Solid Quarter

Visit Trembling Pillow Press for poetry books, broadsides, chapbooks, and Solid Quarter Magazine.

Visit New Orleans Poetry Fest for the annual 4 day poetry festival directed by Bill Lavender and Megan Burns.

Megan Burns' Poeticsofbone&city project on Tumblr



Showing posts with label Poetry reading. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Poetry reading. Show all posts

Thursday, September 01, 2011

17 Poets! Fall 2011: Poetry in New Orleans Celebration


17 Poets! Presents its fall 2011 season celebration


Doors open early at 7:00 PM for viewing and discussion
"Magazines have come and gone, people have come and gone, and so much of what we were intensely into has become only a flickering memory."
-- Tom Dent
Thursday, September 1, 2011 at 7:00PM, the GOLD MINE SALOON and 17 Poets! Literary & Performance Series will host an OPEN DISCUSSION and EXHIBIT featuring dozens of "original" NEW ORLEANS LITERARY publications (books, magazines & other epherma) relating to the Crescent City's HISTORICAL contributions to ARTS & LETTERS.
Discussion Participants Include:  KALAMU YA SALAAM, LEE MEITZEN GRUE, DENNIS FORMENTO, DR. JERRY W. WARD, RODGER KAMENETZ, MONA LISA SALOY, JOHN CLARK, NANCY HARRIS, JOHN TRAVIS, RALPH ADAMO, BILL LAVENDER, NANCY DIXON, JIM CASS and many others from the New Orleans community.
This event will be followed by a poetry reading featuring GINA FERRARA (celebrating her b-day!) and OPEN MIC hosted by Jimmy Ross. 

Also, fresh off the presses: New Orleans' newest literary monthly newspaper: 

Entrepôt featuring articles by contributing editors Dr. Jerry Ward, Jr, Bill Lavender, John Sinclair, Dennis Formento, as well as book reviews by Megan Burns and essays from publisher Dave Brinks. For more info: www.tremblingpillowpress.com


---Some of the NEW ORLEANS RELATED PUBLICATIONS featured in this EXHIBIT will include:
NOLA (1840's)
CREOLE VOICES ed. by Edward Maceo Coleman, 1945; A Centennial Edition celebrating LES CENELLES, the first African-American anthology of poetry published in New Orleans in 1845, ed. by Armand Lanusse.
NOLA (1850's)

