October 27: Flatline Poetry Features

Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery, now at its new location at 541 Massachusetts Avenue in Central Square Cambridge, Massachusetts with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m.  On October 27, after four months of featuring individual members, Stone Soup will feature Flatline Poetry as a group in the new and improved Out of The Blue.

Flatline Poetry is a group of four poets who seek to "create a new heartbeat" with every performance and workshop. Since their formation in 2013, Flatline has taken the Boston poetry community by storm. The group won the 2013 Poetry Award for Best Poetry Group and was featured at Wheelock College’s 2014 Half Year Program. In addition, the poets of Flatline Poetry have performed, hosted open mics, or provided workshops at various venues across the East Coast, including: The Apollo Theater, AS220, Bridgewater State University, Busboys and Poets, The Bowery Poetry Club, Boys and Girls Clubs, The Cantab Lounge, Clark University, Columbia College, Emerson College, The Lizard Lounge, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, The Middle East, The Neuyorican, The New Hampshire State House, Northeastern University, The Oberon Theater, Simmons College, The Smithsonian, and Wheelock College.

The poets of Flatline Poetry write on topics of identity, family, love, loss, and social justice. With a diverse set of skills and backgrounds, the members of Flatline present challenging poetry and innovative workshops that foster dialogues where all voices are valued.

Click below for more information on.

Lewis Morris

Kaleigh O'Keefe

Lissa Piercy

 (Unfortunately, Guillermo Caballero will not be in attendance)

October 20: DiDi Delgado Features

Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery, now at its new location at 541 Massachusetts Avenue in Central Square Cambridge, Massachusetts with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On October 20, welcome DiDi Delgado for her first ever Stone Soup feature (DiDi also promises free food and a raffle with surprise prizes). 

DiDi Delgado is a freelance journalist, spoken word artist and poet whose work has appeared in Oddball Magazine, Queen Grace and Fat Girls on a Mission. She is passionate about supporting her community with poetry; she recently participated in Michael Rothenberg's 100,000 Poets for Change and Ayanna Pressley's Jump Into Peace initiative. DiDi is the owner of the blog "Unfortunately, I'm Just a Girl" and "For Love and Labels." She is the founder of Cholacoquetola Magazine, resident of Watertown, and occasional provider of dope ass poetry.

October 13: Arthur Ray Collins Features

Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery, now at it's new location at 541 Massachusetts Avenue in Central Square Cambridge, Massachusetts with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On October 13, we welcome Lizard Lounge staple Arthur Ray Collins to the podium.

A Boston poet who believes that there is extraordinary power in words and considers his poetry to be socially conscious as well as entertaining. He hopes that his brand of poetry will motivate action, provoke thought, and stimulate the mind of the listener. Art is Co-host of the Lizard Lounge Poetry Slam venue and was a member of the 2008 & 2010 Lizard Lounge National Poetry Slam Team. He is and educator in the Boston Public School system and continues to perform his unique style of poetry with the aspirations of reaching a global audience.

October 6: Gordon Marshall Features at Stone Soup

Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery, now at a new location at 541 Massachusetts Avenue in Central Square Cambridge, Massachusetts with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On October 6, we celebrate our new location by welcoming back Gordon Marshall as the first to mark this new chapter for Stone Soup.

Gordon Marshall wanted to be a painter before he became a poet - and a jazz musician and a music critic. But he was better with grammar than we was with a paintbrush, or with piano technique. He was not a natural. It took him years of struggle to fashion his trademark approach, what he calls speed poetry, writing the short poem in a matter of minutes, with little revision, and no censorship. His new book, Mirage, is 400 pages, and it is the best example of this. Marshall also has a music blog, about the local Boston scene, The Flash (theflashboston.com). He lives in Boston.

September 29: Lissa Piercy 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 29, Stone Soup continues its focus on the group Flatline Poetry with the final single-member feature, Lissa Piercy, before all four members perform on the same stage at Stone Soup on October 27.

Lissa Piercy is a Boston based performance poet whose favorite thing to do is collaborate with other performers. She is a member and co founder of Flatline Poetry, winner of the 2013 Poetry Award for Best Poetry Group, and a member of the 2014 Lizard Lounge Poetry Slam Team. In addition, Lissa is a MassLEAP trained teaching artist and the creator of PWP (Performance With Purpose), a conference that brings together college students across Boston for workshops and dialogue around the idea that performance can facilitate change and action. Lissa's passion for poetry has brought her to stages across New England and beyond, including an open mic she hosts at the Opportunity Collaboration conference in Ixtapa, Mexico.

