A Poetic Farewell to Vertigo Xi'an Xavier, Friday 8/23 in Akron

Please join us tomorrow (Friday 8/23) in Akron to celebrate the life and legacy of our dear friend Vertigo Xi'an Xavier. 

 

 

5:30 to 8:30 pm at Polymer City Records, 730 Portage Trail Extension W, Akron, OH 44313.

Fair thee well, Vertigo Xi'an Xavier

Stunned and heartbroken. I just learned that my friend Vertigo Xi'an Xavier passed away unexpectedly. Vertigo (real name Chris Draime) was one of the first people I met in the NE Ohio poetry scene. As head of The Poet's Haven, he gave me my first featured reading. He published two of my chapbooks. And that doesn't even begin to scratch the surface. Vertigo was one of the hardest working people in poetry, always generous with his time and talents. I want to say more, but I'm still in shock. Sending love and my deepest sympathies to his family and all who know and care about him.

https://www.paquelet.com/obituaries/Christopher-D-Draime?obId=5599517

Geri Lynne Burroughs, Vertigo, me and Marlana-Patrice Pugh Hamer in May 2009
at the Barking Spider Tavern in Cleveland [photo by Ken Kitt]

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

New Reviews of my Water Works and Chance

Jennifer Polhemus reviews my Water Works (The Poet's Haven, 2017): "My first read in celebration of National Poetry Month 2017...The sensual physicality of John's poetry leaves me feeling like I've taken one too many Vicodin; pleasantly spinning with just a slight annoyance of itchiness. Only some sort of orgasm will distract from the need to scratch. Delightful read!"

Jennifer Polhemus reviews my It Takes More Than Chance to Make Change (The Poet's Haven, 2013): "My second read in celebration of National Poetry Month 2017...What a frolicking good time! In respsonse to 'Tooth Telling', pg. 16, I write: 'So leave your tooth then, / beneath one of my pillows. / I promise you a quarter / moon at dawn. / Give the silver disc / to a Hobbit / hiding in the roots / of my mountain. / He knows what is precious... / the same as you.'"

One More Chance

Cover art by Smith

Thanks to everyone who's bought a copy of my Poet's Haven Author Series chapbook, It Takes More Than CHANCE to Make Change. Publisher Vertigo Xi'an Xavier has just notified me that it's going into a new printing. So if you still haven't gotten your copy yet, you can now for a mere $6.  Just click here.

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.

Flashback to Meet the Presses

photo of Juliet Cook, me (holding Matilda's Battle Waltz)
and Dianne Borsenik by Alexandria Mitchell

Saturday I had the privilege of representing Crisis Chronicles Press at Meet the Presses in Toledo.  Thanks to Lorraine Cipriano for inviting me, and to my co-presenters Dianne Borsenik (NightBallet Press), Azriel Johnson (Writing Knights Press), Vertigo Xi'an Xavier (The Poet's Haven) and Juliet Cook (Blood Pudding Press) for contributing to a fantastic event.

Each of us gave a presentation of 20-or-so minutes. A question and answer period followed.  I read poems from four recent CC Press books, Matilda's Battle Waltz by Tracie Morell, The Night Market by D.R. Wagner, Balefire by Susan Sheppard and Ghost on the Inside by John Dorsey.

Many thanks to Women Unbound for this video of the proceedings:

Permalink: https://youtu.be/frbQxlipcoI

Saturday: Toledo, Detroit - my last two scheduled events until February

Saturday afternoon at 2, Crisis Chronicles Press and I will join Dianne Borsenik (NightBallet Press), Azriel Johnson (Writing Knights), Juliet Cook (Blood Pudding Press) and Vertigo Xi'an Xavier (The Poet's Haven) for Meet the Presses at the Sigmond Sanger Branch Library, 3030 W. Central Avenue in Toledo, Ohio.

Then that evening at 7:30, Dianne Borsenik and I will share poetry during the Ultimate Artist Extravaganza at the SOUL Community House, 32905 Grand River Avenue in Farmington, Michigan (just outside of Detroit), as The Soul Collective of Collaborative Arts celebrates its one year anniversary. Also performing:  Natasha BeautifulThought Anée, One Single Rose, Nina Robb, Ania Ela, and Carla Dodd.  Special music by Kristopher Lamont, an exhibition of Tanya Britt's photography and an open mic!

Crisis Chronicles will be at the Poet's Haven Halloween Jubilee

Crisis Chronicles Press is thrilled to be involved in this spooktacular event hosted by The Poet's Haven on Halloween. We'll have hauntingly good new releases by Susan Sheppard and Kevin Ridgeway (and more) on hand. Plus past CCP authors J.E. Stanley and Steve Brightman will be among the featured poets. Not to be missed! Costumes encouraged!

My Late 2015 Events

Crisis Chronicles Press and I are only officially involved in three more events this year. Hope to see you at one of these:

10/31 - The Poet's Haven Halloween Jubilee in Massillon, OH.
11/7 (2 pm) - Meet the Presses in Toledo, OH.
11/7 (8 pm) - SCCA Presents: Ultimate Artist Extravaganza in Farmington, MI.

