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.

February 25th: Harris Gardner and Lainie Senechal Return 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 February 25th, we welcome the return of of past Stone Soupers Harris Gardner and Lainie Senechal.

Harris Gardner's poetry credits include The Jewish Advocate; The Harvard Review; Midstream; Cool Plums; Rosebud; Fulcrum; The Aurorean; Providence Journal; Spare Change News; Endicott Review; Ibbetson Street, and anthologies like City of Poets and I Refused to Die-A Holocaust Study by Susie Davidson. His first book of poetry wa Co-authored with Lainie Senechal a volume of poetry: Chalice of Eros. His next collection: Lest They Become, was published by Ibbetson Street Press. His newest collection, Among Us, was pubished in November, 2007 by Cervena Barva Press. He is the host of two poetry venues and the founder of Boston National Poetry Month Festival, 2001 to the present. He is the co-founder (with Doug Holder) of Breaking Bagels with the Bards, a weekly poetry community; Poet-in-Residence, Endicott College. He was nominated for the Pushcart Prize in 2005 and receieved honorable mention for the Boyle-Farber Prize in 2004.

Lainie Senechal is a poet, painter, and environmental science teacher. She has published over 75 poems in various publications including Dasoku, The Larcom Review, Spare Change, The Aurorean (featured poet 2002), Ibbetson Street, The Journal of Modern Writing, Wilderness House Literary Review, and The South Boston Literary Gazette. She has featured at many venues throughout New England. She has co-authored two volumes of poetry: Chalice of Eros with Harris Gardner and Naiad’s Lantern with her sisters. Her poetry appears in three anthologies: City of Poets, Bagels with the Bards, Bagelbard Anthology No. 2 and Wilderness House Literary Review, The Best of Volume1. In 2008 her chapbook Vocabulary of Awakening will be released by Pudding House.

Click here for a sample of Gardner and Senechal's collaboration.

Reminder

J*me performs tonight.

Reminder

Lisa Beatman at Stone Soup tonight.

Reminder

Adam Thielker returns on the 28th.

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.

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."

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

Happy Holidays

Margaret Nairn and Jack Powers want to wish you a happy holidays.

January 7th: Sam Cha 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 7th, local open miker will have his first feature at Stone Soup.

Sam Cha was born in Seoul in 1978 . He grew up in, variously, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, and Seoul. He majored in English at Williams College, and graduated in 2001. He received his MA in English from Rutgers in 2005. He's been around. He likes to drink coffee and whiskey, most of the time separately. He likes the kind of pie that has a rope ladder hidden inside, and he puts hot sauce on everything, or almost everything, coffee and whiskey being two of the only exceptions. He smokes too much. He reads a lot: Pynchon, McCarthy, Twain, Borges and Nabokov are some of his favorites. He writes a lot, but less than he'd like to write.

He wrote a lot of bad poetry in college, and thankfully most of it remains buried on his hard drive. Some of it still exists on paper in various Williams College literary magazines, most of which are now defunct. One of those poems somehow got second place for the Bullock Poetry Prize of the American Academy of Poets at his school for 1999. He moved to Boston early in 2007, and has been attending open mic poetry nights since June or so. Although he's a novelist at heart, he writes poetry right now because it's easier to read in the time slots available. One of the poems he wrote this year was a finalist for the Anderbo Poetry Prize. He wants to write words that move like steel in a knife fight. He wants to write words that draw blood.

Click here to read "New York I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down," Sam Cha's finalist poem for the Anderbo Poetry Prize.

January 31st: Deborah Priestly Helps Celebrate The New Year


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. On the 31st, everyone is invited to help ring in the new year with an open mike hosted by Out of The Blue co-owner Deborah Priestly. We hope you can attend as writer, poet or musician and partake in the open mike and free refreshments.

Deborah M. Priestly runs the Out of the Blue Art Gallery located in Cambridge, Mass at 106 Prospect Street with Tom Tipton, (founder, owner). She runs the Open Bark Poetry reading every Saturday night at the gallery. Her publication credits include Ibbetson Street, Spare Change, Poesy, Fresh!, Boston Poet, The Boston Herald, The Boston Girl Guide and Out of the Blue Writers Unite (which she also co-edited). She is the author of The Woman Has A Voice from Ibbetson Street Press, an eclectic combination of healing poetry and images of women in transition.

Visit the Spoonful web site for samples of Priesly and other Stone Soup Poets' work.

Tribute to Patricia Fillingham by Chris Robbins


Photo by Bill Perrault

I was shocked, saddened and devastated to hear the news of our friend Patricia Fillingham's passing. She was a dear gracious friend to me, and to all of us. When she walked into the room, we knew our venue was graced with the presence of one of God's angels. She was often called the "spitfire" of Stone Soup because she spoke out strongly against sexist tyranny in her poems, but she always made her points with compassion and class. When she and I embraced, I felt loved and accepted, like I was really worthy of being here. Sometimes, when one of my bad jokes got out of hand, she let me know it, but she still loved me just the same.

I visited her house a couple of times. One of these visits was when she had a Valentine's Day party. She taught me how to make a wassail bowl, (even though the alcohol in it was a bit too much for me) and she introduced me to new foods (such as chicken covered in mango sauce). You could say that we were the Harold and Maude of Stone Soup Poets. True, we were "just good friends," but this friendship was more enriching than any intimate encounter could ever be.

I miss Patricia terribly, and I will always love her. In one of her poems, Patricia stated that her late husband may have already found another partner in the afterlife, and she may be lonely on the other side. I hope that doesn't ring true, and that she is now happy with her husband. But if the aforementioned prophecy does ring true, I will be there for her when it is my time to cross over.

