Hello Poets and
Poetesses,
My birthday is coming
up, July 24th. Fifty trips around the sun. Do I get frequent flyer
bonus? A gold sun dial? I share this birth date with my soon-to-be 18
year old son, Mike', the best birthday present I ever got. Just
wanted you all to know.
APAL Poets Guide:
All events are free,
unless otherwise noted. Some venues request donations for featured
poets.
1. Monday, July 13 -
Southside Poetic Action Series, Jovita's Restaurant y Cantina at 1619
South First, from 7-9 p.m
2. Tuesday, July 14 -
Ruta Maya Coffee House, 4th & Lavaca. APAL open mic, hosted by
Sara and Mark, sign up at 6:30 pm. fmi, e mail maslow_at_flash.net
3. Tuesday, July 14 -
Electric Lounge, 302 Bowie,,, home of Austin's weekly SLAM. $2
admission. Sign up as early as 8 pm. compete for $50.fmi call
476-FUSE or show up and ask someone.
4. Wednesday, July 15 -
Movements Gallery Movements Gallery, 211 E. 6th St. BYOB: Blast Your
Own Breath at Tammy Gomez hosts, 9-10:30 pm.
tejana.tongue_at_mail.utexas.edu
5. Thursday, July 16 -
the new yoga space, 1122 C South Lamar, 7:30 pm (in the same shopping
center with Heart of Texas Music and New Age Books and Big Steve's
Gym, yo!). John Herndon reads from his chapbook "Road Trip
Through The Four Spheres" (Mike and Dale Press, $5). FMI, e mail
jherndon_at_austin.cc.tx.us
6. Saturday, July 18 -
Quackenbush's Coffee House, 2120 Guadalupe. Saturday Afternoon Live
Poetry, APAL open mic, hosted by Diane Fleming. Sign up at 3 pm.
Featured poet: Ed Glover. fmi, e buddydog_at_texas.net
7. Tuesday, July 21 -
Ruta Maya Coffee House, 4th & Lavaca. APAL open mic, sign up at
6:30 pm. Beginning this week, the hosts are proud to feature 1998
Austin Slam Team member - Susan B. A. Somers-Willet. Hosted by Sara
Sutterfield Winn and Maslow. FMI, contact maslow_at_flash.net
8. Tuesday, July 21 -
Electric Lounge at 302 Bowie. Weekly Slam, winner takes $50 home.
Sign up as early as 8 pm. $2 admission. FMI, call 476-FUSE.
9. Wednesday, July 22
- Borders Books and Tapes Borders on the Word, 10225 Research (Hwy
183) 7:30 pm. feature Stazja McFadyen. Followed by round robin open
mic. Barbara Carr, Host. FMI 795-9553
10. Wednesday, July 22
- Cornerstone, 7:30 to 9 pm, emcee'd by Scott Wiggerman. Scheduled to
read on July are Scott Wiggerman, Joelie Cruz, Jack Brannon, and
Maria Limon. FMI, contact Scott Wiggerman at 467-0678 or
wigg119_at_flash.net
10. Wednesday, July 22
- Movements Gallery, 211 E. 6th St. BYOB: Blast Your Own Breath at
Tammy Gomez hosts, 9-10:30 pm. tejana.tongue_at_mail.utexas.edu
11. Saturday, July 25 -
Saturday Afternoon Live Poetry at Quackenbush's, 2120 Guadalupe. APAL
open mic, sign up at 3 pm. Featured poet: Cynthia Good. FMI e mail
buddydog_at_texas.net
Featured poetry -
Theme: Leaving the Cuckoo's Nest -- Psychiatry
Next week's theme: The
Elephant Room/Tony Campese (a local jazz legend)
Before presenting the
poems, I'm going to indulge in editorial comment. Thanks to all who
have permitted me to use your works. I apologize to those of you
whose submissions were not included. Space is a consideration, and
more poems were submitted this week than any time since themes were
introduced to the featured poetry section of the newsletter. I will
follow up at a later time with a sequel on this theme.
The subject itself has
been on my mind more than a little. For two years I did volunteer
work with a growing sector of the population, homeless youth, in
conjunction with a social service agency. During that time I
conducted an informal survey and discovered that, prior to hitting
the streets, over 80% of my kids had received some form of
psychology/psychiatry/ psychotherapy treatment. And the same
percentage, I discovered, are, or had been, artists. One girl was
institutionalized specifically because of a poem she wrote that
alarmed some person in a position of authority. Three young adults I
interviewed, each from a different state, told of such similars
spiels by psychologist school counselors, of being the worst case of
schizophrenic manic-depressive the counselor had ever seen, I
wondered if this was from a script.
