First Friday Classic Poetry Series

Friday, Feb 5

7:30-9:30

St Paul’s Cultural Center

2215 W North Avenue

The W4tB Gang Presents

Chris Green, Tony Trigilio, Jan Botiglieri & Larry Janowski

For the Larry Janowski Birthday Bash

2+ blocks west of the Damen Blue Line stop

Street parking available

Beer, wine, soft drinks available @ cool-low prices

Free Admission

Donation Requested

W4tB presents Open Mic at the Bus Stop

7:30pm - 10:00pm
Cafe Ballou
939 N Western Ave.
Waiting 4 the Bus
Featuring John Goode
Hosted by Buddha 309 and the W4tB Poetry Collective.
No cover, suggested donation

milk magazine, new issue

photo by Gautam Narang

milkmag.org volume nine is complete with contributions from Ed Baker, Jessica Baron, Michael Bernstein, Daniel Borzutzky, William Corbett, Steve Dalachinsky, Steve Halle, Duriel Harris, Reginald Harris, Zach Harris, Pierre Joris, Megan Kaminski, Vincent Katz, Amy King, Rob Mclennan, K. Silem Mohammad, Simon Perchik, Kathleen Rooney, Elisa Gabbert, Spencer Selby, Jordan Stempleman, Steve Timm, Arpine Grenier

An online chapbook, Unusual Woods, by Gene Tanta
and Tony Trigilio reviews The Making of Collateral Beauty by Mark Yakich.

http://www.milkmag.org/poetryvolume9.html">

Disturb the Universe: The Avant Garde and Modernism

Thursday, Feb 4th
Disturb the Universe: The Avant Garde and Modernism
Fullerton Hall
Art Institute of Chicago
111 South Michigan Avenue
Free admission

From Guillaume Apollinaire and Gertrude Stein to Bertolt Brecht and Samuel Beckett, avant-garde writers, in synch with artists such as Picasso, charted the future of modernism as it set off in myriad directions. Goodman Theatre actors present excerpts of prose, plays, and poetry.

But laugh laugh at me
Men everywhere especially people from here
For there are so many things that I don’t dare to tell you
So many things that you would not let me say
Have pity on me
—Guillaume Apollinaire, translated by James Wright

Why am I if I am uncertain reasons may inclose.
Remain remain propose repose chose.
—Gertrude Stein, from Stanzas in Meditation: Stanza LXXXIII

In the dark times
Will there also be singing?
Yes, there will also be singing
About the dark times.
—Bertolt Brecht, translated by John Willet

Co-sponsored by the Poetry Foundation and the Art Institute of Chicago

Tuesday Funk

Tuesday Funk
When: Tue., Feb. 2, 7:30 p.m.
Phone: 773-968-2345
tuesdayfunk.blogspot.com


Please join us on Tuesday, February 2nd for the second Tuesday Funk Reading of 2010.
Hopleaf Bar at 5148 N. Clark Street
Reading starts 7:30 PM.
Upstairs room opens 7:00 PM.
Come early to get a good seat.
Cash only at the bar upstairs.


Liza Ann Acosta teaches Comparative Literature at North Park University and is an artistic associate of Chicago's only all-Latina theater company, Teatro Luna.

Mary-Terese Cozzola is a writer and filmmaker. Her prose and poetry have been published in Crawdad, After Hours, and Swivel, and her films have screened at the Gene Siskel Film Center, the Chicago Short Comedy Video & Film Festival, and the Midwest Independent Film Festival. She has performed solo pieces at the Stockyards Theatre Women’s Performance Art Festival and SpeakEasy/SpeakHard: the Malinowski salon. You can learn more about her work at www.mtcozzola.com. She lives in and loves Chicago.

Ryan Philip Kulefsky lives in Chicago, IL and holds an MFA from Bard College. His chapbook, DEAD TWINS, published by Bathroom Reading Materials (2010), is comprised of contributions to an email listserv during the fall of 2009. He teaches writing and rhetoric and American literature at Columbia College.

Brian Russell earned his MFA from the University of Houston, where he served as poetry editor of Gulf Coast. His poems have appeared or will in Mid-American Review; Epoch; Quarterly West; LIT; and Forklift, Ohio; among others. He has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize in the past three years.