God gave us, the Stone Soup Poets, a wonderful, compassionate friend when He gave us Patricia. But now that her time on Earth is over, we have to face the heartbreaking truth. Even though it hurts to let her go, we must now give her back to Heaven. Just remember that her spirit will always be with us at Stone Soup.

December 24th: Margaret Nairn and Jack Powers

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 24h, Margaret Nairn and Jack Powers will help to celebrate the holidays. Stop by and share your work (holiday themed or otherwise).


Photos by Bill Perrault

Margaret Nairn was born in Pennsylvania and raised on the Island of Guernsey in the British Channel Islands. Having lived in the Boston area for 21 years, she is now involved in furthering the cause of general health. She is part of the Collaborative Artworks group in Lynn, proud to be both a member and the president, amongst artists who struggle to overcome "difficulties" by making and selling art together. She lives in Watertown and has two cats.



Jack Powers founded Stone Soup Poetry as a weekly venue thirty-six years ago. The reading currently meets every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery. In 2002, he was the first recipient of the Ibbetson Street Press lifetime achievement award. He is the author of several collections, the most recent being the chapbook entitled, The Inaccessibility of The Creator.

Visit the Spoonful web site for samples of the poets' work.

December 17th: Arto Payaslian 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 December 17th, Stone Soup is visited by Arto Payaslian, who returns to Cambridge for the holidays.

Arto Payaslian is a poet and songwriter currently completing a PhD in English Literature at the University of Glasgow in the UK where he also teaches creative writing and modern poetry. He has done graduate work in literature at Harvard University and the University of Massachusetts at Boston where he also taught courses in critical thinking. His poems have appeared in PN Review, Ararat Quarterly, and Meridian. A book-length poem, Capillarity, is forthcoming next year from Carcanet Press.

Patricia Fillingham Passes Away

Patricia Fillingham, a beloved staple at the Stone Soup open mike as well as a past feature and publisher of several books of poetry--both hers and others--with her imprint Wart Hog Press, passed away recently. On December 3rd, an impromptu tribute was given with the help of her children, David Fillingham and Debra Cash, who wish to thank all who attended and read from their mother's work.

A memorial service is planned for tonight, December 12th.

Boston area memorial serviceWednesday,
December 12, 2007 7:30-9:30 pm
First Church in Belmont, Unitarian Universalist
404 Concord Ave.
Belmont, MA 02478
Office Telephone: 617 -484-1054

Click here for the website.

After the new year, there will be a celebration in New Jersey, on January 7, 2008 evening starting at 7 p.m.

First Unitarian Universalist Church of Essex County
35 Cleveland Street, Orange, New Jersey 07050
Office Telephone: 973-674-0010.

Click here for the website.

Memorial donations in Patricia’s memory may be sent to the American Civil Liberties Union.


Eulogies will be published on this website, and her work will be featured in the next issue of Spoonful. Anyone who wishes to submit words or poetry in tribute to Patricia Fillingham should email Stone Soup at stonesouppoetry@yahoo.com

December 10th: Gloria Mindock 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 December 10th, we welcome the return of poet, editor, and publisher Gloria Mindock, who will read from her newly released collection.

Gloria Mindock is editor of Cervena Barva Press and the Istanbul Literature Review in Turkey. Her book, Blood Soaked Dresses, was just published by Ibbetson Street Press. She has another full-length collection, Nothing Divine Here, forthcoming by U Soku Stampa. She is the author of two chapbooks: Oh Angel and Doppelganger. Gloria has been published in numerous literary journals in the US, UK, Romania, to name a few including UNU: Revista de Cultural, Citadela, Murmur of Voices (Anthology) in Romania with translations by Flavia Cosma, Phoebe, River Styx, Poet Lore, WHLR, Ibbetson, Arabesques, Poesia, Blackbox, and the Bagel Bards Anthology 1 and 2.

Click here to purchase Blood Soaked Dresses.

Visit the Istanbul Literature Review website.

Correction, November 26th, Christopher Glenn 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 debut feature of open mike regular Christopher Glenn.

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. Currently is working on his first chap-book hopefully due for release in the spring/summer.

This is his first feature at the ripe age of 21 and 3/4s 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.

December 3rd: Gordon Marshall 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 December 3rd, Stone Soup welcomes the return of regular open miker Gordon Marshall as a full feature.

Gordon Marshall is a 43-year-old poet who combines the romantic with the surreal. He draws his rhythms from jazz and from the psychedelic rock of the sixties, purifying his voice through these sounds. He finds their embryonic spirit in the poetry of the great romantic revolutionary Percy Bysshe Shelley, on whom he did his Master’s thesis in 2005. He is a jazz poet.

Click here to visit Gordon Marshall's web site.

November 26th: Susan Deer Cloud Features

Update: Due to Illness, Susan Deer Cloud will be unable to feature on the 26th. She is being scheduled for a later date, which will be announced her shortly.

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.

Tonight

Linda Larson Features.

Tonight

Al Gundy Features.

November 19th: Jeffrey Croteau 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 November19th, Stone Soup welcomes back Penhallow Press, as they debut their latest publication by author Jeffrey Croteau.

Jeffrey Croteau's forthcoming chapbook, Oranges, is being published by Penhallow Press. His work has most recently appeared in The Paris Review and Fence. Born and raised in New Hampshire, he spent ten years living in New York City before relocating to Cambridge last year. A poem from Oranges appears below.


