Hello, Poets!
Welcome to new
subscribers including Faulkner Fox's UT students, Ebony poets, slam
family, and Maybelle out thar in Bastrop who cain't spel but bought
'er a Dell pentium puter with the lottery millions that only a
certain type rural folk seems to win. (No, Maybelle, that is NOT a
coffee cup holder, it's a CD tray).
Table of Contents:
1. APAL Poets Guide
2. Featured Poetry
3. Books/Chapbooks/CD's
4. Announcements
5. Slam family stuff
APAL Poets Guide:
All events free unless
otherwise noted. Some venues pass the tip jar for featured poets.
1. Tuesday, September
8 - Ruta Maya Coffee House, 4th & Lavaca. APAL open mic, sign up
at 6:30. Featured poet: Stazja releasing new chapbook Dream Songs.
Co-hosted by Sara Sutterfield Winn and Maslow. fmi, e mail
maslow_at_flash.net.
2. 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.
3. 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
4. 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
5. 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.
6. Sunday, September 13
- Sunday Salon at E. 13th Heritage House. DiverseArts Little Gallery,
5 p.m. 810 E. 13th. Scenes from BILLY, a musical play that tells the
story of four energetic African American singers whose group,
the Lost Chords, is scheduled to tour the nation alongside
popular 1950s musicians such as Billy Eckstine. For more information
contact Bennedene Walton at 479-8735
7. Monday, September
14 - Patio of Jovita's Restaurant, 1619 S. First St. Red Salmon Arts
continues hosting its on-going poetry series, "Southside Poetic
Action Series". Open mike reading from 7:30 - 9:30 pm. fmi
contact Resistencia Bookstore, 416-8885.
8. Tuesday, September
15 - Ruta Maya Coffee House, 4th and Lavaca. APAL open mike. Sign up
at 6:30 pm. Co-hosts: Sara Sutterfield Winn and Maslow. Featured
poet: Stazja. fmi e-mail maslow_at_flash.net
9. Tuesday, September
15 - Electric Lounge, 302 Bowie. Weekly Slam. Sign up around 8:30
p.m. I forget who's hosting this week, maybe Mike Henry, always worth
the $2 price of admission. Win $50. fmi call 476-FUSE.
10. Wednesday,
September 16 - Movements Gallery, 211 E. 6th St. BYOB: Blast Your
Own Breath.Tammy Gomez hosts, 9-10:30 p.m. open mic, i mean REALLY
open. fmi contact tejana.tongue_at_mail.utexas.edu
11. Thursday, September
17 - Barnes and Noble on the Drag, 2246 Guadalupe. 7 pm. Poet and
essayist Richard Cole reads and signs his new book, Success Stories.
fmi call 457-0581.
12. Thursday, September
17 - Ebony Sun Java House, 1209 E. 11th, Suite C.
East Side Black &
White Poetry hosted by Stazja McFadyen. Proud to feature Vicky
Charleston. APAL open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. fmi call 346-7773.
13. Saturday, September
19 - Saturday Night Live Poetry at Quacks, 2120 Guadalupe. APAL open
mic, sign-up at 7:30 pm. Co-hosted by Diane Fleming and Stazja
McFadyen. fmi contact buddydog_at_texas.net
14. Monday, September
21 - North American Poetry Jam 2 (Nap Jam) begins at the Plaza
Hotel, downtown Las Vegas, at the end of the FREMONT EXPERIENCE. 4
days of performance poetry. Jam is like slam, hold the competition.
fmi contact bowerbird_at_aol.com
Featured Poetry
Thanks to all who
generously offer their work for publication in the APAL newsletter.
This week's theme: Work
Next week's theme:
Childhood memories, part 1
1. From John Pruitt, of
Austin.
