The Simon Schattner memorial will be taking place at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 8:00 p.m., coinciding with Deb Priestly's Open Bark Poetry reading.
There will be readings from various people, and a selection of Simon's poems and music will be featured. Thanks to Bill Perrault, the event will be recorded.
Those attending with the intent to contribute to the taping that will be later presented to Simon's family are asked to refrain from harsh language.
Even though this is not a suit and tie occassion, it would be greatly appreciated if participants could wear clothing more formal than shorts and t-shirts for the filming.
A selection of eulogies from Simon's family can be read here.
8/23/06
September 18th: Mick Cusimano Features
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery (located on 106 Prospect Street in Cambridge) with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On September 18th, spoken word veteran, Stone Soup Poet and Squawk poet Mick Cuisamo features.
"Professor of Surrealism" Mick Cusimano has been a cartoonist, poet and filmmaker for many years. When he moved to Boston from Buffalo in 1984 he illustrated cartoon posters for the local poetry troupe the Underground Surrealists. Sitting in the audience at readings he caught the bug and began writing comic poetry himself. He helped form the poetry troupe Fire of Prometheus consisting of Billy Barnum, Kasara, and RU Outavit. The Fire performed atBoston University, Tufts, and in Toronto, Washington DC, and Paris. This group further evolved into the infamous Barnum and Buddah poetry Circus which consisted of up to 18 poets traveling and performing along the East coast.
Cusimano's 12 minute movie Poetry in the City featuring himself along with a dozen local poetscan sometimes be seen on CCTV. He also publishes the magazine Underground Surrealist and helps run Squawk Coffeehouse on Thursday nights.
Archaeology
Pyramids of condos line the desert of the town
Ruins of a culture spawned by electric sound
The expedition works its way to Harvard Square
Anachronistic figure in jeans over there
Stuck in the 60's like a car in the snow
Reliving old memories only he can know
His radio plays Hendrix wasn't it great back then?
Peace marches, deadheads and psycedelic zen
Now its computer games and the high tech blizzard
How can it compare to Jim Morrison's lizard?
The Magical Mystery tour has suddenly come to an end
Time can stand still only if you pretend
Is that the Maharishi or Tim Leary on the street?
He's moving closer
No it's the policeman on his beat
"Move along hipster Woodstock's now a pasture.
Get that software over to the office one step faster!"
--Mick Cusimano
Visit Mick Cusimano's web site.
Click here to visit the Squawk Coffeehouse.
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery (located on 106 Prospect Street in Cambridge) with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On September 18th, spoken word veteran, Stone Soup Poet and Squawk poet Mick Cuisamo features.
"Professor of Surrealism" Mick Cusimano has been a cartoonist, poet and filmmaker for many years. When he moved to Boston from Buffalo in 1984 he illustrated cartoon posters for the local poetry troupe the Underground Surrealists. Sitting in the audience at readings he caught the bug and began writing comic poetry himself. He helped form the poetry troupe Fire of Prometheus consisting of Billy Barnum, Kasara, and RU Outavit. The Fire performed atBoston University, Tufts, and in Toronto, Washington DC, and Paris. This group further evolved into the infamous Barnum and Buddah poetry Circus which consisted of up to 18 poets traveling and performing along the East coast.
Cusimano's 12 minute movie Poetry in the City featuring himself along with a dozen local poetscan sometimes be seen on CCTV. He also publishes the magazine Underground Surrealist and helps run Squawk Coffeehouse on Thursday nights.
Archaeology
Pyramids of condos line the desert of the town
Ruins of a culture spawned by electric sound
The expedition works its way to Harvard Square
Anachronistic figure in jeans over there
Stuck in the 60's like a car in the snow
Reliving old memories only he can know
His radio plays Hendrix wasn't it great back then?
Peace marches, deadheads and psycedelic zen
Now its computer games and the high tech blizzard
How can it compare to Jim Morrison's lizard?
The Magical Mystery tour has suddenly come to an end
Time can stand still only if you pretend
Is that the Maharishi or Tim Leary on the street?
He's moving closer
No it's the policeman on his beat
"Move along hipster Woodstock's now a pasture.
Get that software over to the office one step faster!"
--Mick Cusimano
Visit Mick Cusimano's web site.
Click here to visit the Squawk Coffeehouse.
September 11th: Jamie Kilstein Features
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery (located on 106 Prospect Street in Cambridge) with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. Stone Soup commemorates September 11th with an politically charged reading with rising star Jamie Kilstein.
At the age of 24, Jamie Kilstein has become one of New York City's top slam poets, and was just ranked 5th in the nation at the 2006 National Poetry slam. He is touring internationally and was recently a featured headliner at the Brighton Arts Festival in Brighton England . Jamie was also featured in the largest French Newspaper Le Monde, England's The Fringe Report and Australia's Wo! Magazine.
After making a living with stand-up comedy, he quickly exiled himself after the war due to political censorship. Because -- to quote a club owner-- "The people don't come here to think. they come here to drink."
While working the stand up circuit he worked with such greats as: Dave Chapelle, Lewis Black, Marc Maron, Doug Stanhope, and Dave Attell. Jamie has been featured on MNN/PBS 102.7 WNEW NEW YORK The syndicated Ron and Fez show, The Boston Comedy Festival and The New York Underground Comedy Festival. His writing has been published in Mcsweeney's literary journal and the upcoming Still not making a living as a poet? National release -- summer of 07.
This year he was in all three New York City slam poetry finals including The Bowery Poetry Club's URBANA team, The LOUDER ARTS team, and The Nuyorican Poets team. He will be going to the 2006 National Poetry Championship as the URBANA GRANDSLAM CHAMPION, and will be featured on the 2006 Best Of Urbana CD.
He has somehow managed to find a career that pays less than standup comedy, but now has a book, CD and soon to be DVD. He has no idea how his wife hasn't left him and his parents still support him.
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery (located on 106 Prospect Street in Cambridge) with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. Stone Soup commemorates September 11th with an politically charged reading with rising star Jamie Kilstein.
At the age of 24, Jamie Kilstein has become one of New York City's top slam poets, and was just ranked 5th in the nation at the 2006 National Poetry slam. He is touring internationally and was recently a featured headliner at the Brighton Arts Festival in Brighton England . Jamie was also featured in the largest French Newspaper Le Monde, England's The Fringe Report and Australia's Wo! Magazine.
After making a living with stand-up comedy, he quickly exiled himself after the war due to political censorship. Because -- to quote a club owner-- "The people don't come here to think. they come here to drink."
While working the stand up circuit he worked with such greats as: Dave Chapelle, Lewis Black, Marc Maron, Doug Stanhope, and Dave Attell. Jamie has been featured on MNN/PBS 102.7 WNEW NEW YORK The syndicated Ron and Fez show, The Boston Comedy Festival and The New York Underground Comedy Festival. His writing has been published in Mcsweeney's literary journal and the upcoming Still not making a living as a poet? National release -- summer of 07.
This year he was in all three New York City slam poetry finals including The Bowery Poetry Club's URBANA team, The LOUDER ARTS team, and The Nuyorican Poets team. He will be going to the 2006 National Poetry Championship as the URBANA GRANDSLAM CHAMPION, and will be featured on the 2006 Best Of Urbana CD.
He has somehow managed to find a career that pays less than standup comedy, but now has a book, CD and soon to be DVD. He has no idea how his wife hasn't left him and his parents still support him.
8/21/06
Tonight
Patricia Brodie and Steve Glines Feature.
Also, in conjunction with Deb Priestly's Open Bark, Simon Schattner Remembered on Saturday, August 26th.
Also, in conjunction with Deb Priestly's Open Bark, Simon Schattner Remembered on Saturday, August 26th.
September 4: Philip Hasouris and Frank Miller Feature
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery (located on 106 Prospect Street in Cambridge) with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On September 4th, Stone Soup welcomes Philip Hasouris and Frank Miller, the hosts of the prestigious Brockton Library Poetry Series.
Philip Hasouris has been writing for many years. Like most poets, he began unsure of his words. kept them hidden in notebooks, draws, closets, always in the back of his mind. started reading publicly and eventually people started listening. since then, he has taken every opportunity to share the words.
Born in Scotland and educated both there and in the U.S., Frank Miller now works in sales. "I started writing almost seven years ago and, despite the pleas of the public, continue to do so. If there is anything to interest you it will be found in the poetry. My life certainly would not be entertaining enough to warrant a second glance."
Old Man In The Mountain
Caitlin my flesh looks around
anticipates, eyes wide,
tell her we are going to see
"The old man in the mountain"
rock face wall
with his jutted jaw
cheeks smooth as glass years slide off
eyes hold wise
his immortality.
Family walks path
We are young, strong...
our immortality.
Caitlin stops short our chain reaction tumble
points "Is that him'?"
Is that the old man in the mountain"?
Sandals under black socks rise over
vein blue water rush
jaw sinks,
skin sags,
sparse gravel hair,
his gate rusted.
Her words echo over cavernous walls
a pebble thrown into stream of our conscience
rippling "is that him"
our nervous smiles
our lips pout shhhh.
to her innocence.
Old man stone faced.
We recall old man at family gathering
remember when we were immortal.
My hand writes this message in my bottled up memories
older in my travels
shakier in my sorrow.
The old man slid off his mountain
surrendering rock face in the mourning of his mortality
I look in my daughters eyes and see his wisdom.
--Pillip Hasouris
MEMORIAL DAY, 2002
Main Street resigns becomes State Route 9,
slides downhill past St. Mary's cemetery.
Awkward groups stand uneasy at their graves;
children fidget, wisely knowing
there is nothing there.
Father I remember you would have walked away
and left her if you could. The body
in which she lived was dead and the life
in which you dwelled was done.
You did not linger at the site,
had no sign engraved to mark the ending road
and did not return to see if grass grew sweet
above her head.
I remember when I found
the picture frames you packed away;
a silver filigree which once
had held the past; now boned
they wait the future empty.
Flags hang limp on Main Street.
The day sags beneath the weight
of all the other days. The sky cracks
then cracks again. The road sheens-
slick with memory,
and blood warm rain
--Frank Miller
Click here to visit the home page for the Brockton Library Poetry Series.
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery (located on 106 Prospect Street in Cambridge) with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On September 4th, Stone Soup welcomes Philip Hasouris and Frank Miller, the hosts of the prestigious Brockton Library Poetry Series.
Philip Hasouris has been writing for many years. Like most poets, he began unsure of his words. kept them hidden in notebooks, draws, closets, always in the back of his mind. started reading publicly and eventually people started listening. since then, he has taken every opportunity to share the words.
Born in Scotland and educated both there and in the U.S., Frank Miller now works in sales. "I started writing almost seven years ago and, despite the pleas of the public, continue to do so. If there is anything to interest you it will be found in the poetry. My life certainly would not be entertaining enough to warrant a second glance."
Old Man In The Mountain
Caitlin my flesh looks around
anticipates, eyes wide,
tell her we are going to see
"The old man in the mountain"
rock face wall
with his jutted jaw
cheeks smooth as glass years slide off
eyes hold wise
his immortality.
Family walks path
We are young, strong...
our immortality.
Caitlin stops short our chain reaction tumble
points "Is that him'?"
Is that the old man in the mountain"?
Sandals under black socks rise over
vein blue water rush
jaw sinks,
skin sags,
sparse gravel hair,
his gate rusted.
Her words echo over cavernous walls
a pebble thrown into stream of our conscience
rippling "is that him"
our nervous smiles
our lips pout shhhh.
to her innocence.
Old man stone faced.
We recall old man at family gathering
remember when we were immortal.
My hand writes this message in my bottled up memories
older in my travels
shakier in my sorrow.
The old man slid off his mountain
surrendering rock face in the mourning of his mortality
I look in my daughters eyes and see his wisdom.
--Pillip Hasouris
MEMORIAL DAY, 2002
Main Street resigns becomes State Route 9,
slides downhill past St. Mary's cemetery.
Awkward groups stand uneasy at their graves;
children fidget, wisely knowing
there is nothing there.
Father I remember you would have walked away
and left her if you could. The body
in which she lived was dead and the life
in which you dwelled was done.
You did not linger at the site,
had no sign engraved to mark the ending road
and did not return to see if grass grew sweet
above her head.
I remember when I found
the picture frames you packed away;
a silver filigree which once
had held the past; now boned
they wait the future empty.
Flags hang limp on Main Street.
The day sags beneath the weight
of all the other days. The sky cracks
then cracks again. The road sheens-
slick with memory,
and blood warm rain
--Frank Miller
Click here to visit the home page for the Brockton Library Poetry Series.
August 28th: Nati Amos Features
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery (located on 106 Prospect Street in Cambridge) with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On August 28th, Nati Amos returns to Stone Soup Poetry.
The one in the corner of bus stops always with a pin and scratches of paper bags, transfers and napkins is sometimes the form Nati Amos takes. She has been shocking the senses since she arrived on the platform of stages, nearly 7 years ago, all across coffeehouses, studios, and stations. She has graced the stages in competitions for slams all across the west coast and making her way to the Midwest and East earning her a reputation as a little earthquake you don’t see coming. For the better part of the decade, this has been her mission: To discontinue intellectual morphine.
She has preformed in prostigious venues including Green mill; Bowery and Nuyrican. She is currently in propotion for her fist collective Patchwrk Girl due out this fall.
Nati Amos' myspace page.
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery (located on 106 Prospect Street in Cambridge) with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On August 28th, Nati Amos returns to Stone Soup Poetry.
The one in the corner of bus stops always with a pin and scratches of paper bags, transfers and napkins is sometimes the form Nati Amos takes. She has been shocking the senses since she arrived on the platform of stages, nearly 7 years ago, all across coffeehouses, studios, and stations. She has graced the stages in competitions for slams all across the west coast and making her way to the Midwest and East earning her a reputation as a little earthquake you don’t see coming. For the better part of the decade, this has been her mission: To discontinue intellectual morphine.
She has preformed in prostigious venues including Green mill; Bowery and Nuyrican. She is currently in propotion for her fist collective Patchwrk Girl due out this fall.
Nati Amos' myspace page.
8/20/06
Simon Schattner (June 14, 1957-July 19 2006)
Simon Schattner passed away last mnth shortly after his forty-ninth birthday. As a tribute to his numerous contributions to Boston's poetry and music scene, the Stone Soup Poetry website presents below the euologies prepared and read by his family for his funeral. A tribute is planned this Friday, August 26th, starting at 8:00 p.m., at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery. All photos below are by Bill Perrault.