After Frost Nights
for Laura

Flocks of robins, each orange
chest blazing like a furnace,
huddle darkly in groves grown quiet
and warmed this winter morning.

A black fog palls the town,
the smudge pots' night-smoke snuffed--
fires that farmers lit to keep
the ember fruits from freezing.

And those who stoked the groves
all night return: sleepless children,
dark and small as sweeps,
now nod their heads in breakfast plates
of toast with summer jams.

Long dawns, day-long dawns,
from which lovers do not rise for work:
windows shut firm, thermostats up,
e'll stay in bed today.
While on the street headlights cortege
the neighbors to work
and the streetlights burn all day.

--Jeffrey Croteau

Visit the Penhallow Press web site.

November 12th: Linda Larson 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 12th, we welcome Linda Larson, who has celebrated late 2007 with the publication of her new collection of poetry from Ibbetson Street Press, washing the stones.

Linda Larson was born in 1947. She began writing poetry in elementary school and published in school publications in Evanston, Illinois and at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. In 1970 she graduated with a M. A. in the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars. Influenced by T.S. Eliot, Allen Ginsberg, and Robert Bly she continued to write for publication. At the same time she battled mental illness for over three decades. Her peripatetic lifestyle resulted in the loss of many manuscripts. From 1997 through 2002 Larson was the editor of Spare Change News, a Cambridge-based newspaper that reports on and serves people experiencing homelessness.

In her sixtieth year Larson has managed with the help of book designer Lynne Sticklor to bring out an autobiographical collection of her poetry spanning her days as a student at the Johns Hopkins University Writing Seminars and encompassing her struggles with mental illness, homelessness and addiction.

Click here for a sample of Larson's work.

November 5th: Al Gundy 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 5th, we welcome one of our newest young open mikers, Al Gundy, as a feature.

Al Gundy wrote his first novel, "The Mystery of the Golden Watch," in first grade, with his best friend. Since then, little time passes when he's not clicking away at a keyboard. In addition to poetry and prose, he is the author of his own 16-year-old family comic strip, "Elo & Anson", which can be read at www.eloandanson.com. When he's not workin at the wordin, or hanging out with his beloved friends, he's making his living at a cafe. Al is very appreciative of everyone who supports local poetry and art, and hopes to see you at Stone Soup.

Tonight

Welcome Deborah M. Priestly and Devon Prevost.

Upcoming Features

October 29th: Stone Soup celebrates Halloween with the return of Cat and D.A. “Da Butcha” Boucher of The Collective.

November 5th: The debut feature of Al Gundy.

November 12th: Linda Larson reads from his newest collection, washing the stones.

November 19th: Penhallow Press introduces Jeffrey Croteau.

November 26th: A visit from Native American poet and editor Susan Deer Cloud.

October 29th: The Collective Celebrates Halloween

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 29th, Stone Soup presents a special Halloween performance with DA Boucher, aka "Da Butcha," and the poetry troupe known as the Collective.

From DA Boucher:

The Collective has been performing since 1994 when the Short Attention Span Poet put together a show for Stone Soup Poetry at TT the Bear’s Place in Cambridge, MA . The Collective line-up has included poets such as RAT, Jeff Taylor, Marc Goldfinger, Diana Saenz, the Spank Me Grrlz, and many others.

The founding charter members are poets, Da Butcha & C*A*T and bass player, Black Wednesday. The Collective has brought their brand of new American poetry to audiences from Maine to Rhode Island & Massachusetts to New York and all the New England states in between, except Vermont. The poets of the Collective pride themselves as being the most daring and cutting edge poets in poetry today, no subject is avoided or thought of as taboo, they have done sets with titles and subject matter such as, “Tales From the Sh*thouse”, poetry about crap, “Sewer Monsters”, nakedness, paint, rolling naked in paint on an American flag, & all sorts of political poetry that slams the U. S. political & war machine.

No other poetry performance troupe has taken the chances that the Collective has. Every time the Collective is on stage, they raise the bar for all poet performers and poets in general. They must be doing something right because they are the most talked about poets or troupe, good or bad, slammed or praised, everyone from Michael Brown to Lee Kidd and Jonathan Leavitt to Jeff Robinson have something to say about, the Collective. Come see THE Premier Poetry Performance Troupe that everyone’s talking about, the Collective.

October 22nd: Deborah M. Priestly and Devon Prevost 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 22nd, gallery co-owner Deborah Priestly returns to feature alongside her partner, Devon Prevost.

Deborah M. Priestly hosts Open Bark Candelite Poetry night every Saturday at Out of The Blue. She has been published in many small press journals, anthologies, and local newspapers. She has also taught poetry workshops through the Newton Public Schools via Douglas Holder and at the Very Special Arts in Boston, Massachusetts. She holds a Women’s Creative Healing Arts Group at the Out of the Blue Art Gallery on Sundays from 1 to 5PM r She co-leads this group with Devon Prevost.

Sculptress Devon Prevost is a graduate of Lesley College. She has been producing art and writing poetry since a young age of nine and still continues to evolve and find her strength and voice. She had art shows at Leslie University and was part of a Tsunami Fundraising Project where she co-produced a mural which currently hangs in Porter Square for all to see. She is now a familiar face now around the Out of the Blue Art Gallery, at Stone Soup and at Open Bark.

Reminder for Monday the 15th

Nathan Graziano Features Tonight.

Spoonful Journal # 1 is Up

We're pleased to announce issue # 1 of Spoonful, an online journal
that serves as an ongoing tribute to the Stone Soup Poetry scene.

