The Mad Poets Blog

The Fox Chase Reading Series at 3 Sisters Cafe was packed for Featured Poets Louis McKee and Eileen D’Angelo hosted by Kristine Grow. The open mic complimented the fine features with readings by Ellen Peckham, Bella Feliciano, Arthur Krasnow, Diane Sahms-Guarnieri, Steve Delia and Mike Cohen.

The series resumes on June 28^th at 2pm with Poet Vincent Quatroche  (www.rubbereden.com) and Poet Alla Vilnyanskaya who you can visit at ( http://www.tushkanchik.com )

Don’t forget to visit our featured and guest poets at The Fox Chase Review www.foxchasereview.org

From Eileen D’Angelo

THURSDAY, MARCH 27^TH  at 7:00 p.m.

MAD POETS OPEN STAGE AT TAYLOR’S AT THE OLDE MILL (200 W. Marshall St., Norristown, PA 19401; 610-272-2011)   -   Featuring YOU and a ton of other talented poets and musicians!  Hosted by Eileen D’Angelo.   This restaurant is a four story historic grist mill (circa 1880) This exciting new series will be held on 4th Thursdays through 2008, and offers an entertaining open forum for musicians poets, singer-songwriters– and anyone who enjoys listening to poetry and music is welcome.  Come early and have dinner (or you can also come, on time, at 7 pm, and order dinner during the event.)  The owners offered to make this event a mini-Mad Poets FUNDRAISER, by donating 10% of all dinners ordered that evening to Mad Poets.) See: http://www.taylorsoldemill.com/, you’ll find us on the events page, you can check out the menu, and you’ll get to see this stunning building. The readings will be on the 1^st Floor, (not the 4^th, as previously publicized.) And there is VALET PARKING– no need to drive around trying to find a spot.  

SATURDAY, MARCH 29th at 2:00 pm-

The THREE SISTERS CAFE READING SERIES, hosted by G. Emil Reutter, will present poets LOUIS McKEE and EILEEN D’ANGELO at Three Sisters Cafe, 7950 Oxford ave., (Corner of Loney & Barnes) in Philly, 19111. Phone: 215-725-6848.  An open mike follows.  Come out and join us !!!

MONDAY, MARCH 31^st at 7:00 pm-

“LIVE” AT WRITERS HOUSE presents MAD POETS DAN MAGUIRE, STEVE DELIA, AUTUMN KONOPKA, MISSY GROTZ and EILEEN D’ANGELO, and Musical Guest DEVIN GREENWOOD, at Kelly Writers House, 3805 Locust Walk on University of Pennsylvania Campus. This program will air on WXPN on April 14^th.  Free & open to the public.

          NATIONAL POETRY MONTH EVENTS!

*Something almost every day! Yikes !

FIRST !!   NOTE!  THE PHILADELPHIA WRITERS CONFERENCE DEADLINE TO REGISTER IS APRIL 15TH. I’M ON THE PWC BOARD, IT’S A GREAT CONFERENCE THIS YEAR:  POETRY CLASSES TAUGHT BY KATE NORTHROP + BARB DANIELS; THERESE HALSCHEID ON JOURNALING, MICHAEL SMERCONISH IS OPENING SPEAKER, MARK BOWDEN (AUTHOR OF BLACK HAWK DOWN) IS BANQUET SPEAKER, LORRAINE RANALLI AND BONNIE NEUBAUER OFFER CREATIVITY SEMINARS.. SEE: WWW.PWCWRITERS.ORG AND CHECK OUT ALL THE SPEAKERS & WORKSHOP LEADERS !

    REMEMBER ! ANY WRITERS GROUP OF 7 OR MORE PEOPLE CAN SEND A MEMBER/WRITER ON A PARTIAL SCHOLARSHIP !  INSTEAD OF PAYING $185 FOR THE THREE DAYS.. YOU PAY $100 .. FOR SCHOLARSHIP DETAILS, WRITE RAY PELHAM 1504 WARNER RD., MEADOWBROOK, PA, 19046-1913; SEND #10 STAMPED, SELF-ADDRESSED BUSINESS ENVELOPE FOR INFO.  ACT FAST! CONTEST DEADLINE IS ALSO APRIL 15TH, SO IF YOU ARE COMING TO THE CONFERENCE — YOU WANT TO GET REGISTERED, ONE WAY OR ANOTHER — AND GET YOUR ENTRIES IN !!!

