Rattle and Numb Live #2: "John Cage Engaged and Uncaged"

While quarantined at home, I started a new video series, "Rattle & Numb Live." Here's episode #2, featuring the 2nd poem in my latest book. It's my most known poem, from 2008, but still fits me like a pair of chaps.

For more about the book, Rattle and Numb: New and Selected Poems, 1992-2019, visit https://venetianspiderpress.com. And please subscribe to my YouTube channel as well.

Video permalink: https://youtu.be/Af1JksoTf1s.

The Pragmatic Soundcast features writer/musician Austen Roye

If you're looking for a podcast to check out, I highly recommend The Pragmatic Soundcast "for the DIY Creative." Their latest episode, featuring writer/musician Austen Roye (the author of God Save Your Mad Parade), was just released today and "is brought to you by Crisis Chronicles Press​." Available via Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts and more. Thank you, Adam Roye and Pragmatic Sound Co.​

Listen: https://anchor.fm/pragmaticsoundcast.

Rattle and Numb Live #1: "After Kao Ch'an"

While I'm cooped up at home thanks to canceled events, I started a new video series, "Rattle and Numb Live." In each episode I'll read a poem from my latest book, Rattle and Numb: New and Selected Poems, 1992-2019 [Venetian Spider Press], and discuss it. The first one is only three lines. I'm still experimenting with YouTube Live and working out the kinks, so please pardon any technical glitches. For more about the book, visit https://venetianspiderpress.com. And please subscribe to my YouTube channel as well.

Video permalink: https://youtu.be/1xn7Rnc9FY4. 

CANCELLED: Poetry+ to feature Leah Mueller & Rikki Santer, 3/17 in Lakewood

UPDATE: Dear friends, due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic we have decided to cancel our March 17th Poetry+ featuring Leah Mueller and Rikki Santer at Art on Madison. We and our featured poets were very much looking forward to this. But we love you and want everyone to stay safe. Hopefully we can reschedule Rikki and Leah for a future Cleveland-area date.



Original post:

Poetry Plus at Art on Madison will triple your pleasure on Election/St. Patrick's Day with readings by two acclaimed featured poets - Leah Mueller and Rikki Santer - plus an open mic. Doors open at 7 pm. Show starts promptly at 7:30.

Leah Mueller is an indie writer and spoken word performer from Tacoma, Washington. She has published books with numerous small presses. Her most recent volumes, Misguided Behavior, Tales of Poor Life Choices (Czykmate Press), Death and Heartbreak (Weasel Press), and Cocktails at Denny's (Alien Buddha Press) were released in 2019. Leah’s work also appears in Blunderbuss, The Spectacle, Bad Pony, Outlook Springs, Atticus Review, Your Impossible Voice, and other publications. She won honorable mention in the 2012 Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry contest.

Rikki Santer’s poetry has appeared in numerous publications both nationally and abroad including Ms. Magazine, Poetry East, Margie, The Journal of American Poetry, Hotel Amerika, Crab Orchard Review, Grimm, Slipstream and The Main Street Rag. Her work has received many honors including five Pushcart and three Ohioana book award nominations as well as a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Her eighth collection, Drop Jaw, inspired by the art of ventriloquism, was just published by NightBallet Press. She lives in Columbus, Ohio. Please contact her through her website: www.rikkisanter.com.

Open mic to follow the features, emceed by John Burroughs, Ohio Beat Poet Laureate 2019-2021.

Please note: Poetry+ usually happens on the third Tuesday of each month. For more information, visit our website at https://poetrypluscleveland.weebly.com/. 

Our next Poetry+ event, on 4/21 (National Poetry Month) will feature:
Terry Provost (Lakewood, OH) &
Nick Gardner (Mansfield/Bowling Green OH).

Art on Madison
14203 Madison Avenue
Lakewood, Ohio 44107

Wright/Gill/Burroughs Uncloistered: March 8th at Calvino's in Toledo

My last featured reading at Calvino's in
September 2019 (photo by Jonie McIntire)

My next reading is March 8th at the wonderful Calvino's Restaurant and Wine Bar in Toledo, where I'll have the pleasure of sharing the stage with Sam Wright and Sandra Gill. Many thanks to our host Jonie McIntire!

Uncloistered Poetry

Calvino's Restaurant and Wine Bar

3143 W Central Avenue
Toledo, Ohio 43606

Jessie Herzfeld Artist Talk & Rimbaud-Themed Open Mic on 2/29

Circling Beasts by Jessie Herzfeld
detail of one of the works in her exhibition

Join us at Art on Madison in Lakewood, Ohio, on Saturday, February 29th at 7 pm for an artist talk by Jessie Herzfeld about her current "Illuminations and Visions" exhibition and participate in our Arthur Rimbaud-themed open mic. Read your favorite Rimbaud poem, or share your own Rimbaud- or surrealist-inspired poem or song. Light refreshments will be provided.

Leap into Rimbaud: Jessie Herzfeld Artist Talk with Open Mic

Art on Madison
14203 Madison Avenue
Lakewood, Ohio 44107

Crisis Chronicles Press publishes Gildzen's new Alex in Movieland (1943-1973)

Crisis Chronicles Press is honored and ecstatic to celebrate Valentine's Day with the publication of Alex in Movieland (1943-1973), a major work by one of our favorite writers and artists, Alex Gildzen.