Issue # 1 can now be observed here.

Featuring:

TRIBUTES to BILL BARNUM, JACK POWERS, SIMON SCHATTNER, AND JOHN
WIENERS BY:

Ann Carhart, John Landry, Gordon Marshall, Margaret Nairn, Joanna
Nealon, Deborah M. Priestly, Colorado T. Sky, James Van Looy, and
Rafael Woolf.

POEMS BY:

Bill Barnum, Yonit Bousany, Anne Brudevold, Susan Deer Cloud, Timothy
Gager, Steve Glines, Marc D. Goldfinger, Paul hapenny, Walter
Howard, Coleen T. Houlihan, Linda Larson, Ryan Miller, Chad
Parenteau, Jack Powers, Lisa Reade, Erin Reardon, Tom Sheehan,
Colorado T. Sky, Jade Sylvan, Tracy L. Strauss, and Carol Weston.

ARTWORK BY:

Caleb Cole, James Conant, Edward S. Gault, Bill Perrault, and Cindy
Williams.

Visit the website for updated submission information regarding Issue
# 2, scheduled to be published in the winter. There will be
additional updates to the site later this month.

Thank you,

Chad Parenteau
Lynne Sticklor

Reminder

Tonight, Rafael Woolf features.

October 15th: Nathan Graziano 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 15th, we will welcome the long anticipated visit of Nathan Graziano to Stone Soup.

Nathan Graziano lives in Manchester, New Hampshire, with his wife and two kids. He teaches high school at Pembroke Academy. His latest collection of poetry,Teaching Metaphors, was released by Sunnyoutside Press in June. He is also the author of Frostbite, a collection of short fiction, and nine chapbooks of poetry and fiction. Below is a sample poem, originally published in Rattle.


On a Former Student’s Spread
in Hustler Magazine

She seemed much happier in the nude,
with her fingers clamped to stiff nipples
and legs spread wide in a claw foot tub,
than she ever did in my classroom,
half-listening to me blather about Blake,
her head down on the desktop.

As I search for lint in her bellybutton
and dirt behind her airbrushed ears,
I realize she would not know Hamlet
if he were to show up at her photo shoot
with his foil’s tip dipped in poison
and drawn to the greasy photographer’s throat.
Even if the prince were to introduce
himself by name, nothing would register,
as if “Hamlet” was plucked from a phonebook.

But she couldn’t mistake the look in his eyes
when she glanced back from her pose
to find him ready to cry or scream.

Visit Nathan Graziano's web site.

October 8th: Rafael Woolf 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. On October 8th, we welcome the return of Stone Soup and open mike regular Rafael Woolf as a feature.

Rafael Woolf was the editor of local legend Bill Barnum, putting together several manuscripts that have yet to be published. An earlier book of poems on mental illness, I Wish That My Room Had a Floor, was first published by Jack Powers' Stone Soup Press It was recently re-released by the editors of Boston Poet.

Click here to order Rafael Woolf's book from Lulu.

October 1st: The Peddlar Features


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. Beginning our October readings will be the ever-traveling poet, "The Peddlar."

K. Peddlar Bridges is the co-founder of the Biker Poets & Writers Association and founder of the RoadPoet online magazine. He also serves as a columnist for CT Cruise News and motorcyclegoodies.com. An occasional writing workshop teacher, his work has appeared in numerous publications and has made many radio and television appearances. He recently released the chapbook/CD compilation Raised By Wolves with J. Barrett Wolf.

See a preview of Peddlar's upcoming chapbook, Laconia Bike Week ... Dust that never Settles!

Saturday Night: Legendary Boston Poet Jack Powers Celebrates 70th

On Sept 15, 2007 at 5 P.M. at the International Community Church in Allston (30 Gordon St.) celebrated poet Jack Powers will celebrate his 70th birthday with a potluck dinner and reading.

Jack Powers is the founder of Boston's legendary Stone Soup Poetry Founded in 1971 at the Charles Meeting House on Beacon Hill in Boston, Powers has lead this venue of readings, activism and publishing for well over thirty years. Powers was also influential in establishing the Beacon Hill Free School in the 1970's, which encouraged people to teach and participate in educational courses for no charge.

Stone Soup Poets is almost as well known for its publishing history. Powers has published over 80 titles , including Powers' personal favorite "Jack of Hearts," by Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Powers has also published such poets under the Stone Soup imprint as the award-winning Franny Lindsay, and the late Black Mountain School poet John Wieners.

Powers has jumpstarted the careers of many well-known poets including the small press doyenne Lyn Lifshin. Folks like Beat bad boy Gregory Corso, Allen Ginsberg and Robert Bly have passed through Stone Soup's poetic portal. Stone Soup Poets has been housed for the last several years at the Out of the Blue Art Gallery in Cambridge, Mass. It meets every Monday
at 8PM, and carries on the proud tradition with the help of poet Chad Parenteau.

The well-known Boston street artist and activist Sidewalk Sam, as well as Doug Holder of the Ibbetson Street Press, Rev. Lorraine Cleaves Anderson of the International Community Church, and Margaret Nairn president of Collaborative Artworks Inc, are organizing the celebration. The reading and potluck dinner will have music provided by Boston -area poet and singer/songwriter Jennifer Matthews, as well as Powers' sons.

All friends and acquaintances, and anyone who has been touched by Jack in his long literary outreach are invited to come. Bring a poem, a dish for the potluck, and a friend!

* For more information contact: Doug Holder 617-628-2313

September 24th: Ryan "Rat" Travis 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 September 24th, Ryan Travis returns to the venue where he got his start to pay tribute to Stone Soup and Jack Powers.