Mysteries of New Orleans by Baron Ludwig von Reizenstein, 1854-55.
NOLA (1870's)
Old Creole Days by George Washington Cable, 1879.
The New Orleans of Lafcadio Hearn featuring illustrated sketches from the Daily City Item.
NOLA (1880's)
Gombo Zhebes by Lafcadio Hearn, 1885.
Chita, A Memory of last Island by Lafcadio Hearn, 1888.
NOLA (1890's)
The Goodness of St. Rocque and Other Stories by Alice Dunbar, 1899.
The Grandissimes by George Washington Cable, 1899.
NOLA (1910's)
KRAZY KAT: The Comic Art of George Herriman, 1913.
NOLA (1920's)
Double Dealer, Issue 2; ed. by Julius Weis Friend and Basil Thompson, 1921.
NOLA (1930's)
Blues: A Bisexual Monthly ed. by Parker Tyler and Charles Henri Ford, 1933.
NOLA (1940's)
Iconograph, Issue 3 and Supplement; ed. by Kenneth L. Beaudoin, 1946.
NOLA (1950's)
Old French Quarter News ed. by Bruce Lippincott, 1950.
New Orleans Poetry Journal Press ed. by Maxine Cassin, various titles 1954-1982.
CLIMAX: A Creative Review in the Jazz Spirit, Issues 1 and 2; ed. by Robert Cass, 1955-56.
NOLA (1960's)
Outsider, Issues 1, 2, 3 and 4/5; ed. by John and Louise Webb, 1961-63, 1968-69.
A Touch of Recognition by Maxine Cassin, 1962.
Order and Chaos by Henry Miller, Loujon Press, 1966.
No Big Thing ed. by Eugene "Yictove" M. Turk, 1967.
The Free Southern Theater ed. by Tom Dent, Richard Schechner and Gilbert Moses, 1969.
NOLA EXPRESS ed. by Darlen Fife and Robert Head, 1969.
After Word Comes Weird by Darlene Fife and Robert Head, 1969.
Dancing by Al Young, 1969.
Groove, Bang, And Jive Around by Steve Cannon, 1969.
New Laurel Review founded by Alice Claudel and ed. by Lee Meitzen Grue, 1960's to present.
NOLA (1970's)
Insomnia or The Devil at Large by Henry Miller, Loujon Press, 1970.
Magnolia Street by Tom Dent, 1972.
The Black Collegian ed. by Kalamu ya Salaam, 1974.
nkombo, Issue 9; ed. by Kalamu ya Salaam and Tom Dent, 1974.
Why I Live in the Forest by James Nolan, 1974.
Barataria, Issues 1-4; ed. by Louis Gallo and Ralph Adamo, 1974.
Distaff: Forum for Southern Women ed. by Mary Gehman, 1975.
Sadness at the Private University by Ralph Adamo, 1977.
French Quarter Poems by Lee Meitzen Grue, 1979.
NOLA (1980's)
Southern Black Cultural Newsletter, Issue 1; ed. by Tom Dent, 1980.
What Moves Is Not the Wind by James Nolan, 1980.
Quilt, Issue 1; ed. by Al Young and Ishmael Reed, 1981.
Blue Lights and Other River Songs by Tom Dent, 1982.
Fell Swoop ed. by Joel Dailey, 1983 to present.
Songbook by Everette Maddox, 1982.
NIGHTSEASONS by Peter Cooley, 1983.
Charlemagne: A Song of Gestures by John Gery, 1983.
Exquisite Corpse ed. by Andrei Codrescu, 1987-2005.
Maple Leaf Rag Anthology ed. by John Travis, 1980 to present.
Autopsy by Kay Murphy, 1985.
BODY AND SOUL by Julie Kane, 1987.
Contours for Ritual by Martha McFerren, 1988.
A History of Women and New Orleans ed. by Mary Gehman and Nancy Ries, 1988.
Blue Print by Yictove, 1989.
The Ape Woman Story by Nancy Harris, 1989.

Portals Press ed. by John Travis, various titles, 1989 to present.
Mesechabe: A Journal of Surregionalism ed. by John Clark and Dennis Formento, 1980-90's.
NOLA (1990's)
Word Up: Black Poetry of the 80's from the Deep South ed. by Kalamu ya Salaam, 1990.
The Missing Jew by Rodger Kamenetz, 1992.
Magic City by Yusef Komunyakaa, 1992.
WOMEN IN CARS by Martha McFerren, 1992.
The Jew in the Lotus by Rodger Kamenetz, 1994.
Poet-Chief: The Native American Poetics of Waly Whitman and Pablo Neruda by James Nolan, 1994.
New Orleans Review: The Other South vol. 25, no.1-2; ed. by Ralph Adamo, 1995.
The Free People of Color of New Orleans: An Introduction by Mary Gehman, 1996.
New Orleans Review: An Other South vol. 21, no.2 ed. by Ralph Adamo, 1999.
Rogue Wave ed. by Beth McCormack, 1996-2004.
Southern Journey: A Return to the Civil Rights Movement by Tom Dent, 1997.
Trouble the Water: 250 Years of African American Poetry ed. by Jerry W. Ward, 1997.
All Saints: New and Selected Poems by Brenda Marie Osbey, 1997.
Ain't No Spring Chicken: Selected Poems by Ahmos Zu-Bolton, 1998.
360 Degrees, A Revolution of Black Poets ed. by Kalamu ya Salaam, 1998.
From a Bend in the River: 100 New Orleans Poets, ed. by Kalamu ya Salaam, 1998.
Belief Blues by Kay Murphy, 1998.
rogue embryo by Camille Martin, 1999.
I Am New Orleans and Other Poems by Marcus B. Christian; ed. by Rudolph Lewis and Amin Sharif, 1999.
Lower 48 by Joel Dailey, 1999.
Lavender Ink ed. by Bill Lavender, various titles, 1990's to present.
NOLA (2000's)
Frozen Embraces by Biljana Obradovic, bilingual, English and Serbian, 2000.
Fattening Frogs for Snakes by John Sinclair, 2002.