TUESDAY, APRIL 1^ST at 7 PM  -

JOIN US FOR Another STEEL CITY COFFEEHOUSE MAD POET *OPEN MIKE* NIGHT*!   This series has moved from Sundays and are held FIRST TUESDAY NIGHTS at 7 pm, hosted by Eileen D’Angelo.  Located at 203 Bridge St. in Phoenixville, PA  19460; Store # 610-933-4043. You might want to come early & sign up, or email me in advance, at madpoets@comcast.net  (or if you are emailing on the day of the reading, zing a note to my work to reserve your spot:  eileendangelo@comcast.net, since I go straight from work to the readings.

Wednesday, APRIL 2^ND at 7 pm. 

HARVEST BOOK CRITIQUE CIRCLES !  Don’t miss the next MaD CiRcLe on  APRIL 2^ND .  Moderated by Amy Laub.  Bring 10 copies of a poem in progress for roundtable feedback, suggestions, discussion and critique *  Where else can you go to listen to people debate commas and line breaks ?!  It’s more fun than you can stand on a Wednesday night.  Harvest Book is directly across from Trader Joe’s on State St. in Media  (9 E. State St., 19063)

Tuesday, APRIL 8^TH at 7 pm

GRYPHON CAFÉ OPEN MIKE NIGHT - Richard Moyer hosts these cozy readings upstairs at the Gryphon Cafe, located at 105 W. Lancaster Ave., (2nd Fl) in Wayne, PA 19087); Cafe # is 610-688-1988. If you’ve never been there, it’s right on Rt. 30, next to the Anthony Wayne Theatre in the heart of Wayne.  The upstairs at the Gryphon is set up like a living room, and Richard offers a series of intimate gatherings of poets in an informal, comfortable atmosphere, poets who share original work, as well as their favorite poets’ and poems, as well.  A perfect setting for those who are just beginning to share their work, as well as those who are long time mad poets!

FRIDAY, APRIL 11^TH , 7 PM

THE LAST WORD BOOKSHOP

220 S. 40th Street      215-386-7750
(40th & Walnut Streets, U of Penn campus)
The Last Word Bookshop presents Dressing The Muse,

A Poetry Reading With:  Autumn McClintock + Leslie Valdez + Lisa Grunberger + Joyce Meyers + Rafi Lev + Anisa Rahim + Janet Spangler + Alison Hicks + Catherine Bancroft + Hanoch Guy
+ Steven Kleinman + Minna Duchovnay + Sekai Afua Zankel + Christy Schneider.

Hosted by LEONARD GONTAREK.

A Mad Poets Society & Peace/Works Event.

SATURDAY, APRIL 12^TH  at 7 pm

OTHERWISE - POETRY AT CHURCHILL - Mad Poets continue in 2008 at this venue, hosted by Glenn McLaughlin, at Churchill Artisan Baker & Chocolatier, 137 E. high St., Pottstown, PA 19464; 484-941-5100 - Come out to hear poetry by THERÉSE HALSCHEID and BOB WATTS ! An open mike follows.  Bring your poems ! 

SUNDAY, APRIL 13^TH AT 1:00 PM

YOUNG POETS AWARDS READING !

This is one of the most important events Mad Poets hosts all year. The student winners of the Young Poets Contest will come and read their award winning poems at the REDWOOD PLAYHOUSE, 6^th Street in Upland.  (Directions are on the website). It’s heartwarming and amazing to hear these young poets. This is one of the most important events Mad Poets hosts all year.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16^TH AT 6 PM – 8 PM

at the THOMAS DONATUCCI LIBRARY (formerly Passayunk Library)  DIANE GUARNIERI will host poets JC TODD and DANIEL ABDAL-HAYY MOORE, in celebration of POETRY MONTH.  Diane will host this series throughout the spring.. culminating in a special reading in June of her CENTER CITY POETS! Stay tuned!

Thomas Donatucci Library, 1935 Shunk St., Philly, 19145; Library # 215-685-1755.

Garrison Keillor reads Lou McKee’s “Angels” at the Writers Almanac on March 14^th.