Simon’s mainstays were his music, poetry, family and friends. Although he battled with diabetes and bipolar disorder for most of his adult life, the core of his unique self was always there- Simon- the peacemaker – sensitive, loving, caring, and intense about his interests- but funny too.
He loved his siblings, Tamar and Andy- love which later extended to their spouses, Helaine and Albert, and to his nieces and nephews, Danielle, Eital, Matthew, Natan, and Lia.
Simon was born in 1957 in Manhattan, where we lived in the Morningside Heights/West Harlem area, also the home of Columbia University, Jewish Theological Seminary, Manhattan School of Music, and Union Theological Seminary. He attended the local public schools (elementary and junior high school), where he was known for his school yard basketball and leading a group of 11 year old Rock musicians, who also hoisted up food to Columbia University students who had occupied buildings in 1968.
He prepared for his Bar Mitzvah with a tutor, a student at Jewish Theological Seminary, who, to his delight,exposed him to heated debates with co-Rabbinical students on the meaning of everything. One day, while reading one of the preparatory books, he yelled from his room, “Mom, Dad, we’re very Jewish- it says here that Jews are involved in social isssues”. On a beautiful, sunny June day in 1970, Simon was Bar Mitzvahd at Jewish Theological Seminary with Rabbi Joshua Heshel one of the rabbis on the bima with him, who, at the end, patted his back.
His musical life included starting guitar at age 8 following Recorder and Eurethmics classes at Dalcroze Music School, trumpet study at Manhattan School of Music, and piano on his own.
After graduating from high school in Montclair, he lived in Boston, and after a while, when he switched from rooting for the Mets to the Red Sox, realized that he really had found a home in Boston. At the age of 29 Simon received a Bachelors Degree from Northeastern University (with the medal in English). A few years later he graduated from Northeastern with a Masters Degree in Rehabilitation.
For the past few years, important in his life was affirmation of his Jewish identity, and continuation of musical and poetic creativity. He very much enjoyed using his creative energy by performing music and doing poetry readings at the small venues that dot Boston. He attended Bet Shalom Synagogue in Cambridge, enjoying its dual nature- two congregations housed in the same building with simultaneous services-“traditional and “egalitarian”,joining together for kiddush.He had participated in mutual synogue/mosque visits, and was looking forward to joining the Rabbi’s Talmud class this month.
To us Simon was a very human person with joys and sorrows, contributing to and open to the world around him. Beyond our love for him, our first born, we treasure him for the ways he enriches our lives.
Dorothy and Emil Schattner
When I think of my eldest brother Simon, the first thing that comes to mind is music. Simon was also a prolific and profound poet. Indeed, I have always been inspired by and proud of the fact that a stirring, wise poem written by Simon when he was 11 years old was published in a book. Just as Simon’s poetry is inspirational, so is his music.
Simon was six years older than me so by the time I was old enough to call him “Imon”, I was already privileged to be in proximity to his musical talents. He began his musical career playing recorder but quickly progressed to guitar, piano, drums and trumpet, among other instruments. I remember how after I had been studying clarinet for a few years, Simon picked up my clarinet one day and started playing amazing jazz music. From that moment on, the clarinet belonged to Simon.
I recall always feeling such deep pride in my biggest brother Simon, both musically and otherwise. I truly looked up to him because of his diverse and multiple talents, such as his basketball shooting prowess, for example. On the musical level, one specific incident that stands out is the excitement I felt as a kindergartener watching my brother play the lead role of Captain Von Trapp in “The Sound of Music” and listening to him perform “Edelweiss” so sweetly. Another musical occurrence that I recall was when I was in fourth or fifth grade and Simon would take his electric guitar out on the flat part of my parents’ roof and play the Jimi Hendrix version of “The Star-Spangled Banner” for the neighborhood to enjoy.
Aside from playing music, there are certain record albums that I automatically associate with Simon because he would play them over and over such as Carole King’s “Tapestry”, Carlos Santana’s “Abraxas” and Kavaret’s “Siporey Poogy”. His love of music was infectious!
Simon’s enthusiasm for making, playing and listening to music was an aspect that was important for him to share with those dear to him. Eital recalls “jamming” with him at his old apartment on his various musical instruments. Natan remembers that the very last time he saw Simon, they “jammed” on their guitars together and, henceforth, Natan couldn’t stop wishing that Uncle Simon would be his guitar teacher.
For Simon, communicating with others through music and lyrics was integral to who he was. Simon had a gentle, optimistic outlook which was expressed through his music, poetry and his way of living. He liked to please others. Eital has a fond memory of how his desire to make her happy caused him to put on ice skates for the first time in fifteen years and take her ice skating at the Boston Commons!
As Simon’s “baby” sister, I was spoiled greatly by him and he treated me as if I were precious. Once, after I had spent a year in Israel at the age of eighteen, we were visiting together and I was describing to him how beautiful and tranquil the sunset over the Mediterranean Sea is. He agreed as he remembered the summer he spent in Israel ten years prior. Impulsively, we decided to drive to see the sunset over the Atlantic Ocean in New Jersey. It was when we were only ten minutes from the beach that we both realized that the Atlantic in New Jersey is east of the beach. We had a great laugh at our hasty foolishness and ate a delicious fish dinner instead.
After I grew up, married Albert and had Eital and Natan, we developed a relationship with Simon as a family. Albert and Simon are the same age and found it easy to communicate with each other, perhaps because they are part of the same generation. Eital and then Natan built their relationship with Simon over the course of summer visits to the States when we lived in Israel and, afterwards, through visits which were all too infrequent after we moved back to the States.
Just three days before his death, I had written to Simon that we were planning to visit him before the end of the summer. He wrote back immediately to say how much he was looking forward to seeing us. Although we will not be able to fulfill our plan and we will never hug Simon nor look upon his sweet face again in this lifetime, he will remain in our minds, hearts and souls forever. May his poetry, his music and his spirit of blessed memory bring grace and a touch of divinity upon us all!
Tamar Schattner-Elmaleh
As I have been thinking about Simon, it occurs to me that throughout my life he was always giving me gifts. Many of which I failed to appreciate at the time, but which grew in significance over the years. When thinking about my brother, I thought it was time to share those gifts with others and thank him for giving them to me.
The first gift I received from my brother was my name. The family lore is that Simon suggested I be named Andy, after one of his favorite books, Cowboy Andy. He may have been hoping for a sidekick or a partner to ride the ranges with, which explains the many times we spent turning our beds into stage coaches or sneaking through the sage brush of our apartment in search of vittles.
The second gift I received from Simon, was the understanding that we were responsible for protecting our family. This was especially true when our sister Tamar was born. Again, the family lore is that Simon put a picture of her on the door to her room so that she did not have to be disturbed. I am sure that I would have been the primary disturber, but Simon made sure that I understood my job, at the age of 3 to be the door guard and make sure to protect our baby sister.
The third gift I received from Simon, was my first nickname – Little-Si or Little-Simon. Little-Si was a nickname that would serve me well while growing up and going to elementary school in West Harlem. Simon was well known, and invariably when I was “picked on” by kids in the neighborhood, I was rescued, by someone saying “don’t you know who that is? That’s Little-Si”.
The fourth gift I received from Simon was the understanding that to accomplish anything in life, takes talent, passion and most of all hard work. One day when I was about 10 years old, after observing me playing basketball with friends, Simon took me out on the porch of our apartment and asked me “do you know why the ball keeps getting stolen from you?” I didn’t know why. He said “because you only dribble with your right hand, so all your opponent has to do is wait for you to dribble and move in, since he always knows where it will be.” With that he stood in front of me and instructed me to look him in the eye while I dribbled with my right hand. Then he asked me to do the same with my left and of course the ball bounced away.
We repeated this until I could maintain a semblance of a dribble with my left hand while looking up. He left instructing me to “do this every day for a half an hour before dinner”. After several weeks he taught me to dribble with both hands and so on. If only he had worked on my layups, hook shots and jumpers, but he was my brother after all and not a miracle worker. Simon always worked hard and drove himself, from learning a new musical instrument, to writing songs and poetry, playing sports or mastering a new piece of digital equipment to enable his recording of his primary love in life – Music. Simon also worked hard on dealing with his illnesses. While they sapped his physical and often emotional energy at times, he never gave in to them and allowed them to take away his dreams and hopes and most of all his love for his family.
This is the fifth gift that my brother shared with me. His love of music. He would excitedly play a newly learned piece on the guitar, piano or whatever instrument he was playing at the time. He would call or send me his latest compositions for my review. He also would send me Tapes and later CDs of artists that he was excited about. As a teenager he took me to several spur of the moment concerts, two that stick out are Return to Forever and George Benson. Most recently He has shared his love of music with my children. He composed a song for Danielle and has helped infect Matthew with his love of music as Matthew recently began guitar lessons. Matthew and Simon would chat about this and after one recent conversation, Simon said that “it sounds as if Matthew is really getting into this guitar thing, you ought to be careful, you never know where it will lead” and we both burst out in laughter. I would be proud if my children follow their dreams and passions the way Simon did. Lia wants everyone to remember that “Uncle Simon had a great musical spirit”. In a typical act of loving kindness, Simon attempted to teach me the bass progression for a Jimi Hendrix favorite of his – “All along the Watchtower”. To this day it is the one thing that I can play on a guitar, or at least I think I can. Simon praised my playing and assured me that If Jimi Hendrix were alive, he would have wanted me to be his bass player. It was not coincidentally one of the only pieces that Simon taught me. Even his patience had its limits.
Simon had a great spirit for many things in life. The sixth gift that Simon gave me was an appreciation for and an opportunity to study and enjoy the martial arts. When I was in 9th Grade Simon began studying Karate in Montclair. He very quickly dragged me along, saying “look, it’s something we can practice together”. In his youth, Simon had always been a gifted athlete and generally in great physical shape. By contrast, while I always enjoyed being active I was not. After introducing me to karate, Simon moved onto something else, but was always encouraging and supportive as I studied Karate for the next half dozen years. In retrospect I understand that Simon was helping me find something that was not only fun and active, but fulfilling physically and spiritually.
The final gift that Simon gave me is that there really is no final gift. Simon was my first hero and is still my hero. He was my hero as a young child for his knowledge and abilities, and in typical younger brother fashion I knew there wasn’t anything he couldn’t do. But as we grew up, I realized that Simon’s real heroism was not in the things he did, but in his belief in others and especially in me and those he loved. His heroism was in living his life with all of its difficulties and trials and still remaining true to his passions and beliefs. When we last spoke about two weeks ago we ended our conversation the way we usually did, Simon would say “I love you so much my brother” and I would say “I love you Simon”.
Andy Schattner
Simon Schattner passed away last mnth shortly after his forty-ninth birthday. As a tribute to his numerous contributions to Boston's poetry and music scene, the Stone Soup Poetry website presents below the euologies prepared and read by his family for his funeral. A tribute is planned this Friday, August 26th, starting at 8:00 p.m., at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery. All photos below are by Bill Perrault.
Simon’s mainstays were his music, poetry, family and friends. Although he battled with diabetes and bipolar disorder for most of his adult life, the core of his unique self was always there- Simon- the peacemaker – sensitive, loving, caring, and intense about his interests- but funny too.
He loved his siblings, Tamar and Andy- love which later extended to their spouses, Helaine and Albert, and to his nieces and nephews, Danielle, Eital, Matthew, Natan, and Lia.
Simon was born in 1957 in Manhattan, where we lived in the Morningside Heights/West Harlem area, also the home of Columbia University, Jewish Theological Seminary, Manhattan School of Music, and Union Theological Seminary. He attended the local public schools (elementary and junior high school), where he was known for his school yard basketball and leading a group of 11 year old Rock musicians, who also hoisted up food to Columbia University students who had occupied buildings in 1968.
He prepared for his Bar Mitzvah with a tutor, a student at Jewish Theological Seminary, who, to his delight,exposed him to heated debates with co-Rabbinical students on the meaning of everything. One day, while reading one of the preparatory books, he yelled from his room, “Mom, Dad, we’re very Jewish- it says here that Jews are involved in social isssues”. On a beautiful, sunny June day in 1970, Simon was Bar Mitzvahd at Jewish Theological Seminary with Rabbi Joshua Heshel one of the rabbis on the bima with him, who, at the end, patted his back.
His musical life included starting guitar at age 8 following Recorder and Eurethmics classes at Dalcroze Music School, trumpet study at Manhattan School of Music, and piano on his own.
After graduating from high school in Montclair, he lived in Boston, and after a while, when he switched from rooting for the Mets to the Red Sox, realized that he really had found a home in Boston. At the age of 29 Simon received a Bachelors Degree from Northeastern University (with the medal in English). A few years later he graduated from Northeastern with a Masters Degree in Rehabilitation.
For the past few years, important in his life was affirmation of his Jewish identity, and continuation of musical and poetic creativity. He very much enjoyed using his creative energy by performing music and doing poetry readings at the small venues that dot Boston. He attended Bet Shalom Synagogue in Cambridge, enjoying its dual nature- two congregations housed in the same building with simultaneous services-“traditional and “egalitarian”,joining together for kiddush.He had participated in mutual synogue/mosque visits, and was looking forward to joining the Rabbi’s Talmud class this month.
To us Simon was a very human person with joys and sorrows, contributing to and open to the world around him. Beyond our love for him, our first born, we treasure him for the ways he enriches our lives.
Dorothy and Emil Schattner
When I think of my eldest brother Simon, the first thing that comes to mind is music. Simon was also a prolific and profound poet. Indeed, I have always been inspired by and proud of the fact that a stirring, wise poem written by Simon when he was 11 years old was published in a book. Just as Simon’s poetry is inspirational, so is his music.
Simon was six years older than me so by the time I was old enough to call him “Imon”, I was already privileged to be in proximity to his musical talents. He began his musical career playing recorder but quickly progressed to guitar, piano, drums and trumpet, among other instruments. I remember how after I had been studying clarinet for a few years, Simon picked up my clarinet one day and started playing amazing jazz music. From that moment on, the clarinet belonged to Simon.