Steve Timm is a poet and author of ’n’altra storio, Disparity, and the chapbooks Stragetics and Averrage. He was the performer in A Poem by Steve Timm, a video by Ya-Ling Tsai chosen for the 2004 Wisconsin Film Festival. He teaches English as a second language at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Home rEc

Weds. Feb 3rd
8:00pm - 11:00pm
3614 N. Damen Ave.
Home rEc
curated by Allison Gruber and Erin Teegarden

Remember when you first discovered Feminism? You were young and idealistic. You worshiped the Earth Goddess and told your dad to "Fuck off". You slapped, "subvert the dominant paradigm" stickers on your Dodge Omni, told your mom to read bell hooks. Remember Adrienne Rich, Audrey Lord, Ani Difranco, that "oh-my-God-I-AM-being oppressed!" feeling? Remember the notion that you needed to free all women from patriarchy's restraints? Of course you were crestfallen when you realized the rest of the world did not share your ideals. Navigating the treacherous terrain of sexuality, employment, and relationships is no easy feat for an unapologetic Feminist (and worse if she's wearing high heels). Home Ec taught us to sew a crappy pair of shorts. But we needed a different kind of education. In a world where Hugh Hefner is a house hold name, and young women repeatedly insist: "I'm not a feminist or anything", Home rEc creates a space for readers, performers and listeners to consider if we've really come a long way, baby.

With performances by:

Ellen Wadey

Nina Corwin

Patricia McMillan

Matthias Regan and Amy Partridge

Allison Gruber and Kristine O'Sullivan

Sunny Byers

Gretchen Kalwinski

Kimberly Dixon

Erin Teegarden

Miki Howald

Randi Black

Cristina Correa

Series A

Wednesday, Feb 3
7:00pm - 9:00pm
Hyde Park Art Center
5020 S. Cornell

February's show features Larry O. Dean & Kristin Dykstra.



series A is a reading series dedicated to showcasing experimental writing in the U.S., and specifically experimental writing in the Midwest. The series invites a variety of writers to read and discuss their works. In addition, the series also provides a home for performances of mixed media work, for any works that combine the language arts with other art forms. From its home space in the Hyde Park Art Center, series A focuses on the connection between various art forms with the language arts and provides a space to display/perform the experimental in any incarnation of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, or drama.

It was founded by William Allegrezza.

Looky what we did!!!!!!

Voted by The Chicago Underground Library as the publication most likely to Save the World!!!!

The new issue of Exact Change Only is now available. You can order a copy by going to www.exactchangepress.com

The new issue features
Maureen Flannery
Charlie Newman
Nina Corwin
Erika Mikkalo
Donna Vorreyer
R. Jerome Gibbons
Brent Mesick
Kristin La Tour
and many more

Exact Change Only is now accepting submissions for its Summer issue. Submit between 1 – 5 poems at a time. We will read all styles and themes of poetry, as long as it is honest, quality material. Prefers poetry 50 lines or shorter.

We only accept submissions over e-mail. Poems should be attached as Word documents, with the poet’s name along with the names and number of poems attached. Include both e-mail and mail addresses.

Exact Change only acquires first rights. We accept only original work. simultaneous submissions are okay, just inform us of other publications. Poets may submit a maximum of 5 poems per issue. We tend to comment on rejected work.

All submissions for the Winter Issue must be sent by October 15th. All Submissions for the Summer Issue must be submitted by March 15th.

Send submissions to exactchangepress@gmail.com

Exact Change Press also accepts submissions of original artwork. Please remember we are in black and white format and all art submissions should be sent to exactchangepress@gmail.com in jpeg format.

tonight at Weeds!

Monday, Jan 25
9p sign up/ 10pm first contestant
WEEDS

1555 n. dayton
"Best Off The Wall Poem" poetry contest
$50.00 prize money

host: gregorio gomez
barkeep: sergio mayora

so come on by sit right down and sign up between 9 and 10pm...first poet will be on the mike by 10pm; come hell or high water...last poet by 10:45...(which means there's a limited number of slots) and the judges will retire and unanomisly choose a winning poem...

open mike will continue soon after the last poet contestant reads...

when the judges makes their determination of a winner...i will announce it and present the "prize money"...

looking forward to seeing you at weeds.

possible definitions to "off the wall" ;

1) not main stream

2) totally unusual

3) something you'd rather not do in other venues

4) something you'd say "holy shit i can't believe he/she said that"

5) in other words something that is not safe...

6) bizarre

the ghost who walks

www.geocities.com/weedspoetry

Rhino Reads!

