Call for Submissions: Quiet Machine/Wild Mouth

What truths can be found at the threshold where nature is becoming technology and technology is reshaping nature? Send one-page poems with your take on the theme of “Quiet Machine/Wild Mouth” to localpoetsguild@yahoo.com (subject line Machine Wilderness) by Oct 1, 2012 and we’ll consider them for our “Public Reading Project.” International submissions are welcome with English translations. This rather unique publication opportunity is sponsored by Local Poets Guild, in conjunction with 516 ARTS and the 18th Annual International Symposium of Electronic Art, which is being held in Albuquerque this year.

What do you get if selected?

1. Selected poems will be exhibited as projections  in a silent open mic.
2. A few poets from the region will be invited to perform as part of the  spoken interludes.
3. Possible publication.

Huh?

Lisa Gill, author of five collections of poetry with two more forthcoming, designed this project after thoroughly enjoying a “silent open mic”  at a Seattle Poetry Festival in the 90′s.  There, throughout the festival, a dark and silent room was available to sit down and take respite from the noise while still enjoying poetry–visually–as projections. For this variation on a theme, Lisa  invited  Sari Krosinsky (author of “god-chaser” and editor of Fickle Muses –an online journal of mythic fiction and poetry) to help curate the selection process for projections and quietly host the event, which will also include spoken interludes and projected visual/text works by Andreas Maria Jacobs of the Netherlands. Andreas won the e-poetry residency which Local Poets Guild offered for ISEA 2012.

AND CONSEQUENTLY, on November 10th, at 516 ARTS from 3-5pm, poems will be projected in silence for audience members to read and contemplate.  A few poets from the region will be invited to perform their poems during brief spoken interludes. The night will also include comments and a reading by co-curator Sari Krosinsky and projections of work by Andreas Maria Jacobs of the Netherlands.  Some authors will also have the opportunity to be published online at Fickle Muses: An Online Journal of Myth and Legend, which Sari edits, and other blogs and publications to be announced.

WHAT’S ISEA?

ISEA2012 Albuquerque: Machine Wilderness is  a symposium and series of events exploring the discourse of global proportions on the subject of art, technology and nature. The ISEA symposium is held every year in a different location around the world. Albuquerque is the first host city in the U.S. in six years.

WHY DO WE LOVE 516 ARTS?

516 Arts forges connections between art and audiences, and their vision is to be an active partner in developing the cultural landscape of Albuquerque and New Mexico. Their values are inquiry, diversity, collaboration and accessibility. 516 ARTS offers programs that inspire curiosity, dialogue, risk-taking and creative experimentation, showcasing a mix of established, emerging, local, national and international artists from a variety of cultural backgrounds. And they never forget literature…

–lg

Monday April 9 East of Edith Features Emily Morelli

7 pm Monday April 9 East of Edith features Emily Morelli with hosts Lisa Gill and Jennifer Krohn at the Projects 3614 High STreet NE (east of Edith and north of Candelaria). Here’s a quick one-poem taste of the kind of poetry Emily writes. Can’t wait to hear her set! And don’t forget, East of Edith is also an open mic. Come read, come listen, enjoy!

St. John’s Feast Valley Falls , Rhode Island*

The band blares John Philip Sousa right into the ear

of the Virgin, who is chipped and weighs a ton.

She wants to get off the pedestal, but the four

Portuguese Dads biting their lips as they

shoulder the poles won’t relent.

They heft her down Broad Street and

around Calvary Cemetery , crunching acorns on the macadam.

She longs for another person’s songs,

anything but the anthems and the doggerel,

chatter and noise in the procession, the church,

the cemetery. She whiffs the red

wine-soaked beef, salted and turned

on the spit over the abyss of charcoal

they’ve lit for the crowd—the twins in matching

ankle socks and dresses and black-laced avós whose

pleasure hides in their mouths:

the meat and pão and heavy

red wine. That’s where the Virgin wants to sit—

next to the old women on the scratchy cross-hatchings

of aluminum folding chairs, near the hissing,

tongue-clucking, immaculate gossip.

