would a rock n roll show, or a friend’s cookout, or a movie night with pizza and beer.
The bar–Dino’s– where we usually hold the event certainly helps convey the message with its yellow tar stained walls, domestics only beer list, its long history of local punk rock and country shows, and all the rats– figuratively and literally — that pass through its doors. (RIP “Little Ricky”: they finally offed the big rat.)
SW: Every event breaks from the poetry with live music, which I found as a high-quality enhancement. What was the motivation behind this? Although it’s common for poets to present 5-10 minutes, this is rare for musicians (understandably so, considering the time necessary to manage equipment). Has there been any hesitation from bands to participate?
CW: Mixing music and language serves several purposes. First, it’s the ginger (aka gari) to cleanse the palate between sushi rolls. Readings are about listening. At a good reading, a sort of hypnosis occurs. However, that hypnosis, if too long, could turn into negative-droning a la Charlie Brown’s teacher in the Peanuts’ cartoons. Having music breaks up the night. It’s variety for the ears and also allows a few minutes for people to speak to one another. And, having music brings more people to the reading. Many nights this results in music lovers being exposed to poetry for the first time and getting turned on to it and vice versa.
As far as the music performers themselves and Poetry Sucks!, there’s been a very interesting subplot to the series regarding musicians and their “side-projects” or “solo stuff” and/or “experimental sets.” Many of the musicians participate because the event is a great opportunity to try something new or different.
SW: As a musician (The Ultras S/C), poet, and teacher, you can relate to the situation of many cross-genre artists in NYC and nationwide. Do you see a central focus in your efforts or do you watch yourself switching between each, more monocularly? Do you think there’s something about Nashville that’s contributed to your success?
CW: Many are surprised to hear I was also a former economics teacher at Auburn University! But, that’s something I’ve always been bewildered by. This sort of cultural specialization or typecasting or division of labor that seems to pervade modern society irks me. Leonardo da Vinci learned the human form that he painted so well via his medical experiments performing autopsies. Also, William Carlos Williams was a doctor. T.S. Eliot a banker. . . and Mick Jagger attended the London School of Economics. The list goes on. Too many of America’s fathers, mothers, and teachers tell us: you’re inclined to be an engineer, you’re the type to be a businessman, or you have the mind of an artist. That’s crap. We’re all businessmen and artists. It’s just a matter on which we want to spend more time and effort.
Nowadays I spend more time on poetry, but I do play in a band called The Ultras S/C. In the past, I played in The Quadrajets and The Immortal Lee County Killers. If anyone is familiar with these groups, then they know these groups toured in used vans, rented U-Hauls, and slept on strangers’ floors next to their kitty litter boxes all over the world (NYC was a regular stop).
I model the Poetry Sucks! night after my experiences in punk rock. I don’t know any other way, really. Each poet and/or musician gets a slot to perform a short set, then the next performer comes on, then the next, etc. I always make sure, too, to mix it up between travelling, published readers (ie touring, signed bands) and local, unpublished readers (unsigned, neighborhood band). This helps draw more of a crowd and provides a spark of spontaneity to the night. Everyone knows the inexperienced reader/band can often times blow-away the “bigger” name or, in some cases, completely fall apart on stage. More importantly, keeping the local, unpublished writers involved builds community and excitement around reading, listening and language. That’s what Poetry Sucks! has really been about. Almost any crappy punk rock band can find a venue to perform their first gig. Poets, at least in the areas I’ve lived, many times only have a chance read to themselves. I hope a DIY/house party culture will continue to grow for language. ‘Zines et al started the on the right path a few years ago.
Okay. I might have digressed from your question(s). Regarding crossover, I consider poetry to be a form of music. The reason many times song lyrics starve on the page alone by themselves is because they’ve been divorced from the other voices in their poem: songs are poems with multiple, simultaneous voices. Take away the voice of the guitar, then you’ve taken away alot of the tone and metaphor from the poem. On the other hand, a poem is song for a single, more detailed voice. It’s closer to a capella renditions by Son House or Leadbelly. When I write a poem, many times I put myself in the mind of a musician. Many times when I write a song, I put myself in the mind of a poet.
Being in Nashville really brings this all home– the mixing, blending, co-dependence, morphing, ying-yanging, of personalities, arts, and professions. It’s cool to see it all come together in a charming dive bar. Everyone loves partying with rats.
–Stephanie Ann Whited
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