Good Morning Poets and
Poetesses of the world!
Deja vu, I'm in
Florida! Went shopping at a thrift store, found a 1946 edition of
Roget's International Thesaurus, hardbound, for a mere (are you ready
for this?) $1!
And it contains some
quotes by famous people about our fave art form. I'm going to share a
few with you. Right now! Are you ready? Here goes:
"I do but sing
because I must." Tennyson
"I learnt life
from the poets." De Stael
"Who writes oetry
imbibes honey from the poisoned lips of life." W.R. Benet
"A poem should not
mean, but be." A. MacLeish
Ah, so. On to the APAL
Poets Guide:
1. Monday, June 8 - An
interview party with L.A. poet Michelle Serros will take place at
Movements Gallery, located at 211 E. 6th St.(downtown Austin)
beginning at 5pm. See announcements section for details.
2. Tuesday, June 9 -
Ruta Maya Coffee House, 4th and Lavaca. APAL open mic sign up at 6:30
pm. Laura Moliter returns to host featured poet Thom the World Poet,
launching his new chap book, Chants and Incantations.
3. Wednesday, June 10 -
BYOB (Blast Your Own Breath) at Movements Gallery, 211 E. 6th St.
Hosted by Tammy Gomez. 9 to 10:30 pm. tejana.tongue_at_mail.utexas.edu
4. Thursday, June 11 -
Barry's Coffee House in Temple. 7 pm. The Central Texas Live Poetry
Society features Thom the World Poet debuting his chapbook, Chants
and Incantations. For more info, contact morrie greene at
mgreene_at_sage.net
5. Saturday, June 13 -
Quackenbush's Coffee House, 2120 Guadalupe. APAL open mic hosted by
Diane Fleming. Featured poet Thom the World Poet launching his new
book, The Death of Frank Sinatra. 2:30 pm
6. Tuesday, June 16 -
Ruta Maya Coffee House, 4th & Lavaca. APAL open mic hosted by
Sara Sutterfield Winn and Mark Maslow. Sign up at 6:30 pm.
7. Tuesday, June 16 -
Fadó Irish Pub, 214 W. 4th Street (next door to Ruta Maya).
Bloomsday, A Literary
Matinee, JOIN US FOR AN EVENING OF IRISH LITERATURE, LAUGHTER, AND
FUN as we celebrate one of the most influential novels of the 20th
century. Ulysses, is the epic reconstruction of a single day in
Dublin - 6 to 8:30 pm. For more information see announcements
section.
8. Wednesday, June 17-
Movements Gallery at 211 E. 6th St. BYOB (Blast Your Own Breath)
Hosted by Tammy Gomez. 9 to 10:30 pm. tejana.tongue_at_mail.utexas.edu
9. Saturday, June 20 -
Quackenbush's Coffee House, 2120 Guadalupe, APAL open mic, sign up at
3 pm, hosted by Diane Fleming. For more info, e mail
buddydog_at_email.msn.com
10. Tuesday, June 23 -
Ruta Maya Coffee House, 4th and Lavaca. APAL open mic, sign up at
6:30 pm, co-hosted by Sara Sutterfield Winn and Mark Maslow. For more
info, maslow_at_flash.net
11. Wednesday, June 24
- Movements Gallery at 211 E. 6th St. BYOB(Blast Your Own Breath)
Hosted by Tammy Gomez. 9 to 10:30 pm. tejana.tongue_at_mail.utexas.edu
12. Thursday, June 25 -
Ebony Sun Java House, 1209 E. 11th Street, Suite C. East Side Black &
White, APAL open mic, sign up at 7:30 pm. Featured poet Ivan Miller
& friends of Austin Ebony Poets. Guest host Krysten Tyner. For
more info call 472-8875
13. Saturday, June 27 -
Windsor Village Branch Library, 5851 Berkman Drive. Past Poetry
Project begins its third season! We will open with a reading of
"Pablo Neruda" (in Spanish with English translations). 2
pm, admission free. for more info, contact gemartt_at_mail.utexas.edu
14. Saturday, June 27 -
Quackenbush's Coffee House, 2120 Guadalupe. Saturday Night Live
Poetry in the afternoon. APAL open mic, sign up at 3 pm, hosted by
Diane Fleming. buddydog_at_email.msn.com
Featured Poems - I
have a love theme going this week,,, got a gamut of good ones
Next week's theme will
be the state of humanity. Poems are welcome from any state, or
country, or planet or galaxy or universe, as long as the poem is
about mankind (no mantiskind or manraykind poems accepted, unless
relevant to mankind)
1. David Ziff lives in
Boca Raton, Florida. He sent me a dozen sonnets, it was most
difficult to select just one,,, I chose this one because I like the
rhyming scheme,,, and the poem itself.
By any standard an
unworthy start -
you wanted me and, yes,
I wanted you;
it would be just a
one-night stand we knew,
all physical and
nothing from the heart.