In addition to performing poetry and teaching, Lissa has joined forces with individuals across various fields to use poetry as the catalyst for conversation within schools, conferences, and even religious services.  Her friends and fans guarantee that you have never met another performer with as much energy, passion, heart, and grit both on and off the stage.

September 22: Deborah M. Priestly Features at Stone Soup

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 22, we start to day good bye to 106 Prospect Street as the gallery prepares to move to its new location.  Welcome Gallery co-founder Deb Priestly to the podium to begin this process.
Deborah M. Priestly is co-founder of the Out of the Blue Art Gallery located in Cambridge, Mass at 106 Prospect Street with Tom Tipton. For years, she ran the gallery's Saturday Nght reading series called Open Bark. 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.

September 15: Mascha Kaleko Presented by David H. Agee and Lee Varon

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 Monday, September 15, Lee Varon and David Agee will introduce the German poet, Mascha Kaleko using her own poems in English translation to illustrate and illuminate the events of her turbulent life.

Mascha Kaleko is counted in Germany as their most famous female poet of the twentieth century. She is virtually unknown here as her work is totally in German language.This presentation will introduce her to an English speaking audience.

Coming from obscurity she started writing in the Berlin literary scene in 1928. Within a brief space her poetry was appearing as a weekly feature on the front pages of Berlin daily newspapers. Wildly successful, in two years her two first books sold some 10,000 copies. When the Nazis discovered she was Jewish her writing was forbidden and her books confiscated and burned. Her personal life was marred by an unpleasant divorce, and although she and her husband managed to flee into exile in America, even after the war the Nazi presence continued to damaged her career.

Throughout, her poems illuminate this life in emotional language understood by all. They speak meaningfully to experiences her listeners everywhere easily relate to, and she never pulls her punches. They range in emotion from meltingly beautiful to to pointedly revealing to wildly amusing and beyond. They are also marvelous works of art, wonderful to hear.

It's time American audiences become aware of her.

David H. Agee is a professional anthropologist who has created video investigations in prose and poetry of the varieties of human experience in strained, tragic, even life-threatening situations.  Some come from his own life, others build on the experiences of others.  Some vignettes introduced at Stone Soup or The Explorers Club include the following:

The Monkey; Minor murder in the Borneo jungle;
Birdsongs; The brief lives and poetry of children murdered in Auschwitz.
The Bone Picker; From the Choctaw Trail of Tears.   
Ronnie Briscoe;  A tale of true bravery in 1943.
The Memory of her Face;  A vehicular, Midsummer’s Night --- mare.
Who's the Terrorist now? A political satire of the 21st century.

Lee Varon lives in Cambridge and writes poetry and fiction. Recently her work has been published in Prick of the Spindle, Willow Review, Sliver of Stone and Spare Change News. She reads he work on Mondays at Stone Soup.

September 8: Ron Goba 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 8, we have the return of poet Ron Goba, who will be reading from a selection of poems specifically written for the night.

Ron Goba is the author of such collections as The Music Box, The Custom of Quoting Someone, and Collage As Silkscreen. For several years, he was known as the doorman for the weekly Boston Poetry Slam at the Cantab. In 2011, he released Swan Song, a small collection of poems, to coincide with his reading at the Cantab on the eve of his birthday.  In 2012, his work was included in Songs of Innocence and Sam Adams, a collection of poems co-authored by Prabakar T. Rajan.

September 1: Tom Daley 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 1,we welcome Tom Daley back for another Labor Day performance. 

Tom Daley was a machinist for many years and now leads workshops for writers at the Online School of Poetry, the Boston Center for Adult Education, and Lexington Community Education. His poetry has appeared in Fence, Crazyhorse, Denver Quarterly, Witness, Massachusetts Review, 32 Poems, Harvard Review and elsewhere. He is a recipient of the Dana Award in Poetry and was the winner of the Wag’s Revue Winter Writers Contest. He is the author of two plays, Every Broom and Bridget—Emily Dickinson and Her Irish Servants and In His Ecstasy: The Passion of Gerard Manley Hopkins, which he performs as one-man shows. His book of poems, House You Cannot Reach, is forthcoming from FutureCycle Press.

