November 5th at the Center for Inquiry Libraries in Amherst, New York

Buffalo friends, I look forward to returning to your area on 5 November 2025 to read with Susan Nusbaum for the Literary Café at CFI (Center for Inquiry) in Amherst, New York. My final in-person reading of 2025!

Many thanks to Ryki Zuckerman for the invitation!

Center for Inquiry Libraries
1310 Sweet Home Road
Amherst, New York 14228

Back in the Saddle in July: Evansville, Insomniacathon & WV Writers

Though I've been super busy off the radar, it's hard to believe it's been nine months since I've been on tour. But I'm about to get back at it this month:

 

7/16 in Evansville, Indiana, I'll have the privilege of reading with Dan Sullivan and Jennifer Browne at the Bokeh Lounge (one of my favorite places to return) for Poetry Speaks: Tonight We Sail.

 

7/20 online, I'll present "Risking Absurdity for the Sake of the Poem," a poetry workshop sponsored by West Virginia Writers, Inc. Free for all members.

 

7/26-28 in Louisville, Kentucky: The final Insomniacathon (tickets and schedule available at https://stphilipcampus.org/insomniacathon-2024). I'll be reading around 5 p.m. on Saturday the 27th.

 

 

And then after that:

 

8/30-9/1 in Barkhamsted, CT: the Nat’l & Int’l Beat Poetry Festival 2024.

 

9/10 in Corning, New York (details forthcoming).

 

9/27-28 in Frostburg, MD: the Western Maryland Independent Literature Festival.

 

10/3 in Lexington, KY: Poetry at the /'tāb-əl/ (reading with Matt Hart).

 

10/4 in Lexington, KY: Teen Howl Poetry Series.

 

10/6 in Elizabethtown, KY at Flywheel Brewing.

 

For more, please visit http://jesuscrisis.blogspot.com/p/featured-readings.html.

5/20: John Burroughs and Michael Czarnecki read in Buffalo

This Saturday, May 20th at 4:30 p.m., I'll have the immense pleasure of reading with Michael Czarnecki for the Second Stage Writers series at the American Repertory Theater of Western New York. 

 

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.

12/16: Neuronautic Institute presents John Burroughs, Martina Salisbury and William Taylor Jr, plus open mic, on Zoom and Facebook Live

My final Zoom / Facebook Live reading of the year! On December 16th at 7 p.m. Eastern, I'll have the honor of reading with William Taylor Jr. and Martina Salisbury for this excellent series hosted by Matthew Hupert and NeuroNautic Institute / Neuronautic Press out of New York City. I'd love to see your faces and hear your words at the accompanying open mic.

Watch here. And send a private message to Matthew to sign up for the accompanying open mic.

 

The Beat Goes On at the Bronx Book Fair on October 5th

Very much looking forward to reading with these fine folk as part of this year's virtual Bronx Book Fair on October 5th 2020 at 5 p.m. Eastern. Many thanks to Executive Director Lorraine Currelley!

Click here to register: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEscuGurj8uH9ftls0kVzjc1vQkQuIP4ZRZ.

Featured poets: John Burroughs, William F. DeVault, Igor Goldkind, Deborah Tosun Kilday, Tammi Truax, Chryssa Velissariou.

 

 

The 2020 Bronx Book Fair runs from October 2nd through 5th. For more info and updates, please visit https://www.facebook.com/BronxBookFair/.

Video of NeuroNautic Institute Presents 7/23/2020

screen capture by Sandra Feen

Last night I had the honor and pleasure of reading for my friend Matthew Hupert's NeuroNautic Institute series via Zoom. The other three featured poets were Robert Gibbons, Karen Hildebrand & Jane Ormerod, and an open mic followed.

 

 

Watch it all here:

 

Follow the NeuroNautic Institute / NeuroNautic Press page on Facebook to stay in the loop for their always fabulous events.

7/23 NeuroNautic Institute Presents Burroughs, Gibbons, Hildebrand & Ormerod

July 23rd 2020 at 7 p.m. Eastern, NeuroNautic Institute, hosted by Matthew Hupert, will present featured readings by three excellent New York City poets—Robert Gibbons, Karen Hildebrand and Jane Ormerod—plus me, followed by an open mic. The reading will be broadcast live on Facebook at the NeuroNautic Institute / Neuronautic Press page. If you would like to participate in the open mic, please contact Matthew soon.

This will be my first featured poetry reading since March 8th in Toledo, and my only one this summer, so I very much hope you'll tune in.

Touring with Kansas City Poet Jeanette Powers This Month!

art/photo by Jeanette Powers

Finally home from the first of three trips to the east coast this month. I will spend today and tomorrow catching up on a million things, including hundreds of emails, a stack of bills, packaging and mailing books, running to Akron to pick up the 2nd printing of Nicole Hennessy's Gypsy Queen, mowing the lawn, getting a pdf proof for Nick Gardner's forthcoming Crisis Chronicles Press book (So Marvelously Far) to him and cleaning my house. Then Sunday, 9/8, in Toledo I will meet up with one of my favorite poets/artists/humans, Jeanette Powers of Kansas City, where we will have the privilege of reading with Barbara Sabol and Clarissa Jakobsons for Uncloistered Poetry at Calvino's Restaurant and Wine Bar.

