January 18: STONE SOUP OPEN MIC! ALL NIGHT

Stone Soup Poetry meets every Monday from 7-9 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. On January 18, as the title above says, it's all open mic all night!

Stone Soup presents "Stand on your soap box" and speak your truth. This will be an open mic all night and each poet will have 7 minutes on the mic. Come early to sign up! Let's celebrate the life and legacy of Martin Luther King by sharing with us what it is that is on your heart and in your mind. Come one Come all!

: There will also be light refreshments:

January 11: Extended Open Mic/Workshop with Big Poppa Ben

Stone Soup Poetry meets every Monday from 7-9 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. On January 11, in lieu of a feature, Stone Soup will be holding an extended open mic followed by a special workshop held by open mic regular and frequent Stone Soup Poetry Slam competitor, the man known as Big Poppa Ben. Bring a poem to workshop to the group. If you do not have access to a printer, email your work (limited to one page if possible) to stonesouppoetry@yahoo.com with "Workshop" in the subject.

Ben has been a poet since he was 8, though the poetry was much better then. He started in the spoken word scene in Jersey City. In DC, he participated in the Beltway Slam Finals. In LA, he started branching out into storytelling and comedy, and now, in Boston, he has no idea what he's doing. In every city he's participated or organized writing workshops and found the input he gets from other writers to be invaluable.
 

January 4: The Stone Soup Poetry Slam Returns

Stone Soup Poetry meets every Monday from 7-9 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. On January 4, we kick off it's first Stone Soup Poetry Slam of 2016.

The Deal: 12 poets, 3 rounds, 5 judges, and amazing poetry.

The booty (I meant bounty): There will be three cash prizes:

1st place gets you $75, 2nd place gets you $30 and 3rd place gets you $15 smackaroos!

If you think you got what it takes, then step to the Stone Soup Mic and just, just: Just Slam!!!

We will also have an open mic sign up list with 10 spots - PLEASE come early to ensure your spot on the list.

December 28: Tom Daley Features at Stone Soup

Photo by Devin Altobello

Stone Soup Poetry meets every Monday from 7-9 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. On December 28 Stone Soup bids farewell to 2015 with what promises to be a stellar reading by poet and instructor Tom Daley.

Tom Daley (the American writer, not the British Olympic diver!) has worked as a waiter, prep cook, dishwasher, and free school teacher. He spent over two decades repairing and retrofitting molds as a machinist in a factory where he practiced his very bad Spanish with patient co-workers from Central and Latin America. He now leads writing workshops in the Boston area and online for poets and writers working in creative prose. Recipient of the Dana Award in Poetry and the Charles and Fanny Fay Wood Prize from the Academy of American Poets, his poetry has appeared in Harvard Review, Massachusetts Review, 32 Poems, Fence, Denver Quarterly, Crazyhorse, Barrow Street, Rhino, Prairie Schooner, Witness, Poetry Ireland Review, Conte, and elsewhere. His poems have been anthologized in Hacks--10 Years on Grub Street, The Body Electric, Unlocking the Poem, Bagels with the Bards (No. 4), 20 Years at the Cantab, and "'Relentless' by Jeff Bezos" (Berfrois).

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 now as one-man shows. During one performance of Every Broom and Bridget, he noticed that a row of audience members had stopped watching the play because they were too busy ticking off the poems and letter excerpts listed in the program as they were performed. He wanted to suggest that this wasn't the Emily Dickinson version of Bingo, but he held his tongue, unusually for a man who comes from a family that put the "pro" in "inappropriate."

As poet-in-residence at the Boston Center for Adult Education, he staged several poetry-performance galas, including "The Poetry Vaudeville Show." In one of the skits, the performers line up and distribute pieces to workshop (the hardest thing to do in a workshop!) to the frenetic pace of "The Typewriter." You can watch him on MeFeedia (http://www.mefeedia.com/channel/6224/episodes/3-look for "Tom Daley @BCAE") play his Irish great-great grandmother Shanahan denouncing the American habit of chilling beer and the obnoxious practice of ending an encounter with "Have a nice day!" in another gala at the BCAE.

December 21: DANIELLE LEGROS GEORGES at the Stone Soup SOUP'ed Up Holiday Party

Photo by Priscilla Harmel.

FEATURE GOES ON EARLY. GET TO THE GALLERY EARLY


Stone Soup Poetry meets every Monday from 7-9 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. On December 21, Stone Soup partners with the Society of Urban Poets to bring you a holiday party that  begins with a reading from Boston's newest Poet Laureate, Danielle Legros Georges.

