55th Annual Poetry Day: C.D. Wright

October 15th, 6pm.
Fullerton Hall
Art Institute of Chicago
111 South Michigan Avenue
Free admission


Now in its 55th year, Poetry Day is one of the oldest and most distinguished reading series in the country. Inaugurated by Robert Frost, Poetry Day has featured such poets as T.S. Eliot, Marianne Moore, Elizabeth Bishop, W.H. Auden, Seamus Heaney, and Adrienne Rich.

C.D. Wright, one of America’s most compelling and idiosyncratic poets, was born and raised in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas. Her writing has been described as experimental, Southern, socially conscious, and elliptical. She has published a dozen collections, most recently, Rising, Falling, Hovering (2008), which won the 2009 International Griffin Poetry Prize. She has also published several book-length poems, including the critically acclaimed Deepstep Come Shining (1998). She is a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, a Lannan Literary Award, and the Robert Creeley Award. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, she is the Israel J. Kapstein Professor at Brown University and lives outside of Providence, Rhode Island. A booksigning follows.

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

MAKE Magazine Issue 8 Release Party

Thursday, October 1st
7-10pm
Roots & Culture Gallery
1034 N. Milwaukee, Chicago

MAKE Magazine Issue 8 Release Party
sponsored by Metropolis Coffee, Tullamore Dew Whiskey, and Carolan's Irish Cream

MAKE: A Chicago Literary Magazine Issue 8 “This Everyday” Release Party A celebration of the normal, an exaltation of the banal

$10 suggested donation gets ya...

Copy of the newly re-designed MAKE

• Brief readings from contributors including poems from Rob Schlegel, fiction from Robert Duffer, and nonfiction from Brian Anderson and Emil Ferris

• Complimentary Irish coffee drinks from Metropolis Coffee, Carolan’s and Tullamore Dew (beer and non-alcoholic refreshments and snacks on hand too)

• Music from LeRoy Bach and friends including the Marvin Tate, Nat Ward, and Katie Weigman • Giveaways while they last, including CDs featuring Marvin Tate and poet Marvin Bell’s poem and song collaboration, Metropolis Coffee products, Bloodshot Records ephemera, and more

• On view at Roots & Culture: Women new work by Craig Doty

CALL for Submissions: MYTH, Magic & Ritual

The theme of Issue #9 is MYTH, Magic & Ritual. One way of thinking about this theme is to consider the ways in which myth has been used–and continues to be used–as a means of explaining the world. But of course, we look forward to discovering how your submissions will expand or contradict what we had in mind when choosing this theme.

SUBMIT ONLINE/CLICK HERE Deadline:October 15

New: MAKE Online!

Check out Joe Drogos' first installment of his blog The Silver-Colored Yesterday, interviews with MAKE contributors, book reviews, and web-exclusive stories and recordings....

Upcoming Events

October 16: Chicago Artists Month poetry/video project My Chicago for Your Ljubljanica featuring Joel Craig, Gregor Podlogar (via live feed), Kirsten Leenaars, Travis Nichols, and Dean Rank. 6pm sharp at the Hideout

October 28: MAKE Benefit Soiree at Jane's Restaurant in Bucktown. Chimay, readings, silent auction - the works. More soon....

Featuring a complete redesign, twice as many pages, color, and over thirty amazing contributors!

Visit the MAKE site to order and take a peak at the table of contents and read excerpts

MAKE Literary Productions, NFP
2229 W. Iowa, Chicago, IL 60622
www.makemag.com

The Iowa Review Design Contest

From the editors of Iowa Review:

The Iowa Review will enter its 40th year of publication in 2010. To mark this milestone, we are holding a competition to redesign our cover. The new look will be implemented beginning with the April 2010 issue.


Requirements:
The new magazine will have dimensions of 8 inches tall by 6.5 inches wide, with 4-inch French flaps and a spine of approximately one-half inch. Entrants are asked to create a design that will accommodate a changing central image and thematic emphasis. Submissions should be made via email as PDF attachments of no larger than 2 MB.


Entries must include:

• Front and back covers, spine, and French flaps with the aforementioned measurements
• The name “The Iowa Review,” either accompanying an image-based logo or as a logotype of its own
• Space for a bar code
• Cover price
• Volume and issue numbers
• Date of issue
• Some indication of what is inside the current issue (e.g., authors, subjects, etc.)

Award
The winning entry will receive $1,000, as well as acknowledgement in every issue in which the designer’s work is used. The new print design will be coordinated with the redesign of the Iowa Review’s website, which also will launch in April 2010.


Deadline
All entries must be received by October 19, 2009. The winner will be announced November 1. Please submit your PDF to iowa-review@uiowa.edu with “Design Contest” in the subject line. Questions may also be sent to this address.

Tonight at Weeds!

9pm sign up/ 10pm first contestant

WEEDS
1555 n. dayton
poetry contest #3
"Best Off The Wall Poem" poetry contest
$50.00 prize money

host: gregorio gomez
barkeep: sergio mayora
friends, colleagues and country folks...

thanks to the many of who have responded about coming next monday september 28th....hey its 50 bucks...can't go wrong with that...and you can take that to the bank...but first put it in you calendar...

i've been asked to put some definition to "of the wall" well i'll do my best:

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...

* 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.

Mary Ann Hoberman, Children’s Poet Laureate

The Chicago Reading:
Mary Ann Hoberman
Children’s Poet Laureate
Weds, Oct 7, 6:45 pm
Ida Noyes Hall (The Cloister Club)
University of Chicago
1212 East 59th Street
Free admission


Children’s Poet Laureate Mary Ann Hoberman will give a reading to children and their parents. Hoberman is the author of over 40 children’s books and has won the National Book Award, the National Council of Teachers of English Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children, a Society of School Librarians International Best Book award, and a National Parenting Publications Awards gold medal, among other accolades. She has also been recognized by magazines such as Child and Parenting. Special free gifts for children will be featured.

Molly Malone's

Monday October 12th

7:00 -- open mic sign-up begins

7:30 -- open mic (5 minutes per reader)

9:00 -- featured reader
Molly Malone's Irish Pub
7652 Madison Street
Forest Park, IL
708-366-8073

Join us for a very special evening with SUSAN HAHN

The Molly Malone's Open Mic with your hosts Nina Corwin and Al DeGenova invites you to be part of one of the longest running and most highly respected open mics in the Chicago area.

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


Upcoming Molly’s featured readers:
November 9: Tara Betts


Poetry/fiction at Molly's is the second Monday of every month.
Feel free to forward this notice to your writing pals...we love new faces with new voices.

My Kill Adore Him

now available from University of Notre Dame Press..

My Kill Adore Him is a collection of poems from Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize-winner Paul Martínez Pompa. The book’s title is a homophonic translation of the Spanish word maquiladora, which translates into English as “factory” or “sweatshop.” With a unique, independent voice, Martínez Pompa interrogates masculinity, race, language, consumerism, and cultural identity in poems that honor los olvidados, the forgotten ones, who range from the usual suspects brutalized by police to factory workers poisoned by their environment, from the victim of a homophobic beating in the boys’ bathroom to the body of Juan Doe at the Cook County Coroner’s Office. Some of the poems rely on somber, at times brutal, imagery to articulate a political stance while others use sarcasm and irony to deconstruct political stances themselves.

Paul Martínez Pompa teaches composition and creative writing at Triton College in River Grove, Illinois. His chapbook, Pepper Spray, was published in 2006.

“This is one tough, smart poet. The poems of Paul Martínez Pompa are gritty and visceral, but never cross the line into sensationalism. They are poems that vividly evoke the urban world, especially Chicago, without ever lapsing into urban cliché. They are poems that seek justice for the Latino community without ever resorting to the overheated language that all too often consigns poetry of social conscience to oblivion.” — Martín Espada, 2008 Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize judge

Women & Children First

Christine Rhein & Zoe Keithly

Time: Friday, October 23, 2009 7:30 p.m.
Location: Women & Children First

Join is for a reading by two gifted poets. Michigan poet Christine Rhein's Wild Flight soars across extensive terrain. From the working world of Detroit to American suburbia and pop culture, from WWII to the war in Iraq, Rhein's poems explore history, science and the social world with poignancy and humor. Crow Song, the new collection by Chicago to Sacramento transplant Zoe Keithly, draws upon life experiences, dividing itself into four subjects: "Circling," "From the Nest," "Scavenging," and "The Long Iridescent Flight."

