4/30 Poetry Forum in Columbus

Monday at 7 pm I have the honor of reading for The Poetry Forum in Columbus, Ohio. With two 20-minute sets, I can go deep! The open mic there is always stellar. Plus the venue has a fine beer selection and brassieres hanging from the chandeliers. A perfect recipe for quasi-divine mayhem and poetic semi-madness. My last reading of April 2018! Watch me breathe fire or, if that fails, turn into John Burroughs right before your eyes.

The Poetry Forum featuring John Burroughs
at Bossy Grrls Pin-up Joint
2598 N High Street
Columbus, Ohio 43202

Reading will be followed by Monday Mayhem Burlesque!

Kleft Crisis 2018 Gratitude

The house is finally empty again. Kinda sad to see everyone go. But what a weekend of wonder! Many thanks to Frankie Metronome and Kleft Jaw Press for inspiring this blessed mess. Gobs of gratitude to our gracious hosts Guide To Kulchur Books, Main Street Books, and Mac's Backs-Books On Coventry. Special thanks to the featured writers of #KleftCrisis2018 who traveled from far and near to share their incredible work, including: Margie Shaheed, Jeanette Powers, Iris Appelquist, Gabriel Ricard, Austin Price, Ra Washington, Mark S. Kuhar, Steve Brightman, Nathanael William Stolte, Dianne Borsenik, Shelley Chernin, Christina M. Brooks, Juliet Cook, Steve Goldberg, Clarissa Jakobsons, Heather Ann Schmidt, Kathy Smith, Steven Smith, Azriel Johnson, Alice and, again, Frankie. I also wanna thank a number of other people who made this weekend even better in myriad ways, including James Borsenik, Mark Sebastian Jordan, Suzanne DeGaetano, Peggy Honeydew, Deva Lynn, Raymond McNiece, his Tongue-in-Groove band, Llalan Fowler, Nick Gardner, Cathie Joslyn, Mike Burroughs, Michael Salinger, Sara Holbrook, and I could go on and on. You all freaking rock and I love you. Now it's back to work until I head to Athens. Looking forward to Thursday 4/26, when Athens Poet Laureate: Kari Gunter-Seymour (author of Serving, just published in March by Crisis Chronicles Press) will read at Arts West. Cheers!

Check out https://www.facebook.com/events/2061025770809966/

Kleft Crisis 2018 and Steven Smith Book Launch This Weekend!

This weekend, Crisis Chronicles Press (out of Cleveland) and Kleft Jaw Press (out of Denver) celebrate National Poetry Month by presenting a Friday/Saturday litfest you won't want to miss featuring authors from across the United States at three of the best bookstores in Ohio. Then Ray McNiece will follow it up on Sunday with a Tongue-in-Groove Poetry Jam featuring Cleveland art/poetry legend Steven Smith, whose new book, Where Never Was Already Is, was just published this month by Crisis Chronicles.

Friday 4/20, 7pm till ? at Guide to Kulchur Books
5222 Lorain Ave., Cleveland, OH 44102
featuring readings by
Iris Appelquist (Kansas City, MO)
Steve Brightman (Akron, OH)
John Burroughs (Cleveland, OH)
Ryder Collins (Milwaukee, WI)
Azriel Johnson (Canton, OH)
Mark S Kuhar (Medina, OH)
Frankie Metro (Denver, CO)
Jeanette Powers (Kansas City, MO)
Austin Price (New York, NY)
Gabriel Ricard (East Northport, NY)
Margie Shaheed (Memphis, TN)
Nathanael Stolte (Buffalo, NY)
RA Washington (Cleveland, OH)

Saturday 4/21, 2pm to 4pm at Main Street Books
104 N. Main St,, Mansfield, OH 44902
emcee: Mark Sebastian Jordan
featuring readings by
Iris Appelquist (Kansas City, MO)
Frankie Metro (Denver, CO)
Jeanette Powers (Kansas City, MO)
Gabriel Ricard (East Northport, NY)
plus open mic

Saturday 4/21, 7pm to 10pm at Mac's Backs
1820 Coventry Rd., Cleveland Heights, OH 44118
featuring readings by
Dianne Borsenik (Elyria, OH)
Theresa Brightman (Akron, OH)
Christina Brooks (Detroit, MI)
Shelley Chernin (Novelty, OH)
Ryder Collins (Milwaukee, WI)
Juliet Cook (Medina, OH)
Steve Goldberg (Cleveland, OH)
Clarissa Jakobsons (Aurora, OH)
Alynn Mahle (Mentor, OH)
Austin Price (New York, NY)
Heather Ann Schmidt (Oberlin, OH)
Margie Shaheed (Memphis, TN)
Kathy Smith (Cleveland, OH)
Steven Smith (Cleveland, OH)
Nathanael Stolte (Buffalo, NY)

Sunday 4/22, 6pm at the Millard Fillmore Presidential Library
15617 Waterloo Rd., Cleveland, Ohio 44110
Tongue-in-Groove Poetry Jam
emceed by Ray McNiece
featuring a performance by Steven Smith
plus open mic (your chance to perform with the band)

Please come celebrate with us!

