1/21/11

February 7th: Michael and Lucie Monroe


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 February 7th, we welcome two of the forces behind the popular poem a day 365 blog, Michael and Lucie Monroe.

Michael and Lucie Monroe are serial writers.

For Michael the adventure started three years or so ago when he reluctantly attended his first poetry slam at the Cantab Lounge, right down the street. Years of religious showmanship finely found an outlet that made sense, and his fondness for the spoken word increased until he was one of a handful of crazy souls to complete the first 365 challenge in 2009 - in his case, under 10 months instead of a full year. Undeterred by his success, he became the blogmaster and overseer for the 2010 and 2011 editions. He might be the only poet alive to have written 730 poems in 730 days and live to tell the tale.

His contagious enthusiasm soon contaminated his lovely bride, a recent political refugee from France who had never written a line in English and didn't think she could ever compare to English speakers in their native language. But when you have style, you can't lose it – as could testify Lucie's school teachers all wowed by her French composition writing skills, cleverly dissimulating a complete lack of content. A natural born writer, and not one to refuse a challenge, she signed up for the 2010 edition of the 365, only to discover that, surprisingly enough, she did compare.

Whether they write separately, as a duo, or in a group setting, their styles, originally so different (funny, somber, angry or surreal for Michael – horrific, bittersweet, detail oriented and airy for Lucie) collide to make the kind of mash you're going to hear at Stone Soup on February 7th!