Good Monday, all you
resident and honorary-Austinite poets.
Weather report: Slam is
still in the air.
See special section
following announcements.
Let us ponder these
words from 1996 National Haiku master Aaron Yamaguchi:
New Community.
An experience in time
learn, live, pass it
on.
© March 1997 a.
yamaguchi
Table of Contents:
APAL Poets Guide
Featured Poetry
Chapbooks
Announcements
National Poetry Slam
afteraddition
APAL Poets Guide
All events are free
unless otherwise noted. Some venues practice tip collection (not to
be confused with cow tipping) for featured poets.
1. Tuesday, September
1 - Ruta Maya Coffee House, 4th and Lavaca. APAL open mic, sign up at
6:30 pm. Sara Sutterfield Winn and Maslow co-host. This week's
featured poet: John Hawk. fmi e maslow_at_flash.net
2. Tuesday, September
1 - Electric Lounge, 302 Bowie. Slam, this week, every week, $50 to
the winner. $2. Admission. Ernie Cline hosts. Sign up by 8:30 pm.
fmi call 476-FUSE.
3. Wednesday, September
2 - Movements Gallery 211 E. 6th St. BYOB: Blast Your Own
Breath.Tammy Gomez hosts, 9-10:30pm. fmi
tejana.tongue_at_mail.utexas.edu
4. Friday, September 4
- Casa de Luz, 1701 Toomey Rd. (last right before Barton Springs
going south on Lamar.) 7:45 pm. Cosmic Intuition Productions presents
International Music Extravaganza benefit. The wonderful gospel sounds
of Warrior, featuring The Rev. Sterling L. Lands. Latin rhythms and
songs from Rey Arteaga, native flute of Dr. Mario Garza. Brazilian
percussion wizard Conthino and more. Hosted by M.C. poetess Stazja
McFadyen and another tba. Requested donation $7 (or $4 if you come
early for dinner, 6-8 pm Casa de Luz offers a complete organic/vegan
dinner for $8 fixed price). fmi contact Rashah at Cosmic Intuition
Productions, (512) 604-4405 or Casa de Luz - 476-2535.
5. Friday, September 4
- Mojo's Daily Grind, 2714 Guadalupe. First Fridays, open mic, hosted
by Marie Fleishmann. 8-10 pm. 477-MOJO
6. Saturday, September
5 - Saturday Night Live Poetry at Quackenbush's Coffee House, 2120
Gaudalupe. Back in the evening time slot, APAL open mic sign up at
7:30 pm. Featured: Ariel, publisher of Samurai Poets. Diane Fleming
hosts. fmi buddydog_at_texas.net
7. Saturday, September
5 - Casa de Luz, 1701 Toomey Rd. (last right before Barton Springs
going south on Lamar.) 7:45 pm. Cosmic Intuition Productions presents
International Music Extravaganza benefit. Back by popular demand, the
tantalizing music of Indian multi-instrumentalist Oliver Rajamani,
Madacascan music from ethnomusicologist Ron Emoff, steel drum
explorations of C.J. Menge, improvisational sounds from Cosmic
Intuition, Puerto Rican percussionist Mello and more. Hosted by
dynamic M.C. poets John Cutia and Thom the World Poet. Requested
donation $7 (or $4 if you come early for dinner, 6-8 pm Casa de Luz
offers a complete organic/vegan dinner for $8 fixed price). fmi
contact Rashah at Cosmic Intuition Productions, (512) 604-4405 or
Casa de Luz - 476-2535.
8. Tuesday, September
8 - Ruta Maya Coffee House, 4th & Lavaca. APAL open mic, sign up
at 6:30. Featured poet: Stazja. Co-hosted by Sara Sutterfield Winn
and Maslow. fmi, e mail maslow_at_flash.net.
9. Tuesay, September 8
- Electric Lounge, 302 Bowie. Slam, this week, every week, $50 to
the winner. $2. Admission. Sonya Feher hosts. Sign up by 8:30 pm.
fmi call 476-FUSE.
10. Wednesday,
September 9 - Movements Gallery 211 E. 6th St. BYOB: Blast Your Own
Breath.Tammy Gomez hosts, 9-10:30 p.m. for more information contact
tejana.tongue_at_mail.utexas.edu
11. Thursday, September
10 - Barnes & Noble Arboretum. Hosted by Herman Nelson. Guests
are John Berry, Stazja McFadyen and Preston Tyree. A round robin open
mic will follow. 7:30-10 p.m. fmi call 837-8693 or 928-0619
12. Saturday, September
12 - Saturday Night Live Poetry at Quackenbush's Coffee House, 2120
Guadalupe. APAL open mic, sign up at 7:30 pm. Hosted by Diane
Fleming. Featured poet: Richard Cole, author of Success Stories. fmi
contact buddydog_at_texas.net.