1st Friday Series

7:30-9:30 PM

St Paul’s Cultural Center
2215 W North Avenue
October 2nd

1st Friday Series presents dancing girl press poets:

Sara Tracey
Rachel Jamison Webster
Sarah Gardner
Jen Blair

Now Hosted by the Waiting 4 the Bus Collective!

2+ blocks west of the Damon Blue Line stop
Street parking available

Beer, wine, soft drinks available @ cool-low prices
Free Admission
Donation Requested

The First Friday Poetry Series is a Poetry Green Zone

Maureen Tolman Flannery Reading / Signing

Wednesday, October 7th
7:00 pm.
Chicago Waldorf School
1300 West Loyola

Come to a poetry reading—book signing—celebration.

Maureen Tolman Flannery will read from her new book Destiny Whispers to the Beloved: Poems of the Americas refreshments, music, an exultation of words

Red Rover Series / Experiment #33

September 26, 2009 7:00pm
Orientation Center, 2129 N. Rockwell

Red Rover Series
{readings that play with reading}

Experiment #33:
Someone Was There to Take a Picture

Featuring:
Kate Greenstreet & Gina Myers

KATE GREENSTREET's second book, The Last 4 Things, will be out from Ahsahta Press in September. Her first, case sensitive, was published by Ahsahta in 2006. She is also the author of three chapbooks, most recently This is why I hurt you (Lame House Press, 2008). Her new poems are in current or forthcoming issues of jubilat, Court Green, VOLT, Fence, Hotel Amerika, and the Denver Quarterly.

GINA MYERS is the author of A Model Year (Coconut Books, 2009) and four chapbooks, most recently Behind the R (ypolita press, 2008). She lives in Saginaw, MI, where she makes books for Lame House Press, teaches, and works as a freelance journalist.

Red Rover Series is curated by Lisa Janssen and Jennifer Karmin. Each event is designed as a reading experiment with participation by local, national, and international writers, artists, and performers. The series was founded in 2005 by Amina Cain and Jennifer Karmin.

The Guild Complex presents

Susan Messer Book Release:
Grand River and Joy
Wednesday, September 30, 2009 - 8:30pm
Free admission. 21 and over event.
The California Clipper, 1002 N. California, Chicago


The Guild Complex is happy to present a book release event for Susan Messer's first novel Grand River and Joy, which explores the "intersections of race, class and religion during the long hot summers of Detroit in the 1960s." Check out SusanMesser.net for more information and her blog ethnicwords.blogspot.com which probes the difficult terrain of ethnic words and labels.

New Issue..

Apparatus Magazine

Volume 1, Issue 3
Smoke and Mirrors

here

featuring work by Sergio A. Ortiz, Richard Fox, Peter Magliocco and more....

The Future Perfect Poetry + New Media Series

presents poets


Tara Betts
Tristan Silverman
Richard Fammerée with Saint Cloud

featuring poète-chanteuse Carrie Ingrisano (bass, piano) w/ Meg Thomas (exotic percussion), Paul Christopher Greene (violin, electronica) and Meg Lauterbach (cello, piano) will share new songs/poem-songs/contemporary (fusion/infusion lit rock) art songs.

www.saintcloud.co.uk


Thursday, October 1, 2009
7:30 PM


Katerina's
Street of Dreams
http://www.katerinas.com

1920 W. Irving Park Rd.
Chicago, Il 60613
773-348-7592


The Future Perfect Poetry + New Media Series
will be recorded live for
Chicago Public Radio/Chicago Amplified & UniVerse of Poetry
Open to the public, $7 at the door.


UniVerse of Poetry sponsored readings and showcases commend individuals who demonstrate a consistent dedication and integrity of vision, humanity, innovation and artistry in their writing, increasing the dialogue and significance of poetry within a greater society, nationally and internationally.


UniVerse of Poetry is dedicated to freedom of expression for everyone everywhere

and the eternal dialogue of wisdom and prophetic sanity renewed daily by poets internationally.

Binary

Near NorthWest Arts Council
St Paul's Cultural Center
2215 W North Ave

Opening Reception
Two exhibits: Chicago Artists Month

Binary: curated by Lauren and Francesco Levato

Opening Reception October 9 at 6 PM

The binary switch has two states: off and on, or negative and positive. The exhibit Binary: a Pairing of Opposites, explores the collaborative relationship between Chicago artists and writers where their inspirations, methods and mediums perform a push/pull on each other resulting in mixed media, hybrid films, fiber, screen printing and mash-ups. The artists will create an online collaborative environment allowing visitors to view real-time creation of the artworks at www.oppositestates.com.

Revolving Door Reading Series

The Revolving Door Reading Series
presents:

Kristy Bowen and Cecilia Pinto

Thurs,
Oct. 1
7:30 PM
Red Kiva
1108 W. Randolph



KRISTY BOWEN is the author of in the bird museum (Dusie Press, 2008) and the fever almanac (Ghost Road,2006). She runs dancing girl press, devoted to publishing work by women poets. Her third collection, girl show, is due out in December 2009.

CECILIA PINTO received her undergraduate and graduate degrees in Creative Writing from Knox College and School of the Art Institute. Through her association with the Poetry Center of Chicago she has been a writer-inresidence at various local grammar schools. Her poems have appeared in Esquire, Rhino, Fence, Quarter After Eight, Diagram, Saints of Hysteria, The City Visible and other journals and anthologies.


Drink specials include $5 Absolut mixed drinks and $4 draft beers.


The Revolving Door Reading Series

A new
reading series
of poetry
and culture.

The New Chicago School

Kent Johnson's take on Chicago Poetics..

also, Adam Fieled's...

Robert Archambeau joins the conversation..

John Koethe at University of Chicago

Thursday, October 8, 2009, 4:30 – 6pm
University of Chicago, Classics 110
1010 E. 59th Street
Chicago, IL 60637

Poem Present:
Author John Koethe
Reading From his work

John Koethe was born in San Diego in 1945 and received an A.B. from Princeton and a Ph.D. from Harvard in Philosophy. He has taught since 1973 at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, from which he will retire at the end of 2009 as Distinguished Professor of Philosophy. He has published eight books of poetry, most recently NORTH POINT NORTH: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS (2002), SALLY'S HAIR (2006), and NINETY-FIFTH STREET (2009), all from HarperCollins; two books of philosophy, THE CONTINUITY OF WITTGENSTEIN'S THOUGHT (1996) and SCEPTICISM, KNOWLEDGE, AND FORMS OF REASONING (2005), both from Cornell University Press; and a book of literary essays, POETRY AT ONE REMOVE. He has received the Frank O'Hara Award for Poetry, the Kingsley Tufts Award, and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the NEA. He was the first Poet Laureate of Milwaukee, and has been a Fellow at the American Academy of Berlin and the Elliston Poet in Residence at the University of Cincinnati. He will spend the spring semester of 2010 as the Bain-Swiggett Professor of Poetry at Princeton.
Disability Clause Please contact the event sponsor(s) if you require assistance to fully participate in this event.

poempresent.uchicago.edu

Tomorrow Night

8 PM
WLUW 88.7 FM


Dave Gecic interviews
Helen Degen Cohen, author of Habry
and Vito Carli, Chicago poet and host

Free, turn on your radio!

Call for Submissions

Exact Change Only Submission Guidelines

Exact Change Only is now accepting submissions for its Winter 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 unpublished work. No previously published poetry or simultaneous submissions. We tend to comment on rejected work. All contributing poets receive a special hand stitched copy of the journal.

All submissions must be sent by October 15th, 2009.
http://www.waiting4thebus.com/Exact_Change_Only_92QO.php

FOURTH ANNUAL CHICAGO CALLING ARTS FESTIVAL

Thursday, October 1 till Sunday, October 11, 2009


EVENT: The Fourth Annual Chicago Calling Arts Festival (CCAF4) features
Chicago-based artists collaborating in performances and projects with artists living in other locations -- both here in the U.S. and abroad. These collaborations will be prepared or improvised, and some performances will involve live feeds between Chicago and elsewhere.


“ARTS & ACTIVISM IN ST. LOUIS, DETROIT, AND CHICAGO” PANEL DISCUSSION

DATE: Thursday, October 1 (7-9 p.m.)
LOCATION: Little Black Pearl Art & Design Center (7-9 p.m.)
1060 E 47th St
Chicago, IL 60653-3600
(773) 285-1633
http://www.blackpearl.org
This “Arts and Activism in St. Louis, Detroit, and Chicago” panel discussion is part of the new “Arts and Activism in the Midwest” Series, which is an ongoing forum which will happen four times in 2009 and 2010. This “Arts in St. Louis, Detroit, and Chicago” panel discussion focuses on the arts scenes in these three Midwestern cities, and it is also part of the Fourth Annual Chicago Calling Arts Festival.

