Fountainverse: KC Small Press Poetry Fest - October 11th thru 13th

This month my Rattle and Numb book tour will take me to Kansas City, Missouri, to again participate in the annual FountainVerse small press poetry festival. For three days I will man a table for my new book from Venetian Spider Press as well as for a select assortment of recent Crisis Chronicles Press titles.

Also, on Saturday October 12th from 4 to 5 pm I will participate in a publishers panel sponsored by Spartan Press' Jason Ryberg. And then sometime between 7 and 8:30 pm I will be a featured reader alongside some of the Midwest's finest writers. Both of these events (as well as the book fair and much of the rest of the festival) will take place at Capsule, 1664 Broadway Boulevard, Kansas City, Missouri 64108.


From the press release: "Fountainverse: KC Small Press Poetry Fest is a three-day poetry festival featuring poets representing independent poetry publishing houses from the KC metro area and across the country. The fest features scheduled readings, a pop-up book shop, publishing panel, workshop and open mic opportunities."

For more info including a full schedule of events, please visit www.fountainverse.com.
 

"No Other" live in Kansas City with River Cow Orchestra - 10/13/2018

https://youtu.be/hGKlK-u_vdQ

Here I perform my poem "No Other" accompanied by the River Cow Orchestra during Fountainverse: KC Small Press Poetry Festival on 13 October 2018 at La Esquina in Kansas City, Missouri. Video recorded by Jason Preu (thank you!).

I wrote "No Other" on 30 March 2018 - inspired by Tony Ingrisano's "Far Enemy" - for an Ekphrastacy program at Heights Arts in Cleveland Heights. The poem first appeared in print in The Gasconade Review Presents: Missouri Is a Ghost Shaped Thing, edited by John Dorsey and Jason Ryberg for Spartan Press.

No Other
after Far Enemy by Tony Ingrisano

A wide web of geometry and pixelation
looms over my brick suburban bungalow.

The colors warm and entice me
with creeping florescent sophistication.

I feel them drawing me up and in
while equally I am drawing them inside.

It’s a network of jasmine attraction
bringing untoward craving and resentment,

hate and cruelty from America the beautiful,
Russian bots, unacknowledged racists,

television networks, Amazon.com, nihilism
proponents, penile enhancement specialists,

trolls, moles, sexist pols and ad-mongers,
while the colors of it all bleed into pools

of need and reaction, stupefaction,
failure to listen disguised as debate,

hasty action, dystopian dissatisfaction,
snark disguised as lark and warring factions.

This poem began as an expression of appreciation
for a wide web of precious colors and pixelation

before I met the so-called far enemies
in my bathroom mirror and hardly

recognized them as something other
than other.

Neuro testing today, Fountainverse (KC Small Press Poetry Fest) this weekend & Juliet Cook book release 10/16

Before my EEG at the Cleveland Clinic today

Lodgings confirmed for Fountainverse: KC Small Press Poetry Fest this weekend in Missouri! I was unsure until the last minute whether I would actually be able to go because I needed to get Juliet Cook's book done before I left and I've had a packed past few weeks. But we're on track and it's all good. I won't get results for today's neuro testing until the end of the month. Heading out of town tomorrow and coming back Monday. Hope to see you either this weekend in Kansas City or this Tuesday 10/16 at Art on Madison in Lakewood, Ohio, for Poetry Plus Featuring Juliet Cook, where Crisis Chronicles Press will release her highly-anticipated second full-length poetry collection, Malformed Confetti.

Looking Forward to the Following October Lit Events

Very much looking forward to the following October lit events! At some I'll be reading. At some I'll be manning the Crisis Chronicles Press book fair table. At some I'll just be present in support of great poets whose books I recently a hand in publishing:

10/4-5 in Frostburg, MD - Western Maryland Indie Lit Festival at Frostburg State University Center for Literary Arts.

10/10 in Cleveland Heights, OH - Steve Thomas' The Strength of Flowers, Terry Provost & more! at Mac's Backs-Books On Coventry.

10/12-14 in Kansas City, MO - Fountainverse: KC Small Press Poetry Fest.

10/16 in Lakewood, OH - Poetry Plus Featuring Juliet Cook (Malformed Confetti release) at Art on Madison.

10/20 in Mansfield, OH - Borderlands feat. Concrete Wink at Main Street Books.

10/26 in Bexley, OH - Poetry Night with John Burroughs and Anna Soter at Gramercy Books Bexley.

Lakewood, Michigan, Akron, Maryland, Kansas City, Bexley & New York Coming

For those who've asked: upcoming events where I'll be reading, performing and book fairing include

9/18 - Poetry Plus Featuring John Burroughs at Art on Madison in Lakewood, Ohio

9/21 - Madhouse & Firefly present: International Beat Poetry Festival (feat. John Burroughs, Gary Bond, Leo Jarret, Barry Graham, Mackenzie Swanson, Angel Reyes, William F. DeVault, Dan Denton, Bob Phillips and musical guest Dave Caruso) at Serendipitous Vintage in Monroe, Michigan

9/28 - Poetry & Spoken Word (feat. Ray McNiece, Kisha Nicole Foster, Tony Gamblin, Maggie Duff, Jamie Keaton, Ebanee Bond and John Burroughs) at Nervous Dog Coffee Bar in Akron, Ohio 

10/5-6 - Western Maryland Indie Lit Festival at Frostburg State University Center for Literary Arts in Frostburg, Maryland

10/12-14 - Fountainverse KC Small Press Poetry Fest in Kansas City, Missouri

10/26 - Poetry feat. Anna Soter and John Burroughs at Gramercy Books in Bexley, Ohio

11/29 - NeuroNautic Institute Presents feat. Gerd Stern, John Burroughs and more hosted by Matthew Hupert at the Red Room (KGB) in New York, New York.

And this doesn't count a handful of Crisis Chronicles Press book release readings/events that will be announced soon.

I plan to do decidedly fewer events in 2019, so hopefully I'll see you at one or more of the above.