Ryan "Rat" Travis has often been called, the most dangerous man in poetry. A member of the infamous Collective and the Barnum and Buddah Poetry Circus, Rat has performed all over New England, as well as, New York City, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky. His poetry style varies from kid’s poetry to haiku, sonnets, free-form, rap, and everything in between. Making you laugh one minute and then crying the next, his poetry is sarcastic, introspective, raw and full of truth. He has often been likened to the likes of Lenny Bruce, Andy Kaufman, Jim Morrison, Henry Rollins, and Charles Bukowski all rolled into one. A sample poem follows below.


Heil Mickey

Everyone is given a number when they come to work here
you become the number and less the name
Everyone wears a uniform that's specific to their area right down to the socks
There are guidelines on how a worker should look
specific hairstyles and colors
Men are allowed a moustache of a specific length and width
beards aren't allowed
neither are sideburns
tattoos are a different story
If you have a visible tattoo
don't even apply
If you get a visible tattoo or change your hair color
to anything other than a normal hair color that is suited to your skin tone
you are fired
Goth's need not apply
You must conform to their standards
cut your hair if it gets to long
or you get written up
stand straight, don't lean
or you are written up
you can't be sick
you can't be late
even for a minute
There's a point system
If you're late less than 2 hours it's half a point
more than 2 hours
it's a point
call in sick
it's a point
You can call in for 3 days in a row and it's only a point
as long as you say it's continuous
get enough points and you're written up
3 in 30
6 in 90
12 in a year
if you're written up 4 times you're fired
There are so many ways to get written up
safety infractions
appearance infractions
attitude infractions
for a job that's so short on people they can't fill every position
they sure don't make any effort to keep people
They've burned through most of the locals
so they have to import workers from other countries
or lie to college students about how great it is to work here
the college program is pretty much indentured servitude, with a smile
which is another way you can get written up
not smiling
They try to get their workers to conform
most of the workers are so conditioned they can do their jobs in their sleep
nonconformists are gotten rid of
they're trying to get rid of me and slowly but surely it's working

A clear signal that lets other workers know it's ok to run the ride
is an open hand
raised outward arm extended
palm outward

Heil Mickey

--Ryan “Rat” Travis

September 17th: Joanna Nealon, James Van Looy and Carol Weston Celebrate Jack Powers' Birthday

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. While the Boston poetry scene will have just celebrated Jack Powers birthday, on September 17th, the Stone Soup venue takes it's turn in honoring the founder of Stone Soup with three poets who will pay tribute to his life and the history of the Stone Soup venue.



Joanna Nealon has five published books: The Lie And I, Poems Of The Zodiac, Cosmic Trend, Said The Sage, The Fourth Kingdom, and Living It. Her poems have appeared in Stone Soup Quarterly, Stone Soup Gazette, The Aurorean, Medaphors, Ibbetson Street, and the anthology, We Speak For Peace.


Photo by Bill Perrault

James Van Looy became involved with Stone Soup in the mid-70's when he lived on Beacon Hill, seeing performers such as Bill Barnum and Brother Blue. He studied mime for eight years with the Mirage Movement Theatre, eventually becoming a member of the troupe. He is currently the co-Artistic Director of Cosmic Spelunker Theatre.


Photo by Bill Perrault

As part of Stone Soup, Carol Weston has given readings alongside such individuals as Jack Powers, Allen Ginsberg, and John Wieners. Her chapbook, Spirals, Whorls, Sutures, Septa, was published by Stone Soup.

September 10th: Anne Carhart and Bill Perrault 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 September 10th, Stone Soup will welcome two staples back as features.


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. Last November, Ibbetson Street Press published her first book, Sanctus! Sanctus! Sanctus! She is working on her next book, A Kid From Brooklyn.


Photo by Chad Parenteau

Bill Perrault went to the Universities of New England and Maine and wrote a graduate thesis on the French poet Guillaume Apollinaire. He has published poems on Mothwing, Boston Poet, Stone Soup Anthology 2003, and Out Of The Blue Writers Unite. He reads his poetry throughout New England and has featured at the Lizard Lounge, Gypsypashn's venue, and Stone Soup. He was recently named Producer of the Year for LTC Channel 8 in Lowell for his weekly production of the Stone Soup Poetry TV series as well as other programs.

Both features were recently published in Spoonful, the new Stone Soup tribute journal. Click here to visit the site and see their works.

Thank You, Adam


Photo by Bill Perrault

With Stone Soup's occasional scheduling problems, we are grateful to Adam Theilker, past feature and occasional host of Stone Soup, for his excellent feature on August 6th, performing from memory the poem "Horatius" by Thomas Babington Macaulay. This was done with little notice and no advance advertising. It was a full audience that was left amazed by his recitation.

We always look forward to Adam's features and open mike performances, whether it's his own poetry or work he clearly loves.

Click here to read the poem.

September 3rd: 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 September 3rd, Stone Soup welcomes back Brockton Library Poetry hosts Philip Hasouris and Frank Miller.

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."

Last Chance to Submit!

Spoonful will be accepting poems and/or artwork until midnight tonight for issue #1. Anything submitted afterwards will be considered for issue # 2 in the winter.

Click here for submission information.

August 27th: Anne Brudevold Features


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. On August 27th, Stone Soup introduces poet, fiction writer, and editor of the upcoming journal Eden Waters Press, Anne Brudevold.