For 20 years I have
supported Citizens Commission on Human Rigthts®, an international
organization established in 1969 with chapters in over 25 countries,
which recently released a public service publication entitled
Psychiatry Manipulating Creativity -- In the name of help.
(http://www.cchr.org)
Two other creative
souls I have the good fortune of knowing have novels related to this
theme. I recommend you check out In the Name of Help by Diane Klein
(www.dianeklein.com) and Dawn's Revenge by L.D. Sledge, available
through bookstores near you.
And now on to the
poetry. Comment is welcome.
1. Opie Houston
featured at Barnes and Noble in the Arboretum last Wednesday and read
this piece:
Therapy-Writing Session
#3
it's the world that's
messed up
and you shrinks and
therapists
telling me I need to
write this junk down
how can I write when
I'm shaking so bad
and you're telling me I
need
to paint images after
they took my paints
because I kept making
dirty pictures on walls
instead of on those
sheets of paper
somebody pulled out of
a computer trash barrel
and you tell me to read
about a little
red wheelbarrow and how
important it is
and that crap about
somebody eating plums
because they were cold
and sweet
and about that idiot
howling in the street
because he wasn't happy
with how the world
treated him because he
wouldn't accept
the way the world is
and showed them
but he was wrong too
since it's
the only world we've
got and . . .
God, give me the
strength
to get my paints back
so I can paint
at least one life-size
woman
who'll not laugh at me,
who'll accept me in my
dreams
like Mom did,
sometimes,
and not castrate me
like she did,
sometimes . . .
to change the
things I can
and hold me without
expecting
something in return
and won't destroy my
gifts . . .
to accept the
things I can't
. . . and won't just
take off
when it feels good to .
. .
and wisdom to know
the difference.
. . . and you're no
different than anybody else
you're all the
same--different, like me . . .
different . . . we're
all different . . .
you're different . . .
I'm different . . .
we're all the same but
different . . . help me,
damn it . . . HELP ME!
© 1985 opie r.
houston
2. Jennifer Williams
co-hosted with me at "New Voices". I asked her to submit
this poem.
ILL
ill faced
and ill graced.
misery.
Doctor, Doctor come
quick. We need you, your big dick
is necessary for
complexity toward human fallacy. Phallacy
is just what we need:
factory greed, permanent steed.
Come on bring it out,
you know what we're talking about.
It's machine angst,
medical prankst-
pumpitintheveins
pumpitintheveins
you must take these
reins and control.
Control, because
insanity void has taken toll.
I can't stand this one.
I can't stand by.
ARE YOU LISTENING DR.
QUACK?
Heart attack, falling
back
I think this one will
crack.
All in a nutshell?
Not too well. So take
them to HELL.
AHA!
You Doctors have come
one
come all
to see them fall
to prison box
with prison blocks
and momentary electric
shocks.
Mental diseases
have puzzle pieces
and uno cards
with mental shards.
And the pastel walls
with the
calls ...
I can't stand them,
I can't stand by
to hear humans cry
true human cries.
Don't you get it yet?
This one is not a puppet. This one's not one of
us. There is nothing
to-
discuss.
(finis)
3. Sara Sutterfield
Winn, three time slam winner, knocked me out with this performance
piece. In my humble editorial opinion, this IS the million decibal
voice of the poet winning the shouting match. From Sara's chapbook
Waiter, There's A Shaman In My Soup:
Biological Boiling
Point
You can tell the Prozac
people that we're through with visions of sugarplums,
it just isn't working,
it's like placebos in the middle of a package of birth control pills
it can't make us tick.
We are clocks, underwater - our
7:30 am alarm comes up
sluggishly in bubbles where it pops on ears that don't understand its
language and beneath its floating there in the deep water there are
episodes of 3-2-1
Contact and Electric Company,
animated snippets of
Sesame Streets where we learned to count to twelve and wonder at the
subtle nuances of the letter "Q,"
and can you tell me how
to get back there, to dive down deep past the minute hand into that
time when our only concept of evil was Boss Hogg -
'cause you hit your
early twenties, you know? and right about the time that schizophrenia
is supposed to set in you find yourself sitting in 24-7 coffee dives
or bars that look distinctly unlike Cheers, dressed all in black and
struggling to communicate a certain nameless restlessness in
smoke-signal poetry that shakes the crossbeams and makes your thighs
shudder
but you can't move
you're shaking so hard -
and for the first time
you wonder if crack cocaine is really that bad 'cause you're failing
the classes you hate and failing the classes you like and you think
about a book you read once about the link between poets and insanity
and alcoholism and you know its crap, you know you're okay, and you
tell the guy at Conoco that as you buy four bottles of Merlot and a
package of Hostess cupcakes, the ones with the white spiral on the
outside, and he smiles and gives you change....
and that's the thing
you need the most, man, change, because suddenly the only time you're
truly happy is when you're driving because that's the moment
suspended in time
when you have the
future and the past and you're fully in between them and there is a
moving sense of perfection and security and you find yourself singing
all the songs with this great loud voice that's starting to fail
because you've been screaming for miles and you're only just begging
for a little bonfire for a little less of the middle of the road.