The discussants include Lindsay Obermeyer, Carol Ng-He, and other TBA individuals in Chicago; Amanda Mueller and other TBA individuals in St. Louis; and Joel Peterson and other TBA individuals in Detroit. The panelists will be connected over the internet, via skype, so the panelists and other participants will be able to see and hear each other.

It is impossible to comprehensively discuss an arts scene in any given city during a single panel discussion, and it is even more difficult to cover what is happening in three cities’ arts scenes. However, this event’s discussants hope to shed some light into some aspects of the rich dynamics that comprises the arts scenes in these three American cities.

This event is free and open to the public.

* * * * * *

PERFORMANCES AT MERCURY CAFÉ

DATE: Friday, October 2 (6-9 p.m.)
LOCATION: Mercury Café (6-9 p.m.)
1505 W. Chicago Ave.
Chicago, IL 60642-5237
(312) 455-9922
http://chimercurycafe.com/

EVENT: You are invited to attend this Chicago Calling Arts Festival event, which
includes performances by Chicago-based artists, in collaboration with artists who live outside of Chicago. Performers include Vittorio Carli, Elizabeth Harper, Christopher Gallinari, and other TBA artists. This event is free and open to the public.


* * * * * *


“ARTS IN NEW ORLEANS AND CHICAGO” PANEL DISCUSSION AND LARGE ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE OF GINO ROBAIR’S “DIVINATION”
DATE: Saturday, October 3, 2009 (1-4 p.m.)

CHICAGO Claudia Cassidy Theater
LOCATION: Chicago Cultural Center, 2nd floor
78 E. Washington St.
Chicago, IL 60605

NEW ORLEANS
LOCATION: TBA

EVENT: You are invited to attend this Fourth Annual Chicago Calling Arts Festival
event, which features a panel discussion about the arts in New Orleans and Chicago and a large ensemble performance of Gino Robair’s “Divination.”

“The Arts in New Orleans and Chicago” Panel Discussion (1 p.m.)
This panel discussion will involve people in two locations discussing the arts, curation, and the roles of the arts in society. The panelists in New Orleans will include Diane Grams, Elizabeth Underwood, Chris Rose, and another TBA person. The panelists in Chicago will include Barbara Koenen, Alpha Bruton, Annie Heckman, Dan Godston, and another TBA person. Panelists in New Orleans and Chicago will be connected over the internet, using Skype.

Large Ensemble Performance of Divination
by Gino Robair (2:30 p.m.)
Performers will include: Andrew Royal (violin), Paul Hartsaw (tenor saxophone), Dan Godston (trumpet), Eric Leonardson (amplified springboard), Carol Genetti (voice), Aaron Zarzutzki (turntable / electronics), Ben Boye (piano), Jason Stein (bass clarinet), Jeff Kimmel (bass clarinet), Ryan Dunn (electronics), Josh Manchester (percussion), and other TBA performers.
.
This event is free and open to the public.

* * * * * *

PERFORMANCE EVENT AT ELASTIC SOUND & VISION GALLERY
DATE: Saturday, October 3, 2009 (7-11 p.m.)

LOCATION: Elastic Sound & Vision Gallery
2830 N. Milwaukee Ave., 2nd floor
Chicago, IL 60647
773.772.3616
http://www.elasticrevolution.com/

EVENT: You are invited to attend this Fourth Annual Chicago Calling Arts Festival
event, which features poetry readings and musical performances. Performers / projects include:
• Korean poetry in translation
• Eric Elshtain -- poetry
• Satya Alliance (Satya Gummulnori (voice) and other performers TBA)
• Erin Teegarden – poetry
• Trio with Gino Robair (percussion), Andrew Royal (violin), and Aaron Zarzutzki (electronics
• Vibrational Sound Narratives, a collection of new paintings by Alpha Bruton
• other performances / projects TBA

$12 suggested donation


"Vibrational Sound Narratives by artist Alpha Bruton
Alpha Bruton has created 200 12"x 18" acrylic on paper paintings, of compositions, from a four year exploration of various Chicagoan jazz musicians, improvisational jazz, creative music, electric music, and alternative sound, where she created abstract sketches in a response to their sound stream, and what she was feeling, or seeing during these performances.
Vibrational sound narratives are a very comprehensive system of patterns, or vibrations that teach our bodies at all levels how to have a new experience. They activate a practice similar to Vibra Keys association with sound, shape, and image in the context of emotional response, and unlock visual-spatial intelligence in the artists among us, who think in pictures and images.
These compositions were started as sketches that Bruton created, of musicians who have performed at venues and events in Chicago, including Elastic Sound & Vision Gallery, Brown Rice, The Umbrella Music Festival at the Chicago Cultural Center, Fred Anderson’s Velvet Lounge, Ancestral Lofts, Heaven Gallery after set, AACM tribute to Fletcher Henderson at Millennium Park, Earnest Dawkins’ Sunday afternoon jam sessions, Nicole Mitchell's tribute to Alice Coltrane, Ways & Means Trio, Chicago Calling Arts Festival, The Mingus Awareness Project, among others.

* * * * * *

CHICAGO CALLING EVENT AT MYOPIC BOOKSTORE

DATE: Sunday, October 4, 2009 (7-9 p.m.)

LOCATION: Myopic Bookstore
1564 N Milwaukee Ave
Chicago, IL 60622-2008
773.862.4882
http://www.myopicbookstore.com

EVENT: You are invited to attend this Fourth Annual Chicago Calling Arts Festival
event, which features poetry readings and a “telephone art” game with poetry. Poets TBA. Free and open to the public.


* * * * * *

CHICAGO CALLING EVENT ON “WORDSLINGERS”DATE: Sunday, October 4, 2009 (8:00-9:00 p.m.)

LOCATION: WLUW (88.7 FM)
http://www.wluw.org/schedule/index.cfm

EVENT: You are invited to listen to this Fourth Annual Chicago Calling Arts
Festival event, which features several Chicago-based poets who have created projects in collaboration with artists who live outside of Chicago. The poets include Elizabeth Harper, Rachel Javellana, and one more TBA poet. This edition of Wordslingers is being hosted by Shelley Nation. Poets.

WORDSLINGERS:
Wordslingers began in November 1999 as an invitation from the station mgr of WLUW Loyola University’s Community Radio station for Michael C. Watson to introduce listeners to the thriving poetry community here in Chicago. Wordslingers has featured poets from all walks of life as well as different styles- performance, slam, academic, political, erotic, haiku, jazz, and blues.

You can listen to Wordslingers live at 88.7 FM in the Chicago area, or at http://www.wluw.org/. Wordslinger broadcasts are podcasted at http://securefdata.com/WordSlingers/.

* * * * * *

CHICAGO CALLING EVENT ON “SOMETHING ELSE”

DATE: Sunday, October 4, 2009 (10 p.m.-2 a.m.)

LOCATION: “Something Else” show hosted by Philip Von Zweck
WLUW (88.7 FM)
http://www.wluw.org/schedule/index.cfm

EVENT: You are invited to listen to this Fourth Annual Chicago Calling Arts
Festival event, which features TBA artists performing on Philip Von Zweck’s “Something Else” show.

* * * * * *

CHICAGO CALLING, AFTER HOURS ON THE LINE

DATE: Monday, October 5, 2009 (7:30-9:30 p.m.)

LOCATION: Café Ballou
939 N. Western Ave.
Chicago, IL
(773) 342-2909

EVENT: You are invited to attend this Fourth Annual Chicago Calling Arts Festival
event, which features TBA poets. This event is being organized by the editors of After Hours: A Journal of Chicago Writing and Art.

* * * * * *

Performance Event at Hotti Biscotti

DATE: Tuesday, October 6, 2009 (8:30-11:00 p.m.)

LOCATION: Hotti Biscotti Café
3545 W. Fullerton Ave.
Chicago, IL 60647-2442
773.292.6877

EVENT: You are invited to attend this Chicago Calling Arts Festival event, which
features two sets of music:
1st set: Jim Baker Trio
Jim Baker – keyboard, ARP
Brian Sandstrom – bass
Steve Hunt – drums
2nd set: Weston / Royal / Godston Trio
Matt Weston – percussion
Andrew Royal – violin
Dan Godston – trumpet

Suggested donation

* * * * * *

Performance Event at Backstory Café and Social Center

DATE: Wednesday, October 7, 2009 (6-8 p.m.)

