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Hello Poets,
It's 8:30 a.m. Pacific Time, do you know where your coffee is? Room
service just delivered mine... Weather report: Two more sunny SoCal
engagements (9/24 - 8 p.m. Monday Night Poetry, Prado Room, Alhambra;
9/25 - 8 p.m. Coffee Cartel, Redondo Beach) then it's home to sunny
Clearwater for a week before a quick jaunt to sunny Austin (10/6 -
7 p.m., Expressions at Austin Baha'i Center). Oct. 8 I pack the
umbrella and raincoat for a change of scenery - Bristol International
Poetry Festival (10/10) and Paddington Festival in London (Oct. 12
through 14).
Anything I could say about this tour, Nancy Lambert already covered
in her lit rave review of the Poetic License reading, Sept. 18 (See
Section V. Announcements, below)
"Every poet is a miracle." - Larry Jaffe. Poets For Peace is
organizing a series of readings to help the people of NY, DC and PA.
Find out more below in Section V. Announcements and check out
http://www.poets4peace.com/911.htm for a reading near you.
Table of Contents
I . Austin Poets Guide
II. Featured Poetry - Theme: Airports
III. Books/Chapbooks/Spoken Word CDs
IV. Calls For Submissions
V. Announcements
I. Austin Poets Guide
Note to hosts of monthly venues: If you want to be listed in the MAP
Austin Poets Guide, send me a new notice each month.
Most events are free, unless otherwise noted. Some venues pass tip
jar for featured poets. More extensive listings of Austin literary
haps can be found online at: Austin Chronicle Litera column:
www.auschron.com
1. Monday, Sept 24 - The Hideout, 617 Congress Ave. 7 - 10 p.m. Free
verse@The Hideout hosted by Sarah Durfor. No sign up sheets. Don't
forget donations for the poets pantry. fmi e mail
[log in to unmask] or HID-EOUT (443-3688),
www.thehideout.org
2. Monday, Sept 24 - Gaby & Mo's, 1809 Manor Road. 8 p.m. Women's
Open Stage Performance Art. Every Monday.
3. Tuesday, Sept 25 - Ruta Maya Coffee House, 218 W. 4th. 6:30 p.m.
APAL open mic, hosted by Aaron Sanders with co-host Pablo Pascall.
Sign up at 6 p.m. First time readers are welcome. Reading poets are
welcome to sell their books/chapbooks/cds. fmi contact
[log in to unmask]
4. Tuesday, Sept 25 - Sun Poets Society in San Antonio. Barnes &
Noble, 321 N.W. Loop 410, across from North Star Mall. 7 p.m. Sun
Poets Society, hosted by Rod C. Stryker. Open mic. Free. fmi, please
call (210) 349-8216.
5. Tuesday, Sept 25 - Puro Slam in San Antonio. Sam's Burger Joint,
330 E. Grayson (at Broadway). $2. 9:30 p.m. intro DJ set, with
resident DJ Klassen. 10-10:20 poet sign up for slam, which begins at
10:30 p.m. puro ¡SLAM!: the sport of spoken word, SanAnto style home
of the #2 team in the nation! fmi contact phil west at
[log in to unmask]
6. Wednesday, Sept 26 - Cafe Mundi, 1704 E. 5th Street, Suite 100. 5 -
10 p.m. The Truth About Cats and Dogs, -a Benefit for Rescue
Animals! Cafe Mundi 5-10pm fmi phone 236-8634.
7. Wednesday, Sept 26 - Bastrop - The Rocky Hill cafe/saloon 7 p.m.
The Not Just DRUM CIRCLE has started up again at the Rocky Hill Ranch
(which also sports a COOL Saloon/Cafe with live music, 50 miles of
mountain bike trails, and is the site of Excalibur Faire in the early
spring.) Not Just Drum Circle formerly took place at Common Ground /
Stone Soup Cafe. The Rocky Hill cafe/saloon serves exceptional
burgers and veggie burgers as well as other food and beverages.
Directions: Take Hwy 71 east from Bastrop (or Austin) until you get
to the Smithville exits. Then take 153 north and you'll see Rocky
Hill Ranch shortly (a mile or two) on your left (west). fmi contact
Tree Leom at 512.360.5142 or e [log in to unmask]
8. Wednesday, Sept. 26 - Bouldin Creek Coffeehouse and Cafe, 1501
South First. 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Brian Robertson hosts open mic
readings of lively short stories. fmi call 416-1601
9. Wednesday, Sept. 26 - The Mercury, 214 E. 6th (at Brazos and 6th,
above Jazz) 7 p.m doors open, 8 p.m. The Austin Slam. $3 cover or $5
for 2 people. Cash prizes to top three winners. The slam is
immediately followed by Hip Hop Humpday, for your booty-shakin
pleasure. fmi call 478-MERC.
