The Mad Poets Blog

It’s Monday again… what’s going on?

Drop a comment letting us know where you’re reading, where we can read your work, where you’re hosting an event, performing, or where we can buy your book.

As for us, we’ve got a lot going on this week.

*Week of Mar 8*

• Wed, Mar 10, 6:30pm: Amy Laub leads the Mad Poets Critique Circle at the Coffee Club in Media, Pa. Bring 15 copies of one of your own poems for roundtable critique & discussion. Free & open to the public.
• Thurs, Mar 11, 7pm: Ed Krizek (poetry) & Randall Brown (fiction) are the featured readers at the Milkboy Acoustic Cafe mixed genre series. The reading is free, open to public & followed by an open mic. Also, since this is the first reading of the year (sadly, snow killed our Feb reading), this is your first chance to participate in the Open Mic contest & vie for a featured reading in November. Hosted by Autumn Konopka.
• Sat, Mar 13, 2pm: The Business of Words, poetry reading and writing workshop moderated by Tamara Oakman, at the Blue Grotto at Community Education Center in West Philadelphia. Free and open to the public. Bring 10 copies of your own poem.
• Sat, Mar 13, 7pm: Ruth Rouff & Al Taconelli read for the Otherwise-Poetry at Churchill series in Pottstown, Pa. The reading is free, open to public & followed by an open mic. Hosted by Glenn McLaughlin.
• Sat, Mar 13, 7pm: A Little Spring Madness in the Mansion Parlor at the Media Borough Hall. Featured poets include Joseph Dorazio, Amy E. Laub, Linda Fischer & Chris Schaeffer, and Nick Filone is the featured musician. Hosted by Brian Sammond.

It’s Monday. It’s March. The sun is shining, the snow is melting & it’s more than 50 degrees outside (at least it was for a minute or two). All good news.

What’s your good news???? Bring on the shamelessness. Tell us where you’re reading, performing, publishing, etc. etc. etc.

As for us, we’re on the map this week with an all open mic!

*Week of Mar 1*

• Tues Mar 2, 7pm: Open Mic at Steel City Coffeehouse in Phoenixville

Snow — boooo!!!

Looks like the Delaware Valley is going to be deluged with snow – again. Twice in one week. Thrice in one winter. This is some historic stuff here, people. Unfortunately, this historic stuff is forcing us to cancel the MPS Critique Circle at the Coffee Club in Media, planned for tomorrow, Wednesday 2/10 @ 7 pm.

As for Thursday’s reading at Milkboy in Bryn Mawr, we’re playing it by ear. Check the blog & website for updates. And of course, we’ll be tweeting our updates as well, so follow us if you aren’t.

p.s. Considering the sheer volume of snow, not to mention its aforementioned historic nature, we expect inches and inches of snow poems whenever we meet again.

It’s Monday again. That means time to get Shameless with your good news. Reading coming up? Book getting published? Website we should check out? Type it in the comments & let us know. Or tweet it with the hashtag #ShamelessMonday. (And of course, if you’re not following us – @MadPoetsSociety – you should be!)

As for us, we’re really getting back in action this week!

*Week of Feb. 8, 2010*

• Wed, Feb 10, 6:30-8:30 p.m.: The MPS Critique Circle meets at the Coffee Club in Media, Pa. Please note, this is a new location & a new time for 2010. The critique circle is free, open to the public, and will convene in the Coffee Club’s glass-enclosed conference room.
• Thurs, Feb 11, 7 p.m.: We kick off our series at the Milkboy Acoustic Cafe in Bryn Mawr with our annual pre-Valentine’s Love/Anti-Love open mic. This is always LOTS of fun! No featured readers — just you, you, and you reading your poems about love, hate, lust, repulsion, and everything in between.
• Sat, Feb 13, 2 p.m.: Tamara Oakman’s Business of Words poetry workshop moves to the Blue Grotto (at Community Education Center) in University City. The workshop will meet monthly on the 2nd Saturday, Feb thru Nov.
• Sat, Feb 13, evening: The Mad Poets series in Pottstown kicks off… I don’t have full details, yet, but I’ll update later.

There’s some wet weather in the forecast, but the Mad Poets Bonfire this weekend is definitely on!

The Bonfire event officially starts Saturday afternoon/evening, lets say dusk-ish, though there will be folks out there as early as 3 p.m. setting up and picnicing.

You may have heard that a few Mad Poets were planning to head out Friday night for some pre-bonfire camping action… unfortunately, that’s OFF!  With the weather people calling for thunderstorms tonight, we’re not setting up camp until tomorrow afternoon.  But we will definitely be there, with drums & treats & fire & poems, poems, poems. You can go to the Bonfire page on the website for more info & directions.

We hope you’ll come out and play!

There are still a few hours of Monday left (depending on where you are in the world, there me be alot of hours of Monday left)… besides, it doesn’t *really* have to be Monday for you to shamelessly self promote.  So bring it on:  Where are you reading? Where are your poems, stories, essays, etc. published??  Post it in the comments & will do our best to spread & respread the word.

And what about us… HOLY POETRY, BATMAN! We’ve got one busy week!