LOCATION: Backstory Café and Social Center
6100 S. Blackstone Ave.
Chicago, IL 60637-2912
(773) 324-9987
http://backstorycafe.com

EVENT: You are invited to attend to this Fourth Annual Chicago Calling Arts
Festival event, which is being curated by Alex Wing. More info TBA. Free and open to the public.

* * * * * *

Telematic Performance Event at WNUR

DATE: Thursday, October 8, 2009 (7:30-9:30 p.m.)

LOCATION: WNUR 89.3 FM
1877 Campus Drive
Northwestern University
Evanston, IL 60208
http://www.wnur.org

EVENT: You are invited to attend this Fourth Annual Chicago Calling Arts
Festival event, which features a telematic performance involving musical ensembles at WNUR and at Mills College (Oakland, CA). Performers TBA.

* * * * * *

Yuganaut and Chicago-Based Filmmakers and Video Artists at the Velvet Lounge

DATE: Friday, October 9, 2009 (9:30-11:30 p.m.)

LOCATION: The Velvet Lounge
67 E. Cermak Rd.
Chicago, IL 60616-2122
(312) 791-9050

EVENT: You are invited to attend this Fourth Annual Chicago Calling Arts Festival
event, which features the trio Yuganaut performing while Jayve Montgomery and other Chicago-based video artists project images. Yuganaut is Tom Abbs (bass, tuba, violin, cello, percussion), Geoff Mann (drums, mbira, cornet, mandolin), and Stephen Rush (Fender Rhodes, MicroMoog, trombone, toys and effects. $15 admission.

* * * * * *

Performance Event at the Church of the Epiphany

DATE: Saturday, October 10, 2009 (2:00-11:00 p.m.)

LOCATION: Church of the Epiphany
201 S. Ashland Ave.
Chicago, IL 60607
http://www.epiphany-chicago.org/
312.243.4242

EVENT: You are invited to attend this Fourth Annual Chicago Calling Arts Festival
Event, which happens at Church of the Epiphany. Performers and projects include:
• Rachel Thorne Germond -- dance (2 p.m.)
• World Listening Project
• Laura Goldstein -- poetry
• Joel Wanek group
• Wayne Allen Jones -- poetry
• Wizards: Hasan Abdur-Razzaq (saxophones), Gerard Cox (piano), and Adam Smith (drums)
• Jennie and the Sure Shot
• Greenlief/Hartsaw/Hyde/Short Quartet: Philip Greenlief (saxophones), Paul Hartsaw (tenor saxophone), Clifton Hyde (guitar), Damon Short (drums)
• other TBA artists

$15 admission

* * * * * *

New Orleans-Chicago Event at Columbia College’s Concert Hall

DATE: Sunday, October 11, 2009 (3:00-6:00 p.m.)

CHICAGO Concert Hall
LOCATION: Columbia College
1014 S. Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL 60605.
312-369-6245

NEW ORLEANS
LOCATION: Zeitgeist Multidisciplinary Arts Center
New Orleans, LA 70112
(504) 827-5858
http://www.zeitgeistinc.net

EVENT: You are invited to attend this Fourth Annual Chicago Calling Arts Festival
event, which features a panel discussion about music, film, and activism in Chicago and and New Orleans, followed by musical performances. More info TBA.

“Film, Music, and Activism in New Orleans and Chicago” Panel Discussion (3 p.m.)
It has been more than over four years since Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast region. Many amazing things have happened in New Orleans and elsewhere in the Gulf Coast region since then, but challenges still face us in terms of rebuilding. This panel discussion will involve people in two locations discussing music, film and activism in New Orleans and Chicago. The panelists in New Orleans will include Rene Broussard, Luther Gray, Chris Rose, and Jonathan Freilich. The panelists in Chicago will include Stan West, Robin Whatley, George Bailey, Arvis Averett, and Ted Hardin. Panelists in New Orleans and Chicago will be connected over the internet, using Skype.

Telematic Performance Connecting New Orleans and Chicago (4:30 p.m.)
Performers / program TBA

* * * * * *

ORGANIZER:

CCAF4 is being organized by the Borderbend Arts Collective, a not for profit organization. Borderbend’s mission is to promote the arts, to create opportunities for artists to explore new directions in and between art forms, and to engage the community.

CHICAGO ARTISTS MONTH:

Chicago Calling is part of Chicago Artists Month, the thirteenth annual celebration of Chicago’s vibrant visual art community. In October, more than 200 exhibitions of emerging and established artists, openings, demonstrations, tours, open studios and neighborhood art walks take place at galleries, cultural centers and arts buildings throughout the city. For more information, call 312.744.6630 or visit www.chicagoartistsmonth.org. Chicago Artists Month is coordinated by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and is sponsored by the Chicago Office of Tourism with additional support from 3Arts.

Tonight at TH!NKART Gallery

Elise Paschen and Chris Green at TH!NKART
September 18, 2009 5:00pm - 10:00pm
TH!NKART Gallery: 1530 N. Paulina, Suite F, Chicago, IL

Portals: An exhibition of new paintings and works on paper by LARRY ROBERTS with a reading of poetry by Elise Paschen and Chris Green.

Opening Reception
5:00pm-9:00pm
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Featuring music by DJ Eric Tenfelde

5:00pm-10:00pm
Friday, September 18, 2009
Featuring the poetry of Elise Paschen and Chris Green

Exhibition
Thursday, September 17, 2009 through October 30, 2009
Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 11:00am -5:00pm Saturday by appointment only.

TH!NKART International Art Gallery & Policy Salon
1530 N. Paulina, Suite F, Chicago, IL
RSVP at 773.252.2294 Ex. 305 or email thinkartsalon@gmail.com

This Week at Myopic Books

Karyna McGlynn
Nate Slawson
Chris Green

Nate SLAWSON edits the online magazine dear camera and designs books for Cinematheque Press. He is the author of the chapbook a mixtape called Zooey Deschanel (Line4, 2009), and recent work has appeared or is forthcoming in diode, H_NGM_N, Typo, Forklift, Ohio, Cannibal, DIAGRAM, Corduroy Mtn., and others. He lives in Chicago.

Chris GREEN’s poems have appeared in numerous publications, including Poetry, Verse, Black Clock, North American Review, RATTLE, 5 AM, Poet Lore, and Poetry East. His book, The Sky Over Walgreens, was published in 2007 by Mayapple Press; his chapbook, Conceptual Animals, was published in 2006 by Sheltering Pines Press. He has been a featured reader and lecturer for the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, Amnesty International, and National Public Radio. He has an M.F.A. in Poetry from Bennington College and an M.A in British and American Literature from the University of Utah. He has been an editor for Quarterly West and RHINO. He was Editorial Manager for BearingPoint Inc., one of the largest consulting companies in the world. He has also taught for fifteen years at high schools and colleges across the country; he currently teaches poetry at Loyola University and DePaul University. He is also a Visiting Fellow at the DePaul University Humanities Center and his latest book, Epiphany School (Mayapple Press), will be appearing soon.

Karyna McGLYNN was born and raised in Austin, TX and received her MFA from the University of Michigan, where she received a Hopwood Award and was selected by Tony Hoagland for a Zell Postgraduate Fellowship. Her first book, I Have to Go Back to 1994 and Kill a Girl, won the 2008 Kathryn A. Morton Prize in Poetry from Sarabande Books, and her third chapbook, Small Shrines, is forthcoming from Cinematheque Press. Recent poems have appeared in Fence, Denver Quarterly, ACM, Octopus, POOL, Typo, Copper Nickel and Forklift, Ohio. Karyna is currently the Claridge Writer-in-Residence at Illinois College. She edits L4: The Journal of the New American Epigram with Adam Theriault.


THE MYOPIC POETRY SERIES — a weekly series of readings and occasional poets' talks

Myopic Books in Chicago
Sundays at 7:00
1564 N. Milwaukee Avenue, 2nd Floor

http://www.myopicbookstore.com/poetry.html

773.862.4882


Contact curator Larry Sawyer for booking information and requests.
E-mail: larrysawyerpoet@yahoo.com

NEW LOCATION! This month's Tuesday Funk will take place at The Hopleaf, 5148 N. Clark St., Chicago.

