11/24/08

Tonight at Stone Soup

James McCoy features.

11/20/08

December Stone Soup Features

December 1st: Stone Soup Celebrates The Life of Patricia Fillingham.

December 8th: Melissa Guillet features to celebrate the publication of the Appleseeds anthology.

December 15th: The return of Tim Gager.

December 22nd: Gordon Marshall debuts his new book, Waterwheel.

December 29th: Carolyn Gregory helps to close out 2008.
December 29th: Carolyn Gregory Returns



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 December 29th, Stone Soup ends 2008 on a high note by welcoming back Carolyn Gregory, who will be featuring her newest poetry collection.

Carolyn Gregory has published poems and music reviews in American Poetry Review, Seattle Review, Bellowing Ark, Yankee, Wilderness House Literary Review, Art Times, Slant, Main Street Rag, and Stylus. Winner of a Massachusetts Cultural Council award, she has published two chapbooks and was featured in the award-winning anthology, For Lovers and Other Losses. Her full length book, Open Letters, will be published by Windmill Editions in December, 2008. She has worked in medical research and currently is a community organizer. Affiliations include Jamaica Pond Poets and the New England Poetry Club.

Click here for a poem by Carolyn Gregory.
December 22nd, Gordon Marshall 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 December 22nd, Gordon Marshall returns to Stone Soup to celebrate the publication of his newest poetry collection.

Gordon Marshall was born in New Haven, CT, in 1963. He received his B.A. and M.A. in English Literature from University of Massachusetts Boston. He has been published in Boston and in Toronto, Canada. His new book, Waterwheel, is available at the Grolier Bookstore in Harvard Square. He lives in Boston’s North End.

Visit Gordon Marshall's blog.
December 15th: Tim Gager 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 December 15th, Tim Gager features and reads from his new chapbooks.

Timothy Gager is the author of seven books of short fiction and poetry. The poetry chapbooks, These Poems are not Pink Fluffy Clouds (Propaganda Press) and this is where you go when you are gone, (Cerena Barva Press) were released in 2008. He hosts the Dire Literary Series in Cambridge, Massachusetts every month and is the co-founder of Somerville News Writers Festival.

His Short Stories have appeared in Twelve Stories, Word Riot, 55 Word, The Binnacle, Scene Boston, Thieve's Jargon, Long Short Story, The Smoking Poet, Zygote in My Coffee, Slurve, Poor Mojo's Almanac, Tuesday Shorts, VerbSap, Long Short Story, The Smoking Poet, Write This Magazine and Further Fenway Fiction. Timothy's poetry has been published in The Blood Orange Review, Night Train, Poems for All, Right Hand Pointing, GUD, Boston Poetry Journal (Bad Ass Edition), Edifice Wrecked, Blue Print Review, Barnstorm, Lit Up Magazine, Hobart, The Long Islander, Spare Change, Delmarva Review, High Horse, Third Lung Review, Poesy XXIV and the Ibbetson Street. He has had over 150 works of fiction and poetry published since 2007 and of which four have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize.

Timothy is the current Fiction Editor of The Wilderness House Literary Review, the founding co-editor of The Heat City Literary Review and has edited the book, Out of the Blue Writers Unite: A Book of Poetry and Prose from the Out of the Blue Art Gallery.

A graduate of the University of Delaware, Timothy lives in Dedham, Massachusetts and is employed as a social worker.

Click here for a sample of Tim Gager's work.
December 8th: Stone Soup Celebrates Appleseeds

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 December 8th, Stone Soup will celebrate the publication of the Appleseeds anthology, its contributors and its editor, Melissa Guillet.

Melissa Guillet’s work has appeared in The Cherry Blossom Review, Lalitamba, Nth Position, Scrivener’s Pen, Women. Period., six Worcester, MA anthologies, and other collections. She was a member of Dr. Brown’s Traveling Poetry Troupe and teaches Interdisciplinary Arts in Riverside, RI.

Gretchen Fletcher grew up when patriotism was part of the zeitgeist. Her father made sure she traveled the USA and felt pride in our country.

Sarah Getty’s second book of poems, Bring Me Her Heart, was published last year and received Pulitzer and NBA nominations.

Jade Sylvan has been published in the Ibbetson Journal and Word Riot.

Sheila Mullen Twyman’s poetry and short fiction have been published in literary journals and anthologies and two poetry collections. She hosts “Poetry Under the Trees,” an annual open mic gathering during the Marshfield Arts Festival, and produces and hosts “Egads, It’s Poetry,” for the MA Radio Network for the Blind which features local poets reading their work.

David Wolf is the author of three poetry collections (Open Season, The Moment Forever and Sablier) and teaches at Simpson College.
December 1st: Patricia Fillingham Tribute


Photo by Debra Cash

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 December 1st, Stone Soup gives tribute to Patricia Fillingham, a past Stone Soup feature and regular who passed away last year.

Patricia Fillingham (May 4, 1924 to December 3, 2007) ran two poetry series in West Orange, New Jersey and New York City for 35 years. She also published poetry for 28 years with her Wart Hog Press imprint, first publishing the work of Cornelius Eady. Recieving degrees in electrical engineering and sociology, she and her husband were active members of the ACLU and early members of Amnesty International. A posthumous collection of her poetry is in the works.

Click here for a poem by Patricia published in Spoonful.

11/7/08

Upcoming Features

November 10th: Kaeper Funkhauser Esq. visits.

November 17th: TBA.

November 24th: Stone Soup’s YouTube sensation James McCoy.

December 1st: Stone Soup Celebrates The Life of Patricia Fillingham.

December 8th: Melissa Guillet features to celebrate the publication of the Appleseeds anthology.

December 15th: The return of Tim Gager.

December 22nd: Gordon Marshall debuts his new book, Waterwheel.
November 24th: James McCoy 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 November 24th, Stone Soup welcomes open mike regular and YouTube mini-sensation James McCoy.

James McCoy tells stories with a heart as poems with a heartbeat.

His work, including "Don't Quit Your Day Job" -- the most viewed video on Chad Parenteau's FreakMachinePress YouTube website --has been described as "fascinating work, restoring poetry to its proper place as an aural pleasure ... He's fearless too, moving from the workaday to the mythical ..."

A regular at the open mikes in Cambridge, McCoy has been called "simply mesmerizing," "very moving!" and a "BUCL" (Brilliant Unemployable Catholic Loser).

Following the feature, McCoy will be selling his new chapbook, How to Punch Your Way Out Of a Paper Bag ($5.00 for crickets, $50.00 for ants).