Bonus Performance by JP Lime at Stone Soup Poetry on August 25

In addition to the awesome poetry of Flatline's Kaleigh O'Keefe, we also have a special micro feature with the help of Ivan De Jesus and JP Lime Productions. This Monday is not to be missed.

August 25: Flatline Poetry's Kaleigh O’Keefe 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 August 25, Stone Soup continues it's featuring of the group Flatline Poetry (one member per month) with Kaleigh O’Keefe.

Kaleigh O’Keefe is a performance poet and fine artist working and studying in Boston, Massachusetts, who has shown her work and performed in many venues across New England. Kaleigh is a member of Flatline Poetry, a group of four poets who perform, lead workshops, and organize events.  She currently works to uphold the legacy Lewis Morris started as the president of The OFFICIAL Massart Poetry Alliance, where she organizes and hosts open mics, poetry slams, and special events. In her fine art practice, Kaleigh works mainly with ceramics, but has also worked with iron, bronze, aluminum, steel, rubber, plastic, wood carving and joinery, mixed media, site specific installations, and is a skilled and passionate mold-maker for life and object casting. Kaleigh is also passionate about education, sparked by working with the Gallery Education Team at the Bakalar and Paine Galleries in Boston for the past two years, and is currently working towards a BFA in Sculpture and History of Art of at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design.

August 18: Martin Willitts Jr and Linda Griggs 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 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).

August 11: Jean Dany Joachim 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 August 11, we have a night of poetry populism, as Toni Bee (former Cambridge Poet Populist 2011-2013) welcomes Jean Dany Joachim for his first Stone Soup feature.

Jean Dany Joachim served as Poet Populist of Cambridge, 2009-2011. An author of short stories and poetry, Joachim is also a playwright. He will be reading from his new published collection of poetry, Crossroads / Chimenkwaze (2013) and Avec des Mots (2014). He is the director of City Night Readings, a series featuring diverse poetic talents, writers and artists. His work has been published in numerous international and national anthologies and magazines.

August 4: Diane Sahms Guarnieri and g emil reutter Feature at Stone Soup

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 4, we welcome the return of Fox Chase poets Diane Sahms Guarnieriand  g emil reutter to the venue.

Diane SahmsGuarnieri is a Philadelphia Poet and Poetry Editor of The Fox Chase Review and co-curates The Fox Chase Reading Series. Her first collection Images of Being was released in October of 2011. She was awarded a grant in poetry from the AEV Foundation in May of 2013 and currently serves as Poet in Residence at Ryerss Museum and Library in Philadelphia. . Diane’s poetry has been published widely in the small and electronic press. You can also visit her on Youtube. 

g emil reutter lives and writes in the Fox Chase neighborhood of Philadelphia where he founded The Fox Chase Review and The Fox Chase Reading Series.  Eight collections of his poetry and prose have been published by Stonegarden.net, Blazevox Books and Persistenica Press. Most recently Carvings in November 2010. You can visit him at  You can also visit him on YouTube. 

 

July 28: Flatline Poetry's Guillermo Caballero 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 28, Stone Soup continues it's featuring of the group Flatline Poetry (one member per month) with Guillermo Caballero.

Guillermo is a Boston based artist. Before the formation of Flatline, he worked with fellow teammate Lissa Piercy and co-founded FLOW (the Fundamental Lyricists of Wheelock), whose monthly open mics focus on “performance with a purpose” and have grown to audiences of over one hundred. Guillermo has performed and featured at various venues in and around Boston, including the “if you can Feel it, you can Speak it” open mic and the “Lost Voices of Boston” open mic. In addition to performing poetry, Guillermo has presented on topics of masculinity and leadership. In May of 2014, Guillermo received a Bachelor’s Degree in American Studies, with a double minor in Political Science and Education.

July 21: K. ROADPOET Readers Peddlar Bridges and Lisa Golda-Shields

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 21, biker poetry is once again added to our summer schedule with the return of motorcycle poets K. Peddlar Bridges and the debut of Lisa Golda-Shields as part of the Roadpoet Fortnight event this July. 



K. Peddlar Bridges is a prolific and persistent talent, one of the founders of the Biker Poetry movement. Peddlar is a well recognized, unique voice currently living on the North Shore of Boston. The Roadpoet Fortnight is his brain child, and debuted in July, 2013. In addition to being a regular at many poetry venues, he also hosts RoadPoet Café, on ICAM, (the Ipswich Cable access station) and is working on a new collection of works about the poetic heritage of Gloucester.

