On July 12, Rick Kearns Celebrated at Midtown Scholar Bookstore's Poetry Thursdays.

Coming soon-- this week! On Thursday, July 12, writer, poet, and musician, Rick Kearns
will be showcased at the Midtown Scholar Bookstore's venerable reading series,
Poetry Thursdays.

Kearns, Harrisburg's current poet laureate, has appeared as a featured reader in Harrisburg, Lancaster, York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, New York City, Baltimore, Camden (NJ) and in other venues including colleges and universities such as Penn State University, Swarthmore College, and Rutgers University.  

Much of his work deals with his Puerto Rican heritage and identity, including his Taino background. He has performed his work with musical accompaniment on various occasions.

Kearns’ poems have appeared in the following anthologies: I Was Indian (before being Indian was cool)(Foothills Publishing, NY 2009);  El Coro/A Chorus of Latino and Latina Poetry (Univ. of Massachusetts Press, Amherst, 1997); In Defense of Mumia (Writers & Readers Press, Harlem, NY, 1996); and ALOUD; Voices from the Nuyorican Cafe (Henry Holt & Co., NY, 1994. Winner of the American Book Award.)  

His work has appeared in literary reviews such as: The Massachusetts Review, Letras (lit review of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies, Hunter College, NY), Painted Bride Quarterly, Chicago Review, ONTHEBUS, Poetry Motel, The Blue Guitar, Drum Voices Revue (So. Illinois University Edwardsville),, Yellow Medicine Review, Fledgling Rag and others.

Poetry events, all open to the public, happen every Thursday, hosted by the Almost Uptown Poetry Cartel. at the Midtown Scholar Bookstore, 1302 North Third Street, Harrisburg, PA 17102. More info: (717) 236-1680.

​

Midtown Scholar Bookstore, 1302 North Third Street, Harrisburg, PA 17102. More info: (717) 236-1680.

Coming: July 26, Michael R. Brown will be featured poet.

Marty Esworthy and Erika Eberle featuring in August.

In September, Barbara DeCesare, Maria James-Thiaw coming in October.

January 25, Poetry Thursdays at Midtown Scholar

January 25, Poetry Thursdays,
big time open mic, 7-- 9 pm

 
  Poetry Thursdays, that ol' you-can-count-on-us long-running-weekly-series, (now,
into its 20th year) 7 to 9 pm, every week. 1302 North Third Street, Harrisburg, PA.
Midtown Scholar bookstore. 717.236.1680.
 

So, as advertised,
there'll be another
2018 Open mic, January 25
at the
Midtown Scholar Bookstore,
hosted by
the Almost Uptown Poetry Cartel.

 






Read, listen. Yawp barbarically. It's 2018, everything's waiting for you.

Gary N. Miller, Poetry Cartel feature, December 7th

Gary Miller, ONE NIGHT ONLY! This Thursday

Poetry Thursdays: December 7, Gary N. Miller will be featured at
the Midtown Scholar Bookstore, hosted by the Almost Uptown
Poetry Cartel.

"A consummate performer--a beast on the mic!-- his body of
poetic work certainly exemplifies his lofty ranking as a poet."
It is only by selection, by elimination, and by emphasis that
we get at the real meaning of things.

Poetry Thursdays, legendary long-running
weekly series, 7 to 9pm. every week. A
brief open reading will precede the feature.
302 North Third Street, Harrisburg, PA.
Midtown Scholar bookstore. 717.236.1680.

Open mic poetry reading October 19, Midtown Scholar

                                                   

                                                    Open poetry reading October 19. 
                                                      *****Poetry Thursdays *****
                                                    at the Midtown Scholar Bookstore.



The event runs from
7 to 9pm, hosted by the
Almost Uptown Poetry Cartel.

No sign-up, it's Quaker-style--
share as the spirit moves you.
Or just listen. Your call.
"Dynamic, inspiring!"
No cover, no minimum.

1302 North Third Street,
Harrisburg, PA 17102.
And/or: 717.236.1680.

www.midtownscholar.com

And my heart is like a rhyme, September 29, Midtown Scholar

All the fine colors. Open poetry mic, 
September 29, Midtown Scholar Bookstore

And the beat goes on."with the yellow and
the purple and the crimson keeping time..."
--Vagabond Song, Bliss Carman.