To read and have a listen check out : http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/programs/2008/03/10/#friday

From Eileen D’Angelo

A LOTTA NEWS ABOUT UPCOMING MAD EVENTS, BEGINNING WITH:

        THIS THURSDAY, February 21 - 7:00 pm - Mad Poets Presents FOUR FEMININE VOICES:  Kelly Fineman, Minna Duchovnay, Prabhu Prabhu, and Kathryn Morgeneier at the Delaware County Institute of Science, 11 Veterans Square, Media, PA 19083); Hosted by Eileen D’Angelo.  What a way to kick off the new year at the Institute- four talented women poets!   Open mike follows. Let us hear your poems !   Light refreshments served. (Next month, at this venue: March 20th, 7 pm: Don’t miss RACHEL BUNTING + SUSAN DEBORAH KING!  More later.)

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28th at 7:00 p.m. -

MAD POETS OPEN STAGE AT TAYLOR’S AT THE OLDE MILL (200 W. Marshall St., Norristown, PA 19401; 610-272-2011)   -   Featuring YOU and a ton of other talented poets and musicians!  Hosted by Joseph Dorazio.  Each month, Mad Poets will present a special musical guest, to kick off the open mike.  This restaurant is a four story historic grist mill (circa 1880) This exciting new series will be held on 4th Thursdays through 2008, and offers an entertaining open forum for musicians poets, singer-songwriters– and anyone who enjoys listening to poetry and music is welcome.  Come early and have dinner (or you can also come, on time, at 7 pm, and order dinner during the event.)  The owners offered to make this event a mini-Mad Poets FUNDRAISER, by donating 10% of all dinners ordered that evening to Mad Poets.) See: http://www.taylorsoldemill.com/, you’ll find us on the events page, you can check out the menu, and you’ll get to see this stunning building. Note:  all future events at this venue will be on the 4th floor, and it is NOT handicapped accessible.  This first event will take place on the first floor.  And there is VALET PARKING– no need to drive around trying to find a spot.  

TUESDAY, MARCH 4TH AT 7 PM  - JOIN US FOR A

STEEL CITY COFFEEHOUSE MAD POET *OPEN MIKE* NIGHT*!   This series has moved from Sundays and are held FIRST TUESDAY NIGHTS at 7 pm, hosted by Eileen D’Angelo.  Located at 203 Bridge St. in Phoenixville, PA  19460; Store # 610-933-4043.  The first  one in February was a BALL, three musicians and a ton of poets- a screaming good time-  GREAT words and cool music, and a fun get together.  We were there ’til almost 10 pm on Feb. 5th, but these events will normally run from 7 - 9 pm. You might want to come early & sign up, or email me in advance, at madpoets@comcast.net  (or at work to reserve your spot:  eileendangelo@comcast.net, if you are emailing me on the day of the reading, March 4th), so I can put you on the list- it was a long list last time, and some people couldn’t stay ’til the end - so there was some shifting to accommodate the masses!)

Wednesday, March 5th at 7 pm. 

HARVEST BOOK CRITIQUE CIRCLES !  Don’t miss the next MaD CiRcLe on  March 5th at 7 pm.  Moderated by Amy Laub.  Bring 10 copies of a poem in progress for roundtable feedback, suggestions, discussion and critique.   The “usual suspects” who attend this critique circle / workshop are amazingly talented, serious, hardworking poets (say that 10 times real fast!)  Like Missy Grotz says:  these are the kind of people who believe:  YOU WRITE OR YOU DIE !!  All joking aside, I had the opportunity to pop in there last month and it is a great workshop!  Where else can you go to listen to people debate commas and line breaks ?!  It’s more fun than you can stand on a Wednesday night.  Harvest Book is directly across from Trader Joe’s on State St. in Media  (9 E. State St., 19063)

SATURDAY, MARCH 8th at 7 pm

OTHERWISE - POETRY AT CHURCHILL - Mad Poets continue in 2008 at this venue, hosted by Glenn McLaughlin, at Churchill ArtisanBaker & Chocolatier, 137 E. high St., Pottstown, PA 19464; 484-941-5100 - Come out SATURDAY, MARCH 8th at 7 pm,  to hear poetry by FRANK WOLFE, JOSEPH DORAZIO and DOUG ARNOLD! An open mike follows.  Bring your poems ! 