10. Wednesday, Sept. 26 - (Ft. Worth) Ridglea Theater, 6025 Camp
Bowie Blvd. 8 p.m. $3. BYOB: Blast Your Own Breath. Tammy Gomez
hosts. fmi contact [log in to unmask] or call 813.924.9188
11. Thursday, Sept 27 (Ft. Worth) - Four Star Coffee Bar and The Four
Star Five. Special Event: Dr. James Hoggard, 2000 Poet Laureate of
Texas, is the featured speaker at the Four Star Five Minute
Workshops hosted by Cliff and Brenda Roberts. The Open Mic begins at
7 pm and goes until 8:30 when we move to the reading room to do the
writing workshops. Since Dr. Hoggard is going to be here, we may
just stay and have the open mic til 10 pm. Everyone is encouraged to
come. fmi call Brenda and Cliff Roberts, co-hosts. (817)926-7905) or
email [log in to unmask]
12. Thursday, Sept 27 - Gaby & Mo's, 1809 Manor Road. 8 p.m. Xenogia
Poetry Update (sponsored by xenogia.net):Check it.
13. Sunday, Sept 30 - (Fort Worth) Borders, Hulen at IH 20. 7-9 p.m.
Open Mic each Sunday night at Borders on Hulen. Bring your poetry and
read with us. fmi contact Helen Jones at [log in to unmask]
14. Monday, Oct. 1- The Hideout, 617 Congress Ave. 7 - 10 p.m. Free
verse@The Hideout hosted by Sarah Durfor. No sign up sheets. Don't
forget donations for the poets pantry. fmi e mail
[log in to unmask]
15. Monday, Oct. 1 - Gaby & Mo's, 1809 Manor Road. 8 p.m. Women's
Open Stage Performance Art. Every Monday
II. Featured Poetry Theme: Airports
Upcoming Themes:
#204 - Call to Peaceful Arms
Responses to featured poetry
"Food For Thought" (#202-1)
Jan Houston, SoCal: staz thankyou for printing this. larry, you out
do yourself again.
Mary Eastham, San Jose: "Stazja - thank-you for keeping your good
work coming as terrorism has crept underneath the skin of every one
of us. I so appreciate your efforts all the time and especially now. "
III. Books/Chapbooks/Spoken Words CDs
Working Bone by Radames Ortiz. Review [excerpt] by Dr. Valerie Felita
Kinloch.
"Radames Ortiz's poetry is a revolution of words, images, movement,
music, and life. Beginning with the poem "Alleys," he maneuvers
issues of location around issues of shared experiences in
eventually "find[ing] silence in empty Pepsi bottles."...And as I
turn the page wanting more, thinking that I cannot be any more
impressed than I am already by "Alleys," I discover Ortiz's "Saturday
Night" ...Clearly, alleys take on more power than most people would
imagine, for alleys are the places where life is tested, honor
defended, and silence taught. Great job!"
To obtain a copy of Working Bone, contact the author at
[log in to unmask]
IV. Calls for submissions
1. Chapbook anthology: Michael Guinn is donating time and material
on this project.
The Title Is Quite simply "Freedom" Poetic Reflections From the
Hearts of The Fort Worth Poet Community. No Table of Contents ...
Just Poetic inflections laced with affection. Artist names and a
special dedication. (Simple)
"I've got most of the other materials .... and will only need to
purchase ink, which is what the $2.00 submission fee will cover. We
will present the money to the American Red Cross as soon as we gather
donations. I will alert the local media to this passionate
undertaking and then have a special reading/unveiling of the chapbook
and invite the public and poet communities to be a part. I'll work
out the details as for a central location for the reading, perhaps
the library or other public building. More on this later "
There is only a $2 fee per submission, which will cover printing cost
and publicity.
We are going to have a major reading and I will need to get your
mailing address so that you may receive a free copy of the anthology
as well. Send submission fee and poetry to:
FREEDOM
P.O. BOX 183142
ARLINGTON TEXAS 76096
(817)989-3009
V. Announcements
1. From Nancy Lambert, lit rave review: poetic license unplugged,
9.18.01
"No mike tonight," says Jaffe. "to keep the reading at a certain
level." He opens the reading with a poem by Shel Silverstein, "Mr.
Smends and Mr. Spats," just in case we have the crazy idea that
terrible things in the world can stop us from loving each other
through poetry.
First up: Brandon, in his white t-shirt with sweet "degenerate"
literally written all over it. "The fastest thing I've learned in the
aftermath of a... tragedy," he says, "is to turn the TV off." We're
off to a thoughtful evening. Mani Suri expresses it like this: "I am
a pacifist filled with brutal thoughts: vengeance." Mary Cahill,
remembering that "...there in the midst of it, some were met by
angels," reminds us, concerning the power of terrorists,
that "...our destiny is not in the hands of men like these."