11/6/08

November 17th, Leo Racicot 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 November 17th, Stone Soup is visited by Leo Racicot.

Leo Racicot's work has been featured in "Co-Evolution Quarterly","Utne Reader", "Spiritual Life", "Gay Sunshine Journal", "First Hand","The Poet", "Ibbetson Street Press", "Poetry", "Shakespeare's Monkey"and "Yankee". Two of his award-winning essay-memoirs appear in "Best of..."anthologies, and he is the recipient of the Antonio Machado PoetryForum Award (1992). His holiday story, "The Little Man" is beingpublished by Snug Harbor and will be available in audio and animatedform on fablevision.comHe has been a schoolteacher/librarian/cook/counselor/poet/actor/clown.

11/3/08

November 10th: Kaeper Funkhauser Esq. 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 November 10th, we can thrill to another poet featuring at Stone Soup for the first time as we welcome regular to the open mike circuit Kaeper Funkhauser Esq.

Kaeper Funkhauser Esq. is a wordsmith with a special interest in cadence, literary device, nonsense and magic. He is not licensed to practice law, which is fine because he's a molecular and cell biologist, anyway. His work is influenced by a great diversity of sources including the beat poets, the magical realists, some of the more verbose/academic hip hop artists, his scientific vocabulary and a love for the surreal and absurd. Originally from Worcester, Kaeper currently lives and writes in Somerville. He is a regular at the Cantab Lounge Open Mic and has featured at the Lizard Lounge Poetry Jam. Kaeper has also performed at Emerson College, Bullfinch Yacht Club, Lillypad, Skybar, Middle East, All Asia Cafe, Java Hut and a number of house parties. He has yet to be published, but that's probably because he's never submitted anything to a journal.

10/22/08

November 3rd: Victor D. Infante and Lea C. Deschenes



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. November 3rd sees the celebration of The November 3rd Club with poets Victor D. Infante and Lea C. Deschenes, who welcome contributors to the journal to come and read.

Victor D. Infante is the Editor-in-Chief of The November 3rd Club, an online literary journal of political writing, and a writer whose poems and prose have appeared in dozens of periodicals internationally, including literary journals such as The Los Angeles Review, Pearl, Ballard Street AntiMuse, and anthologies such as Poetry Slam: The Competitive Art of Performance Poetry, Spoken Word Revolution Redux and The Last American Valentine: Poems to Seduce and Destroy. He's recently released his first full-length poetry collection, City of Insomnia, on Write Bloody Publishing. He currently resides with his wife and pet ferret in a three-decker apartment in Worcester, Massachusetts, and is a devoted fan of The Family Circus.

Lea C. Deschenes resides in Worcester, MA and holds an MFA in Poetry from New England College. Her poetry has appeared online, on stage and in print (Spillway, Snakeskin, So Luminous the Wildflowers, Ballard Street Poetry Journal, et al.) A former member of four National Poetry Slam teams and a coach to two more, she also dusts off her BA in Theater to perform. She has received a Jacob Knight Award, been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and represented Worcester in the 2005 Individual World Poetry Slam. She is the author of thirteen chapbooks. Her first full-length collection The Constant Velocity of Trains, is available through Write Bloody Publishing.

Visit The November 3rd Club.

10/18/08

October 27th Ryk McIntyre Returns



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 October 27th, Stone Soup welcomes back Ryk McIntyre, featuring his new chapbook, Touch Creatures.

Ryk McIntyre is a three-time National Poetry Slam Team member, as well as Co-host at The Cantab Poetry Reading. He has toured nationally and in Canada, opening for acts as varied as Andrei Codrescu Leon Redbone and Jim Carroll, as well as appearing as part of Lollapalooza 1994. He performed in "The Legends Of Slam" Showcase at NPS2006. He has been published in Short-Fuse- An Anthology Of New Fusion Poets, 100 Poets Against The New World Order, Nth Position Magazine and The Worcester Review. With Melissa Guillet, he has edited two anthologies, Look! Up In in the Sky! and the upcoming Legendary-Stories We Tell Today; Stories Our Children Will Tell Tomorrow. He is a known biped, and he has pretty blue eyes.

Click here to see Ryk McIntyre perfrom his poem "In God's Image."

10/17/08

October 20th: Sara Littlecrow-Russell 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 October 20, we welcome a first-time visit from Sara Littlecrow-Russell.

Sara Littlecrow-Russell is a single mother of two, occasional public interest lawyer, ethnobotanist, and mediator specializing in cross-cultural conflict resolution. Her political poetry has appeared in dozens of journals including: The Indigenous Journal of Law, Culture and Resistance, American Indian Quarterly, US Latino Review, Meridians, The Massachusetts Review, Hip Mama, Race Traitor Journal, and in a variety of anthologies, including Sister Nations: Native American Women Writing on Community.

Her first book, The Secret Powers of Naming, was published by the University of Arizona Press. It won an Independent Publishers Bronze Medal and was a finalist for the Pen Beyond the Margins Award. It also received the Myers Outstanding Book from the Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights in North America. When she is not writing poetry, she can be found scavenging for shiny objects and odd facts, digging in the garden, playing mah jong, and experimenting with cooking spices and perfumery.

Click here for a sample poem by Sara Littlecrow-Russell.

9/28/08

New Stone Soup MySpace Page

Click here to join.
Reminder: Lo Gallucio Features, September 29

Lo Gallucio reads this Monday on the 22nd. As a teaser, we offer a clip from the Stone Soup Poetry open mike on September 1, 2008. Lo Galluccio reads a selection from her first chapbook.


October 13th: 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 October 13th, Stone Soup will present the anticipated return of Philip Hasouris and Frank Miller, hosts of the well-regarded 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."

Visit the Brockton Poetry Series web site.

9/1/08

Reminder

Tom Daley, Ron Goba, and Keith Nystrom Feature.
September Features

September 1st: The return of Tom Daley, Ron Goba, and Keith Nystrom.

September 8th: Elizabeth K. Doran helps to celebrate the birthday of Jack Powers.

September 15th: West Virginian poet Crystal Good visits Boston.

September 22nd: Cantab SlamMaster Simone Beaubien.

September 29: The return of Cambridge artist Lo Galluccio.
YouTube clips of Erin Reardon

A selection of clips from Erin Reardon's feature at Stone Soup on August 18, 2008.


First, her poem, "Foolish April."




Followed by "Poem for a Rabbit."




Finally, "The Crucifixion."