Workin' Man Blues
Words by John E. Pruitt
I've worked manpower
And daylabor too
Washed pots and pans
And not just a few
Worked humpin' on a
shovel
Diggin' ditches in the
dirt
Worked out in the
winter
An' I worked until it
hurt
I'm a workin' man
Yes I'm a workin' man
I do what I can with
whatever I got
'cause I'm a workin'
man
Now I've pulled wire
And I've pounded nails
I've drove eighteen
wheels
And I've hoisted sails
I've shoveled shit
And I've shoveled snow
I butchered hogs
‘Cause don't you know
I'm a workin' man
Yes I'm a workin' man
I do what I can with
whatever I got
'cause I'm a workin'
man
Now I got my pride
When it comes to gettin
by
Don't wear no necktie
I'm a blue collar guy
Got blue jeans and
boots
A hardhat and gloves
When it comes to hard
labor
Man, I can push and I
shove
Cause I'm a workin' man
Yes I'm a workin' man
I do what I can with
whatever I got
'cause I'm a workin'
man
Well I get up early
And I get back home
every night
And I do honest work
And my life is alright
I'm just like my Daddy
An nearly as tough
It's the old man that
showed me
That workin’ can get
rough
Cause I'm a workin' man
Yes I'm a workin' man
I do what I can with
whatever I got
'cause I'm a workin'
man
If the world goes to
hell
And things get really
bad
I sure won't worry
And I sure won't be sad
I'll just go out to the
woods
And put me up a shack
I'll plant me a little
garden
And I’ll never look
back
Cause I'm a workin' man
Yes I'm a workin' man
I do what I can with
whatever I got
'cause I'm a workin'
man
2. From Cynthia
Passmore of St. Petersburg, Florida
Last Call
They spilled words
across the pine bar
where she slung drinks
for tips,
the licorice apertif
and French Pernot
that sweetened her
morning coffee.
Saturated bar rags
seep stories of lost
lovers
and hopeful tomorrows.
Now hang to dry amidst
the sour fruit
soley purposed to
quench
the mouths of dreamers.
Long necked bottles
gleam liquid solace
safely harbored on
cramped shelves,
and she remembers
the taste of sweetness
at the bottom
and lifts her finger to
gently lick up
what still remains.
3. From spontaneous bob
of Oklahoma City.
SCISSORS AND GLUE
In 1992 I spent several
months
working as a poet
who was trying
to be a photographer.
However, after a few
years
and several career
changes
I am now a painter
pretending to be a
poet.
You see,
I've been working on
this collage...
Sort of a sepia-toned,
depressed artistic
thing.
A lot of dark spaces.
A lot of torn edges.
I'd show it to you,
but I haven't actually
glued anything together
yet.
(It's so much easier
to be respected
as an artist
when no one's
seen your work)
But,
to cut and paste
a life
into shreds
then back together
Eight and a half
by eleven inches
with no single inch
where it used to be...
Now that's a piece of
work.
To make it pretty,
painting the edges of
nightmares with
bright and gold
until anyone who sees
it
smiles and says
"What a
magnificent eye
for realism."
"Such an eye for
the world."
Real life
with adventures and
flowers.
Real life
with battlefields and
love scenes.
Real life
as seen on TV.
Sort of a sepia-toned,
depressed, artistic
thing.
Sort of a dark brown
heart.
God, doesn't it remind
you...
doesn't it...
Such an eye for the
truth.
Can't you feel it
staring?
Sort of a dark brown
eye.
Sort of a beautiful
tragedy.
doesn't it...
remind you
of...
something?
(You can read your own
meaning into the
piece...
That's always a better
story
than the one I could
tell...
cutting
and
pasting.)
4. And finally, from
Richard Cole's new book, Success Stories.Come hear Richard at Quack's
on Sept. 12, and/or Barnes and Noble on the Drag, Sept 17.
Elegy for an Ad
Department
When they finally
called us, we were nothing
if not relieved, even
giddy to report upstairs
on a cold day in
December, a Friday just before lunch --
the witching hour of
the week for layoffs.
For two years, our jobs
had felt like a car crash
in extreme slow motion,
the body skidding undeniably
out of control but
slowly and slow enough for us
to argue and deny, to
dream a little
as the road signs crept
for days past our windows,
slow enough to get out
and walk,
and why not? The doors
were always unlocked,
toward a final and
increasingly obvious
collision with business
reality.
We arrived at the
executive wing,
all padded carpet and
mahogany, with dark green ficus
and palm trees tended,
I knew, by silent workers
who moved through the
building on weekends,
watering and snipping
the brown tips.
They sent us to the
master boardroom --
dark paneling, a
teakwood table, plush drapes
and a marble credenza
overloaded with a chorus line
of expensively
manicured bonsai.