Featured Poetry where
poets from around the globe, or my own neighborhood, share their
poetry on weekly themes.
This week's theme:
Smiles
Next week's theme
(Issue 44) : Work
Following week's theme
(Issue 45): Childhood Memories Part 1
Okay, are y'all ready?
Here's the poetry.
****************************************
1. From Shana of
Cockney Rebel in St. Pete, Florida
CHILD THERAPY
Take two little kids
and call me from mourning
Two spoonfuls of
giddiness and laughter
It spills from my chest
before I remember
Responsibility.
Take two ice cream
cones and eat on a hot afternoon
A prescription for
comfort and messiness
It drips from our
mouths before I remember
Propriety.
Take two long balloons
and one circus mime
A medicine of wonder
and smiles
It opens my face wide
before I remember
Maturity.
© 1998 Shana
2. From John Wilder of
Austin
Watching Louie
I wanted to grow up
the happiest man ever
lived,
Just like Louie
Armstrong
on the Ed Sullivan
show,
singing to me.
I was maybe eight,
living on Summit
Street,
blotting his lined
forehead slowly
With that white
handkerchief. Smiling,
Singing, that warm
Southern gravel.
Smiling and smiling,
his wide teeth
Beaming so bright
against his
Old roun’ Blackness.
God’s very own face!
And that Voice! And
horn! Smiling, sweating, calling up
Every beautiful voice
ever sung. Calling it
Up like some great
Black Angel, to prove that
Love still lives, Love
smiles like just that
and blows a trumpet.
3. From The Dichotomoy
of Structure and Randomness, B. J. Henry's chapbook, for sale at Ruta
Maya on Tuesday.
A Further Analysis
I sat beside the
water's edge and told
the trees my tales of
misery. Yet I beheld
the silence still as
wind spoke
not a word I
understood. About my hands
the dirt was soft and
softer still the grass.
My head against the
bark I shut my eyes
and listened to the
warbler sing. About
me there another world
had all but disappeared.
I spent that day as
though I should and left
behind the time I had
and smiled along the path.
4. From Carlyn Luke
Reding of Austin:
smiles of sunflowers
***************************************
cresthaven's seeds of
summer
hear
encouragement
and prayers for rain
store
history
drought
searing
heat
neighbors' smiles
and rainbows
assimilate all and
measure to please
design
next year's
sunflowers
Chapbooks
chap*book (noun) First
appeared 1798 : a small book containing ballads, poems, tales, or
tracts
Beginning Tuesday,
September 1, a chapbook table is being set up at the Ruta Maya APAL
open mic. APAL hosts Sara Sutterfield Winn and Mark Maslow offer this
service to anyone with chapbooks (and spoken word cd's and
cassettes). Have your wares priced. Maslow tells me it's expected to
start off small, so each poet should limit the number of books/cd's
to, oh, let's just arbitrarily say 5.
1. "August 1998"
by Thom the World Poet. $5. 24 New Poems, 30 pages. All new poems
written this August. Contact Thom at (512)416-7435.
2. "Jewish
Soulfood: Tales of My Family in Story & Verse" by Larry
Jaffe. $10. 32 poems, 56 pages. Available in So. Cal and Austin, e
mail larry_at_lgjaffe.com or stazja_at_aol.com.
3. New offerings from
The Poet's Tree Press:::::::
Each book is $7 or you
can buy them as a set for $12
For ordering
information e-mail CVannoy_at_aol.com
Into The Storm
by Chris Vannoy
From San Diego,
California to St. Petersburg, Florida this collection of poems cross
the continent. Poignant snapshots of relationships with a dash of
Beat. They both combine to be a whisper within a shout.
The Unwinding
by C. Passmore
This book reflects the
changing of seasons and the changes that come when life moves through
the turbulent times of a woman’s life. It shows how parents and
children view different sides of life and how, when the roles are
reversed, the other side of the storm is seen from a different view.
Announcements
1. The Austin
International Poetry Festival board of directors will meet at 7:00
p.m. on September 3, 1998, at the Cepeda Branch Library. Call
499-7372 for directions. Members and volunteers, as well as anyone
with ideas and energy, may attend this meeting.