You Tube Clips From The Open Mike

From August 18th, 2008

"A New Choice," A Poem by Dan Piskaldo





"The Years Go Fast and The Days Go Slow" by James McCoy


8/30/08

October 6th: Steve Subrizi 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. Stone Soup begins its October readings on the 6th with local poet performance poet Steve Subrizi's first Stone Soup feature.

Steve Subrizi is a member of Emerson College's first ever slam team; they are known as The Gringo Choir, and they were semifinalists at the 2008 College Unions Poetry Slam Invite (CUPSI) in Albuquerque. In the past year, he's also slammed for Boston's First Night, published a chapbook (The Gravel on my Ice Cream Cone), and featured at Cantab Lounge, where he is a devoted regular. Cantabbers cheer his wired imagination and self-deprecating wit.

Visit the artist's MySpace page.
September 29th: Lo Galluccio 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 September 29th, Stone Soup welcomes the return of local writer and performer Lo Galluccio.

Lo Galluccio is a vocal artist, poet and memoirist whose new book, Sarasota VII will be released by Cervena Barva Press this September. Her first poetry chapbook, Hot Rain, came out on Ibbetson St. Press in 2004. Her two vocal CDs are Being Visited and Spell on You, both availalble on www.cdbaby.com.

Galluccio has been nominated for two Pushcart Prizes in poetry and read last year at the Somerville Writer's Festival in honor of the late Sarah Hannah. A Cambridge native, she has lived in Houston, Chicago, New York City and toured Greece with a theatre company from LaMama. Her latest work, "Denebola" will appear in Heide Hatry's forthcoming anthology with pictures of synthetic women called, Heads and Tails. Also, look for her work in the fall issue of Diana Saenz's Boston Poet Journal.


Visit Lo Galluccio's new blog.

8/29/08

September 22nd: Simone Beaubien Features


Photo by Marshall Goff

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 September 22nd, Stone Soup acknowledges the efforts of a neighboring poetry venue by featuring Boston Poetry Slam host Simone Beaubien.

Simone Beaubien is an eight-year-veteran of the New England slam poetry scene, six-time competitor at the National Poetry Slam, and SlamMaster of the world-famous Boston Poetry Slam at the Cantab Lounge. She has hosted, produced, and performed her work in colleges, bookstores, theaters, rock clubs, coffeehouses, and bars up and down the east coast, including a whole three minutes on the Finals Stage of the 2008 National Poetry Slam. Lifetime nerd and part-time athlete, she lives and works as an EMT in Medford, Mass.

Visit Simone Beaubien's website.
September 15th: Crystal Good 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 September 15th, Stone Soup will be visited by Virginia poet, Crystal Good.

Crystal Good attended West Virginia State University (Communications/ African American Studies). This poet, Libra, mother of three is a community organizer working for social change through advocacy and education. She is the recipient of the West Virginia Governors Innovative Artist Award (with Museum In The Community) and regularly produces poetry events in Charleston, WV. She is a proud member of the Affrilachian Poets. Crystal has been published in: Pluck the Journal for African American Appalachian Culture, Graffiti, West Virginia Executive and Berea College Appalachian Heritage.

Click here to visit the Affrilachian Poets website for a sample of Good's work and more.
September 8th: Elizabeth K. Doran Helps Celebrate Jack Powers Birthday



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. In September, Stone Soup founder Jack Powers celebrates his birthday. Stone Soup commmemorates the event on September 8th with a feature by long-time Stone Soup regular, Elizabeth K. Doran.

Elizabeth K. Doran has been influenced by modern woman writers such as Carolyn Forche, Louise Gluck and Sharon Olds.In 2003 she was awarded a writers grant to attend a month long residency at Vermont Studios. She is currently assistant manager of the Grolier Poetry bookstore in Cambridge. She is published in Spare Change News, Poiesis and the Bagel Bards Anthology. A sample poem follows below, originally published in Poiesis.


There is the house.
See the Chinese rugs,
the vases, the candles lilt,
the wreath on the door.

There is the husband: tall,
faithful.
There is the wife: a saint,
though not beautiful.

I knew the the hands of the husband
before the ring. I knew the voice before
the vows.

There are the yellow leaves
that cling to the oaks in Autumn.
There are the lilac bushes that bloom in spring.

I chose to live my life in a lavender ether.
There are my books, my poems.
There are my illusions,
leave me with them.

8/23/08

Reminder

Jasen Sousa on August 25th.

YouTube Clips From The Highway Poets

From the Highway Poets's feature on August 11, 2008, in celebration of Biker Poetry Month and the release of the new anthology Rubber Side Down, which all the poems below appear in. For more information, visit the Biker Poets & Writers Association website by clicking here.


"Evel Knievel," by Jose Gouveia





Jose Gouveia reads "The Desert Motorcyclist" by Diane Wakoski.





Susan Buck reads her poem, "I Am Into The Ride."





Finally, Gypsypashn with her poem, "I Gotta Do."


8/22/08

Introducing Stone Soup YouTube Clips

For several weeks, in addition to recording for Cambridge and Lowell public access, Stone Soup Poetry has been taking excerpts from both its open mike segments and feature poet performances and turning them into YouTube clips. We are now ready to post the clips on this site. The first clips come from open mikers Bill Perrault and Steve Howe, both from August 11th, 2008.


Bill Perrault films Stone Soup Poetry weekly for public access cable in both Cambridge and Lowell, Massachusetts. He has recorded hundreds of hours of Stone Soup, as well as other poetry readings around New England. "Myself" is an old staple he has read several times in the past.





Eric Howes made his first appearance at Stone Soup that day.


8/10/08

September 1st: Tom Daley, Ron Goba, and Keith Nystrom 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. Making their long-awaited return to Stone Soup will be poet and instructor Tom Daley and Friends of Poetry members Keith Nystrom and Ron Goba.

Tom Daley was a machinist for many years and now teaches poetry writing at the Boston Center for Adult Education in Boston, Massachusetts and poetry and memoir writing at Lexington (MA) Community Education. He is a member of the faculty of the Online School of Poetry and serves on the tutorial faculty of Walnut Hill School for the Arts.

Tom’s poetry has been published or is forthcoming in numerous journals, including Harvard Review, Prairie Schooner, Barrow Street, Hacks: The Grub Street Anthology. His manuscript, Shim, was a finalist for the Emily Dickinson First Book Prize and the Brittingham and Pollak Poetry Prizes. His poetry was nominated for inclusion in the anthology, The Best New Poets 2007.

