Friday, May 28, 2010

For The NYC/BK Kids

Tonight is Sommer Browning's last night curating the wonderful reading series at Pete's Candy Store. Come hear dope poets & keep Sommer company. She won't object if you buy her a whiskey either.

An Extra Special Multifarious Array
Friday, May 28, 2010
7:00pm - 8:30pm
Pete's Candy Store
709 Lorimer Street
Brooklyn, NY

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Aaron Tieger, Jeni Olin, Georgia Luna & Dan Hoy are reading poems. Wonderful poems. I'm so happy these amazing poets are reading Friday for many reasons, most especially because this is the very last Multifarious Array I will host at Pete's. I have hosted the Multifarious Array for four years. I will probably cry; this will still be fun. Right now, I feel like saying: I love everyone.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Press Heat for June

John Yau's Exhibits from Letter Machine Editions

Action Books has a new Book out!
The Morning News Is Exciting
By Don Mee Choi
ISBN: 9780979975561
$12.00
"Cameraman, run to my twin twin zone. A girl's exile excels beyond excess. Essence excels exile. Something happens to the wanted girl. Nothing happens to the unwanted girl. The morning news is exciting." A debut volume from poet, translator, artist and activist Don Mee Choi. Here translation, aberration, mobility and movement corrupt the would-be verities of the world's hegemonic codes. "Choi translates feminist politics into an experimental poetry that demilitarizes, deconstructs, and decolonizes any master narrative."--Craig Santos Perez.

Read "A Journey From Neo-Colony To Colony:
http://www.actionyes.org/issue3/choi/choi1.html

Buy the book at our homepage: www.actionbooks.org for a sales price of $12.00.




Issue #5 of Saltgrass is available. Please consider buying a copy and supporting our amazing contributors:

Lisa Jarnot, Paige Ackerson-Kiely, Natalie Lyalin, Sandra Simonds, Laura Eve Engel, Tristan Tzara (translated by Heather Green), Gabe Durham, Maged Zaher, Jennifer Denrow, Catherine Meng, and Mark Yakich.

What! So you can order a print copy on our website: www.saltgrassjournal.blogspot.com
Only $5!

I'm Trying To Write A Poem & You Should Be Too

Call for poems:


Poets for Living Waters is a poetry action in response to the Gulf Oil
Disaster of April 20, 2010, one of the most profound man-made
ecological catastrophes in history.

The first law of ecology states that everything is connected to
everything else. An appreciation of this systemic connectivity
suggests a wide range of poetry will offer a meaningful response to
the current crisis, including work that harkens back to Hurricane
Katrina and the ongoing regional effects.

Please submit 1-3 poems, a short bio, and credits for any previously
published submissions to: poetsforlivingwaters@yahoo.com

Thank you,

Amy King and Heidi Lynn Staples

Evie Shockley & Franz Wright have poems up right now.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Friday Face-off, BK style

Sommer Browning and Leigh Stein host POETS AND PUPPETS II: RESURRECTION

with

Kathleen Rooney, Sasha Fletcher, Jason Zuzga, Jason Koo, Martin Rock, and Noah Eli Gordon

Watch these poets get inside tiny bodies.

http://multifariousarray.blogspot.com/

http://poetsandpuppets.blogspot.com/

Pete's Candy Store Friday, May 21, 2010 7:00pm - 9:00pm
709 Lorimer Street,Brooklyn, NY
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dear heroes of may! come see our other heroes, also poets, ride into spring:

Melissa Buzzeo, Hugh Behm-Steinberg, Todd Colby, Christie Ann Reynolds, Jared Stanley & Rachel Zolf!

Melissa Buzzeo teaches at St. John’s University, and has taught at Brown, Pratt, and The University of Iowa. She is the author of two perfect bound books (What Began Us, 2007 and Face, 2009), and three chapbooks. In addition, her work has been translated into both French and Catalan. From NY originally, she holds degrees from both Cornell University and The University of Iowa’s Writing Workshop.

~

Hugh Behm-Steinberg is the author of Shy Green Fields (No Tell Books) and Sorcery (Dusie Chapbook Kollektiv). His poems can be found in such places as Crowd, VeRT, Volt, Spork, Cue, Slope, Aught, Fence, Swerve, Dirt, Ditch, Zeek and Sweet, as well as some other places with more than one syllable such as New American Writing and foam:e. He teaches in the graduate writing program at California College of the Arts, where he edits the journal Eleven Eleven.