But you can't ask me
what shirt to wear, don't whine to me that you're unsure that you're
lost that you can't seem to find your way out, you're trapped you're
tired you're confused you can't find the red exit sign at the back of
the hall, don't hand me your emotional map and a pencil because
I've
been
there, babe.
in that room, where you
suddenly found yourself pushing pins into a doll that resembles your
mother and then the moment that you started to cry because you
really love your mom,
you know? I've been there.
And I can tell you what
should happen next, baby
where to go and how it
works...
you begin to pack your
things, 1 shirt, 2 pairs of jeans, 3 books, 3 cassette tapes, 2 packs
of cigarettes, 1 toothbrush and thirty dollars and you climb into
that piece of shit you drive and
YOU JUST LEAVE, feeling
the bars begin to fade and a slow cinematography effect healing
wounds on your body - you crank the stereo and let everybody else
feel modern psychiatry's voodoo pinpricks, 'cause you're done.
So little coffee mama,
put away your black, because I saw the sun set over my dashboard
yesterday and it was like God and Poetry all at once, I've already
left into the raw, down into the deep I fell past the minute hand
into the zen asphalt nowhere,
Yeah, I just left, and
I laughed, and I opened a bottle of beer,
and out across the
mesas somewhere in the center of a desert
there is a bottle of
Prozac
lying on the sand.
© 1998 Sara
Sutterfield Winn
4. And finally, Larry
Jaffe has written one of those "tell it like it is" poems
that I've loved reading, particularly to you artists who have
listened and nodded your heads in recognition and understanding.
psychiatric disorder
rather than find the
cause
they liquidate the
present
saturate it with psyche
killing drugs
draining the spirit
a manufactured maze
of desperation
caused by an iv
solution of
thorazine
lithium
prozac
ritalin
anything to keep them
quiet
anything to stop the
awful noise
of a spirit screaming
instead of finding the
reason
for such pain
that unseen claw raking
at their souls
the hidden killers
often quiet and unseen
silently taking in
their prey
rather than find the
cause
they liquidate the
present
suffocating the artist
with cannabis dreams
and
lsd nightmares
drowning them
with creative cocktails
that numbs the mind
and imprison the soul
remove the artist from
her daily rounds of
saving society
the artist is the
doctor
the cure to the culture
imbuing it with fresh
breaths
and rainbow visions
rather than find the
cause
they liquidate the
present
spiking the waters of
love
with disruption and
hate
head shrinker-drugging
solutions
to social maladies
societal unrest
drug it
alcohol it
drown it in its sorrow
rather than find the
cause
they liquidate the
present
the bull elephant
has a thorn in his foot
they shoot the elephant
why don't they just
extricate the thorn
rather than find the
cause
they liquidate the
present
castigate tomorrows
trade in the bill of
rights
for 10 ki's of hash
trade in the bill of
rights
for a prescription pad
rather than find the
cause
they keep liquidating
the present
© 1998 lgjaffe
www.lgjaffe.com
Chapbooks/Books
1. Road Trip Through
The Four Spheres by John Herndon (Mike and Dale's Press, $5)--one
poem, 23 pages. Some may have heard John read this on his (former)
radio program. jherndon_at_austin.cc.tx.us
2. Success Stories:
Poems and Essays by Richard Cole. (Limestone Books, $11.95) 89 pages,
contents divided into Part One - The East Village and Part Two -
Brooklyn. "Success Stories is a great book, and I don't use the
word lightly...The voice is unforced, direct, surprising." Louis
Simpson, Pulitzer Prize winner. richard_cole_at_globeset.com
Announcements
1. 1998 National Poetry
Slam Aug 19-22. CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS. Plenty are needed, before and
during the Nationals. Sonya Feher, volunteer coordinator, is holding
a volunteer meeting on Tuesday, July 14 at 6 pm at the Electric
Lounge. Whether you want to help a little or a lot, be at the
volunteer meeting, or contact Sonya at 326-9692 or ssfeher_at_yahoo.com.
2. Texas Slam
Invitational (First Annual) Saturday night at Electric Lounge, phew!
Austin Team won out,
followed by Dallas, San Antonio, Ft. Worth. (But wowie, from San
Antonio, Mr. Sanchez' "Poemophobia" is worth hearing more
than twice).