Anne Brudevold has taught writing at UMASS Amherst, Westfield State College, Holyoke Community College, and creative writing at SUNY Stonybrook. She was co-poetry editor of the internationally distributed journal Peregrine. Her poetry and fiction have been accepted in Poets On:, Onthebus, Windhorse, Small Pond, Pleaides, Black Bough, Mississippi Review, Bagelbards Anthology #2, Ibbetson Street, Wilderness House Literary Review, and others.

Wilderness House Literary Review is featuring a serial version of her novel Hunter Moon, and plans to publish the full length version in print. She was runner up for Best Short Story in The Optimist, a newspaper of Western MA. She publishes The Eden River Press, which has done a chapbook, and has an anthology and several chapbooks in the works. A sample poem follows below.

Near East

we begin the early morning digging in Judea

under a sky of dim, the dullest saphire

and ochre stars, we work a half-dug empire

suddenly in one small hour

dawn! the sun's rays rake an old design

lend the earth colors veined like mines

our ditches hesitate, then catch fire

ancient roads lighten, slowly wind

to nearest nearest east; these acres bloom

infant bones in urns of metal flame

priestess crowns, warrior swords, tooled sheeep bones

dried flowers for a camel with no name

in their stony birth pits they reach to sing

newly rising Solomon, copper king

Click here to visit Eden Waters Press.

Correction

In the prior post (and Yahoo! Groups message) on the Highway Poets, we incorrectly listed Colorado T Sky, Gypsypashn and Marc Goldfinger on last night's bill. We found out too late that this was not the case and had neglected to post the bio of J. Barrett Wolf, who was slated to appear. This has been corrected on the main site.

We apologize for the error.

August 20th: 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 20th, 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.

Photos by Bill Perrault

K.Peddlar Bridges is the co-founder of the Biker Poets & Writers Association and founder of the RoadPoet online magazine. He also serves as a columnist for CT Cruise News and motorcyclegoodies.com. An occasional writing workshop teacher, his work has appeared in numerous publications and has made many radio and television appearances.

J Barrett Wolf is the Editor of the New York version of RoadPoet. First published in the 1970's, he has had hs work published in print and online magazines around the country, with Spanish translations of his work appearing in Caribbean newspapers. His most recent work can be found in the anthology Passing from PoetWorks Press and Raised By Wolves, written with K. Peddlar Bridges.

Issue # 0 of Spoonful Is Up! Submit Now!

Spoonful, the online Stone Soup Poetry tribute journal, has been released with issue # 0 as part of an ongoing quarterly publishing schedule.

POEMS BY: Patricia Brodie, Ann Carhart, Susie Davidson, Jacques "The HatainFirefly" Fleury, Lo Galluccio, Marc D. Goldfinger, Carolyn Gregory, Gypsypashin, Paul Hapenny, Doug Holder, Coleen T. Houlihan, Gordon Marshall, Margaret Nairn, Chad Parenteau, Bill Perrault, Jack Powers, Deborah Priestly, Sue Red, Chris Robbins, Ian Thal, Sue Red, Adam Thielker, James Van Looy, and Carol Weston.

ACCOMPANYING ARTWORK BY: James Conant, Bill Perrault, Deborah Priestly, and Cindy Williams.

Spoonful is currently accepting submissions of poetry, prose and artwork for issue # 1, to be released in the fall.

The website will be going under some revisions over the next week, but the submissions guidelines will always be accessible via the main page. For submission information, as well as a look at the first issue, please visit the Spoonful journal here.

Reminder

Irene Koronas Features Tonight.

August 13th: Jade Sylvan 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. Jade Sylvan is a writer new to the Boston area and an enthusiastic open mike poet. On July 30th, Stone Soup will be pleased to give this poet her first feature as she debuts her chapbook The Crossroad.

Jade Sylvan was raised in Indianapolis, Indiana and graduated from Indiana University in Bloomington. She currently lives and works in Boston, Massachusetts. Her work has been featured in The Ibbetson Street Journal, BostonNOW, Word Riot, and Somerville News' "Lyrical Somerville." In the next year she plans to complete a novel, visit many friends, maintain her blog, and get her head on straight. She will be 25 on September 9th, and prefers drinks and cash money to presents.

Click here to visit Jade Sylvan's blog.

Click here for a sample of Jade Sylvan's work.

July 30th: Samantha Jane Scolamiero 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 30th, Stone Soup welcomes back Samantha Jane Scolamiero back for a full length feature, during which copies of her chapbook and artwork will be available.

The hostess of the Namless Coffee House series Samantha Jane Scolamiero was a member of the 2004 Boston Cantab Slam Poetry Team attending nationals and has appeared throughout New England and at the Bowery Poetry Club in New York City. She is the author of a book of poetry and photography, The Nameless Collection. Her poem "Last Jazz" has been heard on the radio. As her alter ego Sam-R-I, she has hosted the annual Head-to-Head haiku competition at the Cantab Lounge since 2005. Her photography has been a fixture at the annual Somerville Open Studio.

Click here to visit Samantha Jane Scolamiero's web site.

July 23rd: Irene Koronas 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 July 23rd, Ibbetson Street visits us again with another of it's recently published poets, local poet, editor and "Wordcatcher" for the Bagelbards, Irene Koronas.

Irene Koronas has a fine arts degree from Mass College of Art in Boston. She is a multi media artist working with paint, collage, mono-printing, artists books and poetry. She is currently the poetry editor for Wilderness House Literary Review. Her poetry has appeared in Lummox Journal, Free Verse Journal, Posey magazine and on line zines such as Arcanam Café, Spearhead, Index Poetry, Unblog, Haiku Hut and Lynx. She has seven chap-books: work among friends, where words drip, perception, tongue on everyday, species, flat house and to speak the meaning of being. Her most recent book self portrait drawn from many is published by Ibbettson Street Press.