I recall always feeling such deep pride in my biggest brother Simon, both musically and otherwise. I truly looked up to him because of his diverse and multiple talents, such as his basketball shooting prowess, for example. On the musical level, one specific incident that stands out is the excitement I felt as a kindergartener watching my brother play the lead role of Captain Von Trapp in “The Sound of Music” and listening to him perform “Edelweiss” so sweetly. Another musical occurrence that I recall was when I was in fourth or fifth grade and Simon would take his electric guitar out on the flat part of my parents’ roof and play the Jimi Hendrix version of “The Star-Spangled Banner” for the neighborhood to enjoy.
Aside from playing music, there are certain record albums that I automatically associate with Simon because he would play them over and over such as Carole King’s “Tapestry”, Carlos Santana’s “Abraxas” and Kavaret’s “Siporey Poogy”. His love of music was infectious!
Simon’s enthusiasm for making, playing and listening to music was an aspect that was important for him to share with those dear to him. Eital recalls “jamming” with him at his old apartment on his various musical instruments. Natan remembers that the very last time he saw Simon, they “jammed” on their guitars together and, henceforth, Natan couldn’t stop wishing that Uncle Simon would be his guitar teacher.
For Simon, communicating with others through music and lyrics was integral to who he was. Simon had a gentle, optimistic outlook which was expressed through his music, poetry and his way of living. He liked to please others. Eital has a fond memory of how his desire to make her happy caused him to put on ice skates for the first time in fifteen years and take her ice skating at the Boston Commons!
As Simon’s “baby” sister, I was spoiled greatly by him and he treated me as if I were precious. Once, after I had spent a year in Israel at the age of eighteen, we were visiting together and I was describing to him how beautiful and tranquil the sunset over the Mediterranean Sea is. He agreed as he remembered the summer he spent in Israel ten years prior. Impulsively, we decided to drive to see the sunset over the Atlantic Ocean in New Jersey. It was when we were only ten minutes from the beach that we both realized that the Atlantic in New Jersey is east of the beach. We had a great laugh at our hasty foolishness and ate a delicious fish dinner instead.
After I grew up, married Albert and had Eital and Natan, we developed a relationship with Simon as a family. Albert and Simon are the same age and found it easy to communicate with each other, perhaps because they are part of the same generation. Eital and then Natan built their relationship with Simon over the course of summer visits to the States when we lived in Israel and, afterwards, through visits which were all too infrequent after we moved back to the States.
Just three days before his death, I had written to Simon that we were planning to visit him before the end of the summer. He wrote back immediately to say how much he was looking forward to seeing us. Although we will not be able to fulfill our plan and we will never hug Simon nor look upon his sweet face again in this lifetime, he will remain in our minds, hearts and souls forever. May his poetry, his music and his spirit of blessed memory bring grace and a touch of divinity upon us all!
Tamar Schattner-Elmaleh
As I have been thinking about Simon, it occurs to me that throughout my life he was always giving me gifts. Many of which I failed to appreciate at the time, but which grew in significance over the years. When thinking about my brother, I thought it was time to share those gifts with others and thank him for giving them to me.
The first gift I received from my brother was my name. The family lore is that Simon suggested I be named Andy, after one of his favorite books, Cowboy Andy. He may have been hoping for a sidekick or a partner to ride the ranges with, which explains the many times we spent turning our beds into stage coaches or sneaking through the sage brush of our apartment in search of vittles.
The second gift I received from Simon, was the understanding that we were responsible for protecting our family. This was especially true when our sister Tamar was born. Again, the family lore is that Simon put a picture of her on the door to her room so that she did not have to be disturbed. I am sure that I would have been the primary disturber, but Simon made sure that I understood my job, at the age of 3 to be the door guard and make sure to protect our baby sister.
The third gift I received from Simon, was my first nickname – Little-Si or Little-Simon. Little-Si was a nickname that would serve me well while growing up and going to elementary school in West Harlem. Simon was well known, and invariably when I was “picked on” by kids in the neighborhood, I was rescued, by someone saying “don’t you know who that is? That’s Little-Si”.
The fourth gift I received from Simon was the understanding that to accomplish anything in life, takes talent, passion and most of all hard work. One day when I was about 10 years old, after observing me playing basketball with friends, Simon took me out on the porch of our apartment and asked me “do you know why the ball keeps getting stolen from you?” I didn’t know why. He said “because you only dribble with your right hand, so all your opponent has to do is wait for you to dribble and move in, since he always knows where it will be.” With that he stood in front of me and instructed me to look him in the eye while I dribbled with my right hand. Then he asked me to do the same with my left and of course the ball bounced away.
We repeated this until I could maintain a semblance of a dribble with my left hand while looking up. He left instructing me to “do this every day for a half an hour before dinner”. After several weeks he taught me to dribble with both hands and so on. If only he had worked on my layups, hook shots and jumpers, but he was my brother after all and not a miracle worker. Simon always worked hard and drove himself, from learning a new musical instrument, to writing songs and poetry, playing sports or mastering a new piece of digital equipment to enable his recording of his primary love in life – Music. Simon also worked hard on dealing with his illnesses. While they sapped his physical and often emotional energy at times, he never gave in to them and allowed them to take away his dreams and hopes and most of all his love for his family.
This is the fifth gift that my brother shared with me. His love of music. He would excitedly play a newly learned piece on the guitar, piano or whatever instrument he was playing at the time. He would call or send me his latest compositions for my review. He also would send me Tapes and later CDs of artists that he was excited about. As a teenager he took me to several spur of the moment concerts, two that stick out are Return to Forever and George Benson. Most recently He has shared his love of music with my children. He composed a song for Danielle and has helped infect Matthew with his love of music as Matthew recently began guitar lessons. Matthew and Simon would chat about this and after one recent conversation, Simon said that “it sounds as if Matthew is really getting into this guitar thing, you ought to be careful, you never know where it will lead” and we both burst out in laughter. I would be proud if my children follow their dreams and passions the way Simon did. Lia wants everyone to remember that “Uncle Simon had a great musical spirit”. In a typical act of loving kindness, Simon attempted to teach me the bass progression for a Jimi Hendrix favorite of his – “All along the Watchtower”. To this day it is the one thing that I can play on a guitar, or at least I think I can. Simon praised my playing and assured me that If Jimi Hendrix were alive, he would have wanted me to be his bass player. It was not coincidentally one of the only pieces that Simon taught me. Even his patience had its limits.
Simon had a great spirit for many things in life. The sixth gift that Simon gave me was an appreciation for and an opportunity to study and enjoy the martial arts. When I was in 9th Grade Simon began studying Karate in Montclair. He very quickly dragged me along, saying “look, it’s something we can practice together”. In his youth, Simon had always been a gifted athlete and generally in great physical shape. By contrast, while I always enjoyed being active I was not. After introducing me to karate, Simon moved onto something else, but was always encouraging and supportive as I studied Karate for the next half dozen years. In retrospect I understand that Simon was helping me find something that was not only fun and active, but fulfilling physically and spiritually.
The final gift that Simon gave me is that there really is no final gift. Simon was my first hero and is still my hero. He was my hero as a young child for his knowledge and abilities, and in typical younger brother fashion I knew there wasn’t anything he couldn’t do. But as we grew up, I realized that Simon’s real heroism was not in the things he did, but in his belief in others and especially in me and those he loved. His heroism was in living his life with all of its difficulties and trials and still remaining true to his passions and beliefs. When we last spoke about two weeks ago we ended our conversation the way we usually did, Simon would say “I love you so much my brother” and I would say “I love you Simon”.
Andy Schattner
8/14/06
8/7/06
8/4/06
August 21st: Patricia Brodie and Steve Glines Feature
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery (located on 106 Prospect Street in Cambridge) with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On the twenty first of August, Sommerville's Ibbetson Street Press sends us two of their poets: Patricia Brodie, one of the newest poets to join the roster, and Steve Glines, who recently had a hand in helping to publish the Hugh Fox memoir Way, Way Off The Road.
Patricia Brodie is a clinical social worker with a private psychotherapypractice in Concord, MA. Several of her poems have appeared in The ComstockReview, The Lyric, California Quarterly, Raintown Review, The Edge City Review, The Pedestal and many other journals as well as several anthologies.She recently also won Honorable Mention in a New England Poetry Club contest and awards in contests sponsored by Massachusetts, Georgia, and Wyoming poetry societies. Her chapbook The American Wives Club (Ibbetson StreetPress) was published this year.
Steve Glines is a freelance writer who describes himself as “mostly a technical journalist but really a writer of anything that will pay thebills. I've written poems and polemics. I’ve written monthly columns ontechnology. I’ve written trade books, political obituaries, as well asessays on goose poop and political corruption. I’ve written whitepapersand press releases and all those unread installation manuals that camewith your computer that you wish that you hadn’t thrown away.”
Click here for a poem by Patricia Brodie.
Click here for a poem by Steve Glines.
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery (located on 106 Prospect Street in Cambridge) with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On the twenty first of August, Sommerville's Ibbetson Street Press sends us two of their poets: Patricia Brodie, one of the newest poets to join the roster, and Steve Glines, who recently had a hand in helping to publish the Hugh Fox memoir Way, Way Off The Road.
Patricia Brodie is a clinical social worker with a private psychotherapypractice in Concord, MA. Several of her poems have appeared in The ComstockReview, The Lyric, California Quarterly, Raintown Review, The Edge City Review, The Pedestal and many other journals as well as several anthologies.She recently also won Honorable Mention in a New England Poetry Club contest and awards in contests sponsored by Massachusetts, Georgia, and Wyoming poetry societies. Her chapbook The American Wives Club (Ibbetson StreetPress) was published this year.
Steve Glines is a freelance writer who describes himself as “mostly a technical journalist but really a writer of anything that will pay thebills. I've written poems and polemics. I’ve written monthly columns ontechnology. I’ve written trade books, political obituaries, as well asessays on goose poop and political corruption. I’ve written whitepapersand press releases and all those unread installation manuals that camewith your computer that you wish that you hadn’t thrown away.”
Click here for a poem by Patricia Brodie.
Click here for a poem by Steve Glines.
7/31/06
7/25/06
Simon Schattner Passes Away
Photo by Bill Perrault
Tom Tipton and Deb Priestly of the Out of the Blue Art Gallery report that Simon Schattner, musician, poet, Stone Soup regular and featured participant in the recent 35th Anniversary celebration of Stone Soup Poetry, has died from a heart attack.
Stone Soup will attempt to report more information as it becomes available. For many examples of his life's work, visit his website at http://www.simonschattner.net/
Photo by Bill Perrault
Tom Tipton and Deb Priestly of the Out of the Blue Art Gallery report that Simon Schattner, musician, poet, Stone Soup regular and featured participant in the recent 35th Anniversary celebration of Stone Soup Poetry, has died from a heart attack.
Stone Soup will attempt to report more information as it becomes available. For many examples of his life's work, visit his website at http://www.simonschattner.net/
7/24/06
7/17/06
7/15/06
Coming Up at Stone Soup
Don't miss out on these upcoming features:
July 17th: Ryan "Rat" Travis presents his Halloween in July show.
July 24th: Sue Savoy, one of the Cantab's favorite open mikers, visits Stone Soup.
July 31st: Prabakar T. Rajan, open miker and member of the beloved Friends of Poety, features at Stone Soup for the first time.
August 7th: The Highway Poets make their annual visit.
August 14th: Nate Connors reads from his new book, Why Air Winks at Me.
Don't miss out on these upcoming features:
July 17th: Ryan "Rat" Travis presents his Halloween in July show.
July 24th: Sue Savoy, one of the Cantab's favorite open mikers, visits Stone Soup.
July 31st: Prabakar T. Rajan, open miker and member of the beloved Friends of Poety, features at Stone Soup for the first time.
August 7th: The Highway Poets make their annual visit.
August 14th: Nate Connors reads from his new book, Why Air Winks at Me.
August 14th: Nate Connors Features
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery (located on 106 Prospect Street in Cambridge) with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On August 14th, Stone Soup welcomes another member of the Friends of Poetry, Nate Connors.
Nate Connors is an actor/writer who recently published Why Air Winks at Me through Friends of Poetry. He is a graduate of the Emerson M.F.A. program and currently lives in Somerville. He thanks Sunny, Keith, Ron and Sue for their continual support and poetic guidance.
Rebecca
This is a love poem to
the girl I have not met
yet. She has a pair of dark
and wild eyes and a wreath
of flowers in her hair. No,
I think I saw her
today bright sunshine
in my eyes and song
in my head
as I drove to work. When the song was over
the sun dipped behind
a cloud and she
was gone. Even now
I could not tell
her name but it must be
rhythmic and round
on the lips. Rebecca. Yes,
her name must be Rebecca.
This is a poem to
Rebecca who I have not met
yet. And if today she raps on my door
to ask where everyone meets for lunch
to gossip like overgrown school children
and says “I’m Tina.” I will tell her
the truth and lie
myself.
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery (located on 106 Prospect Street in Cambridge) with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On August 14th, Stone Soup welcomes another member of the Friends of Poetry, Nate Connors.
Nate Connors is an actor/writer who recently published Why Air Winks at Me through Friends of Poetry. He is a graduate of the Emerson M.F.A. program and currently lives in Somerville. He thanks Sunny, Keith, Ron and Sue for their continual support and poetic guidance.
Rebecca
This is a love poem to
the girl I have not met
yet. She has a pair of dark
and wild eyes and a wreath
of flowers in her hair. No,
I think I saw her
today bright sunshine
in my eyes and song
in my head
as I drove to work. When the song was over
the sun dipped behind
a cloud and she
was gone. Even now
I could not tell
her name but it must be
rhythmic and round
on the lips. Rebecca. Yes,
her name must be Rebecca.
This is a poem to
Rebecca who I have not met
yet. And if today she raps on my door
to ask where everyone meets for lunch
to gossip like overgrown school children
and says “I’m Tina.” I will tell her
the truth and lie
myself.
August 7th: Highway Poets Feature
K.Peddlar Bridges is the co-founder of the Biker Poets & Writers Association and founder of the ROADPOET online magazine. He also serves as a columnist for CT Cruise News and motorcyclegoodies.com. An occasional writing workshop teacher, his work has appeared in numerous publications and has made many radio and television appearances.
Marc D. Goldfinger has been published by Ibbetson Street Press, The Aurorean, Pegasus, The Boston Poet, Clamor magazine, Earth First! and the Crooked River Press among others. He is currently the poetry editor of Spare Change News, a paper put out for the benefit of homeless people. He is a counselor for people with Substance Use Disorders and some of his work has been used to augment courses at the University of Massachusetts in Boston.