Friday, January 29, 2010


Open Mike 6:00 - 6:30
Featured Poets 6:45 - 7:30

Brothers K
500 Main St.
Evanston, IL

Featuring:

Allan Johnston has appeared in over 60 journals, including Poetry, Poetry East, Rattle, Softblow and Jabberwock Review. His first book, Tasks of Survival (Mellen Poetry Press) came out in 1996. Among his honors, Johnston received a fellowship in poetry from the Illinois Arts Council. Originally from California, he now lives near Chicago, and teaches writing and literature at Columbia College and DePaul University. His new book, Northport, is published by Finishing Line Press.

Alice George's first collection of poetry, This Must Be The Place, was published in 2008 by Mayapple Press. Her poetry and prose has appeared places like Field, Bellingham Review, Sentence, Denver Quarterly, Another Chicago Magazine, Quarter After Eight, New Orleans Review, and Spoon River Poetry Review. She teaches poetry to kids and adults in rich and various locales.

Rae Armantrout at Columbia College

Poetry Off the Shelf: Rae Armantrout
Film Row Cinema
Columbia College
1104 South Wabash Avenue, 8th Floor
Thursday, February 4th
6pm.
Free admission


Rae Armantrout is a professor of writing in the literature department at the University of California at San Diego. She has also taught at the California College of Arts and Crafts, Bard College, Naropa University, San Diego State University, and San Francisco State University. She is the author of ten books of poetry, including Versed (Wesleyan 2009), a finalist for the National Book Award; Next Life (Wesleyan 2007), which was selected by Publishers Weekly as one of the best poetry books of 2007; Up to Speed (Wesleyan 2003), also selected by Publishers Weekly as one of the best poetry books of the year in 2003; and Veil: New and Selected Poems (Wesleyan, 2001), which was a finalist in the Poetry category for the 2002 PEN Center USA Literary Awards. She has been published in many anthologies, including The Oxford Book of American Poetry and numerous Best American Poetry selections, and in such magazines as Harper's, the New Yorker, American Poetry Review, Boston Review, Chicago Review, and the Los Angeles Times Book Review. She has also received awards from the Guggenheim Foundation (2008), the Fund for Poetry (1999 and 1994), and the California Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship (1989). Her collected prose was published in 2007.

Co-sponsored by The Poetry Foundation and Columbia College.

WomanMade Gallery

While in Class
Sunday, January 31, 2010 / 2-4 p.m
WomanMade Gallery
685 N Milwaukee Ave


Faculty and students of local writing programs respond to an array of writing prompts and assignments. These include School of the Art Institute faculty: Elise Paschen with students LeAnne Ray, Aja Bacquie, Kristine Domingo, Avery Lee and Hao-yuan Lo. Columbia College faculty: Susen James with students Hannah Harris, Abi Stokes, and Stephanie Lee Sutton.

The Danny's Reading Series

The Danny's Reading Series
7:30PM Wednesday, January 27th
Danny's Tavern, 1951 W. Dickens, Chicago


Catherine Theis is the author of the chapbook The Fraud of Good Sleep (SUN SUN SUN Press) and co-author of In Fortune (dusie kollectiv) with Jared Stanley and Lauren Levin. Her new poems are forthcoming in Action Yes, LIT, Sonora Review, and Volt. She received her MFA from the ...University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and is the recipient of a 2009 Individual Artists Fellowship from the Illinois Arts Council.

Rob Schlegel is the author of The Lesser Fields (Center for Literary Publishing). His poems have appeared in Boston Review, Handsome, Octopus, Volt, and elsewhere. He was born and raised in Portland, Oregon, and has lived in California, Montana, and Iowa.

Chicago Review New Issue Launch

CHICAGO REVIEW presents: A bilingual poetry reading with Christian Hawkey, Uljana Wolf & Monika Rinck

The Goethe-Institut Chicago
150 N. Michigan Ave
Thursday, January 28 @ 6PM

This event is free and open to the public. We hope you will join us!

http://humanities.uchicago.edu/review

Poem Present: Rae Armantrout

Thursday, January 21, 2010, 4:30 – 6pm
Friday, January 22, 2010, 1pm.
University of Chicago, Rosenwald 405
1101 E. 58th Street



Rae Armantrout

Rae Armantrout is a professor of writing in the literature department at UCSD and the author of ten books of poetry, including Versed, Next Life, which was selected by Publishers Weekly as one of the best poetry books of 2007, and Up to Speed, also selected by Publishers Weekly as one of the best poetry books of the year. She has received awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Fund for Poetry, and the California Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship.

Since 2001, the Poem Present Reading and Lecture series has been bringing distinguished contemporary poets to The University of Chicago to read from their work as well as to speak on topics in contemporary poetry of interest to them. This is a unique two-part format designed to meet students and scholars halfway, so to speak. Over the years, the series has expanded to include performances and bilingual events as well.