But poetry has cadence, has the human voice and a body behind it,
other people in the room. It rises to the occasion of grief like a
child's searching question, and mere excerpts don't cut it. Is there
a through-line? Do I just kind of hope there is? "The lord's awful
mercy will, in time and tears, restore us," Pete Justus says. To
which Alice Pero seems to reply, "...Take those solid forms you see,"
she says: "mud, thick parts of buildings. You fill in the answers."
Maybe the mud begets answers, or coalesces into the "stones," as
Russell Salamon says, which "soften, as we look deeper into our
freedom." Maybe, as Jaffe asserts "as artists, there is one thing we
do, and do incredibly well -- we create." But this doesn't stop him
from asking, "If it falls, will it be heard?" He tells us, regarding
the day after September 11th, "...I am afraid to sleep tonight
because last night I slept like a baby, and when I woke it was a
nightmare."
Hart Fisher, no stranger to personal nightmare, offers us
strength: "I been seeing a lot of candles on TV," he says, "but I
don't see a lot of people changing //....I don't wanna see no poem. I
just want to see one person change at a time." Next up after Hart,
introducing his own rapid-fire piece of wild alliteration, David
Delmonico reads from Hermann Hesse: "Outside was reality,...but here,
inside, was love." Carl Stilwell (with three "l"s and not four to his
name, we're reminded), finds black-comic passion in the scatological
highjinks of high school bathroom graffiti, a passion taken up by
Justice Brother #2, Gary, whose prayer for joy, as always, taps the
wells of music, dance, and a shared bionic beat.
All this unfolding into something not a flower, but instead our
opening soul. As Steve puts it next, "I walk through the miser who
long since sold his soul for gold....// I walk till the day peace
will replace the bomb." What do we find as we go? Linda La Rose: "I
hear you, but you have no body. I taste you, but you have no flavor.
I touch you, but you have no skin.../ Hold me in your arms..."
because "together we hold the silence."
It's time for the featured poets. Over the next days and weeks, we
all will face decisions, Larry Jaffe reminds us, and "in your own
decision you will find your strength." He speaks of miracles: "All
poets," he says, "are miracles to me." First featured poet is M.C.
Bruce, whose work as a public defender has introduced him to the down-
and-out people in this world for whom poetry is a gesture, something
spoken aloud in the pain and dreams of prisoners confined to real
prison cells, under real armed guard, some of them medicated for the
same "mental illness" that afflicted Joan of Arc and William Blake
and Vincent Van Vogh: "Occasionally we look to the mad for greatness,
for art, for the disturbing familiarity of their vision," M.C. Bruce
tells us. But...I can't begin to capture it here -- so I purchased
his chapbook, "Clients," in order to savor these voices for myself, a
tonic maybe for the huge amount of rhetoric coming via television and
radio and newspaper and Internet.
Finally...Stazja. Beautiful, glowing, irreverent, and having just
completed what must have been the weirdest cross-country plane trip
in the world. Stazja McFadyen, whose leaping poetry loves Larry Jaffe
and isn't afraid to say so. Even as Larry loves everyone here in this
room. Even as we gather our wits and try to make sense of what's
happened in the space of a very short week. She takes the stage,
offers thanks to Larry, to us, to the world of poets of which she is
a proud and grateful part. And I sit and I feel it, electricity,
warmth and concern fill the room -- we will fight for this joy. We
will come together and work individually because this joy means
everything to us, and no terrorist, government-sponsored or
otherwise, will ever take this love away.
...and there'll be more, much more to come, Larry tells us. An
anthology. A series of Poets4Peace readings all around the country. I
think of the wonderful organization Doctors Without Borders...could
we come together and create an Artists Without Borders, as well? We
need each other, need shared strength. Last night at the Zen, my
heart lifted, and I know this is possible. If it's true, as Jaffe
says to us, that "every poet is a miracle," then I believe with all
of my heart that we must act in the world to make this true, now more
than ever before...."
2. From Sanjay Kuttan, Singapore: "Dear friends, I can only pray that
you are all okay and that friends and families are by your side.Take
care and God bless!
Love, Sanjay"
3. From Brinsley Sheriday, London: "Dear Stazja and all of my Austin
friends - Inadequate is an understatement of how I feel as a human
being to react to the horror of last tuesday. Proud is a statement of
how I feel to see and read the the reactions of many people I love
and am surprised and humbled by the wonderful responses of some that
I have in the past criticised. I pray that this terrible act will
bring us together in a unity of genuine humanity. I look forward to
seeing you in London soon and thank you for Q's [Quraysh Ali Lansana,
MAP #201-1] story & poem
Much Love Brinsley"
4. From Aaron Sanders, Austin: [an excerpt] "September has shown us
that hidden inside was enough love to tackle any problem. Do we have
the courage to change? To look beyond the apprehension and ignorance
that has halted previous generations? I believe we do. We need to do
some soul searching first, but I think we will find inside of us is a
deep need. . . an unutterable wish. . . to end pain where we can. . .
to quiet the screaming of the dead and dying in our own homes. . . to
rally support. . . and to comfort those who have lost so much. . . We
must heal our beleaguered and broken souls and become the first
generations of humans with a right to our own humanity.
