January 4: Jack Scully Celebrates The Life of Mike Amado



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 January 4th, we commemorate the passing of Mike Amado with a reading of his work by friend Jack Scully.

Jack Scully was the co-founder with Mike Amado of The Poetry Showcase and Poetry:The Art of Words, two poetry venues in Plymouth, MA. He will bring you the poetry of the 'Spokenwarrior' the late Mike Amado from all of his published poetry as well as his unpublished works and maybe one of his own poem. He is also been know to take a picture or two at poetry venues.

Purchase Rebuilding The Pyramids by Mike Amado.

Reminder

Lo Galluccio Tonight!

December 28: The Gaults Return to 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 December 28, we close off the holidays and 2009 perfectly with a reunion with The Gaults, longtime friends of Stone Soup who returned after having moved away from Boston this Stone Soup.



Edward S. Gault has been writing poetry since his teens, thankfully for American Letters, these early works have been lost or destroyed. He didn't give up however and has since published in Encore, Spare Change, and Spoonful. Through the years he has read his work at Stone Soup Poetry, Open Bark, Tapestry of Voices, Small Circle Of Friends, and The Boston Poetry Slam. Since January 24, 2008, He has managed to post one poem a day (usually, but not limited to, haiku) on his blog Forest River Journal. Gault is also a Fine Arts Photographer. His work has been displayed in the Out Of The Blue Art Gallery, Inman Square's 1369 Coffeehouse, and The Cambridge Center For Adult Education.



Karen Szklany Gault has been writing poetry since she attended Marist College (BA 1986). Her hometown is Hawthorne, New York, with family ties to the historic town of Sleepy Hollow. Her final year at Marist was spent studying at the University College, Galway in Ireland, with a three-week whirlwind tour of the European continent snuck in. From1986-1988 she called Orange, California home, where she took classes in both the Music and Psychology departments at Chapman University. While studying there, she spent a week of cultural exchange with Mexican Students from the Universidad de la Ciudad de Mexico, partying and speaking with them in their native tongue. In 1996 she graduated from UMass Boston with a M.Ed. in Elementary Education. She co-taught Kindergarten and taught second grade, as well as serving as an historical interpreter at the Paul Revere House (where she met her husband, Edward Gault) and The Boston Tea Party Ship and Museum. She has a passion for the sea and maritime history and looks forward to publishing poetry and prose for the entertainment of young readers. Since 2004, when she delivered her daughter Cosette, she has been inspired to write more poetry and has been reading at Stone Soup, Open Bark, and Tapestry of Voices.

December 21: Lo Galluccio Returns to 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 December 21, local poet Lo Gallucio returns to the venue to feature her publication.

Lo Galluccio is a poet, prose writer and vocalist. She's had three books published, Hot Rain on Ibbetson St. Press, a prose/poem memoir, Sarasota VII on Cervena Barva Press and her latest (from which she will read): Terrible Baubles on Propaganda Press. Her poetry and prose has been published by Heat City Literary Review, Eden Waters Press, BestPoem.com, the Audience Review, Heide Hatry's anthology Heads and Tales, the Bagel Bard Anthology and Ibbetson St. magazine, among others. Lo lived on the Lower East Side of New York City for almost ten years. Her two CDs are "Being Visited" (1997) and "Spell on You" (2004.) Recently she's been collaborating with Eric Zinman, a jazz pianist. She's been nominated for three Pushcart prizes in poetry.

Visit Lo Galluccio's website.

Tonight, November 30th

Stone Soup Debuts The Baby Chronicles.

Reminder: Before Thanksgiving

Catch Tonight's Reading with Joanna Nealon and Philip Hasouris.

StoneSoup YouTube Videos Available Here

You can now scroll down to the bottom of this website to view all YouTube videos collected from Stone Soup features since 2008.

December 14th: Leo Raciot Returns 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 December 14th, Stone Soup is fortunate to feature the return of Lowell-based poet and writer Leo Racicot.

Leo Racicot's work has appeared in Co-Evolution Quarterly, Utne Reader, Gay Sunshine Journal, First Hand, Spiritual Life, Poetry, Faith and Inspiration, Shakespeare's Monkey, Ibbetson Street Press, Boston Literary Magazine, and Yankee. He is the recipient of the Antonio Machado Poetry Forum Award (1998) and has featured his work at Out of the Blue Gallery, The Lily Pad, 119 Gallery, Parker House, Boston City Hall, The New England Poetry Conference and at City Lights Bookstore (San Francisco) and as a guest this past summer of the Obama Administration (Washington D.C.)

December 7th: Patricia Fillingham Tribute with Dave Fillingham


Photo by Debra Cash


Photo by Chad Parenteau

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 7th, Stone Soup gives another tribute to Patricia Fillingham, a past Stone Soup feature and regular who passed away in 2007. The works will be read by David Fillingham, Patricia's son, who has continued to earn her mother's work with a posthumous collection in the works.

Patricia Fillingham (May 4, 1924 to December 3, 2007) ran two poetry series in West Orange, New Jersey and New York City for 35 years. She also published poetry for 28 years with her Wart Hog Press imprint, first publishing the work of Cornelius Eady. Recieving degrees in electrical engineering and sociology, she and her husband were active members of the ACLU and early members of Amnesty International. A posthumous collection of her poetry is in the works.

Click here for a poem by Patricia published in Spoonful.

Reminder

Rachael McKibbens visits from New York tonight

November 30th: The Debut of The Baby Chronicles




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 30th, you are urged to attend the release of The Baby Chronicles, a persona poem anthology unlike any other.