Tom produced and performed in several gala evenings of poetry performance with musical accompaniment, including “The Musician and the Muse” in 2004 and “The Poetry Vaudeville Show” in 2008. He is currently working on plans for “The Many Voices of Emily Dickinson” to be staged on April 3 and 4, 2009 in Cambridge.


Ron Goba is a retired english teacher (a career he began in 1958), a member of Friends of Poetry, and the author of such collections as The Music Box, The Custom of Quoting Someone, and his most recent, Collage As Silkscreen. For several years, he was known as the doorman for the weekly Boston Poetry Slam at the Cantab.

Keith Nystrom first started writing and reading poetry at the Cantab Lounge in Cambridge Massachusetts.He has been published in Defined Providence and Sensations Magazine, and is the co-founder of the small press publishing group Friends of Poetry.He currently workshops poems with Ronald J. Goba, Nathaniel Connors , and Prabakar T. Rajan.

Click here for Tom Daley's page on the Online School of Poetry (with links to his work).

Click here for a sample of Ron Goba's work.

Click here for a sample of Keith Nystrom's work.

YouTube Reminder: The Highway Poets, August 11th

8/3/08

Stone Soup Features for August 2008

August 4th: A frenzy of reciting from John Sturm.

August 11th: The annual return of The Highway Poets.

August 18th: Erin Reardon has new work and a new chapbook.

August 25th: Local young writer and publisher Jasen Sousa.
August 25th: Jasen Sousa 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 25th, we finish our summer readings with local youth writer and publisher Jason Sousa.

Jasen Sousa was born and raised in Somerville, MA. He created J-Rock Publishing.with the purpose to give young people a voice with the written word. To date, he has written and published six hip hop inspired poetry novels. Life, Weather, A Thought and A Tear for Every Day of the Year, Close Your Eyes and Dream With Me, Almost Forever, A Mosaic of My Mind and Selected Poems of Jasen Sousa 17-24.

Visit the author's web site.
August 18th: Erin Reardon Returns


Photo by Erin Reardon

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 18th, it's time to welcome back Erin Reardon, who will be reading new work, including poems from her newest chapbook, Meat.

Erin Reardon is a poet. The great Winston Jones once described her as “Emily Dickinson, without all that weeping on the page.” She has been published at Silenced Press, Hecale, the Neo-Lampshadian Outpost, Spoonful, Parasitic, Zygote in My Coffee and will be in an upcoming issue of Brain Deaf. She has featured at Stone Soup and performed open mics at Stone Soup, The Cantab, and The Lizard Lounge. She currently resides in Davis Square, where she is often spotted drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon and eating ice cream cake.

Visit her MySpace page.
August 11th: The Highway Poets Return

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 11th, The Highway poets make their annual return to the venue as one of their many New England stops in celebration of Biker Poetry Month in August. Below is a partial list of participants, more to be added as announced.

Photos by Bill Perrault




Jose’ “JoeGo” Gouveia is a first generation Portuguese-American poet who lives and writes on Cape Cod. He was awarded “Poet of the Year” at the 2001 Cambridge Poetry Awards and was 1999-2001 Poet-In-Residence at Cape Cod Community College. He is the former Slam Master of Cape Cod 1996-2000, has an MFA in Poetry from New England College, is a member of the Highway Poets Motorcycle Club and founder of the Biker Poets & Writers Association. He is Editor of Rubber Side Down, the biker poet anthology (Archer Books, LA) 2008. Jose’ also hosts “The Poets Corner” online poetry radio show out of Provincetown Community radio WOMR-FM and writes a monthly poetry column for the Barnstable Patriot. He has published 3 chapbooks of poetry, What We Do (Salt Winds Press, Cape Cod) 1997; Ginsberg Is Dead (Cape Cod Community College) 2000; and The Slaughter of the Sacred Cow (CapePoet Press) 2008. His first poetry CD A Cup’a Joe is forthcoming this April from WOMR studios, Provincetown.




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.
August 4th: John Sturm 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. Returning for his second Stone Soup feature on August 4th is John Sturm, orator of great local renown, performing, among other works, "The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe.

John Sturm has been performing at open mikes for the last few years at The Cantab, Club Passim, Out of The Blue and other venues. He has also performed at Forsyth Chapel for e.e. cummings' birthday anniversary.

7/17/08

July 28th: Brian S. Ellis 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 July 28th, Stone Soup welcomes the local spoken word slam celebrity, Brian S. Ellis, who is coming out with his first book the day of the feature.

Brian S. Ellis began slamming in the spring of two thousand six. Since then he has been on the Cantab Lounge Slam team twice and has represented the Cantab at the individual world poetry slam. He is the current slam champion of the Cantab and has been featured at poetry venues throughout New England. His fast paced, colorful voice is a strong addition to the Boston spoken word tradition.

Visit Brian S. Ellis' MySpace page.

7/4/08

July 21st: Ryan "Rat" Travis 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 July 21st, it's time to welcome another unique performance by longtime local poet Ryan "Rat" Travis.

Ryan Travis has performed all over New England, as well as New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Kentucky. Published in many magazines and online publications, Ryan's poetry encompasses many styles from children's poetry to sonnets and adult free verse. A self-proclaimed Modern American Haiku Master, Ryan accomplished the daunting task of 1000 haiku in 100 days, which one day will be published if he can ever finish transcribing them. He considers himself a word warrior, explaining that as a poet it's his duty to see that no word should be taboo or have the power to hurt like some words can. He believes that no one word should be more important that any other and censorship especially to the artist only limits free thought and expression destroying the very fabric of our being. His latest chapbook: Sex, Drugs, and Rock n' Roll is a collection of 18 of both old and new poems that has received rave reviews. Rat got his start at Stone Soup and over the years he has done everything from holding a revival meeting in complete clown makeup to duct taping a fellow poet to a makeshift cross and flogged him with a rubber chicken the day after Easter. He promises that this feature will put all his prior appearances to shame.

A sample poem follows below.