Gypsypashn publishes in print and on the web regularly, she is well-known for her monthly column in New England's Motorcyclist Post. She and Colorado's Gypsyrose produce 'Biker Bits,' a daily Biker Rights e-zine. In 2004, Gypsypashn published A Samplng of Soul, a collection of poetry. She currently hosts a monthly reading at BestSeller's Cafe in Medford MA, Gypsypashn's Poetry Caravan.
Colorado T. Sky is the main co-founder of the Highway Poets MC and a lecturer at Franklin Pierce College in Rindge, New Hampshire. Sky has published several chap books as well as a perfect bound book of poetry and prose. He has been published in numerous magazines and journals and has won several literary awards. He has also recorded and produced numerous poetry CD's and cassettes. He is a house writer, poet and columnist for the Harley Rendezvous Motorcycle Rally in New York.
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery (located on 106 Prospect Street in Cambridge) with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On August 7th, The Highway poets visit Stone Soup, just one of their many stops in celebration of the Second Annual Biker Poetry Month.
Photos by Bill Perrault
K.Peddlar Bridges is the co-founder of the Biker Poets & Writers Association and founder of the ROADPOET online magazine. He also serves as a columnist for CT Cruise News and motorcyclegoodies.com. An occasional writing workshop teacher, his work has appeared in numerous publications and has made many radio and television appearances.
Marc D. Goldfinger has been published by Ibbetson Street Press, The Aurorean, Pegasus, The Boston Poet, Clamor magazine, Earth First! and the Crooked River Press among others. He is currently the poetry editor of Spare Change News, a paper put out for the benefit of homeless people. He is a counselor for people with Substance Use Disorders and some of his work has been used to augment courses at the University of Massachusetts in Boston.
Gypsypashn publishes in print and on the web regularly, she is well-known for her monthly column in New England's Motorcyclist Post. She and Colorado's Gypsyrose produce 'Biker Bits,' a daily Biker Rights e-zine. In 2004, Gypsypashn published A Samplng of Soul, a collection of poetry. She currently hosts a monthly reading at BestSeller's Cafe in Medford MA, Gypsypashn's Poetry Caravan.
Colorado T. Sky is the main co-founder of the Highway Poets MC and a lecturer at Franklin Pierce College in Rindge, New Hampshire. Sky has published several chap books as well as a perfect bound book of poetry and prose. He has been published in numerous magazines and journals and has won several literary awards. He has also recorded and produced numerous poetry CD's and cassettes. He is a house writer, poet and columnist for the Harley Rendezvous Motorcycle Rally in New York.
7/10/06
Remember
Tonight, David R. Surette, co-host of Bridgewater's Poetribe, reads.
The Poetribe anthology will also be available, as well as Surette's own book.
Tonight, David R. Surette, co-host of Bridgewater's Poetribe, reads.
The Poetribe anthology will also be available, as well as Surette's own book.
January 31: Prabakar T. Rajan Features
Photo by Chad Parenteau
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery (located on 106 Prospect Street in Cambridge) with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On July 31st, Stone Soup welcomes habitual open miker, occasonal feature, and longtime Friends of Poetry member Prabakar T. Rajan to read.
Prabakar T. Rajan was born at the Cantab sometime in 2003 and has since then continued, with audacity, to inflict his poems regularly on hapless audiences at the Cantab and the Brookline Booksmith. Neither Brockton nor East BridgeWater are safe from him. His only saving grace is that he has the good sense to truly enjoy the open mike at these and other venues, where he savors and steals from poets better than he. No true poet is safe from him. That could well be the most generous epitaph he merits.
Photo by Chad Parenteau
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery (located on 106 Prospect Street in Cambridge) with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On July 31st, Stone Soup welcomes habitual open miker, occasonal feature, and longtime Friends of Poetry member Prabakar T. Rajan to read.
Prabakar T. Rajan was born at the Cantab sometime in 2003 and has since then continued, with audacity, to inflict his poems regularly on hapless audiences at the Cantab and the Brookline Booksmith. Neither Brockton nor East BridgeWater are safe from him. His only saving grace is that he has the good sense to truly enjoy the open mike at these and other venues, where he savors and steals from poets better than he. No true poet is safe from him. That could well be the most generous epitaph he merits.
7/3/06
6/30/06
Stone Soup Features for July
Below is a list of features for July. More information will be added next week.
July 3rd: Celebrated local poet Richard Cambridge celebrates the Fourth of July in a less common fashion.
July 10th: Welcome poet and teacher David R. Surette.
July 17h: Ryan “Rat” Travis returns to Stone Soup.
July 24th: Sue Savoy has her first Stone Soup feature.
July 31st: Friends of Poetry member Prabakar T. Rajan also features at Stone Soup Poetry for the first time.
Below is a list of features for July. More information will be added next week.
July 3rd: Celebrated local poet Richard Cambridge celebrates the Fourth of July in a less common fashion.
July 10th: Welcome poet and teacher David R. Surette.
July 17h: Ryan “Rat” Travis returns to Stone Soup.
July 24th: Sue Savoy has her first Stone Soup feature.
July 31st: Friends of Poetry member Prabakar T. Rajan also features at Stone Soup Poetry for the first time.
July 24th: Sue Savoy Features
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery (located on 106 Prospect Street in Cambridge) with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On July 24th, Stone Soup invites Sue Savoy to feature.
Sue Savoy always hated poetry and is not sure what she writes actually is poetry. She can't bring herself to refer to herself as a poet, but she's been a regular at the Cantab venue for years and has read and featured at numerous venues including the Cantab and Tapestry of Voices. She most recently featured as a competitor in the Head to Head Haiku Slam at Poetribe hosted by Samantha Jane Scolamiero.
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery (located on 106 Prospect Street in Cambridge) with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On July 24th, Stone Soup invites Sue Savoy to feature.
Sue Savoy always hated poetry and is not sure what she writes actually is poetry. She can't bring herself to refer to herself as a poet, but she's been a regular at the Cantab venue for years and has read and featured at numerous venues including the Cantab and Tapestry of Voices. She most recently featured as a competitor in the Head to Head Haiku Slam at Poetribe hosted by Samantha Jane Scolamiero.
July 17th: Ryan "Rat" Travis Features
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery (located on 106 Prospect Street in Cambridge) with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On the 17th, Ryan "Rat" Travis returns to Stone Soup with a "Haloween in July" show, where he will release the sequel to his Haiku of Horror chapbook.
Ryan Travis has been performing for about 9 years as a poet, actor, singer, performance artist and clown. He’s toured with 2 infamous poetry groups, The Collective and The Barnum and Buddah Circus, all over New England as well as, NYC, NJ, PA and KY. Known for his upfront and revealing style, his work ranges from children’s poetry to the outright offensive, so much so that he was once asked to leave the stage by a long distance phone call by the venue owner.
Nominated for an Irene Ryan Award for Acting Excellence and a Cambridge Poetry Award for best love poem, he’s also been published in many online and print magazines, most recently in England.
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery (located on 106 Prospect Street in Cambridge) with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On the 17th, Ryan "Rat" Travis returns to Stone Soup with a "Haloween in July" show, where he will release the sequel to his Haiku of Horror chapbook.
Ryan Travis has been performing for about 9 years as a poet, actor, singer, performance artist and clown. He’s toured with 2 infamous poetry groups, The Collective and The Barnum and Buddah Circus, all over New England as well as, NYC, NJ, PA and KY. Known for his upfront and revealing style, his work ranges from children’s poetry to the outright offensive, so much so that he was once asked to leave the stage by a long distance phone call by the venue owner.
Nominated for an Irene Ryan Award for Acting Excellence and a Cambridge Poetry Award for best love poem, he’s also been published in many online and print magazines, most recently in England.
Not a love poem
This is not a love poem
by any stretch of the imagination
Even though I feel like my chest is going to explode
and an incredible sense of joy radiates from within me
This is not a love poem
Even though I think that you're the most beautiful
and phenomenal woman I've ever met
and I can't get you out of my head
This is not a love poem
and when I think about the way you look at me sometimes
and how I feel when I stare into your captivating eyes,
I feel higher than I've ever been
and my muse forces me to put pen to paper to express these feelings
compelling me to write
So just don't think of this as a love poem
cause if it was, I might just scare you away
cause love is a terrifying word
and I haven't even begun to truly know you yet
but I feel so very lucky to know who you are right now.
So lets just say this is a poem
to let you know how incredible you are
and leave it at that
cause this is not a love poem
even though it sure seems like it.
This is not a love poem
by any stretch of the imagination
Even though I feel like my chest is going to explode
and an incredible sense of joy radiates from within me
This is not a love poem
Even though I think that you're the most beautiful
and phenomenal woman I've ever met
and I can't get you out of my head
This is not a love poem
and when I think about the way you look at me sometimes
and how I feel when I stare into your captivating eyes,
I feel higher than I've ever been
and my muse forces me to put pen to paper to express these feelings
compelling me to write
So just don't think of this as a love poem
cause if it was, I might just scare you away
cause love is a terrifying word
and I haven't even begun to truly know you yet
but I feel so very lucky to know who you are right now.
So lets just say this is a poem
to let you know how incredible you are
and leave it at that
cause this is not a love poem
even though it sure seems like it.
July 10th: David R. Surette Features
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery (located on 106 Prospect Street in Cambridge) with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On July 10th, Stone Soup welcomes Poetribe co-host David R. Surette, whose body of work covers a great range of topics, from family to personal heritage to the beauty of the American landscape and its various inhabitants.
David R. Surette's first book of poetry is Young Gentlemen's School (Koenisha, 2004). He co-hosts Poetribe, a poetry series in southeastern Massachusetts.
Click here for a sample poem by Surette.
The author's website.
Poetribe.
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery (located on 106 Prospect Street in Cambridge) with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On July 10th, Stone Soup welcomes Poetribe co-host David R. Surette, whose body of work covers a great range of topics, from family to personal heritage to the beauty of the American landscape and its various inhabitants.
David R. Surette's first book of poetry is Young Gentlemen's School (Koenisha, 2004). He co-hosts Poetribe, a poetry series in southeastern Massachusetts.
Click here for a sample poem by Surette.
The author's website.
Poetribe.
6/26/06
6/24/06
July 3rd: Richard Cambridge Reads at Stone Soup
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On July 3rd, Stone Soup welcomes back poet Richard Cambridge for a special performance that recognizes the Fourth of July holiday in a less common fashion, as is indicative in the sample poem below.
Richard Cambridge's poetry and theater productions address controversial themes on the American political landscape. His poetry has appeared in The Paterson Literary Review, Heartland Journal, Asheville Poetry Review and others. His awards include The Allen Ginsberg Poetry Prize and he was a finalist for a residency at the Fine Arts Work Shop in Provincetown, MA. He is a long-time resident of Cambridge, MA where he curates the Poets’ Theater at Club Passim, and helps run Squawk! a weekly open mic coffeehouse in Harvard Square. He was a member of the Boston Slam team that won the championship in 1992, and in 1997 won the individual Master’s Slam at the National Poetry Slam. In 2003 he received the Cambridge Peace and Justice Award for the contributions of his art and activism.
After the London bombings, an NPR commentator asked the question:
Is this what the future holds? Will we have to endure this like bad weather?
Bad Weather
Our language comes from Arabic
There’s a bin-Laden
For every letter of the alphabet
The forecast today
Is Bad Weather
A cluster bomb
in Copley Square
A suicide bomber
At Downtown Crossing
What doesn’t rain from above
Can’t be protected from with an umbrella
It’s going to be a Nuclear Day
Mushrooms exploding in the corners of Everywhere
Lunch appointments completely ruined
A whole life’s work blown to bits
My parents no longer exist
In Rochester
There’s a fingernail left
Of a friend from Montana
What we need is
HOMELAND SECURITY
A T-Shirt says
Fighting Terrorism since 1492
Depicting four Native American warriors
Rifles cocked
What goes around
Becomes a tornado
Two-fifty for a coffee and donut
Two-fifty for a gallon of gas
The president grins
With a moustache of oil
Got Democracy
Wasn’t it Sadaam who took down the towers
The forecast today is Bad Weather
It’s always easier to believe a lie
--Richard Cambridge
Click here for the Squawk! website.
Click here for Club Passim's website.
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On July 3rd, Stone Soup welcomes back poet Richard Cambridge for a special performance that recognizes the Fourth of July holiday in a less common fashion, as is indicative in the sample poem below.
Richard Cambridge's poetry and theater productions address controversial themes on the American political landscape. His poetry has appeared in The Paterson Literary Review, Heartland Journal, Asheville Poetry Review and others. His awards include The Allen Ginsberg Poetry Prize and he was a finalist for a residency at the Fine Arts Work Shop in Provincetown, MA. He is a long-time resident of Cambridge, MA where he curates the Poets’ Theater at Club Passim, and helps run Squawk! a weekly open mic coffeehouse in Harvard Square. He was a member of the Boston Slam team that won the championship in 1992, and in 1997 won the individual Master’s Slam at the National Poetry Slam. In 2003 he received the Cambridge Peace and Justice Award for the contributions of his art and activism.
After the London bombings, an NPR commentator asked the question:
Is this what the future holds? Will we have to endure this like bad weather?
Bad Weather
Our language comes from Arabic
There’s a bin-Laden
For every letter of the alphabet
The forecast today
Is Bad Weather
A cluster bomb
in Copley Square
A suicide bomber
At Downtown Crossing
What doesn’t rain from above
Can’t be protected from with an umbrella
It’s going to be a Nuclear Day
Mushrooms exploding in the corners of Everywhere
Lunch appointments completely ruined
A whole life’s work blown to bits
My parents no longer exist
In Rochester
There’s a fingernail left
Of a friend from Montana
What we need is
HOMELAND SECURITY
A T-Shirt says
Fighting Terrorism since 1492
Depicting four Native American warriors
Rifles cocked
What goes around
Becomes a tornado
Two-fifty for a coffee and donut
Two-fifty for a gallon of gas
The president grins
With a moustache of oil
Got Democracy
Wasn’t it Sadaam who took down the towers
The forecast today is Bad Weather
It’s always easier to believe a lie
--Richard Cambridge
Click here for the Squawk! website.