Revolving Door Reading Series

Date: Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Time: 7:30pm - 9:30pm
Location: Red Kiva
Street: 1108 West Randolph Street
City/Town: Chicago, IL

Revolving Door continues with performances from Allison Gruber, Donna Pecore, Luis Humberto Valadez, and Sid Yiddish!!

Allison Gruber writes fiction, plays, essays and sometimes, for good measure, poetry. Her work has appeared on-stage, online and in print. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Writing from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and teaches composition, literature and creative writing at Carthage College and The Illinois Institute of Art.

Alma Stuckey award winner Donna Pecore claims Poetry saved her. It wooshed down over her at Weeds, a Chicago venue-Gregorio Gomez MC in 1996, transforming her. Donna finds this transformation is a daily process, in which something new is found every day-if she looks. This woosh of words has turned Donna into a Word Wrangler, trying to bring voice to the pangs and the joys and the little things, roping them into a cohesive collaboration of sound and sense. Poetry took her to school, first NBC, a two year business school, to learn to type. Falling even more madly in love with poetry at Columbia College Chicago, via Women's poetry, New York School and the Beat, God bless Keroac; she is aquiring her MA at UIC. She has been published in: the South Loop Review, NCC Review, Chicago Poetry's publications, among others and her baby is “Word Curves,” a CCC anthology she edited (Next issue pending) She believes poetry should be heard out loud as well as read. Donna workshops with the Neighborhood Writers Alliance and The Small Table. She hopes her words will woosh down on you, lighting even a little corner of your world, leaving you either with a smile...or a thought. She can be found on the web, search her name or check out http://www.fieralingue.it/modules.php?name=Content


Luis Humberto Valadez is from Chicago Heights, IL, music, and his jefa. He went to school at Columbia College Chicago and Naropa University. His first book "what i'm on" was published last March by the University of Arizona Press as part of the Camino del Sol series. His first CD "wat ahm on (ep)" was released in conjunction with the book by Last Minute Records. He is deeply influenced by writers like Harryette Mullen, Sonia Sanchez, Anne Waldman, and Amiri Baraka. His performance style is bread from a combination of the influence of the aforementioned writers as well as hardcore punk and hip-hop. To contact Luis Humberto Valadez go to: http://www.myspace.com/luishvaladez, http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/BOOKS/bid2065.htm, http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/lhv


Sid Yiddish is a semi-sweet kosher industrial poet-throat-singing radio broadcasting-Furby spy. He’s performed in tight spaces within the USA & by web-cast in Norway & Denmark, plus published in; Tomorrow, Children, Churches & Daddies, Flipside, Si Senor, Satyr, Urban Coaster, Magnetic Poetry-Book Of Poetry, Poem800.com, Bardball.com & PoetrySuperHighway.com. From 1986 to 1991, he published the poetry fanzine, Cops Hate Poetry. In the past, he's worked diligently as an oddball actor, teacher, beat reporter & as the Chicago coordinator for the Bathroom Poetry Project. He's a current member of the Chicago Composers Forum, Atomic Theory Dance Band & Flabby Hoffman Trio and an honorary member of the Danish punk band, Clean Boys & has been covered by news media including Time Out Chicago, Chicago Tribune, WGN Radio, Chicago Reader, Memphis Flyer & Yahoo! Sports. This spring, Sid will embark upon a tour of Denmark w/Clean Boys, in support of their collaboration together on Sid’s penned “punk opera” & an album that will be subsequently released. In his spare time, Sid roots out crazy sounds by throat-singing & playing Shofars to be in harmony with crows & Furbies worldwide. He lives in Evanston, Illinois. To contact Sid Yiddish: sid_yiddish@hotmail.com & to check out upcoming gigs go to: www.myspace.com/2dollarcockroach

Women & Children First

January 20th
7:30 pm.
Women & Children First
5233 N. Clark St.
Chicago, Illinois 60640



Kathleen Rooney


reads from
For You, for You I Am Trilling These Songs

In her acclaimed new collection about the life of twenty-somethings in the twenty-first century, Chicago author Rooney (Live Nude Girl, Reading with Oprah), writes with finesse and fresh insight, revealing a young woman trying to find her place in an America that rarely manages to live up to Walt Whitman’s dream and making discoveries about life at every turn.