Another autumnal open mic
  Thursday, September 29,
Midtown Scholar Bookstore.
     7--9 p.m. 



1302 North Third Street,
 Harrisburg, PA 17102.
 Phone, 717.236.1680.


                                       The legendary Poetry Thursdays' reading series
                hosted by the Almost Uptown Poetry Cartel.


                Quaker style, no sign-up. Read, or listen.
        And all the fine nuances in between, yeah!
                                       
                No cover, no minimum. Nope.

                                             Everything's waiting for you.
.
.

Chicken every Sunday, poetry every Thursday.

Chicken every Sunday, poetry every Thursday. Whassa-matter-you?
August 24, open mic. MidtownScholarr Bookstore.

"I'm tellin' ya Fred, the clouds flew by; winds roared, the snowflakes blew hard
and fast as lightning. As relentless as Bradburian rain. Mizzles, muzzles, torrents.
avalanches! Dostoyevskian, it was, Skokiaan. Rapunzel."
--Winter in Argentina, Johnny Stasis

August. A month of open mics. August 24, open poetry reading, 7--9 pm.
Midtown Scholar Bookstore & ditto, ditto, ditto. This open poetry reading is
hosted by the Almost Uptown Poetry Cartel at the Midtown Scholar Bookstore.
7--9pm, (717) 236-1680. www.midtownscholar.com/

In September-- a new tune. Barbara Crooker is featured September 14.

Rick Kearns & John Catalano, words & music, May 26, Midtown Scholar Bookstore

-------------------------------------------------------
Rick Kearns and John Catalano will perform at the Midtown Scholar Bookstore’s Poetry Thursdays, May 26th, featuring words and music, compelling magic, and... the spirit of Lorca, and Tolstoy as well. 

Two volatile dimensions, poetry and music. Rick Kearns will read his flamenco poetry, and more, while accompanied by the extraordinary John Catalano on guitar. Both men have performed together at the legendary “flamenco kitchen” and in other venues and groups for over 10 years. 

John Vincent Catalano is an American musician, teacher and performer whose areas of interest include prepared and improvised music, flamenco, folk, blues, experimental classical and Gypsy jazz. Catalano is widely sought for performances, workshops and private music instruction. 

He posses an inside-knowledge of the guitar that he acquired from intense and friendly co-operation with jazz-men, flamencos, and maestros.

Rick Kearns is the current Poet Laureate of the capital city of the great state of Pennsylvania. For many years he edited the poetry journal, Blue Guitar. His verse appears in numerous literary reviews and anthologies, and Kearns, concurrently, works as a journalist, publishing volleys of articles about indigenous Latin America in "Indian Country Today Media Network". 

Harrisburg’s poet-laureate has compiled four verse collections, and Kearns has been sowing poetic mayhem in the Harrisburg area for almost 30 years.

Catalano and Kearns have been working non-stop on a bold lyric adaptation of the Soviet march song Polyushka Polye, transforming it into “regimentally exacting” couplets to mark yet another collaboration on a literary/music plane. 

And it comes together May 26. 7-9pm.

This must-see event is part of Poetry Thursdays, since 1999, this storied poetry series has convened weekly at numerous venues, now (four years) at the Midtown Scholar, 1302 N. 3rd Street. For more information, (717) 236-1680. Come early, seating is limited.

This event, and promotional activities, arranged and conducted by the Almost Uptown Poetry Cartel.  www.almostuptown.com

September 24, Joelle Biele at Midtown Scholar Bookstore

Joelle Biele at Midtown Scholar Bookstore September 24

The Almost Uptown Poetry Cartel is pleased to feature Maryland's Joelle Biele presenting her poetry September 24 at The Midtown Scholar Bookstore. That's what they tell me. Enthusiastically.

Biele, a world-class poet and critic, is author of White Summer (Southern Illinois University Press, 2002) and the editor of Elizabeth Bishop and The New Yorker: The Complete Correspondence (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011). She was 2008-09 Fulbright Professor in American Literature at Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland.

Poetry Thursdays events are held weekly at the Midtown Scholar Bookstore in Harrisburg, PA. The cartelians specialize in hand-crafted prosody. Quite a bunch, the series has been operative since 1999 in several locations. An open reading will precede the feature presentation.