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Todd Colby is the author of Tremble & Shine and Riot in the Charm Factory: New and Selected Work, both from Soft Skull Press, and the editor of Heights of the Marvelous: A New York Anthology (St. Martins Press). He has appeared in numerous poetry anthologies, including Short Fuse: A World Anthology of Poetry, The Portable Boog Reader, Word Up: Spoken Word Poetry in Print, Verses That Hurt, Revival: Spoken Word from Lollapalooza, and Aloud: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Café. Colby has performed his poetry on PBS, MTV, and Canada’s Much Music Network. He has produced many collaborative books and paintings with the artist David Lantow and was the lyricist and vocalist for the now-legendary New York band Drunken Boat.

~

Christie Ann Reynolds‘ manuscript, idiot heart was the 2009 winner of The New School Chapbook Competition. She has an MFA in Poetry, a BA in English and an MsEd in Secondary Education. Christie Ann is a member of The Poetry Brothel and her work can be found or is forthcoming in BlazeVox, My Name is Mud, Robot Melon, Sub-Lit, Critiphoria, and others. A short collection is forthcoming from Supermachine this
summer.

~

Jared Stanley is the author of Book Made of Forest (Salt 2009) and the chapbooks I Something Scott Inguito You, The Outer Bay, and In Fortune. With Lauren Levin and Catherine Meng, he edits Mrs. Maybe. He grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and currently lives in the San Joaquin Valley of California.

~


Rachel Zolf‘s fourth full-length book, Neighbour Procedure, was recently released by Coach House Books. Previous collections include Human Resources (Coach House), which won the 2008 Trillium Book Award for Poetry and was a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award, Masque (The Mercury Press), Shoot & Weep (Nomados), from Human Resources (Belladonna books) and Her absence, this wanderer (BuschekBooks). Zolf’s work has appeared in journals throughout North America and in anthologies such as Prismatic Publics: Innovative Canadian Women’s Poetry and Poetics (Coach House) and a forthcoming anthology of conceptual writing from Les Figues Press. She was the founding poetry editor for The Walrus magazine and has edited several books of poetry. Zolf lives in New York.

at

Goodbye Blue Monday

1087 Broadway
(corner of Dodworth St)
Brooklyn, NY 11221-3013 (718) 453-6343

J M Z trains to Myrtle Ave
or J train to Kosciusko St

~

Hosted by Amy King and Ana Božičević

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Please Share With Your Friends & Family

Creative Writing Workshops ONLINE! Tell Your Story! (Anywhere)


Borough Writing Workshops is a group of dedicated teachers and published writers who teach throughout the New York metro area. We have expanded our workshops to the online audience (The Borough Writing Project) to better serve all aspiring writers across the globe. Our workshop will focus on an image or idea, which triggers you both intellectually and emotionally. You will write and workshop your original poems, prose or non-fiction with published writers from Burroughs Workshop.

Short assignments will be posted every morning (as well as links to online readings and suggested readings), and these shorter assignments will build up to a final long project (group of poems, stories, etc. chapbook length). The instructor will give feedback on all assignments--short and long--and peer editing will be encouraged in order to foster a sense of community among the students. Your daily writing will be directed regarding how to get starter, how much time you should spend writing, how to avoid writers block, revising, publishing, etc.

Richard Scheiwe and Steven Karl will be your teachers. Both are experienced teachers and writers who have published books. Visit their websites for more details:

www.richardscheiwe.com
stevenkarl.blogspot.com

We will use a private Google Group that you can access at any time (all you need is a Gmail account).

The class will take place from June 7 – June 20. Class enrollment is limited to ten adults.

The cost is $200.00 payable by check or PayPal due June 4.

Please contact boroughproject@gmail.com for details on the class and how to pay.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

I Stopped By Ben Mirov's Apartment & Left With A Bag of Awesome



Ben Mirov's debut collection of poetry, Ghost Machine, by CAKETRAIN is out now. I have a review copy of it & I'm sure I'm write more in depth once I read it. Why don't you buy a copy & we can compare notes or do a collaborative review? Buy it here.

Ben was also getting rid of some journals so I walked away with CapGun2, bees wax magazine- which is beautiful, CakeTrain issue 4, & CakeTrain issue 5.

Speaking of journals the new issue of MUTHAFUCKA TWO is out & it features:
Sam King
John Niekrasz
Angel Escobar
Kristin Dykstra
Mohammed Khair-Eddine
Pierre Joris
Alice Notley
Dot Devota
Phil Cordelli
Norma Cole
Quinn Latimer
Matthew Klane
Hoa Nguyen
Lucas Farrell
Kazuko Shiraishi
Tomoyuki Endo
Forrest Gander
Sarah Lariviere
Michel Deguy
Wilson Baldridge
Anthony Hawley
Lisa Lightsey
Lewis Warsh
Ron Horning
Caitie Moore
Thom Donovan
Trey Sager
Brenda Iijima
Youna Kwak
Amelia Rosselli
Vanja Skoric Dewan
Deborah Woodard
Karena Youtz
Etel Adnan

Swing by Press Press Press for ordering info.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Street Art Saturday





Yesterday, Lila & I walked over to the Deluxx Fluxx pop-up art installation over on Allen Street. It's filled with arcade games whose music & images are controlled by person using the machine. In other words, depending on how crowed the place is it can sound like a cacophony of noise which
achieves maximum sensory overload.

