Video: Reading and The Legacy of the Beats, 3/24/2023 in Dansville

I had the privilege of sharing poetry at two great venues in upstate New York this past weekend.

Here I am at the first, reading poems and discussing the legacy of the Beats on March 24th during the monthly Finger Lakes Arts Series at the MacFadden Coffee Company in Dansville. This clip (which begins with my third poem) was recorded by host and discussion moderator George Guida.

My full set for the evening consisted of the following poems:

John Cage Engaged and Uncaged
Tide to the Oceans
Random Rules
Redux Isn't Pronounced Ray Do, But That Hasn't Stopped Me
Pedigree
Dog Day
So Much for Saving
Killer
Unwinding
Alarm Blocks
Odd Missive

Going Upstate, Y'all!

So looking forward to sharing poetry at two great venues this weekend:

3/24 at MacFadden Coffee Co. in Dansville, NY

3/25 at The Bundy Museum of History & Art in Binghamton, NY

A full schedule of my 2023 appearances at http://jesuscrisis.blogspot.com/p/featured-readings.html.

New York, Ohio, Florida, Indiana and Missouri in the Next Five Weeks

The next month is gonna be super busy for me, with (among many other things) a new poetry collection coming out and all these poetry events. I hope to see you somewhere soon down the line:

3/24 at 6 pm Eastern - The Finger Lakes Arts Series at MacFadden Coffee Co. in Dansville, New York.

3/25 at 7 pm Eastern - John Burroughs: 2022 - 2023 U.S. Beat Poet Laureate - Live at the Bundy Museum Annex Theater in Binghamton, New York.

4/6 at 7 pm Eastern - Juliet Cook, Michelle R Smith and I will lead a Self Publishing Roundtable at the Cuyahoga County Public Library's South Euclid-Lyndhurst Branch.

4/8 at 2 pm Eastern - A Gathering of Laurels will feature six Poets Laureate from the Cleveland area at the Cuyahoga County Public Library's South Euclid-Lyndhurst Branch.

4/14 & 15 - St. Augustine PoetFest - 2nd Annual in St. Augustine, Florida.

4/18 at 7 pm Central - Poetry Speaks at the Bokeh Lounge in Evansville, Indiana.

4/22 at 6 pm Central - Barb's Books Presents National Beat Poet Laureate John Burroughs & Joseph Fulkerson Plus Open Mic in Belle, Missouri.

4/23 at 7 pm Central - At Spine Bookstore & Café in St. Louis, Missouri.

4/24 at 7 pm Central - At Gumbo Bottoms Alehaus in Jefferson City, Missouri.

 

Reading my poems from the I Thought I Heard a Cardinal Sing anthology
on 3/17/2023 during the Appalachian Studies Association Conference at
Ohio University in Athens [photo by Ohio Poet Laureate Kari Gunter-Seymour]

 

Appalachian Studies Association Conference this weekend in Athens, Ohio

This weekend, I'm heading to my alma mater, Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, for the 2023 Appalachian Studies Association Conference.

I'll perform there on the 17th at 10:30 a.m., sharing poetry & touching on my journey from being born in Richwood, WV, raised in Ohio, bullied relentlessly for my accent and heritage and learning to hide it, to finally as an adult embracing where I came from with joy and renewed pride.

Then at 2:30 p.m., also on the 17th, I'll be one of many contributors to I Thought I Heard a Cardinal Sing: Ohio's Appalachian Voices (edited by Ohio Poet Laureate Kari Gunter-Seymour) sharing our poems from that monumental anthology.

At the end of next week I'll be sharing poetry in Dansville, NY (the 24th), and Binghamton, NY (the 25th).

In between, I hope to have copies in hand of my new c. 300-page book, The Wrest of the Worthwhile: Unselected, Uncollected and New Poems, 1982-2023 [which collects all my published work that did not appear in Rattle and Numb, as well as some stuff no one has seen before].

Then in April, I'll be part of events in Florida, Missouri, Indiana and Ohio. More on those in the near future. But click here to see my regularly updated event schedule.

Yearning to Combine in Columbus

Saturday 11 March, I had the privilege of participating in an event called Call and Response: Intersections of Art and Poetry, hosted by the Ohio Poetry Association at Pennington Custom Art in Columbus, Ohio. I believe sixty poets wrote ekphrastic work for the gallery's current exhibition (which will be up through April for your viewing pleasure) and more than three dozen of us were able to be there and read our poems for the event.

The piece that inspired my poem is Call and Answer, a stoneware sculpture by Jim Bowling (seen above with my poem displayed near it). I wish I'd taken more photos of it from different angles, because each different perspective you view it from reveals something new and wondrous. If I had time, I would have liked to have written a whole series of poems about my experience of this piece.

Thanks to Ohio Beat Poet Laureate Sandra Feen for taking this photo of me reading.

And finally, here is my poem:

Yearning to Combine
after Call and Answer by Jim Bowling

So much felt
clear in my bones,
though I lacked eyes
to see and appeared
to be little more
than a detached
appendage
with a gaping mouth.

I wanted to take
your mouth and all
into mine and keep you
safe from heartache,
horror and more,
but the larger mouth
of Time loomed heavily,
waiting to swallow us both.

 

March 17th: Dual Performances at AppalachiaFest: From Surviving to Thriving

I am very much looking forward to being part of this special event on March 17th at AppalachiaFest, the 2023 Appalachian Studies Association Conference, in Athens, Ohio. I'll also be doing a deep-dive one-hour solo performance ("Hampuy: The Circle Returns") there that same day at 10:30 a.m.

I remain so grateful to Ohio Poet Laureate Kari Gunter-Seymour for creating this wondrous anthology and including a couple of my poems in it.

Click here to buy I Thought I Heard a Cardinal Sing: Ohio's Appalachian Voices.