Steve Subrizi wrote "Seaweed Baby" in response to a request to write a persona poem. Whether out of divine inspiration or the desperate need for a writing prompt during the 365/365 poem-a-day challenge, Subrizi's poem spawned a fury of homages and imitations, some adhering close to the simple story of a baby and his seaweed, some going completely off to the deep end of the ocean. If any other collection of poems was brought together by stranger means, no one has admitted it, and we haven't bothered checking anyway.

Contributors to the anthology include Subrizi, performance poet Patrick S., local legend Ryk McIntyre, Stone Soup host Chad Parenteau, and Blogtalk radio host Michael E. Quigg, who gathered the poems and the donations necessary to print the book. Illustrated throughout by Spoonful artist James Conant, The Baby Chronicles will be sold the night of the feature, with proceeds from the book being donated to Partners in Health.

November 23: Joanna Nealon and Philip Hasouris 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 November 23rd, Joanna Nealon and Philip Hasouris will be appearing to celebrate the release of their new books from Joanna Nealon and Ken Ingham's IN Publications.

Joanna Nealon is a Fullbright Scholar who has published five books. In addition to Stone Soup, she has read for various venues such as Tapestry of Voices, Ibbetson Street Press, Walden Pond Poetry and the Newton and Brockton Library series. She has been published in The Aurorean, Ibbetson Street Review, the Stone Soup anthologies, Cosmic Trend, Bitteroot, Northeast Corridor, and Poesis. Her newest release is Poems of The Zodiac.

Philip Hasouris has been writing for many years. Like many poets, he began unsure of his words, kept them hidden in notebooks, draws, closets, always in the back of his mind. He started reading publicly and eventually people started listening. Since then he has taken every opportunity to share his words. He is currently a co-host of the Brockton Library Poetry. is the author of Swimming Alone, and his recently released book, Blow Out the Moon.



Order both books from IN Publications.

Visit Philip Hasouris' web site.

November 16th: Rachel McKibbens 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 16th, Rachel McKibbens visits from New York with her debut collection.

Rachel McKibbens juggles five children and a keyboard in upstate New York. She is a 2007 New York Foundation for the Arts poetry fellow and Pushcart Nominee. Her poems and short stories have appeared in numerous publications, including Frigg Magazine, The New York Quarterly, World Literature Today, The London Magazine, Wicked Alice and The Acentos Review. She teaches poetry and creative writing all over the country and her debut book of poetry, Pink Elephant, (Cypher Press) is available now.

Visit Rachel McKibbens' website.

Reminder

James McCoy Reads at Stone Soup This Monday, November 9th.


Anyone who wishes to pay tribute to Brother Blue, who passed away last week, will be welcome to during the open mike.

More Words on Brother Blue

I am very sad to hear about Brother Blue's passing. I had the great fortune to meet him at my first reading at the Out of the Blue Gallery this year. Besides being a great performer, he was a very kind person with a charming personality. My condolences to his family. Brother Blue will always be legend. And he will be greatly missed. Rest in peace, Brother Blue!!

--Randy Barish

Dr. Hugh Morgan Hill, "Brother Blue," 1921-2009

The Last Quixote - In Memory of Brother Blue - An Appreciation

By Seth J. Itzkan, November 5, 2009

"Be a butterfly break dancing on the sky."

"How many want to climb the mountain?...The mountain is inside of you. Climb to that place where the higher self is!"

"May I call you God?"


An appreciation of Brother Blue, by definition, can not be written. It is simply, in his own words, "ahhhh" - the sound of the inner smile, the sound of the butterfly discovering flight, the sound of tears forming in a new mother's eye. How can anyone express in words the gratitude for a man who's sole purpose in life was to help transport us to the place where words dissolve? And, of course, he took us there through story. Being, in his own self mocking terms, a "fool" and "jester", his Pied Piper sermon was intended for your own discovery of the inexplicable, and delivered, as he his motto clearly stated, "from the middle of the middle of me, to the middle of the middle of you."

For decades beyond which few can remember, the street performer extraordinaire, Brother Blue, graced the Boston scene with his colorful storytelling antics, unflappable optimism, and kaleidoscopic charisma. How are those for words? He's inspired them. Bother Blue was both a holdout from a by-gone era, and, we hope, a gateway for a future one. In his years as a performer, mentor, host, and mascot, he won every honor, award, and citation a man of his ilk could garner, and many that were no doubt created just for him. I won't even bother try to sort them all out, and you can look them up yourself, but the list seems endless. Both Boston and Cambridge claimed him as their official storyteller, and countless other communities around the world counted him as an honorary member. He was the original First Night parade mascot, leading the pageantry with his magic wand and flowing wardrobe. He continued to be the mascot for the next 33 years, ushering in New Years Eve for generations of Bostonians. Legions of mayors and other dignitaries walked behind him. No one walked in front. The parade began with Brother Blue.

Everyone who ever met Brother Blue, or, as he was affectionately called, simply, Blue, remembers him as their friend and mentor. Everyone has a story about how they met Blue, or what they did with him. You could never just have a conversation with Blue. That was impossible. If you simply said, "Blue, I'd like to introduce you to my friend so and so", you would be embarking a journey in which you both became noble lords and laddies, enshrined with the duty of discovering your inner sun for lighting the world. This adventure would continue without end until Blue's lovely wife Ruth, who, with the patience of Job, would wait for the right moment, and then gently intervene so that others could get their chance to be the sorcerer's apprentice.