The Scholar, in the center of midtown. is located at 1302 North Third Street, 17102. Right across from the Harrisburg Market House.    
Call 717.236.1680 for affirmation. Don't forget to ask about parking &. tell 'em Groucho sent ya.

Coming up:

September 17– Open reading, August artisanal verse

September 24– Featured: Joelle Biele

October 1– Bliss Carman, purple open mic

October 8– Featured: Carlos Mason

October 15– Ides, Glides & Odes (open)

All Events at the Bookstore flow from 7-9pm.

---------------------------

www.almostuptown.com

http://www.dailywritingtips.com/artist-vs-artisan/

Cancel Any Travel If Winter Weather Will Occur

C3PO a student of linguistics might argue that, if people think it exists and use it, then it does exist.
He lives quietly along the Conestoga River in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

telepathically. The caffeine stands apart. Alone. Cooling.

Hitchcockian whirling eddies of caffeinated beverage

how far is farther? the power of words, and distance... something there is that doesn't love the proximate....

Читать полностью: http://mlook.ru/search/2/253+Vito#ixzz1mARhuGWp

"to live in the hearts of those we love is not to die..."
--york emporium bookstore 2011 (photo,  by anna jane)

OVgB3B4November

Lightning occurs when positive charges leap from the ground. And they mash the damn clouds. There is a storm that rages in everyone. It is deep within. It is without. It is, like, like thin paper. BOOM!

Читать полностью: http://mlook.ru/search/253%20vito#ixzz1mAQ4gwcw


clatter of hailstones woke me up & i dashed to my roofdeck to see what was the matter. matter? are hailsones matter? or emphermal products of updrafts and love made visible?

Читать полностью: http://mlook.ru/search/253%20vito#ixzz1mAQlPHDo


Musical interlude in a candlelit kitchen. There is light and a puzzle on a dining- room table.

Читать полностью: http://mlook.ru/search/253%20vito#ixzz1mAQxgttD

Lush Life, Tri-dimensional Ultraviolet Suppressed for Aeons, or Vibes, or Muesli Simply hover over any image in the nine collages-- you may even find yourself there. Listen. The windowpanes are as greenhouse...

Читать полностью: http://mlook.ru/search/253%20vito#ixzz1mAR8G5PS

The table is full of many items. The silverware is quite passive. People are speaking
telepathically. The caffeine stands apart. Alone. Cooling, mayhaps, simmering
Hitchcockian whirling eddies of caffeinated beverage

Media theorist and writer An Xiao Mina, Media activist Bong Ramilo, dancer and media artist Diego Maranan, and many more...), including talks at the Ayala Museum and Lopez Museum under SABAW’s Bedroomlab lecture series (circa 2010)--an informal art-tech-diybio platform, wherein open discussions, brainstorming sessions, lectures, network meetings, performances, hands-on workshops, demonstrations and public gatherings take place in people's living rooms, gardens, laboratories, and other intimate spaces.

Esworthy uses such varied sounds as the noise of the Japanese earthquake & random traffic sounds and children humming and/or weeping. more will be added, connecting to microphones in the South Pacific, South Atlantic and the southern Indian Ocean.
That will open up an even larger swathe of the ocean deep to our ears.

a thousand words is worth a picture since this one is too large to fit on my scanner. It’s a pane of heavy white rag, that has The English Harvest Moon is October for 2011

and the September Moon in English is called the Fruit Moon . . .

~*^#= ...in principle, proverbs and reverb provide ample direction for everyone.
mid-sixties landscape orientation
someone who echoes some of the same concerns that show up in American
prints made by dipping an actual peony bloom in tempera paint and pressing it to the page. What a rush.
This is not an instance of the transitional turning subject into a mirror of  obsessions – the dimensions present not only originals, but, as an appendix, any number of variant translations from an earlier period (L’Âge Cassant) when conscious parallels roamed the earth.

 The Brittle Age (L’Âge Cassant) may look reminiscent of Stein’s Tender Buttons (& thus, by inference at least, Williams’ Kora in Hell: Improvisations), they’re nothing like them in tone or focus:

In fidelity we learn never to be consoled, not in the aesthetic sense that one might think of, but rather in the ethical one – where tingle has a lot in common with lime,  It is not simply his obsession with substance –  the Object is lime, but the degree to which language & voice are intertwined in human and/or alien thinking,
like a tiny Moebius strip in that the dangling Frigidaire is like a sword of Damocles hanging over a naked lunch counter, a radical gap between that open-faced sandwich  and crepes suzette.