My Beat Attitude Chapbook Released by NightBallet

My new book, Beat Attitude, was released on September 17th, my 49th birthday, by NightBallet Press, and made its public debut Saturday the 19th during BeatStreet Cleveland. I'm thrilled with how artfully editor Dianne Borsenik put it together. Beat Attitude is 32 pages and features 23 poems, bound with a pale ivory cover emblazoned with Kevin Eberhardt art and a burnt orange card stock insert. And it's only 5 dollars!

In response to it, Tom Kryss says, "Burroughs takes up the sledgehammer lying at the base of the wall, and like a tray of glassware hurtling down an elevator shaft, centrifugally levitated, romances blown sunflowers forever drawn to the guard rails."

I began a few of these poems as early as 1997, the year William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg passed away. Most were written much more recently. All were either inspired by the Beats and their contemporaries or have a related heartbeat.

I hope you'll order a copy online or see me and pick one up at one of these upcoming events:

10/1/2015 - Caryl Pagel & John Burroughs read at the Literary Cafe in Cleveland.

10/15/2015 - Dianne Borsenik & John Burroughs read at the Root Cafe in Cuyahoga Falls.

10/31/2015 - Poet's Haven Halloween Jubilee at Oak Knoll Park in Massillon.

11/7/2015 - Meet the Presses at the Sigmond Sanger Branch Library in Toledo.

Poems included in Beat Attitude are:

Divided, We Fall Together
Unfinished
Allen Ginsberg Wants You
Orlovsky
Magnetic Repulsion
Hopper
Primacy
Pullet
Inner Expedition
Holy Sheet
Call of Poetry
A Cross Tic
To a Fruit
Reapetition
In Due Season
Aye, Pod
Baloney
LadySings
From BS to BA
More, Man
Mastering Ascension
Cannot Believe William S. Burroughs Is Dead
Invocation

*

Meet the Presses - November 7th in Toledo

Release from the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library:

Come to Meet the Presses to meet and speak with various small and independent literary presses from the greater northeast Ohio metropolitan area. Speakers from Writing Knights Press (Canton, OH), NightBallet Press (Cleveland, OH), Crisis Chronicles Press (Cleveland, OH), The Poet's Haven (Massillon, OH), and Blood Pudding Press (Medina, OH) will share their works and give advice on how to get published. Refreshments will be provided. All are welcome to attend.

Saturday November 7th
2:00 to 4:00 p.m.

Sanger Branch
3030 W. Central Ave.
Toledo, Ohio 43606
Phone: 419.259.5370

Contents of My Books So Far

I had planned to have the final version of my Beat Attitude manuscript to NightBallet Press by now.  It's supposed to be released 19 September during BeatStreet Cleveland, and time is getting short.  This evening, for some reason, in deciding what to include in it while half dozing off and watching the Hall of Fame game, I thought it would be helpful to make a list of which poems appeared in my previous books.  Who knows?  But here they are:

Bloggerel [2008, Crisis Chronicles Press]:

Peer through
Prison Scene
Oppressed
At Mass
Holier than Thou
Past Present Future Tense
Allen Ginsberg Wants You
John Cage Engaged and Uncaged
Lobal Warman
Rapists [*later renamed "Bloodshot"]
Gas Hike Coup


Identity Crises [2009, Green Panda Press]

Identity Crisis
[plus a poem each by Bree and Douglas Manson]


6/9: Improvisations in Dependence [2009, Crisis Chronicles Press]:

Karma Souptra
"One of the Most Illuminating"
Tol' Story
Met a Mat, a Door I Didn't Like
17 June 2009
Do Dew
Rough Love
Preacher Gunn [*later renamed "Fire, Brimstone"]
Tell a Vision
rip


Identity Crisis [2010, Crisis Chronicles Press]:

Identity Crisis [revised]


Electric Company [2011, Writing Knights Press]:

I Hear Change
For One [*bonus poem only appears in the 2nd edition, 2014]
Out and In Audible
Strongsville Coffee
Mercy Less
K(lar)iss(a) [*renamed Kiss in the 2nd edition, 2014]
More, Man [*bonus poem only appears in the 2nd edition, 2014]
Cannot Believe William S Burroughs Is Dead
Tell Them I Am Sent You
Think You Very Much
A Poem Like John Dorsey
Zzzz Bra
Plus Sighs [*bonus poem only appears in the 2nd edition, 2014]
Come Pass
Electric Miasma
Alarm Blocks


Water Works [2012, Recycled Karma Press]

Cover Girl
Wet
Dish Work
Peace in Queues
Been Dover Beach
After Kao Ch'an
A Taste of Heaven
Rain Blow
Is Rain or Rhyme the Greater Crime?
Dry Cast
Can Do
Bier
O T
Numb And
Peacing It Together
Loveshot
Halfwet Dream
Heart
Stream of Con
Jesus Drank
Green Heart
Piss on Arson
Much Adieu (or, The Opposite of Coming)
Last Call
(Therefore) I Am?