Please join us for the next reading on Tuesday, October 6th:


RAYMOND L. BIANCHI is a native of Chicago and the child of Italian Immigrants. He lived and worked for most of the 1990’s in Bolivia and Brazil, first as a volunteer and then in publishing. He is the author of two books of poetry: Circular Descent (2003) from Blaze Vox Books and Immediate Empire (2008) from i.e. Press. He was the guest translation editor for Aufgabe 6 which included a section of 18 Brazilian poets that he translated. His translations of Brazilian poet Sergio Medieros will appear in the fall 2009 edition of Mandorla Magazine from the University of Texas press. He also serves as Publisher and co-founder of Cracked Slab Books of Chicago. In that capacity he served as co-editor for The City Visible: Chicago Poetry for the New Century in 2008. He blogs at www.irasciblepoet.blogspot.com.

Following a lifetime career in dance, MAGGIE KAST received an MFA in fiction from Vermont College. She has published stories in The Sun, Nimrod, Kaleidoscope, Rosebud, Paper Street, and Carve. Her essays and memoir excerpts have appeared in Americ2a, Image, Writer's Chronicle, ACM/Another Chicago Magazine, and others. Her book, The Crack between the Worlds: a dancer's memoir of loss, faith and family, has just been published by Wipf and Stock and is available at bookstores and www.wipfandstock.com. Read excerpts at www.maggiekast.com.

ARLENE MALINOWSKI - As actor, educator, and writer Arlene views solo work as an artistic extension of the social justice work she has been doing for the last twenty five years. Her five solo plays including What Does the Sun Sound Like and Aiming for Sainthood have been produced and performed in venues nationwide including St Louis Center of Contemporary Art; 16th Street Theater, Chicago; Los Angeles Women's Theatre Festival; HBO Workspace; NoHo Theatre Festival; Ojai Solo Series; National Center on Deafness; West Coast Ensemble; and Blue Sphere Alliance, as well as at numerous colleges throughout the country. Most recently she performed a new piece which was named one of the five best solo shows by Windy City Times.
Her solo work has been honored with an LA Garland Award and nominations for the LA Weekly Award and the Los Angeles Theatre Ovation Award. As an actor she has appeared in numerous theater productions including the world premiere of By the Music of the Spheres at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. Other favorite roles include Lovers and Other Strangers, Labor Pains, Chapter Two, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest with Deaf West, the critically acclaimed In A Different Voice and Faith, Hope and Clarity.
Arlene is also a writer and performer with the nationally touring, multicultural show A Slice of Rice, Frijoles and Greens which was honored with the White House Award for the Initiative on Race. Recent TV credits include CBS Movie Sweet Nothing in My Ear, CSI, ER, The Division, The Practice, The Division, Any Day Now, twelve segments of Fit Spa and Resort and The X Files. She teaches solo writing and performing in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago, and coaches individual artists. Her numerous solo students have been honored with Garland Awards, special recognition at the Edinburgh Fringe, LA Weekly Awards, FEM Finalists, Windy City Chicago best solo show, and numerous critics pick. She is a contributing writer for the Week Behind and Selling Lemonade for Free and is a Resident Playwright at Chicago Dramatists and Artist in Residence at 16th Street Theater. Her newest play Anonymous Donor about sperm banks, technology and mean girls will have a Chicago reading in 2009.

LAURA TIEBERT is a travel writer and author of four guidebooks to Chicago, including Frommer's Chicago with Kids, Frommer's Chicago Day by Day, Chicago for Dummies, and the forthcoming Frommer's Chicago Free and Dirt Cheap. She has ghostwritten eight For Dummies books, ranging from Blues for Dummies with Chicago blues legend Lonnie Brooks, to Beauty Secrets for Dummies with supermodel Stephanie Seymour. Studying with Chicago performance artist Brigid Murphy, she completed her first novel, Sapphire Dunes, a romantic novel about a feisty and chic young Chicago journalist who follows her heart to a Middle Eastern country and comes home with a great feature story... and possibly the love of her life. Laura is currently working on her second novel, Home Economics, about a 45-year-old mom on the verge of a nervous breakdown (the breakdown all moms would like to have but can't afford to), whose dead mother-in-law starts speaking to her through a 1950s Sunbeam mixmaster. (Yes, exactly like the mixmasters on display in Tuesday Funk's former home, Flourish).

3rd Saturday Coffeehouse-Oak Park

Saturday September 19th
Open Mic sign up 7:30
Open Mic 8
feature at 9

Unity Temple in Oak Park
875 Lake Street (at Kenilworth) in Downtown Oak Park
3rd Saturday Coffeehouse
An Open Mic for Poets, Musicians, Storytellers & Other Performers!

THIS MONTH'S FEATURE: Poet/publisher Haki Madhubuti

Join us on Saturday, September 19 as 3rd Saturday Coffeehouse Open Mic welcomes renowned poet, educator and author Haki Madhubuti. He is the founding director of Third World Press, a protégé of Gwendolyn Brooks, and director of the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program at Chicago State University.

Madhubuti is the author of 24 volumes of poetry and non-fiction, including Black Men: Obsolete, Single, Dangerous? that has sold more than a million copies. His latest release is YellowBlack: The First Twenty One Years of a Poet’s Life, a memoir of the people and places that were a part of his early life. His accomplishments are too many to mention – see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haki_R._Madhubuti for more information.

Sponsored by Unity Temple Unitarian-Universalist Congregation.

Join us at Unity Temple, 875 Lake Street (at Kenilworth), Oak Park. 7:30 sign up, 8 pm Open Mic, 9 pm featured performer. Open Mic is limited to 5 minutes. Charlie Rossiter host. We are acoustic--no equipment provided. $3-$5 donation. Wheelchair accessible. Info at 708-660-9376.

Sylvia Plath's Women and Poetry

Karen Kukil Lecture: “Sylvia Plath's Women and Poetry”
Wednesday, October 21, 5:30 p.m.
Music Center Concert Hall,1014 South Michigan Avenue


KAREN V. KUKIL is Associate Curator of Special Collections at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. For the past sixteen years, Ms. Kukil has supervised the scholarly use of the Sylvia Plath and Virginia Woolf collections in the Mortimer Rare Book Room at Smith College, where she has made the rare book and manuscript collections accessible to undergraduates through lectures and exhibitions. A popular interterm course taught by Ms. Kukil requires students to examine and edit variant drafts of Plath’s Ariel poems, which are also part of the college’s extensive Sylvia Plath Collection.

Luis Valadez at Union Street Gallery

Chicago Heights, IL — Union Street Gallery in Chicago Heights will kick off the first in a series of poetry readings on Friday, October 9, at the Gallery, 1527 Otto Boulevard, Chicago Heights, IL.

Area residents and poetry lovers of all ages are invited to read at the Open Mic from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Following the Open Mic, at 7:30 p.m., poet, musician, and performer Luis Humberto Valadez, a native of Chicago Heights, will be the featured reader at this inaugural event.





Valadez is the author of a poetry collection, What I’m On. A graduate of Columbia College Chicago, Valadez holds an M.F.A. from the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado.

In reviewing Valadez’s debut poetry collection, poet Arielle Greenberg writes, “In voices colloquial and church, reverent and riotous, serious and sly; in rap and fragment, sound and sin; from gangs and minimum-wage jobs to astrology and Christ, Luis Valadez makes his fearless debut.”

The poetry event is being held on the closing night of a national juried art exhibition, “Assume Nothing,” which opens September 11 and features 36 artists from across the country. Artists working in a broad range of media, styles, and formats investigate the subtleties of the theme, filtered through personal experience and political beliefs, global concerns, and private visions. The intentional ambiguity of the exhibit’s title has given artists and juror alike the opportunity to search for surprising links and tangents, and to create an exhibit of unexpected depth and visual pleasure.

“Unlike oil and water, poetry and the visual arts make perfect companions,” noted Union Street Gallery Administrator Jackie Riffice. “Poetry lovers are very often art lovers, and vice versa. We’re very excited about having this chance to showcase poets from the Southland against the backdrop of this marvelous Gallery and this remarkable national juried art exhibit.”

In addition to the national juried art exhibition, Terry Dixon, winner of the 1st annual National Juried Artist in Residence Program at Union Street Gallery, will exhibit works responding to the Re-Enslavement of African Americans from the Civil War through World War II. The exhibit runs from September 11 through October 31.

The poetry reading and art exhibit are both free and open to the public.

Founded in 1995, Union Street Gallery is a 501 (c) 3 not-for-profit organization. The Gallery’s mission is to encourage and nurture emerging and established artists and be a resource for art appreciation and education to the communities that make up the Chicago Southland.

