Last November, the poetry world lost an important man: Louis McKee passed away at the age of 60. McKee was a long-time Mad Poet, and this Sunday, we will celebrate Lou — his life, his work, and his friendship — at the Mansion Parlor in Media Borough Hall.
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All the deets for this week’s critique circle
Please join us this Wednesday, March 9, 2011, 6:30 to 8:30 pm for the Mad Poets monthly critique circle in Media, Pa. We will again be at our temporary location directly across the street from the Coffee Club. We’ll be at:
Harris & Smith
211 W. State Street
Media, PA 19063
(in the Media Town Mall, first floor)
As always, we’ll read and hear cool poetry and enjoy the companionship of other local writers. We have some aMAZingly talented writers around here — come feast your ears.
I know that 6:30 is a bit early for some of you — please come a little late if need be. You are always welcome whenever you can get there. We will, however, start promptly at 6:30. When you arrive, have a seat, wait for the discussion in progress to end, then we will catch you up with copies of our poems, and pass around copies of yours.
Critique Circle participants follow these guidelines:
- Turn off cell phones, or switch to silent mode.
- Refrain from interrupting/holding side conversations. One speaker at a time, please.
- Speak up loud enough so that everyone can hear you.
- Be open to constructive suggestions. Don’t argue, don’t defend, just LISTEN.
There is plenty of FREE street parking in Media in the evening, so don’t feed the meters.
Bring 10 copies of one of your own poems-in-progress for constructive, fresh, and friendly ideas on how to strengthen it. We read each poem out loud and discuss it. You are also welcome to attend without a poem of your own, to just listen.
We “pass the hat” (actually, the mayonnaise jar) for MPS programs and publications. Eileen D’Angelo, Director of the Mad Poets Society, uses these funds to help defray mailing, publication, and event costs for MPS. Our collective donations have made us one of the “Arts Angels” supporting MPS. If you cannot afford a $1 or $2 donation this month, don’t worry about it … no one keeps track of who gives what when.
AT LONG LAST: Mad Poets Book Party
It’s been a while… thanks to budget cuts and general financial yuck, it’s been a lot longer than any of us would have liked. But this weekend, we are thrilled to finally release Volume 23 of the Mad Poets Review!!!! We’ll be celebrating on Saturday, starting at 11am, at the Delaware County Institute of Science.
Mad Poets Review, Vol 23
Volume 23 is definitely worth the wait! Bigger than your average MPR, this is an extra-stuffed, stunning issue — 272 pages, perfect bound, and filled with incredible poetry from local favorites, like Joe Roarty and Dan Maguire, as well as nationally renowned poets, like Therese Halscheid and Paul Martin. Sneak a peek at the Table of Contest below the jump.
For those who haven’t been to a book party before, it’s a read-till-you-drop extravaganza, where we go through the issue cover to cover and any published poet who’s there gets to read his/her work. Come for all or part. Come for great poetry. (I also have it on good authority that there will be some scrumptious munchies!) The party starts at 11am at the Delaware County Institute of Science.
TABLE OF CONTENTS Read more →
Thursday Oct 21st: Fiction & Poetry at the Delco Institute of Science
Tomorrow night, the Delaware County Institute of Science will host Bill Wunder, Tracy MacNish, and special guest, open mic contest winner, Margaret Robinson. The featured reading, which is hosted by Brian Sammond, starts at 7pm and is followed by an open mic!
Poet Bill Wunder
Bill Wunder is the author of Pointing at the Moon (WordTech Editions, 2008) and a chapbook, A Season of Storms (Via Dolorosa Press, 2002.) In 2004, he was named Poet Laureate of Bucks County, Pennsylvania. His poems have been widely published, and he has twice been nominated for the Pushcart Prize in poetry. Bill has been a finalist numerous times in The T. S. Eliot Prize, and the Allen Ginsberg Poetry Awards. In 2010, he was nominated for a Pew Fellowship in the Arts. He has read and lectured in local schools, colleges, festivals, book stores, libraries, and on public television. Bill serves as Poetry Editor of The Schuylkill Valley Journal, and lives with his two black labs in Bucks County.
Novelist Tracy MacNish
Tracy MacNish has published four historical novels for Kensington Publishing, has written short, experimental fiction, and is working on a contemporary novel as well as another historical novel.