16th Annual Juried Reading and Awards

Mark Nowak
Final Judge
A poet and labor activist heralded by Adrienne Rich for "regenerating the rich tradition of working-class literature," Mark Nowak regularly leads transnational poetry workshops between American and international trade unions. He is the author of Revenants and Shut Up Shut Down, a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice and finalist for the Academy of American Poets' James Laughlin Award. A native of Buffalo, New York, he is now the Director of the Rose O'Neill Literary House at Washington College in Maryland.

Postmark deadline: January 30, 2010

First prize: $1,500; Second prize: $500; third prize, $250; five finalists receive $50

The Poetry Center invites regional poets to submit their unpublished work for consideration in the 16th Annual Juried Reading. Eight finalists will have their poetry published in an e-book by Plastique Press as well as on the Poetry Center website, and all eight poets will be invited to read at an award ceremony in the spring.

The Juried Reading is open to all poets residing in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Poets may be unpublished or have published no more than one full-length book of poetry. All submissions are blind; the jury and the judge will have no access to identifying information about the submitting poets.

To submit, mail:

1. A cover sheet including your name, address, phone number, e-mail address and titles of poems submitted.

2. Four copies of a packet, independently stapled, of no more than five single-sided, typed pages of unpublished poetry. There is no restriction on the number of poems per page, but the packet should not exceed five pages. Your name should not appear on any of the pages containing poems.

3. $15 jury fee, check or money order made payable to "The Poetry Center." The contest is free for Poetry Center members. Poems will be accepted by US mail only.

Send poems to: 16th Annual Juried Reading, The Poetry Center of Chicago, 37 S. Wabash Avenue, Chicago, IL 60603.

E-mail and fax submissions will not be accepted. No phone calls please.

Palabra Pura

Kristin Naca & Cristina Correa
Wednesday, January 20, 2010 - 7:30pm


Reading begins at 7:30PM.
Free admission, all ages.
Décima Musa, 1901 S. Loomis, Chicago

A short Open Mic will begin the evening.

Kristin Naca was born in Washington, D.C. and raised in northern Virginia, and has lived numerous cities across the U.S. over the last two decades. A longtime member of Sandra Cisneros’ Macondo Workshop, Naca recently made her home in San Antonio, Texas. Currently, Naca works as a professor of English at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. Her book of poems, Bird Eating Bird, was selected for the National Poetry Series mtvU Prize and was released by Harper Perennial. Naca is a frequent practitioner of Bikram yoga and an avid sports fan. She also follows the work of Mexican and Mexican American poets and painters; some of whom are the predominant artistic influences behind Naca’s bilingual poetry.

Cristina Correa is Chicago working artist and has been published in Latina Voices, Say What Magazine, Ghost Factory Magazine and participated in a poetic and visual exhibition entitled Convergence. A graduate of the Columbia College Fiction Writing Department and Alexandroff Community Scholar, she has taught creative writing and advocated for the empowerment of young people in the public schools and community organizations since 2004. Her chapbook, this is the year, was published by Watch the Steps Press.

Twitterature

Thursday, January 21, 2010
7:00 PM
The Book Cellar
4746 N Lincoln Ave



Aciman And Rensin Present "Twitterature"

Co-authors Alexander Aciman and Emmett Rensin present Twitterature, a hilarious and irreverent re-imagining of the classics as a series of 140-character tweets. From Homer to Harry Potter, Virgil to Voltaire, Tolstoy to Twilight, this work provides a crash course in more than 80 of the world's best-known books


Url: http://www.twitterature.us/us/index.htm

Orange Alert Reading Series

the Whistler
2421 N. Milwaukee
Sun., Jan. 17, 6 p.m.

Orange Alert Press partners with the Criminal Class Review to present readings by Max Glaessner, Brian Murphy, Marla Seidell, and Kevin Whiteley.

2.16 the Café open mic & feature

February 16, 8:30PM

The Café
open mic
5115 N. Lincoln Ave.
$2 (plus donation for the feature)

The Café (5115 N. Lincoln Ave.) hosts a weekly poetry/performance art open mic (hosted by Janet Kuypers). February 16th has Al DeGenova as a feature, as well as an open mic. See the Café on line at http://www.chaoticarts.org/thecafe/ for info about the open mic and the 2010 schedule, and YouTube video links of the 2010 features.

2.09 the Café open mic & Feature

February 9, 8:30PM

The Café open mic
5115 N. Lincoln Ave.
$2 (plus donation for the feature)

The Café (5115 N. Lincoln Ave.) hosts a weekly poetry/performance art open mic (hosted by Janet Kuypers). February 9th has Kate Cullan as a feature, as well as an open mic. For info about the open mic and the 2010 schedule, you can always check out. http://www.chaoticarts.org/thecafe/.