3. Artists of a
Different Caliber
This is a touring art
exhibit featuring work that turns guns into beauty. They are seeking
poetry (and poets) with work that speaks of alternatives to violence.
If you've got poetry that uses words against violence then submit
your work to Carol Koss
1819 B NW 42nd Street
OKC, OK 73118-2229
or e-mail
cpkoss_at_aol.com
We will be using all
the poems submitted. The two ways (so far) we will display them are
verbally and visually. The evening of the opening (Sept. 11th), all
poets who have submitted their work will be invited to read it at
Harvey's Cafe (19th and Portland in OKC) at 8:30 p.m. The opening at
the gallery will run from 5 until 8 p.m. If poets are not able to be
present to read their own work, someone will read it for them. In
addition, all poems submitted will be on exhibition, with the
metalsmith pieces, at the gallery during the run of the show. We may
put a poem or two in promo flyers and in our newsletter, and/or read
at poetry readings/ events leading up to September 11th. All rights
revert to and from the beginning - belong to the poet. If we plan
to use any of the poetry in any other way we will get permission from
the poets involved.
4. From St. Pete's
Cockney Rebel host, the vivacious Shana:
"GO STAZJA!!!
We sure are going to
miss you at the Rebel tonight. Thanks for being part of a poetry
renaissance at that open mike night; just a few months ago we
couldn't quiet people down enough to listen...now, people are opening
up their ears eagerly!
Are the poetry venues
you listed also acoustic music rooms? I ask this because I am
dead-set on coming to Austin this year and would like to find a few
places to play.
Glad we're in
touch...keep knockin' 'em dead!
P.S. I am going to read
the Independence Day poems from your mailer at the Rebel tonight!
:-)
Your pal,
SHANA :-)
XOXOXOX"
5. From Genevieve Van
Cleve, Austin Slam Master:
"Pass this on to
those who may need to see that our good work is not going unnoticed.
Love, gen."
"Garrison Keillor
has more fans than Marilyn Manson. Golfers still wear green pants,
pink shirts and yellow sweaters. Lots of people sign up as transplant
donors. Volunteers are bringing wolves and grizzly bears back to
Yellowstone. (Do `not' feed the grizzly bears.) Slam poetry is the
new fad among the 20-somethings, and it's really neat stuff. (Only
50-somethings still say "neat.")"
Molly Ivins is a
columnist for the `Star-Telegram.'
6. Weekly Slam winner
last week, once again, Diane Fleming. Congrats, Diane
7. Cornerstone is about
to embark on a monthly summer/fall
poetry series, with the
first one coming up July 22. These readings,
from 7:30-9:00 at
Cornerstone, will take place the fourth Wednesday of
each month. July will
be emceed by Scott Wiggerman, August by Cindy
Huyser, September by
David Meischen, and October by Meera Sundrum. Each
reading will feature
four gay/lesbian poets. Scheduled to read on July
22 are Scott Wiggerman,
Joelie Cruz, Jack Brannon, and Maria Limon.
Schedules for the other
dates are not yet complete, so if anyone is
interested in reading,
please contact Scott Wiggerman at 467-0678 or
wigg119_at_flash.net
8. Contests: Date:
Wednesday, July 1, 1998 12:58:45 PM
From:
writers_at_pathcom.com
Subj: Pass the word -
cash prize of $100.00, $50.00, $25.00
If you are affiliated
with a magazine or writer's group we hope you will
pass the word on to
members and friends.
You can now find the
Winners of the Third International Poetry Contest at:
http://www.pathcom.com/~writers/winners3.htm>
The next contest will
have a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd cash prize of $100.00,
$50.00, $25.00 plus 3
honourable mentions all published in SEEDS Poetry
Magazine.
See contest information
below.
Hidden Brook Press is
pleased to announce our fourth poetry contest. We
hope that you will
participate and/or pass the information on to some one
who may be interested.
We hope you will join us at our webside.
<www.pathcom.com/~writers/homepage.html>
All the best from
Hidden Brook Press.
Richard Grove - SEEDS
Editor / Publisher
That's it for this
week. Anyone wanting off the mailing list, e mail me.
And if you know of
someone you would like added to the list, also e mail me.
Much love,
Stazja
Subj: Re: Austin Poets
at Large #36
Date: 98-07-13 04:49:56
EDT
From: Janhouston
To: Stazja
In a message dated
98-07-13 01:22:24 EDT, you write:
<<
Before presenting the
poems, I'm going to indulge in editorial comment. Thanks to all who
have permitted me to use your works. I apologize to those of you
whose submissions were not included. Space is a consideration, and
more poems were submitted this week than any time since themes were
introduced to the featured poetry section of the newsletter. I will
follow up at a later time with a sequel on this theme.
