After doing no poetry events from November through March (I mean online, since I haven't done an in-person event since early March 2020), I finally dragged myself out of hibernation to participate in two this month. Now videos of both events are available on YouTube for your viewing/measure.
April 17th: Beat Poets Laureate reading, hosted by Debbie Tosun Kilday and the National Beat Poetry Foundation
April 22nd: Focus on Ferlinghetti, hosted by Bill Yarrow and the Joliet Junior College Library
Hi, friends! It's been an eventful past week. On Wednesday the 14th I drove to Hartville to receive my second Covid-19 vaccine shot. I experienced a little soreness in my arm and a slight malaise the next day, but it was not as bad as it was after my first shot last month (and that wasn't so bad either).
On the 17th, I had the honor of reading online with several Beat Poets Laureate for National Poetry Month (hosted by the National Beat Poetry Foundation). I led off the event and shared four poems: "Will (or a Way of Heming)," "Flagging," "Disciples" and "Random Rules." Then poets David K. Leff, William F. DeVault, Tammi Truax, Leo Jarret, Virginia Shreve and Ernel Grant followed, all with strong performances. Thank you to all who attended! If you missed it (or want to watch again), the NBPF plans to post video on their YouTube page in the next week or so.
This is just a reminder that my first reading since October will occur via Zoom on Saturday April 17th at 1 p.m. Eastern. I will have the privilege of reading with several Beat Poets Laureate, hosted by the National Beat Poetry Foundation, Inc. Please join us on Zoom. [4/25 UPDATE: A recording of the event is now available on YouTube.]
Readers (in order of appearance):
John B. Burroughs - Ohio Beat Poet Laureate (2019-2021)
David K. Leff - Lifetime Beat Poet Laureate, New England (2018-Present)
William F. DeVault - US National Beat Poet Laureate (2017-2018)
Ron Whitehead - Kentucky Beat Poet Laureate (2019-2021)
Tammi Truax - Maine Beat Poet Laureate (2018-2020)
Leo Jarret - Michigan Beat Poet Laureate (2020-2022)
Barry Graham - Michigan Beat Poet Laureate (2018-2020)
Rich Ferguson - California Beat Poet Laureate (2020-2022)
Virginia Shreve - Connecticut Beat Poet Laureate (2020-2022)
Ernel Grant - Connecticut Beat Poet Laureate (2017-2019)
Follow the National Beat Poetry Foundation:
https://nationalbeatpoetryfoundation.org
Facebook / Twitter / YouTube
The National Beat Poetry Foundation, Inc. will celebrate National Poetry Month with Zoom readings by various Beat Poets Laureate on each Saturday afternoon in April. I'm honored to be one of their featured readers on the 17th. Here is the schedule as it stands so far. More details are forthcoming.
Follow the National Beat Poetry Foundation:
https://nationalbeatpoetryfoundation.org
Facebook / Twitter / YouTube
I'm very happy to have these titles recently join the family of books on my shelves:
The Veiled Suite: The Collected Poems by Agha Shahid Ali [2009, W.W. Norton].
The Flashboat: Poems Collected and Reclaimed by Jane Cooper [2000, W.W. Norton]
Appleseed by Matt Bell [2021, Custom House]
Blue Lamentations and other noisy scrawls by Sharon Gariepy Frye [2017, Cold River]
She-Oak by Linda Goin [2019, Musehick Publications]
Asylum by Elizabeth Marino [2020, Vagabond]
Rattle #71 [Spring 2021]
A Plumber's Guide to Light by Jesse Bertron [2021, Rattle]
I am extremely grateful to Heidi Blakeslee and GAS: Poetry, Art & Music for such a kind and generous review of my book Rattle and Numb: Selected and New Poems, 1992-2019. "The manic exuberance of pure genius"? Comparisons to two of the greatest athletes of my lifetime? I feel a bit speechless and undeserving, but nonetheless delighted.
You can read the whole review here: https://gaspoertyartandmusic.blogspot.com/2021/03/a-review-of-john-burroughs-rattle-and.html.
Book published by Venetian Spider Press.
Cover art by Emma Anderson.
Memory Rose into Threshold Speech: The Collected Earlier Poetry: A Bilingual Edition by Paul Celan [2020, Farrar, Straus & Giroux]
Poems of André Breton: A Bilingual Anthology by André Breton (trans/ed. by Jean-Pierre Cauvin & Mary Ann Caws) [2006, Black Widow Press]
The Idea of Perfection: The Poetry and Prose of Paul Valéry: A Bilingual Edition by Paul Valéry (trans. by Nathaniel Rudavsky-Brody) [2020, Farrar, Straus & Giroux]
Quinn's Passage by Kazim Ali [2005, BlazeVOX]
The Weight of the Minolta in Her Hand by Marianna Hofer [2017, Finishing Line Press]
A Threadbare Universe by Jason Baldinger [2020, Kung Fu Treachery Press]
Waxworks by Frieda Hughes [2002, HarperCollins]
Tornado by Ted Lardner [2008, The Kent State University Press]
We Practice for It by Ted Lardner [2014, Tupelo Press]
Whirl Away Girl by Tricia Johnson [2021, Atmosphere Press]
I Wonder as I Wander: An Autobiographical Journey by Langston Hughes [2011, Books on Tape]
The Lunch Bucket Brigade #3 by various [2021, The Lunch Bucket Brigade Press]
A Season of Significance by Jared Smith [2021, River Dog]
Still Marching by Alex Gildzen [2021, River Dog]
I took this photo of us after a severe storm destroyed part of the stage during the 2007 Warped Tour in Cleveland.