Finally, we are delighted to present Margaret A. Robinson as the Institute’s open mic contest winner. Robinson earned her reading by impressing audiences at the Science Institute time and again with powerful open mic performances. Robinson’s work has appeared recently in Prairie Schooner, and she is the author of several volumes of poetry including Sparks (Pudding House Press). She is an adjunct professor of Creative Writing at Widener University.
Margaret Robinson is the first of three audience-chosen readers the Mad Poets will feature this fall. Votes are still being tallied for the series at Churchill in Pottstown and Milkboy in Bryn Mawr. Stay tuned.
Today’s the day: MPS Festival Lineup
Today’s the day — the 23rd annual Mad Poets Festival happens this afternoon from noon – 5p (????) at Medial Borough Hall, 3rd & Jackson Streets in Media, Pa.
And you know how there are usually 40+ poets?  This year its 59!!! (With 8 more on “standby”). We’re really excited to have former U.S. poet laureate Daniel Hoffman making a special guest appearance to read our last poem of the day.
Each poet will read for 5 minutes — just check out the incredible line up.
First Set
Host: RICHARD MOYER
12p – ROCKY MARCELLUS
12:05 – SHARON RITROVATO
12:10 – CHERYL FILIPPONE
12:15 – RON FISCHMAN
12:20 – RACHEL VOHRA
12:25 – BARBARA TORODE
12:30 – CAROL CLARK
12:35  – BRIAN SAMMOND
12:40  – MEL BRAKE
12:45  – MICHELLE DOUGHERTY
12:50 –  JANET SADLER
12:55  – DONALD LaBRANCHE
1:00  – MISSY GROTZ
1:05 – Â PRABHA NAYAK PRABHU
Second Set
Host: MEL BRAKE
1:10 – RICHARD MOYER
1:15 – DAVE WORRELL
1:20 – BETTI KAHN
1:25 – CONNIE BERESIN
1:30 – AWILDA CASTRO
1:35 – BILL DANKS
1:40 – ALICE WOOTSON
1:45 – JOYCE MEYERS
1:50 –  JANET MASON
1:55 – J. MASE III
2:00 -Â JOE ROARTY
2:05 – MUSIC from SILVER WIND
Third Set
Host: Â EMILIANO MARTIN
2:10 – KENNETH WOLMAN
2:15Â – KARL WENCLAS
2:20 – ED KRIZEK
2:25 – KASIA NEWCOMER
2:30 – NICK LUTWYCHE
2:35 – LISA LUTWYCHE
2:40 – CAROL CLARK WILLIAMS
2:45 – BILL HOLMES
2:50 – RUTH ROUFF
2:55 – CHARLES CARR
3:00 – SUSAN H. ROBBINS
3:05 – TAMARA OAKMAN
Fourth Set
Host:Â TAMARA OAKMAN
3:10 - STU O’CONNOR
3:15 – STEVE DELIA
3:20 – DEVIN COHEN
3:25 – AMY SMALL Mc-KINNEY
3:30 –  AZIZA KINTEH
3:35 –  JANET SPANGLER
3:40 – JOANNE LEVA
3:45 – EMILIANO MARTIN
3:50 – LIZ CHANG
3:55 – MICHELE BELLUOMINI
4:00 – LEONARD GONTAREK
4:05 -Â MUSIC from SILVER WIND
Fifth Set
Host: LEONARD GONTAREK
4:10 –PHILADELPHIA’S VOICES OF A DIFFERENT DREAM, SUSAN WINDLE & ELLEN MASON
4:15 – AMY LAUB
4:20 – GABRIELLE BC “PLUMDRAGONESSâ€
4:25 – LISA BARON
4:30 – MARY LOU STREZNEWSKI
4:35 –  RAY GREENBLATT
4:40 – ANN RUSSEK
4:45 – PETER BAROTH
4:50-Â BILL VAN BUSKIRK
4:55 – DANIEL ABDAL-HAYY MOORE
5:00 – DANIEL HOFFMAN.
The Mad Poets Society is honored to be hosting so many talented poets in one venue in afternoon. See you there!
THURSDAY 9/16: Poetry & Open Mic in Media
If you’re on the loose this Thursday, make sure to drop by the Delaware County Institute of Science in Media for a wonderful poetry reading featuring Harriet Levin Millan and Jeffrey Ethan Lee.
