February 22: Jamilla Bailey Features at Stone Soup Poetry

After a short hiatus, Stone Soup Poetry returns as a weekly poetry open mic venue at a new day, time and location. Stone Soup is now meeting every Thursday night from 8-10 PM at Brew on the Grid located on 93 Windsor Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts. On February 22, Jamilla Bailey visits us to celebrate her new poetry collection Black Girls Burn Blue.

 It will now be free to attend the open mic and/or feature, but we encourage you to bring cash so we can "pass the hat" for our feature. We also recommend you support Brew on the Grid by at least buying one drink out of gratitude for their hospitality.

Jamilla “JB” Bailey is a pro-black feminist from Boston whose recent collection Black Girls Burn Blue deals with the weight of depression, blackness, and femaleness through raw accounts of her own experiences. As the former editor of, The Elephant Literary Magazine and a student at UMass Boston’s English Master’s program, Jamilla is dedicated to studying poetry as a professional art form, with hopes of owning her own printing press.

February 15: Stone Soup All Open Mic Night

Marty says: All are invited! Art by Whiskey Radish. 

After a short hiatus, Stone Soup Poetry returns as a weekly poetry open mic venue at a new day, time and location. Stone Soup is now meeting every Thursday night from 8-10 PM at Brew on the Grid located on 93 Windsor Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

We continue to gather at our new home on February 15 with an all-open mic. Bring your poetry, music, monologues, or whatever else you would like to share with an audience.

 For all-open mic nights, we ask that you support Brew on the Grid by at least buying one drink out of gratitude for their hospitality. We will also "pass the hat" for Brew on the Grid's closing staff. 

February 8: Skoot Features at Stone Soup Poetry

After a short hiatus, Stone Soup Poetry returns as a weekly poetry open mic venue at a new day, time and location. Stone Soup is now meeting every Thursday night from 8-10 PM at Brew on the Grid located on 93 Windsor Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts. On February 8, we are visited by Joseph 'Skoot" Mosby. 

 It will now be free to attend the open mic and/or feature, but we encourage you to bring cash so we can "pass the hat" for our feature. We also recommend you support Brew on the Grid by at least buying one drink out of gratitude for their hospitality.

Skoot is a heavy hitting poet. As the Poetry Club president and the face of Roxbury Community College he has created many successful events, such as No Filter, Man vs. Police, and What That Mouth Do. Skoot is taking the poetry world by storm with his freestyle abilities on the mic. Skoot has featured at Rapping With The Writers, Comic Con, Roxbury Rocks, Art is Life Itself, Hope Inc., Verbalization, Lizard Lounge and Stone Soup. In a major addition to his features, Skoot has been a three time Semi finalist and a Finalist for the Lizard Lounge National slam team.

February 1: Mark Lipman Features at Stone Soup

After a short hiatus, Stone Soup Poetry returns as a weekly poetry open mic venue at a new day, time and location. Stone Soup is now meeting every Thursday night from 8-10 PM at Brew on the Grid located on 93 Windsor Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts. On February 1, poet and activist Mark Lipman visits us again.

 It will now be free to attend the open mic and/or feature, but we encourage you to bring cash so we can "pass the hat" for our feature. We also recommend you support Brew on the Grid by at least buying one drink out of gratitude for their hospitality.

Mark Lipman, recipient of the 2015 Joe Hill Labor Poetry Award; founder of VAGABOND; a writer, poet, multi-media artist and activist, is the author of six books, most recently, Poetry for the Masses; and Global Economic Amnesty. Co-founder of the Berkeley Stop the War Coalition (USA), Agir Contre la Guerre (France) and Occupy Los Angeles, he has been an outspoken critic of war and occupation since 2001. Mark uses poetry to connect communities to the greater social issues that affect all of our lives, while building consciousness through the spoken word. Currently, he is a member of POWER (People Organized for Westside Renewal), Occupy Venice, the Revolutionary Poets Brigade, 100 Thousand Poets for Change and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).

January 25: Stone Soup All Open Mic Night

After a short hiatus, Stone Soup Poetry returns as a weekly poetry open mic venue at a new day, time and location. Stone Soup is now meeting every Thursday night from 8-10 PM at Brew on the Grid located on 93 Windsor Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

We continue to gather at our new home on January 25 with an all-open mic. Bring your poetry, music, monologues, or whatever else you would like to share with an audience.

 For all-open mic nights, we ask that you support Brew on the Grid by at least buying one drink out of gratitude for their hospitality. We will also "pass the hat" for Brew on the Grid's closing staff. 

 

Lee Varon to Receive the 2017 Jack Powers Stone Soup Savor Poetry Prize

The Jack Powers Stone Soup Savor Poetry Prize was created in 2009 by Gordon Marshall in conjunction with Jack Powers and Margaret Nairn. A downside to Stone Soup ending prematurely in 2017 was that we were unable to crown a winner in time.