Lisa Golda-Shields is a poet, editor, and advocate for special needs children, now living in Ipswich. Her first collection of poetry and prose The Infinite Charm of Firefly Glow is currently housed in the Library of Congress. She works with kids and their families, in between various collective and individual literary projects. She is also working on her first novel.

July 14th: Deta Galloway 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 14,  regular open micer Deta Galloway has her turn at the feature spot.

Deta Galloway is a poet and artist who has returned to Boston in recent years. She can be seen at open mics around the Boston area, her poems often changing each time she reads them. She wowed the audience at the recent Cambridge River festival, and now she is here for your listening pleasure tonight! Co-hosted by Toni Bee.

Flatline Poetry's Lewis Morris 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 30, Stone Soup begins the first of a exciting series of features at the end of each month starting members of the Flatline Poetry group, beginning with Lewis M. Morris.

Lewis M. is a multi-talented poet, writer, beatmaker, MC, and three time Uno Champion of the world. He started writing at the age of eleven, and discovered poetry slam at age fourteen. Since then, he has performed at The Apollo Theater, The Smithsonian, The Bowery Poetry Club, and The Nuyorican, among many others. For his work as a teaching artist, he has received the Newman Civic Fellow Award. He has also won a Mass Poetry Award for Most Versatile Poet. Lewis is the founder of The OFFICIAL Massart Poetry Alliance, a student group that hosts open mics, poetry slams, and special events that have grown to audiences of over one hundred. Currently, Lewis teaches poetry at Dorchester Academy in Dorchester, MA as their Poet in Residence, and is working towards his BFA in the Studio for Interrelated Media at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. To find out more about Lewis, visit https://www.facebook.com/LewisMorrisIzThaIllest or lewism.bandcamp.com.

June 23: An Evening with John Voigt

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, we have an extended open mic where readers will have the opportunity to perform alongside reknowned jazz bassist Jon Voigt who will also play accompanying "word-sound solo pieces" as part of his visit.

John Voigt has had performances with figures such as Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Keith Jarrett, Bill T. Jones, Allen Ginsberg, Captain Kangaroo, Tuli Kupferberg of the Fuggs, Jemeel Moondoc, and Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth.  He has also performed in numerous Broadway musicals and taught the Massachusetts College of Art, and Boston Arts Academy. He currently serves as Librarian/Archivist for Berklee College.

Voigt has served on the Board of Overseers for the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University. Prose published by American Library Association, Black American Literature Forum, International Society Of Bassists, Macmillan, MIT Press , Oxford University, Scarecrow Press, C. Scribner's Sons. Prose-poetry published by Olympia Press. Currently editor of Qi Encyclopedia. 

June 16: Susanna Kittredge 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 16, writer, workshopper, educator and Jamaica Pond poet Susanna Kittredge returns to the podium for her first full-length feature at Stone Soup.

Native New Englander Susanna Kittredge has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University. Her poems have appeared in publications such as Sidebrow, Shampoo, 14 Hills, We Still Like, 580 Split and Salamander as well as the anthology Bay Poetics (Faux Press, 2006). She is a proud member of the Jamaica Pond Poets and a regular participant at the Brighton Word Factory (a bi-weekly open writing group). She lives in Jamaica Plain and teaches middle school inclusion special education in Medford.

June 9: Alice Weiss 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 9, we welcome poet and activist Alice Weiss to the podium.

Alice Weiss' poems have been appeared in the Alaska Quarterly Review, Oddball Magazine, Ibbetson Street, Radical Teacher, Liberty’s Vigil, The Occupy Anthology, Poetry Super Highway, Wilderness House Literary Review, Muddy River Poetry Review, and Jewish Currents.  She has also published nonfiction at VoxMom and Wilderness House Literary Review. Until 2011 she was the unofficial Poet-in-Residence at Am HaYam, the Cape Cod Chavurah. She has featured most recently at the Boston Poetry Salon and studies with Tom Daley and Joan Houlihan.