We¹d satisfy
ourselves and then depart,
no time for flowers,
music or to woo,
the morning after just
good-bye, thank you,
no vapid vows until
death do us part.
No good could come from
such a rendezvous,
from something so
devoid of grace and art,
unquestionably nothing
lasting or true,
such foolishness had
doomed us from the start.
We broke the rules,
infringed on each taboo,
yet love beat all the
odds .... didn't it, sweetheart?
2. "You notice
such beautiful quiet moments. You are constantly aware... You give
me hope for the rest of mankind :)" wrote one reader of this
new love poem by L.A. poet Larry Jaffe:
sleeping hands
searching through
twilight
senses slowly quieting
from daylight noise
then silence suddenly
emerging unannounced
for those who can hear
such things
it forms a misty haze
for
fleeting memories that
now seem
like so much gibberish
and nonsense
when not absorbed into
daily life
looking at you through
this veil of reverie
and realizing we sleep
together
through nightmares and
dreams
holding hands in this
nocturnal neighborhood
gripping each other
gently
through the night
have you ever noticed
that when we sleep
we hold hands
not fists made of love
but fingers mingling in
tender embraces
digital hugs enacted
in fine tuned
delicate squeezes
hands drawn to each
other
in palm to palm soft
slumber
our hands sleeping
together
as we curl and spoon
walking through dreams
arm in arm
holding hands
as we sleep.
© 1998 lgjaffe
3. Beautiful Alex
Krysinski, across "the big pond", said of this recent poem:
"I have been trying to write it for some months but then it
burst out in the middle of the night,,," ( you all know how
that goes, right?)
Dispossessed
He asked me for my
heart
and I gave it,
unaware he would deny
me his
as a replacement.
And this loss
causes me to wither
like a land in draught.
Poets, philosophers,
offer salvation to
parched souls
but they do not possess
the power
to quench this thirst.
I have become ghost
like;
a mapless wanderer;
searching for an ocean
land-locked in memory.
I saw him once;
in a fallen tear
on the skin of night.
For an eternal second
a poem caused pretence
to fall
like a city under siege
and love touched love
across enforced
distance.
Now,
neither thoughts nor
words
can cover the miles
to touch a man
who has become
invisible;
but he who possesses my
heart
is himself possessed.
He will feel my shadow
as I move through the
world;
catch my scent on th
edge of sleep
like a lucid dream.
And this restless
spirit
will not lay down
I am searching for the
sound
of my own heart-beat.
(C) Alexandria Janenna
Krysinski 98
4. And finally, from
Bristol, England, a Tim Gibbard love poem I ran in the newsletter
once, before the festival. Now that Tim's inspiration has e mail,
and the theme is love, here tis again:
Let me be your horizon,
displayed in all directions.
Let me be your sky,
misted with windy tears,
Your dreams beyond
waking touch.
From here to the
nearest star and back to you,
A message still warm
from it's travels.
Let me be your
mountain, a grandeur in the distance.
Let me be your ocean,
the excitement of a furthest shore,
Your future unknown by
your present.
Hold me at a thought's
length, for a thought's length
And our thoughts will
meet across the curving earth.
Let me be your sun,
soft lighting your days.
Let me be your air, the
breath in the trees,
Your nights enfolded by
me.
Lying alone, together
in our separate darkness',
Feeling a presence even
in it's absence.
Let me be your walls,
so you may feel weak within.
Let me be your earth,
begging flowers from you roots,
Your life secured by
faith.
My heart beating in the
streets on which you walk,
Touching your bare feet
as you dance.
Let me be yours, curled
at the foot of your bed.
Let me be yours,
gathered in your pockets,
Cupped in your hands,
Swept by the waves of
your hair,
Held close to your lips
and smiled upon,
The safety of your skin
calling me to sleep.
Let me be your world.
Let me be,
Yours.
The tiniest flash in
your beautiful eyes.
For GVC.
Chap Books
"Thom the World
Poet has done it again. Here is a book by a poet... for the poet in
you! The unveiling of his newest chapbook in June, Chants and
Incantations, is in keeping with the spirit of Thom. Freshness,
rebirth, mixed with mystery, he continues to ask questions of
humankind and the universe, and if readers listen... they just might
hear the answers. A book by a poet... for poets." For price and
acquisition, contact worldpoet_at_rocketmail.com
Announcements:
1. The APAL free poetry
workshop every Sunday at Quackenbush's Coffee House, 2120 Guadalupe,
beginning at 2 pm. The workshop will be conducted by APAL members on
a rotational basis, John Hawk is taking a break,,,, You did a great
job, Hawk!
2. Michelle Serros, now
touring to promote her book _Chicana Falsa_ (Riverhead
Books, 1998), is an
award-winning, frequently anthologized poet and commentator who
toured with Lollapalooza as a "Road Poet" in 1994.