Tuesday, March 11th, at 7 pm

GRYPHON CAFE- Mad Poets also continue at this venue, with Richard Moyer at the helm, and the kickoff reading is Tuesday, March 11th, at 7 pm.  Richard hosts these cozy readings upstairs at the Gryphon Cafe, located at 105 W. Lancaster Ave., (2nd Fl) in Wayne, PA 19087); Cafe # is 610-688-1988. If you’ve never been there, it’s right on Rt. 30, next to the Anthony Wayne Theatre in the heart of Wayne.  The upstairs at the Gryphon is set up like a living room, and Richard offers a series of intimate gatherings of poets in an informal, comfortable atmosphere, poets who share original work, as well as their favorite poets’ and poems, as well.  A perfect setting for those who are just beginning to share their work, as well as those who are long time mad poets!

THURS., MARCH 6th - 7 pm

A-MUSE POETRY SERIES continues in Bucks County through 2008 at the Doylestown Library, 150 S. Pine St., in Doyletown (18901; 215-348-9081), coordinated and hosted by Bill Wunder and Joanne Leva.  Plan to be there on Thursday, March 6th, 7 pm, for a group reading and discussion of two poems:  one by Stanley Kunitz, and one by Galway Kinnell.   

THURS., MARCH 13 - MILK BOY ACOUSTIC CAFE located at 824 W. Lancaster Ave., Bryn Mawr, 19010 (in the Bryn Mawr Film Institute, which is in the old Bryn Mawr Theatre on Rt. 30);   This series is now held on 2nd THURSDAYS at 7 pm through 2008, hosted by Autumn Konopka.  Join us at Milk Boy on MARCH 13th - for LEONARD GONTAREK + ROBERT BENSE, plus an open mike will follow.  (This is another venue that packs ‘em in, best to get there early to sign up for the open mike.)

SATURDAY, MARCH 29th at 2:00 pm-

Fox Chase Reading Series at The THREE SISTERS CAFE  hosted by G. Emil Reutter, will present poets LOUIS McKEE and EILEEN D’ANGELO at Three Sisters Cafe, 7950 Oxford ave., (Corner of Loney & Barnes) in Philly, 19111. Phone: 215-725-6848.  An open mike follows. 

    (Yeah- I know it’s borderline tacky for me to read in my own mad poets’ line-up, but how could I refuse the chance to read with renowned Philadelphia Poet Louis McKee–  and who can say “no” to George Reutter ?!?)

ALSO !!  LOTS OF POETRY MONTH / APRIL EVENTS AND NEWS TO COME …

    **INCLUDING  THE YOUNG POETS AWARDS EVENT, Sunday, April 13, 2008, 1:00 PM, at the REDWOOD COMMUNITY PLAYHOUSE, 6th St. in Upland.  36 Student winners of the Young Poets Competition, sponsored by Mad Poets and the Delco Library System, will read their winning poems.  This is one of most inspiring events we run each year ! Don’t miss these talented students. If you need directions, I got ‘em.  Special thanks to our dedicated 2008 Judges, listed in order of the grade level they judged, 1st through 12th grade:  Janet Burgents *  Emiliano Martin * Richard Bank * Linda Fischer * Autumn Konopka * Courtney Bambrick * Joseph Dorazio * Diane Sahms-Guarnieri * Ed Krizek * Arlene Bernstein * Margaret A. Robinson * Ray Greenblatt.

ANOTHER UPCOMING APRIL EVENT !!

FRIDAY, APRIL 11th at 7 pm - LEONARD GONTAREK coordinated and is hosting THE LAST WORD BOOKSHOP SERIES again this coming year, and the first reading of 2008 will feature a line-up of the talented poets in his workshop.  Don’t miss:  “Dressing the Muse”, featuring * Autumn McClintock * Leslie Valdez * Lisa Grunberger * Joyce Meyers * Anisa Rahim * Janet Spangler * Alison Hicks ( Rafi Lev * Catherine Bancroft * Steven Kleinman * Hanock Guy * Minna Duchovnay * Sekai Afua Zankel * Christy Schneider.  

AND YET ANOTHER UPCOMING APRIL EVENT !!