2.02 the Café open mic & Feature

February 2, 8:30PM

The Café open mic
5115 N. Lincoln Ave.
$2 (plus donation for the feature)

The Café (5115 N. Lincoln Ave.) hosts a weekly poetry/performance art open mic (hosted by Janet Kuypers). February 2nd has Luis Valadez as a feature, as well as an open mic. For info about the open mic and the 2010 schedule, you can always check out. http://www.chaoticarts.org/thecafe/.

History & Forms of Lyric

Wednesday, January 13, 201
4:30 – 6:30pm
University of Chicago, Classics 110
Classics 110

Poetry & Poetics presents
Oren Izenberg
Poetry of Ease


In Autumn 2004, the Program in Poetry and Poetics began a series of public lectures on the History and Forms of Lyric. The lectures are presented by both Chicago faculty and visitors from outside the University. The lectures are generally followed by an extended discussion session over a casual buffet dinner.

JAN 23-Exact Change Only: release party and show

Exact Change Only
Saturday, Jan 23
7:00pm - 11:00pm
Jaks Tap (the back room)
901 W Jackson

Come one come all to the Amazing release of the new issue of Exact Change Only, a poetry journal created by your friends at Waiting 4 the Bus.

This new journal features a heap of good poems by amazingly good poets and you should come out and get one. The new issue is only $10 bucks, a bargain really.

Readers at the show include:

Erika Mikkalo
D.J. Vorreyer
Charlie Newman
Matt Barton
Maureen Flannery
R. Jerome Gibbons
Esteban Colon
Kristin LaTour
Brent Mesick
Dena Pope
and Buddha 309

Waiting 4 the Bus, Monday, Jan 18

Come check us out at our brand new home
Cafe Ballou
939 N. Western
Chicago, IL

The Return of Waiting 4 the Bus-7:30-10pm

Featuring Ralph Hamilton

Hosted by Buddha 309 and a whole slew of Jamokes

THEY’RE BAAAACK!

New from Cracked Slab Books

Cracked Slab Books is pleased to announce the publication of two new books!

Course of Action by Jukka-Pekka Kervinen
and
Morphs. Grant Jenkins and Cheryl Pallant

Both can be purchase at crackedslabbooks.com



About Morphs:
What happens when poetry becomes a thrilling late night conversation? The co-authored poems in Morphs explore new ways of thinking and writing and living that were always available for people willing to take the risk of responding to each other. The back and forth leaps, jump cuts, and startling juxtapositions in these poems offer not discrete poetic reveries of a lyric voice in standardized isolation but poetry as the electrifying weave, slant, and break of writers creating their own common ground. Always darting at the edge of what can and can’t be said, these poems reveal, finally, the tremendous excitement that can come from being involved in the life and words of others.
-- Mark Wallace

The poetry of Morphs features a committed conversation this reader experiences as occurring in layers, pricks, grace notes, simulated dance steps, and thick sliding scales. The authors’ pleasure in inventing ways to communicate à deux across geographic distance is always in evidence. While formally inventive, the interpersonal world of these poems is rich in content and serious play.
-- Carla Harryman

Morphs is a poetics of “Beginner’s Mind.”
-- Christian Peet

30 Years of Creative Writing at Northwestern: A Festival

Winter Quarter Evening Reading Series Creative Writing faculty and senior English Majors in Writing will share their work in our Winter Quarter Evening Reading Series. All readings will take place at 5:00 p.m. in University Hall 201.


January 19: Rachel Webster, Angela Mears, Logan Wall, Rose Truesdale

January 28: Brian Bouldrey, Annie Kahane, Jacob Nelson, Alberto Roldan, Veronica Roth

February 2: Averill Curdy, Elizabeth Green, Lani Seelinger, Stephen Rosenthal

February 9: Reginald Gibbons, Katie Halpern, Nicole Roth

February 16: John Bresland, Joanna Beer, Jocelyn Huang, Caryn Wille

February 25: Shauna Seliy, Andres Carrasquillo, Jack Neubauer

March 2: Sheila Donohue, Rachel Koontz, Evan Rausch, Noel Slesinger

March 9: Eula Biss, Christopher Adamson, Katherine Docimo, Maria Provanzano, Madeline Weinstein

March 16: John Keene, Meriwether Clarke, Allison Keller, Aaron Kuper

Tuesday, Jan 19
7:30pm
The Bourgeois Pig
738 W. Fullerton

The TallGrass Writers Guild Open Mic welcomes Guest Author

Allan Johnston

reading from his new book of collected poetry, Northport (Finishing Line Press, 2010), based on his experiences living in eastern Washington State in the mid-1970s. The regularly scheduled Open Mic, where everyone is welcome to present up to 10 minutes of poetry, fiction, memoirs, and more, immediately follows his program. Sign-up to read at the Open Mic starts at 7 pm.

