The Mad Poets Blog

Thursday’s reading at Milkboy was another great one. Poets Katherine Bode-Lang and Cliff Lynn along with essayist Krista Eastman brought diverse and complementary styles that highlighted the surprising connections that arise from individuality.

Even more surprising was the dynamic open mic — which included a whopping 19 readers with talent a-plenty!!! And for the 3rd month in a row, the game has changed, and we have new leader in the open mic contest. The real shocker is that May’s winner — and now contest leader — actually made his Milkboy debut just this month. What’s still more mind blowing, he’s a high school student! That’s right, with just one poem, newcomer Elliot Levy, of Harrison High School, over took both Steve Delia & Howard Lieberman, to regulars who have been mounting votes for the past three months! But I wouldn’t count either of them out so quickly, since they’re still holding firm in 2nd & 3rd. It’s also important to note that there are alot of other regulars who keep on accumulating. Sure, it’s a cliche, but it’s still anybody’s game.

*Open Mic Contest Rankings*
as of May 13, 2010

1.  Elliot Levy (total votes: 9)
2.  Stephen Delia (7)
3.  Howard Lieberman (6)
3.  Betti Kahn (6)
4.  Linda Fischer (5)
4.  Jess Bouchard (5)
5.  Karen Stern (4)

The way this thing is going, I can’t wait to see what happens next month!!!

How are you kicking off National Poetry Month (NaPoMo, to the web 2.0 crowd)? Are you starting a Poem a Day challenge? Are you cracking open a new collection of verse or perhaps re-visiting an old favorite? Well, whatever you’re doing, make sure you leave time to check out a very special event at the Swarthmore Public Library.

Daniel Hoffman

This Thursday, April 1st, the Mad Poets Society presents Daniel Hoffman at the Swarthmore Public Library. This is a rare and wonderful opportunity to hear one of the best poets of our time in an intimate, personal setting.

Hoffman has published 13 books of poetry in a long distinguished career. From 1973 to 1974, he was Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress (the appointment now called the Poet Laureate). He also is a Chancellor Emeritus of The Academy of American Poets. His poems have won numerous awards, the most recent from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and from The Sewanee Review.

In describing Hoffman’s poems, Stephen Dunn said, “In them is a lifetime of careful observance, the voice rarely raised yet passionate in its precisions, the man behind it enough a lover of life to have been properly critical of the way we’ve lived it.”

The Whole Nine Yards by Daniel Hoffman

Read & hear Daniel Hoffman’s “The Center of Attention” on poets.org.

On Thursday, Hoffman will read excerpts from his latest book, The Whole Nine Yards, and also from Over the Summer Water, a collection of poems by his late wife Elizabeth McFarland, who was poetry editor of The Ladies’ Home Journal from 1948-61.

This program begins at 7:30 p.m., hosted by Linda Fischer. The event is free and open to the public. After the reading, Daniel Hoffman will be available to sign books.

It’s Monday… and again with all this rain! Blech!

Oh well, we press on into Spring, and as we press, we pause every once in a while for a great reading, a new book, a unique performance, etc. etc. etc. You just point us where to go. Get shameless and post a comment promoting yourself and your upcoming events!

Here’s what we’ve got going on this week. Thursday is a doozy for us!!

*Week of March 29*

• Thurs., April 1, 7:30p: Daniel Hoffman, former U.S. Poet Laureate, will read at the Swarthmore Public Library. This very special event kicks off National Poetry Month! It’s free and open to the public, and will be hosted by Linda Fischer.
• Thurs., April 1, 6p-8p: The Light of Unity Association and the Mad Poets Society present the 1st Thursdays performance series at the University of Pennsylvania Bookstore. This month, the line-up includes Deborah Derrickson Kossman, Peter Baroth, Michael Steffen, Denice Frohman (Ms. Misconception), Cole Larry Eubanks, Shani Sheryl Asantewaa, Strothers, and music by Jafar Barron & Anthony Mohammed. Admission is $7, with proceeds split between the performers and OIC International.

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!

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.

Tamara Oakman, of Philadelphia, has recently completed “Snatch” her MAE thesis project at Arcadia University. She’s been published in Mad Poets Review, Philadelphia Stories, Best of Philladelphia Stories, Many Mountains Moving, and other journals. She runs a series at the Parkway Central Library called The Light of Unity Artist’s and Writer’s Series 2009.