Additional information may be obtained by calling (708) 754-2601 at www.unionstreetgallery.org

Newberry Library Seminar

I Sing the Nation Electric: How Poetry Makes America
Wednesdays, 2 - 4 pm
September 16 - November 4
8 sessions, $180
Register Online(LAST CHANCE!)

This course approaches poetry as a force that shapes ideas of citizenship and cultural identity. We will examine the form and content of familiar and less familiar poems from the period of the American Revolution to the present, including works by Longfellow, Whitman, William Carlos Williams, Allen Ginsberg, Adrienne Rich, and Joy Harjo.

Jennifer Shook is an Illinois Humanities Council Road Scholar and Lincoln Bicentennial Speaker. She is Artistic Director of Caffeine Theatre and an adjunct faculty member at DePaul University.

Elbowing Off the Stage

a c o mm u n i t yr e a din g se r i e s

presents:
Hafizah Geter, Kristen Orser,
& Jacob Knabb

Monday, September 21
7:00p.m.

Manhattan's Bar
415 South Dearborn
312.957.0460
Paces away from the Jackson/Library-State/Van Buren
BlueRedPurpleOrangePink&BrownLines

Tell yer friends.

After losing the flat so graciously offered by MattDunning for most of last year--thanks for everything Matt!--Elbowing Off the Stage is returning to Manhattan's (hey, it's hard to beat the "private" attic and cheap drink specials), and we hope you'll decide to join us.


H aFi Zah GEt e R is from Columbia, South Carolina and received her undergraduate degree in English and Economics from Clemson University. She is in her fourth semester at Columbia College where she also teaches Writing and Rhetoric I. She is an avid reader of Susan Sontag and enjoys libraries and bookstores. This one time, she ran a marathon.

K rI st En OR ser is the author of Winter, Another Wall (blossombones); Fall Awake (Taiga Press); Squint (Dancing Girl Press); Wilted Things (Scantily Clad Press); Folded into your Midwestern Thunderstorm (Greying Ghost Press); and E AT I, illustrated by James Thomas Stevens (Wyrd Tree Press, 2009). She is certain about being uncertain and she might forget to return your phone calls.

J ac o BK nA bb's double-life as Editor of Another Chicago Magazine and lecturer of composition at UIC has led him to cast his demons into a herd of swine he saw by a ravine. He is still waiting to hear them hit bottom.

Now Available from Ghost Road Press

Todd Heldt’s Card Tricks for the Starving exists somewhere between the ineffable and a long country highway that marks the soul’s quest for natural place markers. Heldt embraces the mysteries of existence while expatiating on bus stations, the curves of a spoon, or blue jays and scuppernongs. In the end it is the graceful and physical language that will bring you back and back again to these beguiling poems. This is a poignant and highly readable collection. --Corey Mesler, author of Some Identity Problems

With remarkable, accomplished sleight-of-hand and with a sure, compelling voice, these documents of past moments attain powerful presence, momentous. --Scott Cairns, author of Compass of Affection: Poems New & Selected

Heldt locks his poetry with a unique, disarming language; seemingly easy-going and conversational, while always tense and powerful. --Simon Perchik, author of The Autochthon Poems

If writing itself is an issue in these poems, it stems not from that tired, narcissistic chic of self-reflexiveness, but from the urgency of the endeavor—the real struggle that honest communication requires. The honesty is this: if there is a divine perfection, we can only approach it from human imperfection. --William Wenthe, author of Not Till We Are Lost



order at www.ghostroadpress.com

New Media Poetics

Wednesday, October 7, 2009 - 6:30pm
Sullivan Galleries, 33 S. State St., 7th floor

The Poetry Center in collaboration with the Experimental Sound Studio and the SAIC Department of Exhibitions.


New Media Poetics: a collaboration of poetry and sound arts in two parts

Part one: Reading

Featuring readings by Bill Allegrezza, Robert Archambeau, Ray Bianchi, Justin Cabrillos, Steve Halle, Philip Jenks, Simone Meunch, and Lina Ramona Vitkauskas

This project is an artistic response to the Learning Modern exhibition, with particular attention to modernist trends in poetry and the manner in which design sensibilities translate across media and are even evident in our understandings of the sonic landscape. Building on the works on display, contemporary poets design texts, which are then read in the Sullivan Galleries on Wednesday, October 7 at 6:30 p.m. Subsequently, SAIC sound students engage these poems as material for further response, reframing the auditory elements of each poem's structure into a new sound score. The resulting projects will be presented in the lobby of the Sullivan Gallery as a temporary sound installation November 6 - 25. New Media Poetics is a collaboration between Experimental Sound Studio for its 2009 Outer Ear Festival of Sound, the Poetry Center of Chicago, and the SAIC Department of Exhibitions.

Please come to the Series A Conversations mini-conference on Saturday,
Sept 19 in Chicago at the Hyde Park Art Center. The HPAC is at 5020
S. Cornell in Hyde Park. It has a parking lot and free street parking
and is close to both Metra and the CTA (only 15-20 minutes from
downtown).

BYOB. The conference is not associated with any university or
organization except for Series A (which is not really an organization
at all). Feel free to come and throw your voice into the conversation
and perhaps join us afterward for food and drink.

All events take place in the 4833 studio room.

10:00-11:15 New Media Poetics--Film and Poetry (with a film screening)
Francesco Levato, Moderator
Kurt Heintz, Julia Miller, Eric Gelehrter, and Nate Slawson

11:30-12:30 Other People's Poetry
Tim Yu
Srikanth (Chicu) Reddy
Judith Goldman

12:45-1:45 Poetry and Place
Raymond Bianchi and Garin Cycholl,

2:00-3:00 Poetry Publication--Founding, Editing, and Distributing a
Print Journal
Chad Heltzel, Moderator
Jennie Berner, Garrett Brown, Tasha Fouts,
Jennifer Moore, Sara Tracey, and Snezana Zabic

3:15-4:45 Rapid Poetry Reading
Bill Allegrezza, Moderator

Larry O'Dean, Tim Yu
Kristy Bowen, Srikanth (Chicu) Reddy
Quraysh Ali Lansana, Ray Bianchi
Kristy Odelius, Garin Cycholl
Chad Heltzel ,
Dan Godston,
Simone Muench,
Nick Demske, and many others.

For more information, contact Bill Allegrezza at wallegrezza@gmail.com.

Mercury Cafe, September 25

The Mercury Café
1505 W. Chicago Avenue
7pm.


Wendy Brown-Báez & Bridget Clymore



Wendy Brown-Báez has performed nationally and in Mexico, in cafes, bars, galleries, bookstores, schools, peace centers, writers groups, art festivals, women's retreats, and private homes, solo and in collaborations. She has published poetry and creative non-fiction in dozens of literary journals. She received a 2008 McKnight grant to teach a bilingual writing workshop with at risk youth and a 2009 McKnight grant to develop a writing workshop with impoverished youth into an art installation, both provided through COMPAS Community Art Program. She is the author of Ceremonies of the Spirit, a full-length collection of love poems published by Plain View Press
in 2009.

RHINO Workshop

Sunday, September 27th, 2009
1:30-4:30
Evanston Public Library -- Room 108
Church & Orrington

FOURTH SUNDAYS
RHINO POETRY WORKSHOPS
and peer exchange
sponsored by RHINO/the Poetry Forum

COME AND TRY OUT YOUR NEW WORK ON US!

Past leaders and readers and all poets welcome. Drop in, have poems critiqued, and participate in an ongoing discussion of poetry and poetics. Sessions are free* and no registration is required.

Sunday, September 27th, 2009

Leader: Kathleen Kirk

Kathleen Kirk is the author of Selected Roles (Moon Journal Press, 2006), Broken Sonnets (Finishing Line Press, 2009), and Living on the Earth, forthcoming from Finishing Line in 2010 and an honorable mention winner in their New Women’s Voices series. She was an editor of RHINO Magazine for ten years, and ran the RHINO Poetry Forum at the Normal Public Library, in Normal, Illinois. As a graduate student at DePaul University, she was an associate editor of Poetry East. Her poems, stories, and essays are widely published in print and online journals and anthologies, including After Hours, Common Review, Fourth River, Greensboro Review, Fifth Wednesday, Ninth Letter, Poems & Plays, Spoon River Poetry Review, Poem, Revised (Marion Street Press, 2008), Introduction to the Prose Poem (Firewheel Editions, 2009), and A Writers’ Congress: Chicago Poets on Barack Obama’s Inauguration (edited by Chris Green, DePaul Poetry Institute, DePaul Humanities Center, January 20, 2009). She will read from Broken Sonnets in the RHINO Reads series at Brothers K in Evanston on November 20.