On January 18, we have the pleasure finally awarding the 2017 prize to Lee Varon, longtime participant in Stone Soup's open mic as well as the author of a new poetry collection, Affairs Run In The Family. Gordon Marshall will be on hand to present the award.

We hope you will be able to attend the full night of celebration at Stone Soup this Thursday.

Toni Bee to Give Blessing to Stone Soup's New Venue on January 18

Stone Soup begins a new era in a new location at Brew on the Grid this Thursday, January 18. Stone Soup's new home would not have happened if not for the efforts of Cambridge's own poetry ambassador, Toni Bee.

Toni Bee has agreed to be the inaugural open mic poet, going first at 8:00 PM to give the new location its blessing. We are thrilled to have her open the night out of respect for her efforts past and present to keep Stone Soup Poetry alive as a venue.

January 18: Melissa Castillo-Garsow Features at Stone Soup

After a short hiatus, Stone Soup Poetry returns as a weekly poetry open mic venue at a new day, time and location. Stone Soup is now meeting every Thursday night from 8-10 PM at Brew on the Grid located on 93 Windsor Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts. We restart our series strong by welcoming Melissa Castillo-Garsow as our first feature in our new era.

Special Announcement: Stone Soup Poetry's New Day, New Time, New Location!

After months of waiting, Stone Soup Poetry can finally announce its new home at the Brew on the Grid in Cambridge at 93 Windsor Ave, just a short walk from the Central Square T stop.

November 27: Elizabeth Gordon McKim Features at Stone Soup

For the past few years, Stone Soup Poetry has met every Monday from 7-9 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery, at 541 Massachusetts Avenue in Central Square Cambridge, Massachusetts. On November 27, we will hold our final feature at Out of The Blue in it's current location, as the gallery is now forced to move. We go out in style with the help of Elizabeth Gordon McKim. We hope you are able to make it to this send off.

Elizabeth Gordon McKim is a poet, multi media performance artist, and intergenerational teacher of poetry. Her roots are in the oral tradition of song story and poem. She has published five books of poetry, the latest being The Red Thread, as well as publishing poems in many journals anthologies and reviews . McKim taught as adjunct professor for forty years at Lesley University where she is considered to be one of the Pioneer artists in the Expressive Arts Movement . Elizabeth is poet laureate of the European Graduate School in Switzerland. She calls home a loft in a renovated shoe factory in Lynn Ma. where she is known as the ”Jazz Poet of Lynn.”

November 20: Krystal Spencer and Curtis Luke Feature at Stone Soup

For the past few years, Stone Soup Poetry has met every Monday from 7-9 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery, at 541 Massachusetts Avenue in Central Square Cambridge, Massachusetts. On November 20, Krystal Spencer helps provide one of our last features at the Out of The Blue at it's current location. 

Krystal Spencer

Boston bred, vegan fed, Jesus loving Nubian Queen. Number five of seven children. Dislikes cilantro, Brussel sprouts, beets, cauliflower and mean people.

Allergic to almond butter. Loves food, roller skating, salsa dancing, volunteering, traveling, crossword puzzles, learning new languages, music and watching Jane Austen movies.

I began performing poetry publicly in 2013, although I’ve been writing since High School. A friend invited me to her Creative Writing class after school at Umass Boston. From there I began to write more and it became therapy for me to deal with the challenges of life, i.e, peer pressure (drugs, sex, alcohol), domestic violence, depression, heart break, fear, doubts, self-esteem issues, etc.

Now I realize it’s a gift that God has blessed me with. And I hope by sharing it, others may be blessed, healed and inspired.

Curtis Luke

The product of things forced to live together in an imperfect harmony – and the beauty, confusion, and hilarity that results from such an arrangement.

A mathematician at heart and an engineer by trade, I’ve resorted to using words to express what I feel and observe culturally (being Southern born to Caribbean parents and raised in the Boston suburbs), philosophically (the nature of God, intellectual and emotional knowledge, truth, the value of things) and emotionally (love, fear, hope, peace)

I typically organize my musing within a loose framework of different mathematical disciplines including:

·         Algebra (identity, uniqueness, ideals, ring theory, field extensions)

·         Combinatorics (counting principles and partitioning, recurrence functions)

·         Calculus (integration, differentiation, evaluation)

·         …and more!

I hold a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Northeastern in 2004 and when I’m not writing poems I love to travel to other cultures (near and far), play and watch basketball, and search for the missing operating instructions that should’ve come with the teenage girl in our house.

November 13: Stone Soup Poetry Open Mic

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 13, as the title above says, it's all open mic all night!

Stone Soup presents "Stand on your soap box" and speak your truth. Just in time for this week's election! This will be an open mic all night and each poet will have 7 minutes on the mic. Come early to sign up! Come one Come all!