The subject itself has
been on my mind more than a little. For two years I did volunteer
work with a growing sector of the population, homeless youth, in
conjunction with a social service agency. During that time I
conducted an informal survey and discovered that, prior to hitting
the streets, over 80% of my kids had received some form of
psychology/psychiatry/ psychotherapy treatment. And the same
percentage, I discovered, are, or had been, artists. One girl was
institutionalized specifically because of a poem she wrote that
alarmed some person in a position of authority. Three young adults I
interviewed, each from a different state, told of such similars
spiels by psychologist school counselors, of being the worst case of
schizophrenic manic-depressive the counselor had ever seen, I
wondered if this was from a script.
For 20 years I have
supported Citizens Commission on Human Rigthts®, an international
organization established in 1969 with chapters in over 25 countries,
which recently released a public service publication entitled
Psychiatry Manipulating Creativity -- In the name of help.
(http://www.cchr.org)
Two other creative
souls I have the good fortune of knowing have novels related to this
theme. I recommend you check out In the Name of Help by Diane Klein
(www.dianeklein.com) and Dawn's Revenge by L.D. Sledge, available
through bookstores near you.
And now on to the
poetry. Comment is welcome.
*******
staz,
Fantastic plug for CCHR
and the Psychiatry Manipulating Creativity ! Your background with
homeless youth made an impressive intro.
And the poems this
week are KILLER ! Heavy -duty newsletter !! You might want to pass
on appropriate sections to CCHR Int, Boz and Jane Allen. I have email
addresses if you need.
I didn't know L.D. had
a book !
ML,
Jan
Subj: Re: Austin Poets
at Large #36
Date: 98-07-13 07:40:00
EDT
From: CPKoss
To: Stazja
Happy Birthday on July
24th. I may not be near a computer then, but on the road heading for
Santa Fe, so I will send the message now. I am approaching 57 faster
than I can move from one end of the house to the other. If you want
any tips on dealing with having a set of references and allusions so
different from most of the people around you, let me know.
The poetry on the theme
of leaving the cuckoo's nest, was fascinating and moving. I partially
agree with its thesis. But, I know a number of therapists and
psychologists who do not function this way, who use the arts as a
tool of and path to healing. I think that psychiatrists (and, again,
I don't want to include all in this category) are the ones who tend
to medicate creativity into a small box.
I was recently in
Eureka, CA and attended an art show at a center called The Ink
People. The exhibit was the result of an artist working with other
artists who had been or were very ill. Their illnesses encompassed
AIDS, breast cancer, alcoholism, depression, et al. Visual art and
poetry came from these sessions. My impression was that many of the
artists were or had been in therapy as well and they had gained from
it in terms of their art, rather than been depleted by it.
I have a number of
friends who are dance therapists and art therapists. They are
dancers and artists first, therapists second. They work with local
mental health organizations who appear to be increasingly open the
creativity/healing connection.
For a number of years
(until just recently), I was part of a group that met every Wednesday
evening. The group was led by a friend who had been a modern dancer,
(and danced for years
with the Eric Hawkins' Modern Dance Company in New York), is
currently a visual artist (painter / weaver) and has studied Jungian
philosophy and psychology. The weekly sessions included movement,
meditation, writing and visual art. Not only did therapists often
send their clients to participate in this group, they were frequently
participants as well. This friend also did extended workshops, often
spanning many weekends, working with dreams, personal landscapes, and
more things than I want to list here. These programs have been
discontinued since Dena is now caring for her dying mother. While
the workshops and programs are no longer in place, the recognition
for them by the mental health community is still in place. I find
that encouraging.
So, while I agree that
creativity is often mistrusted and misunderstood by many
professionals, I think a balance is needed, and those members of
this profession who recognize and honor creativity appreciated and
recognized.
Again, HAPPY
BIRTHDAY!!!!
Carol Koss
Subj: Re: Austin Poets
at Large #36
Date: 98-07-13 10:11:44
EDT
From: drfleming_at_hotmail.com
(Diane Fleming)
To: Stazja_at_aol.com
Great newsletter!
By the way - Richard
Cole (the guy whose book you mentioned - Success
Stories - is the
feature Aug. 22. He is EXCELLENT, if you haven't heard
him.
Subj: Re: Austin Poets
at Large #36
Date: 98-07-13 10:09:05
EDT
From: cemgilbert_at_earthlink.net
(Christine Gilbert)
Reply-to: cemgilbert_at_earthlink.net
To: Stazja_at_aol.com
Hi,
Happy coming-up
birthday and having-given-birth day. My mom and
youngest brother have
the same birthday. I didn't know you had a son
almost 18. I have two
sons, 21 and 18. The youngest graduated from
Austin High this year
and is going to Yale and will play football there;
unfortunately they
don't give scholarships and we're trying to figure
out the most economical
type of loans.