Michelle Serros will be
interviewed live at Movements Gallery, by Tammy Gomez, host of the
weekly "Blast Your Own Breath Spoken Word Sessions," which
she inaugurated in January 1998 at Movements Gallery (voted "Best
New Multi-Disciplinary Space" in 1997 by the _Austin
Chronicle_).
The interview with
Michelle Serros will also be recorded for later broadcast on
KO.OP (91.7 FM) Radio's
"Notes from a Broad," a weekly women's news/culture
magazine. Also, local
Chicana poet/actresses (including Jennifer Cardenas)
will perform original
work.
For a Tex-Mex-flavored
spoken word and media event, the public is invited
to join in the
festivities (pinata and more) on Monday, June 8th at 5pm.
For more information,
please call Tammy Gomez at 512/441-POET.
3. B L O O M S D A Y A
LITERARY MATINEE
JOIN US FOR AN EVENING
OF IRISH LITERATURE, LAUGHTER, AND FUN
as we celebrate one of
the most influential novels of the 20th century.
Ulysses, is the epic
reconstruction of a single day in Dublin - June 16, 1904.
Place: Fadó
Irish Pub Time : 6:00 PM - 8:30 PM
Date : June
16 Emcee: THOM THE WORLD POET
Contact # for
Booking 416-7435
Be sure and read up on
your Limericks, Rhymes, Poems, & Short
Readings for our open
mike reading. All participants will receive an award
of some kind so lets
get creative! Afterwards we will have music provided by
Andra Mitrovich at 9:00
PM.
Fadó Irish Pub
214 W. 4th St. 512.457.0172
4. From Ariel: Samurai
Poets
no submissions, no
subscriptions, no ads, no grants, no sponsors
absolute freedom
"truth is a
dangerous Angel who walks free deep in the thralldom of Fascism"
freedom of speech,
human rights, pirate radio and zapatismo
art activism vs the
media blitz
the local scene
reflects the universal
austin microcosm, as
above so below
alchemical motifs and
voodun designs
will be on sale from
publisher/editor Ariel Keridwen
and at Fringe Ware
5. Laura Lovas, who
attended AIPF '98 and read at Diverse Arts, is having an art show.
Here is her invitation, for central Floridians and anyone in the
area:
"Wild and Wonder
Full" artwork by Laura J. Lovas (illustrator for Larry Jaffe)
will be on exhibit at the University Club of Winter Park Art Gallery
on the corner of Park and Webster Avenues.
Free champagne
reception, open to the public on June 14th from 2-4 pm
The show runs from June
1st - 30th, hours of viewing are from 9 am to 4 pm daily.
For more information, e
mail Laura at Soultender_at_aol.com
6. Brett Axel and Amy
Ouzoonian, Poets and Editors on tour from NYC will be in Austin on
Tuesday, August 18. Here is a press release about their tour.
Brett is a poet,
playwright, and editor of Outlet Poetry Journal. His poetry has been
widely published in his twenty-five year career, appearing in
anthologies, periodicals, and books. He is a 1997 Nuyorican Poets
Cafe slam winner and his 1977 Play, En Passant, earned him the
Parkhurst Award. Brett's poetry has been translated into twelve
different languages and published all over the world.His new book,
"The Spastic Grandson" (1998) is now available from Heaven
Bone press.
Amy "Uzi"
Ouzoonian is an award winning Armenian American poet and editor of
New York's foremost arts and literary magazines, A Gathering of the
Tribes, in New York City. Her poetry has appeared in several
periodicals. As an actress,ps by Steve Cannon One Flew Over The
Cuckoo's Nest as Candy Starr, and co-wrote and appeared in the
critically acclaimed Off-Broadway poetry play, Diner Eucharist with
Brett Axel. Amy is currently editing an anthology of young female
poets. Her first book of poetry, Inkubaiting Estrogin was recently
released from Fly By Night Press."Amy Ouzoonian has the ability
to mix girlish charm with a mature woman's insight" -- The
Village Voice.
While on tour, both Amy
and Brett are actively scouting for submissions to the magazines they
are associated with and look forward to meeting the poets of the
various communities they are visiting.
Tour Schedule.
NY/NJ/PA: June 14 -
July 7
MD/VA/NC July 8 - 16
GA/ALA July 17 - August
1
FLA/LA/MISS August
2-13
ARK/TEX/OK August 14-22
MO/ILL/IND August 23 -
28
MICH/OH/PA Aug 29 -
Sept 5
NJ/NY/CN/MASS Sept 6-18
To book Brett and Amy
while on this tour or to offer support or a place to sleep
Please e-mail:
axels_at_mhv.net or call (914) 343-1377
That's it for now. Hope
you enjoyed. Anyone wanting off the mailing list, please e me.
Much love,
Stazja