Earlier this year, Tamara initiated a new poetry workshop series for the Mad Poets Society. The Business of Words workshop meets at the University of Pennsylvania Bookstore on the 2nd Saturday of every month, from 1 p.m. – 3 p.m. (The next meeting is Sept 13th.)  You can check her out sooner by heading over to Milkboy Acoustic Cafe this Thursday at 7 p.m. for the Mad Poets Hosts Reading.

Mary Kathryn Morgeneier and all of her various personalities (Kat, Kate, Katie, Mary K, etc.) live in harmony in Phoenixville, PA, where she hosts the Mad Poets Steel City Coffeehouse open mic.

Katie was a born poet, who began telling stories as early as six years old — in her first confession. “As the line to the confessional grew shorter and shorter, I remember working my thumbs into a nervous tizzy,” she explains. “Finally my turn. Bless me Father for I have sinned; it has been no time since my last confession. And then I proceeded to lay a series of colorful but untrue crimes on him. I got ten Hail Marys for my sins, and an extra twenty Hail Marys for lying in my first confession.”

From there, the poetry flowed! Katie says she’s been writing for most of her life but has only been sharing her poetry publicly since joining Mad Poets three years ago.  Like her favorite poet, Emily Dickinson, Katie’s poems are often observations of daily life; she also writes about social issues and personal relationships.

Katie took the reigns of the Steel City Coffeehouse open mic just this year. Her reading is a combination of poetry and music. “The evening turns into a great celebration of the human spirit,” she explains. “Once in awhile it seems that all of the music, poetry, and spoken word resonates with everyone–as if we had all arrived there by divine appointment. It can seem very magical. It’s never dull!”

The Steel City readings happen on the 1st Tuesday of every month; the next one is Sept 1st at 7pm. But, you can catch Katie reading with a slew of other host poets this Thursday at the Milkboy Acoustic Cafe in Bryn Mawr.

Glenn McLaughlin, of Pottstown, PA, is a substitute teacher, recovering bio-tech start up executive, and host of Otherwise – Poetry at Churchill’s. He will join several other poets this week at Milkboy Acoustic Cafe in Bryn Mawr for a table turning evening when the hosts become poets.

University studies in chemistry, years of running and cycling combined with decades of sales in the plastics industry finally led to something worthwhile when his poems began arriving about 10 years ago.  Actually, Glenn can remember almost exactly when his first poem came: “Late April 1997, I think the second half of the month, driving home from Boston, at night, right about when I got on the Jersey Turnpike after crossing the GW Bridge.”

Glenn McLaughlin (the pretty "lady" in the sparkly dress) with G. Emil Reutter at the MPS Book Party

Glenn joined the Mad Poets Society about 5 or so years ago, and since then has spiced up the annual Mad Poets Journal Book Party by dressing in drag. (Yup, that’s him in the dress!)  About three years ago he decided to start a reading series in Pottstown, Otherwise – Poetry at Churchill’s.  ”First, I got tired of having to drive forever to get to a reading if I wanted to hear some good poems,” Glenn explains. “Second, Tanna, the owner of Churchill, wanted to add something to town, something artistic. We started talking one day and the rest is, as they say, history.”

It’s Monday — which means it’s time to do some shameless self-promoting on the Mad Poets blog.  If you’ve ever been to a poetry reading you know all about shameless self-promotion.  So, give it a go:  post a comment letting us know where you’re reading or where we can buy your book or read your articles or hear your spoken word tracks or view pictures of latest vacation… okay, maybe not that last one.  Unless they’re really good pictures & you went some place truly interesting.

New this week, I’m adding a little something extra to Shameless Monday.  I’m going to get a little shameless on behalf of MPS and offer up a little round up of our events for the week.  Here goes:

*Week of Aug 3, 2009*

• Tuesday Aug 4th, 7pm: Open mic poetry at Steel City Coffeehouse in Phoenixville, hosted by Mary Kathryn Morgeneier
• Wednesday Aug 5th, 7pm:  MPS Critique Circle at the Media-Upper Providence Free Library, lead by Amy Laub.

Can’t wait to hear what you’s all are doing this week.  And if you’re not doing anything, well, then I hope to see you at one of our fine events!