Click here for a sample of Irene Koronas' work.

Click here to purchase self portrait drawn from many.

July 16th: John Mercuri Dooley 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 July 16th, John Mercuri Dooley performs before setting out on a tour to perform his poem "MuBet."

John Mercuri Dooley lives in east cambridge with his husband andrew richardson and their whippet roma. andrew and john run the Demolicious poetry/multimedia series, the first sunday of every month from september through June at Out of The Blue. John has been published in various print and online publications, including Blaze Vox, Fascicle, Moria and Word for Word. he co-edited the second issue of the online journal Eoagh, which was a tribute to Jackson Mac Low. His ongoing serial poem, "MuBet," can be read via the link below.

Click here for the Dooley edited issue of Eoagh.

Read MuBet.

Learn more about the Demolicious poetry series.

Tonight

Doug Holder Returns.

Come back to the site later this week for further updates.

Tonight

Welcome back, Marvyn Petrucci.

Thanks


Photo by Bill Perrault

Thanks to Abbott Ikeler, who featured at Stone Soup this past Monday.

Because Ikeler's publisher, Doug Holder, will also be featuring at the end of June, Stone Soup is adding a link here to Ibbetson Street's storefront page at Lulu.com for Ikeler's Outpost and other titles.

EdenRiverPress


Photo by Bill Perrault

From poet and writer Anne Brudevold:

Ever-learning from successes and mistakes, I and some friends are
starting a small press mag called EdenRiver, published by our very
own EdenRiverPress. I started on my own with a chapbook of my own
poems, learned a lot doing it, and gave chapbooks as Christmas
presents, so I could write instead of shop. Well, the bug bit.
Inspired by Ibbetson Press, and all you small press people, and
starting to know Boston/Cambridge/ Somerville better, momentum is
gathering and a small team (like little league baseball) Eden River
is launched. We have an art director, proofreaders, design advice,
and a team to read manuscripts. We are soliciting manuscripts of
short fiction, poetry, interviews and reviews. Guidelines are 5-6
poems, 4-5 pages fiction, 2-3 page non-fiction/ reviews.

The first issue has a theme -- Home. Send us your memories/thoughts
of your roots, of childhood, your ideas of home or homelessness. The
deadline is September 30, 2007. So please honor us with your
submission. We promise to read it with care, and, if accepted, we
intend to put out, on quality paper with photographs and
illustrations, an organic-to-the- eye-ear-mind perfect bound volume
with ISBN number.

You will receive a complimentary copy, and the opportunity to buy
more to give as presents or to sell yourself and keep the profit.
Send your work to EdenRiverPress@gmail.com
Thank you so much! Please help us by spreading the word. Submissions
are opent to all.

We don't want to over-crowd the small press world. We have a unique
vision of Eden and we hope you will share your visions with us.

--Anne and The Team

Tonight

June 11th: Abbott Ikeler reads.

Future Stone Soup Features

June 11th: Abbott Ikeler reads from his first collection, Outburst.

June 18th: Marvyn Petrucci visits from Auburn University.

June 25th: Doug Holder visits Stone Soup to celebrate his two new chapbooks.

July 2nd: Stone Soup presents the touring poetry group Reason to Listen.

July 9th: Erin Reardon 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 July 9th, Stone Soup welcomes new writer to the local scene Erin Reardon for her first feature.

Erin fancies herself more of a recovering Catholic who is still trying to find herself and her voice, using writing as a tool to purge her often overloaded mind. Her poems are sometimes sad, and often darkly comical. Many are tales of religious confusion, female hormonal rages, love, life, frustration and loss. She gains most of her inspiration through people-watching in barrooms, hospitals, the ever-cliche coffee shops and basically just running around the streets of Boston, Cambridge and Somerville.

Her heroes include Arthur Rimbaud, Jack Kerouac, Kurt Vonnegut, Anne Sexton, Dorothy Parker, and Charles Bukowski. She has been published in Quillbillies literary magazine, and has several pieces pending in other literary 'zines both in print and online. She has done open mic nights at Stone Soup and Open Bark and at the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge. She also has 2 self-published collections, Tales of a Sunday School Dropout and Sleeping on a Bed of Percocet White, which will be available at her feature or she can send you one ($4.00 each which includes shipping, $3.00 each at the show) if you drop her a line at tigerlilygirl66@yahoo.com She currently works at a non-profit in Cambridge and resides in Arlington, Massachusetts. A sample poem follows below.


Skin

Skin is so fragile
So simple
So curious
Easy to tear at
Easy to caress

Skin is useless
Unless it is tasted
Wanted
And most of all touched

She liked to watch hers
Open up so wide
Making crimson waterfalls
She liked to poke it
Tease it
Ruin it

She hated her skin
Until
It found his.

--Erin Reardon

July 2nd: Stone Soup Presents A Reason to Listen



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 July 2nd, the California based poetry group A Reason to Listen will be visiting Stone Soup as part of their summer tour.

Over the past four years A Reason to Listen, Therese Keslin-FitzMaurice and Vanessa Pike-Vrtiak, have worked with poets in several forums, from the Accident Gallery to the Raven House, to build a thriving spoken word movement in Humboldt County. Their most recent achievement, Excavating the History of Love, an hour length performance piece combined spoken word, dance, music and live art on one stage. After a series of sold out performances, the local university invited the poets to speak and host workshops on campus. Pike and Keslin are currently publishing Excavating the History of Love and a collection of poetry entitled A Reason to Listen. This summer Keslin and Pike will tour the east coast to promote their new publications. A Reason to Listen recently received two grants acknowledging how inspirational their performances have been to the local community. A sample poem follows below.