ON  APRIL 16TH, 7 PM  - A KICKOFF READING FOR A NEW MAD POETS SERIES AT  THE THOMAS F. DONATUCCI, SR. BRANCH LIBRARY, (formerly the Passyunk Library), 1935 Shunk St., South Phila., 19145. Library # is 215-685-1755; hosted by Diane Sahms-Guarnieri, featuring JC TODD AND DANIEL ABDAL-HAYY MOORE on APRIL 16TH, 7 PM !!  Plus an open mike ! Mark your calendars now !!

MORE MAD POETS BALL NEWS!  THE PARTY IS SATURDAY, APRIL 26TH, 7 - 11 PM.  There’s still time to let us know that you want to come out and play with us and celebrate TWENTY YEARS OF BEING MAD !  The event will now be held at CAROLINE’S RESTAURANT, (not Heritage Ballrooms) at 925 Providence Road in Secane, (Del. Co), PA 19018.   $35.00 per person.  (It’s a small price to pay to hang out with your buddies and party for the night - and toast Mad Poets’ two decades of keeping poetry alive !   

    It’s a BUFFET DINNER - Including:  Hand carved Roast Beef, Chicken Scallopine, Tortellino Alfredo, Vegetable Stir Fry, Red Bliss Potatoes, Tossed House Salad, Fruit Salad, Ice Cream and cake.  Hot rolls, beverages, coffee and hot tea are included. (There is a cash bar).   We’re working on booking a D.J. to spin some tunes for us that night!   Directions and info about the restaurant are on the website at http://www.carolinesrestaurant.com    

    ZING ME A NOTE IF YOU WANT TO COME !  I’VE BOOKED THE ROOM,  AND THERE’S STILL SPACE FOR MORE - SO FAR-  40 OF YOU HAVE TOLD ME YOU WILL BE THERE!  And it’s going to be a blast.  (Send checks payable to Mad Poets Society, to P.O. Box 1248, Media, PA 19063-8248.

IF YOU HAVE NEWS YOU WANT INCLUDED IN  THE UPCOMING MAD POETS NEWSLETTER (YES! I am working on getting one out- now that we’ve got so many events lined up for 2008 !) ZING IT TO ME NOW, with “NEWSLETTER NEWS!” IN THE SUBJECT LINE.  Book releases, upcoming readings, etc.  Please include all info (if it’s a book release: how much? Mailing address? How is check payable?;  If it’s a poetry reading, please include the venue address). ALSO !! If you run a reading series or are coordinating special events - and you want to spread the word — Get me that info now, too.  If you don’t have your line-up for the entire year, just give me what you have, name of event or series, the dates/days of week, and location.  Lots of stuff going on out there - and I want to include all of it.)

IF YOU WANT TO JOIN MAD POETS SOCIETY — NOW IS THE TIME to pay your dues to society !!  Kindly send $20 payable to Mad Poets Society, P.O. Box 1248, Media, PA 19063-8248; Stay tuned to the website for our ARTS ANGELS donation information … but for now, if you are interested in being a bonafide MAD POETS, zing us your dues !!      Help keep our many events, readings, programs,workshops, bonfires, critique circles —  and the literary magazine up and running!    IN RESPONSE TO THE MANY INQUIRIES:  YES !!  Mad Poets Society is running the annual Poetry Competition.  Deadline is June 20, 2008.     The website is in the process of being updated (God Bless Autumn Konopka), and with all these changes and events - we’re working our poor web queen to the bone ! Stay tuned for changes.      OTHER NOTABLE DATES: 

SINGER SONGWRITERS NICK FILONE + TOM MULLIAN  WILL KICK OFF THE FIRST MAD POETS STEEL CITY OPEN MIC NIGHT ON FEB. 5TH AT 7  PM!  Hosted by Eileen D’Angelo!  BRING YOUR POEMS AND  SIGN UP FOR THE OPEN MIKE!
Join us for dinner .. we’ll be out there early.. 

Below is the “forward” from Steel City’s announcement about this - and other events; address at the bottom:

Tuesdays- All New in Feb.
1st Tuesday:  Mad Poets Society Poetry Reading & Open Mic:  The Mad Poets Society is moving their reading to Tuesdays Nights at 7:00 PM, hosted by Eileen D’Angelo.  The Mad Poets Society welcomes all poets and musicians to share in this exciting night. 
FREE EVENT

All other Tuesdays in Feb.- Tuesday Night Open Music Jam
Calling all musicians . . . stop in and jam with your fellow musicians in our cozy coffeehouse.
FREE EVENT

On January 26th The Fox Chase Reading Series kicked off the 2008 seasson for the Mad Poets Society at 3 Sisters Corner Café in Fox Chase, Philadelphia. Steve Delia and Kristine Grow shared their poetry in the intimate setting that is 3 Sisters Corner Café. An Open Reading followed by Mel Brake, Mike Cohen and Mike Morell. Special thanks to the staff at 3 Sisters and to Pat.