Rock N' Roll Survivor

In the beginning there was
Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers
then came whatever my parents listened to
during the days of 8 tracks and vinyl
Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Santana, Creedence
eventually I found my own music
KISS and Alice Cooper
and I worshipped them
AM radio was alive and music in the 70's was gorgeous
The Bee Gees, Hot Chocolate, Wild Cherry, The Village People
by High School there was an explosion of music
V66 was a local MTV type station,
those were the days when you didn't need cable to watch TV and UHF
reigned supreme
soon after, music television took over my life and my TV never turned off
next came bands like Twisted Sister, Quiet Riot and Accept
My first concert was David Bowie
it was one of very many to come
I had some friends that had a band called Torch
that's when I found Black Sabbath and never looked back
Torch's manager turned us onto Frank Zappa
and we learned to experiment from there
I was a roadie for their shows, went to every practice and was their biggest fan
they played a battle of the bands with a punk band called Post Mortem
soon after, Torch broke up so I roadied for Mortem from then on
Punk Rock and New Wave were added to my tastes
The Meatmen, Sex Pistols, DEVO, B-52's
at some point Mortem crossed over to Metal
and took the former lead singer of Torch as their frontman
they released Coroner's Office, it was the first death metal album
and they became my favorite band
it seemed like I was at a concert every day
The Channel, The Rat, Bunratty's, The Paradise, The Garden, The Centrum
I lived in the pit
moshing and headbanging was my life
with my druggie friends I listened to
Pink Floyd, Emerson Lake and Palmer, and the Grateful Dead
and in adulthood I found Yoko Ono and the beauty of the primal scream
my musical tastes have always been eclectic over the years
and I will always experiment and experience new music
but Heavy Metal will always be my favorite
cause Rock n' Roll has always been a real adventure
and I'm glad I survived.

7/3/08

July 14th: Mike Amado 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 July 14th, Mike Amado will be reading from his new chapbook Stunted Inner Child Shot the TV from Cervena Barva Press 2008.

Mike Amado is a performance poet, a percussionist and drummer who does lyrical, rhythmic tomes attuned to the social and semi-political. He is the host and co-founder of POETRY: The Art Of Words in Plymouth, Massachusetts. He is an online reviewer for Rattle, the Boston Area Small Press and Poetry Scene,and an Associate News Staff and Roadpoet eMagazine book and music reviewer. Also to be released in ‘08 is Rebuilding the Pyramids (Ibbetson Street Press). He has been published in Wilderness House Literary Review, Bagels With The Bards, Apt Magazine, Down in the Dirt and elsewhere. To quote the author: "I don’t Slam, I rock!"

Click here for a poem by Mike Amado.
July 7th: Richard Cambridge 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 July 7th, Stone Soup provides an appropriate end to the Fourth of July holiday weeked with a performance by poet and activist Richard Cambridge.

Richard Cambridge, poet and activist, is co-founder of Singing with the Enemy & Presente!, a troupe of artists and activists that addresses 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 co-hosts Squawk Coffeehouse at the Harvard Epworth Church. In 2003 he received the Cambridge Peace and Justice Award for the contributions of his art and activism. In 2005 his book of poems, PULSA— A Book of Books was published by Hanover Press.

Click here for a sample poem by Richard Cambridge.

6/19/08

June 30th: Jade Sylvan Returns



Photo by Caleb Cole

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 June 30th, Stone Soup welcomes back local favorite Jade Sylvan for what is sure to be a well-attended feature (early arrival is recommended).

Jade Sylvan hails from the rugged streets of Indianapolis, Indiana. In her young adulthood, she traveled to many places such as California, the South, Canada, and Europe, where she drank many delicious local beers. She also graduated from college. Somewhere along the line, she sold her soul to become a novelist and poet. Right now there are some big publishers interested in one of her novels. Really, there are. She's also almost done with another novel she's pretty excited about, not to mention she's going to have a new chapbook soon full of her poems. She's had some poems published in places like Spare Change News and Word Riot, so that's pretty cool, too. Gun to her head, her top five favorite movies are: Fight Club, The Graduate, Annie Hall, The Princess Bride, and Henry Fool.

Click here for a poem by Jade Sylvan from an issue of Spoonful.
June 23rd: Lynne Stickor "The Prize Lady," 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 June 23, Stone Soup welcomes the return of Stone Soup Staple Lynne Sticklor "The Prize Lady" for her first full-length feature in years.


Photo by Lynne Sticklor

Lynne Sticklor "The Prize Lady" is a performance artist, poet, and creator of Visual art: magazine collage, acrylics & sparkles, clay and Text & Graphics as mediums. She is the sole creator of The Prize Lady Experience, which is a one-on-one performance art piece, as well as a Stage Show with grand poetic theatrics and "fabulous prizes". It has been performed at many venues and at many events--public and private.

She describes The Prize Lady Experience as a way to feel worthy of being creative just because you've expressed yourself. It's about opening your mind to your creative side, to the clown or performer in all of us, and to the thoughts or ideas that can only surface when we are inspired in an indirect way. It's about feeling and being worthy of winning a prize just because you embrace the moment of creativity as your own. It breaks down the barrier between Artist and Non-Creative type and even Performer and Audience.

6/15/08

June 16th: Jane Chakravarthy and Portia Brockway 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. On June 16th, Stone Soup will have a double feature with local artists and friends Jane Chakravarthy and Portia Brockway.




Born in York, England 1974, Jane Chakravarthy left England after studying Sociology, counselling and photography, to live in Boston USA. There she focussed more on her artistic direction, finding and creating a more lucid expression with creative writing, painting and finally more importantly on discovering her own sense of being an artist. She has recently published her first book, Love its Wrath and others, a collection of her poetry, prose and artwork.





Portia Brockway is a visionary artist whose skillful devotion to the written word with a knack for ethereal yet grounded poetry. She has been published by Poetry Motel, 57 Inc., The Empty Vessel, Yoga International, and many other publications, as a poet, an essayist and as a short story writer. She was a finalist for “Best Female Love Poem” and “Best Female Erotic Poem” at the Cambridge Poetry Awards. Her photography has been published dozens of times by the hip Boston newspaper The Weekly Dig. She is a respected, beloved and admired yoga instructor of almost 20 years in Cambridge , MA

6/5/08

June 9th: Tam Lin Neville 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 June 9th, we welcome Somervile poet and editor, Tam Lin Neville, as our next feature.

Tam Lin Neville was born in New York in 19944. She received her BA from Temple University in Philadelphia and her MFA in poetry from Vermont College in 1989.

her poems has been published in The American Poetry Review, Crazyhorse, Harvard Review and elsewhere. SHer chapbook Dreaming in Chinese won Calypso Press' first chapbook competition in 1995. In 1998, her book-length manuscript, Journey Cake, was published by BkMk Press. She serves as editor of Off The Grid Press, Off the Grid Press, founded in the fall of 2005 to provide a forum for older, previously published poets.

Visit Off The Grid Press.

Click here for a sample poem from The Minnesota Review.

5/30/08

June 2nd: Christopher Kain 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 June 2nd, we welcome the return of past feature, Christopher Kain.

