Ocean State Writing Conference!!!

It's almost here folks and it looks like it's gonna be a whole lot of fun! Make your way to the University of Rhode Island's Kingston campus to listen to some of the hottest ( you know what I mean...) writers around talk about their craft. And you better not miss poet Patricia Smith wow us on Saturday!!! It begins this Thursday afternoon, the 18th of June, runs all day Friday and Saturday. There's a dinner Friday night where you can schmooze with other people who love language, I mean really, what else is going on for the heart and mind in these parts??? Can we all give Peter Covino, the founder of the conference and the conference organizer, Clea Liquard, a big hug and applause, please?


Go check out their website at http://www.uri.edu/summerwriting/ or their facebook page ( but of course) at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kingston-RI/Ocean-State-Summer-Writing-Conference/87222136117?ref=ts.

What poets are you reading?

Today my students picked some contemporary poets to study ( only criteria was that he/she was alive and had published at least one book). So...here goes, Sharon Olds, Louise Gluck, Ada Limon, Peter Covino, Michael Cirrelli, Gary Snyder, Denise Duhamel, Kay Ryan and others that I cannot remember right now. Hmmm...what poets are you reading these days? Ada Limon just got a poem ("Crush") published in the New Yorker!!! I love Ada, she came to read at URI via the wonderful Peter Covino and she is terrific, funny, and gracious. Go read her poem at www.newyorker.com /fiction. Oh and visit her blog, too. Link's on this page. Send me any interesting poetry stuff that is happening or that you want people to think about.

long time coming...

Five weeks since I've visited these parts and lots of stuff has happened in the world of poetry ( the world I am bouncing around in these days)...since the slam, I took a class to Yale to hear two young poets read at the Bienecke Library and to see the Picasso and the Allure of Words show with recordings of Gertrude Stein playing above your head while you looked postcards they sent to each other. Jennifer Moxley and G.E. Patterson read from their work-- always good to hear new stuff. Moxley has a new collection that sounds pretty wonderful, Clampdown. A couple weeks ago saw Patricia Smith at the Mystic Arts Center - she blew the house away. Pretty amazing stuff and cool, cool, cool delivery. Her performance from her latest collection, Blood Dazzler, was truly mesmerizing. Don't miss her at the upcoming Ocean State Summer Writing Conference happening at URI's Kingston campus on June 18, 19, and 20th with featured Guests: Louise DeSalvo, Robin Hemley & Patricia Smith. Visit their website, http://www.uri.edu/summerwriting/, for details and to register.

Slam and Happy National Poetry Month

First, Providence Poetry Slam at AS220 is a good, fun, cool thing to do the first Thursday of each month. Packed room, neat artwork, and lots and lots of poetic energy. You have to go and volunteer to be a judge, as I did, which made the whole experience.. ummm, visceral.
I am looking around as always for more poetry out loud and surprise, surprise, it is everywhere! Friday night, April 17th at Mystic Arts Cafe heard Brian Turner read from his miraculous new book,Here, Bullet, but he didn't really read so much as recite, deliver, expound, he had those poems in his head without having to read them. He calls himself, or somebody calls him a "soldier poet" as he spent a year in Iraq and wrote there about there...He was very good, his poems troubling, disturbing, making me squirm, but wanting more. Patricia Smith reads there on May 15th at 7:30 and you need to go see her, according to Brian Turner and a whole lotta other people! Rhonda Ward opened for him, she's a New London poet and while she read I got the feeling that Williams is absolutely right, all the news, the "important stuff" as Ray Carver called it, is in the poem.

You all have to go to Perks and Corks on May 4th for the Pier Poetry Project's monthly poetry bash from 6 to 8 P.M. It's in Westerly, at 45 High Street, come and listen or read, or both, and have a drink, too.

Thursday afternoon with D.A. Powell

It was good to be in the cozy Hoffman Lounge ( is it a lounge or a room?) last Thursday surrounded by people who care about poetry. D.A. Powell has a wonderful, dreamy voice, at least to this listener, and he savored each word so deliberately it reminded me of why it is so essential to listen to a poet read his/her work aloud. Glad to see the old members of the "avant garde poetry society" ( I think we should name ourselves that)... Shannon and Tatiana. The brie and crackers were delicious! Thank you Peter Covino for everything you do ( even if you told me you never read blogs) and everybody do come to the next southside of the state poetry reading which I believe will be on May 4th, at 6 P.M. at Perks and Corks in Westerly, RI. They have very good martinis I've been told. More info to follow.

Amazing Beginnings!

First ever poetry night at Perks and Corks a fabulous success! Thanks to all you lovers of words who came and listened, read, performed, and drank! Thanks to P&C for hosting it. What a cool way to spend a Monday night... we hope to be back next month. Meanwhile take note that National Poetry Month approaches and watch this blog for upcoming poetry events worthy of your gasoline money.

Poetry LIVE!

Just a week till the first ( we hope monthly) poetry reading at the delightful Perks and Corks, a wine/coffee bar at 40 High Street in downtown Westerly, RI. This is a cool place with sofas and comfy chairs, intimate, as they say...it's just staying open on this Monday from 6-8 PM for poetry so come on down and listen, listen, and read your own poem or someone's that you admire. It's a wonderful thing to have a local place for poetry. That's March 23, a week from this Monday, and a fine way to pass the time until Spring and all...