Would you please add my
older son to your mailing list? I managed to
get him to Fado's where
he read. He writes a lot of poetry and I've been
encouraging him to try
some of the open mikes. Jon GIlbert<jjj_at_io.com>
Thanks.
Christine
Subj: RE: Austin Poets
at Large #36
Date: 98-07-13 09:59:45
EDT
Subj: Re: Austin Poets
at Large #36
Date: 98-07-13 07:39:11
EDT
From: candid_at_istal.com
(candid)
To: Stazja_at_aol.com
Hello ,,,,thanks for
return mail...I"m sorry I haven't replied much before..Any
friend of Jessi's is definitely on my menu to email back..She is
wonderful...!!! Yes, that answers your question if I am her
friend...lol It is good to hear from you...Hope you enjoyed your
stay in Florida and had a warm welcome. If not, come back and stop
in Tallahassee...One day , hopefully jess can make it here....Take
her for some good cappuchino and "smut " reading....
:) Later.....email
back if you have time. ----------
Subj: Re: Austin Poets
at Large #36
Date: 98-07-13 04:42:46
EDT
From: tedslade_at_kingsave.demon.co.uk
(Ted Slade)
Reply-to: tedslade_at_kingsave.demon.co.uk
To: Stazja_at_aol.com
Hi Stazja
Apropos your theme this
week, do you know about this London
organisation?
SURVIVORS' POETRY
"promoting
poetry by survivors of mental distress"
Diorama Arts
Centre, 34 Osnaburgh Street, London NW1 3ND
I picked up on them
during my trawl for information for The Poetry Kit.
Don't know too much
except that they publish poetry by people surviving
mental illness (latest
is "Out of Bedlam" - an anthology edited by
Matthew Sweeney and Ken
Smith) and organise readings around the country.
All the best
Ted Slade
http://www.poetrykit.org/
Subj: Re: Austin Poets
at Large #36
Date: 98-07-13 04:31:33
EDT
From: Janhouston
To: Stazja
In a message dated
98-07-13 01:22:24 EDT, you write:
<<
My birthday is coming
up, July 24th. Fifty trips around the sun. Do I get frequent flyer
bonus? A gold sun dial? I share this birth date with my soon-to-be 18
year old son, Mike', the best birthday present I ever got. Just
wanted you all to know.
>>
*******
Happy Happy in advance,
dear fellow 50's good-looker !
July is my big family
birthday month too, with hubby Guy on 26th and first-born Dana
(turning 30 !!) July
30th.
How old is your
daughter ?
Ml, Jan
Subj: Re: Austin Poets
at Large #36
Date: 98-07-13 06:45:09
EDT
From: TigerIily
To: Stazja
morning staz ..
just a quick note ...
very full newsletter ... and you got it done! am sure it will get a
great response ... intense theme ... good stuff...
have a great one...
lily*
Subj: Re: Austin Poets
at Large #36
Date: 98-07-13 01:34:47
EDT
From: cq_at_offworlds.com
(offworlds.com)
To: Stazja_at_aol.com
(Stazja McFadyen)
>Hello Poets and
Poetesses,
>
>My birthday is
coming up, July 24th. Fifty trips around the sun. Do I get
>frequent flyer
bonus? A gold sun dial? I share this birth date with my soon-
>to-be 18 year old
son, Mike', the best birthday present I ever got. Just
>wanted you all to
know.
Happy birthday to you
and your son. ;)
Christopher Quinn
Subj: RE: Austin Poets
at Large #36
Date: 98-07-13 02:05:24
EDT
From: larry_at_jaffe2.com
(larry jaffe)
To: Stazja_at_aol.com
this is a great issue
staz.. i especially like sara's poem.. it is mega
terrifc...
ml,
me*
staz,
Fantastic plug for CCHR
and the Psychiatry Manipulating Creativity ! Your background with
homeless youth made an impressive intro.
And the poems this
week are KILLER ! Heavy -duty newsletter !! You might want to pass
on appropriate sections to CCHR Int, Boz and Jane Allen. I have email
addresses if you need.
I didn't know L.D. had
a book !
ML,
Jan
Subj: Re: Austin Poets
at Large #36
Date: 98-07-13 11:45:12
EDT
From: Nuyopoman
To: Stazja
Happsky Burrsky!
Other 50's this year:
me (Bob Holman) and Sekou Sundiata and Marc Levin (who directed
SLAM).
It's a great view.
Thanks for keeping me
up w/ the Austin scene.