Weiss received an MFA in poetry from New England College in 2010. From 1977 to 1998 she was a civil rights attorney and public defender in New Orleans, Louisiana. This included voting rights cases and challenges to prison conditions, throughout the state. "I came to New Orleans as a young lawyer from the Northeast eager to make change and I was seduced by the dank and swampy and irremediable dysfunction of the place and the wit and sadness and the song people conjured up to deal with it. If I write poetry at all it’s because of the way living in Louisiana unlocked my suburban Jewish heart." She now lives and writes in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

June 2: Emily R. Rudofsky 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 2, we start June off with a feature by young poet and recent Yes/No Press author Emily Rudofsky.

Emily R. Rudofsky hails from the Boston area by way of the Mid-Atlantic Region. Her first chapbook, RAVENOUS, was published by Yes/No Press in January, 2014. Her poetry and artwork has appeared in Oddball Magazine, The Gabbler, The Fat City Review, and ZigZag Folios Vol.2. Emily spent her school years reading during math class. Now she spends her workdays reading under her desk. She still gets in trouble.

May 26: David P. Miller Features at Stone Soup

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 26, we welcome another friend of Stone Soup and the Boston poetry scene, David Miller.

David P. Miller’s poems have appeared in print in Meat for Tea, Stone Soup Presents and Durable Goods, and online in the Muddy River Poetry Review, Wilderness House Literary Review, and the Boston and Beyond Poetry Blog. His chapbook, The Afterimages, is forthcoming from Červená Barva Press.  His has three “micro-chapbooks” available from the Origami Poems Project website. David was a member of the multidisciplinary Mobius Artists Group of Boston for 25 years, and is a librarian at Curry College in Milton, Mass. He has often been seen in the company of one or more of the Bagel Bards.

May 19: MP Carver Features at Stone Soup Poetry

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 12, Stone Soup is please to welcome M.P. Carver to the podium.

M.P. Carver lives in Salem, Massachusetts. A member of YesNo Press, M.P. helps host the twice-monthly Zig Zag Poetry Open Mic (Salem, MA). M.P. has featured at Stone Soup previously, at Speak Up! (Lynn, MA), Merrimac Mic (Newburyport, MA). and most recently in the Poets in the Round event at the 2014 Mass Poetry Festival. M.P.’s poetry has appeared at the Massachusetts State Poetry Festival (2012, part of the Poetry Everywhere art installations), in the University of Virginia’s Hospital Drive, and in the inaugural issue of Zig Zag Folios.

May 12: The Wild Women of Lynn Feature at Stone Soup

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 12,  Stone Soup's 43rd anniversary month continues strong, as we we have the pleasure of featuring every single contributor from the recommended local Wild Women of Lynn anthology.

Ring of Bone Press is a small publishing house founded in 2013, from Ipswich, MA. The mission of the press is to bring "The American Voice" to you, the reader, by publishing the work of local, under discovered poets and writers. The first book from the press is Wild Women of Lynn: Writings from the Walnut Street Coffee Cafe, poems and writings from five incredibly talented women poets from Lynn, each sharing their versions of "The American Voice."

Kerry Zagarella is a performance poet and toured with the first Boston Poetry Slam Team. She has performed at a variety of venues, including First Night Boston, The DeCordova Museum, The Boston Architectural Society, and the Green Mill in Chicago. Her work has appeared in magazines such as The Stone Soup Quarterly, Borderine Magazine, The Tower Journal and Wail Magazine. Her collection of original poems, Cardboard Soul, was published by This Poet's Press, and one of her essays can be found in A Tribute to Brother Blue by Yellow Moon Press.

Jocelyn Almy-Testa is a not quite 40 year old dancer, mother of four, writer, arts advocate, runner, photographer, sculptor, fiber artist, daughter, sister, lover, housewife, feminist coach and friend. Sometimes she likes to have a glass of wine and just stare out her favorite window and not be anything.

Kato Mele is a writer who has abandoned the idea of keeping up with the Joneses and has instead concentrated on keeping her head above water, which she is current accomplishing in her beloved adopted city of Lynn, Massachusetts - that the great and terrible beauty. She is neighborhood renowned for her use of her wit, her wits and even the occasional use of her half-wits whom she keeps in her shed and deploys only when absolutely necessary as she fears an uprising if they were to gain knowledge of the outside world and al the possibilities it holds. Her work has been sparsely published due to her inability to focus and complete the task at hand, but she has been found between the covers of THIS Magazine, Zig Zag Folios, and she can, truth be told, at the moment to be found between the covers and sheets of her reasonable comfortable bed.