From there we checked out the Shepard Fairey mural over on Houston & Bowery then went to his exhibition over at Deitch.

The night ended with a viewing of Exit Through the Gift Shop, which is more about Mr. Brain Wash (MBW) than it is Banksy. It's definitely one of the best films I've seen in a long time.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Friday Face-off, BK style

Yardmeter
267 Douglass Street, Bk 8-11

Yardmeter Editions present a night of birds!

artwork by Jane Yeomans,
and poetry readings by
Christopher Salerno,
along with Birds, LLC authors
Elisa Gabbert
and Chris Tonelli.

For more information go to yardmeter.blogspot.com.

This should be good. I've read both Chris & Elisa's books & quite liked them. Chris & Elisa & Christopher are also as affable as they are awesome.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
It's Spring! Blossoms are Sperming the Air! Other Sexy Planty Things are Happening!

Soon, the Weather will Warm and the Streets of NYC will Look Like the Set of Salo.

The Multifarious Array is in the Mood!

This Friday, May 14th, at 7pm
Slant Your Rhyme with

Jen Chang, Ed Skoog, Jason Bredle & Jorn Ake!

Jennifer Chang is the author of The History of Anonymity. Her poems appear or are forthcoming in Boston Review, Kenyon Review, New England Review, The New Republic and elsewhere. She's received fellowships to The MacDowell Colony, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, and Yaddo. She's working on her second book of poems and needs help titling it.

Ed Skoog’s first collection of poems, Mister Skylight, was published by Copper Canyon Press in 2009. His poems have appeared in Paris Review, Poetry, American Poetry Review and elsewhere.

Jason Bredle is the author of three books and four chapbooks of poetry, most recently Smiles of the Unstoppable, forthcoming from Magic Helicopter Pres, and The Book of Evil, forthcoming from Dream Horse Press. He lives in Chicago.

Jorn Ake is a poet and photographer. His most recent book, Boys Whistling like Canaries, won the 2008 Blue Lynx Prize for Poetry and was published by EWU Press in 2009. His first collection of poems, Asleep in the Lightning Fields, won the 2001 X. J. Kennedy Poetry Prize and was published by Texas Review Press. A chapbook of his work, All About the Blind Spot and Other Poems, is available from Popular Ink, and his second full-length collection, The Circle Line, was published by The Backwaters Press as an editor's choice in 2009. He currently lives in New York City.


Only at Pete's Candy Store
709 Lorimer Street
Williamsburg, Brooklyn

(718) 302-3770

"L" to Lorimer, "G" to Metropolitan, "X" to Oblivion


FREE!

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Animals Spinning 'til yer head is dizzy

Home Video Review of Books has a new issue including a review of my chapbook, (Ir)Rational Animals. Check it out here.


Reviews of
Man's Companions, by Joanna Ruocco
I Have to Go Back to 1994 and Kill a Girl, by Karyna McGlynn
Duties of an English Foreign Secretary, by Macgregor Card
The Wild Hawk the Sea, by Seth Landman
Neighbor, by Rachel Levitsky
(Ir)Rational Animals, by Steven Karl
I, the Worst of All, by Estela Lamat, Trans. by Michael Leong
Elegy for a Fabulous World, by Alta Ifland
Life of a Star, by Jane Unrue
Bee-Stung Aviary, by Eric Baus
One Day There Will Be Nothing to Show that We Were Ever Here, by Scott Alexander Jones
The Plot Genie, by Gillian Conoley
Minimum Heroic, by Christopher Salerno
Mr. Worthington's Beautiful Experiments on Splashes, by Genine Lentine

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Also, as of now, I have extremely limited internet access (I'm in the library right now listening to the sound of babies crying) so blog updates &/or any virtual communications will be sporadic at best.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Busy Buzz

The last few days have been quite busy for me. I attended the Chapbook festival at CUNY on both Monday & Tuesday (coming & going throughout the day) & then attended a panel/conversation on alternative education last night.

The chapbook festival was good. I heard someone refer to it as a "low-key" AWP. Rather accurate as there was a book-fair- but this one was much much smaller & more manageable & there were readings. I don't think there were any off-site readings or any drunkeness or "hooking-up" so that is prolly the biggest difference between the two. People didn't come to the chapbook looking crazed or with a desire to live some cheesy Vegas B-film life.