Cover charge for the evening's events, which are upstairs at, in Chicago, is $6 reduced to $5 for students.

Johnston's poems have appeared in over 50 journals including Poetry, Rhino, South Florida Poetry Review, and California Quarterly, and he has received a fellowship in poetry from the Illinois Arts Council. He lives in the Chicago-metro area and teaches writing and literature at DePaul University and Columbia College-Chicago. Says Richard Jones about Johnston and Northport, "Self-discovery and loss—these are the touchstones of Allan Johnston’s fine new collection that recalls the countercultural ‘back to the land’ movement of the 1970s. In Northport, the poet guides the reader through the wonder and waste of the past, and to travel with him is to suffer with him; yet it is also a transcendent chance to recover valuable old territory, to make it new again." And Alan Williamson raves, "These are beautifully-made poems ... in Gary Snyder’s tradition of close attention to the world, the moment, and the heft of words. It’s a pleasure to see them in print."

For details on this and other TallGrass Writers Guild events, call 219-322-7270 or email tallgrassguild@sbcglobal.net.

DVARIM

Saturday, Jan 9
8:00-11:00
Chopin Theater
1543 W. Division

DVARIM (WORDS)
http://www.kfarcenter.org/events/dvarim-1

All Ages Event

Join Zeek and KFAR for an evening of poetry and performance featuring Kevin Coval, Yuri lane, Menachem Cohen, Maya Escobar and Dina Elenbogen.

Dvarim is an exploration of written, spoken and performed words by artists examining the

contemporary Jewish experience.

Words carry significant meaning in Jewish life. The universe was created by utterances, as were the laws received at Sinai. For millenia, Jews have read, debated, written and treasured words. We are, in short, people of books. In partnership with Zeek: The journal of Jewish Culture and Thought, KFAR Jewish Arts Center is pleased to present Dvarim (Hebrew for words)- a series of readings and talks on contemporary Jewish literature, poetry, prose and fiction.

Join us for this first in a series of evenings of spoken, written and performed words.

Advance tickets available via ticketweb:

http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=862575&refid=fbk

Presented by KFAR Jewish Arts Center and Zeek with support from JCUA and Mitzuit

Molly Malone's

Monday, Jan 11

7:00 -- open mic sign-up begins
7:30 -- open mic (5 minutes per reader)
9:00 -- featured reader

Molly Malone’s
7652 Madison Street
Forest Park, IL

Hosts Nina Corwin and Al DeGenova

invite you to be part of one of the longest running and most highly respected open mics in the Chicago area.

Feature Erin Teegarden

Erin Teegarden teaches literature at Columbia College Chicago and facilitates the writing lab and Poetry Club at American Intercontinental University Online. She also works for the nonprofit Snow City Arts, teaching creative writing to patients at Children's Memorial Hospital. She is the founder and former managing editor of the University of Pittsburgh's first online literary journal, and is the co-founder and current organizer of the reconstruction room, an innovative reading and performance series in Chicago. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Another Chicago Magazine, Little White Poetry Journal, eye-rhyme, Sunspinner, PMS (poemmemoirstory), Bellingham Review, Conte Online, nanomajority, preling, and Pittsburgh's City Paper, among others. She received an MFA from the University of Pittsburgh in 2003, and a BA from Indiana University in 2000.

$5 if you can, $3 if you can't.

1.19 the Cafe open mic & Feature

January 19, 8:30PM

The Cafe open mic
5115 N. Lincoln Ave.
$2 (plus donation for the feature)

The Cafe (5115 N. Lincoln Ave.) hosts a weekly poetry/performance art open mic (hosted by Janet Kuypers). January 19th has John Goode as a feature, as well as an open mic. For info about the open mic and the 2010 schedule, you can always check out. http://www.chaoticarts.org/thecafe/.

Series A

Weds. January 6
7pm.

Hyde Park Art Center
5020 S Cornell St.

A series dedicated to showcasing experimental writing.

The featured readers are poets
George J. Farrah and Maurice A Kilwein-Guevara.