Elizabeth Gordon McKim is a poet, spoken word performance artist, editor and teacher of poetry for people of all ages. She is the author of five books of poetry, the latest being The Red Thread, published by Leapfrog Press and Beyond Words, a poetry guide for parents and teachers co-authored by poet and teacher Judith Steinberg. McKim's poems have appeared in magazines, reviews and journals and she is a member of the graduate faculty of Lesley University in the department of Creative Arts in Learning. Her roots are in the oral tradition of song, story and chant. She is Poet Laureate of the European Graduate School in Saas Fee, Switzerland and locally is known as The Jazz Poet of Lynn, MA where she lives in a renovated shoe factory in Central Square and is often found at the Speak Up! open mic magic evenings at the Walnut Street Coffee Cafe.

May 5: Dennis Daly and Dimitris Lyacos at Stone Soup

Dennis Daly’s first full length book of poetry, The Custom House, was published by Ibbetson Street Press in June, 2012. His second book, a verse translation of Sophocles’ Ajax, was published by Wilderness House Press in August, 2012. A third book entitled Nightwalking with Nathaniel was just released by Dos Madres Press in April 2014. Daly writes reviews regularly for the Boston Small Press and Poetry Scene. He is a former factory worker and labor leader. Follow his blog here: dennisfdaly.blogspot.com.

Dimitris Lyacos is the author of the Poena Damni trilogy, an exceptionally popular and influential work of European avant-garde writing. Translations of the original Greek have appeared in English, German, Italian, Spanish, French and Portuguese, and numerous performances have taken place across Europe and the USA. The trilogy has inspired many sister projects in the fields of drama, contemporary dance, video and sculpture installations, opera and contemporary music. Dimitris Lyacos was 2012 Fellow at the International Writing Program, University of Iowa.

April 28th: Carla Schwartz Features at Stone Soup Poetry

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 28, we welcome back Carla Schwartz, who comes back with the return of her newest book of poetry.

Carla Schwartz is a poet, poetry filmmaker, photographer, and lyricist. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Fulcrum, Common Ground Review, Cactus Heart, Wordgathering, Stone Highway Review, Boston Poetry Magazine, Literary Juice, Emerge Literary Journal, Enizagam, Equinox, and 05401 among others. Her book, Mother, One More Thing is available through WordTech and Turning Point Books ( 2014). She has performed and read her work in the U.S., Canada, and Australia. Carla is also a professional writer with a doctoral degree from Princeton University. Learn more at her website at carlapoet.com.

April 21st: Jennifer Jean Features at Stone Soup

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 21, Jennifer Jean, one of Salem's finest active poets, will be featuring her newest work for the Boston audience.

Jennifer Jean's most recent poetry collection is The Fool (Big Table, 2013); other collections include: The Archivist, Fishwife, and In the War. Her book reviews, essays, and poems have appeared in: Drunken Boat, Denver Quarterly, Tidal Basin Review, Caketrain, Poets/Artists, Poetica, The Mom Egg Review, and more. Her Pushcart nominated poem "Love All the Girls" was published by Ibbetson Street Magazine. Jennifer blogs for Amirah, a non-profit advocacy group for sex-trafficking survivors; she is a key organizer of the Massachusetts Poetry Festival; and, she teaches writing and literature at Salem State University. For more information, visit: www.fishwifetales.com

April 14: LightSpeed Arafat Features at Stone Soup

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 14, get a Taste of Boston Flavor with LightSpeed Arafat, a father, come-unity activist and entrepreneur promoting visual art, media design, music, performance art and various other kinds of cultural enrichment. He is dedicated to using his talents for the betterment of inner city communities in Boston and beyond.

Arafat is a firm believer in the power of individuals and families to provide for and heal themselves. In 2008 Arafat founded LightSpeed Entertainment, Inc., beginning a life of business dedicated to edutainment, and cultural therapy enlightening himself and others on their natural capacity to thrive.

Toni Bee is happy to host this event with Chad Parenteau!

April 7: Jason Wright Features at Stone Soup

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 7, we welcome Oddball Magazine Editor Jason Wright back to the podium.

Jason Wright is a Graduate of UMass Boston, recent guest on Wheel of Fortune, and self proclaimed champion of mental illness. He co-published five issues of the print journal Oddball Magazine before moving the journal online to oddballmagazine.com, which he still runs and edit today, featuring poetry and prose from a multitude of contributors as local as Cambridge, Massachusetts and as remote as the African country Tunisia.

