1/20/08

February Features Announced

February 4th:
Newest Ibbetson author Lisa Beatman.

February 11th: The return of local performer J*me.

February 18th: David R. Surette reads from his new book.

February 24th: Welcome Harris Gardner and Lannie Senechal.
February 18th: David R. Surette Promotes New Book



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 February 18th, the celebration of new publications continue with the return of David R. Surette and his new publication.

David R. Surette's new book of poetry is Easy to Keep, Hard to Keep In, published by Koenisha. His first, Young Gentlemen's School, was released in 2004. Surette's poems have been published in literary journals such as Peregrine and Salamander and appear in the anthologies French Connections: A Gathering of Franco-American Poets; Cadence of Hooves: A Celebration of Horses; and Look! Up In The Sky! - An Anthology of Comic Book Poetry. He co-host Poetribe, a poetry series in East Bridgewater, Massachusetts .

Click here for a sample poem by David R. Surette.
February 11th: J*me Returns to Stone Soup


Photo by Christine Bower

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 February 11th, Stone Soup welcomes the return of performance poet J*me.

Over the past 4 years, the award winning poet and performer J*me, who is also known as James Caroline, has made a name for himself nationally through slams and features. In February of 2006 he toured the West Coast with Def Poetry's Caroline Harvey on the highly successful, I See Red tour. His work is a rare mix of literary craft and vulnerability, and the intensity of his performances has garnered comparisons to Patti Smith. J*me was voted Best Local Author in the 2006 Boston Phoenix poll. He is a multiple winner of Cambridge Poetry Awards for Best Erotic Male Performance Poet and Best Slam Poet Male.

He has guest-lectured and performed at Mount Ida College, Hampshire College, Emerson College and Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey. In May of 2007 he will be performing and teaching at The Saints and Sinners Literary Festival in New Orleans with Dorothy Allison. He has studied with Anya Achtenberg, Patricia Smith, Regie Gibson, Sascha Feinstein, and Toni Amato. During the spring of 2004 he directed and performed in Musician and the Muse , a performance of poetry and music at The Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center featuring Nicole Terez, Tom Daley, Regie Gibson, and Iyeoka Okoawo. He has competed with two National Slam teams, and represented the Cantab Lounge in the first Individual World Poetry Slam. In 1997 he was commissioned to write the vocal text and act as artistic sound director for Naked Truths; Voices of Shame, Sexuality, and Eating Disorders in Women, which was performed at the HERE multimedia center in Manhattan. He's been published in Quarry, Subliminal, Pinned Down by Pronouns (a Lambda Literary Award Finalist for 2004), The Shadow Sacrament, the Cascadia Review, and Painted Bride Quarterly.

Visit J*me's MySpace page.
February 4th: Lisa Beatman 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 February 4th, Stone Soup introduces the latest author to be published by the local Ibbetson Street Press, Lisa Beatman.

Lisa Beatman lives in Roslindale , MA, and manages adult literacy programs at the Harriet Tubman House in the South End. She won Honorable Mention for the 2004 Miriam Lindberg International Poetry Peace Prize and was awarded a Massachusetts Cultural Council Grant, as well as a fellowship to Sacatar Institute in Brazil .

Lisa’s work has appeared in Lonely Planet, Lilith Magazine , Hawaii Pacific Review, Rhino, Manzanita, Political Affairs, The Boston Globe, and Pemmican. Her first book, Ladies’ Night at the Blue Hill Spa, was published by Bear House Publishing.

Her second collection, Manufacturing America: Poems from the Factory Floor, has just been released by Ibbetson Press. The collection moves through the ‘life cycle’ of manufacturing – from its roots in the Lowell, MA textile mills, through downsizing, to the "artist lofts" mined from the old buildings as manufacturing moves overseas. It documents the swan song of a formerly vital sector that historically provided a leg up to many American workers. The book is true-to-life, based on her work at a print and paper manufacturing plant in Somerville , MA.