Click here for Club Passim's website.
6/19/06
June 26th: Edward J. Carvallho Features
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. Unable to make his scheduled feature in May due to personal obligations, Edward J. Carvalho has been rescheduled to close off June.
Edward J. Carvalho is a twice-nominated Pushcart Prize writer (2004-2005) who has been writing poetry for over 20 years. He is the author of several self-published chapbooks and unpublished full-length collections of poetry, including the latest manuscript, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short, scheduled to be published later this year. His poetry - lauded by Nobel laureate, Elie Wiesel and poet, Martin Espada - has appeared in various national journals around the country. Mr. Carvalho holds an M.F.A. in creative writing from Goddard College with future academic plans that include the pursuit of a doctorate in literature and criticism focusing on Walt Whitman.
Click here for Edward J. Carvalho's webite.
Click here for a preview of Carvalho's recent contribution for The Heat City Review.
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. Unable to make his scheduled feature in May due to personal obligations, Edward J. Carvalho has been rescheduled to close off June.
Edward J. Carvalho is a twice-nominated Pushcart Prize writer (2004-2005) who has been writing poetry for over 20 years. He is the author of several self-published chapbooks and unpublished full-length collections of poetry, including the latest manuscript, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short, scheduled to be published later this year. His poetry - lauded by Nobel laureate, Elie Wiesel and poet, Martin Espada - has appeared in various national journals around the country. Mr. Carvalho holds an M.F.A. in creative writing from Goddard College with future academic plans that include the pursuit of a doctorate in literature and criticism focusing on Walt Whitman.
Click here for Edward J. Carvalho's webite.
Click here for a preview of Carvalho's recent contribution for The Heat City Review.
June 19th: David "Doc" Cote Features
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. Featuring tonight will be venue host and longtime friend of Jack Powers and Stone Soup, David "Doc" Cote.
Cote has been hosting multiple venues in various locations, from book stores, to his current reading located at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Downtown Nashua, which meets ever second Friday every month and includes a feature and an open mike. He also taught English for 33 years in both college in high school. For the last fifty years, he has worked on one book, A Primer for Souls, which will be released by the end of this year.
(photo not obtainable)
Click here for information on the Unitarian Universalist Church in Nashua, New Hampshire.
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. Featuring tonight will be venue host and longtime friend of Jack Powers and Stone Soup, David "Doc" Cote.
Cote has been hosting multiple venues in various locations, from book stores, to his current reading located at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Downtown Nashua, which meets ever second Friday every month and includes a feature and an open mike. He also taught English for 33 years in both college in high school. For the last fifty years, he has worked on one book, A Primer for Souls, which will be released by the end of this year.
(photo not obtainable)
Click here for information on the Unitarian Universalist Church in Nashua, New Hampshire.
5/31/06
June 12th: Andy Levesque Features
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m.
Since entering the open mic poetry scene in Cambridge in 1995, Andy Levesque has developed a reputation as a unique and insightful nature poet. He has featured at many poetry venues throughout the area. An update of his 1995 chapbook of poems, "Walden Vision Quest" is in the works, and a new cd of poems, "Wings of Wonder" has just been released.
For six years Andy was host of a live poetry series at Walden Pond in Concord, MA, which he founded in 1997, A graphic designer by trade, he created an online portal for poetry and the visual arts in 2000, now titled MothwingArts.com, where samples of his poetry, photography and digital art can be found, as well as the work of dozens of guest artists and poets. He has designed and published, under the Mothwing Press imprint, a number of books of poetry by outstanding local poets. He is also a composer and musician, performing classic and original material and working on a new music cd.
three robins
running through grass
each bright eye
reaching for sign
of worm or seed
bugsluggish
in the chilly dew
race forward
stop
utterly erect
exquisitely alert
senses extending
to grasp
the quiver of threat
cold menace
of hungry
intenta shifting
in the shadows
focused vigilance
fills the lungs
in each feathered breast
the heartthe wings
ever beating
with fierce courage
ready flight
instantaneous instinct
to escape
--Andy Levesque
Click here for the Mothwing Arts website.
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m.
Since entering the open mic poetry scene in Cambridge in 1995, Andy Levesque has developed a reputation as a unique and insightful nature poet. He has featured at many poetry venues throughout the area. An update of his 1995 chapbook of poems, "Walden Vision Quest" is in the works, and a new cd of poems, "Wings of Wonder" has just been released.
For six years Andy was host of a live poetry series at Walden Pond in Concord, MA, which he founded in 1997, A graphic designer by trade, he created an online portal for poetry and the visual arts in 2000, now titled MothwingArts.com, where samples of his poetry, photography and digital art can be found, as well as the work of dozens of guest artists and poets. He has designed and published, under the Mothwing Press imprint, a number of books of poetry by outstanding local poets. He is also a composer and musician, performing classic and original material and working on a new music cd.
three robins
running through grass
each bright eye
reaching for sign
of worm or seed
bugsluggish
in the chilly dew
race forward
stop
utterly erect
exquisitely alert
senses extending
to grasp
the quiver of threat
cold menace
of hungry
intenta shifting
in the shadows
focused vigilance
fills the lungs
in each feathered breast
the heartthe wings
ever beating
with fierce courage
ready flight
instantaneous instinct
to escape
--Andy Levesque
Click here for the Mothwing Arts website.
June 5th: Stone Soup Welcomes Cervena Barva Press
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. For June 5th, Stone Stoup Poetry welcomes the writers that help make up Cervena Barve Press, which recently celebrated it's first year anniversary as a publisher of fiction, plays, and, of course, poetry.
Gloria Mindock is editor of Červená Barva Press, which publishes poetry, fiction, plays, and poetry postcards from writers all over the world. From 1984-1994, she was editor of the Boston Literary Review/BluR and ran a poetry reading series called BLuR READS. Gloria is author of two chapbooks, Oh Angel, (U Šoku Štampa 2006) and Doppelganger (S. Press 1992). Doppelganger was used as a text for a theatre piece of the same name and was reviewed in Stages. Her poetry collection, Nothing Divine Here, is forthcoming by U Šoku Štampa this year. Gloria has been published in numerous literary journals including Phoebe, Poet Lore, River Styx, Fire, Bogg, Blackbox, and UNU Revista de Cultura in Romania with translations by Flavia Cosma. She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and was awarded a Massachusetts Council Poetry Fellowship distributed by the Somerville Arts Council. Gloria moderates two writing groups and is part owner of one, both are based out of the UK on the internet. She has written text, music, acted, and was Co-Founder of Theatre S. (1984-1994) She has written solo performance pieces and performed them in the Boston area.
Life Mourns
El Salvador, 1983
Parents, you carry your children’s coffins well.
Along the road, see the little gifts
left for you… blood stains, teeth, shoes, and
body parts.
The clouds gather up all the tears you cry
so everyone feels them when it rains.
The military buttons up its coats.
Children, you gather the bones of your parents quickly.
Identified by a piece of cloth, a shirt, a guess.
Sometimes you find bones at the front door, but
never where you hid. You were lucky.
But even you are the already dead dying slowly from brutality.
Husband, body parts hang in the
trees. The Earth is sad today. Trees
as sacred as the lives of those whose hands,
heads, fingers, organs, eyes touch the branches with
I know Husband that you are
on the first branch.
In this procession of sadness, I stand and console life.
Life embarrassed, cries out to the Death Squad.
They do not hear.
Their ears are filled, and hearts drowning.
--Gloria Mindock
A recipient of numerous grants and awards, Mary Bonina studied with the late poets Denise Levertov and Ken Smith. Her poem, "Drift," was selected for Boston Contemporary Authors, a public art project, and it isinscribed on a granite column and permanently placed outside Green Street MBTA Station. Three of her poems were displayed last summer (2005) in the Boston CityHall exhibition "375 Views of Boston," featuring in addition to poetry, the work of Boston painters, sculptors, and photographers. She earned her M.F.A.degree in the Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. Her poems have appeared in the anthologies City River of Voices (1992) from West End Press, New Mexico, and most recently in Voices of the City (2004), a joint venture of the Rutgers University Center for Ethnicity, Culture, and the Modern Experience and Hanging Loose Press Ny, NY. She has poetry forthcoming in another anthology, Vacations: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from Tall Grass Literary Guild, Chicago, to be published by Outrider Press. "The Wanderer, 1962," an excerpt from her memoir "My Father's Eyes," was published in Gulfstreaming the online magazine at Florida International University.
Irene Koronas is a graduate of Mass College of Art, B.F.A. Currently, she is the poetry editor for Wilderness House Literary Review and writes a weekly editorial (word catcher) about the Bagel Bards weekly meetings. Her poetry leans toward the experimental, with great enthusiasm for the playful juxtaposition of images.
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. For June 5th, Stone Stoup Poetry welcomes the writers that help make up Cervena Barve Press, which recently celebrated it's first year anniversary as a publisher of fiction, plays, and, of course, poetry.
Gloria Mindock is editor of Červená Barva Press, which publishes poetry, fiction, plays, and poetry postcards from writers all over the world. From 1984-1994, she was editor of the Boston Literary Review/BluR and ran a poetry reading series called BLuR READS. Gloria is author of two chapbooks, Oh Angel, (U Šoku Štampa 2006) and Doppelganger (S. Press 1992). Doppelganger was used as a text for a theatre piece of the same name and was reviewed in Stages. Her poetry collection, Nothing Divine Here, is forthcoming by U Šoku Štampa this year. Gloria has been published in numerous literary journals including Phoebe, Poet Lore, River Styx, Fire, Bogg, Blackbox, and UNU Revista de Cultura in Romania with translations by Flavia Cosma. She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and was awarded a Massachusetts Council Poetry Fellowship distributed by the Somerville Arts Council. Gloria moderates two writing groups and is part owner of one, both are based out of the UK on the internet. She has written text, music, acted, and was Co-Founder of Theatre S. (1984-1994) She has written solo performance pieces and performed them in the Boston area.
Life Mourns
El Salvador, 1983
Parents, you carry your children’s coffins well.
Along the road, see the little gifts
left for you… blood stains, teeth, shoes, and
body parts.
The clouds gather up all the tears you cry
so everyone feels them when it rains.
The military buttons up its coats.
Children, you gather the bones of your parents quickly.
Identified by a piece of cloth, a shirt, a guess.
Sometimes you find bones at the front door, but
never where you hid. You were lucky.
But even you are the already dead dying slowly from brutality.
Husband, body parts hang in the
trees. The Earth is sad today. Trees
as sacred as the lives of those whose hands,
heads, fingers, organs, eyes touch the branches with
I know Husband that you are
on the first branch.
In this procession of sadness, I stand and console life.
Life embarrassed, cries out to the Death Squad.
They do not hear.
Their ears are filled, and hearts drowning.
--Gloria Mindock
A recipient of numerous grants and awards, Mary Bonina studied with the late poets Denise Levertov and Ken Smith. Her poem, "Drift," was selected for Boston Contemporary Authors, a public art project, and it isinscribed on a granite column and permanently placed outside Green Street MBTA Station. Three of her poems were displayed last summer (2005) in the Boston CityHall exhibition "375 Views of Boston," featuring in addition to poetry, the work of Boston painters, sculptors, and photographers. She earned her M.F.A.degree in the Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. Her poems have appeared in the anthologies City River of Voices (1992) from West End Press, New Mexico, and most recently in Voices of the City (2004), a joint venture of the Rutgers University Center for Ethnicity, Culture, and the Modern Experience and Hanging Loose Press Ny, NY. She has poetry forthcoming in another anthology, Vacations: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from Tall Grass Literary Guild, Chicago, to be published by Outrider Press. "The Wanderer, 1962," an excerpt from her memoir "My Father's Eyes," was published in Gulfstreaming the online magazine at Florida International University.
Afternoon At Nahant
Only March and it’s 85 degrees in
Nahant on the
the wide strand, where all the simple joys
arrange themselves, scatter about
among snail shells, stones, sand that sparkles.
It’s rare to know where you belong
at any given moment. For doubt to take a vacation
when the air still has a chill, especially by the water,
and the sun can’t quite make up for it.
and my Gianni, chase each other,
circles widening, nothing in the way, so
free to run and who cares if they get wet?
Children don’t feel a cool breeze anyway,
at least not such fortunate children.
Mothers wait for days like this,
when they can honestly answer the question:
“Where are we going?”
give them an answer they can understand:
“We’re going on an adventure.”
So we are spending the afternoon at Nahant.
For this we decided to relinquish our worries.
We’ll eat oranges instead of dinner,
And go home late to our husbands.
We five race along the horizon of the water’s edge,
Push away the thought of rush hour traffic
On the
--Mary Bonina
Irene Koronas is a graduate of Mass College of Art, B.F.A. Currently, she is the poetry editor for Wilderness House Literary Review and writes a weekly editorial (word catcher) about the Bagel Bards weekly meetings. Her poetry leans toward the experimental, with great enthusiasm for the playful juxtaposition of images.
my youth
those dozing hours my breast so freshly spontaneous went up to men at once at once living in city escapes I flourished by wallpapering my mind still running high my former protection was liberty glued to do what I want takes years and months with no other condition than perceived freedom I found no room for improvements my old older still with ocean patterns every kind of situation was undercurrent mucking ruminations oblivious to the caravans that carried me off outsourced my frenzy for it is not any longer the play of past but manners polish my toe nails and hardens my voice insufferably left propriety mingled with reality thank God I lived frivolous as amphibians.
--Irene Kronas
5/27/06
May 29: Billy Barnum Features
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On the 29th of May, Stone Soup finishes its month long anniversary celebration of 35 years in existance with the reknowned performer, Bill Barnum.
Photos by Bill Perrault
It has been said that Bill Barnum is an eighty-one-year-old man with a hundred of years of experience. he has done theater, dance, mime, Shakespeare, vaudeville, and, of course, poetry. He is most famous for doing poetry and mime simultaneously. His poetry is of the abstract school. He names Philip Lamartia and e.e. cummings as two of his influences. He regularly makes the rounds of the Boston-Cambridge open mikes and was once a regular street performer in Harvard Square. Much of his poetry on a shoestring in the mid-eighties. He has also written four plays, one of which, City Beyond Sleep, was performed on local radio.
bio written by Raffy Woolf.
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On the 29th of May, Stone Soup finishes its month long anniversary celebration of 35 years in existance with the reknowned performer, Bill Barnum.