 Frank Sherlock and the Philadelphia Poetry scene are synonymous. His work has been published widely in the small and electronic press. He is the author of Wounds in an Imaginary Nature Show, (Night Flag Press), Spring Diet of Flowers at Night, (Mooncalf Press), ISO, (furniture press) and 13, (ixnay press). Past collaborations include work with CAConrad, Jennifer Coleman and sound artist Alex Welsh. Publication of his most recent collaborative poem with Brett Evans, entitled Ready-to-Eat Individual is forthcoming in the near future. Frank has hosted a number of poetry series in the city, the latest The Night Flag Series and is a regular contributor to The Philly Sound Blog. You can visit with Frank at  http://franksherlock.blogspot.com/ 

What Others Say About Frank Sherlock:  

“I’ve been lucky enough to see Frank’s work evolve for more than a decade now, and we’ve been even luckier to publish a fair chunk of it here at ixnay press as well. His writing is equal parts body, brain, & spirit - the poems negotiate both the darkest avenues & brighest skies of our fair city, always with the keenest eye, the sharpest wit, the sexiest strut. & by the way, the man can break a line like no one else in the business.” -  Chris McCreary- co-editor, ixnay press 

 “Frank Sherlock’s poetry uses a poetic composting system, where thoughts and noticings which might evaporate or be discarded from the mind are collected and made into an area of material where perceptions and insights can grow. Like Buck Downs, he uses a kind of poetic witness protection program to relocate micro-social speech rhythms, self-reflective process descriptions and figures of speech” - Drew Gardner’s Blog 

The Interview:

Q. You recently survived a battle with meningitis and other health issues as a result of the meningitis. How are you feeling now and what effect did winning this battle have on your outlook on life?  

Well, having the opportunity to have an outlook on life has done wonders for my outlook on life. I think about it less as a battle than a surf outing. Just without the water, the temptations, the sun, or the speedo. But I did have an assless gown in the hospital, which was less comfortable and even less flattering, if you can believe that. Surfing in a hospital bed in late January takes some imagination- or in this case, sick delusions & hallucinogenic painkillers.  I remember being in the hospital bed and imagining watching myself surf on television- like the end of Basquiat, one of my favorite films. But I tried with mixed results to imagine the soundtrack differently because I thought it would change the outcome. As you might remember, things didn’t end well for Jean-Michel. But I don’t want to diminish the seriousness of the situation, because it was serious and there were a lot of friends who were very serious about helping me live. And they did. They helped me live. Battle… This is something to think about. Because I wanted/wished that I was battle-ready, but I was really just surviving- riding this out and hopefully getting through this. And I want to come back to the soundtrack of it all, because it was soundtracked. For days in the ICU, I would awaken in the middle of the night alone, and Jimmy Cliff’s “Many Rivers to Cross” just played over and over in my head. And I love that song, but I didn’t want it in my head. Not for this. It’s a pretty sad song, after all. I wanted something more defiant, a kind of F U anthem. I tried to get The Pogues’ “If I Should Fall from Grace with God” to stick, but it just wouldn’t. So I surrendered to the sadness and just tried to make it through. I won’t be the same when I hear that song again. I hear a snippet whenever I lay down to sleep alone.

  Q. Over the years you have become entwined in the poetry fabric of the city. Your work is enjoyed by academics and blue collar types. To what do you attribute this appeal?  

Academy, meet the street. Street, meet the academy. Talk to each other already. I would like to talk more about blue collars, but they’ve gotten so hard to find here. In the boom of Sixth Boroughness, the homeless population has doubled in the last four years. But I appreciate the notion of appealing to blue collar types because I like to talk to ghosts. My favorite poems are written w/ Slovenian philosophers and Irish bartenders. I am attracted to the genius they’re willing to share. The poems I put my name on are collaborations of encounter. I’m a thief without record, and so I continue to steal. But when they work, the poems are acts of exchange. I have never really written a poem all by myself.
America has enough specialists. Narrowing in becomes a kind of cultural compulsion that I’ve never been so much interested in. If the poems do appeal across academic/everyday folk divides, I’d like to think it’s because they write poems with me, and can hear/see traces of themselves in the speech, in the voiceprints. Maybe that’s the appeal. But a lot of people seem to like my shoes too, so you never really know. 