Kathleen’s topic: Reading Poetry Aloud -- as an aid to revision and in service of poetry at public events.

Bring 15 or more copies (no longer than two pages) of work you want critiqued.

*$5 - $10 donation appreciated

This project has been partially supported by a grant fro Poets & Writers.

For more info: RHINOPOETRY.ORG

Tomorrow Night

September 12th
6 to 8 PM
Starbucks
2023 W. Roscoe St

Featuring Vito Carli, Hugh Schwartzberg and Bronmin Schumway
big surprise announcement to follow.

Hosted by Vito Carli
Includes an open mike
No cover charge

Catherine Bowman at Columbia College

Wednesday, October 7, 5:30 p.m.
Music Center Concert Hall,1014 South Michigan Avenue

CATHERINE BOWMAN was born in El Paso, Texas. She is the author of the poetry collections The Plath Cabinet, Notarikon, Rock Farm, and 1-800-HOT-RIBS, winner of the Peregrine Smith Poetry Prize and the Kate Frost Tufts Prize. She is the editor of Word of Mouth: Poems Featured on NPR's All Things Considered. Her poems have been published in many literary journals and magazines, and have been selected for six editions of The Best American Poetry anthology. She is the Ruth Lilly Professor of Poetry at Indiana University in Bloomington.

Granta! Poetry! Stop Smiling!

Tuesday, September 15

7 pm to 9 pm

Stop Smiling Storefront
1371 North Milwaukee Avenue

FEATURING: Previously unpublished poems by James Schuyler, read by David Trinidad; and new work by Reginald Gibbons, Anne Winters, and Diego Báez. Music, refreshments, and more follows. rsvp@stopsmilingonline.com

Woman Made Gallery

Writing the Transdiasporic Experience - Free
Sunday, October 4, 2009 / 2-4 p.m
685 North Milwaukee Ave.

2-4 p.m

Woman Made Gallery

685 N Milwaukee Ave

READING: Writing the Transdiasporic Experience - Free

Hosted by Nina Corwin

readers will include:

Susan Azar Porterfield

Beatriz Badikian-Gartler

Susanna Lang

Gwendolyn Mitchell

Pamela Garvey

Angela Torres

Mirela Ramona Ciupag

Sharmili Majmudar.

In addition Pritika Chowdhry will read excerpts introducing the theme.


Themes include cultural memory, historical trauma, displacement and its causes (invasion, colonialization, political oppression, enslavement and genocide; exile) border crossing, migration, multi-ethnicity and the outsider or refugee experience.

WOMB-WORDS, THIRSTING:

WOMB-WORDS, THIRSTING:
The Celebrated One-Woman Show
by Lenelle Moïse
September 16. 7:00pm.
Music Center Concert Hall,
1014 S. Michigan. FREE

Hailed as “a tour de force” and “a masterful performer”, Haitian-American artist-activist Lenelle Moise brings us WOMB-WORDS, THIRSTING, an interactive performance of patchwork poetic storytelling delivered, slam-style, from the gut. Through a mix of womanist Vodou jazz, queer theory hip-hop, spoken word, song and movement, Lenelle Moise re-conceives memory, dances revolution, reclaims F-words and boldly speaks out about growing up immigrant, working-class, politicized and queer. Presented by the LGBTQ Office of Culture & Community in partnership with the Institute, and co-sponsored by African American Cultural Affairs, Center for Teaching Excellence and the English Department.

November 19th @ The Hideout

8:00pm - 11:30pm
The Hideout
1354 West Wabansia

ROCKPILE Poetry and Jazz Fest with special guests The Spider Trio, Bob Malone, Art Lange, Dan Godston, Larry Sawyer, Francesco Levato and Ed Roberson at The Hideout

ROCKPILE Poetry and Jazz Festival, a collaborative journey of poetry and music, featuring David Meltzer, poet, musician and essayist, Michael Rothenberg, poet , song writer and editor of Big Bridge Press, along with local artists and musicians will perform on Friday, November 19th at the Hideout in Chicago. The performance at the Hideout will be the sixth stop in an eight city tour.

ROCKPILE, in a spontaneous fusion, joins poetry and music, and is intended to educate and preserve, as well as to create a history of collaboration between musicians and writers. It will help to reinforce the tradition of the troubadour, on and off the road, for all generations.

The tour will continue to New Orleans, Washington DC, New York, Chicago and St. Louis. Interviews and conversations with the local musicians will take place before the performances and become a part of the “on the road ROCKPILE journal” as it grows from city to city and evolves with each performance.

The ROCKPILE journey will be documented online (http://www.bigbridge.org/rockpile/) daily with performance clips, excerpts from the journal, interviews, video and audio files. The tour will conclude in San Francisco, where poets, songwriters and musicians of the Bay Area and beyond will gather in the troubadour tradition to share, through poetry and music, the story of the ROCKPILE journey as a final grand performance.

ROCKPILE, made possible by grants from the Creative Work Fund (www.creativeworkfund.org), the James Irvine Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and is sponsored by the Committee on Poetry, Inc.



The Poets

David Meltzer was raised in Brooklyn during WWII and performed on radio and early TV on the “Horn and Hardart Children’s Hour”. Exiled to L.A at 16, he enrolled in an ongoing academy with artists Wallace Berman and George Herms. He migrated to San Francisco in 1957 and became and important figure in the San Francisco Renaissance and appeared in Donald Allen’s “The New American Poetry” a seminal work of that era. “Beat Thing” a book length, poetic journal, published by La Alameda Press in 2004, won the Josephine Miles PEN Award in 2005. His books, Reading Jazz, Writing Jazz and No Eyes, Lester Young all reflect his deep connection and dedication to music throughout his career. His complete publication history is at http:/meltzerville.com/. As a musician, and poet his recordings include: Serpent Power, Vanguard Records, 1968, reissued on CD in 1996 Poet Song, Vanguard Records, 1969. Green Morning, Capitol Records, 1970.Serpent Power/Poet Song, Italy, 2000, and most recently, David Meltzer: Poetry with Jazz 1958 was issued by Sierra Records. David Meltzer currently co-edits, Shuffle Boil, a magazine devoted to music.

Michael Rothenberg is a poet, songwriter, and editor and publisher of Big Bridge magazine online at www. bigbridge.org. His poetry books include The Paris Journals (Fish Drum Press), Monk Daddy (Blue Press), Unhurried Vision (La Alameda/University of New Mexico Press) and most recently CHOOSE, Selected Poems (Big Bridge Press). He is also editor for the Penguin Poet series, which includes selected works of Phillip Whalen, Joanne Kyger, David Meltzer and Ed Dorn. He has recently completed the Collected Poems of Phillip Whalen for Wesleyan University Press. His songs have appeared in Hollywood Pictures' Shadowhunter and Black Day, Blue Night, and TriStar Pictures' Outside Ozona. Other songs have been recorded on CDs including: The Darkest Part of The Night by Bob Malone, Difficult Woman by Renee Geyer, Global Blues Deficit by Cody Palance, The Woodys by The Woodys, and Schell Game by Johnny Lee Schell. Complete publication history can be found at http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/Rothenberg m/


The Musicians

Dan McNaughton formed Spider Trio in 1997 in New Orleans, in order to perform his jazz compositions which express his love for a wide range of music, from funk to modern classical. The second SPIDER TRIO cd, Presences, was released in 2007. The band is now based in Chicago, and the most current lineup of an ever-changing combo consists of Dan McNaughton, the group leader, composer and basssit, Bryan Pardo on reeds, and Tim Keenan on drums.

Los Angeles based Bob Malone (piano) plays over 100 shows a year all over the world, and he has opened for and/or played with Rickie Lee Jones, The Neville Brothers, Rev. Al Green, Boz Scaggs, Vonda Shepard, Arlo Guthrie, and many others. He has recorded eight records including: The Darkest Part of the Night (1996), Bob Malone (1998), Malone Alone (2003), and Born Too Late (2006). His music has been featured on Car Talk, and TV shows Dr. Phil, The Rachel Ray Show, Jag, and All My Children. His latest CD, is “Ain’t What You Know” (2008). Bob is a three-time recipient of the ASCAP Plus Award for independent musicians.

