NightBallet & Crisis Chronicles Presses present Streelight Imaginations 11/23

Crisis Chronicles and NightBallet Presses Present

Streetlight Imaginations — Poets Read from Recent Books

South Euclid-Lyndhurst Branch
Cuyahoga County Public Library
Meeting Room 162 (20)
1876 South Green Road
South Euclid, Ohio 44121

Saturday November 23rd at 2 p.m., join us for an afternoon of vital poetry. Hear from eight poets, all with recent books published by Crisis Chronicles Press and NightBallet Press.

Crisis Chronicles Press poets:

• Nick Gardner, So Marvelously Far (2019)
• Nicole Hennessy, Gypsy Queen (2019)
• Cat Russell, Soul Picked Clean (2019)
• Elaine Schleiffer, Our house on the sand (2019)
  
  

NightBallet Press poets:

• Karen Schubert, Dear Youngstown (2019)
• Lisa M. and Sean Thomas Dougherty, The Answer Is Not Here (2019)
• Julio Montalvo Valentin, Those Who Pray to Rice (2019)

Refreshments provided. Books will be available for purchase and signing, courtesy of the publishers.

Free event! Please register here: https://attend.cuyahogalibrary.org/event/2454819.

Registration is not required, but is helpful to the library in setting up for the event.
 

National Poetry Month Book Fair 4/28 in Old Brooklyn

Come hang with NE Ohio presses including Crisis Chronicles Press, NightBallet Press, Blood Pudding Press, The Poet's Haven and Writing Knights Sunday afternoon, 4/2/2019 at Coffee Coffee Coffee in Old Brooklyn from 2 to 4 p.m.

Coffee Coffee Coffee
4193 Pearl Road
Cleveland, Ohio 44109
www.oldbkcoffee.com

Publishing Poetry in Northeast Ohio: Roundtable, Readings, Book Fair

Join in a lively discussion with regionally and nationally known poetry publishers on Saturday April 13th at the South Euclid-Lyndhurst Branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library.

12:30-2:00 Roundtable

Representatives from Bottom Dog Press, Cleveland State University Press, Crisis Chronicles Press, NightBallet Press, Poet’s Haven, and University of Akron Press will share their thoughts and insights about publishing poetry and answer questions from the audience. Moderated by Bonné de Blas, an MFA Candidate in the Northeastern Ohio Master of Fine Arts program at Kent State University.

2:00-2:15 Break

Enjoy free refreshments while you browse the book fair, talk with local publishers, and check out their publications.

2:15-3:45 Readings

Several authors published by presses in today’s roundtable will read from their work. Books will be available for purchase and signing. Readers will include Phil Metres, Ray McNiece, Rikki Santer, Holli Rainwater, Robin Mullet, Larry Smith and more.

3:45-4:30 Book Fair

Browse the book fair, talk with local publishers, and check out their publications.

Cuyahoga County Public Library
South Euclid-Lyndhurst Branch
1876 South Green Road
South Euclid, Ohio  44121
Phone 216-382-4880

This event is FREE and open to the public. Please RSVP at http://attend.cuyahogalibrary.org/event/1408538.

Pure Poetry in Lorain Bar

Thanks to Geoff Landis and Cleveland Poetics
for this photo of the newspaper clipping

Many thanks to Speak of the Devil, Dianne Borsenik, Dave Lucas and NightBallet Press for a wonderful night of poetry, merriment and ribaldry on Thursday. Good times with good friends, old and new, at We're No Angels: An evening of poetry performances!

We ended up in the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram too. Read Ohio poet laureate Dave Lucas among readers at Lorain's Speak of the Devil by Carissa Woytack.

We're No Angels (Lucas, Borsenik & Burroughs in Lorain 1/24)

This coming Thursday, 24 January, at 6:30 p.m., I will have the honor of reading with Ohio Poet Laureate Dave Lucas and NightBallet Press publisher Dianne Borsenik as NightBallet presents We're No Angels: an evening of poetry performances at Speak of the Devil, 201 W. 5th Street in Lorain, Ohio.

My "Whend" nominated for a Pushcart Prize

This Thanksgiving Day, I'm honored and grateful to learn that my poem "Whend" has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize by NightBallet Press, alongside poems by Alex Gildzen, Bill & Pat Hurley, Sandra Feen, Jeanette Powers and M.J. Arcangelini. Many thanks to editor Dianne Borsenik!

"Whend" was the first significant poem I wrote after my wife Geri's untimely death in 2016. It was published in my 2018 chapbook Loss and Foundering.