 Q. It’s two in the morning and you are at the door at Dirty Franks Bar and a poet enters the bar that you recognize and admire; who would that be?

You’d better be pretty special to walk into the bar at two in the morning. That’s my time to go home. So I want to say no one. Nobody’s that special. Okay, that’s a lie. My people are my people, so they’re always welcome on some level, just maybe a little less so at that hour. But there’s at least one person who can show up any time. It will never happen of course, but should she walk through that doorway into the bar & out of the bizarro world, Alice Notley is welcome anywhere I am anytime she feels like. Her combination of integrity & of course her poems are an ongoing source of inspiration for me. And she’s the only poet who ever made me cry during a reading. I look to Alice as a model of the possible. Too many artists get a bit of popularity doing a particular thing, writing in a particular way. They spend the last thirty years of their lives writing more or less the same poem with diminishing drive & effectiveness.
Alice dismantled & rebuilt. She dismantles over & over again coming back to us w/ these beautiful new machines made from the parts surrounding us. These parts are not shiny & new. They’re older than all of us. But they’re functioning in new ways.   A few years ago, I met up w/Alice in Paris at a Vietnamese place for coffee. I remember honing my imaginary poetics, philosophy & mythology speak before we met in preparation for our conversation. Now, she’s family because her biological sons are poetry brothers to me. But family can be the most intimidating, right? We mostly just talked about sex & the police, but that’s not important, let me come back. She has been very generous to my companeros who are writing the most important poetry in the world right now. She’s smart enough to not be too smart for the generations that come after her. This is probably why she can dismantle & rebuild while so many older poets are left watching their own work age. The dedication of her new book reads, “for my sons and their friends.” Come on in, Alice!

Q. Please tell us about “Spring Diet of Flowers at Night” published by Mooncalf Press.  

The poem is dedicated to lovers in wartime. It was commissioned as part of Poetry, Politics & Proximity: the Third Annual Kerry Sherin Wright Prize for an event at UPenn’s Kelly Writers House. It’s a kind of micro-environmental read on political engagement, or a kind of politic of everyday life. Living in the empire is a daily negotiation, creating willful capacities to engage in acts that both oppress and resist oppression all day long. It is a mad age, and trying to live a dignified life within this time is a maddening pursuit. And a necessary one. Not out of the goodness of our hearts, or even some imperialist patronage, but for our very survival as people we’d like to meet if we could meet ourselves on the street. That’s what Spring Diet of Flowers at Night is about for me today. It was about something else when it was written. And it’ll be about something else when you read it again I hope.  

 Q. Who were major influences on you as a developing poet and why?

 There are many of course, but I’d like to talk about my old friend Caesar. He is a high school drop-out & a genius. Our friendship was one founded on argument. Over the years we’d have protracted arguments for hours at a time over the restoration of the Peacock Throne, pornography or the end of the Roman Empire. We argued through science and art, music and history. It was through argument that I came to poetry. He was always, always reading back then. I read a good bit, but I had to really study to make new arguments, and to keep up with him. He is a true autodidact who develops a reputation for his erudition, then rejects any notion of official respect and moves in a totally different direction. When you have someone close to you who isn’t afraid to change their life, it gives you a courage you didn’t know you had until you see it in front of you. He lives the Coltrane adage, “You can learn anything from anyone at any time.” Nothing is dismissed if there is knowledge to be found. He embraces the lesson &/or the joke, whether it comes from a prostitute or a Marine Sergeant or a homeless Lakota man he met on the Broad Street Line. I wasn’t intimidated by the arts because he taught me to apply art through the ages to our everyday lives. His integration of literature in everyday life is without pretense and with great enthusiasm. He spoke of the Iliad’s relevance to the punk rock vs. corner-boy wars around South Street. He noted the Dickensian conditions of Sixth Street below Washington, in the area that was South Philly. He’d see Rasputin at the Woolworth’s counter, and an Ezra Pound look-alike lurking by the peepshows with a large manuscript under his arm. He continues to be an influence because the people I encounter in the city we share are influences as well.