Another South: Experimental Writing in the South, ed. by Bill Lavender and Hank Lazer, 2002.
Pages from the Book of the Sun: New and Selected Poems by Niyi Osundare, 2002.
Rhythm & Booze by Julie Kane, 2003.
All Fires the Fire by Andy Young, 2003.
Words of Fire: An Anthology of the Dragon's Den Poetry Night, ed. by Heidi Peite, 2003.
The Altar of This Moment by beverly Rainbolt, 2003.
If Books Were Bricks by Jimmy Ross, 2003.
Jayne Mansfield's Dog by Alex Rawls, 2004.
YAWP: A Journal of Poetry & Art ed. by Dave Brinks, 2004 to present.
Appetite by Jean-Mark Sens,, 2004.
Red Beans And Ricely Yours: Poems by Mona Lisa Saloy, 2005.
Xavier Review vol. 25, no. 2; ed. by Richard Collins, 2005.
MEENA: A Bilingual Literary Magazine, Arabic and English, Issues 1-3; ed. by Andy Young and Khaled Hegazzi, 2005 to present.
New Orleans Review vol. 31, no. 2; ed. by Christopher Chambers, 2006.
Blind Visionz by Michael "Quess" Moore, 2006.
What Gets Into Us by Moira Crone, 2006.
Simpatico Press ed. by Daniel Kerwick, 2006 to present.
Solid Quarter ed. by Megan Burns, 2006 to present.
Geometry of the Heart by Valentine Pierce, 2007.
Roach Opera by Christian Champagne, 2007.
University of New Orleans Press, ed. by Bill Lavender, various titles, 2007 to present.
All Mothers Are Boats by Herbert Kearney, 2008.
aepoetics by Thaddeus Conti, 2008.
Memorial + Sight Lines by Megan Burns, 2008.
Constance, Issues 1-2; ed. by Patrick Strange and Eric Kiesewetter, 2006, 2008.
The Katrina Papers by Jerry W. Ward, 2008.
Olympia Street by Michael Ford, 2008
The Richard Wright Encyclopedia ed. by Jerry W. Ward and Robert J. Butler, 2008.
Spherical Woman: Collected Poems by Kysha Brown Robinson, 2009.
The Caveat Onus by Dave Brinks, 2009.
The Parade Goes On Without You by Andrea Boll, 2009.
TRANSFIXION by Bill Lavender, 2009.
My Name Is New Orleans: 40 Years of Poetry and Other Jazz by Arturo Pfister, 2009.
Slosh Models by Brett Evans, 2009.
Etheral Avalanche by Gina Ferrara, 2009.
The Loup Garou by Moose Jackson, 2009.
NOLA (2010's)
What Can't Be Lost ed. by Lee Barclay, 2010.
Unsolicited Poems by David Rowe, 2010.
Dorado, Issue 1; ed. by Peter Anderson, 2009 to present.
A Howling in the Wires ed. by Sam Jasper and Mark Folse, 2010.
According to the Drunken Elders of My Past by Geoff Munstermann, 2010.
Downtown by Lee Meitzen Grue, 2011.
SONG OF PRAISE: Homage To John Coltrane by John Sinclair, 2011.
The War of the Pews: A Personal Account of St. Augustine Church in New Orleans by Rev. Jerome G LeDoux, S.V.D., Margaret Media, 2011.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

This Thursday at 17 Poets!: David Rowe and Upcoming Artspill Show this weekend

Thursday: Nov. 11, 7:30 PM


David Rowe reading from his new book, Unsolicited Poems (Verna Press, 2010).


http://www.17poets.com/ for more info.