After 48 hours of contemplation
by Vanessa Pike-Vrtiak and Therese Keslin-FitzMaurice

I am hurting.
Remembering when my pilot light was lit.
abruptly.
heart beat to tribal drums
(inside my chest)
ruby pastel blood running to my finger tips
the scent still lingers

i am only human

when i dance
alone.

abrasive.
unnoticed.
cut taste off my tongue
the smell of tulips now follows me.

i hid between bed sheets
lighting candles in the dark
licking love poems off my lips
hoping i could pilot kali’s ship
and beat tantric rhythms
over perineal knowledge,
(but alone, i know
i am only human.)

heat exchanged
beat boxed stares
and radiant smiles
a delicate conversation with a piano.

keys slipped soft caresses
between folded sheets of music
where circumcised instruments
played too hard.

I was reminded
about the love I was lacking
when his world collided with mine

he traveled through black and white jungles
braiding syncopated break beats
birthing bridges of rain and sun

telling the truth about the moon dust in my womb had never been so easy
prophet of the divine
i want to sun bathe inside you.

deep fragrant symphonies
i caught my breath too.

and touched the rough edges of fire

i tasted him.
for a moment in time.

wind painted cracks
across his lips,
sipping life lines and poems
out of forest speckled eyes

splashing his reflection on my face
as he blew butterflies
through the back of my skull
my essence grew wings
as i stared down the barrel
pressing matters on my temple
i could not escape myself.

my anger is a disease.

and this dis ease
shakes the bed i sleep in.

Does he know?
How we stand with vast oceans between us.
rotating Saturn’s rings around my wrists.
in place of time

what is my karmic responsibility?

the seaweed tangled with forbidden contact
and snow stained cheeks
if you bring me electricity again

will currents flow?
or am I in love with a poem?
a poem can’t brush the back of his palm against my cheek
a poem can’t fold triangles in bed
a poem can’t ride the rhythm of my beat
through the streets
and shake me out of my dreams
only my maker can.

yes, I carry jazz notes in my lungs if you want to stay and listen.
because..

I’ve got to start putting it simply. I am the poem.


Visit Reason to Listen's MySpace page.

June 25th: Doug Holder 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 June 25th, Doug Holder will be returning to Stone Soup to celebrate the releasing of his two new chapbooks: No One Dies At The Au Bon Pain by Sunny Outside Press and Of All the Meals I Had Before from Cervena Barva Press.

Doug Holder was born In Manhattan on July 5, 1955. A small press activist,he founded the Ibbetson Street Press in the winter of 1998 in Somerville,Mass. He has published over 30 books of poetry of local and national poets and over 20 issues of the literary journal Ibbetson Street. Holder is aco-founder of The Somerville News Writers Festival, and is the curator of the Newton Free Library Poetry Series in Newton, Mass. His interviews with contemporary poets are archived at the Harvard and Buffalo University libraries, as well as Poet's House in NYC. Holder's own articles and poetry have appeared in several anthologies including: Inside the Outside: AnAnthology of Avant-Garde American Poets (Presa Press) Greatest Hits: Twelve Years of Compost Magazine (Zephyr Press) America's Favorite Poems edited byRobert Pinsky. His work has appeared in such magazines as: Rattle, Doubletake, The Boston Globe Magazine, Poesy, Small Press Review, ArtwordQuarterly, Manifold (U.K.), The Café Review, the new renaissance and many others. He holds an M.A. in Literature from Harvard University.

A sample of Doug Holder's work.

Visit Doug Holder's blog.

June 18th: Marvyn Petrucci 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 June 18th, Stone Soup welcomes the return of former relocated Stone Soup regular Marvyn Petrucci.

Marvyn Petrucci, originally from Amesbury, Massachusetts, teaches in the English Department at Auburn University. He taught at UMass, Boston, and was twice an NEH Fellow before receiving his Ph.D from the University of Southern MIssissippi in 2000, where he won the Joan Johnson Poetry Award. His poetry has appeared in forty journals, including the Southern Humanities Review and the Black Warrior Review. He has also published half a dozen short stories and numerous feature articles and reviews.

June 11th: Abbott Ikeler



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 June 11, Stone Soup welcomes Abbott Ikeler, one Ibbetson Street Press' most recently published poets, as he reads from his new collection, Outpost.

Abbott Ikeler lives in Cumberland, RI and teaches at Emerson College in Boston. He writes poetry, memoirs and literary criticism, including a book published by Ohio State University Press on Thomas Carlyle, Puritan Temper and Transcendental Faith, and numerous articles on Dickens and Trollope. His poems have been published in The Concrete Wolf, The Somerville News, Dream International Quarterly, and Bagelbards Anthology, No. 2. A sample poem follows below.

Epiphanies

They happen on a subway platform
in the midst of mild debate,
hardly heated, on the merits of a film.
Or between courses at a restaurant
unrated by Michelin
over the indiscretions of a distant friend.
An old incompatibility
of taste or moral vision gathers
in an unremarkable moment in a quite prosaic spot
to a settled recognition on one side or the other
of a wall that can’t be climbed.
The rest—days or decades—is merest epilogue.

--Abbott Ikeler

Click here to order Abbott Ikeler's book.