Our salaries compete
with this, I thought,
and I counted the room:
from fifty-five, now
seventeen of us left.
We assumed our places,
and Olga, our last, best secretary,
sat down beside me in a
wing-backed chair,
all five feet two
inches of her almost lost in the soft
Italian leather,
swinging her legs, quiet, grim.
At 11:50 sharp, our
manager John arrived
with four strangers in
dark suits from Human Resources.
"Christ," I
thought. "Does it take this many
to kill us?" Last
month they'd laid off Peter, the man
who 20 years ago had
built this department, a brilliant --
and that is the word --
corporate designer.
Then last week, John
called us together to tell us
he could tell us
nothing, that his own superior
was growing testy, that
he felt, he said, "naked in the wind,
dodging traffic."
So none of us were surprised
when he miserably
cleared his throat
and began talking
quickly
about the costs
of doing business. One
of the suits interrupted
and told us to remember
we hadn't made a profit
in 18 months (this,
after 18 years in the
black), and yes, we'll remember.
We should have worked
harder, smarter.
But we'll also remember
the hubris and pig-greed
of the men who rode
this company down
through a swarm of
screaming bodies
and golden executive
parachutes.
And let it be
remembered as well
that in our minor niche
of creating flyers
that wound up usually
in somebody's trash,
we did our job, I'd
like to think, as professionals,
though at that moment
we were only
children, very small,
listening as our
parents told us
we would have to leave
home forever.
This would be Frank's
third termination,
who had worked late
each day correcting the copy,
including my own, and
the third for Bob who was 54,
and the second for
Marie, with two sons
entering college and a
husband last year
laid off as well. They
sat frozen, their faces as if
carved. And I who,
incredibly,
had always felt above
these people, the closest
I had to friends,
simply because of the poetry
I hid in my desk, I
turned away,
and I remember how I
stared out across the frozen city
at a single, red
balloon far off.
gaining slowing over
the office buildings.
And as John told us,
his voice collapsing, that our busines
had failed, and as Olga
cried without shame,
I followed the balloon
as it wobbled and soared until
finally in the gray,
forgiving sky, it slipped
and disappeared.
© 1998 Richard
Cole
3. Books/Chapbooks/CD's
chap*book (noun) First
appeared 1798 : a small book containing ballads, poems, tales, or
tracts
(and from Carol Koss in
OKC) : Addenda to definition of 'chapbook' - it was so called because
it was hawked by 'chapmen' - or peddlers. The word 'chap' comes from
a ME and/or OE word meaning 'cheap.' - from large Random House
Dictionary
You are invited to
bring your books/chapbooks/anthologies to sell at Ruta Maya on
Tuesdays. For guidelines e-mail maslow_at_flash.net
1. Success Stories,
Limestone Books; Austin, Tx. Poetry and essays by Richard Cole.
$11.95. "Success Story is a great book, and I don't use the word
lightly. It's as new as Leaves of Grass was for its time. Richard
Cole has written about the corporation-run, downsizing world of today
as one who knows it from the inside. But this is only half of it --
there is the engrossing report of his adventures, anxieties, fears,
and -- wonderful to see in poetry these days -- tenderness and love.
The poems link to make a continuous action. The voice is unforced,
direct, surprising." --Louis Simpson, Pulitizer Prize Winner.
Available at Quack's on Sept. 12, Barnes & Noble, signing on Sept
17. or e mail the author at cole_at_GlobeSet.com.
2. Tina's Fine-Ass
Lingerie: The First Four Years of The Austin Poetry Slam Team.
CD recorded Live at the
Electric Lounge. Contains cuts by the Austin Slam Team members
1995-1998. OProduced by Wammo. $10. Available at the Electric Lounge.
e jacksabbath_at_yahoo.com or call 476-FUSE. Order multiple copies now,
while supplies last.
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. Austin Poets at
Large (APAL) is a not-for-profit group of poets come together to
promote the growth of poetry in Austin and provide a nurturing
atmosphere for poets and those who love poetry. APAL staff meetings
at 6:30 p.m. every Saturday at Quack's, 2120 Guadalupe, followed by
Saturday Night Live APAL open mike. Meetings are open to anyone
interested in participating. Looking for volunteers to do layouts and
printing. Salary is commensurate (or is that commiserate?) with
poet's pay. For more information call 458-3159 or e stazja_at_aol.com
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.