This dissociation between public & private is paralleled by that alienation that transforms the vertigo of sheer terror, the unmarked ellipses of this earlier lime which indicate a litany of processes no less brutal than
roots that have become sculpture, wood that appears talisman, and so on: charms, amulets maybe, but never really such things since the struggles so to speak that made them become, say, a pink peony print in the lower right-hand corner. In this regard the currents appear entirely natural. Their chronology is of interest only to those who analyse carbon fractions etc., who love limes, since they too, considering nature as citrus, are no doubt accurate in, at least (if nothing else), their boundless curiosity.

Subpolar and Subtropical Gyres of the North Pacific

Currents carry drifters along the heavy lines around the Subpolar Gyre in three years, and around the Subtropical Gyre in six years.

Flotsam may circulate in the Garagiola for half a century.

Heavy lines, average drift path; small arrows, local currents; dots, Great Garbage Patch.

The best thing to do is cancel any travel if winter weather will occur.
crh.noaa.gov

Le Hinton Rocks Poetry Thursdays, May 15 at Midtown Scholar!

Le Hinton, poet, publisher and literary impresario, will be featured May 15 at Poetry Thursdays, hosted by the Almost Uptown Poetry Cartel at Harrisburg's Midtown Scholar. 7pm. 1302 N 3rd St, Harrisburg, PA 17102.

His poem, "No Doubt About It (I Gotta Get Another Hat)," is included in The Best American Poetry 2014. 

Le Hinton is the author of five poetry collections including The God of Our Dreams (Iris G. Press, 2010) and The Language of Moisture and Light (Iris G. Press, 2014). His work has been published in The Gargoyle, Little Patuxent Review, Off the Coast, Unshod Quills, Haggard & Halloo, Fledgling Rag,  and Watershed. 

In 2012 his poem, “Our Ballpark,” was incorporated into Derek Parker’s sculpture Common Thread and permanently installed at Clipper Magazine Stadium in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, as part of the Poetry Paths project.

His poem “Epidemic” was the winner of the Baltimore Review’s 2013 Winter Issue contest and in 2014 was selected by the Pennsylvania Center for the Book's Public Poetry Project as one of four poems by Pennsylvania-connected poets that were made into posters and disseminated throughout the commonwealth. 

Showtime at 8pm-- an 7 pm open reading kicks off the event, hosted by Marty Esworthy.

Opening Reception for Surrealism 2012 Art Show,Goggleworks, Reading, PA

Liz Laribee to feature at Poetry Thursdays October 24

Liz Laribee, featured performer,
October 24: Poetry Thursdays,
Midtown Scholar Bookstore, 1302 North Third Street,
Harrisburg, PA 17102. (717)236-1680.


Liz Laribee-- zowie! Artist & writer & founder of The MakeSpace: an art collective in Harrisburg. Her projects, solo and collaborative, are largely influenced by and dedicated to community. As Director of the MakeSpace, she spends most of her time spackling walls, providing consultations to community members interested in launching projects, and writing grants.

Her work with The MakeSpace has been highlighted in The Burg, Central Voice, Harrisburg Magazine, The Patriot News, ABC27, Keystone Edge, and Fresh Photography's blog. As an artist, Laribee established the Recovering/Uncovering Art Co.

An interest in using the whole buffalo has shaped her creative process, and she works almost exclusively with salvaged materials with focuses mainly on cardboard portraiture, repurposed handcrafts, photography, and found poetry.

Her artwork has been shown widely in the Keystone State, including an exhibit at the Philadelphia Mausoleum of Contemporary Art. She also teaches workshops and classes on recycled art, creative writing, and poetry to students of all ages.

Though Laribee’s traveled to many a foreign clime, she takes great pleasure in her current geographic tenure smack in the heart of the Capital City of the great state of Pennsylvania.

 

Poet, Pop Culture Expert Shares Crucial Writing Concepts

La-La & Lu-Lu-- comix for the ages!