*Week of Oct. 5*

• Tues., Oct. 6, 7p.m.: Open Mic Poetry at Steel City Coffeehouse in Phoenixville, hosted by Mary Kathryn Morgeneier.
• Wed., Oct. 7, 7p.m.: Mad Poets Critique Circle facilitated by Amy Laub at the Media-Upper Providence Free Library.
• Wed., Oct. 7, 6p.m. – 7:30p.m.: The continuation of Leonard Gontarek’s Self & Place in Poetry workshop. It’s too late to join this workshop, but keep an eye out for future workshops with Leonard. Or if you really need some feedback, like now, head on out to the Critique Circle (details above).
• Thurs. Oct. 8, 7p.m.: Milkboy Acoustic Cafe Series, hosted by Autumn Konopka, featuring poets Quincy Scott Jones, Pat Goodrich & Elizabeth Raby, followed by an open mic.
• Sat., Oct. 10, 1p.m. – 3p.m.: The Business of Words Poetry Workshop, facilitated by Tamara Oakman, at the Univ. of Pennsylvania Bookstore.
• Sat., Oct. 10, 7p.m.: Otherwise – Poetry at Churchill’s, hosted by Glenn McLaughlin, featuring Sean Webb & Autumn Konopka, followed by an open mic.
• Sat.-Sun., Oct. 10-11, 7p.m. – 3p.m.: Mad Poets Bonfire at Ridley Creek State Park.

It’s one thing to talk about starving artists… but there are some way too many people who are seriously starving.  So, this weekend, the Mad Poets are asking anyone reading or dropping by our Annual Festival to bring a non-perishable food item for donation to CityTeam Ministries.

The Festival is scheduled for this Sunday, from 12p-5p, in the Mansion Parlor at the Media Borough Hall, at 3rd & Jackson Streets in Media, Pa. (Get directions)

The Festival features about 40 locally & nationally known poets reading their original work. Some of the featured poets include Alison Hicks, Leonard Gontarek, Amy Laub, Steve Delia, Missy Grotz, and Ed Krizek, among many other talented writers.

The Mad Poets Festival is held in conjunction with the Media Food & Crafts Festival, which takes place on State Street. It is a great opportunity to hear a multiplicity of eclectic poetic voices in a casual, friendly environment. Grab some great snacks on State Street, come hear some poetry, go back for more grub, come back for more poems. Or just hang out, nosh on our light refreshments, listen to the amazing poetry, and chat with the local poets.

Admission is free, but this year, we’re asking all the poets and attendees to bring a canned or non-perishable item to be donated to CityTeam Ministries.  Based in Chester, Pa., CityTeam helps the poor and disadvantaged throughout the Delaware Valley by providing hot meals, safe shelter, decent clothing, and recovery programs.  In addition to the food drive, a representative from CityTeam will be dishing up warm & delicious chicken chili for a $1.00/cup donation.

It’s going to be a great afternoon with of good food and “food for thought.”

So, it’s Tuesday. So, it’s been a month since our last call for Monday Shamelessness. Are we the only ones who fell into the black hole of September??

Without further ado, we invite and encourage your shamelessness.  Where are you reading or performing? Where are you publishing? What the heck is going on in your world??? We want to know!

It’s fall, so things are picking up for us again.  This week is a little light, but we do have our biggest & best event of the year — the Mad Poets Festival — coming up on Sunday.  Check it out!!

*Week of Sept 28*

• Wed., Sept. 30, 6-7:30 p.m.: The Self & Place in Poetry, A workshop with Leonard Gontarek at the Walnut Street West Library (note this is a change of venue!)  The workshop is free, but registration is required. Click above for more info.
• Sun., Oct. 4, 12-5 p.m.: The Mad Poets Festival (woot woot!) at Media Borough Hall.

September starts this week. The bad news is that summer is ending. School is starting back up. Vacation time is over. The good news is that all those reading series that went on hiatus over the summer are coming back soon. Yay!

How about you: What do you have coming up this week, this month, this fall? Let’s hear your good news. Post a comment with the details of any upcoming readings, publications, or other items that might be of interest to other mad poets roaming around the internet.

As for us…

*Week of Aug 31*

• Tues., Sept. 1, 7 p.m.: Open Mic Poetry at Steel City Coffeehouse in Phoenixville, hosted by Mary Kathryn Morgeneier
• Wed., Sept. 2, 7 p.m.: MPS Critique Circle at the Media-Upper Providence Free Library, facilitated by Amy Laub

We’ll see you soon!

Amy E. Laub, of Upper Darby, claims that her poems pretty much write themselves – she just takes notes as fast as she can.  A long-time member of the Mad Poets Society, Amy hosts the MPS Critique Circle on first Wednesdays in Media, Pa.  She also works tirelessly as an assistant editor for the Mad Poets Review. When she’s not busting her hump (for free) for the Mad Poets, Amy gets paid to be a full-time secretary for a public school district.

Amy began writing poems in the third grade when her teacher, Mrs. Clothier, assigned Thanksgiving poems. She found the Mad Poets Society in the late 90s thanks to a flyer in the Media Town Mall.  And thankfully for us, she has been leading the Mad Poets Critique Circle since the fall of 2003.

“The Circle started in April 2003,” Amy explains. “[That fall] Eileen D’Angelo asked me if could take over hosting it.  I was — and still am — honored and thrilled to do so.”

Amy says the Critique Circle includes about 30 local poets, about eight to 12 of whom get together on the first Wednesday of the month at the Media-Upper Providence Free Library.  “We read our original poems and discuss how to improve them,” Amy explains. “The group is warm, friendly, humorous, constructive, and diplomatic.  I find it enormously helpful with my writing.  Newcomers are always welcome.”

Amy is inspired by pay raises, naps, and anything chocolate (it’s pretty hard to argue with those!).  She despises pantyhose and will only wear them if she’ll be rewarded with an open bar (fair enough). Her favorite poet is Sharon Black, a local poet who lives in Wallingford, PA.   The one poem she wishes she’d written:

empty bench–

rain
sits down.

~by Joel Weishaus

Amy’s own aesthetic is simple, but not simplistic.  She excels at finding depth in the “mundane.”  As a poet and poetry leader, Amy is fresh and honest.  Her’s is definitely a voice you should stop and listen to, attentively.  So, come out and do that on August 13th why don’t you??