Christopher Kain found reading poetry aloud an irresistible urge since he encountered his first public appearance at the Haymarket Cafe in Northampton, MA in 1992. he continued to read at various venues in Cincinnati, OH. when he moved to Washington, DC in 1994, he was anthologized in the Live Poets Society journal in Alexandria, VA as well as the Federal Poet in Washington, DC. returning to CT, he read his poetry at various open mics in the area. in 1999, he released his first chapbook memory plays, which he hopes to re-release at this reading.

Moving to Boston, MA, he found new venues to read, first at Harris Gardner's Tapestry of Voices at the Borders Bookstore in Boston, MA, then at the Out of the Blue Gallery in 2002. he encountered the venue that would forever change his work, the Third Rail at the Cantab Lounge in Central Square. in February of 2003, he had a 30-minute feature of his work. in March of this year, he had a 10-minute spotlight feature showcasing his new book of poetry, called homefront, containing many of the poems he read at the Cantab over the past five years. The sample poem below is excerpted from memory plays.



when i was with Love
we had a daughter named Hope
she was the only good song
on our jukebox
the gem in our junkpile

Hope would cry in the morning
& in evenings hum herself
to sleep--love & i kept each other
awake with our restlessness

there was something beautiful
when Love held Hope in her arms
as if there wasn't any trouble
i lived on that

after Love & i left each other
i get Hope on certain appointed times
it's hard on her
because she's no longer Love's
& no longer mine

5/22/08

May 26: Marc Goldfinger and Dan Shanahan 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. On May 26th, Stone Soup concludes the month-long celebration of its 37th year with two Stone Soup staples returning to feature: Marc Goldfinger and Dan Shanahan.



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. His latest book is Essays On Major Mental Illness with a Co-Occurring Substance Use Disorder or What Came First: The Chicken or The White Horse.





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.

5/5/08

May 19th: Cosmic Spelunker Theater Reunites


Photo by Elizabeth Schweber Doles

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 May 19th, Stone Soup welcomes the reuniting Cosmic Spelunker Theatre troupe, coming back together to perform at Stone Soup for the first time ever.

Cosmic Spelunker Theater is a Boston based collaborative performance art troupe that has been presenting its fusion of spoken word and movement since 2002, appearing at Mobius (Boston, MA), Puppet Showplace Theatre (Brookline, MA), Artists at Large, Inc. (Hyde Park, MA), Casa Nia, Zeitgeist Gallery, Out of the Blue Art Gallery (Cambridge, MA), The Revolving Museum (Lowell, MA), AS220 (Providence, RI) Warwick Museum of Art (Warwick, RI), and Bowery Poetry Club (New York, NY)

William J. Barnum is a stage actor whose long career began at the age of 17 playing Valentine in a production of Twelfth Night. His roles often had him sharing the stage with George C. Scott, Dustin Hoffman, Paul Bennedict, and Spaulding Gray. As a mime, he received training from Étienne Decroux, the father of modern mime, Tony Montanaro, and Samuel Avital, he was also one of the leads for Paul Curtis’ American Mime Theatre. He danced with the Boston Ballet and with José Limon. Barnum began to synthesize his stage skills as a performer with his own poetic compositions to form his own body of work. His poetry was collected in the volume Of Rare Design (VB Press.)

James Van Looy has been a fixture in Boston’s poetry venues since the 1970s and performed with the Mirage Mime Theater from 1980 to 1987 during which time he was also taught classes offered by Mirage. From 1987 to 1988 he was a member of the Collective Mime. His poetry has been anthologized in Out of the Blue Writers Unite. He has run poetry workshops for Boston area homeless people at Pine Street Inn and St. Francis House since 1992 and regularly reads at Bay State Prison as part of their poetry program. Currently, Van Looy leads the Labyrinth Creative Movement Workshop. Van Looy also has second degree black belt in Karate and is a Vietnam War era veteran.

Ian Thal‘s poetry grew out of his participation in Boston’s post-punk “spoken word” scene of the late 1990s before studying mime with Van Looy. His blog about his work with Bread & Puppet Theater was recently placed on the reading list for a course at the University of London. He is a member of the commedia dell’arte troupe, i Sebastiani, where he serves as both an actor and choreographer. He studies kathak, a classical dance form of Northern India, at the Chhandika Institute of Kathak Dance, and also serves as the mime and commedia dell’arte instructor at Open Air Circus, a Somerville based youth circus.
May 12th: Lynne Stickor "The Prize Lady," Chad Parenteau, Carol Weston 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. Participants are encouraged to arrive early on May 12th, as Stone Soup will be featuring three performers to help continue with Stone Soup's celebration of its 37th anniversary: An opening performance by Lynne Sticklor "The Prize Lady," a micro feature by Chad Parenteau, and a main feature by Carol Weston.


Photo by Lynne Sticklor

Lynne Sticklor "The Prize Lady" is a performance artist, poet, and creator of Visual art: magazine collage, acrylics & sparkles, clay and Text & Graphics as mediums. She is the sole creator of The Prize Lady Experience, which is a one-on-one performance art piece, as well as a Stage Show with grand poetic theatrics and "fabulous prizes". It has been performed at many venues and at many events--public and private.

She describes The Prize Lady Experience as a way to feel worthy of being creative just because you've expressed yourself. It's about opening your mind to your creative side, to the clown or performer in all of us, and to the thoughts or ideas that can only surface when we are inspired in an indirect way. It's about feeling and being worthy of winning a prize just because you embrace the moment of creativity as your own. It breaks down the barrier between Artist and Non-Creative type and even Performer and Audience.


Photo by Janice Parenteau

Chad Parenteau helps host and coordinate Stone Soup and edits the online tribute journal Spoonful with Lynne Sticklor. His new chapbook comes out later this year. He has been a past participant in April's National Poetry Writing Month challenge. His feature will focus on recently completed work done for the recently completed NaPoWriMo event of 2008.


Photo by Bill Perrault

Carol Weston has featured many times with Stone Soup. 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 has been published in The Farleigh Literary Review, Bomb, Stone Soup Anthology 2003, Spoonful and The Blind See Only This World.

Visit The Prize Lady's web site.

Visit Spoonful for samples of Parenteau's and Weston's work.

4/24/08

May 5th: Come Help Celebrate Stone Soup's 37th Year With Diana Sáenz



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 May 5th, Stone Soup welcomes the return of poet, playwright, performer, editor and former regular Diana Sáenz, to help in commemorating the 37th anniversary of Stone Soup.