Karma Souptra live in St. Louis

Thank you, Jim Z McGowin, for recording this clip of me reading my "Karma Souptra" on Friday 13 April 2018 at Foam in St. Louis, Missouri. Permalink: https://youtu.be/ZOK_MgTT9dI.


The poem comes from 2009 chapbook 6/9: Improvisations in Dependence [Crisis Chronicles Press].
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Gratitude and coming up this week(end)

Thank you so much, Foam, Brett Underwood, Mic Boshans, Jim Z McGowin, Stef Russell, Thom Fletcher, Jeanette Powers, Jason Preu, Dianne Borsenik, InterUrban ArtHouse, Kevin W. Peery, the Rural Oklahoma Museum of Poetry, Jim Holt, Brews, John Dorsey, Jason Baldinger and everyone else who's made this leg of the tour so special! Now I'm looking forward to getting back to Ohio for the following amazing events:

4/18 in Akron: Latitudes Poetry Night feat. Dianne Borsenik
4/20: Kleft Crisis 2018 - Cleveland
4/21 2pm: Kleft Crisis 2018 - Mansfield
4/21 7 pm: Kleft Crisis 2018 - Cleveland Heights
4/22 in Cleveland: Tongue-In-Groove Poetry Jam, featuring Steven Smith
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Busy Be thru April

The next 12 days will be a WHIRLWIND. Friday April 13th is Burroughs and Borsenik Foaming at the Mouth in St. Louis. Saturday the 14th is our FountainVerse Poetry Reading in Overland Park, Kansas. The 15th we'll be in Oklahoma. The 16th is Brews-Zing Poetry with Burroughs, Borsenik, Baldinger & Dorsey in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. The 18th is Latitudes Poetry Night feat. Dianne Borsenik in Akron, Ohio. Then comes #KleftCrisis2018, our 3-venue poetry fest featuring authors from across the country: Kleft Crisis 2018 - Cleveland (20th), Kleft Crisis 2018 - Mansfield (21st at 2pm) and Kleft Crisis 2018 - Cleveland Heights (21st at 7pm). Finally, on the 22nd will be the Tongue-in-Groove Poetry Jam featuring Steven Smith at The Millard Fillmore Presidential Library in Cleveland. And as if that's not enough, after that I'll find my way to Athens Poet Laureate: Just When You Think You Know Her... in Athens, Ohio on the 26th and the Poetry Forum featuring John Burroughs on the 30th in Columbus. But believe it or not, my May might be even busier.

My full 2018 poetry event schedule is here.

Crisis Chronicles Press publishes Where Never Was Already Is by Smith

I am so very excited to announce the publication of underground art legend Steven B. Smith's magnum opus, Where Never Was Already Is, a collection of decades worth of his best poetry combined with a liberal array of his renowned collage art.

If not for discovering Smith and his work, I might never have attended a live poetry event or become a publisher. I cannot overstate his importance and influence, but not just on me. He is a master of language and rhythm and distilling innumerable harmonious essences from disparate parts. His humor is delightful and biting. His sensitivity and insight are unsurpassed. And no one is better at wordplay. Mix in love, lust, brain dust, the news, the blues and a lifetime of experiences that would make one hell of a series of movies and out comes Where Never Was Already Is, the must-have book of 2018.

Where Do You Want It?

United States $15.00 USD Elsewhere $20.00 USD

Where Never Was Already Is by Steven B. Smith is perfect bound, 6" x 9", featuring 27 collages and roughly 250 poems on 324 pages. Cover collage and author photo also by Smith. ISBN: 978-1-940996-49-3. Available for $15 from Crisis Chronicles Press, 3431 George Avenue, Parma, Ohio 44134 USA.

Meet and hear Smith at these special upcoming events:
4/21 at 7pm during the Kleft Crisis 2018 poetry festival at Mac's Backs in Cleveland Heights.
4/22 at 6pm during the Tongue-in-Groove Poetry Jam at the Millard Fillmore Presidential Library in Cleveland.