CU at National Slam!
elBoHo
Subj: Re: Austin Poets
at Large #36
Date: 98-07-13 12:00:26
EDT
From: tedslade_at_kingsave.demon.co.uk
(Ted Slade)
Reply-to: tedslade_at_kingsave.demon.co.uk
To: Stazja_at_aol.com
Hi StazjaGood to know
somebody takes notice of my stuff!
best
Ted
> I've gotten
responses
> from Dublin and
elsewhere in the UK, resulting from Poetry Kit's inclusion of
Subj: RE: Austin Poets
at Large #36
Date: 98-07-13 12:37:33
EDT
From: bautista_at_bcm.tmc.edu
(Marilyn Bautista)
To: Stazja_at_aol.com
('Stazja_at_aol.com')
Hi,
Just wanted to let you
know I turn 50 this month and have a daughter
and son whose birthdays
are the day before. Isn't life grand ?
Marilyn Bautista
Subj: Re:
Date: 98-07-13 16:05:13
EDT
From: oldfrank_at_juno.com
(jimmy smith)
To: Stazja_at_aol.com
I do have a white silk
Yamaka with Kenig&Harmony Glubin, printed in pink
letters, from when they
got married, my wife was jewish from the fairfax
district of hollywood,
till I took her to church with me one time and
found out she had been
a closet christian all the time (she still makes
the worlds finest
chopped chicken liver) and at passover I usually go to
Davids house and eat
lots of food whenever people finally get there...
these guys pull the car
over and park when the sun goes down so sometimes
it takes them awhile to
finish walking over.. most of them were officers
in the isreali army and
have many interesting war stories to tell, also
some of them have
imigrated from russia and a group of olympic wrestlers
show up and each make
thier favorite dish, ploaf and stuff I can't even
pronounce but have no
trouble eating, I'm the token goy at these
occasions but nobody
seems to mind and everybody is willing to teach me
jewish,
a priest and a rabbi
were talking one day and the priest says "hey, it's
kinda chilly, let's
walk over to my church and talk some more"
the rabbi says "OK"
and they walk over to the church.
when they get inside an
alter boy holding some kind of holy pole walks
by, and the priest
leans over to the rabbi and says
"I sure would like
to screw Him.."
and the rabbi says
"Outta what?"
oh well, good taste
will never be my downfall,
love you mucho, and got
the newsletter today, great topic and great
choices for the poems.
(but you didn't run my stunning peice about the
ice skating squirrell,
harumph)
take care
jimmy
Subj: Re: announce re
slam volunteer meeting
Date: 98-07-15 09:41:04
EDT
From: drfleming_at_hotmail.com
(Diane Fleming)
To: Stazja_at_aol.com
Stazja,
Well, show me what you
want to use. I don't know if I want to belabor
all this. Let me think
about it.
Diane
Subj: Re: Austin Poets
at Large
Date: 98-07-16 06:33:49
EDT
From: gemartt_at_mail.utexas.edu
Reply-to: gemartt_at_mail.utexas.edu
To: Stazja_at_aol.com
Stazja the Poetess
wrote:
> Hello Poets and
Poetesses,
>
> My birthday is
coming up, July 24th. Fifty trips around the sun. Do I get
> frequent flyer
bonus? A gold sun dial? I share this birth date with my soon-
> to-be 18 year old
son, Mike', the best birthday present I ever got. Just
> wanted you all to
know.
>
Happy Birthday, Stazja!
I hope it is the best ever!
Thanks for your
continuing newsletters - they are an excellent service to our
community. Thank you
also for the recent edition (#36) which included the poem by
Opie Houston.
Could you include the
following announcement in your next newsletter?
The Past Poetry Project
will read "20 Sonnets" (featuring Shakespeare, Donne,
Browning, Rossetti,
Yeats, Frost, Millay, Neruda, and others). This free reading
will be on Saturday,
July 25th, a 2pm, at the Windsor Village Branch Library, 5851
Berkman Drive. For
directions, please call 928-0333.
Thanks!
Gary
Subj: poetry
Date: 98-07-16 11:36:46
EDT
From: nancy.dembowski_at_utoronto.ca
(Nancy Dembowski)
Reply-to: nancy.dembowski_at_utoronto.ca
To: Stazja_at_aol.com
Dear Stazja,
Thanks so much for your
email mag. It's wonderful. You asked for a poem about mental
illness so I'm
sending this one along
though it looks as though you already published this issue I don't
know if your
keeping up the subject.
Living With Shirley in
Georgetown
Turbaned guy keeping
guard outside that Indian dive,
bubble gum hymns
sailing in through drapeless windows, care of Winstons,
and some kid still
sleeping in the basement when we moved in,
but we were lucky to be
living in Georgetown.
She was dancing at the
Good Guys, turning tricks on the side.
I worked a respectable
lie.