Danielle Legros Georges, the current Poet Laureate of the City of Boston, is a professor in the Creative Arts in Learning Division of Lesley University. She also teaches in the Joiner Institute for the Study of War and Social Consequences summer Writer’s Workshop, University of Massachusetts, Boston. Her poems have been widely anthologized, and recent essays of hers have appeared in Others Will Enter the Gates: Immigrant Poets on Poetry, Influences and Writing in America (ed. Abayomi Animashaun) and Anywhere But Here: Black Intellectuals in the Atlantic World and Beyond (eds. Kendahl Radcliffe and Jennifer Scott). She is the author of the volume of poems Maroon. A second book of poems, The Dear Remote Nearness of You, is forthcoming from Barrow Street in 2016. 

December 14: Dexter Garcia Features at Stone Soup

Stone Soup Poetry meets every Monday from 7-9 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. On December 14, we welcome Dexter Garcia to her first Stone Soup feature.

Dexter Garcia is a spoken word artist deeply involved in her home community of Lynn as a former member of and a Co-coach for the RAW elements Slam team and as one of the main organizers of the City of Slam's first event. She is working on her first book, a compilation of poems titled "For Blackmail". She has performed at some amazing events such as 2014 World Aids Day Boston and The American Voice 2015.

December 7: Neiel Israel Features at Stone Soup

Stone Soup Poetry meets every Monday from 7-9 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. On December 7, we will welcome established performance poet and Lizard Lounge team member Neiel Israel to start off the final month of 2015 in style.

Neiel Israel is an internationally acclaimed poet, vocalist, performer and arts educator. Emerging from the Boston spoken‐word scene, she quickly distinguished herself as a powerful, and lyrical poetic voice. With her captivating voice she became a member of the Lizard Lounge National Poetry Slam Team 2011‐2015; as well as the Lizard Lounge Representative for 2011 Women of the World Poetry Slam. Neiel has a B.A. in English, and graduated with honors, from University of Massachusetts Boston.

November 30: Angelica Maria Aguilera Features at Stone Soup

 

 

Stone Soup Poetry meets every Monday from 7-9 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. On November 30, we enjoy some post-holiday relief with multiple Stone Soup Poetry Slam finalist Angelica Maria Aguilera finally taking the feature spot.

Angelica Maria Aguilera is a 20 year old mixed Latina from Los Angeles California. After high school, she left for half a year to travel and teach English in Peru. Afterwards, began a year of service as a core member for City Year in Boston. Currently is working as a design intern at Danger!Awesome in Cambridge and as a freelance artist.

 

November 23: Porsha Olayiwola Features at Stone Soup

Stone Soup Poetry meets every Monday from 7-9 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. On November 23, we are grateful to have "triple crown" poetry slam competition winner visit our venue.

Porsha Olayiwola is the 2014 Individual World Poetry Slam Champion and the 2015 National Poetry Slam Champion. Black, poet, dyke-goddess, hip-hop feminist, womanist, friend: Porsha separates herself from the field of issue-based performance poets by applying advanced political analysis to examine injustice while providing perspective on concrete solutions A native of Chicago, Porsha now resides in Boston where she writes and teaches.

http://porshasoup.eventbrite.com/

November 16: Deta Galloway Features at Stone Soup

Deta Galloway was born in Kingston in the Jamaica West Indies. She emigrated to America eighteen rs of age to live with American husband and study medicine. She is educated in professional nursing, human services and management, and currently specializes in behavioral nursing.

Her art life has been a central focus of her emotional and spiritual development. It has been a driving force in the way she has practiced Nursing and cared for families from all walks of life, It is healing, compassion, and empowerment throughout the life stages. She has lived and traveled deeply into the Southern States and lived for the last eighteen years in Georgia.

Deta began writing poetry at thirteen and has been published in several anthologies and journals. She has performed with poets such as Etheridge Knight, Josephine Miles, Galway Kinnell, M. S. Merwin, Hayden Carruth, Gwendolyn Brooks, Yusef K, Brother Blue, Tom Oleary, and Elizabeth Mckim.and others. She has read her work for numerous radio station including Radio Jamaica, (Subsidiary of the BBC). Her artwork has been exhibited and collected in museums both in the United States and Africa.

November 9: Mignon Ariel King Features at Stone Soup

Stone Soup Poetry meets every Monday from 7-9 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. On November 9, we welcome back Mignon Ariel King, who has just published her anthology Tell-Tale Inklings #1.

Mignon Ariel King is a third-generation New Englander who has never lived outside of Massachusetts.  She writes narrative poetry, memoir, and short fiction.  Ms. King holds a Master of Arts in English degree from Simmons College (for Women).  She is the publisher of Tell-Tale Chapbooks and Hidden Charm Press.  Four parts of her autobiographical pentalogy are available on Amazon.

November 2: Stone Soup Poetry Slam

Stone Soup Poetry meets every Monday from 7-9 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.On November 2, the Stone Soup Poetry Slam happens for the last time in 2015. Be in the audience and look for news of the first Stone Soup Poetry Slam in 2016.