–By Emily Morelli

 ”I grew up in Burrillville, Rhode Island and have lived in Colorado and Massachusettes. I’ve lived in Albuquerque for ten years, and have been writing poetry, fiction and essays for what seems to be a long time, now. I’ve recently published in Prarie Schooner and Tuesday: An Art Project, and have several poems forthcoming in an anthology of Portuguese-American poets. I’m currently working on a couple of collections of poems.”

*sorry the blog wouldn’t preserve stanza breaks….

East of Edith Features Jenn Givhan April 2

Monday Night at 7pm we have our regular open mic at the Projects (3614 High Street NE, east of edith and just north of candelaria through the open garage doors). Rich Boucher will be our host and if you’re familiar with his mind in any form, whether writing, hosting, or chattering, then you’ll know he’ll be getting up to some kind of stellar surprise. Our feature this week April 2nd is a very talented poet we’re happy to welcome back to the stage, Jenn Givhan.

Jennifer Givhan was a 2010 PEN Center USA Emerging Voices Fellow, as well as a  finalist in the 2011 St. Lawrence Book Award Contest through Black Lawrence Press.  Her work has appeared widely, most recently in Rattle, The Los Angeles Review, Stone Telling, The Acentos Review, Crab Creek Reviewand The Southwestern Review. Originally from the Southern California desert, she now teaches composition at CNM and is working on her first novel In the Time of Jubilee. You can visit Jennifer online at http://jennifergivhan.com.

Then the next week, April 9th, our feature will be Emily Morelli.

Come join us to listen to great poetry! Come join us to share your own work or other favorites!

Hope to see you!

lisa gill

East of Edith Open Mic Rides Once Again

Last Monday our first open mic and feature of the season was tremendous. 18 readers and a featured set by Don McIver. Stellar high class work all around. We’re back again this Monday with the ever-wildly-imagined-and-richly-replete universe of Rich Boucher as host, and John Amen–editor of Pedestal Magazine as feature.

John Amen is the author of three collections of poetry: Christening the Dancer (Uccelli Press, 2003), More of Me Disappears (Cross-Cultural Communications, 2005), and At the Threshold of Alchemy (Presa, 2009). His collaborative work with Daniel Y. Harris, The New Arcana, will be released by NYQ Press in September 2012. His work has appeared in numerous journals nationally and internationally and been translated into Spanish, French, Hungarian, and Hebrew. In addition, he has released two folk/folk rock CDs: All I’ll Never Need (Cool Midget 2004) and Ridiculous Empire (2008). He is also an artist, working primarily with acrylics on canvas. Further information is available on his website: www.johnamen.com. Amen travels widely giving readings, doing musical performances, and conducting workshops. He founded and continues to edit The Pedestal Magazine (www.thepedestalmagazine.com).

As usual, the fun starts 7:00pm at 3614 High St. NE, which is a warehouse theater just north of Candelaria, West of the I-25 and East of Edith. You go through the open garage doors…

LOOKING AHEAD

Monday March 19 will feature Reed Adair Bobroff with host Teresa Gallion

Monday March 26 will feature Bonnie Arning with cohosts Lisa Gill and Jennifer Krohn

April LPG event at 516 ARTS

*
Saturday, April 28, 4pm

516 WORDS: Judge for Yourself

presented in partnership with the Local Poets Guild

516 ARTS presents a poetry reading in celebration of National Poetry Month in conjunction with the New Mexico Showcase juried exhibition. The reading features New Mexico poets from the fields of Law, Politics, Environmental Advocacy and Education. Join us to find out how work informs poetry and whether poetry can work for New Mexico.  this event is organized by Lisa Gill, 516 ARTS Literary Arts Coordinator.
Erin Northern is currently a kindergarten teacher with Albuquerque Public Schools and the founder and co-organizer of OUTSpoken, Albuquerque’s first Queer Poetry Slam and Open Mic.