Read more at https://nightballetpress.blogspot.com/2018/11/pushcart-prize-nominees-from-2018.html.

Athens, Chicago, Buffalo, Erie and Cleveland Heights the Next Two Weeks

This weekend, I hit the road again.

8/18 from around noon to 3 p.m. - Poets Kari Gunter-Seymour, Dianne Borsenik, Ivars Balkits, Jeffrey Hanson, Becca Lachman and I will share a stage at the Athens Community Arts & Music Festival in Athens, Ohio.  Read Expanded Athens Music Fest Gets Infusion of Art in The Athens News.

8/20 at 7 p.m. - I'll be the featured poet for this month's installment of the Waiting 4 the Bus: Weirdo Open Mic series at Uncharted Books in Chicago, Illinois.  

8/24 - I'll be featured poet during the 4th Friday series at Dog Ears Bookstore & Cafe in Buffalo, New York.

8/28 - I'll be featured poet during the Poetry Night series at Calamari's Squid Row in Erie, Pennsylvania.

8/30 - I'll be back in Cleveland Heights to celebrate my friend Joe Arcangelini's new NightBallet chapbook release at Mac's Backs.

I look forward to seeing you somewhere somehow.

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!

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

 

Loss and Foundering, my new book from NightBallet Press, available for pre-order

I am thrilled to report that NightBallet Press will publish my new poetry book, Loss and Foundering, on 2 April 2018. But if you pre-order a signed copy now, you will also receive a rare broadside of one of my poems that is not in the book.

In June 2014, 48th Street Press published broadsides of two of my poems. They only made 20 copies of each. Since I only distributed a few at the time and stashed the rest away for a special occasion, I still have 11 copies of "Words Dance" and 11 copies of my "Makes Her Mark." Since that special occasion has arrived, I will pick one broadside to send to the first 22 people who pre-order Loss and Foundering.

UPDATE: The free 48th Street Press broadsides I mentioned above have all been claimed. But fear not, we have more incentives! The next 20 people who pre-order Loss and Foundering will receive a different rare broadside, a new 2018 NightBallet Press edition of my poem "Low Kay Shun," numbered and signed. Only 22 copies of this new broadside will be printed (with me and the publisher keeping 1 each), so the only way anyone be able to procure one is by being one of the next 20 people to pre-order my new book.

Thank you for your love and support.

www.nightballet.com

Crisis Chronicles Press publishes Hourglass Studies by Krysia Jopek

Crisis Chronicles Press is very pleased to announce the publication of Krysia Jopek's stunning new poetry chapbook, Hourglass Studies, on 31 October 2017.

"Krysia Jopek’s poems in Hourglass Studies are not so much linear as Möbius: they twist back upon themselves in ways hauntingly familiar, while offering surrealistic flashes of the outré. Reading this book is like having your own Tarot cards read: you find yourself spellbound, immersed in questions and answers, hints and predictions, that all make sense in the end."

     —Dianne Borsenik, NightBallet Press publisher and
     author of Age of Aquarius, Collected Poems 1981-2016

Where Do You Want It?

United States $7.00 USD Elsewhere $10.00 USD

Hourglass Studies is available for only $7 US from Crisis Chronicles Press, 3431 George Avenue, Parma, Ohio 44134. ISBN: 978-1-940996-46-2. Dimensions 5.5 x 8.5". Perfect bound. Cover design by Dale Houstman. 26 pages featuring 12 poems / studies.
 

Read sample poems from Hourglass Studies at Meta/ Phor(e) /Play.
 
Please join us for the official book release party November 21st, 7:30 p.m., at The Outer Space, 295 Treadwell Street in Hamden, Connecticut.

Krysia Jopek’s poems have appeared in The Great American Literary Magazine, Crisis Chronicles Cyber Litmag, Gone Lawn 19, Split Rock Review, The Woven Press, Columbia Poetry Review, Prairie Schooner, The Wallace Stevens Journal, Phoebe, Murmur, Artists & Influence, and other literary journals. She has written reviews of poetry for The American Book Review. Maps and Shadows, her first novel (Aquila Polonica 2010), won a Silver Benjamin Franklin award in 2011 in the category of Historical Fiction.

11th Annual Western Maryland Independent Literature Festival

My Upcoming Poetry Events in New Jersey and Maryland

Super excited to share a stage with Justin Woo, Chelsea Palermo and Matthew Hupert this Thursday 10/5 at Poetry in the Port #41 hosted by Damian Rucci at Espresso Joes in Keyport, New Jersey...