Unfinished Business by Nicole Peyrafitte



Also, this weekend Saturday, Nov. 13th, 6:00 PM



Art Spill: Disaster, Art, Activism, and Recovery

Opening November 13-November 20



17 Poets! Hosts a Poetry Reading for the opening reception

November 13, 6:00 PM



featuring poets Dave Brinks, Gina Ferrara, Bill Lavender, David Rowe, and Megan Burns


St. Claude Arts District in The Marigny

2822 St. Claude Avenue

6:00 PM

Wine and Water provided by the Gold Mine Saloon

Tea by Bayou Brew

visit: http://ethnographicterminalia.org/2010-new-orleans/art-spill

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

17 Poets! Literary & Performance Series: featuring poets CHRISTINE TRIMBO and PAGE 1NE.


This Thursday, October 28th at the Gold Mine Saloon, 17 Poets! features:

******* CHRISTINE TRIMBO *******

About the Poet, Christine Trimbo

Originally from Shakopee, Minnesota, Christine Trimbo also lived in New Orleans next to Edgar Degas' house on Esplanade for many years, and was a major poetic voice and regular participant at the infamous Dragon's Den's Thursday Night Madpoets Express. During her time in New Orleans, Trimbo was also a mainstay of the weekly New Orleans Poetry Forum poetry workshops along with other notable poets Paul Chasse, Gina Ferrara, David Rowe, Robert Menuet, and Kevin Johnson. Trimbo's poetic signtaure lay in the depth and detail of her extraordinary use of image underscored by intricate rhythms. Trimbo is also a huge fan of Sonic Youth and the Rebirth Brass Band.










************************ PAGE 1NE ************************

About the Poet, PAGE 1NE

PAGE 1NE is a New Orleans native, stand-up comedian, musician, poet, and gymnastic instructor. He has amazed audiences with his amazing acrobatic performances in the French Quarter, as well as for circuses, NBA half-times, festivals, and private venues around the world since 1983. Page 1ne was a 1997 winner at the Apollo and starred on the 2008 hit NBS series America's Got Talent. He is currently at work writing & recording his eight album and performing across the Gulf South.
As always, features are followed by an open mic hosted by Jimmy Ross. Sign-up 7:30PM, limited spots.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Thursday, October 21, 7:30 p.m.: BUD FAUST book release party



Thursday, October 21, 7:30 p.m.
BUD FAUST book release party, signing & reading of Great Moments in New Orleans History, Volume 2, Introduction by Douglas Brinkley (Levee Media 2010).

Our featured program will be followed by Open Mic hosted by Jimmy Ross.

Admission is free.

Bud Faust is a humorist and playwright from New Orleans, Louisiana. He is the author of Great Moments in New Orleans History (Volume 1) and has had several plays produced in and around the city, including one (Gettin’ Dirty with Guy Camaro) performed as part of the New Orleans Improv Festival and another (To Hell and Back, Somewhat) being a winner in Le Chat Noir’s 7th Annual New Play Festival.Beautiful Bastards, his critically acclaimed play about the founding of New Orleans, was likened by The Times-Picayune to “what it must have been like watching the Marx Brothers segue from vaudeville to Broadway comedies.”

Thursday, October 14, 2010

The Loup Garou Book Release at 17 Poets!

Thursday, October 14, 2010, 7:30 PM

17 Poets! Literary & Performance Series presents an evening with poet MOOSE JACKSON, book release party, signing & performance of The Loup Garou: A Lunar Cycle, a performance poem by Moose Jackson, Introduction by Kathy Randels (Lavender Ink, 2010).

Our featured program will be followed by Open Mic hosted by Jimmy Ross.

Admission is free.

What is a Loup Garou?

He is a wild and dangerous entity (some say a werewolf ) well anchored in the folk traditions of southern Louisiana. His story comes from France through Acadia down the Mississippi and numerous inland routes to Louisiana.
Here, in print for the first time, is the text of the critically acclaimed environmental performance that investigates the deep interconnections between land and culture in Louisiana. This compelling poem is part performance, part ritual, part howl to the world about the plight of southeast Louisiana and all the other places in the nation and the world facing environmental destruction from corporate development.

there’s an edge zone between
water and land
monster and man
love and lust; blood and rust
righteous anger and
blind carnal rage
that’s the territoire of the Loup Garou

on the savage bayou
the leeward side of the moon…

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Andrei Codrescu Reading and Book Signing at the Gold Mine Saturday





17 Poets! Literary & Performance Series presents an evening with poet ANDREI CODRESCU signing & reading from his new book The Poetry Lesson (Princeton) at the Gold Mine Saloon this coming Saturday at 7:00 p.m., September 25, 2010, admission is free.