BOING! Let's talk classic
La-La & Lu-Lu:
check it out right here:
http://www.braintumorcomix.com/2013/09/la-la-lu-lu-19.html

That wacky La-La & Lu-Lu comic strip, judged by serious pontificators to be
more than 5X better than TUNA-Vision and/or wild 'gators.

"Brain Tumor Comix-- breaking ever new ground
in fresh & tasty black & white!" --Jorma Eppu

Iris G Poets Romp at Red Rose Commons



Barnes & Noble, Red Rose Commons

　

Lancaster Poetry Exchange
Presents Poets of Iris G. Press

Lancaster Poetry Exchange is presenting a special reading
by select Poets of Iris G. Press, February 27, 2013, 7:30 pm
at Barnes & Noble, Red Rose Commons, 1700 Fruitville Pike,
Lancaster, PA 17601, (717) 290-8171.
Performers include Marty Esworthy, Rebecca Gonzalez and Jeff Rath.


Marty Esworthy, a Megaera award-winning poet, editor emeritus of Steel Point Quarterly, is founder of the Almost Uptown Poetry Cartel.
He’s been published in Haggard & Halloo, text_TOWER, Literary Chaos, Fledgling Rag, The Fox Chase Review. Recent Esworthy collections include hard reality, Pacobooks, 2004, 26 Javanese Proverbs, Iris G. Press, 2006 and The Object Stares Back, Uh-Oh!, T&T Press, 2009.



Rebecca Gonzalez is a Pushcart nominee and the 2008 R.E. Foundation Award winner for Outstanding Poetry. Some of her poems will be appearing in the upcoming CD anthology, Live at the Corner of Poetry and Main: Celebrating Five Years of Annapolis Poetry. She is the author of, Sonata for Rain, published by Iris G. Press. Her second and upcoming book is titled, Aerial Descending.



Jeff Rath is the author of three collections of poetry. Rath won the 2007 R.E. Foundation Award for Outstanding Poetry, and is a Pushcart Prize nominee. His new book is Film Noir, published in 2011 by Iris G. Press. Rath has published two other books: The Waiting Room at the End of the World, in 2007, and In the Shooting Gallery of the Heart, 2009, both published by Iris G Press.

-----------------------------------------------------

Coming up at Midtown Scholar Poetry Thursdays

Open mics and featured performers: at the Midtown Scholar Bookstore,
1302 North Third Street, Harrisburg, PA 17102, (717) 236.1680.


February 21 — Open poetry Reading

February 28 --Le Hinton and MaDonna Awotwi

March 7-- Open mic

March 14 — Feature, Carla Christopher

March 21 — Feature, Richard James

March 28 — Feature, Barbara DeCesare

April 4 — Open mic

April 11 — Feature, Michael Hoover

April 18 -- TBA

April 25 -- Open mic

May 2 -- Feature, Kerry Shawn Keys

　

—————————————–
Also… word has it that, after a winter of some trials and tribulation, renowned cartel member, Maria James-Thiaw is getting a manuscript together. A new collection to be published later this Spring by PostDada Press.
.

Solidarity with the indigenous world: Surrealism in 2012!

Surrealism in 2012: Toward the World of the Fifth Sun
January 6-February 19, 2012, GoggleWorks Center for the Arts, Reading, Pa
Opening Reception: First Friday January 6, 2012 5:30-7:30pm

Happy new year! As we roar into the Winter Solstice of Year 2012, beginning
of the 14th baktun (cycle) in the Maya long count calendar, and the fifth
rebirth of our Sun, scores of surrealist artists and writers from around the
globe have sent their works for a long-awaited exhibition honoring this theme,
in keeping with that movement´s principle of “poetry made by all” and solidarity
with the indigenous world. Yowsa!

There is no doubting the astronomical and mythopoetic
genius of the people who created this spectacular and historic marker.
http://www.goggleworks.org/Exhibitions/

This gathering of creative forces in Eastern Pennsylvania represents the
first collective manifestation of the ongoing surrealist movement in that part
of the United States. It is a rare opportunity to experience the stimulating
atmosphere of authentic surreality apart from the academicism or media
distortion so often identified with that word. It is also a good setting, right
at the beginning of the storied year, smack in the middle of the Eastern
seaboard, to stir one's ideas re the meaning of a world bound for
important, mayhaps, startling, changes in the “World of the Fifth Sun!”