Smith: poet 55 years, artist 54 years. His books include Zen Over Zero - Selected Poems 1964-2008 on City Poetry Press; Unruly on Crisis Chronicles Press; Hip Cat Femur Whack Give a Doc a Bone on NightBallet Press; and his memoir Stations of the Lost & Found, a True Tale of Armed Robbery, Stolen Cars, Outsider Art, Mutant Poetry, Underground Publishing, Robbing the Cradle, and Leaving the Country by Smith & Lady on City Poetry Press.

See his art and poetry on agentofchaos.com, Smith & Lady's blogs on walkingthinice.com, and his songs on reverbnation.com/mutantsmith where he sort of sings his words with music by Peter Ball and Billy Clarksville.

Smith says his greatest achievement is finding and marrying Lady K. 13 years ago and their selling his place to live for 31 months in 10 countries on 3 continents.

Noise Update

Jessie Herzfeld, John Burroughs & Shelley Chernin
perform "Speaking in Lungs" 4/8/2018 at Mahall's
[photo by Rob Galo]

After my last few readings (Nervous Dog, Ekphrastacy and the NightBallet book release) were so serious (the subject matter of my new book lends itself to that) I decided to just have fun yesterday at Noise Lunch and be a bit of a goof. Fortunately I had amazing collaborators in Jessie Herzfeld and Shelley Chernin. Thanks to Lisa Miralia and Margo Emm for pulling together such an unforgettable happening. After three great poetic events in the past four days and spending every spare moment this week trying to get Smith's book to the printer on deadline (a mission accomplished early this morning), I'm glad to have a down half-day to start catching up on a bunch of neglected miscellany that I'd like to get done before I go out of town Thursday. Maybe I'll even find an hour to read the news and take Leda for a walk. Stay tuned for a blog post about Smith's magnum opus, Where Never Was Already Is, the biggest book Crisis Chronicles Press has ever published. It's not only massive, but masterful. Lucky me!

Performing at Sound Poetry: A Noise Lunch Reading 4/8 in Lakewood

Shelley Chernin, Jessie Herzfeld and I will perform a unique collaborative set Sunday 4/8/2018 during Sound Poetry: A Noise Lunch Reading (curated by Margo Emm) at Mahall's in Lakewood.

Other acts performing include
Andrew Auten + Rob Rosin
Catherine Butler
Frass Accolades
Grace Harper + Catherine Butler + Lisa Miralia
M; Margo
Maggie Duff + Alexa Mal
Robin Guiler + Ian Cummins
Xan Schwartz

The whole shebang runs from 4 to 8 p.m. Hope to see you there.

Mahall's 20 Lanes
13200 Madison Avenue
Lakewood, Ohio 44107
mahalls20lanes.com

Reading new work at Heights Arts in Cleveland Heights tonight!

art by John Carlson, Dana Oldfather,
Suzanne Head & Tony Ingrisano

Tonight, Thursday 5 April, at Heights Arts! Poets Mwatabu S. Okantah, Mary E. Weems, Christine Howey and I will read new work inspired by the exhibition Drawn Together: Emotional Intelligence and the Vernacular of the Heart. We'll also hear a talk from curator Josh Werling, as well as exhibition artists Suzanne Head, Tony Ingrisano, and Dana Oldfather. More info.

Heights Arts
2175 Lee Road
Cleveland, OH 44118

Public Debut of Loss and Foundering

photo by Dianne Borsenik

My new book, Loss and Foundering, makes its public debut today in the window of Appletree Books. Thank you so much to everyone who has pre-ordered! I will meet with publisher Dianne Borsenik/NightBallet Press on Wednesday to sign and package books and broadsides and then they will be on their way. If you're in northern Ohio, I hope you will come meet us on Friday April 6th for the Poetry Reading and Reception for NightBallet Press at Appletree. Fab central Ohio poets Chuck Salmons, Rikki Santer and Steve Abbott will read. And if you can't make it and still haven't had a chance to order my book but would like to, you can still do so here: 

http://jesuscrisis.blogspot.com/2018/02/loss-and-foundering-my-new-book-from.html.
See more at www.nightballet.com.

Appletree Books
12419 Cedar Road
Cleveland Heights, Ohio 44106
www.appletree-books.com

 

Video: my reading 4/30/2018 at the Nervous Dog in Akron

Thanks to Michael DeBenedictis for recording my reading the other night at Nervous Dog Coffee Bar in Akron,Ohio. PG-13 so you can share it with your kids and pets and mother:

https://www.facebook.com/100009675966867/videos/617068495292344/

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