The Poetry Lesson is pure Andrei Codrescu: irreverent, unconventional, brilliant, and always funny. Codrescu takes readers into the strange classroom and even stranger mind of a poet ... as he introduces his students to THE TOOLS OF POETRY (a list that includes a goatskin dream notebook, hypnosis, and cable TV) and THE TEN MUSES OF POETRY (mishearing, misunderstanding, mistranslating...), and assigns each student a tutelary "Ghost-Companion" poet... From arguing that Allen Ginsberg wasn't actually gay to telling about the time William Burroughs's funeral procession stopped at McDonald's, The Poetry Lesson is a thoroughly entertaining portrait of an inimitable poet, teacher, and storyteller.

Andrei Codrescu is an award-winning poet, novelist, essayist, and NPR commentator. He edits the online journal Exquisite Corpse and taught literature and creative writing at Louisiana State University for twenty-five years before retiring in 2009 as the MacCurdy Distinguished Professor of English. His recent work includes The Poetry Lesson (Princeton), The Posthuman Dada Guide (Princeton), and a collaborative book of poesy with Ruxandra Cesereanu Forgiven Submarine (Black Widow Press).



Tuesday, September 14, 2010

17 Poets! Reading Series Resumes on Sept. 16th

17 Poets! Literary & Performance Series is excited to be back at the Gold Mine Saloon after a brief summer hiatus. So much to celebrate in these coming weeks and months, but first...

We engage in a passionate, soulful night of sincerity and expression to honor & bless the Gulf, its creatures, and its peoples!

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 7:00 p.m.
"A CEREMONIAL COMMUNITY BLESSING for the GULF REGION" featuring: Works by contributing artists of The New Orleans Photo Alliance, A Drum Circle Ceremony (bring yours!) led by poet Dave Brinks, tasty morsels of Alligator-Crawfish JAMBALAYA for everyone; as well as word offerings by writers & social activists SUSAN PREVOST, NEELY SHUJA, JAMES NOLAN et al...followed by OPEN MIC hosted by Jimmy Ross.





Additionally, I invite everyone to join me in offering respects to one of the finest professional human beings I've ever known: New Orleans poet, brother and friend PAUL CHASSE (1966 - 2008) who left us so unexpectedly two years ago this week on Sept 12; and whose unprecedented bardic presence and strength of spirit shall forever reside within us as a undying source of inspiration, blissed and blessed!





(oil by Joshua Walsh)



Visit 17poets.com for more information about the series and the open mic.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Blake at NOMA, Ladyfest, Remembering Katrina at Tulane

NOMA's Book Club is doing a special William Blake reading this week.

Friday, 27th August, 11:30 - 1:00 p.m.
Special Event. Poetry Reading - The Poetry and Prose of William Blake. - Bring your favorite literary work by William Blake to read aloud and share with the rest of the group. Does your poem remind you of art in NOMA's collection? If so, why? We will meet in the library at 11:30 a.m. and head up to the galleries at 12:00 p.m.


Poet Gina Ferrara sent me this email about the upcoming Ladyfest:

"roselyn leonard, who is coordinating ladyfest, asked me to contact some lady poets to read for poetry day of lady fest. lady fest is a festival that takes place in early november. it celebrates the immeasureable talent of female artists, poets, musicians and dancers in our community. it runs from wednesday, november 3rd thru sunday, november 7th. roselyn has marked saturday, november 6th as poetry day for the festival. basically, each poet will read for fifteen minutes. the readings are from 12noon to 6pm. the poetry reading will take place at the Love Lost Lounge, 2529 Dauphine (on the corner at Franklin) Also, the event is in dire need of someone who can function as an emcee. if anyone would like to emcee or know of someone who can emcee, please email me. pass this email along to any poet i might have admitted."

You can comment below if interested and I can pass it on to Gina.