Photos by Bill Perrault
It has been said that Bill Barnum is an eighty-one-year-old man with a hundred of years of experience. he has done theater, dance, mime, Shakespeare, vaudeville, and, of course, poetry. He is most famous for doing poetry and mime simultaneously. His poetry is of the abstract school. He names Philip Lamartia and e.e. cummings as two of his influences. He regularly makes the rounds of the Boston-Cambridge open mikes and was once a regular street performer in Harvard Square. Much of his poetry on a shoestring in the mid-eighties. He has also written four plays, one of which, City Beyond Sleep, was performed on local radio.
bio written by Raffy Woolf.
5/22/06
May 22nd: Dan Shanahan, Edward J. Cavalho, and Simon Schattner Feature
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. Tonight, Stone Soup Poetry continues to celebrate it's 35th Anniversary with features Dan Shanahan, Edward J. Cavalho, and Simon Schattner.
Dan Shanahan was reading and selling his poems to passers-bye on Beacon Hill in 1969 when he met Jack Powers. Jack was holding readings at the Old West Church then and soon after Jack initiated the weekly Stone Soup readings in his gallery on Cambridge Street. Dan left Boston for Alaska in 1972 where he lived for six years.
Stone Soup published The Alaska Poems, his first book of poems, in 1995, with assistance of a Massachusetts Cultural Council grant. In 1997 his second collection, Crystal Lake, was published. Crystal Lake reflects on the immanent present and historical past of a mill pond owned by Giles and Martha Corey, two victims of the Salem witch trials of the seventeenth century.
In 2003, Dan produced an audio book on CD entitled The Lotus Seed Poems, a suite of poems recollecting his experience of living with a meditation master whom he lived with in India. He is currently working on two new collections. The Shipyard Cantos recounts his work as a welder in the Quincy Shipyards in the late 1960s. The Ground We Stand On contemplates his early life in Holyoke, MA once known as the “paper city of world.” His work is a contemplation on where the spiritual and material converge on the landscape of character, and the character of landscape.
He is grateful for the tireless generosity of Jack Powers, whose lifetime has been dedicated to nurturing the poets and artists of Boston and beyond.
Edward J. Carvalho is a twice-nominated Pushcart Prize writer (2004-2005) who has been writing poetry for over 20 years. He is the author of several self-published chapbooks and unpublished full-length collections of poetry, including the latest manuscript, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short, scheduled to be published later this year. His poetry - lauded by Nobel laureate, Elie Wiesel and poet, Martin Espada - has appeared in various national journals around the country. Mr. Carvalho holds an M.F.A. in creative writing from Goddard College with future academic plans that include the pursuit of a doctorate in literature and criticism focusing on Walt Whitman.
Simon Schattner is a poet, musician who incorporates both into his regular open mike performances at Stone Soup, which he is a regular participant in. Samples of both are available on his website.
Sample poem from Dan Shanahan.
Edward J. Carvalho's web site.
Simon Schattner's web site.
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. Tonight, Stone Soup Poetry continues to celebrate it's 35th Anniversary with features Dan Shanahan, Edward J. Cavalho, and Simon Schattner.
Dan Shanahan was reading and selling his poems to passers-bye on Beacon Hill in 1969 when he met Jack Powers. Jack was holding readings at the Old West Church then and soon after Jack initiated the weekly Stone Soup readings in his gallery on Cambridge Street. Dan left Boston for Alaska in 1972 where he lived for six years.
Stone Soup published The Alaska Poems, his first book of poems, in 1995, with assistance of a Massachusetts Cultural Council grant. In 1997 his second collection, Crystal Lake, was published. Crystal Lake reflects on the immanent present and historical past of a mill pond owned by Giles and Martha Corey, two victims of the Salem witch trials of the seventeenth century.
In 2003, Dan produced an audio book on CD entitled The Lotus Seed Poems, a suite of poems recollecting his experience of living with a meditation master whom he lived with in India. He is currently working on two new collections. The Shipyard Cantos recounts his work as a welder in the Quincy Shipyards in the late 1960s. The Ground We Stand On contemplates his early life in Holyoke, MA once known as the “paper city of world.” His work is a contemplation on where the spiritual and material converge on the landscape of character, and the character of landscape.
He is grateful for the tireless generosity of Jack Powers, whose lifetime has been dedicated to nurturing the poets and artists of Boston and beyond.
Edward J. Carvalho is a twice-nominated Pushcart Prize writer (2004-2005) who has been writing poetry for over 20 years. He is the author of several self-published chapbooks and unpublished full-length collections of poetry, including the latest manuscript, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short, scheduled to be published later this year. His poetry - lauded by Nobel laureate, Elie Wiesel and poet, Martin Espada - has appeared in various national journals around the country. Mr. Carvalho holds an M.F.A. in creative writing from Goddard College with future academic plans that include the pursuit of a doctorate in literature and criticism focusing on Walt Whitman.
Simon Schattner is a poet, musician who incorporates both into his regular open mike performances at Stone Soup, which he is a regular participant in. Samples of both are available on his website.
Sample poem from Dan Shanahan.
Edward J. Carvalho's web site.
Simon Schattner's web site.
5/15/06
May 15th: Joanna Nealon and Walter Howard Feature
Photos by Bill Perrault
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On the 15th of May, Joanna Nealon and Walter Howard, Stone Soup staples and longtime friends of Jack Powers, return to continue the celebration of Stone Soup's 35th anniversary.
Joanna Nealon is a Fullbright Scholar who has published five books. In addition to Stone Soup, she has read for various venues such as Tapestry of Voices, Ibbetson Street Press, Walden Pond Poetry and the Newton and Brockton Library series. She has been published in The Aurorean, Ibbetson Street Review, the Stone Soup anthologies, Cosmic Trend, Bitteroot, Northeast Corridor, and Poesis.
Walter Howard is a retired history professor, English teacher, and journalist. He is a member of the Longfellow Society, Natick Writers, and the Wayland Poetry Workshop. His poems have appeared in Motive, Longfellow Journal, Ibbetson Street Press, Journal of Modern Writing, Endicott Review, and others.
Photos by Bill Perrault
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On the 15th of May, Joanna Nealon and Walter Howard, Stone Soup staples and longtime friends of Jack Powers, return to continue the celebration of Stone Soup's 35th anniversary.
Joanna Nealon is a Fullbright Scholar who has published five books. In addition to Stone Soup, she has read for various venues such as Tapestry of Voices, Ibbetson Street Press, Walden Pond Poetry and the Newton and Brockton Library series. She has been published in The Aurorean, Ibbetson Street Review, the Stone Soup anthologies, Cosmic Trend, Bitteroot, Northeast Corridor, and Poesis.
Walter Howard is a retired history professor, English teacher, and journalist. He is a member of the Longfellow Society, Natick Writers, and the Wayland Poetry Workshop. His poems have appeared in Motive, Longfellow Journal, Ibbetson Street Press, Journal of Modern Writing, Endicott Review, and others.
4/26/06
Stone Soup Celebrates It’s 35th Anniversary In May, 2006
Below is an advanced look at the poets performing for Stone Soup's 35th Anniversary. Complete bio pages will appear for all the performers by the end of this week.
May 1st: Stone Soup Staple Carol Weston celebrates on the very date Stone Soup started, along with friends Nancy Dodson and Valerie Jayne.
May 8th: Marc Goldfinger reads with fellow Spare Change alum Linda Larson.
May 15th: Joanna Nealon returns as a feature and invites Walter Howard to come along.
May 22nd: The triple threat of Edward J. Carvalho, Simon Schattner, and Dan Shanahan.
May 29th: Billy Barnum provides a grand finale for Stone Soup’s 35th Anniversary Month.
Below is an advanced look at the poets performing for Stone Soup's 35th Anniversary. Complete bio pages will appear for all the performers by the end of this week.
May 1st: Stone Soup Staple Carol Weston celebrates on the very date Stone Soup started, along with friends Nancy Dodson and Valerie Jayne.
May 8th: Marc Goldfinger reads with fellow Spare Change alum Linda Larson.
May 15th: Joanna Nealon returns as a feature and invites Walter Howard to come along.
May 22nd: The triple threat of Edward J. Carvalho, Simon Schattner, and Dan Shanahan.
May 29th: Billy Barnum provides a grand finale for Stone Soup’s 35th Anniversary Month.
May 8th: Marc D. Goldfinger and Linda Larson Feature
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. The month long celebration of Stone Soup Poetry continues on May 8th with Marc D. Goldfinger and Linda Larson, two poets connected to the popular Spare Change News and its poetry section.
Marc D. Goldfinger has been published by the Ibbetson Street Press, The Aurorean, Pegasus, The Boston Poet, Clamor magazine, Earth First! and the Crooked River Press among others. He is currently the poetry editor of the Spare Change News, a paper put out for the benefit of homeless people. He is a counselor for people with Substance Use Disorders and some of hiswork has been used to augment courses at theUniversity of Massachusetts in Boston. He is also a member of the Highway Poets, a motorcycle club whose members have been published throughout the world.
Linda Larson was born in 1947. She began writing poetry in elementary school and published in school publications in Evanston, Illinois and at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. In 1970 she graduated with a M. A. in the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars. Influenced by T.S. Eliot, Allen Ginsberg, and Robert Bly she continued to write for publication. At the same time she battled mental illness for over three decades. Her peripatetic lifestyle resulted in the loss of many manuscripts. From 1997 through 2002 Larson was the editor of Spare Change News, a Cambridge-based newspaper that reports on and serves people experiencing homelessness. For the last three years she has been co-leading a recovery group at the Lemuel Shattuck Hospital for people like herself, diagnosed with both mental illness and substance abuse. This is her first poetry reading since the 1970's.
Sample poems are below:
The Wake-Up
for Mary Esther
One bright eye peeks
out at the world, still dark
with the shade of mourning. She
is not sure whether it is
safe to throw off her cover,
come out to dance with
the uncertainty of day.
Life is like that
sometimes, on other days
the sun is blinding through
the Easter window of the room
she now shares with the man
who loves her. He smiles at
the shadows cast by life until
they back off, grins down
the throat of hard-luck
until it coughs up sunlight
and then he kisses
her forehead, says, "It's all
right now, breakfast is ready."
--Marc D. Goldfinger
For The Love of Your Bones
The murderous
Ticking of the clock
Wants you to feel
The back of your neck
Gliding upwards
In a glissando
Of absolute elegance. . .
Time impales me
On the tip
Of my senses
As no sunset,
Nor constant star
Ever could. . .
When I die
I'm going to live
On the other side
Of your blue sky eyes.
--Linda Larson
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. The month long celebration of Stone Soup Poetry continues on May 8th with Marc D. Goldfinger and Linda Larson, two poets connected to the popular Spare Change News and its poetry section.
Marc D. Goldfinger has been published by the Ibbetson Street Press, The Aurorean, Pegasus, The Boston Poet, Clamor magazine, Earth First! and the Crooked River Press among others. He is currently the poetry editor of the Spare Change News, a paper put out for the benefit of homeless people. He is a counselor for people with Substance Use Disorders and some of hiswork has been used to augment courses at theUniversity of Massachusetts in Boston. He is also a member of the Highway Poets, a motorcycle club whose members have been published throughout the world.
Linda Larson was born in 1947. She began writing poetry in elementary school and published in school publications in Evanston, Illinois and at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. In 1970 she graduated with a M. A. in the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars. Influenced by T.S. Eliot, Allen Ginsberg, and Robert Bly she continued to write for publication. At the same time she battled mental illness for over three decades. Her peripatetic lifestyle resulted in the loss of many manuscripts. From 1997 through 2002 Larson was the editor of Spare Change News, a Cambridge-based newspaper that reports on and serves people experiencing homelessness. For the last three years she has been co-leading a recovery group at the Lemuel Shattuck Hospital for people like herself, diagnosed with both mental illness and substance abuse. This is her first poetry reading since the 1970's.
Sample poems are below:
The Wake-Up
for Mary Esther
One bright eye peeks
out at the world, still dark
with the shade of mourning. She
is not sure whether it is
safe to throw off her cover,
come out to dance with
the uncertainty of day.
Life is like that
sometimes, on other days
the sun is blinding through
the Easter window of the room
she now shares with the man
who loves her. He smiles at
the shadows cast by life until
they back off, grins down
the throat of hard-luck
until it coughs up sunlight
and then he kisses
her forehead, says, "It's all
right now, breakfast is ready."
--Marc D. Goldfinger
For The Love of Your Bones
The murderous
Ticking of the clock
Wants you to feel
The back of your neck
Gliding upwards
In a glissando
Of absolute elegance. . .
Time impales me
On the tip
Of my senses
As no sunset,
Nor constant star
Ever could. . .
When I die
I'm going to live
On the other side
Of your blue sky eyes.
--Linda Larson
4/25/06
May 1st: Carol Weston Begins the Celebration of Stone Soup's 35th Anniversary
Photo by Bill Perrault
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. Monday, May First, is the exact date Stone Soup began as a venue thirty five years ago. Carol Weston, a longtime friend of Stone Soup founder Jack Powers and a Stone Soup Poetry fixture, will read with Nancy Dodson and Valerie Jayne to celebrate the 35th anniversary of Stone Soup Poetry.
Carol Weston's history as a poet is linked to such figures as Jack Powers, John Wieners, Robert Lowell, Allen Ginsburg, and Carl Solomon (to whom Allen Ginsburg's "Howl" was dedicated). Her credentials include being poetry editor of the Impressions Workshop. She was published in the Farleigh Dickinson Journal, alongside Donald Justice, Phillip Levine, and Anne Sexton. She is also the author of “What the Poet Expects of Himself,” an essay published in the Tufts Review. Married to John Galloway, science teacher at Endicott College, she taught for ten years at the Chesnut Hill School.
She read alongside Jack Powers and Allen Ginsberg in 1973 in the former Charles Street Universalist Church. In the Winter of 1983, she was asked by Powers to feature in Boston's City Hall along with John Wieners.
Her poetry credits include The Farleigh Literary Review, Bomb, Stone Soup Anthology 2003, and the anthology dedicated to John Wieners, The Blind See Only This World. Her chapbook, Spirals, Whorls Sutures, Septa, was published by Stone Soup.
Nancy Dodson has read her poem in the prisons and published in the Herald. She’s read her poems at Stone Soup at Out of The Blue and it's previous location at T.T. The Bear's. She has published in Greensboro Music and studed with Ottone Richio at the Boston Center.