Alex in Movieland is a monumental work defying easy categorization. It is memoir, list, poetry, history and more, all in one, reading like a movie of the author's life in book form, replete with juicy detail. This new volume is 150 pages, perfect bound, 5.5 x 8.5". ISBN: 978-1-64092-947-0. Front cover art by the author. Available now for only $12 from Crisis Chronicles Press, 3431 George Avenue, Parma, Ohio 44134 USA.

US or Elsewhere?

U.S. Addresses $12.00 USD Outside the U.S. $16.00 USD

Click here to read a 2009 Otoliths interview with Gildzen wherein he talks about the origins and evolution of Alex in Movieland, which he began writing in 1996 and is still writing. Our new Crisis Chronicles volume is the first time the entire first thirty years of it have appeared in print. 

Alex Gildzen lives in Palm Springs where he writes every day. In the past year his poems have appeared in the anthologies "Love Jets" and "The End of the World Project." He also makes art — from collages to conceptual pieces such as "The Century Dimes" and "Box of Little Bags." In addition he's become a model — with and without clothes — for artists and photographers.

Poetry+ to feature Bill Yarrow & Laura Grace Weldon, 2/18 in Lakewood

Bill Yarrow

Poetry Plus at Art on Madison will triple your pleasure in February with readings by two acclaimed featured poets - Bill Yarrow and Laura Grace Weldon - plus an open mic. See artist Jessie Herzfeld's fantastic Arthur Rimbaud-inspired exhibition, Illuminations and Visions, while you're there.

Bill Yarrow of Chicago is the author of five full-length books of poetry and five poetry chapbooks. His poems have been published in Confrontation, Gargoyle, PANK, Contrary, Diagram, Thrush, RHINO, Chiron Review, and many other journals. His most recent book is ACCELERANT from Nixes Mate Books. More info: billyarrow.wordpress.com

Laura Grace Weldon

Laura Grace Weldon has published two poetry collections, Blackbird (Grayson 2019) and Tending (Aldrich 2013). She was named Ohio Poet of the Year for 2019. She's written poems on the soles of children’s feet and painted poems on beehives but her work appears in more conventional places such as Verse Daily, One: Jacar Press, Neurology, J Journal, and Amsterdam Quarterly. Laura works as a book editor and teaches community-based writing workshops. More info: lauragraceweldon.com

Open mic to follow the features, emceed by John Burroughs, Ohio Beat Poet Laureate 2019-2021.

Please note: Poetry+ usually happens on the third Tuesday of each month. For more information, visit our website at https://poetrypluscleveland.weebly.com/.

Other upcoming Poetry+ features:

3/17 - Leah Mueller (Tacoma, WA) & Rikki Santer (Columbus, OH)
4/21 - Terry Provost (Lakewood, OH) & Nick Gardner (Mansfield/Bowling Green OH)

Art on Madison
14203 Madison Avenue
Lakewood, Ohio 44107

Ekphrastacy: Artists Speak + Poets Respond (2/13 at Heights Arts)

Me reading at a previous Ekphrastacy in 2018
(photo courtesy of Heights Arts)

This Thursday, 13 February at 7 p.m. I will be one of four poets sharing new work in response to Heights Arts' new Point-Line-Pattern-Plane exhibition. The others will be Ray McNiece, Carson Evans and Cleveland Heights Poet Laureate Damien McClendon.

From the Heights Arts website:

"An exhibition of textile art curated by Janice Lessman-Moss, [Point-Line-Pattern-Plane] highlights a range of work being done by artists in NE Ohio using the distinctive materiality and processes associated with the medium of Fibers.  Although building on a foundation of traditional techniques, all the artists use the language of textiles to create objects of beauty and meaning, reflecting the sensibilities of our time.  Processes such as weaving, stitching and dyeing are used to develop form and surface, while repetition, accumulation, color and pattern are mined for content and character."

Artists featured in the exhibition are Laurie Addis, Elena Brebenel, Si-Yun Chang, Rebecca Cross, Hildur Asgeirsdottir Jonsson, Andrea Myers, Jessica Pinsky, and Katlin Shae.

Ekphrastacy: Artists Speak + Poets Respond

Heights Arts
2175 Lee Road
Cleveland Heights, Ohio 44118
https://www.heightsarts.org/

Jessie Herzfeld: Illuminations and Visions at Art on Madison

A fantastic Arthur Rimbaud-inspired exhibition by artist Jessie Herzfeld will open on February 7th from 6 to 9 pm at Art on Madison in Lakewood, Ohio. Refreshments provided. Hope to see you there! The show will run through March 7th. Check out Cool Cleveland's feature about it.

For more info, see Jessie Herzfeld: "Illuminations and Visions" Opening Reception on Facebook or visit the artist's website, JessieHerzfeld.com.

Art on Madison
14203 Madison Avenue
Lakewood, Ohio 44107

Also coming up at Art on Madison:

February 18th: Poetry+ featuring Bill Yarrow & Laura Grace Weldon
March 17th: Poetry+ featuring Leah Mueller & Rikki Santer
April 21st: Poetry+ featuring Terry Provost & Nick Gardner