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 He is the author of several self-published chapbooks and unpublished full-length collections of poetry, including the latest manuscript, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short, scheduled to be published later this year.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.