Valerie Jayne works in watercolor and ink and has taught art and art history while studying Mandarin Chinese. She’s published poems in the Faculty Community Voice in Mass Bay Community College as well as Stone Soup.
Sample poems follow below, taken from Stone Soup Anthology 2003.
To John Wieners (April 15, 2002)
You are the shattered star.
choking on interstellar dust,
you have come through millenniums
crashed by a million
interplanetary bombs.
You leave us a calligraphy
of iron fillings
centered around
your personal magnet
and we are deciphering
those enigmatic stones.
--Carol Weston
Watching Carol Teaching The Wee Ones Science
A magnificent performance all for one
Entertainment is intellectual fun!
Perhaps humility-supremacy rolled into Carol
and never are you inadequate in life.
Dear, even with knife sayings you are kind
Blunt sayings are polite-minded
And full wisdom comes forth
with wide-eyed children
In your court
Their egos hold forth
Listen, egos have a right,
Listen, God with you
Carol, you listen!
--Nancy Dodson
Photo by Bill Perrault
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. Monday, May First, is the exact date Stone Soup began as a venue thirty five years ago. Carol Weston, a longtime friend of Stone Soup founder Jack Powers and a Stone Soup Poetry fixture, will read with Nancy Dodson and Valerie Jayne to celebrate the 35th anniversary of Stone Soup Poetry.
Carol Weston's history as a poet is linked to such figures as Jack Powers, John Wieners, Robert Lowell, Allen Ginsburg, and Carl Solomon (to whom Allen Ginsburg's "Howl" was dedicated). Her credentials include being poetry editor of the Impressions Workshop. She was published in the Farleigh Dickinson Journal, alongside Donald Justice, Phillip Levine, and Anne Sexton. She is also the author of “What the Poet Expects of Himself,” an essay published in the Tufts Review. Married to John Galloway, science teacher at Endicott College, she taught for ten years at the Chesnut Hill School.
She read alongside Jack Powers and Allen Ginsberg in 1973 in the former Charles Street Universalist Church. In the Winter of 1983, she was asked by Powers to feature in Boston's City Hall along with John Wieners.
Her poetry credits include The Farleigh Literary Review, Bomb, Stone Soup Anthology 2003, and the anthology dedicated to John Wieners, The Blind See Only This World. Her chapbook, Spirals, Whorls Sutures, Septa, was published by Stone Soup.
Nancy Dodson has read her poem in the prisons and published in the Herald. She’s read her poems at Stone Soup at Out of The Blue and it's previous location at T.T. The Bear's. She has published in Greensboro Music and studed with Ottone Richio at the Boston Center.
Valerie Jayne works in watercolor and ink and has taught art and art history while studying Mandarin Chinese. She’s published poems in the Faculty Community Voice in Mass Bay Community College as well as Stone Soup.
Sample poems follow below, taken from Stone Soup Anthology 2003.
To John Wieners (April 15, 2002)
You are the shattered star.
choking on interstellar dust,
you have come through millenniums
crashed by a million
interplanetary bombs.
You leave us a calligraphy
of iron fillings
centered around
your personal magnet
and we are deciphering
those enigmatic stones.
--Carol Weston
Watching Carol Teaching The Wee Ones Science
A magnificent performance all for one
Entertainment is intellectual fun!
Perhaps humility-supremacy rolled into Carol
and never are you inadequate in life.
Dear, even with knife sayings you are kind
Blunt sayings are polite-minded
And full wisdom comes forth
with wide-eyed children
In your court
Their egos hold forth
Listen, egos have a right,
Listen, God with you
Carol, you listen!
--Nancy Dodson
4/24/06
4/15/06
April 24th: Jack Powers with Margaret Nairn and Murray Denofsky
Photos by Bil Perrault
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On the 24th, Stone Soup presents the perfect segue from National Poetry Month to Stone Soup's 35th Anniversary celebratory month with Jack Powers featuring, alongside Margaret Nairn and Murray Denofsky.
A recipient of the Ibbetson Street and Anne Bradstreet Lifetime Achievement Awards, Jack Powers is the founder of Stone Soup Poetry and the author of a number poetry books, the most recent being The Inacessibility of The Creator from Ibbetson Street Press. His work can also be found in the 2003 anthology from Stone Soup and the City of Poets anthology from Singing Bone Press. Stone Soup poetry has produced over 1,500 consecutive weeks of poetic performances. He has read in Europe, Russia, and the United States.
Margaret Nairn is a regular contributor to the Stone Soup Poetry open mike. At work on her first collection of poetry, she is also a curator of the International Community Church in Allston, where the list of featured artists whose works are displayed include Jack Powers.
Murray Denofsky was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow in mathematics at MIT in 1965, and has an MA in psychology from Brandeis University. He has written feature articles for the Boston Phoenix, poetry (including 14 translations of Hermann Hesse, two of which were published in the Cumberland Poetry Review in 2004), children's stories, and plays (including the book and lyrics of a musical), several of the latter on the themes of mental illness and/or the sixties era. He also does independent research in mathematics, and in phonetic symbolism, a branch of linguistics, and is Secretary of ASLIP (The Association for the Study of Language in Prehistory).
Photos by Bil Perrault
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On the 24th, Stone Soup presents the perfect segue from National Poetry Month to Stone Soup's 35th Anniversary celebratory month with Jack Powers featuring, alongside Margaret Nairn and Murray Denofsky.
A recipient of the Ibbetson Street and Anne Bradstreet Lifetime Achievement Awards, Jack Powers is the founder of Stone Soup Poetry and the author of a number poetry books, the most recent being The Inacessibility of The Creator from Ibbetson Street Press. His work can also be found in the 2003 anthology from Stone Soup and the City of Poets anthology from Singing Bone Press. Stone Soup poetry has produced over 1,500 consecutive weeks of poetic performances. He has read in Europe, Russia, and the United States.
Margaret Nairn is a regular contributor to the Stone Soup Poetry open mike. At work on her first collection of poetry, she is also a curator of the International Community Church in Allston, where the list of featured artists whose works are displayed include Jack Powers.
Murray Denofsky was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow in mathematics at MIT in 1965, and has an MA in psychology from Brandeis University. He has written feature articles for the Boston Phoenix, poetry (including 14 translations of Hermann Hesse, two of which were published in the Cumberland Poetry Review in 2004), children's stories, and plays (including the book and lyrics of a musical), several of the latter on the themes of mental illness and/or the sixties era. He also does independent research in mathematics, and in phonetic symbolism, a branch of linguistics, and is Secretary of ASLIP (The Association for the Study of Language in Prehistory).
April 17th: Four Poets Celebrat National Poetry Month
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On the 17th, we present our larges lineup for National Poetry Month with four excellent local poets, each differing in approach but similar in their drive to produce quality work and share it with an audience.
Patricia Fillingham is a celebrated regular at Stone Soup. Through her own imprint, Wart Hog Press, she has published a number of books by herself and others. Her most recent collection of poetry is Existential Blues.
Carolyn Gregory is a longtime member of the Jamaica Pond Poetry Workshop who has published poetry and clasical music criticism widely. She has also read widely, most recently as part of the Poetry In The Chapel series, a recent Hurricane Katrina benefit, and Stone Soup this past September.
Deborah Priestly is the co-curator of the Out of The blue Gallery, where Stone Soup has been meeting for years. The gallery has been in two locations and is now celebrating its ninth year in existence. In addition to her art work (her work is currenly on display at the gallery and the 1369 Coffee Shop) she is the author of The Woman Has A Voice with Ibbetson Street Press.
The hostess of the Namless Coffee House series Samantha Jane Scolamiero was a member of the 2004 Boston Cantab Slam Poetry Team attending nationals and has appeared throughout New England and at the Bowery Poetry Club in New York City. She is the author of a book of poetry and photography, The Nameless Collection. Her poem "Last Jazz" has been heard on the radio.
Click here for a sample poem by Carolyn Gregory.
Click here for a sample poem by Deb Priestly.
Samantha Jane Scolamiero's Nameless Coffee House series.
Samantha Jane Scolamiero's Website.
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On the 17th, we present our larges lineup for National Poetry Month with four excellent local poets, each differing in approach but similar in their drive to produce quality work and share it with an audience.
Patricia Fillingham is a celebrated regular at Stone Soup. Through her own imprint, Wart Hog Press, she has published a number of books by herself and others. Her most recent collection of poetry is Existential Blues.
Carolyn Gregory is a longtime member of the Jamaica Pond Poetry Workshop who has published poetry and clasical music criticism widely. She has also read widely, most recently as part of the Poetry In The Chapel series, a recent Hurricane Katrina benefit, and Stone Soup this past September.
Deborah Priestly is the co-curator of the Out of The blue Gallery, where Stone Soup has been meeting for years. The gallery has been in two locations and is now celebrating its ninth year in existence. In addition to her art work (her work is currenly on display at the gallery and the 1369 Coffee Shop) she is the author of The Woman Has A Voice with Ibbetson Street Press.
The hostess of the Namless Coffee House series Samantha Jane Scolamiero was a member of the 2004 Boston Cantab Slam Poetry Team attending nationals and has appeared throughout New England and at the Bowery Poetry Club in New York City. She is the author of a book of poetry and photography, The Nameless Collection. Her poem "Last Jazz" has been heard on the radio.
Click here for a sample poem by Carolyn Gregory.
Click here for a sample poem by Deb Priestly.
Samantha Jane Scolamiero's Nameless Coffee House series.
Samantha Jane Scolamiero's Website.
3/26/06
April 10th: Lee Litif and Chris Robbins Feature
Photos by Bill Perrault
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On April 10th, Lee Letif and Chris Robbins bring their own blend of poetry, performance art, and comedy to Stone Soup.
Lee Letif has been a regular contribution to the Stone Soup open mike since 1991. He's the author of several chapbooks, including Unpatriotic Flags and Abominating White Houses, Reckless Paella and Defecating Republicans, and his newest, Ultrasonic Amplifiers and Marshall Amps/Genital Wart Puking Rednecks.
Chris Robbins has volunteered for such causes as the Jane Doe Safety Fnd, the Cambridge International Women's Day celebration of 2005, and Brockton's Black History Month celebration. He has read his poetry in venues around Massachusetts and California. He is putting together a chapbook due out by the end of this year.
Sample poems are below.
The Vendemiating Obventional Metaloph
Jarvey and Slite in a nonferuled express sensory. ON that WEM dominator tube amplifying blisting. Impulsor ejectoring. Electric mistress deluxe flanger rebounding. Embolus evactoring. Jackplug socket linked. Truss rod chanel welded. Guitar patterned rewet. Energizing that oxycontincoalited bmw wagon. To rib thu the psychedelic freeways. The hard rock rampires. And the 3 chord punk turnpikes. In airy fairy hyphoid.
An appal in the ciricoid cartilage. Rickled in the tuberal part. Stooked in the capillary network dismayed in the vagus nerve. Doesn't palp a dorsal root. Doesn't sense a grey matter. Ultrasonc trangressing yeanling gamin. With blanch elytrons. Plus his codon wide open. Is streeling up and away in the prune labrador loft. Without valancing his medial epicondyles.
After a ganja interpeduncolar substance induced dullard. Sparks up 10 Micky Dolenz joints every 18 minutes. He takes out of his thermal brasero. A platter of what he imagines multiple seashoring oysters. Knicking flecking clicking zipping knacking and smacking. Like Spain Mexico Puerto Rico Argentina Columbia and Chile are annexing in fusion. Like a fiesta volk.
A coventina of her lyrics. Danu of her clavier. Avantia of her diathesis. Astiya of her corsaint. A phylum beyant the template. A decury forthby instead of ensuing the dharmamythicizing Mary Ellen Amos. Retains up preteritly. Her maxim renky trabal much gaucia manrent well tailored pants. While she surviews down brantly at your oosmical clad.
During a birth of pirene pernathian feast. A rotta of shandy untitled Randall Rendoun dottling wetty bacchic boon jovy gaudful gladful holidaying Jajuka tibe of Marrakech. Jopping about and faining the lifeway. Plus fivering each other on the solco del cingolo with glazy light bulbs. Which trenes on for many folded tittupy eras.
--Lee Litif
Egalitarian Angel
(dedicated to Sweet Honey in the Rock, Alice Walker and Helen Reddy)
The world
should be honored
to be adorned
by the elegant grace
of an egalitarian woman.
Regardless of whether she stands
three feet tall
or carries the banner
with statuesque poise,
she's a guiding light to follow
out of the dismal, mist-shrouded
dark ages.
With a gentle wave of her hands
in a rhythmic dance ritual,
she churns the air
like brew in a cauldron
to expel the stale scent of old-boy mildew
and bring in a long-awaited refreshing breeze.
She's an inspiration
to people who struggle
through hardship and pain
and never get a grain
of respect or recognition.
She adds a touch of red to our blues
to form the fragrant color of unity.
She searches through countless songs
and when she finds none that speak of her spirit,
she writes her own voice
and sends an angelic song
to the world on eagle's wings.
She holds the world
in a healing tender embrace,
an elixir to soothe over the pain
of pierced hearts and split skin,
and she inspires us to tear down
the barrier of restriction and ignorant ideals
known as the Gender Wall;
so called because it segregates men and women
as if they were separate governments
in the same war-torn European country.
With her inspiration,
perhaps one day
we will learn to love and respect one another
and to love and respect our guiding light,
our Egalitarian Angel.
--Chris Robbins
Photos by Bill Perrault
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On April 10th, Lee Letif and Chris Robbins bring their own blend of poetry, performance art, and comedy to Stone Soup.
Lee Letif has been a regular contribution to the Stone Soup open mike since 1991. He's the author of several chapbooks, including Unpatriotic Flags and Abominating White Houses, Reckless Paella and Defecating Republicans, and his newest, Ultrasonic Amplifiers and Marshall Amps/Genital Wart Puking Rednecks.
Chris Robbins has volunteered for such causes as the Jane Doe Safety Fnd, the Cambridge International Women's Day celebration of 2005, and Brockton's Black History Month celebration. He has read his poetry in venues around Massachusetts and California. He is putting together a chapbook due out by the end of this year.
Sample poems are below.