Once while walking down the street with Blue and Ruth, Blue stopped to talk to a neighbor - a small elderly woman. Blue showered her with compliments about how charming and beautiful she was, and I'll be darned if she didn't become more so with each word Blue uttered, soaking it in like water to a thirsty plant. Ruth would attempt to politely get Blue to continue on their course, but the more force she put into the effort, the more emphatic Blue got in his adulation of this lady. Eventually Ruth yanked him by the arm, at which point Blue turned to the lady and, while being pulled away, and in the vein of Don Quixote, shouted, "Your spirit is so high, you lift the street!"

Often, at his weekly seminars, Blue implores the crowd, "How many people does it take to form a critical mass?" He urgently asks as if it is the most important question you will ever hear. "How many?!", he demands. "Umm", you think to yourself, a bit nervous, and wondering if this is a math question you should have learned in high school. "One!", Blue exclaims like a tremor from Vesuvius. "One!...You!"

***

I first met Brother Blue almost thirty years ago and am honored to have known him, and, like so many others, considered him a friend. About nine years ago I setup his website in cooperation with his wife and it's been practically untouched since, http://www.brotherblue.com. The most important thing I did was secure the domain name. Only weeks after I secured it, some cult in California lamented that they hadn't gotten it for their own "Brother Blue". I read about it on their message board, now long gone.

On July 12, 1995, Brother Blue and his wife joined me and a few others in honoring the 100th birthday of Buckminister Fuller, by visiting Bucky's grave site in Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge. Standing around the grave, we each took turns telling stories about Buckminister Fuller. Of course, when it was Blue's turn, he went into song and dance, and eventually tears, as he wept on the flat stone that simple reads, "Call me Trim Tab". Blue and Bucky were both great admirers of each other.

In 2000, or there about, Brother Blue and I performed a duet for mutual friends who were being married. Blue did the "Ooohh Aaahh" story, and I provided accompaniment on a wooden flute.

And for hundreds of evenings at Blue and Ruth's storytelling sessions, I listened to innumerable stories and video taped hours of Blue, always thinking that someday I would tell a story. I never did, perhaps, until just now.

Goodbye Blue. God's in good company.

- Seth

Germane links below:

http://www.brotherblue.com/

http://www.wickedlocal.com/cambridge/news/obituaries/x1972891436/Brother-Blue-dead-at-88-Was-storyteller-to-generations

http://www.cctvcambridge.org/node/29774

November 9th: James McCoy 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 9th, Stone Soup welcomes its frequent listener and YouTube mini-sensation, James McCoy.

His work, including "Don't Quit Your Day Job" – the most viewed video on Chad Parenteau's FreakMachinePress YouTube website – has been described as "fearless ... moving from the workaday to the mythical."McCoy will tell other original rhyming narratives, including "Thompson Was My Only Failure", the story of Francis Thompson, a 19th-century poet, Catholic and failed boot-maker. "Poignant and sweet, as only James can be." By incorporating meter, McCoy gives his poems a heartbeat. "Let's talk about your performance and your poem! BOTH really amazing."

November 2: Chris Robbins 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 2nd, Stone Soup begins November with the return of past feature and open mike reguar, Chris Robbins.

If you can imagine Alice Walker dating Jim Morrison and their kid having George Carlin and John Valby for teachers, you’d have a fair picture of Chris Robbins. His darker side is a cross between “Animal Farm” and “Animal House”. Ever since he discovered that he has Asperger’s Syndrome, he quit writing feminist poems in favor of writing autistic ones because he believes that he’ll become more relevant that way. In other words, just like former Boston Red Sox player Manny Ramirez joining the Los Angeles Dodgers, Chris is playing on a different team now, but he’s still playing the same game.

Tonight!

Welcome Jade Sylvan to Stone Soup.

Reminder

Welcome Back, Bill Perrault!

October 26th: Jade Sylvan 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 26th, the venue celebrates the return of Jade Sylvan, who will be promoting the release of her first full-length book of poetry.

Jade Sylvan is a geek. Born of a family of scientists, she spent her adult education studying world religion, esoteric mysticism, the occult, sustainable design, and rock & roll history. After college, she traveled for a long time, seeing such wonders as the Spanish Mediterranean, the Swiss Alps, and William Faulkner’s grave in Oxford, Mississippi. She therefore knows most of the best bars in the Western world and how to pour a proper glass of absinthe in both the French and Bohemian styles. When she settled in Boston in 2007, she began seriously writing poetry. This tour celebrates the release of The Spark Singer, her first full-length collection of poetry. Jade believes this is just the beginning.

Visit Jade's web site.

October 19th: Bill Perrault Returns


Photo by Chad Parenteau

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 19th, Stone Soup welcomes back friend Bill Perrault, who has been out due to illness and would like to start reading again while on the road to recovery.

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.

See the Spoonful website for samples of Bill's writing and photography.

October 12th: Adam Goldberg 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 12th, Stone Soup welcomes the debut feature of local open mike poet Adam Goldberg.

Adam Goldberg (@AdamUltraberg on Twitter), "The Original Guytalker", is a Framingham original. At home with a microphone, or one of those yellow legal pads, he's totally available for your corporate or anti-corpoate functions (probably). No open bar can withstand him. He is utterly mighty. He recently released his CD, "Adam and Blake: Sibling Brothers", copies for sale with the dude.

Contact him at Adam_Goldberg2@emerson.edu.

This is his first feature and you're very likely to enjoy it.