Lens [2012, Crisis Chronicles Press]:

Lens


Barry Merry Baloney [2012, Spare Change Press]

Clothes n Time
Red
Trans Mission
Statuesque
Lady Leda
The Wanterror
Pa Tricked
Sleep Indictment
Angler
Bone


The Eater of the Absurd [2012, NightBallet Press]

The Final Frontier
Idée Unfixe
Lit (Er, a Tour)
     I. See
     II. Leave
     III. Land
Art Achoke
Kill All
Unwhet Dream
Roué Let
Low Kaye Shun
Fuck Poetry
Disciples
Ahem (A Hymn)
Christianity
Dry Blind
Three Nights' Drafts
Two Against Nature
From Here to Inequity
Stimulus
Numb and Numbered
Three Dot Night
The Beater of the Absurd
Diarrhea of a Mad Mind
Will, or "A Way of Heming"
Kenyon: A Review
Gatha
Under Aware
Mark This
Lens


It Takes More Than Chance to Make Change [2013, The Poet's Haven]

Top Less
Keyed Up
Note to Self While Writing
Horror Scope
First Watch
Razed
Out (Not Fade Away)
Going Mobile
This Un
Et Tu?
Tooth Telling
On Cadillac Mountain
Slipping Backwards into Blue Eden
Align
More Than Sax
Met Hymn
Perfection Per Fiction
pAR(T)adox
A Wrinkle in Time
Jean Cocteau
Down
HermAphrodite
CRYst
Break Fast
My BIOS
Expiration Date
Deep Seated
Solstice
Can It
Moment Tarry
Being the Change Is Not Enough
Way Erred Scenes Inside a Jazz Mine
Change You Can Believe In


Oct Tongue -1 [2014, Crisis Chronicles Press]

Oct. Dawn
Pitching a Wake
Hungry in Cleveland
Fuck It
Words Dance
Training Camp
Need Not
What's Left?
Bubbly
Ink Welling
Makes Her Mark
Blank Et
Reggie Bush in Cleveland
Three Sum
Iamb Not
Hell In
Rough Morning
Going Garbanzo
Near Black Jack
Slo Brr
Po-Poetry
De-Carton
Bon Appétit
Po' 'Em
Y in Tasting
Soft Opening
Dead
Priorities
Cheating
Muddle Fruit
Fine
[plus 31 poems each by Mary Weems, John Swain, Steven Smith, Lady, Shelley Chernin and Steve Brightman]


Beat Attitude [2015, NightBallet Press] 

Divided, We Fall Together
Unfinished
Allen Ginsberg Wants You
Orlovsky
Magnetic Repulsion
Hopper
Primacy
Pullet
Inner Expedition
Holy Sheet
Call of Poetry
A Cross Tic
To a Fruit
Reapetition
In Due Season
Aye, Pod
Baloney
LadySings
From BS to BA
More, Man
Mastering Ascension
Cannot Believe William S. Burroughs Is Dead
Invocation


Loss and Foundering [2018, NightBallet Press]

My Me Mine
Booking
Sibyl
Running at Empty
[ ]ending
No
Howl
Half Write
Instrumental
Climate Change
Birther
An Augur Ration
Maybe Both, at Least the Latter
Le Ruse et le Waaa
Abbreviate
Fucking A
Tiger Woods
LeBron Jesus Returns to Cleveland
From Genesis to Exodus
N' yet
Twilight
Unfounded
Whend
Suite Melissa


* 

Update:
On 9/21/2015, I added the titles of the poems in Beat Attitude.
On 1/23/2019, I added the titles of the poems in Loss and Foundering.

Twelve books I've read in January 2015

Vending Machine: Poetry for Change, Volume 5 [2014, The Poet's Haven Press]
Double Life by Heather McNaugher [2014, NightBallet Press]
When I Pick Up My Wings from the Dry Cleaner by Lisa Cihlar [2014, Blue Light Press]
Where You Are by Jason Irwin [2014, NightBallet Press]
Unscathed by Jennifer Hambrick [2014, NightBallet Press]
Sister, Blood and Bone by Paula Cary [2013, Blood Pudding Press]
oh yes, this was earned: blood poems for non-violent lovers by Kate Sopko [2005, self published]
They Talk About Death by Alessandra Bava [2014, Blood Pudding Press]
Be Closer for My Burn by Robin Wyatt Dunn [2015, Crisis Chronicles Pres]
Men and Their Whims by Laura Madeline Wiseman [2013, Writing Knights Press]
Blink-Ink #18 edited by Doug Mathewson [2015, Blink Ink Print]
Rotations by Jake St. John [2015, NightBallet Press]

https://www.goodreads.com/user_challenges/2067883

My Primacy in the Vending Machine

My new poem "Primacy" appears in the book Vending Machine: Poetry for Change Volume 5, to be released Saturday 11/22/2014 by the Poet's Haven. To get a free copy, take a food donation to the launch event at at Karma Cafe in Canton, Ohio, at 6 p.m.  Featured performers will be Akeem-Jamal Rollins, Mark Sebastian Jordan, Nikann Charney and Nikie Decay.  For more details, see the  Facebook event page.