Diana Sáenz is a native of Los Angeles California, and has been writing poetry since the age of 15. Her plays have been produced around the country, and she is has three books of poetry presently for sale: An Ordindary Life Discussed, The Book of Eve, and Just This side of the 3rd Millenium. Diana and her husband, Marshall Harvey, whom she met in 1995 at Stone Soup Poetry when it was at TT The Bears, are the editors of Boston Poet.

Her plays have been produced across the U.S. Her poetry has been staged in co-productions in theater and dance. She is on the Board of Directors of The National Boston Poetry Festival, and the founding editor of Boston Poet Magazine, and present editor of bostonpoet.com,

Sáenz is on the board of directors of Harris Gardner’s Boston National Poetry Festival. She has run the bostonpoet.com website since 2000. She has featured most recently at the Kerouac Festival in October 2006, Squawk, Jeff Robinson’s Poetry Jazz, Lowell University, Nashua’s Poet’s Corner, and many other venues.

Click here for a sample of the author's work.

Visit bostonpoet.com

Purchase the new Boston Poet print journal: Bad Ass.

4/23/08

April 28th: Gary Hicks Returns to Stone Soup



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 November 28th, Stone Soup closes off National Poetry Month with the return of local poetry staple Gary Hicks.

Gary Hicks is the author of a pen is like a piece. you pick it up. you use it and a contributor to Poets against the Killing Fields. For some 45 years, he has been a community organizer and activist, peace and justice advocate and at various times a teacher of children, young adults, and "grownups". He just passed his 62nd birthday and is feeling o.k. about that.

Click here for a sample poem by Hicks in The November 3rd Club.

4/7/08

Upcoming Stone Soup Features

New links will be shown below as new bios are created.


April 7th: Jim Bobrick and John Landry features.

April 14th: The infamous Lee Letif and Chris Robbins.

April 21st: Poet, editor and activist Susan Deer Cloud.
April 21st: Susan Deer Cloud 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 November 26th, we welcome the poet Susan Deer Cloud, who will stop by our venue during her visit to Massachusetts.

Susan Deer Cloud is a Métis mountain Indian who has been published in numerous journals & anthologies (Sister Nations, Unsettling America, Mid-American Review, Ms. Magazine, Sojourner, North Dakota Quarterly, Stone Canoe, etc). Her most recent book is The Last Ceremony (Foothills Press). She has received various awards and fellowships, including First Prize in Allen Ginsberg Poetry Competition, Prairie Schooner’s Readers Choice Award, a New York State Foundation for the Arts Fellowship and 2007 National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship. Her cat, Wu Wei, is not impressed.

Click here for a sample from Spoonful.
April 14th: Lee Litif and Chris Robbins Return

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 9th, Stone Soup will feature the return of Stone Soup's favorite open mike gadfly, Lee Letif and his opener, Chris Robbins. Because this sure to be an extension of Letif's usual open mike performances, the April 9th show will not be viewable on public access and therefore is best viewed live.



Photo by Bill Perrault



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 Ultrasonic Amplifiers and Marshall Amps/Genital Wart Puking Rednecks.



Photo by Bill Perrault

Chris Robbins was born in Boston, MA, in 1965, not that this crap is actually important. He graduated Whitman-Hanson High in 1984, earning a B. S. degree ('cause, fact it people, that's all a high school diploma is really worth these days). In 1993, after writing poetry and otherwise wasting ink for nine years, Chris wrote a bunch of fixed form poems and, attempting to emulate one of his favorite classic rock bands, Jethro Tull, self-published a chapbook called Bard's Ambition. Now, 14 years later, he's at it again, this time with a chapbook of love and human equality poetry, appropriately called Love Among Equals.

4/6/08

April 7th: Jim Bobrick and John Landry 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. April 7th, Stone Soup will be celebrating the opening of its National Poetry Month readings with Jim Bobrick and John Landry.




Jim Bobrick is the author of THROWBACKS from Spinner publications. He teaches at UMass Dartmouth and taught Literature for the Swain School of Design until its demise in the late 1980's.




John Landry is the poet laureate of New Bedford. He is the Contributing Editor for the 50th anniversary anthology of BEATITUDE, the San Francisco mag begun in 1958 by Bob Kaufman, Bill Margolis, John Kelly, and Allen Ginsberg. He has recently read at the annual 100 POETS Reading in Philadelphia. He hosts a poetry series at Gallery X in New Bedford.
Cancellation

Victoria Bosch Murray's feature for April 7th has been cancelled. We regret this and will attempt to reschedule her for another date soon.

3/11/08

Spoonful 2 Is Out

We're pleased to announce issue # 2 of Spoonful, an online journal
that serves as an ongoing tribute to the Stone Soup Poetry scene.

Issue # 2 can now be read here.

Featuring:


OUR FIRST VISUAL POEM WITH:

"Squeeze Tight" by Sarah N. Dipity


TRIBUTES TO PATRICIA FILLINGHAM BY:

Debra Cash, Edward S. Gault, Gordon Marshall, Bill Perrault, Deborah M. Priestly, and Lynne Sticklor.


POEMS BY:

Mike Amado, William J. Barnum, Yonit Bousany, Sam Cha, Thade Correa, Patricia Fillingham, Nathan Graziano, Doug Holder, Coleen T. Houlihan, Laurel Lambert, Gordon Marshall, Margaret Nairn, Bill Perrault, Jack Powers, Christopher Robbins, Simon Schattner, Jade Sylvan, and James Van Looy.

ARTWORK BY:

Debra Cash, Vincent Ciaccio, James Conant, Edward S. Gault, Bill Perrault, Andy Schattner, and Cindy Williams.


Visit the website for updated submission information regarding Issue
# 3, scheduled to be published during National Poetry Month.


Thank you,

Chad Parenteau
Lynne Sticklor

3/9/08

March 31st: Christopher Glenn Returns



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 March 31st, Stone Soup is proud to welcome back Christopher Glenn to his second well deserved Stone Soup feature.

Christopher Glenn, commonly known in the Boston poetry scene as "Chris Utah"...(go figure) has been involved in poetry in New England for roughly the last 6 months. Has moved to Boston for Architecture school and is currently attending the Boston Architectural College. he never sleeps, eats when necessary, and is really good at sneaking on to mass public transit.

This is his second Stone Soup feature. Born in LA, raised in Salt Lake City Utah (no he is not Mormon) and now currently resides in Boston.