October 5th: Fire of Prometheus Returns 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 October 5th, Stone Soup reunites with the long-running poetry troupe Fire of Prometheus.

Comprised of poet/cartoonist/filmmaker Mick Cusimano, absurdist poet RU Outavit, activist performer Kasara, and local legend Bill Barnum, the Fire of Prometheus group entertained poetry venues and local media for close to two decades at venues like Stone Soup, The Naked City Coffee House, and most recently at the Squawk Coffeehouse, where they recently celebrated their first reunion show.

Click here for a video history of Fire of Prometheus by Mick Cusimano (rare Bill Barnum footage).

Click here for Mick's written history.

Reminder

John Landry and Maggie Cleveland Visit Stone Soup tonight.

September 28: 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 September 28th, we finish the month with Gordon Marshall, who will celebrate the release of his new book and announce the winner of the first Jack Powers Stone Soup Savor Poetry Prize.

Jazz artist Joshua Jefferson called Gordon Marshall “the poet laureate of the Boston improvised music scene.” Marshall has published two books, Waterwheel and Black President and other poems, and has one forthcoming, Chord. He has worked at bookstores, financial institutions, and at a hospital. He received his M.A. in English Literature from the University of Massachusetts Boston in 2005, and continues to study literary criticism and theory independently. He lives in Boston.

Visit Gordon's website.

September 21: John Landry and Maggie Cleveland 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 14th, the venue welcomes two excellent poets from the South Shore, John Landry and Maggie Cleveland.




John Landry is poet laureate of New Bedford. He has been a member of the Stone Soup community since the mid-1970's. He was recently celebrated in San Francisco, reading with Jack Hirschman, Sarah Menefee, and Neeli Cherkovski, all of whom have read at Stone Soup. Landry has served as a contributing editor for New College Review and the 50th anniversary anthology of Beatitude in San Francisco. He taught for several years at UMass Dartmouth and Bristol Community College. He is published internationally and has read across the US, including at the Library of Congress in 1986 at the request of Gwendolyn Brooks. His books ROAD DOES NOT END and WHALEOPOLIS: Orpheus in Whaletown will be published in 2010.




Maggie Cleveland looks for omens and wears her heartbreak like jewels in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, where she works as a grant writer and lives as a proud mama of two fierce little girls. She is the director of the New Bedford-based Whaling City Review LIVE poetry series, and will be coordinating the southeast regional kickoff event for the 2009 Massachusetts Poetry Festival. Maggie was the co-founder of the Baker Books Poetry Series, which she hosted from 1995-2000. She is the author of The Kids Ate My Homework: A New Bedford Area Resource Guide for Adult Students with Children (2008), and was recently published in the Newport Review (http://www.newportreview.org) and the journal …like this. Maggie is currently pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing at Goddard College.

September 14: CD Collins 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 14th, we welcome CD Collins to our venue.

Kentucky native CD Collins follows the storytelling traditions of the South, both as a solo artist and when accompanied by musicians. As one of originators of the early ‘90s resurgence of spoken-word with live music, her work has been archived in the compact discs Kentucky Stories, Subtracting Down and Carousel Lounge. She has produced a short lyric documentary based entitled "Clean Coal Big Lie," which chronicles the catastrophic steps of mountaintop removal to retrieve Appalachian coal.

Collins’ fiction has appeared in numerous literary magazines including StoryQuarterly, Salamander, Phoebe and The Pennsylvania Review. Her poetry collection, Self Portrait with Severed Head, was released by Ibbetson Press in March 2009. Her collection of short stories Blue Land was released by Polyho Press in June 2009. One of the stories in this collection was nominated for a 2009 Pushcart prize.

Visit CD Collins' website.

Elizabeth Szewczyk Rescheduled

Due to illness, Elizabeth Szewczyk's reading was delayed to this Monday, the 24th. Come and hear.

Reminder

Welcome Margaret Young from Beverly tonight.

September 7: Tom Daley 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 7th, we celebrate Labor Day with another visit from poet and teacher Tom Daley.

Tom Daley teaches poetry writing at the Boston Center for Adult Education, the Online School of Poetry, Lexington Community Education, and privately. He has published poems in Harvard Review, Prairie Schooner, and elsewhere. He is the author of the play, “Every Broom and Bridget—Emily Dickinson and Her Servants,” which he will be presenting as a one-man show on Saturday, November 7, 2009 at the Chelmsford (MA) Public Library. For information on his writing workshops contact Tom at tom.daley2@verizon.net.

Visit Tom's page at the Online School of Poetry.

Reminder

Elizabeth Szewczyk Features Tonight, August 10th.

The Jack Powers Prize--A Press Release by Gordon Marshall

The Jack Powers prize is to be awarded annually, beginning in August 2009, to a poet who has made a distinguished contribution to stone soup Poets, through their commitment to the art of poetry, and the power, subtlety and quality of their work.

No publication is necessary; nor is submission of any written text required. Simple presence at Stone Soup, together with dedicated recitation, are the criteria.

The prize is named in honor of Stone Soup’s great founder, who has served the Boston and Cambridge communities as a mentor and champion of new, aspiring, and developing poets since 1971, which service, rendered unflaggingly and humbly, has defined Boston’s identity as a poetry town for four decades.

The prize is to be administered henceforth by Powers’ successor as Stone Soup leader Chad Parenteau, whose faithfulness to the former’s mission has assured that the city will remain a template and an exemplar to the national United States poetry scene.