Bill O’Neill is currently in his second term as State Representative in the New Mexico State Legislature, and also works as the Development Director for the Parole Empowerment Program.

Raymond Zachary Ortiz is a District Court Judge and has just released his first book of poems, We Had More to Say: Poems from the Pilgrimage Road. A native of Santa Fe, his family and ancestors have lived in Northern New Mexico for over four centuries.

Beata Tsosie-Peña* is the Program Coordinator for the Environmental Health and Justice Program at Tewa Women United, which includes youth-focused and intergenerational activities. Her first publication was a report for the CDC (Centers for Disease Control).

* pictured
516 WORDS is made possible in part by Arturo Sandoval in memory of Anna Kavanaugh Sandoval.

FYI: Next Duende Reading in Placitas March 18th

Carol Moscrip, Deborah Coy, Rich Boucher
Poetry Live Performance
March 18^th Sunday at 3pm
and Pamela Hirst will introduce the new Beatlick Press

the stunning trio Deborah Coy, Pamela Adams Hirst (publisher) & Carol Moscrip

Rich Boucher the amazing performance poet who will keep you in stitches

(don’t worry Anasazi Fields Winery will help get you out)

Let’s Celebrate, It’s March! And poetry is alive – it’s more than alive – it might save your life!

Duende Poetry Series, Anasazi Fields Winery,

Placitas, New Mexico

http://www.anasazifieldswinery.com/ To reach the winery, turn onto Camino de los Pueblitos from Highway 165 in the old village of Placitas, across from the Presbyterian Church. Drive past two stop signs and turn left into the winery parking lot. From outside Placitas, take I-25 to Exit 242, drive six miles to Placitas and follow Camino de los Pueblitos through two stop signs to the winery. Non-alcoholic drinks will be available!

A Free Event in Celebration of America’s Freedom of Speech

DONATIONS TO PERPETUATE THIS VERBAL FROLIC ARE GRATEFULLY ACCEPTED

FYI: This Month is Women & Creativity

Hi, so March is Women & Creativity. For the full schedule you can check out this link. Here I just want to give you a heads up about two events:

First, Jessica Helen Lopez is teaching a writing workshop that runs all Tuesdays in March. It’s called La Palabra: The Word is a Woman Writing Workshop and you can find more details at the women and creativity link above or in the IQ. Start this Tuesday March 6th.

Also Valerie Martinez wants to invite you to a Multi-Generational Women’s Reading on Saturday March 10, 2012 starting at 6 pm. It’s free and open to the public and takes place in the Domenici Education Center at the National Hispanic Cultural Center.

This is a very special event celebrating poetry, the New Mexico Centennial, and Women & Creativity Month. New Mexico poets, youth, adults and elders read their own poetry as well as writing by prominent New Mexico women poets of the last one-hundred years.

Featured Readers/Poets:  Mary Oishi, Michelle Otero, Tanesia Hale-Jones, Tylaya Gachupin, Maya Honegger Rogers, Serafina Martínez Ridgley, Kira Pelowitz, Evelyn Olmos, Sofia Martínez and Xantha “Violet” Zuni.

After the reading, there’ll be food and conversation, celebrating a legacy of New Mexico poetry from generation to generation.
PRESENTED BY: Littleglobe (www.littleglobe.org)

East of Edith Returns Monday!!!

East of Edith is the mainstay of Local Poets Guild, our weekly open mic and feature, where you can hone craft, try new work, have great conversations, and hear new poets.

We closed for the winter because the venue didn’t have heat–but we are back!!!

So this coming Monday the 5th of March, please bust out some new writing and join us at the Projects at 3614 High Street NE. (Just West of i-25 and East of Edith, and barely North of Candelaria–enter through the open garage doors.)