November 6: Stone Soup Poetry Open Mic

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 6, as the title above says, it's all open mic all night!

Stone Soup presents "Stand on your soap box" and speak your truth. Just in time for this week's election! This will be an open mic all night and each poet will have 7 minutes on the mic. Come early to sign up! Come one Come all!

October 30: Stone Soup Poetry Presents an Open Mic and Workshop

Stone Soup Poetry meets every Monday from 7-9 p.m. at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 541 Massachusetts Avenue in Central Square Cambridge, Massachusetts. On October 30, we offer not only an open mic but a poetry workshop for everyone interested.

Please bring a poem of any form and style no more than 1-2 pages. Bring up to 10 copies of your poem to share with the group, and be prepared to share your thoughts on each others work. If you have trouble printing your work, you can email it to me before 5:00 Monday at chadpoetforhire@yahoo.com

October 23: Timothy Gager! Yuyutsu RD Sharma! Eternal Snow Release Party!

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 23, not only does Timothy Gager returns to our podium with a new collection, but he also brings along Yuyutsu RD Sharma, who has released his latest anthology Eternal Snow, a collection that also includes work by Gager. It's a double reading and a release party all in one!

Timothy Gager is the author of thirteen books of short fiction and poetry. Chief Jay Strongbow is Real (Big Table Publishing) is his first book of poetry in four years. He's hosted the successful Dire Literary Series in Cambridge, Massachusetts since 2001 and was the co-founder of Somerville News Writers Festival.

He has had over 400 works of fiction and poetry published and of which eleven have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. His work has been read on National Public Radio.

Yuyutsu RD Sharma is an internationally acclaimed South Asian poet and translator. He is also the recipient of fellowships and grants from The Rockefeller Foundation, Ireland Literature Exchange, Trubar Foundation, Slovenia, The Institute for the Translation of Hebrew Literature and The Foundation for the Production and Translation of Dutch Literature.

He has published nine poetry collections including, A Blizzard in my Bones: New York Poems (Nirala, 2016), Quaking Cantos: Nepal Earthquake Poems, (Nirala, 2016), Milarepa’s Bones, 33 New Poems, (Nirala, 2012), Nepal Trilogy, Photographs and Poetry on Annapurna, Everest, Helambu & Langtang (www.Nepal-Trilogy.de, Epsilonmedia, Karlsruhe, 2010), a 900-page book with renowned German photographer, Andreas Stimm, Space Cake, Amsterdam, & Other Poems from Europe and America, (2009, Indian reprint 2014) and Annapurna Poems, (2008, Reprint, 2012).

His works have appeared in Poetry Review, Chanrdrabhaga, Sodobnost, Amsterdam Weekly, Indian Literature, Irish Pages, Delo, Modern Poetry in Translation, Exiled Ink, Iton77, Little Magazine, The Telegraph, Indian Express and Asiaweek.

October 16: Margie Shaheed 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 16, Margie Shaheed is our out of town feature for October.

Margie Shaheed is a community poet, writer, and teaching artist. Her work has appreared recently in Mad River Review, Bookends Review and Mom Egg Review. She has four chapbooks in print: Dream Catchers, Playground, Onomonopeia and Mosaic. She is also the author of the nonfiction piece Tongue Shakers: interviews and narratives on speaking mother tongue in a multicultural society published by Hamilton Books 2017.

October 2: Stone Soup Poetry Open Mic

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 2, as the title above says, it's all open mic all night!

Stone Soup presents "Stand on your soap box" and speak your truth. Just in time for this week's election! This will be an open mic all night and each poet will have 7 minutes on the mic. Come early to sign up! Come one Come all!

September 25: Stone Soup Poetry Open Mic

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 25, as the title above says, it's all open mic all night!

Stone Soup presents "Stand on your soap box" and speak your truth. Just in time for this week's election! This will be an open mic all night and each poet will have 7 minutes on the mic. Come early to sign up! Come one Come all!

September 18: Stone Soup Poetry Open Mic

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 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. Just in time for this week's election! This will be an open mic all night and each poet will have 7 minutes on the mic. Come early to sign up! Come one Come all!

September 11: James Van Looy 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 11, we welcome James Van Looy to the feature stage.

James Van Looy has been a fixture in Boston’s poetry venues since the 1970s. He performed with the Mirage Mime Theater from 1980 to 1987 during which time he also taught classes offered by Mirage. From 1987 to 1988 he was a member of the Collective Mime. His poetry has been anthologized in Out of the Blue Writers Unite. He has run poetry workshops for Boston area homeless people at Pine Street Inn and St. Francis House since 1992 and regularly reads at Bay State Prison as part of their poetry program. Currently, Van Looy leads the Labyrinth Creative Movement Workshop. He is the writer of It's All One Thing, a poem column for Oddball Magazine.