That being said, I think the festival being on Monday & Tuesday really limited or fractured the attendance, which isn't to imply that it was poorly attended- I was quite impressed on both days at the amount of the people, but if it had been on the weekend the room would have been packed which would make perusing chapbooks a pain, but reading attendance little better, as the audience for the readings tended to be small. But then again, who can attend a reading on a Tuesday afternoon at 2, which is when I read. Luckily there were about 10-15 people in the room & I thank everyone who came out, who said nice things about my chapbook, &/or the super-new poem I read. It's always a pleasure to read with label mate, Veronica, & to spend time with Tony (the other half of Flying Guillotine Press who recently moved to DC).

Here's what I left the festival with:

Bowling by Sommer Browning and Brandon Shimoda (Greying Ghost Press)
Poems by Dan Boehl (Greying Ghost Press)
Agriculture Reader
Unrequited Sonnets: bird to a feather by Nate Pritts
Descriptive Sketches by Nate Pritts (printed by J. Johnson in London)
Last Ride by Abraham Smith (Forklift, Ink.)
Is This January by Jai Arun Ravine (Corollary Press)
Lake M by Brandon Shimoda (Corollary Press)

Overall, the festival was a great time & you should look out for it next year! I'll write about the alternative education panel later.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

History of Education/ Models for Alternative Education




Discussions at The Commons

May 5, 8-10PM
The Commons
388 Atlantic Ave. @ Bond Street in Brooklyn
closest subway is the Hoyt/Schermerhorn stop on A, C & G but also near the Atlantic/Pacific stop (B, M, Q, R, 2, 3, 4, 5), the LIRR, the F train (Bergen stop)the B63 and B65.

History of Education: What models for alternative education already exist? How can the teaching of practical skills be related to social justice? We will present historic models of alternative education to examine how artist-run schools fit into that framework. In particular, we will explore Montessori and Waldorf methods, the Free School Movement, Democratic Education, Progressive Education, and Craft Revival. Marit Dewhurst will discuss the strategies of Paulo Freire and the Highland Folk School. We will collaborate on a zine about the history of education based on our own experiences in school.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

CUNY Chapbook Festival Reading Schedule

Marathon Reading Schedule

MONDAY, MAY 3



2-3 PM

River Poets Journal/Lilly Press: Phoebe Wilcox

Poinciana Paper Press: Angelique V. Nixon

2nd Ave Poetry: Jill Magi

Bateau Press: James Grinwis

Belladonna*: E. Tracy Grinnell



3-4 PM

BOOK Works: Estha Weiner

H_NGM_N: Ben Mirov

Cervena Barva Press: Susan Lewis

CUNY Lost & Found: Josh Schneiderman&Claudia Pisano



4-5 PM

Portable Press at Yo-Yo Labs: Brenda Iijima

Creature Press: John Harkey

Cy Gist Press: Veronica Wong

DoubleCross Press: Sarah Green

Dusie Kollektiv: Mark Lamoureux&Amanda Deutch



5-6 PM

Etched Press: Kevin Dublin

Finishing Line Press: Ruth Handel&Melora Walters

Forklift, Ohio: Amy King

Octopus Books: Emily Pettit

Brave Men Press: Brian Foley



6-7 PM

Ugly Duckling Presse: Dorothea Lasky

Greying Ghost Press

Kissena Park Press: Lana Hechtman Ayers

Little Scratch Pad: Douglas Manson

Love Among the Ruins: Laura Jaramillo



TUESDAY, MAY 4



2-3 PM

Flying Guillotine Press: Steven Karl&Angela Veronica Wong

Magic Helicopter Books: Carolyn Zaikowski

Noemi Press

Pen Press: Marcos Wasem&Mercedes Roffé

Center for Book Arts: Sharon Dolin



3-4 PM

Plan B Press

Pleasure Boat Studio: A Literary Press: Zeadryn Meade

Rain Taxi

Corollary Press: Jason Schwartz
Big Hands Magazine



4-5 PM

Slapering Hol Press: Susana H. Case

Small Anchor Press: Joseph Mcelroy

Sona Books: Paolo Javier

Spire Press: Shelly Reed&Matthew Hittinger

The Corresponding Society: David Swesen



5-6 PM

Poets Wear Prada: Austin Alexis&Michael Montlack

The Physiocrats: Daniel Nohejl

BookThug: Cara Benson

sunnyoutside: MRB Chelko

Tarpaulin Sky Press



6-7 PM

Booklyn: Charmaine Wheatley

Instance Press: Kim Lyons

Toadlily Press: George Kraus

Upset Press: Denise Galang&Amy Lemmon-Bowen

X-ing Press/Agriculture Reader