Still wonder how it was
she could foretell that night,
speaking in the low
light of some middle class cafe,
of her friend and how
that happens sometimes.
Must have been her
pricey shrink. Had that fancy palace on the M Street side.
Kept a teenage junkie
girlfriend always bringing home other men.
Invited us to porno
parties and she went.
Lots of people coming
through our doors those days,
although Andrea was the
only one who stayed,
with his androgynous
ways and hopes of getting laid.
About the time I took
up, with that sage I'd picked up,
I began to stay up all
night long.
Used to pull my hair
and watch her bare upon the stage.
And then Walt lying on
the couch for three whole days,
with his magic mirror
and his fifty dollar straw,
eating all those boxes
of my Christmas candy.
I suppose, that didn't
help.
Those friends of Andy
Williams', we met at the Four Seasons.
Sent their limosine.
Where we'd change our hose,
gossip long distance on
their car phones, always ringing off the wall for her.
Making dates, and
breaking dates, and they somehow thinking it was my fault,
when she didn't make
them. But then I did go that one time.
Joined a Latin business
man in his room at the Sheraton.
Afterward, hanging out
in the lounge, bartender took me for a pro the way I acted.
But when we went to
celebrate, I no longer liked to eat.
Lived on aloe vera
juice and multi-minerals from the Herbal Life girl.
Doc bring me to sex
nights at that Eighteenth Street bar,
big fat women squirting
breast milk into jars,
little ugly guy with
the scar, wanted to make me in the toilet.
Shirley swapping spit
with waiter worked on Connecticut.
Lucky I met with God.
Shared his secrets.
Took me on a shopping spree.
Brought me all those
ugly dresses and a used car.
Shirley asking what was
wrong with me. Why I didn't like her anymore.
Crying on her bed,
saying she never wanted sex with all those men.
I took Lithium.
Checked myself in.
Andrea claimed he was
my kin, let him in to see me at the hospital.
Brought me some of his
balloon dolls.
Although in the end, he
wasn't a friend at all.
And she called. Gave
me back the key,
and that was it for
Georgetown Shirley and me.
This poem's been
published in Word up
Spoken Word Poetry in
Print
Edited by Jill Battson
and Ken Norris - Key Porter Books
It was also performed
by Lisa Ryder in Put Me Away produced by Bald Ego.
I retain copy right so
you can publish it and you don't have to mention either of these if
you decide to
print it.
I was wondering if
you've had a chance to book a reading for me in Austin between July
31st and
August 7th (of course
arriving and leaving dates probably aren't a good idea). I think
Laura - my
girlfriend that I'm
visiting - wants us to go some place for the week-end. I gave her
your number - I
hope you don't mind -
because she's got to make plans around the reading date. Anyway,
it's great to
see someone working so
hard at promoting poetry and it is fantastic that so much of the word
is getting
out in Austin. How
long has this been going on there? In Toronto there are a lot of
readings but say
five or six years ago
there were only two series. Thanks for all your help. I would say I
would send
you my book but I seem
to be so busy that I have not even mailed it to my family yet, so if
I don't get
around to it I'll give
you a copy when I meet you in Austin. Take care nancy dembowski
Subj: Re: Austin Poets
at Large #36
Date: 98-08-01 18:31:40
EDT
From: cemgilbert_at_earthlink.net
(Christine Gilbert)
Reply-to: cemgilbert_at_earthlink.net
To: Stazja_at_aol.com
Thanks.
Here's the press
release.
Texas Nafas Poetry Show
Release:
Texas Nafas, the poetry
show produced by Farid Mohammadi, Christine
Gilbert, and Laura
Baker continues running strong on Cable Channel 10,
Sundays at 9 p.m. The
show being aired August 9, 16, 23, and 30 is a
special on slam
poetry--competitive performance poetry--featuring Taylor
Mali, a national slam
winner and great talent, and Marc Smith of
Chicago, the founder of
slam poetry, as well as several other
outstanding slam poets.
This slam poetry special is in coordination
with the 1998 National
Poetry Slam to be held in Austin from August
19-22--the 9th annual
national poetry slam. Big names attending the slam
include Marc Smith;
Patricia Smith, four time national slam winner from
Boston; Danny Solis of
Albequerque, Ellen Maybe of Southern California,
and a host of others.
For more about the National Slam venues, schedule
of bouts, day events,
late night events, etc., see the web site at
"http://slam.home.texas.net/98Nationals/welcome.htm".
Also watch for two
Texas Nafas one-hour
specials that will be aired at odd late hours on
Cable Channel 10,
called "Un-Cut," featuring energetic venues at
Waterloo Ice House
during the 1998 Austin International Poetry Festival.
cemgilbert_at_earthlink.net