He has been featured on Talk Up with Charlie Peters, and a frequent performer at The Middle East, Cantab Lounge, Cafe Luna, and other local venues. He currently resides in Somerville, Massachusetts, where he was recently featured in it's new local journal, The Scout.. His poem, "Strong as Boston Skyline" was recently chosen for the 2014 Mayor’s Prose & Poetry Program focusing on the Marathon tragedy of last year.

The Mayor's Prose & Poetry Selections, April 2014

Greetings Boston Writers and Poets, here are the latest winners for the April installment of The Mayor’s Prose & Poetry Program focusing on the Marathon tragedy of last year. One or two poems from each poet were chosen by the Poet Laureate Sam Cornish. The chosen poems will be printed and hung in various locations around Boston City Hall very soon and an opening reading and reception will take place sometime after April 22nd. Congratulations to the winners and keep an eye out for the next Call for Poetry from the Mayor’s Office of Arts, Tourism and Special Events and the City of Boston.


Alexis Ivy / From My Fire Eascape

Chad Parenteau / Mom at the Marathon

Lisa Fay / The Noise of Terror

Linda Carney Goodrich / Pleasure Bay

Michael Burke II / In April Boston roads turn pale

Holly Guran / To Cleanse

Holly Guran / A Hot Wind Blows

Dorothy E. Morris / Elegy

Jason Wright / Strong as Boston Skyline

Jane Jacobson / Buxton to Boston

Louisa Clerici / The Photographer’s Marathon

Carol Masshardt / September in Boston, 2013

Kurt Cole Eidsvig / The Rainest June & The Hottest July (excerpt)

 and 9th grader Kevin Downing! / Death is in the Field Today


Special THANKS go out  to Poet Laureate Sam Cornish for the time and effort he has invested over the last several years on the Mayor’s Prose & Poetry Program. He was a conscientious and learned juror, choosing poems for numerous installments of Poetry on the walls of Boston City Hall. Thank you Sam and thank you all for participating in this artistic process!

--
John Crowley
Curator/Exhibitions Coordinator

March 31: Ryk McIntyre Features at Stone Soup

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 31, we welcome the return of Ryk McIntyre.

Ryk McIntyre has been a legendary presence on the New England poetry scene for decades. Which is to say, he is rarely photographed and not everyone is convinced he really exists. He has toured extensively around the continental United States and Canada, appearing on stages as varied as NYC’s New School, Portsmouth NH’s Music Hall, Lollapalooza and the very first “Legends of The Slam” Showcase, at the National Poetry Slam in 2006 in Austin, TX. He has also appeared at countless poetry venues, festivals and house parties. He was even on 5 NPS Slam Teams...you’d think some of those people would have had cameras, He has been published widely, most notably, in The Worcester Review, Off the Coast, Short Fuse-An Anthology of New Fusion Poets, and Aim for the Head - An Anthology of Zombie Poetry. He is currently touring and reading from his new book After Everything Burns (Sargent Press)

March 24: Clay Ventre at Stone Soup

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, join us for an evening with Clay Ventre, one of the organizers of the Zig Zag Poetry open mic.  Attendance is recommended as this show will not be televised.  For more on Clay Ventre, like his Facebook page.

March 17: Gemma Cooper-Novack Features at Stone Soup

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 17, we introduce Stone Soup's audience to Gemma Cooper-Novack.

Gemma Cooper-Novack is a writer, writing coach, and arts educator who lived in New York, Chicago, and Pokuase, Ghana before moving to Boston. Her poetry has appeared in more than a dozen journals, including Amethyst Arsenic, Ballard Street Poetry Journal (Pushcart Prize nomination), Hanging Loose, Lyre Lyre, PressBoardPress, The Saint Ann’s Review, Spry, and Tampa Review Online, and is forthcoming in Cider Press Review; her fiction has been published in Elsewhere and Printer’s Devil Review. Gemma’s plays have been produced in Chicago and New York, and her articles have appeared on Feminist Review and Elevate Difference and in NASPA Knowledge Communities. She enjoys baking cookies and walking on stilts in her spare time.

Tell-Tale Inklings Seeks Submits

Tell-Tale Inklings seeks character studies for its “free trial” first issue, Autumn 2014.  Narrative poems (50-line maximum) and flash fiction (1,000-word maximum) only.