Frank Pool, Chairman
AIPF, 1999.
2. BOWERBIRD: dear
performance poets-you're invited to come and perform at
***** nap jam two
*****the north american poetry jam, a 4-night explosion of
performance poetry. unlike slam, where the central focus is
competition, jam has _cooperation_ as its organizing principle. jam
is a performance poetry showcase,
a videoshoot, and a big
party, all rolled into one. the next jam is from september 21-25,
1998, at the "plaza" hotel, in downtown las vegas.
if you're planning on
being there to perform, register now for $75, instead of $100
on-site. this registration fee gets you a jammer jersey, one or more
performance opportunities at jam, and a copy of the videotape
containing your performance, among other things. and if you're going
to be flying to las vegas, it's time to make those plane
reservations, so you can get the 21-day-advance rate. call the cool
travel agents at 1.800.287.9868 and let them show you how cheap it
can be. you can use your credit card to pay for jam. call
"lovehorse cowbell" at 1.888.bald.wild to do that. for an
online version of the jam "manual", which contains all the
info you'll need, visit <http://users.aol.com/bowerbird>.
because of the las vegas location, we've got a great rate of $40 per
room, double occupancy, so that's just $20 per person per night, $80
for all 4 nights.
Bowerbird_at_aol.com
3. THANKS, Stazja! I
love hanging around with you poets. (Dontcha just love it when
somebody says "you poets/singers/songwriters/Venutians/etc."
LOL) It's really opening up the world...thanks for the inspiration.
Your buddy
Shana :-)
XOXOXOX
4. Hi Staza!
Greetings from the
other side of the Gulf! I'm enclosing 2 poems ( for #44 Work ).
I'm not sure if they're
what you're looking for but....enjoy them anyway :) . Thanks for
all the news!!! Cynthia Passmore
5. Visit IXION, a new
fine arts/literature quarterly published in England. There is no
log-on charge and no fees required. No log-on registration. They can
be found at
www.btinternet.com/~ixionmag
Many thanks indeed,
Martin Booth
6. Kathryn Gann needs a
poem. Please read below; if you have or want to write an appropriate
piece, e mail it to me for relay.
"Stazja: Here
are slightly edited quotes from a new Guide Dog user (not my
daughter):
"My dog is
wonderful, but the people aren't. They tease, shout 'Bad dog!' and
give commands. I have made cards to hand out when I don't feel I
have time to educate the public, and find that people are receptive
and find it easier to ask other questions when the basic ones are
already answered. My card says--
"My dog sees and I
direct. We work as a team. She takes me around obstacles, and
stops for curbs and steps. I give direction, listen for traffic
flow, and determine when it is safe to cross streets. Please do not
pet, feed, or distract my dog as your actions could endanger our
safety. Thank you."
"There is much
more to her e-mail but the above is the kernel of the need.
"We are looking
for good humored, short poems that embody the request to let the dog
work undisturbed. Your help and your contacts will be much
appreciated."
K. L. Gann
7. From Carol Koss in
OKC
Art - at its best - is
transformational and redemptive. Artists of a Different Caliber is a
non-profit exhibition that will bring guns to Oklahoma City - Guns
transformed by the visions of metalsmiths into catalysts for
non-violence. These artists come armed with talent, courage, and
commitment.("And they shall beat their swords into
ploughshares.")
Opening
Friday - September 11th
5 to 8 P.M.
at IAO
One North Hudson
(Sheridan and Hudson)
8. From Walker: Check
out Fantastic Apple. Very interesting printed 'zine by 2 women age
24/25, both vegetarians. Seeking submissions, poetry,etc.
http://members.aol.com/FantstcApl/index.html
9. GULF COAST
PUBLISHING COLONY (12/27/98-1/3/99): Call for Entry. Ten
selected writers to
join poet/editors, Susan Bright and Margo LaGattuta, for 7-day
intensive, collaborative publishing colony on beautiful Texas Gulf
coast resulting in publication of the 17th Plain View Press New
Voices Series anthology, a national showcase for American writers and
issue-based literary work. Send 15-20 pages by Nov 15: Plain View
Press, P.O. 33311, Austin, TX 78764. Inquiries: Susan Bright,
512-441-2452
(sbpvp_at_eden.com), Margo LaGattuta, 810-693-7344
(lagapvp_at_aol.com.)
Follow New Voices Series link:
http://www.eden.com/~sbpvp.
Reading Fee: $10.