Q. Are you working on any new projects and are there any new works ready for release you would like to share with us?   

Daybook of Perversities & Main Events was recently released on Cy Gist Press. It is called a privilege to grow skeletons that grow to become something. Gunfire resumes. Over Here is a chapbook just out by Katalanche Press. Our true stories have always been different than their true stories. The oven’s been exploded. The bread is still expected. This is for you. Let’s eat.  Anyday now, a collaborative piece I wrote w/ Brett Evans in New Orleans in 2006 called Ready-to-Eat Individual will be released on Lavender Ink Books. It’s a NOLA journal & State-of-the-City poem for the Year 1 A.K. (After Katrina). And this spring, Factory School will be releasing The City Real & Imagined:
Philadelphia Poems. It’s a collaborative wander piece with CAConrad that jumps off at LOVE Park & explores the not-yet histories & archaic futures of Philly that haven’t yet been sold to the New York Times.  

Thanks so much, George. Cheers!

The Mad Poets Society Fox Chase Reading Series kicks off the New Year on January 26 at The 3 Sisters Corner Café at 2pm with featured poets Steve Delia and Kristine Grow. 3 Sisters is located at 7950 Oxford Ave. (corner of Loney and Barnes St. ) in the Fox Chase section of Philadelphia. Come and enjoy two wonderful poetic voices and the great menu at 3 Sisters! Seating is limited so get there early.

Coming Soon:

March 29, 2008- Louis Mckee and Eileen D’Angelo

June 28, 2008 - Vincent Quatroche and Alla Vilnyanskaya

July 26, 2008- Glenn McLaughlin and Arlene Bernstein

September 27, 2008- Autumn Konopka and MacGregor Rucker

BOOK LAUNCH READING OF ELIZABETH McFARLAND’S POETRY COLLECTION,

“OVER THE SUMMER WATER”

      On Thursday, January 31^st, 2008 at 7:30 p.m., the Mad Poets Society will present a special event celebrating the posthumous release of a first book of poems by Elizabeth McFarland, Over the Summer Water, from Orchises Press. The event will be held at The Main Line Art Center, located at Old Buck Road and Lancaster Ave. in Haverford (Old Buck Rd. runs next to Wilke Lexus dealership/across from Wendy’s.)

 Elizabeth McFarland (1922-2005) is the poet who brought poetry into the lives of millions. As poetry editor of The Ladies’ Home Journal from 1948 to 1961, she published new work by many noted poets, W.H. Auden, Marianne Moore, Theodore Roethke, among others; and by the soon-to-be famous young poets, among them Maxine Kumin, Adrienne Rich and Sylvia Plath. Her poems embody purity of feeling in purity of diction and musical structure, and have the fingerprint of her individual style. Rachel Hadas writes, “I am intrigued by the wit that knows what to put in and what to leave out, and the curbed but no less strong sensuality.”

      Her husband of fifty-seven years, Daniel Hoffman, will describe her extraordinary and unique editorial career, and define the distinctive lyric virtues of her poems, of which their daughter, Kate Hoffman Siddiqi, will read a selection. 

      Daniel Hoffman is a former United States Poet Laureate (the appointment previously was known as “Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress”, 1973 to 1974) and is a Chancellor Emeritus of The Academy of American Poets. He has published eleven books of poetry, most recently from Braziller Press, Makes You Stop and Think: Sonnets.  He is the Felix E. Schelling Professor of English Emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania.

      A wine and cheese reception will follow. 

      For information on this special event, contact Eileen D’Angelo at 610-586-9318, email: madpoets@comcast.net; Website: www.madpoetssociety.com.

Those in attendance Thursday evening at Milkboys Café were treated to the poetry of featured poets Daine Sahms-Guarnieri and Tom Devaney.  The reading hosted by Autumn Konopka and Arlene Bernstein was the last of the 2007 series. In addition to the talented features the audience was treated to an outstanding open mic. Special thanks to all those who read in the open!  Mad Poets in attendance included Linda Fischer, Anthony and Brooke Palma, Joe Dorazio, Steve Delia, Louis McKee and Eileen D’Angelo. If I missed you, my apologies.  Special congratulations to the Konopka’s !!!