Visit Christopher Glenn's blog.
March 24th: Lawrence Kessenich 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 March 24, Stone Soup welcomes the poet and former Houghton Mifflin editor Lawrence Kessenich.

Lawrence Kessenich has published poetry in cream city review, Energy Review and Chronogram. His chapbook Strange News will be published by Pudding House Publications soon. Another chapbook, Trying to Save Jackie Kennedy, was a finalist in the Spire Press Poetry Chapbook Competition in 2007. He has also published essays on CommonTies.com and Arkansas Public Radio’s "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow."

Kessenich briefly attended the graduate creative writing program in poetry at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. He then became an editor at Houghton Mifflin Company in Boston, where he read for the publisher’s annual poetry series and worked with the editors of Selected Poems: Anne Sexton and the author of Anne Sexton: A Biography. He also acquired two Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship Award-winning novelists and many other fiction and nonfiction writers. He lives in Watertown.


Bombed in Las Vegas

                              In the early 1950s, people in Las Vegas would sit on the
                              rooftops of casinos at night to watch nuclear explosions
                              at the Nevada Test Site 65 miles northwest of the city.

Zombie was the drink of choice as we awaited
the explosion, all night on the rooftop
of the Sands, sports jackets buttoned, shawls wrapped
tight against the cold and brittle desert air

Al and I would have preferred martinis
but the girls insisted we drink with them
and they were girls we wanted to please, hoping
they would please us back come morning.

We had seen bombs explode before, Al and I
all up and down the length of Europe
but Artie, testing A-bombs down the road
told us, “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet, my friends!”

By the time the dawn appeared, a knife edge
on the horizon, Al was dueling tongues
with Doris , my hand was far up Sally’s skirt.
And then the monstrous thing exploded.

The rumble was like a million tanks rolling
across France at once, the wind like as many
bombers whooshing overhead, the light as if
the earth itself was a cannon muzzle.

And as the monstrous cloud began to rise
like nothing less than Death, himself
I crawled into Sally’s welcome lap
and buried myself in her perfume.

Later, we made love like animals, proving
we, at least, were still alive, unlike the Japs
at Hiroshima and Nagasaki
who suddenly could have been next door.

And when I ejaculated, the white cloud
of my semen mushrooming inside of her
I, who’d said he never wanted children
prayed this explosion would bring new life.

--Lawrence Kessenich
March 17th: Kevin Gallagher 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 March 17th, Stone Soup welcomes the return of longtime local poet Kevin Gallagher. who celebrates the release of two chapbooks this year.

Kevin Gallagher is the author of two chapbooks of poetry, Isolate Flecks (Cervena Barva, 2008), and Looking for Lake Texcoco (Cy Gist, 2008). His poetry and reviews have appeared in such publications as The Boston Review, Emergency Almanac, Green Mountains Review, Harvard Review, Jacket, Peacework, the Partisan Review and elsewhere. In 2004 he edited a feature on Kenneth Rexroth for Jacket, and a chapbook titled Nevertheless: Some Gloucester Writers and Artists. From 1992 to 2002 he was a publisher and editor of compost magazine. A retrospective anthology of compost, co-edited with Margaret Bezucha, is titled There’s No Place on Earth Like the World (Zephyr, 2006). He lives with his wife Kelly, and son Theo, in Newton, Massachusetts.

Click here for a sample of Keven Gallagher's work from Jacket magazine.

2/18/08

March 10th: Thade Correa Features


Photo by Caleb Cole


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 10, we have the pleasure of welcoming Thade Correa for his first Stone Soup feature.

Thade Correa was born January 17, 1983 and grew up in Hammond, Indiana. He attended Indiana University Bloomington where he studied literature, piano, and music composition. His work has appeared in Modern Haiku, Doug Holder's column "Lyrical Somerville," and Ibbetson
Street. His prominent influences include Whitman, Rilke, Neruda, Ginsberg, Stevens, and Ashbery. He currently works as a permanent substitute teacher at a school in Roxbury, which sometimes involves his having to deflect flying metal chairs.

Extra Spoonful #2 Preview!!! Click here for a sample of the Author's work.
March 3rd: Bill Perrault and Ann Carhart 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. On March 3rd, friends and Stone Soup regulars Bill Perrault and Ann Carhart to Feature.


Photo by Chad Parenteau

Bill Perrault was born and lived in Biddeford ME until he finished college for which he had paid by working as a weaver in the textilemills. From 1958 to 1960, the U S Army sent him to Germany as a medic andEducational Counselor. He took the opportunity to tour Europe at that time. When his tour of duty was over, he came home and six weeks later,he married his wife, Lorraine. In 1964, the first of their four children was born and, to date, they are now the proud grandparents of seven. After he and Lorraine married, he began his career teaching high school French and Latin in Maine and upper New York State. He did graduate studies at University of Maine and wrote his masters thesis on Guillaume Apollinaire. In 1973, he moved to Massachusetts to work for Polaroid. Bill now lives in Lowell. Throughout his life, he has enjoyed poetry andphotography. Bill was always the one with a notebook with him to write and a camera to take a picture. He never knew when he might be inspired or find a picture that just needed to be taken. In his retirement, the free time allows him to take these passions to a new level. If it’s joining the Poets in Boston for the Stone Soup Poets or producing local TV programs in Cambridge and Lowell, he is enjoying his creative life. Bill Has been published in the Stone Soup Anthology 2003, Out of the Blue Writers Unite Anthology, and various web pages, and if you are lucky enoughto be on his e-mail list, the poetry is Hot Off The Presses! Bill has featured, performed and sometimes hosted at open mikes all over NewEngland--including: COOL COFFEE in Biddeford, ME, Bestseller’s Cafe inMedford, MA his Walden Pond Series and, of course, Out Of the BlueGallery. Bill is a staple figure at the Gallery in Cambridge, MA and has faithfully supported the events they hold there every day/night of the week-- Stone Soup Poets, WordBeat, Open Bark and all.


Photo by Bill Perrault

Anne Carhart considers herself to be an old Cambridge poet but readily admits being born in Brooklyn and falling in love with poetry while living in the Village and attending NYU. She has an M.A. in Writing and one in Counseling/Psychology from Cambridge's Lesley University and an Ed.D. from UMass. Her poems have appeared in the anthology Cries of the Spirit, Heat City Review, Earth's Daughters, The Hartford Courant and Spare Change News. Ibbetson Street Press published her first book, Sanctus! Sanctus! Sanctus! She is working on her next book, A Kid From Brooklyn.

See the Spoonful website for samples of the poets' work.