A monetary sum in the amount of $100usd will accompany the distinction, to be funded by the proceeds of Gordon Marshall’s third published volume of poetry, Chord. This is in recognition of Powers’ and Parenteau’s support and advocacy of Marshall’s career as a poet.

August 31st: Al Gundy Returns

Photo by Walter Gundy

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 31st, open miker Al Gundy will return to Stone Soup to debut his latest poetic tale, "First King."

Al Gundy was born in Cambridge, MA, the trick-or-treating capital of the world. He co-wrote his first novel, "The Mystery of the Golden Watch", in 2nd grade, and has since written adventure stories starring frogs, pirates, and everyone in between.. At the age of ten, he created the legendary comic duo, Elo and Anson, whose adventures can be read on www.eloandanson.com. Most recently, he has taken upon himself an important task: informing the public of the greatest pirate who no one's ever heard of, Luc Le Reutte. Al would like to thank everyone who has enjoyed and supported his poetry, and would also like to give a special shout-out to his beloved place of work, The Gelato Cafe.

August 24th: Elizabeth Szewczyk 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 August 24th, our summer of visiting poets continues with Elizabeth Szewczyk, who was rescheduled from the 10th due to illness.

Elizabeth Szewczyk is the award-winning author of the book, This Becoming, (Big Table Publishing Co., 2009). She has published poems in Sanskrit, Crazylit, Chantarelle's Notebook, Shapes, and other poetry journals. She is an English teacher at Asnuntuck Community College in Enfield, CT, and the co-editor of the poetry journal, Freshwater. Elizabeth is a recipient of the Connecticut Celebration of Excellence award in writing and also the author of a memoir book, My Bags Were Always Packed. A sample poem follows below.


Migrant

Their parents picked all day---
tobacco, corn, wheat, apples,
until the sun set and their fingers
stained yellow, holes deep in layers of skin.

But the children…
Can you teach me how to write my name?
Show me how to tie my sneaker?
Give me money---you’re rich, you have a home.

And I, at sixteen, ran from them, never
looked back, afraid this disease
would sicken my father, my mother, me.
Afraid I would have to ask

white girls with clean red sneakers
to give me money for bread.

--Elizabeth Szewczyk


Click here for reviews of This Becoming.

August 17th: Margaret Young 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 August 17th, Beverly author and teacher Margaret Young has her first Stone Soup feature.

Margaret Young has worked as an actor, artist in residence, and art educator, and currently teaches at Endicott College. Her first collection of poems Willow from the Willow was published in 2002. She is seeking publishers for her second and third collections (Night Blue, Almond Town) and a book of essays about clothes and costumes. She has published widely in journals, most recently Stand, and The Endicott Review, and lives in Beverly with her husband and son.

Purchase her book, Willow from the Willow, from Amazon.

August 3rd: 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 3rd, The Highway poets make their annual visit to Stone Soup, celebrating Biker Poetry Month and the first anniversary of the publication of Rubber Side Down, the biker poet anthology. Below is only partial list of participants, as there are always announced and unannounced readers when the Highway Poets visit.



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.



Gypsypashn publishes in print and on the web regularly, she is well-known for her monthly column in New England's Motorcyclist Post. She and Colorado's Gypsyrose produce 'Biker Bits,' a daily Biker Rights e-zine. In 2004, Gypsypashn published A Samplng of Soul, a collection of poetry.

Purchase the Rubber Side Down anthology.

July 27th: Christopher Kain 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 27th, the reading series welcomes back popular open miker Christopher Kain.

Christopher Kain: "i found poetry at the Haymarket Cafe in Northampton while i was a junior at UMass in Amherst. after college, i moved to Cincinnati & read at Borders Books & Music as well as in the open folk mic at the Cincinnati Y. i moved to DC where i read at the Live Poets Society, took classes at the Writer's Center in Bethesda, MD, & was anthologized in the Federal Poet. due to dwindling funds, i returned home to the parents in CT & read at various open folk mics there. while working for Borders, i founded a six-month poetry workshop in Manchester, CT. i moved to Boston in 2002 & the first place i read was at the Out of the Blue Gallery. i became a regular at the Cantab for the next seven years & featured in various places in the Boston area. i finished a book of my poetry organized by the times of day called homefront. i contribute to a blog of writers determined to write 365 poems in 365 days. i am almost at poem #180 & am at least a month behind. i'm currently working on a book of poems titled Twentieth Century Limited, which will have 100 poems for the 100 years of the twentieth century. i can still be found giving my three minutes of work at the Cantab Lounge on Wednesday nights."

Click here for a poem by Christopher Kain from the latest Spoonful.

July 20th: LisaAnn LoBasso 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 20th, Stone Soup will be visited by well-traveled poetLisaAnn LoBasso.

Refusing to characterize her poetic style as either academic or performance, LisaAnn LoBasso considers herself most at home among artists. With over 20 years experience, she has produced countless readings and collaborative arts events, such as the Up Close, Let Loose Traveling Poets’ Reading Series, and Operation Soapbox, while still racking up her own credentials, including Poet Ambassador of Kern County in California, as well as appearances at venues and universities from West Coast to East. LisaAnn’s work has been lauded as both dynamic and boundary-breaking; dubbed a poetry minstrel by Las Vegas City Life Weekly, she has featured with diverse and noteworthy poets, such as Nicholas Roerich Prize winner Lee McCarthy, California Poet Laureate Al Young, and Paterson Award Winner Indran Amirthanayagam.