After that, I will emcee two readings featuring Jeanette in the Cleveland area:

• Tues. 9/10 - Poetry+ featuring Jeanette Powers & Dianne Borsenik at Art on Madison in Lakewood, Ohio.
• Wed. 9/11 - Michelle R. Smith, Rikki Santer & Jeanette Powers at Mac's Backs in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

And then Jeanette's tour will continue as we head to the east coast for these events:

• Sun. 9/15 - Fall into Poetry at Sol’s Path (feat. Jake St. John, Meg Harris, Jeanette and me) in Northford, Connecticut.
• Tues. 9/17 (my birthday) - Woodstock Open Mic Poetry with John Burroughs & Jeanette Powers.
• Fri. 9/20 (her birthday) - Puma Perl's Birthday Bash Pandemonium (feat. Puma Perl and Friends, Annie Petrie, Jeanette, me and more) in New York City.
• Sat. 9/21 - Celebrate Poetry & Prose (feat. John Greiner, Jeanette and me) in Oceanside, New York.
• Sun. 9/22 - Poetry Street with John Burroughs and Jeanette Powers in Riverhead, New York.

Then we'll drive back to Cleveland, Jeanette will fly home, and at the end of the month I'll drive east again to read with U.S. Beat Poet Laureate Paul Richmond and others on 9/28 and 9/29 at the Word Stage at Garlic & Arts Festival in Orange, Massachusetts.

And if that wasn't enough, in October, I'll be heading to Maryland, Kansas City and North Carolina, among other places.

Kate Fox Interviews John Burroughs & Paul Richmond, Recaps Whitman 200

One cool thing that happened during the recent Walt Whitman Bicentennial Convention was meeting Kate Fox and being interviewed for her show. That episode in now online. Our chat begins around the 5:15 mark. Then around the 9:20 mark I read my poem "Disciples" from the recent National Beat Poetry Foundation, Inc.'s 10-year anthology. Many thanks to The Kate Fox Show! Along the way you'll also see a great interview with incoming US Beat Poet Laureate Paul Richmond as well as readings by other groovy people including Colin Haskins, Debbie Tosun Kilday, James Paul Wagner and Kate herself.

Video permalink: https://www.facebook.com/thekatefoxshow/videos/1347164328767741

More Kate Fox: www.katespityparty.com

https://www.facebook.com/thekatefoxshow

From June through August: Prime Events, New Book

After a whirlwind past couple of years of zipping around the country, I only have six events scheduled for between now and August, and I'm extremely excited about them all. Seeking more prime gigs for after my new hardcover poetry book is released by Venetian Spider Press in August! 

5/31 - 6/2 in Hauppauge, NY: Walt Whitman Bicentennial Convention.

6/13 in Athens, OH: Spoken & Heard: Poetry of Departure & Relevance.

6/15 in Columbus, OH: OPA Poetry Publishing & Bookmaking Workshops
 
7/7 in Cleveland, OH: Noise Lunch 7 Year Anniversary Throwdown

7/27 in Cleveland, OH: 2019 Cleveland Inkubator
 
8/1 in Columbus, OH: OPA's Ohio Poetry Showcase at the Ohio State Fair

8/16 in Cleveland, Ohio: SAYMO Poetry featuring Burroughs and Borsenik
 
8/30 - 9/1 in New Hartford, CT: National Beat Poetry Festival and Awards Weekend

The new book is titled Rattle and Numb and will feature cover art by Cleveland's own Emma Anderson. Super grateful to Venetian Spider and their editor/publisher William F. DeVault!

From Here (to Denver to Long Island) to Eternity

My Maine reading this month is being rescheduled. But there are still lots of events featuring Crisis Chronicles Press authors and friends coming up this month. Just off the top of my head:

5/10 in Toledo, OH - Naked Toes Couch Concert at Glass City Roasters.

5/11 in Norwalk, OH - Grey Skies & Blue Hearts: A Poetry Workshop (with Nicole Hennessy, Dianne Borsenik, Claire McMahon & more).

5/12 in South Euclid, OH - Second Sunday Poets at the Cuyahoga County Public Library.

5/14 in Cleveland Heights, OH - CLE Uncorked: Voices and Vines on Lee featuring Sara Minges and more.

5/18 in Kent, OH - Concrete Wink Poetry Reading (Rikki Santer, Sandra Feen & Chuck Salmons)

5/19 in Cleveland, OH - Tongue in Groove Poetry Jam featuring Nicole Hennessy at The Millard Fillmore Presidential Library.

5/21 in Lakewood, OH - Poetry Plus Featuring Kari Gunter-Seymour at Art on Madison.

5/24 in Denver, CO - A very burger weekend: night one hosted by Cheeseburger Nebula Galactic Press at BookBar.

5/25 in Denver, CO - A very burger weekend: night two at Hooked on Colfax.

5/31 thru 6/2 in Long Island, NY - the Walt Whitman Bicentennial Convention (http://www.waltwhitman200.com/).