I’m going to host this one, and if you’ve been before you’ll remember that when we host this, we always intersperse short poems or stanzas or quotes between every poet.  I’m persusing all my books trying to figure out who I’d like to read…

Before we start I’ll also give you all a quick update of what’s up with the Guild, and we’ll have a special feature…. and everyone is invited to read. We  keep a two-poem limit, or one longer poem, about 4 min per person.

Hope you can join us— this is weekly! And I will tell you now that our feature for March 12th is John Amen (who will be doing a few things for Local Poets Guild) and our feature for March 19th is Reed Adair Bobroff…. the 5th will be a surprise!

Hope to see you soon,

Lisa Gill

(It might still be a touch chilly–so wear a sweater or bring a coat

Last Night’s Roost, More Music Tonight!

Last night was another fabulous roost. Poets Katrina Guarascio, Jessica Helen Lopez and Zachary Kluckman kicked off each set with a-poem-a-piece backed up with perfect accompaniment by Glenn Buddha Benavidez. Stellar and nice nuance. Perfect set up for the trio called “Now Playing”…

I have a mountain of personal reasons for loving the music of “Now Playing”, too hard to articulate, but today we are lucky to have great write-up about the music from Mark Weber. Here’s what he has to say:

 

 

Bravo to Robert Muller, Ben Wright, and Dave Wayne of the group NOW PLAYING for building a repertoire on the music of Horace Tapscott, what a tremendous idea. It sure brought back a gang of memories. Horace Tapscott was a deep part of my musical life thirty years ago. Horace Tapscott (1934-1999) was a legend in the jazz world of Los Angeles, rarely venturing outside the boundaries of South Central, a musical visionary who hoped for a better life for Black people in America.

So, it was very interesting to hear this music removed from the cultural milieu from which it was created for.  NOW PLAYING made justice ring, and still you could hear majesty in the anthemic militant marches Horace created in the aftermath of the 1965 Watts Riots (“Dark Tree,” “Nyja’s Theme,” “To the Big House”) and still you could hear the beauty of his vision, so close to an Ellington, a Dameron, a Frederick Douglass view of the world,  such songs like “Wiletta’s Walk,” (where I had a deja vu experience seeing Mr Muller’s hands dance on the piano exactly the way Horace’s used to — made me think the music calls for such a choreography, that the hand movements are inherent in the music itself).   And still you could hear elegance and civility.

It was Dave Wayne’s idea to bring this music to light, and I think, in that, this group is the first to look into this giant trove of great music.  (I found it interesting in talking with the pianist Robert Muller at the break that he has studied the music of Andrew Hill, how so appropriate, Andrew and Horace were friends and did, at least, two concerts together in the 80s.)

I had forgot how beautiful the composition “Bavarian Mist” could be.  So much of Horace’s music was in catharsis  –  so much of it designed to hold a community together that was crumbling under the sledge hammer of economic disparities and vacant opportunity.  I remember a concert of Horace’s big band The Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra where he had 25+ saxophones screaming and wailing a giant angry Dostoyevskian reminder that: WE EXIST and will not be destroyed.  Horace could bring all that to the front in huge swirling grandeur, he stood on the stages of America and Europe and proclaimed it over and over and over.

And now it is so gratifying to see a little trio from Northern New Mexico bringing forth this important thing in America.

And for the very groovy and hip new performance space THE PROJECTS standing forth to make such art forms like poetry and protest music be not dead.   And these annual summer series of “out” musics, under-valued and avant musics, serious musics, and brilliant expressions of humanity,  of THE ROOST curated by composer & tuba maestro Mark Weaver,  do what Michael Vlatkovich says, “It’s about fairness.”   I said, “Fairness?” “Yeh, Mark is concerned that these types of music have a forum.” Michael doesn’t say much but he says a lot.

Does somebody have a grand piano they could donate to THE PROJECTS?