Twice nominated for California Poet Laureate 2008, she has two poetry books in print: In the Swollen a poetry collection (2003), and Oleander Milkshake, (2008). In her spare time, LisaAnn develops creative writing programs, theatre scripts, arts-education programs, and public arts installations with artists as far as England. She travels worldwide and recently just returned from living in India for three months. LisaAnn has worked closely with Gluck Award winner Frances Mconnel, National Book Award finalist and critically acclaimed author Susan Straight, and Pulitzer Prize nominee Maurya Simon.

Click here for a sample of her work.

July 13th: Dan Provost and Erin Reardon 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 July 13th, we welcome a double feature of poets and friends Dan Provost and Erin Reardon.



Dan Provost's poetry has been published throughout the small press for years. He has two chapbooks coming out this summer; The Southside of Agony published by New Polish Beat and a flipbook with the talented Aleathia Drehmer published by Tainted Coffee Press. He lives in Worcester where he is a college administrator at Assumption and an Assistant Football Coach at Millbury High School.



Erin Reardon is a poet. She has been published at Silenced Press, Hecale, the Neo-Lampshadian Outpost, Spoonful Quarterly, Parasitic, Zygote in My Coffee, Words Dance, Beat the Dust, Heroin Love Songs, Epic Rites and Gutter Eloquence Magazine. She has featured twice at Stone Soup, Boston’s Longest Running Poetry Series and has performed several open mics there and at The Cantab and The Lizard Lounge. She currently resides in Somerville, MA where she is often spotted bringing the funk.

July 6th: James O'Brien 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 6, local artist James O'Brien brings his performance piece, "Lizard Link," among other works, to our venue.

n three short decades, James O'Brien has lived lives as a traveling political folk singer, performance poet, journalist, film critic, and fictionist. From festival stages alongside Tanya Donelly, Juliana Hatfield, and Josh Ritter, to the pages of The Boston Globe - where he is currently a regular correspondent on municipal politics, health, wildlife, and the environment - O'Brien's writing spans medium and purpose. His poetry is generally focused on national identity, guilt, responsibility, and the psychology of the American artist and the American mind in the natural and supernatural landscape. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts.

Visit James' blog.

June 22: Karen Szklany Gault 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 22nd, we welcome Karen Gault with her first Stone Soup feature.

Karen Szklany Gault has been writing poetry since she attended Marist College (BA 1986). Her hometown is Hawthorne, New York, with family ties to the historic town of Sleepy Hollow. Her final year at Marist was spent studying at the University College, Galway in Ireland, with a three-week whirlwind tour of the European continent snuck in. From 1986-1988 she called Orange, California home, where she took classes in both the Music and Psychology departments at Chapman University. While studying there, she spent a week of cultural exchange with Mexican Students from the Universidad de la Ciudad de Mexico, partying and speaking with them in their native tongue. In 1996 she graduated from UMass Boston with a M.Ed. in Elementary Education. She co-taught Kindergarten and taught second grade, as well as serving as an historical interpreter at the Paul Revere House (where she met her husband, Edward Gault) and The Boston Tea Party Ship and Museum. She has a passion for the sea and maritime history and looks forward to publishing poetry and prose for the entertainment of young readers. Since 2004, when she delivered her daughter Cosette, she has been inspired to write more poetry and has been reading at Stone Soup, Open Bark, and Tapestry of Voices.

June 15: Paul Bamberger 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 15th, Stone Soup will be starting earlier as we introduce New Hampshire poet Paul Bamberger, who will be reading his longer poem "In This Land" and a selection of others.

Paul Bamberger holds an MFA degree in English from UMass/Amherst and teaches at Northern Essex Community College. He has contributed to Agenda and the North Essex Review. His first book, Eating is to Till the Earth, was published by Shore Publishing in 1972. His most recent book is Down by the River from Islington-bryer Press, which has received praise from Straus & Giroux Publishing founder Jonathan Galassi.

Click here for samples of Paul Bamberger's work.

June 8th: Mignon Ariel King 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 8th, we feature Mignon Ariel King, who will be featuring her first poetry collection courtesy of Ibbetson Street Press.

Mignon Ariel King is a lifelong resident of greater Boston, Massachusetts. She is author of the autobiographical poetry collection THE WOODS HAVE WORDS (Ibbetson Street Press, 2009). Ms. King has been reading at open-mics since 1998. An alumna of Simmons College and a former English instructor, she edits the online journals MoJo! and U.M.Ph.!

Visit King's MoJo.

June 1st: Derek JG Williams 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 1st, we begin the month featuring young local poet Derek JG Williams, who will be debuting his latest CD.

Derek JG Williams grew up in Connecticut and graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in English from the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in the spring of 2004. He has featured at numerous venues around New England and New York. He recently released a full length CD of poetry and music titled A Chorus of Cities, his work bridges the gap between academia and performance. He is 26.

Visit Derek JG Williams' Myspace page.

Stone Soup Tonight

Tonight, May 25th, we conclude our month-long 38th anniversary celebration and feature Walter Howard.

Click the YouTube links below for samples of Walter's work.

May 25th: Walter Howard Features


Photos 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 May 25th, Stone Soup caps the month long celebration of its 38th anniversary as a poetry venue with a feature of Walter Howard, a longtime fixture in the poetry scene and the open miker's open miker.

Walter Howard is a retired history professor, English teacher, and journalist. He is a member of the Longfellow Society, Natick Writers, and the Wayland Poetry Workshop. His poems have appeared in Motive, Longfellow Journal, Ibbetson Street Press, Journal of Modern Writing, Endicott Review, and others.