10. From Ted Slade:
A major update of The
Poetry Kit is now on-line at
http://www.poetrykit.org/
After agreement with
Matthew Revell and Eric Goldwsorthy, The Poetry Kit now incorporates
Poetry Update, which recently ceased publication. Features carried
over from that e-zine include:
"Whos Who in
Poetry. Are you listed? Think you should be listed? Then visit
http://www.poetrykit.org/whoswho/who.htm and fill in the on-line
form" and much more.
National Poetry Slam
Afteraddition (cuz not everyone can do the aftermath)
1. Check out the
website of Guy LeCharles Gonzales, member of the championship
Nuyorican team: http://www.geocities.com/~loudpoet/news.htm
Guy writes: "...on
the a little bit louder Web site, as the launch date of September 8th
gets closer.
"In the meantime,
the Home page has been updated with a preview of the first month's
feature stories as well as a news piece on the 1998 National Poetry
Slam. (You'll have to excuse the New York-slant in the piece but,
hell, we won and, from the press I've seen so far, I'm the only one
that wants to focus on that fact!)"
2. From Roger
Bonair-Agard, coach for the 1998 NPS championship Nuyorican Poets:
i would like to thank
the entire slam family for a nationals well done. the amount of
positive energy i received over the course of the four days was
overwhelming. in addition i got to hear some extraordinary poetry,
not the least of which was performed in the parking lot of the super
8 motel on the nights after the semis and the finals. (thanks to
boogeyman, debbie from montreal, lynne & dot from nyc, reggie
from cleveland, pat storm from knoxville, the entire greenville team
[thanks for the trash talk again, glenis], the kalamazzoo team,
garland thompson, dave snodgrass from cleveland, nadine from tribes,
and anybody else i might have forgotten). this sort of impromptu
sharing is the fever and the work that the national slam should all
be about. in the long run, poets have a greater responsibility than
all other artists, to not only pursue beauty, but to unveil truth,
rail against wrong and celebrate the beautiful and just. i am
heartened that so many poets appear to have taken up that mantle. i
am honored to be counted as one of you.
peace, luv & poetry
3. From Bob Holman:
Dash out now --
http://poetry.miningco.com
Get the word on "Slam
Blows Up as it Grows Up" by Bob Holman
with plenty of links
and poems to "make yr day"....
4. From Sean Shea:
This is Sean Shea
saying hello from my last night in Austin Sunday morning I am
traveling up to Grand Rapids, MI to visit my folks. I'd like to thank
all the Austinoids for their help even after the exhaustion of the
nationals. Fine town. Better people.
The goodwill I have
encountered in this Nation as a whole has rekindled my
patriotism at a time
when most are loosing theirs. For this I owe you all. I received some
wonderful notes on Trabajo the poetry Van. Thank you all.
In the future my email
address will be <sshe7322_at_postoffice.uri.edu> because of a
university change though the old one will work for awhile as well.
Again thank you all for
a chance to enlighten myself while entertaining y'all
PS-If anyone in Austin
wants to buy an '82 Ford Van (with a blown Head gasket) as well as
fridge stove sink bed ect. Let me know via email. I think I might
have one available, cheap. Lord knows It's been nothing but good luck
to me. (besides I'd like to keep it in the slam family)
5. Stazja!
Enjoyed the SLAM
finals! Even Cathy had fun! Please pass on to Mike and
Phil and Genevieve et
al my congrats. They did a great job.
Randy Lusk
6. Then there were
Associated Press stories, by Hillel Italie, available from AOL news.
Texas Holds National Poetry Slam and
Ex-Columnist Joins
Poetry Slam
If you haven't read
these stories, e mail me. I'll forward them to you.
7. Thanks and big hugz
to Mike Henry, Phil West, Electric Lounge staff and all the local
slam family for the Farewell to Genevieve/NPS volunteer/Austin Slam
Team cd release party Sunday night.
Exclusive from
Genevieve Van Cleve on the eve of her leaving:
"Slam is stronger
than any individual. I am so proud to be a part of this art form, and
humble, and I thank God that I found it, 'cause if I hadn't, I'd
still be an oil and gas lobbyist and nobody needs those (bleep)."
Exclusive from 1998
Austin slam team member Princess Karyna:
"If you are
looking for material, the best place to go is the dumpster out behind
Radio Shack. They've got some cool s*** back there." Asked
which Radio Shack, Princess K, stunning in sleeveless black cocktail
dress, rolled expressive eyes and said, "Any of them."
Have a prolific week.
Anyone wanting off the mailing list, e mail.
The End
Much love,
Stazja