With all my love,
Aaron Sanders"
5. From Frank Campbell, Community Relations Manager, Barnes & Noble,
Round Rock, Tx.:
For Immediate Release
Contact: Frank Campbell
(512) 600-0114
Media Alert
America's Little Heroes
Round Rock- Like most children, seven-year-old Mikey Berman of Round
Rock is deeply saddened, afraid and confused by what happened on
September 11th. One thing that has affected him the most is the
realization that thousands of children lost their Mommies and
Daddies. He wants to do something to help these children to deal with
their loss. So he came up with the idea for America's Little Heroes.
America's Little Heroes is collecting new books and toys for the
children who lost their Mommies and Daddies on September 11th. The
goal is for children affected in this war to get something that might
just take their minds off of what happened, if even for a little
while. America's Little Heroes is for all children 18 and under. An
account will also be created to accept cash donations to purchase
books and toys. Gift cards are also something people can purchase to
allow older children to select their own books. In addition, when the
books and toys are delivered, pictures, notes and letters written by
local elementary school children will accompany them.
Donations of any kind for America's Little Heroes will be accepted at
locations throughout the Round Rock area including the Barnes & Noble
Round Rock store, located in the La Frontera Village at the
intersection of IH 35 and 1325, beginning Thursday, September 20th.
If you have any questions, please call Stephanie Berman at (512) 989-
1009.
6. From Susan Bright (Plain View Press, Austin)
To poets and venue hosts-- In honor of the human spirit I propose a
week of poems for peace to be called "Peaceful Arms" -- Oct 8-14 to
be held at various venues around Austin and Texas. Spread the word.
Larry Jaffe has sponsored this as a
nationwide action along with some other poets -- website
<http://www.poets4peace.com/911.htm>
Lots of you already know about this and will do it. What I think is
that in Austin Plain View Press could give a book to every poet who
reads -- asking in return a donation to the red cross, or if you're
broke, hug a fireman. Send a peace petition, love somebody.
Like many of you, I stayed glued to the tv for days, mouth stuck open
in horrific awe, and then I wrote this "Letter to Everyone"
(attached) because I started to figure out what I think should
happen. And what shouldn't happen. It is such an imponderable time.
And things are moving quickly. I started feeling better when I began
to write again. Stretched out of the stupor or horror. At Cafe Mundi
the other night I found comfort in the voices of other poets.
<http://www.poets4peace.com/911.htm>
Ric Williams [Litera editor, Austin Chronicle] wrote just now about
how we turn to poetry.
"It was interesting to note that a poem ended the New Yorker. No
cartoons, no droll commentary. Poetry. Poetry speaks to the most
profound human needs.
Poetry still speaks our deepest feelings. We, as a culture, take it
for granted. But it is the well we always go to when the drought of
circumstances ruthlessly drains us of tears and our souls cry out
for replenishment."
Ric will list anything we can get together -- a call for poets, etc
in this week's Chronicle -- anything you can get to me by sunday --
otherwise more next week. Maybe we can get the Chron to sponsor it --
[Austin Chronicle online at www.auschron.com]
So write back asap if you'd like to dedicate your venue the week of
Oct 8-14 to "Peaceful Arms" --
We'll list you on the national website too -- and send poems to them
as well.
I look forward to hearing from you. There isn't any way anyone could
organize a week long poetry festival in two weeks, but we can all do
it together.
What do you think?
Susan Bright
[log in to unmask]
7. From Jimmy Jazz (Pirate Enclave electronic magazine)
"Ahoy me arties, It's been about a year since the last issue of your
favorite internet magazine. Issue #13: The War on
Terror//Spirituality features commentary by myself and Barry Graham
about The War on Terror plus photos by Patrick Haley in NYC..."
http://www.onecity.com/pirate/pe13/pe13.html
8. From Clint McCown, NYC "Breaker Breaker. Clint & Company (KAiROS!,
that is) All present and accounted for. Over..."
Welcome new readers. Anyone wanting off the mailing list, send a
blank e mail to [log in to unmask] AOL
members, e me at [log in to unmask]
The Map of Austin Poetry is posted online at:
The Poets' Porch: www.poetsporch.com
Austin Metro: www.austinmetro.com/poetpage.html
groups.yahoo.com/group/mapofaustinpoetry
Austin International Poetry Festival: aipf.org
Much love,
Stazja
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