...and then to attend the Western Maryland Independent Literature Festival hosted by the Frostburg State University Center for Literary Arts, where Dianne Borsenik and I will read Saturday 10/14 at 2 p.m. and Crisis Chronicles Press and NightBallet Press will participate in the book fair.

My Sibyl Lipsmacked

My poem "Sibyl" appears in the just published Lipsmack! A Sampler Platter of Poets from NightBallet Press, Year Five 2016, alongside work by George Wallace, Andy Roberts, Joey Nicoletti, Chansonette Buck, Lenny DellaRocca, D.R. Wagner, Steve Abbott, Robert Walicki, Wolfgang Carstens, Janne Karlsson and M.J. Arcangelini.  I wrote "Sibyl" last year for an Ekphrastacy program hosted by Heights Arts in Cleveland Heights. The poem was inspired by a Herbert Ascherman Jr. photograph, and exhibited next to that photograph during the retrospective Herbert Ascherman Jr.: 40 Years.

106 in 2016

Happy new year! I read 106 books in 2016 - most of them small press poetry works. 23 were NightBallet Press titles, 10 were Crisis Chronicles Press titles I published early in the year, and the three next best represented presses were Green Panda Press, Hyacinth Girl Press and the Cleveland State University Poetry Center. See all 106 here.

In 2017 I plan to read fewer but a lot bigger books.

New review of my The Eater of the Absurd

Many thanks to Michael Marrotti for reviewing my 2012 NightBallet Press book The Eater of the Absurd at Amazon!  He says:

"John is a rarity in the realm of contemporary poetry. The man has a talent for the art form, he's even made me think twice about rhythmic poetry which comes up frequently in this book. I found myself eagerly turning pages towards the next poem. He solidified his rank with me through the poem Fuck Poetry. This is the stand out piece, the pinnacle poem of the collection. It's a poem on writing, which is a subject I've always been fond of. There were a few ambiguous moments, but besides that, the journey was pleasing. John here is worth the time! Do yourself a favor, take a gander."

Check it out at http://amzn.to/2eNqkvM.

Indie Lit Festval this month at Frostburg State University

Crisis Chronicles Press and I are pleased to be participating in the 10th annual Indie Lit Festval at Frostburg State University in Maryland this month.

The press will be part of the book fair, and I will share in a panel on Sustainable Literary Communities with George Guida, Jane Ormerod, and Dianne Borsenik.

For more details, please visit the Frostburg Center for Literary Arts website.

Delirious: A Poetic Celebration of Prince

Many thanks to NightBallet Press for including my poem "From Genesis to Exodus" in their marvelous new anthology, Delirious: A Poetic Celebration of Prince. I'm also thrilled that they used one of my photos on the front cover. The book's official release date is June 7th, which would have been Prince's 58th birthday, but you can order now for only $10 plus shipping.

Six Inches of Beat Attitude

Thank you so much to Charles Joseph and Five 2 One Magazine for this review of my Beat Attitude chapbook (from NightBallet Press). Comes with interview. Six Inches of Glory indeed. I appreciate you giving it to me good.

Breakdown of books I read in 2015

In 2014, I read 75 books, which at the time tied 1994 for the year I read the most books.  This year, I planned to exceed that by reading 100, which I knew was attainable because I planned to read smaller books.  Well, by the end of 2015 I will have finished reading 124.  Of course I've read more than that. But the 124 does not include books that I abandoned in midstream or am still somewhere in the middle of reading.  

In the past, I read a lot more in different genres.  But recently, and especially in 2015, I have focused more on poetry, especially by small presses, and much of it local.  I find myself curious as to how it breaks down, so here are a few statistics on this year's finished books.

110 were print books
14 were e-books

115 were poetry books
9 were other genres

114 were published by small presses
10 were by big presses

73 were published in Ohio:
30 by NightBallet Press
14 by Crisis Chronicles Press
5 by Writing Knights Press
4 by Blood Pudding Press
4 by The Poet's Haven
1 or 2 each (16 in all) by other Ohio presses

56 were written either a) by Ohioans (loosely defined) or b) by multiple authors including Ohioans prominently

50 were published in 2015
18 were published in 2014
56 were published in earlier years

69 were written by men
43 were written by women
12 were collaborative works by both men and women

The last statistics surprised me, because I was fairly certain I read at least as many books by women as by men.

I'm sleepy, and tired or counting, so I guess that's enough for now.  You can check out the full list of books I finished in 2015 at Goodreads, if you wish.

Meanwhile,  I still have stacks and stacks of books I want to read and haven't yet.  So let's keep reading!  And I'll be back soon.