Here we go again Stone Soup Poetry Slam! Where slam poets get together and show us what they got! You be the judge to see if they got what it takes to win the first place $75 cash prize!! "So you think you can SLAM!"

October 26: Navah the Buddaphliii Features at Stone Soup

Stone Soup Poetry meets every Monday from 7-9 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.On October 26, our celebration of the Society of Urban Poets concludes with the retrun of SOUP member Navah the Buddaphliii.

Navah the Buddaphliii (born Crystal Beck) is a Spoken Word Artist and a native of the South End of Boston. She has be in the game for over 17 years and has written some of the craftiest spoken word poetry. In 2001 Tru Magazine called her one of the strongest lyrist in Boston. Navah is a captivating performer and has performed all over Boston and Cambridge form every open Mic to the Big Stage of major venues. Her work continues to appear in venues such as Oddball Magazine and Stone's Throw.

In 2014 she joined forces with the collective poetry team call Society of Urban Poetry. She is also is the founder of Simply Poetry, which helps to showcase the most talented Poets in Boston. Navah is a big supporter of the Stone Soup family and is the creator of the Stone Soup Poetry Slam which is held every two Months at Out of the Blue Art Gallery.October 26: Navah the Buddaphliii Features at Stone Soup.

October 19: Hannah Brown Features at Stone Soup

Stone Soup Poetry meets every Monday from 7-9 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.On October 19, Hannah Brown, after being able to draw a crowd during post blizzard conditions, Hannah Brown returns during under more pleasant conditions to entertain us once again.

Hannah Brown is a Boston-based poet and spoken word artist. She has been writing since age 10, finding agency and voice through poetry. After graduating from Hampshire College in Amherst, MA, she returned to Boston and began performing regularly in 2014. She has been a featured performer at several events and venues throughout Boston and Cambridge, including If You Can Feel It, You Can Speak It, Stone Soup and the Art & Noise exposition. She performed and spoken at Boston University’s Urban Engagement forum for incoming students in 2015. She was a speaker and performer on the Capable Poets forum at the 2015 Massachusetts Poetry Festival and her work has been published in Oddball Magazine and Stone’s Throw. She is a member of the collective Society of Urban Poetry, a group that strives to produce and support both written and performance poetry. SOUP is particularly focused on poetry that acts as a vehicle for discourse and education on matters such as identity, community and social justice. Hannah believes that poetry gives voice to closed throats, and sees it as a life-saving force for writer/performer and reader/listener alike. Hannah is now living in Boston, performing and teaching.

October 12: Jeannie Nunes Features at Stone Soup

Stone Soup Poetry meets every Monday from 7-9 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.On October 12, we welcome SOUP member and recent Stone Soup Poetry Slam winner Jeannie Nunes.

Jeannie Nunes was born and raised in Boston. The first in her family to have been born here in the US. She's a full time office administrator/student/mom by day and a kinda/sorta superhero by night. She's been writing for a long time, but just recently joined the ranks of poet behind the Mic. Shes also the newest member of the Boston based poetry collective The Society of Urban Poetry aka SOUP. She likes long walks in the park and doing dope things with dope people.

October 5: The SOUPed Up Beat Poetry Festival

Hosts: The Society of Urban Poetry & Stone Soup Presents
Who Are We Hosting: TBD
When: Monday, October 5th 7PM-10PM
What: International Beat Poetry Festival
Why? What's BEAT you say?

Beat poetry evolved during the 1940s in both New York City and on the west coast, although San Francisco became the heart of the movement in the early 1950s. The end of World War II left poets like Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder, Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Gregory Corso questioning mainstream politics and culture. These poets would become known as the Beat generation, a group of writers interested in changing consciousness and defying conventional writing. The Beats were also closely intertwined with poets of the San Francisco Renaissance movement, such as Kenneth Rexroth and Robert Duncan.

The battle against social conformity and literary tradition was central to the work of the Beats. Among this group of poets, hallucinogenic drugs were used to achieve higher consciousness, as was meditation and Eastern religion. Buddhism especially was important to many of the Beat poets; Snyder and Ginsberg both intensely studied this religion and it figured into much of their work.

Ginsberg's first book, Howl and Other Poems, is often considered representative of the Beat poets. In 1956 Ferlinghetti's press City Lights published Howl and Ferlinghetti was brought to trial the next year on charges of obscenity. In a hugely publicized case, the judge ruled that Howl was not obscene and brought national attention to Ginsberg and the Beat poets.

Besides publishing the Pocket Poets Series, Ferlinghetti also founded the legendary San Francisco bookstore City Lights. Still in operation today, City Lights is an important landmark of Beat generation history. Several of the surrounding streets have been renamed after Beat poets as well, commemorating their important contribution to the cultural landscape of San Francisco.