Regina's Place

Friday, Jan 15
7:00-9:30
Regina's Place
3608 W. Ravenswood



In the first show in 2010 -- the fourth performance -- from Vittorio Carli (previous host at Mercury Cafe and Starbuck’s), this mellow get-together brings a wide variety of artists (including comedians, poets, short story tellers, singers, guitar players and alternative performance artists) and is themed for New Years (since this show is just after the new year).

Janet Kuypers

Jenene Ravensloot

Dina Stuart

and...?

The Rec Room

Weds, January 6th
8:00pm - 11:55pm

Black Rock
3614 N Damen

The Rec Room Reads the Dictionary Aloud to You

“Words are pegs to hang ideas on.” – Henry Ward Beecher

If there’s one machine that works hardest to secure the ideas on these pegs, it’s the dictionary. A beast that grows, grudgingly, with the times, dictionaries are a hunka hunka pure, burning meaning. But dictionaries are a drag, right? The Oxford American Dictionary of Current English claims to be “an excellent choice for business people, students, and all of those who wish to use English with clarity and style.” Boooooooooring. What about if people want to mess up the world with their words? Rec Roomers are taking on the dictionary. Come one, come all, to hear the dictionary rehashed, revisited, reused and wrecked.

This Rec Room will be curated by Jac Jemc.

Featuring:

Mary Hamilton

Lindsay Hunter

Jacob Knabb

Jared Larson

Kathryn Scanlan

Elizabeth Metzger Sampson (with Erica Adams and Justin Cabrillos)

Brandon Will

Simon A. Smith

Kathryn Regina

Devin King

Caroline Picard

Tim Jones-Yelvington

AD Jameson

With a little hand-out by Mairead Case

The Encyclopedia Show

Wednesday, Jan 6
7:30pm - 9:00pm
Chopin Theatre
1543 W. Division

THE ENCYCLOPEDIA SHOW PRESENTS!
SERIES 2, VOLUME 5: OBSOLETE DISEASES
AT THE CHOPIN THEATRE ON WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6, 2010

Chicago, IL – Chicago Slam Works brings to you The Encyclopedia Show – Obsolete Diseases, at the Chopin Theatre, 1543 W Division, on Wednesday, January 6 at 7:30 pm. Tickets $6 at the door. All ages. www.encyclopediashow.com

This Month – Series 2, Volume 5: Obsolete Diseases

With music, poetry, visual art and spoken word on the topic: Obsolete Diseases. Featuring (Contributor – Topic):

David Blair (National Poetry Slam Champ) Homosexuality as a Disease

Jamila Woods (2009 LTAB College Slam Winner) Smallpox

Mairead Case (Editor, literago.org) Harikikigaki

Noor Hasan (Louder Than A Bomb Youth Slam Champion) Dancing Plague of 1518

Marlon "Inphynit" Carey (Author, Hip Hop Poet) Guinea Worm Disease

Christopher Howard (PhD Candidate in Biology, Musician) Rinderpest

Monte Smith (Shawnimals) Dyscrasia

Lamon Manuel (Tomorrow Kings) Female Hysteria.

Featuring Hosts

Robbie Q Telfer (Author of Spiking the Sucker Punch) and

Shanny Jean Maney (Author of Our Brave Faces Were Just Smiles)

with cast regulars:

Kurt Heintz (E-Poets.net)– Fact Checker;

Aaron Enskat (Former Normal Slammaster);

Tim Stafford (HBO Def Poet);

Joel Chmara (HBO Def Poet);

Evan Chung (Musician) - House Band Leader "The Encartagans"; and

Emily Rose (Poetry Vet and House Manager) –as Jilted Emily Rose.

"We saw a hole in the Chicago poetry scene that Slam couldn't fill. I think a lot more can be done with the form than just competition." -Robbie Q Telfer in TimeOut Chicago

About The Encyclopedia Show

The Encyclopedia Show, brought to you from the quirky minds of poets and producers Robbie Q Telfer and Shanny Jean Maney. The Encyclopedia Show showcases visual art, comedy, music and spoken word on a wide variety of subjects related to a chosen topic. Each month a new topic is picked at random from the encyclopedia and assignments are sent to a diverse group of writers, artists, poets and performers. Past contributors have included Bill Ayers, Marc Smith, Paul Sereno, Anis Mojgani, Idris Goodwin, Lisa Buscani, Cameron McGill, Kevin Coval, Derrick Brown, and Marty McConnell. For audio from previous shows and additional information, please visit www.encyclopediashow.com