Also upcoming poetry events:

August 29 · 3:30pm - 5:00pm

Kendall Cram Room, Lavin-Bernick Center Tulane University

REMEMBERING KATRINA: A READING SPONSORED BY THE POETRY SOCIETY OF AMERICA
Nicole Cooley, Peter Cooley, Yusef Komunyakaa, Kay Murphy, Brenda Marie Osbey, Alison Pelegrin, Brad Richard, and Martha Serpas, with Alice Quinn. Co-sponsored by the English Department, Tulane University. Admission is free.


You can hit this poetry reading and then head downtown to the Gold Mine Saloon, (http://www.17poets.com/) to hear even more poetry, dance, eat and maybe win an art auction, all for a good cause. 5PM-11Pm, 701 Dauphine

Wednesday, August 04, 2010

Reading Tonight at Latter Library!

Indigenous and Endangered:
An Evening of Louisiana Poetry
A Language of Conservation Program
Featuring:
Darrell Bourque,
Louisiana Poet Laureate

with
Dave Brinks Rodger Kamenetz
Megan Burns Brad Richard
Gina Ferrara Jerry Ward
Kelly Harris


The Language of Conservation is an initiative of Poets House in partnership
with the Audubon Nature Institute, the New Orleans Public
Library and a consortium of zoos and libraries nationwide. It is made
possible by a National Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museum
and Library Services.

Wednesday, August 4
7-9 pm
Latter Library
5120 St. Charles Ave.
596-2625


We will have Trembling Pillow Press books for sale as well as our own books:
tremblingpillowpress.com

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Poetry Celebrating Conservation

Indigenous and Endangered: An Evening of Louisiana Poetry
A Language of Conservation Program


Featuring:
Darrell Bourque, Louisiana Poet Laureate

with
Dave Brinks, Rodger Kamenetz
Megan Burns, Brad Richard
Gina Ferrara, Jerry Ward, Kelly Harris


The Language of Conservation is an initiative of Poets House in partnership with the Audubon Nature Institute, the New Orleans Public Library and a consortium of zoos and libraries nationwide. It is made possible by a National Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museum
and Library Services.

Wednesday, August 4
7-9 pm


Latter Library
5120 St. Charles Ave.
596-2625

Thursday, June 24, 2010

THURSDAY, JUNE 24, 2010: Poetry Reading

I*M*P*O*R*T*A*N*T ---- Please note, THURSDAY, JUNE 24, 2010 @ 8:00 p.m. is our last performance of the summer. We return with our FALL 2010 Program on ---- THURSDAY, AUGUST 26, 8:00 p.m.

17 Poets! Literary & Performance series presents a reading/performance by poet, playwright, puppeteer, storyteller & visual artist JONATHAN KLINE on THURSDAY, JUNE 24, 2010, 8:00pm @ The Gold Mine Saloon, 705 Dauphine Street, New Orleans, LA, 70116, (504) 586-9745, www.17poets.com.






Poet, playwright, storyteller & visual artist Jonathan Kline grew up in Northern Michigan. He received an MFA from The School of The Art Institute of Chicago in Time Art. Kline has presented his works at venues in Boston, Chicago, New York, Seattle, New Orleans, Dublin and Cork Ireland. For more than a decade Kline's esteemed works, including When I was Twenty, The Terminal Hotel, The Nude Questions, and Six Eggs, have garnered praise from scholars, peers, and audiences alike throughout the U.S. and overseas. Kline's dedication to the art of storytelling and the oral tradition is second to none. Additionally, Kline teaches in the New Orleans community as an Art coordinator for elementary and middle schoolers.
Featured presentation will be followed by Open Mic hosted by Jimmy Ross (sign-up begins @ 7:30 p.m.)...storytellers, poets, fiction writers, essayists, vocalists & performance artists are welcome.

Open to the public.

Free admission.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

17 Poets! Reading Series Features a Tribute to Bob Kaufman

b o b K A U F M A N
Bob Kaufman (April 18, 1925 – January 12, 1986), born Robert Garnell Kaufman, was an American Beat poet and surrealist inspired by jazz music. In France, where his poetry had a large following, he was known as the "American Rimbaud."

Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, Kaufman was one of fourteen children, the son of a German-Jewish father and a Roman Catholic Black mother from Martinique; his grandmother practiced voodoo. At age eighteen, Kaufman joined the United States Merchant Marine, which he left in the early 1940s to briefly study literature at New York's The New School. There, he met William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg. In 1944 Bob Kaufman married Ida Berrocal. They had one daughter, Antoinette Victoria Marie (Nagle), born in New York City in 1945 (died 2008). Kaufman moved to San Francisco's North Beach in 1958 and remained there for most of the rest of his life. He married Eileen Singe in 1958; they had one child, Parker, named for Charlie Parker.

Kaufman, a poet in the oral tradition, usually didn't write down his poems, and much of his published work survives by way of his wife Eileen, who wrote his poems down as he conceived them. Like many beat writers, Kaufman became a Buddhist. In 1959, along with poets Allen Ginsberg, John Kelly, A. D. Winans, and William Margolis, he was one of the founders of Beatitude magazine.

In 1959, Kaufman had a small role in a movie called The Flower Thief, which was shot in North Beach by Ron Rice. In 1961, Kaufman was nominated for England's Guinness Poetry Award, but lost to T. S. Eliot. He appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson four times in 1970-1971.

In an interview, Ken Kesey describes seeing Bob Kaufman on the streets of San Francisco's North Beach during a visit to that city with his family in the 1950s:
I can remember driving down to North Beach with my folks and seeing Bob Kaufman out there on the street. I didn’t know he was Bob Kaufman at the time. He had little pieces of Band-Aid tape all over his face, about two inches wide, and little smaller ones like two inches long -- and all of them made into crosses. He came up to the cars, and he was babbling poetry into these cars. He came up to the car I was riding in, and my folks, and started jabbering this stuff into the car. I knew that this was exceptional use of the human voice and the human mind.


After learning of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Kaufman took a Buddhist vow of silence that lasted until the end of the Vietnam War in 1973. He broke his silence by reciting his poem "All Those Ships that Never Sailed," the first lines of which are

All those ships that never sailed
The ones with their seacocks open
That were scuttled in their stalls...
Today I bring them back
Huge and intransitory
And let them sail
Forever
Thursday, June 17, 2010

Please join us in celebration as 17 Poets! Literary & Performance series presents a reading/performance featuring works of legendary, New Orleans-born beat poet BOB KAUFMAN!!!
Feature will be followed by Open Mic hosted by Jimmy Ross (sign-up begins @ 7:30 p.m.)...storytellers, poets, fiction writers, essayists, vocalists & performance artists are welcome.

Wednesday, May 05, 2010

17 Poets! Featured Readers


You can now follow 17 Poets! on Facebook.


Thursday, May 6, 2010
Please join us in celebration as 17 Poets! Literary & Performance series presents a reading/performance featuring novelist and short story writer MOIRA CRONE and poet DAVE BRINKS (Dave's Birthday Party!) on Thursday, May 6, 2010, 8:00pm @ The Gold Mine Saloon. And don't forget to bring your luminous words & wisecracks for yet another amazing evening of mirth, fantasm & reverie!




Moira Crone is a widely published short story writer and novelist. She received the Robert Penn Warren Award for Fiction from the Southern Fellowship of Writers in 2009 for the body of her work.A native of Eastern North Carolina, she lives in New Orleans.

Her publications include, What Gets Into Us (2006), Dream State (Jackson: The University Press of Mississippi in 1995), A Period of Confinement (New York: G.P. Putnam and Sons, 1986, Paperback, New York: Harper and Row, 1987. French Translation: Paris: Gallimard 1986); and The Winnebago Mysteries and Other Stories (New York: The Fiction Collective/? Braziller 1982).






Dave Brinks was born in ‘67 and raised in New Orleans, poet and essayist Dave Brinks’ heritage is Acadian French and Choctaw. Brinks is editor-in-chief of YAWP: A Journal of Poetry & Art, publisher of Trembling Pillow Press, director of 17 Poets! Literary & Performance Series, and founder of The New Orleans School for the Imagination. His poems and essays have appeared in dozens of magazines, newspapers, journals and anthologies in the US and overseas, and have been translated into French and Romanian. In addition, Brinks' works have aired on NPR’s Hearing Voices and PBS’ News Hour with Jim Lehrer, and also have been featured in National Geographic Traveler and Louisiana Cultural Vistas. He is the author of six books including the acclaimed The Caveat Onus (Black Widow Press 2009), as well as two new collections forthcoming from Black Widow Press: The Light on Earth Street and The Geometry of Sound.