Other Beat poets included Diane di Prima, Neal Cassady, Anne Waldman, and Michael McClure. Although William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac are often best remembered for works of fiction such as Naked Lunch and On the Road, respectively, they also wrote poetry and were very much part of the Beats as well; Kerouac is said to have coined the term "Beat generation," describing the down-and-out status of himself and his peers during the post-war years.

FEATURES

Venus de Mars is a Minneapolis-based multidisciplinary artist and musician, best known as a singer-songwriting transgender rock star and leader of the band All the Pretty Horses. H/ir most recent album "Flesh and Wire" (acoustic) was produced by longtime collaborator Barb Morrison (Debbie Harry, Rufus Wainwright, Scissor Sisters, etc.). De Mars is the recipient of multiple grants and awards, among them a Minnesota State Arts Board grant, a Bush Fellowship, and a Minnesota Music Award. 

Lynette Reini-Grandell's first collection of poetry, Approaching the Gate, won the 2015 Northeastern Minnesota Book Award for poetry. Her work has appeared in Poetry City USA, It’s Animal but Merciful, Poetry Motel, and Revolver, among others. Her work is part of a permanent art installation (with Venus de Mars) in room 5D of the Carlton Arms Hotel in Manhattan, and she has received grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board and the Finlandia Foundation. In Minneapolis, she performs regularly with the Bosso Poetry Company, a subsidiary of Bosso Enterprises, theoretically based in Big Lever, Wyoming.

Jonathan J. Joseph: human poet, vessel of truth, an artist who naturally discovered Out of The Blue, while walking past it on what seemed to be a random moment during an ordinary Monday last year, but fortunately as life would have it, this crossed path opened him into the cradle from which his experience on the open mic sprang up and grew with the energy that circulates through us all. Each words represents a morsel of love brought together to form the bold pieces which are given a place in existence to thrive through oral recitation and individual reading across the world.

September 28: Open Mic/Workshop Tonight at Stone Soup Poetry

 

Stone Soup Poetry meets every Monday from 7-9 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. On September 28, WORKSHOP DAY!

 

With the cancelation of this Monday's feature, and this months rent obtained, we're doing something different. Be in the audience by 7:00 PM to participate in the open mic and bring 5-10 copies of a poem you would like to workshop. We will hold the workshop in one of the sofa sections of the gallery as Out of the Blue Too Art Gallery & More​ prepares for a last minute fundraiser. Profits made from tonight will go towards the gallery's fundraiser. 

September 21: Ryk McIntyre Features at Stone Soup

Stone Soup Poetry meets every Monday from 7-9 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. On September 21, we welcome back long-time performance poet Ryk McIntyre to Stone Soup's podium.

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 has been published widely, most notably, in The Worcester Review, Off the Coast, Short Fuse- An Anthology of New Fusion Poets, Drunks in a Midnight Choir, Multi-verse - A collection of Super Hero poems, and Aim for the Head - An Anthology of Zombie Poetry.

September 14: Gordon Marshall Features at Stone Soup

Stone Soup Poetry meets every Monday from 7-9 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. On September 14, we welcome back poet, author and founder of the Jack Powers Stone Soup Savor Poetry Prize, Gordon Marshall.

Gordon Marshall has made a life of shaking up orthodoxies, which defines his career as a poet. Nothing is ever stable in his world, except through continuous chain. It is this continuum, he believes, in which we live, the essence and origin and end of poetry. Gordon Marshall lives in Boston.

September 10: Come to The Emerge Arts Festival

The new Emerge Boston Arts Festival is a one-day celebration on September 10, 2015 of local arts and culture showcasing regional and national talent all in the setting of Boston’s architecturally iconic City Hall. Emerge Boston will feature visual art, video art, music, dance, poetry, and performance art. The evening will kick off with the awarding of the Fay Chandler Emerging Artist Awards and the opening of the accompanying exhibition. It continues with an exciting performance line up: singer-songwriter Anais Mitchell, City of Boston Poet Laureate Danielle Legros Georges hosting S.O.U. P. aka Society of Urban Poetry, Percussionist and founder of Kadence Arts Maria Finkelmeier, and a sneak peek at Daniel Beaty's new play Mr. Joy. In addition, local working artist/vendors will be selling their works including jewelry, prints, ceramics.

The juried exhibition in City Hall will run for the entire month with 30 works of art from Boston’s emerging artists. 2015 is the inaugural year of the Fay Chandler Award for emerging artists, in loving memory of the artist and philanthropist with support from the Chandler Family. Daniel Beaty’s work Mr. Joy is part of his play cycle reflecting on transforming pain into power, featuring actress Tangela Large, which debuts at Arts Emerson on September 22nd.

Everyone is invited to this new free festival on Thursday September 10 from 5:00 to 10:30 pm at Boston City Hall.