The Vendemiating Obventional Metaloph
Jarvey and Slite in a nonferuled express sensory. ON that WEM dominator tube amplifying blisting. Impulsor ejectoring. Electric mistress deluxe flanger rebounding. Embolus evactoring. Jackplug socket linked. Truss rod chanel welded. Guitar patterned rewet. Energizing that oxycontincoalited bmw wagon. To rib thu the psychedelic freeways. The hard rock rampires. And the 3 chord punk turnpikes. In airy fairy hyphoid.
An appal in the ciricoid cartilage. Rickled in the tuberal part. Stooked in the capillary network dismayed in the vagus nerve. Doesn't palp a dorsal root. Doesn't sense a grey matter. Ultrasonc trangressing yeanling gamin. With blanch elytrons. Plus his codon wide open. Is streeling up and away in the prune labrador loft. Without valancing his medial epicondyles.
After a ganja interpeduncolar substance induced dullard. Sparks up 10 Micky Dolenz joints every 18 minutes. He takes out of his thermal brasero. A platter of what he imagines multiple seashoring oysters. Knicking flecking clicking zipping knacking and smacking. Like Spain Mexico Puerto Rico Argentina Columbia and Chile are annexing in fusion. Like a fiesta volk.
A coventina of her lyrics. Danu of her clavier. Avantia of her diathesis. Astiya of her corsaint. A phylum beyant the template. A decury forthby instead of ensuing the dharmamythicizing Mary Ellen Amos. Retains up preteritly. Her maxim renky trabal much gaucia manrent well tailored pants. While she surviews down brantly at your oosmical clad.
During a birth of pirene pernathian feast. A rotta of shandy untitled Randall Rendoun dottling wetty bacchic boon jovy gaudful gladful holidaying Jajuka tibe of Marrakech. Jopping about and faining the lifeway. Plus fivering each other on the solco del cingolo with glazy light bulbs. Which trenes on for many folded tittupy eras.
--Lee Litif
Egalitarian Angel
(dedicated to Sweet Honey in the Rock, Alice Walker and Helen Reddy)
The world
should be honored
to be adorned
by the elegant grace
of an egalitarian woman.
Regardless of whether she stands
three feet tall
or carries the banner
with statuesque poise,
she's a guiding light to follow
out of the dismal, mist-shrouded
dark ages.
With a gentle wave of her hands
in a rhythmic dance ritual,
she churns the air
like brew in a cauldron
to expel the stale scent of old-boy mildew
and bring in a long-awaited refreshing breeze.
She's an inspiration
to people who struggle
through hardship and pain
and never get a grain
of respect or recognition.
She adds a touch of red to our blues
to form the fragrant color of unity.
She searches through countless songs
and when she finds none that speak of her spirit,
she writes her own voice
and sends an angelic song
to the world on eagle's wings.
She holds the world
in a healing tender embrace,
an elixir to soothe over the pain
of pierced hearts and split skin,
and she inspires us to tear down
the barrier of restriction and ignorant ideals
known as the Gender Wall;
so called because it segregates men and women
as if they were separate governments
in the same war-torn European country.
With her inspiration,
perhaps one day
we will learn to love and respect one another
and to love and respect our guiding light,
our Egalitarian Angel.
--Chris Robbins
3/25/06
April 3rd: Afaa Michael Weaver Features
Photo by Bill Perrault
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On April 3rd, featuring at the venue for the first time and beginning Stone Soup Poetry's celebration of National Poetry Month will be poet, playwright and Pulitzer nominee Afaa Michael Weaver.
In 1951, Afaa Michael Weaver was born Michael S. Weaver to working class parents in Baltimore, Maryland. He graduated from the Baltimore public schools in 1968 at sixteen as a National Merit Scholar and began studying at the University of Maryland. In 1970 he began a fifteen year career as a factory worker and also served as an army reservist.
In 1997 Tess Onwueme of the University of Wisconsin gave him the Ibo name "Afaa," and in 2002 Dr. Perng Chingsi of National Taiwan University gave him the name Wei Yafeng.
While a factory worker he wrote and published poetry, short fiction, and free lance journalism and founded 7th Son Press. Under 7th Son he published the journal Blind Alleys, which featured Andrei Codrescu, Frank Marshall Davis, Lucille Clifton, Nikky Finney, and other poets and writers. As a free lancer he has written for the Baltimore Sunpapers, the Boston Globe, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Chicago Tribune, and the Baltimore Afro-American.
In 1983 Weaver enrolled in Excelsior College, and in 1985 he received a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship. Immediately upon receiving the NEA fellowship he retired from factory life to enter Brown University's graduate creative writing program on a full university fellowship. In that same year his first book, Water Song, was published by Callaloo Press at the University of Virginia. He received his B.A. from Excelsior in 1986 and in 1987 he received his M.A. (M.F.A.) from Brown. At Brown he studied poetry with Keith Waldrop, C.D. Wright, and Michael S. Harper. His focus was in playwriting and theater, and for those concentrations he studied with the late George H. Bass and Paula Vogel.
In 1985 Weaver was commissioned to write a poem in honor of Roy DeCarava. The poem entitled "The Dancing Veil" was presented to DeCarava at the annual conference of the Society for Photographic Education on March 20-23, 1986 in Baltimore, Maryland. The poem was subsequently published in Hanging Loose.
He began his teaching career as an adjunct in 1987, teaching at New York University, the City University of New York, Seton Hall Law School, and Essex County College. In 1990, he began at Rutgers Camden and received tenure with distinction there as an early candidate. In 1998, he took a full time position at Simmons College as the Alumnae Professor of English
In that same year he was named a Pew fellow in poetry.
Weaver was a member of the faculty of Cave Canem in 1997, and he was later given the honor of being the organization's Elder.
In the spring semester of 1997,he was named the sixteenth poet-in-residence at the Stadler Poetry Center of Bucknell University. He was the first poet of African descent to hold that position.
Between 1985 to 2005, he published nine collections of poetry, had two professional theater productions, published short fiction in journals and anthologies, and served as editor of Obsidian III, based at North Carolina State University. His short fiction appears in Gloria Naylor's Children of the Night, the sequel to Langston Hughes' anthology, Best Short Stories by Negro Writers. He has given several hundred readings in the U.S., Great Britain, France, China, and Taiwan.
The following bio was obtained from the author's web site. More information and links can be found by clicking here.
Click here for a sample of the author's work.
Photo by Bill Perrault
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On April 3rd, featuring at the venue for the first time and beginning Stone Soup Poetry's celebration of National Poetry Month will be poet, playwright and Pulitzer nominee Afaa Michael Weaver.
In 1951, Afaa Michael Weaver was born Michael S. Weaver to working class parents in Baltimore, Maryland. He graduated from the Baltimore public schools in 1968 at sixteen as a National Merit Scholar and began studying at the University of Maryland. In 1970 he began a fifteen year career as a factory worker and also served as an army reservist.
In 1997 Tess Onwueme of the University of Wisconsin gave him the Ibo name "Afaa," and in 2002 Dr. Perng Chingsi of National Taiwan University gave him the name Wei Yafeng.
While a factory worker he wrote and published poetry, short fiction, and free lance journalism and founded 7th Son Press. Under 7th Son he published the journal Blind Alleys, which featured Andrei Codrescu, Frank Marshall Davis, Lucille Clifton, Nikky Finney, and other poets and writers. As a free lancer he has written for the Baltimore Sunpapers, the Boston Globe, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Chicago Tribune, and the Baltimore Afro-American.
In 1983 Weaver enrolled in Excelsior College, and in 1985 he received a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship. Immediately upon receiving the NEA fellowship he retired from factory life to enter Brown University's graduate creative writing program on a full university fellowship. In that same year his first book, Water Song, was published by Callaloo Press at the University of Virginia. He received his B.A. from Excelsior in 1986 and in 1987 he received his M.A. (M.F.A.) from Brown. At Brown he studied poetry with Keith Waldrop, C.D. Wright, and Michael S. Harper. His focus was in playwriting and theater, and for those concentrations he studied with the late George H. Bass and Paula Vogel.
In 1985 Weaver was commissioned to write a poem in honor of Roy DeCarava. The poem entitled "The Dancing Veil" was presented to DeCarava at the annual conference of the Society for Photographic Education on March 20-23, 1986 in Baltimore, Maryland. The poem was subsequently published in Hanging Loose.
He began his teaching career as an adjunct in 1987, teaching at New York University, the City University of New York, Seton Hall Law School, and Essex County College. In 1990, he began at Rutgers Camden and received tenure with distinction there as an early candidate. In 1998, he took a full time position at Simmons College as the Alumnae Professor of English
In that same year he was named a Pew fellow in poetry.
Weaver was a member of the faculty of Cave Canem in 1997, and he was later given the honor of being the organization's Elder.
In the spring semester of 1997,he was named the sixteenth poet-in-residence at the Stadler Poetry Center of Bucknell University. He was the first poet of African descent to hold that position.
Between 1985 to 2005, he published nine collections of poetry, had two professional theater productions, published short fiction in journals and anthologies, and served as editor of Obsidian III, based at North Carolina State University. His short fiction appears in Gloria Naylor's Children of the Night, the sequel to Langston Hughes' anthology, Best Short Stories by Negro Writers. He has given several hundred readings in the U.S., Great Britain, France, China, and Taiwan.
The following bio was obtained from the author's web site. More information and links can be found by clicking here.
Click here for a sample of the author's work.
3/20/06
March 27th: Doug Holder Features
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. Returning to the venue on March 27th will be Ibbetson Street publisher Doug Holder, following a cancellation and a poor feature turn out unfortunately set after a post holiday date he volunteered to take at the last minute. Hopefully, the turnout will be better with more notice and less outside obligations for those those who appreciate both Holder's work and his publishing efforts.
After many years of publishing numerous small press poets through his own Ibbetson Street Press, including his own chapbooks (Dreams At The Au Bon Pan, On Either Side of The Charles, waking In A Cold Sweat), Doug Holder finally gets to sit back and enjoy simply being a published author, thanks to Yellow Pepper Press. On the 31st, Stone Soup Poetry will premiere Holder's new chapbook Wrestling With My Father, which has earned praise from poets such as Harris Gardner and Hugh Fox.
Most recently, Ibbetson Street Press published Sanctus! Sanctus! Sanctus! by past Stone Soup feature Ann Carhart. Also The Somerville News Writers Festival, created by Holder and Heat City Literary Review Editor Tim Gager, took place on November 13 at the Somerville Theatre (see the link at the end of this post).
A sample poem of Holder's is included here.
Another...in a series of turning fifty poems.
My Life: In Contrast With Others.
There is no need for comparison.
Nor is there time.
What I wanted before
has been rendered to caricature.
The Phantom that pulls and pulls at me
I will never clearly see--
The only contrast
will be that short,
tenuous last breath
that will surely be,
the death
of me.
The Ibbetson Street Press website.
The Yellow Pepper Press Website.
The Somerville News Writers Festival.
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. Returning to the venue on March 27th will be Ibbetson Street publisher Doug Holder, following a cancellation and a poor feature turn out unfortunately set after a post holiday date he volunteered to take at the last minute. Hopefully, the turnout will be better with more notice and less outside obligations for those those who appreciate both Holder's work and his publishing efforts.
After many years of publishing numerous small press poets through his own Ibbetson Street Press, including his own chapbooks (Dreams At The Au Bon Pan, On Either Side of The Charles, waking In A Cold Sweat), Doug Holder finally gets to sit back and enjoy simply being a published author, thanks to Yellow Pepper Press. On the 31st, Stone Soup Poetry will premiere Holder's new chapbook Wrestling With My Father, which has earned praise from poets such as Harris Gardner and Hugh Fox.
Most recently, Ibbetson Street Press published Sanctus! Sanctus! Sanctus! by past Stone Soup feature Ann Carhart. Also The Somerville News Writers Festival, created by Holder and Heat City Literary Review Editor Tim Gager, took place on November 13 at the Somerville Theatre (see the link at the end of this post).
A sample poem of Holder's is included here.
Another...in a series of turning fifty poems.
My Life: In Contrast With Others.
There is no need for comparison.
Nor is there time.
What I wanted before
has been rendered to caricature.
The Phantom that pulls and pulls at me
I will never clearly see--
The only contrast
will be that short,
tenuous last breath
that will surely be,
the death
of me.
The Ibbetson Street Press website.
The Yellow Pepper Press Website.
The Somerville News Writers Festival.
3/11/06
Boston Zine Fair
The Boston Zine Fair takes place at the Massachusetts College of Art the weekend of March 18 and 19. A table has been reserved, and hopefully several Stone Soup poets will be represented.
Any poet involved with Stone Soup who wants to have their work included at the table or is willing to sit behind the table for one day or both days of the fair, email Chad Parenteau at freakmachinepress@yahoo.com
For more information on the fair, click here.
Any poet involved with Stone Soup who wants to have their work included at the table or is willing to sit behind the table for one day or both days of the fair, email Chad Parenteau at freakmachinepress@yahoo.com
For more information on the fair, click here.
3/8/06
March 20th: Len Germinara Features
Photo by Sarah Oktay
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On March 20th, Len Germinara ventures from his Nantucket home to feature at Stone Soup for the first time in years.
Len Germinara has been a fixture on the poetry scene for the past 6 years. First as co-host of the Daily Grind, then Poetribe. He is also the founding member of the Brockton Library series. For the past 3 years Len has been hosting the Nantucket Poetry Slam. Len was recipient of the Cambridge Poetry Award for "Best Narrative Poem" in 2003. Author of three chapbooks, len lives on Nantucket with his wife Dr. Sarah Oktay.
Sample poems from Germinara's website, including the 2003 Cambridge Poetry Award winning "Brautigan."
The Nantucket Poetry Slam.
Photo by Sarah Oktay
Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On March 20th, Len Germinara ventures from his Nantucket home to feature at Stone Soup for the first time in years.
Len Germinara has been a fixture on the poetry scene for the past 6 years. First as co-host of the Daily Grind, then Poetribe. He is also the founding member of the Brockton Library series. For the past 3 years Len has been hosting the Nantucket Poetry Slam. Len was recipient of the Cambridge Poetry Award for "Best Narrative Poem" in 2003. Author of three chapbooks, len lives on Nantucket with his wife Dr. Sarah Oktay.
Sample poems from Germinara's website, including the 2003 Cambridge Poetry Award winning "Brautigan."
The Nantucket Poetry Slam.
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