–Mark Weber

KUNM Thursday Jazz deejay

5sept11

I really really love that final question, loved the evening and am grateful Mark Weber took the time to write up a moving night. And tonight, Monday September 5th, DON’T FORGET, Aaron Trumm brings his band to the East of Edith Open mic. See Rich Boucher’s great write-up here.

–LG

This is NOT Zeno’s Roost

“	That which is in locomotion must arrive at the half-way stage before it arrives at the goal.	”
—Aristotle, Physics VI:9, 239b10

Some of you may be familiar with Zeno’s Paradox, which says movement is impossible.  Before you can get from point a to point b you have to get to the halfway point. And before you get to that half way point, you have to get earlier half way. And the one before that. And the one before that. Things keep chopping up so small and halved, that movement is impossible.

REALITY WORKS DIFFERENTLY, AT LEAST WHEN IT COMES TO THE ROOST. WE HAVE NOW MADE IT TO THE HALFWAY POINT IN THIS 8 WEEk SERIES OF MUSIC AND POETRY AND THIS BLOG POST IS NOTHING BUT A WARNING THAT IF YOU DON’T GET TO THE ROOST SOON, YOU MIGHT MISS IT.

So you don’t know about the ROOST? This is project created by Mark Weaver to celebrate creative sound, improvisation, jazz. Local Poets Guild is proud to be a collaborator in this project and what we provide is a kick-off to each event with a poet we’ve attempted to “match-make” to the music.

ONLY 4 MORE SHOWS LEFT.

This week’s show is the Fifth in the series. Now Playing: three of northern NM’s finest improvisers join forces to address the earthy and volcanic music of Los Angeles’ legendary pianist and bandleader Horace Tapscott. Pianist Robert Muller, bassist Ben Wright, and drummer Dave Wayne promise to “stretch the music out in some very interesting ways”. And the poets opening this week are also a “trio”, a trio who toured together and have an at times almost inseparable rapport. You’ll hear a few minutes each from Katrina Guarascio, Zach Kluckman, and Jessica Helen Lopez. The energy from their poems will spark off each other’s work… these three are interconnected .

Let me just give you one plug: Jessica’s bio…

Jessica Helen Lopez is a three time member of the City of Albuquerque Slam Team and the 2008 National Champion Winning UNM Lobo Slam Team.  She has been the Poet-In-Residence in several New Mexico High Schools and continues her work in the classroom.  Mother to a vivacious nine year-old daughter, Lopez’s work has been published in UNM Press’s,  A Bigger Boat: The Unlikely Success of the Albuquerque Slam Scene, Chicago Open Mic America Vol I, Feminism Now, Poetic Diversity, The Pedastal and Destructible Heart Press’s, Albumar Familia.  Additionally, she was the co-editor for Earthships: A New Mecca Poetry Collection 2007, a finalist in the NM Book Awards.  Lopez is a member of the Macondo Foundation. Founded by Sandra Cisneros, it is an association of socially-engaged writers united to advance creativity, foster generosity, and honor community. Some other activities and panels she has been apart of are the National Hispanic Cultural Center’s VOCES: A Writing Institute for Youth, Feature/Workshop Instructor for the 12^th Annual Las Mujeres 2007 Conference in Madison, Wisconsin, and has also  provided Poesia sin Fronteras  workshops/performances for the Verse/Converse Taos Poetry Bout and Festival 2009 and 2010.  She is the defending champion of the Silver Tongue Taos Poetry Slam. Lopez continues to organize not-for-profit poetic events and projects in and around Albuquerque, NM.  She has currently worked as the poetry intern at UNM’s literary magazine, Blue Mesa Review.  Her first collection of poetry entitled, “Always Messing With Them Boys” has just been published through West End Press.

Come join us.

The Roost co-sponsored by Local Poets Guild

7:30 PM Sunday Sept 4 @ The Projects (3614 High Street NE) $5

 

–LG

[Beautiful Photograph of Jessica by Gina Marselle]