Stone Soup Reminder

Come see Coleen T. Houlihan tonight.

Click below for a sample of her work from a past open mike.

Spoonful Issue #3 Is Up

After a long delay, we are pleased to release issue # 3 of Spoonful, an online journal that serves as an ongoing tribute to the Stone Soup Poetry scene.

Issue # 3 can now be read here.

Featuring:

OUR FIRST VIDEO/TEXT POETRY SEGMENT WITH WILLIAM J. BARNUM.

POEMS BY:

Mike Amado, William J. Barnum, Yonit Bousany, Anne Brudevold, Susan Deer Cloud, Marc D. Goldfinger, Paul Hapenny, Gary Hicks, Coleen T. Houlihan, Christopher Kain, Lawrence Kessenich, Linda Lerner, Lyn Lifshin, Gordon Marshall, Gloria Monaghan, Shannon O'Connor, Chad Parenteau, Jack Powers, and Annie Wyndham.


ARTWORK BY:
James Conant, Edward S. Gault, Bill Perrault, Su Red, Melissa Shook, Luis L. Tijerina, and Cindy Williams.

Thank you,

Chad Parenteau
Lynne Sticklor

May 18th: Coleen T. Houlihan 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 Monday, May 18th, we continue our 38th anniversary celebration month with Coleen Houlihan, who will be performing again with Paul Kusinitz on Middle Eastern drum.

Coleen T. Houlihan is a novelist and poet who studiedwriting at Wellesley College. She has featured at Stone Soup, Best Sellers, the Sherman Cafe and Walden Poetry Series and published poetry in The Alewife, The Wilderness House Literary Review, Ibbetson Street Press, Spare Change and abroad. Her poetry could bedescribed as sensual, magical, light and dark, with images so vivid you can lose yourself in herhauntingly beautiful world. She has released twochapbooks, the most recent titled, This Human Heart, acollection of eight poems spanning several years.

Click here to visit Coleen's web site.

May 11th: Doug Holder and Marc Goldfinger 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 Monday, May 11th, Stone Soup continues to celebrate its 38th anniversary with poet/editors Doug Holder and Marc Goldfinger.





Doug Holder was born in Manhattan, N.Y. 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 50 books of poetry of local and national poets and 25 issues of the literary journal Ibbetson Street. Holder's own articles and poetry have appeared in several anthologies including Inside the Outside: An Anthology of Avant-Garde American Poets (Presa Press) Greatest Hits. His collection, The Man In The Booth In The Midtown Tunnel was released in the summer of 2008 by the Cervena Barva Press.





Marc D. Goldfinger has been published by Ibbetson Street Press, The Aurorean, Pegasus, The Boston Poet, Clamor magazine, Earth First! and the Crooked River Press among others. He is currently the poetry editor of Spare Change News, a paper put out for the benefit of homeless people. He is a counselor for people with Substance Use Disorders and some of his work has been used to augment courses at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. His newest works include Essays On Major Mental Illness with a Co-Occurring Substance Use Disorder or What Came First: The Chicken or The White Horse.

May 4th: Carol Weston and Dan Shanahan Celebrate Stone Soup's 38th Anniversary

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, May 4th, Stone Soup will have the first of a month of features intended to celebrate it's 38th year as a weekly poetry venue. The first features will be Carol Weston and Dan Shanahan, in addition to several musical guests.



Photo by Bill Perrault

Carol Weston has featured many times with Stone Soup. She read alongside Jack Powers and Allen Ginsberg in 1973 in the former Charles Street Universalist Church. In the Winter of 1983, she was asked by Powers to feature in Boston's City Hall along with John Wieners. Her poetry has been published in The Farleigh Literary Review, Bomb, Stone Soup Anthology 2003, Spoonful and The Blind See Only This World.



Dan Shanahan was reading and selling his poems to passers-bye on Beacon Hill in 1969 when he met Jack Powers. Jack was holding readings at the Old West Church then and soon after Jack initiated the weekly Stone Soup readings in his gallery on Cambridge Street. Dan left Boston for Alaska in 1972 where he lived for six years.

Stone Soup published The Alaska Poems, his first book of poems, in 1995, with assistance of a Massachusetts Cultural Council grant. In 1997 his second collection, Crystal Lake, was published. Crystal Lake reflects on the immanent present and historical past of a mill pond owned by Giles and Martha Corey, two victims of the Salem witch trials of the seventeenth century.

In 2003, Dan produced an audio book on CD entitled The Lotus Seed Poems, a suite of poems recollecting his experience of living with a meditation master whom he lived with in India. He is currently working on two new collections. The Shipyard Cantos recounts his work as a welder in the Quincy Shipyards in the late 1960s. The Ground We Stand On contemplates his early life in Holyoke, MA once known as the “paper city of world.” His work is a contemplation on where the spiritual and material converge on the landscape of character, and the character of landscape.

He is grateful for the tireless generosity of Jack Powers, whose lifetime has been dedicated to nurturing the poets and artists of Boston and beyond.

Upcoming Stone Soup Features

May 4th: Carol Weston and Dan Shanahan with musical guests.

May 11th: Author/Editors Doug Holder and Marc Goldfinger.

May 18th: The return of Coleen Houlihan.

May 25th: The poet's poet Walter Howard.

Be at Stone Soup Tonight

For the contraversial Lee Litif and Chris Robbins.

Reminder

Tonight, Tony Brown and Steve Cafaro feature.

Reminder: National Poetry Month Begins Tonight

Sue Savoy Features.