This remarkable show, curated by the legendary Joe Jablonski, features over
40 (count 'em!) Surrealist artists from far and wide. Surrealism in 2012 is a
stunning exhibition of the international surrealist movement from the 1960s
through today. It'll take your breath away!

For more information: Ring up 610-374-4600
http://www.surrealismin2012.org/

Don't pig out on these balto riffs!

balto riffs, misc

when i first moved to westminster MD I was loathe to drive into balt cos i had gotten lost there a coupla times driving from petersburg VA (Fort Lee) to Harrisburg on holidays & stuff.
But when i heard john Ciardi was speaking (not reading) at peabody, i took a chance.
I bravely drove down rt 83, luckily got off at the right exit [oddly, but for real, sartre loved him], & bam! I'm at mt Vernon place. It was so cool, giant obelisk, little bronze statues, & ciardi was fun. & i no longer feared the streets of baltimore.
holy scarlotti, it changed my life.

---------------------
CODA
Later subbing in Metuchen NJ I had some of his nieces & nephews in my classes & didn't embarass myself cos i knew how to say his name.
Ciardi (CHAR-DEE) was pretty famous in lit circles (Little did i know that my sicilian roots also gave me a subliminal advantage [YOU ARE HUNGRY FOR POPCORN]).
hw was lit/poetry editor , saturday review.
and that's the way you spell winsocki!
-----------------
BUCKLE DOWN, WINSOCKI From the Broadway Show "Best Foot Forward" (1941)
-0---------------------ooo----------------------------o--
DOS PASSOS. "More than 60 feet above his head, the brilliant skylights of Baltimore's George Peabody Library provided light for John Dos Passos."
http://baltimoreauthors.ubalt.edu/writers/johndospassos.htm

JOHN CIARDI. poetry editor of the magazine Saturday Review from 1956 to 1972. An outspoken poet and critic known for his sharp and witty images, Mr. Ciardi won praise for his verses, which spoke honestly to children, and for the 1959 poetry textbook ''How Does a Poem Mean?'' He was outspokenly critical of traditional poetry aimed at youngsters, which struck him as ''written by a sponge dipped in warm milk and sprinkled with sugar.''
His many collections of poems for adults, which ranged from war verses to love lyrics and occasional flights of fancy, also met with favorable reactions from critics, who praised him for his honesty.
''He is singularly unlike most American poets with their narrow lives and feuds,'' wrote the critic and poet Kenneth Rexroth. ''He is more like a very literate, gently appetitive, Italo-American airplane pilot, fond of deep simple things like his wife and kids, his friends and students, Dante's verse and good food and wine.'' --http://www.nytimes.com/1986/04/02/obituaries/john-ciardi-poet-essayist-and-translator-69.html

Mostly Me & Zuky in Vorobievi Gori,

looking for images.

Yeah,

lookin'

for images.

...

I mean

the tango

was replaced

by formal

waltz and the Aztec altar

by Christian detachment.

...So, like the film-maker

Andrei Tarkovsky, I always

carry a Polaroid camera with me.

Zuky, he prefers an Olympus FE-230.

We look and learn. (We think.)

City planting, an urban tree strategy

City planting, a photo by Plant Design Online on Flickr.

Urban trees experience a variety of stresses. Compaction, lack of water, and pollution are three examples. The surface grate in this photo protects the tree in several ways.

The large surface area allows rainwater to reach the roots. This is important for two reasons. Obviously, the plant requires water. Less obvious, salt and other damaging pollutants that splash up from the roadway can be washed away with copious water.

The surface grate is metal, and this will protect the young tree from surface compaction. In this way the roots will be able to obtain adequate oxygen from the naturally aerated soil.

Note that the grate was installed some distance from the actual soil surface. This will allow for expansion of the tree's roots, minimizing potential damage to the built environment.

Finally the grate is pedestrian and bicycle-friendly as well as visually pleasing. I think it's a great strategy for urban trees.
--from City Planting, Plant Design Online

city tree

city tree, a photo by zuky on Flickr.

two of my three favorite trees.
all paved over now. corporations
take no prisoners when feeding
and profiting by our inalienable
lust for motoring, for parking.
america needs impervious surfaces
except mebbe during the annual
spring floods.