Click here for a sample poem by Lisa Beatman.

Click here to purchase her new book from Lulu.

1/6/08

Upcoming Features

January 7th: Open miker Sam Cha features.

January 14th: The celebration of open mike regulars continue with Derek Williams.

January 21st: Ryk McIntyre has a new book.

January 28th: Adam Thielker returns.
January 28th: Adam Thielker Returns


Photo by Bill Perrault

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. After an absence from Stone Soup, local poet Adam Thielker returns to Stone Soup for another anticipated feature.

Adam Thielker has written and performed his own poetry in Cambridge since 2002. He started reading at the Cantab's Boston Poetry Slam, but does not slam. He just reads. The first evening he came to Stone Soup at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery, both Jack Powers and Bill Barum recited while lying on the floor, under the watchful eye of Bill Perrault and his video camera. He felt he had found a home. Shortly afterward, Bill Perrault asked him to feature.

Within a year, a feature at the Cantab followed, as well as a further feature at Stone Soup at the request of Chad Parenteau. Now with the arrival of Rat Tar Art, just in time for a third Stone Soup Feature, the public at large may take his work home and put it on their own shelves.

Click here to read Adam Thielker's work in the Spoonful journal.
January 21st: Ryk McIntyre 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 January 21st, Stone Soup welcomes back Ryk McIntyre, who will be featuring his newly released chapbook.

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!, an collection of comic book inspired poetry, 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."

1/2/08

January 14th: Derek Williams Features


Photo by Mick Murray

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 January 14th, we continue to feature the local scene's open mikers by debuting Derek Williams.

Derek Williams grew up on the lean, white, streets, of Connecticut--plenty. In 2000 he slayed the suburban dragon, and moved to the Berkshire mountains to trade pelts with local liberals and learn about literature. He graduated in 2004 with a BA in English and an unbridled contempt for college students. A move to Boston only made sense. After an ill-fated tryst with teaching, he began writing again, and over the past year has performed at local venues in and around Boston. His poetry has been influenced and informed by A.R. Ammons, Hart Crane, and John Berryman. He is hard at work on his first novel, and his poetry manuscript is nearing completion. He is unemployed, and has won no accolades or prizes. Most days, he spends inordinate amounts of time wandering the streets of Allston.

A sample poem follows below.


An Emissary of Unknowns


The attorneys are hard at work,
The bones of their bodies hulk
Through tombs writ of law and suffering,
The ink of their speech still drying.

In the old neighborhoods landlords
Have taken to locking their rooftop doors:
With each year that passes fewer and fewer
Bodies are posited
On the long, tar, beaches, of New York City,
They linger like unsolved long division
Across an incomplete skyline,
More fodder for satellites,
The glint of the sun a diamond in their lens.

A plume of catapults have been commissioned,
The carrier pigeon is making a comeback,
Locks are meant to be broken,
Children play in streets and parking lots
In deference to playgrounds.

There is a handgun under every pillow
And a camera on every street corner:
A parabola of parasols stricken by the sidewalk
Speak of rain like it is a new language.

Rumor has it that Coney Island
Is closing after Labor Day,
That only the Cyclone will remain standing
When the dust from the cranes
Settles over the waterfront,
The ascent and fall of that rollercoaster
Assured by local politicians and zoning boards,
Literal testament to time that cannot stop moving,
That will not stop moving.

This is the last refuge, werewolf men
And sword swallowers ply their trade
On a desolate boardwalk;
Children gasp at their feats,
The puzzle of their countenance,
That shock is our own to contend with,
The worldly and shrill despair
Of seagulls sustaining out over the waves.

An ugly woman breathes fire
Into the hazy summer night,
Behind her waves break
Against rocks shaved sharp by our longing:
She has been trimmed of words,
Her body undulates in time
With each foaming white crest,
And the flame that issues forth from her tongue
Is the tiniest riot we’ve seen this year.


--Derek Williams