Featured guest poets include:

Art Lange’s work has been published in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik and the Village Voice, New American Writing and the Partisan Review, and he has written program notes for over 200 jazz and classical recordings. He is the author of five books of poetry, including Needles at Midnight (Z Press) and The Monk Poems (Frontward Books). Lange was editor of Down Beat magazine from 1984-88 and currently he teaches at Columbia College, Chicago.

Dan Godston teaches poetry and other art forms to young people and adults in the Chicago area. His poetry and fiction have appeared in Chase Park, Versal, 580 Split, Kyoto Journal, California Quarterly, after hours, Edgz, Kyunghyang Shinmun, and other publications, while his articles have appeared in Teaching Artist Journal, among other publications. Godston also co-curates the interdisciplinary arts series, Chicago Calling.

Larry Sawyer curates the Myopic Books Poetry Series in Wicker Park, Chicago. His chapbook Tyrannosaurus Ant (mother's milk press) was recently included in the Yale Collection of American Literature. Larry also edits milkmag.org (since 1998). His publications include the Chicago Tribune, Jacket, The Prague Literary Review, the Exquisite Corpse, and elsewhere.

Poet, translator, and new media artist Francesco Levato is the executive director of The Poetry Center of Chicago and the author of Marginal State (Fractal Edge Press, 2006) and is a contributor to Witness: Anthology of Poetry (Serengeti Press, 2004). His poetry-based video artwork has been exhibited in galleries and featured at film festivals in Berlin, Chicago, New York, and elsewhere.

Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Ed Roberson is the author of City Eclogue (2006), Atmosphere Conditions (1999), and Voices Cast Out to Talk Us In (1995), which won the Iowa Poetry Prize. Roberson’s honors include the Lila Wallace Writers’ Award and the Poetry Society of America’s Shelley Award. His work has been included in Best American Poetry. Roberson lives in Chicago, where he has taught at the University of Chicago, Columbia College and Northwestern University.




Rockpile Blog:
http://www.bigbridge.org/rockpile/?cat=3

September at Woodland Pattern

Wednesday, Sept. 9
7pm
Free New Prose Series with Nathalie Stephens


Friday, Sept. 18
7pm
Redletter reading with Jared Stanley & Scott Inguito


Sunday, Sept. 20
7pm
Alternating Currents Live presents Tom Hamilton + Thomas Gaudynski Duo - laptop, electronics, guitar


Wednesdays
Sept. 23 & 30
Community Workshop with poet-in-residence Maureen Owen


Saturday, Sept. 26
10am-5pm
Facing Five Key Themes Through Fiction with Paul McComas


Sunday, Sept. 27
2pm
Featured reading with Maureen Owen & Kate Greenstreet


more details at the
Woodland Pattern Website

Conversations About Poetry

Mini-Conference on Poetry at the Hyde Park Art Center.

Sat, Sept. 19, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Hyde Park Art Center (5020 S. Cornell, Chicago)
Free and open to all

Series A, the month reading series, is hosting a mini-conference on poetry during the day on Saturday. We'll have panels by writers on poetry publication, new media poetics, contemporary poetry schools, and much more. Over 30 writers will talk/read. The day will conclude with a rapid-fire reading from some of Chicagoland's best poets, such as Simone Muench, Ray Bianchi, Kristy Bowen, and many more.

Contact: Bill Allegrezza, holdthresh@yahoo.com, 312-342-7337

Soul Brother

Author: Matt Barton
Publisher: Naked Mannekin
Format: 7.5 x 5" Chapbook, 20 Pages
ISBN: N/A
List Price: $8.00
Inquiries: nakedmannekin@gmail.com
http://nakedmannekin.blogspot.com/


The question is: Does Matt Barton get inside of other peoples' heads or do other people get inside of Matt Barton's head? Either way, meeting Soul Brother is like being stuck in an elevator with a talkative escapee from Reality Sanitarium. It's real . . . maybe not your real, but real. It's also intense. And claustrophobic. And a bit uncomfortable. Soul Brother lives and breathes and shares more about his life than you expect. Don't miss Soul Brother.
--CHARLIE NEWMAN


Inside the mind of Matt Barton is a doorway to skewed universal perspectives. Nothing illustrates this better than “Soul Brother.” Peppered with references to the 1970’s, it is an absolute tribute to what it was like to be a kid during a lost decade. A time when simple things still had complications and heroes were hard to find.
--DAVID (BUDDHA 309) HARGARTEN

Tara Betts Book Release Events

Oct 1st, 8:30 pmKaterina’s, 1920 W. Irving Park Road – $7
Tara Betts celebrates the release of her debut collection ARC AND HUE as a feature at this series, which will be recorded for Chicago Public Radio. This event also showcases Les Pontes Arts Ensemble including Richard Fammerée & singer-songwriter Carrie Ingrisano w/ Meg Lauterbach, Victor Sanders & Meg Thomas.


Oct 2nd, 8pmTara Betts returns to one of her favorite places in Chicago, The Silver Room, to celebrate the release of her debut collection ARC & HUE on Aquarius Press/Willow Books.
The Silver Room, 1442 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago, Illinois



Tara Betts is the author of the upcoming book ARC AND HUE, her debut collection on the Willow Books imprint of Aquarius Press in September 2009. Tara is a lecturer in creative writing at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ. She is also a Cave Canem fellow. More info: http://tarabetts.net/

tonight on Wordslingers

6 - 8 PM

WLUW 88.7 FM

Radio Tribute to John Dickson
with readers: David Gecic, Tom Roby, and Maureen Flannery

Stories and poems by and about John Dickson
and a discussion of his work and life.

Free, turn on your radio!

Wednesday Sept 9th, Jazz Showcase

Quraysh Ali Lansana, Nicole Mitchell & Friends
Start: Wednesday, September 9, 2009 - 7:30pm


Time: 7:30 p.m.

Cost: $10/$5 students

Location: Jazz Showcase, 806 S. Plymouth Ct., Chicago (Dearborn Station)

A not-to-be-missed book release party for Quraysh Ali Lansana's chapbook, bloodsoil (sooner red), published by the American Land Publishing Project. He will be joined by internationally acclaimed jazz flautist Nicole Mitchell, internationally acclaimed storyteller and musician Shanta, Chicago's own versatile and compelling Zahra Baker, veteran Chicago poetry-band member, Craig Nakamoto, and Califone members Tim Rutili and Ben Massarella.(It's also a birthday celebration for Quraysh.)


In bloodsoil (sooner red), Quraysh Ali Lansana writes on growing up black in the hard prairie landscapes of Oklahoma. Lansana is author of They Shall Run: Harriet Tubman Poems (Third World Press, 2004); a children's book,The Big World (Addison-Wesley, 1998); Poetry from the Masters: The Sixth Wave (Just Us Books, September 2009), a young adult anthology, and editor of seven anthologies, including Dream of A Word: The Tia Chucha Press Poetry Anthology (Tia Chucha Press, 2006). He is Director of the Gwendolyn Brooks Center for Black Literature and Creative Writing at Chicago State University, where he is also Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing. He is also a former faculty member of the Drama Division of The Juilliard School. Quraysh is the former Associate Editor-Poetry for Black Issues Book Review. Quraysh earned a Masters of Fine Arts degree at the Creative Writing Program at New York University, where he was a Departmental Fellow. He currently serves as a Contributing Editor for The Writer’s Chronicle of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs and is a board member of Young Chicago Authors, Inc. Quraysh is a 2008 Pushcart Prize nominee.

Nicole Margaret Mitchell has been noted as “a compelling improviser of wit, determination, positivity, and tremendous talent...on her way to becoming one of the greatest living flutists in jazz,” (Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader). A creative flutist, composer and bandleader, Mitchell placed first as Downbeat magazine’s "Rising Star Flutist 2005-2009, was awarded "Jazz Flutist of the Year 2008" by the Jazz Journalist Association and ““Chicagoan of the Year 2006” by the Chicago Tribune. The founder of the critically acclaimed Black Earth Ensemble and Black Earth Strings, Mitchell’s compositions reach across sound worlds, integrating new ideas with moments in the legacy of jazz, gospel, pop, and African percussion to create a fascinating synthesis of “postmodern jazz.” President of Chicago's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), Mitchell works to raise respect and integrity for the improvised flute, to contribute her innovative voice to the jazz legacy, and to continue the bold and exciting directions that the AACM has charted for decades. Mitchell also currently directs the University of Illinois Chicago Jazz Ensemble