Poet Harriet Levin Millan
Prize winning poet Harriet Levin Millan is the author of two books of poetry. Â Her debut collection, The Christmas Show (Beacon Press) was chosen by Eavan Boland for a Barnard New Women Poet’s Prize. That book also won the Poetry Society of America’s Alice Fay di Castagnola Award. Â The Philadelphia Inquirer named it a Notable Book of the Year. Her second book, Girl in Cap and Gown (Mammoth Books) was a 2009 National Poetry Series Finalist. A PEW Fellowship in the Arts Winner in Poetry and a graduate of the Iowa Writer’s Workshop, she co-directs the Program in Writing and Publishing at Drexel University. Â Her story, “Yalla!,” which is part of a novel she is writing about the Reunion Project that seeks to reunite Lost Boys of Sudan with their mothers, will appear in the Kenyon Review in January 2011.
Poet Jeffrey Ethan Lee
Jeffrey Ethan Lee has been Senior Poetry Editor of Many Mountains Moving, Inc., a 501(c)(3) since 2007. Lee’s poetry book, identity papers (Ghost Road Press, 2006) was a 2007 Colorado Book Award finalist. His first full-length poetry book, invisible sister (Many Mountains Moving Press, 2004) was praised in American Book Review, North American Review, and Rain Taxi Review, among others. Lee won the 2002 Sow’s Ear Poetry Chapbook prize ($1,000) for The Sylf (2003), created identity papers for Drimala Records, published Strangers in a Homeland (chapbook with Ashland Poetry Press, 2001). He also published hundreds of poems, stories and essays in North American Review, African American Review, American Poetry Review, Xconnect, Crab Orchard Review, Crazyhorse, Crosscurrents, Green Mountain Review, Washington Square, & Other Voices. He also won the first Tupelo Press award for literary fiction in 2001 for a novel, The Autobiography of Somebody Else. He has a Ph.D. in British Romanticism and an MFA from NYU. Text and audio samples can be found here, here, here and here.
This month’s reading, hosted by Brian Sammond, will also be your LAST CHANCE to read and/or vote in the Science Institute’s open mic contest. The Institute has kept its ballot box sealed all year long, and after this last reading, we’ll crack it open to find out who will win the coveted featured reading spot in October. Oooooh the anticipation!
As always, the reading starts at 7pm at the Delaware County Institute of Science, 11 Veterans Square, Media, PA 19063.
Critique Circle Tonight CANCELLED
Downer of the week:
Tonight’s Mad Poets Critique Circle, facilitated by the illustrious Amy Laub, at the Coffee Club in Media, PA is cancelled. Boo!
We’ll see you next month (Wed, Oct 13th). Bring 10 copies of your poems and a supportive, creative spirit open to sharing, learning and growing as a poet.
COMING UP: Annual Mad Poets Festival
It’s almost that time again. The annual Mad Poets Festival is mere weeks away, so mark you’re calendars and get yourself signed up ASAP if you’d like to participate in this 5 hour extravaganza of poetry!
The particulars:
The Mad Poets Festival
Sunday, October 3rd
12p – 5p
Media Borough Hall
3rd and Jackson Streets
Media, PA
Every year, the Mad Poets Festival takes place in conjunction with the Media Food & Crafts Festival, which features bands in the streets, unique crafts, all types of art — and every kind of food you can imagine. So head down to State Street for some great eats & then head over to Media Borough hall to get some fine poetry to go with it. The Festival will spotlight more than 40 poets and musicians. If you’d like to be one of them, contact Eileen D’Angelo ASAP, make sure to “FESTIVAL” in the subject line of your email.
This year, the Mad Poets Festival will again be a fundraiser for CityTeam Ministries of Chester. We ask readers and attendees to bring nonperishable food items and/or to purchase a cup of the delicious chili that CityTeam will be selling for just $1 a cup at the event.
Shameless Monday #35
Rainy days and Mondays…. eh…
This blechy weather has me dying for just a little bit of sunshine. So let your light shine, why don’t ya?!? Share your good news: your upcoming readings, performances, or appearances; the places where we can read your work or buy your books; your radio shows, your articles, your blogs, your websites, your online stores, etc. etc. etc. It’s all about you, so get shameless!
As for us…
*Week of Mar 15*
- Thurs, Mar 18, 7pm: Student Poets from Academy Park High School in Sharon Hill will read at the Delaware County Institute of Science. This event is co-sponsored by the Greater Philadelphia Poets for Young Voices. Come on out to support these budding poets!
Shameless Monday #34
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.
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