On Jan 19, 2010 Brinks and his wife, poet Megan Burns, celebrated the birth of their third child, daughter Issa Mae!

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Poets and Writers Presents Local Workshop: May 1

Valentine Pierce sent me a link to an upcoming event next weekend at the Bywater branch library. I think her workshop is invaluable for writers, poets who want to learn and improve on their performances. 17 Poets! has been running open mics since 2003, and Dave and I have heard too-many-to-count performances over the years during the open mic section that have varied from stunning to painful. Delivery and execution is a skill, and it's part of the process of completing the actual work of writing the poem. There are some really common sense tools that even seasoned readers often forget to employ that would make their readings more engaging.



Pictured: Valentine Pierce, 2005, reading at the 17 Poets! recording for the PBS News Hours with Jim Lehrer


During the Summer Writing Program at Naropa University, Bobbie Louise Hawkins would give a talk every year to students about stage performance. It was a wonderful compedium of tips and tactics that she learned in her many years as a performer and as an audience member at Naropa.

I can remember our first open mic night back in 2003 at the Gold Mine Saloon. We had just a handful of participants that came out for that first venture, but we did have an interesting character come in and strip down to his birthday suit in order to recite. Dave tactfully pointed out that we don't have a license in the Quarter for that kind of performance, and the young man put his underwear on and preceded to sing some quite lovely English ballads. I think his nudity had something to do with the pastoral. But case in point, know where your reading and how your performance will go over before you disrobe.


Valentine's Blog is under places to look: Backpocketpoet. Her book Geometry of the Heart was published by Portals Press.

Special Poetry Event Funded by Poets & Writers, Inc.

N.O. Public Library
Alvar Branch:
913 Alvar St, New Orleans, LA 70117

May 1, 12 - 2 p.m.

Valentine Pierce presents "Stand Up, Look Up, Speak Up: How to Present Your Poetry in Public"
Poets are encouraged to bring a poem for reading.
Reading is limited to 12 poets/1 poem (2–4 minutes in length).
Please call 504.596-2667 by April 26, 2010 to sign-up.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

17 Poets! reading Series


THURSDAY, APRIL 15, 2010 @ 8:00 p.m.
17 Poets! Literary & Performance Series hosts a reading featuring poet RAYMOND "MOOSE" JACKSON and fiction writer JENNIFER STEWART.

** JENNIFER STEWART **
Ms. Stewart is a 2006 graduate of UNO's Low-Residency MFA in poetry. She currently works for the Low-Residency Program as the Coordinator of the Study Abroad Programs in Writing. She earned her undergraduate degree, a BA in History and English, at Emory & Henry College in 2001. Publications include Florida English, Sentence, Poets' Corner - Fieralingue, Exquisite Corpse, and Big Bridge. Ms, Stewart lives in New Orleans, writes in coffee shops, and in her spare time, teaches people how to bend funny ways.


**R. "MOOSE" JACKSON**
When it comes to poetry, Mr. Jackson is considered one of New Orleans' most favorite sons. He is the author of Illusion Fields and most recently Bitter Ink. Jackson is a consummate world traveler of the earth's byways, railways, and highways. In the fall 2009, he astounded audiences with his play Loup Garou produced by Art Spot Productions. As a professional human being, Jackson is arguably second to none. His poems have appeared in dozens of publications including YAWP: a Journal of Poetry & Art, Big Bridge, and Exquisite Corpse.
Visit 17poets.com for more info.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

17 Poets! Reading Series

July 10

Poet Joseph Makkos plus special guest alto saxophonist LENNY EMMANUEL


j.s. makkos in one sense can be defined as a composer of visual & audible design-poetics wherein his aesthetic is forward-moving-art. He resides in Cleveland, OH where he operates a nexus/alternative space called the Language Foundry, dedicated to intermedia & hybrid performance arts; and additionally, a book press which is centered around design & social poetics. (http://www.languagefoundry.org/)


mulitiplicity of scripts
by Joseph Makkos