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 August 18, we welcome the return of Martin Willitts, Jr. and Linda Griggs to Stone Soup.
Martin Willitts Jr. is a retired Librarian living in Syracuse, New York. He was nominated for 8 Pushcart and 7 Best of the Net awards. He provided his hands-on workshfop “How to Make Origami Haiku Jumping Frogs” at the 2012 Massachusetts Poetry Festival. He is the winner of the 2012 Big River Poetry Review’s William K. Hathaway Award ; co-winner of the 2013 Bill Holm Witness Poetry Contest; winner of the 2013 “Trees” Poetry Contest; winner of the 2014 Broadsided award; and winner of the 2014 Dylan Thomas International Poetry Contest.
He has 6 full length books and over 28 chapbooks. His most recent were national chapbook contest winning William Blake, Not Blessed Angel But Restless Man (Red Ochre Press, 2014), national ecological full length contest winner Searching for What You Cannot See (Hiraeth Press, 2013), Before Anything, There Was Mystery (Flutter Press, 2014), and new release Swimming in the Ladle of Stars (Kattywompus Press, 2014). He has more books forthcoming.
Linda Griggs is a Quaker poet who has worked as an elementary school art teacher, a teacher of the mentally challenged, and a mental health counselor. She worked with at-risk youth In Syracuse, encouraging creativity and how to get along with each other. She currently works as a college professor in the community and human service area at SUNY Empire State College and holds a MPS in the Applied Work of the Humanistic Psychologists.
Linda is the founder and host of The Palace Poetry Group, meeting in Dewitt, NY. She finds much inspiration for her poetry from nature. Her published work includes The Balance of Love (Willett Press, 2012), The Night of the Starfish People (Willet Press, 2011), and Love Poems of the Universe (Self-published, 2003).