The poem or story must have a beginning, middle, and end and reveal something about the character(s).  It needn’t be an Earth-shattering secret or personality flaw, but readers should think or feel something about the character(s) by the end.  The namesake Edgar Allan Poe avowed that a story ought to be readable in its entirety in one sitting.  Who are we to argue with Poe?  Feel free to challenge us with another time period, foreign planet, etc.  Kindly don’t challenge our tastebuds, though.  Gratuitous sex, graphic violence or anything defamatory/hateful, rantingly political, et cetera will not be published.

Submit a maximum of 5 poems and/or two stories in the body of an e-mail to making2@outlook.com.  Left-margin aligned, 12-pt. font  Deadline: May 15, 2014. 

Payment is nothing but glory, and the writer relinquishes monetary claims should the work eventually appear in print form.  The first issue will be online as a page of the Tell-Tale Chapbooks (TTC) web site.  TTC is a small press, and the publisher hopes that the free online first issue of Tell-Tale Inklings will be the last.  That is, one hopes that enough interest is shown in the “free trial” to inspire a 4-page broadsheet that can be purchased via mail or downloaded.

March 10: Mignon Ariel King Features at Stone Soup

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 long-awaited return of local author and new publisher Mignon Ariel King, who will be celebrating the release of her newest collection.

Mignon Ariel King is a third-generation New Englander who was born in Boston City Hospital.  An alumna of Girls' Latin School and the Graduate Program in English at Simmons College, she identifies as a womanist writer.  Her current autobiographical collection of poetry "What Good is a View of the Charles...?" was inspired both by the poetry of Charles Bukowski and by King's lifetime of living in Massachusetts.  It is Volume 2 of a trilogy within a trilogy.

This year, the writer celebrates being 50 by publishing in all three of her writing genres: poetry, memoir, and novella.  She is the Publisher of Hidden Charm Press and Tell-Tale Chapbooks.  She is also a Classic Hard Rock and sports fan.  For more info on her current projects, check out the blog Making Books at mignonarielking.wordpress.com

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March 3: Bill Perrault's Birthday Bash Guest Starring John Sturm

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 3, we celebrate the birthday of Stone Soup's own Bill Perrault as he reads with guest performer John Sturm.

Bill Perrault has been published in Spoonful, Out of the Blue Writers Unite, and various web pages, and if you are lucky enough to 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 and all.




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.

February 24: Jeff Savlon Features at Stone Soup

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 24, we welcome one of the newest to be published by Yes/No Press publisher of the Zig-Zag Folios.
 
Jeff Savlon writes poetry, stories, and songs. His poetry chapbook Foul-Mouthed Imaginary Friends was released by YesNo Press in 2014.He has been published in Zig-Zag Folios Volume 1 and North Shore Art Throb, and in 2012 he released Sad Songs and Moon Expeditions, a full-length acoustic album. He is the co-host of the Gulu-Gulu Café Open Mic in Salem.

February 17: Navah the Buddaphliii 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 February 17, we welcome the words and melody of  Navah the Buddaphlii.  

Crystal Beck, also known as Navah the Buddaphliii is a poet/spoken word performing artist. She is a native of the South End of Boston and a single mother of three. Two boys and a girl ages are 17, 10, 3. Navah knows the challenges of trying to work her full time job as a medical billing specialist, raising a family and finding time for her art. She release her first CD entitle Far From Your Reality in 2000 and was featured in True Magazine describing her as "soulfully creative" Navah's poetic and very conscious other world lyrics makes her one of the most authentic local artists on the scene. She is a creative thinker and inspired by the universe of imagination. Her creative goal is to create abstract thoughts and visual images with words on the canvas of the human mind as a painter would do with paint on a blank canvas. She will continue to prevail as a mother grow as an artist and stay true to her gift.

February 10: Toni Bee 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 February 10, we gleefully welcome the return of Toni Bee.

Poet and photographer Toni Bee served as the Poet Populist of Cambridge, Massachusetts from 2011-2013 as well as the position of Artist Fellow at Citi Performing Arts Center in Boston.  She currently serves as co-host of the podcast "The Oddball Hour with PB n 'J" and will be part of the upcoming panel "Stone Soup Presents: Oddball Magazine" at the Massachusetts Poetry Festival this May.