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. 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.
also
"Next to the Last
Word" the 15 collection of poetry by Susan Bright will be
released in Dec. of 1998. Reading schedule to follow. To arrange for
readings call: 441-2452.
4. From Ernest Slyman:
"Might wish to
stop by Reverie and post a note on your zine. It's free. Can also
affix a link back to your site. Reverie is an open forum devoted to
encouraging the creative writer. It affords a meeting place between
publishers of zines and writers new and established.
http://www.plexus.org/chalkboard/reverie/"
5. VonEnemy moves to
the Dead End Street!
COMPANY PRESS RELEASE
HOQUIAM, WA – August 26, 1998: Dead End Street Publications is
pleased to announce the signing of VonEnemy, the highly regarded Los
Angeles performance poet. His newest work, a collection with the
working title "Cacophonic Vibes," will be available in
early 1999.
6. " Hi Stazja,
sorry I
have not been in contact for a while, art and life, life and art,
work, party, you know how it is. I enjoy the newsletter, it makes me
feel connected to happy memories of Austin. I really hope to make
this years festival, I am trying hard to get some funding to get me
on that big bird to the land of poetry and music.
Yorkshire has had a
really bad summer. You want rain? we can send you lots and lots in
exchange for a little bit of sunshine.
Much love to you and
poets at large. Love Alex Krysinskixxx"
Slam Family Stuff
1. Y'all want to hear
some local good effects from the National Poetry Slam? On 5
occasions over the past two weeks, I've met or heard from people who
have come to hear the spoken word because of the 1998 NPS. The word
spreads.
2. "...I would
first like to thank Phil West, Mike Henry, Juliette Torrez and all
the Austinians who not only almost killed themselves putting on a
great nationals for us, but who also have showed monumental loads of
class before, during, and after the nationals. Thanks guys, you are,
were, and always will be tops in my
chap book..."
Daniel Ferri
3. Stazja,
Hello from Oklahoma!!!
Quick mention...The OKC
SLAM TEAM had a great time at Nationals!!!! We met wonderful people
and had 4 AMAZING days full of words!!!
Thanks to the ENTIRE
city of Austin, and the tireless efforts of everyone involved!!!
-spontaneous bob
4. Check out the
homepage of the 1998 National Poetry Slam at
http://slam.home.texas.net/98Nationals/welcome.htm
5. Other websites to
visit:
#1 1998 National Poetry
Slam Team New York member Guy LeCharles Gonzales'
"a little bit
louder" at http://www.geocities.com/~loudpoet/
featuring Guy's
article:
"NUYORICAN RULES!
Nuyorican Poets bring
home the 1998 National Poetry Slam Championship"
in which the #1 team
receives their rightful headline recognition omitted in the Time
Magazine article. (Reminder: that was the magazine naming A. Hitler
"Man of the Year" about 60 years ago.)
also check out The
Mining Company at http://poetry.tqn.com/mbody.htm
and Next... Magazine
online at http://members.aol.com/nextmag
6. Excerpt from Eve
Stern's letter in an ongoing discussion re group performance pieces:
"Performance
poetry is nothing less than an exchange of energy, that I for one
consider sacred. Don't tell me you've never felt the exchange from
audience to the stage, that wave of surprise from the left hand side,
that ripple of laughter from the back: it wafts up to us, we plug
into it, and then we send it back, and the exchange keeps going,
better than electricity. If you've never had that magic feeling, then
you're not a good performance poet, I'll be bold enough to say. And
if performance
poetry is an exchange
of energy, then why not feel that exchange and that
communion with another
artist, on the stage: why not share it with another poet? The only
reason I can think of, once again, is ego: you have to be willing to
share the limelight, you have to be willing to be less of you you you
to become a stronger we."
Eve Stern
Boston '97 Team
Coach, Ozarks '98 Team
All-Purpose Word
Goddess
Anyone wanting off the
mailing list, just send me a nice polite request by e mail.
"The pen is
mightier than the sword" ,,, (who originally said that,
anyway?)
Much love,
Stazja