Reminder, March 30, 2009

G Emil Reutter and Vincent Quatroche Feature.

Reminder: Ian Thal Tonight

Click here for more info.

Features for National Poetry Month, 2009

April 6th: Sue Savoy returns to our venue.

April 13th: Poetry and music with Tony Brown and Steve Cafaro.

April 20th: The Fifth and Sixth Horsemen of The Apocalypse: Lee Letif and Chris Robbins return.

April 27th: Patrick Shaughnessy has his first feature outside of Lowell.

April 27th: Patrick Shaughnessy 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 April 27th,we close National Poetry month with Patrick Shaughnessy, a poet who will have his first feature outside his hometown of Lowell.

A native of Lowell Mass., Patrick S. began performing poetry in spring of 2007 at the Lowell Poetry Slam. Local poets Zean Dunbar and Anthony Febo invited him on a carpool to the Cantab Lounge in August of that year; since then, the Cantab Lounge has been his main inspiration as a writer and performer of poetry. His poetry fluctuates between clever wordplay and emotional open wounds, sometimes veering too much into the former when he intends the latter. He cites as influences rock band They Might Be Giants, comic book writer Steve Gerber, multi-media writer Douglas Adams, and essayist Jorge Luis Borges (the last mostly via Penguin Press translations).

Patrick has no traditional poetic accolades to list. He won a campus-wide talent show at UMass Lowell in spring of 2008, beating orchestras, singer-songwriters, and dance crews. Ryk McIntyre occasionally covers his poems. At the first Massachusetts Poetry Festival, Regie Gibson told him to shave his back hair (Patrick's back hair, not Regie's). He has not yet been arrested for performing, but did once perform his way into a police standoff with dozens of college students watching. Patrick's next challenge as a performer is not strictly poetic, but will have poetry among its media. When he has moved out of Lowell and into the immediate Boston area, he plans to explore a series of personas in a bizarre and difficult-to-explain project mysteriously code-named 12GIM.

Patrick will be debuting a new chapbook, I Use Defense Mechanism as a Humor. He will also have his previous chapbook, Don't Laugh at My Hilarious Pain, on hand. It is likely he will be crossdressed; it is very okay to notice this.

April 19th: Lee Litif and Chris Robbins Return

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 20th, Stone Soup will feature the return of Lee Litif and Chris Robbins, the Fifth and Sixth Horsemen of The Apocalypse. Due to the extreme subject matter of both poets, this show will not be aired on Cambridge or Lowell public access, and large portions of the show will not be able to be uploaded on YouTube. Therefore, the show is best viewed live.



Photo by Bill Perrault


The most infamous open miker at the venue. Lee Litif has been a regular contribution to the Stone Soup open mike since 1991. He's the author of several chapbooks, including Unpatriotic Flags and Abominating White Houses, Reckless Paella and Defecating Republicans, and Ultrasonic Amplifiers and Marshall Amps/Genital Wart Puking Rednecks. He's been described as "The love child of Gallagher and Larry Fischer with G.G. Allin as midwife" by Chad Parenteau and "the orgasm that never quite made it," by Walter Howard.



Photo by Bill Perrault

If you can imagine Alice Walker dating Jim Morrison and their kid having George Carlin and John Valby for teachers, you’d have a fair picture of Chris Robbins. His darker side is a cross between “Animal Farm” and “Animal House”. Ever since he discovered that he has Asperger’s Syndrome, he quit writing feminist poems in favor of writing autistic ones because he believes that he’ll become more relevant that way. In other words, just like former Boston Red Sox player Manny Ramirez joining the Los Angeles Dodgers, Chris is playing on a different team now, but he’s still playing the same game.

April 13th: Tony Brown and Steve Cafaro 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 April 13th, we welcome the long-anticipated performance of poetry and music from Tony Brown and Steve Cafaro.

A veteran of both page and stage in the poetry world, Tony Brown has been publishing and reading his work in journals and on stages around the US for over thirty years. His work has appeared in anthologies including A Generation Defining Itself, from MPW Press; Look, Up In the Sky! and Appleseeds, both from Sacred Fools Press; From Page To Stage, The Wordsmith Press (all US); and 100 Poets Against the War, from Salt Publishing (UK). Brown¹s work has also appeared in many journals (among them: Riverwalk Journal, The Ballard Street Poetry Journal, nthposition, The Worcester Review, The Furnace Review, New Verse News, The November Third Club, Spindle, Breath And Shadow, Home Planet News, and World Literature Today). He was also named a "Legend of Slam" at the 2006 National Poetry Slam in Austin, TX.
A three-time Pushcart Prize nominee, he is also the author of twelve chapbooks and two CDs of his work, the latter with his music and poetry project, Duende. He is a regular columnist for gotpoetry.com and runs a reading series in Providence, RI. A chapbook of recent poems, FLOOD, will be coming shortly from Pudding House Publications (Columbus, OH).

At the tender age of 21, Steve Cafaro has already begun making his mark in a variety of musical settings. A skilled and talented musician, Faro has been the bassist for popular RI based bands 5 Flavor Discount and Retro Active, and has played guitar and bass for many special events over the years. His work with Tony in Duende has been featured on the indiefeed.com performance poetry Website many times, and Duende has performed up and down the East Coast over the last few years. With Duende, he's released two CDs (Jim's Fall and americanized) and is currently working on a third; he's also released two CDs of his own solo work. Steve currently lives in his hometown of Coventry, RI.

Visit Tony Brown's MySpace page for audio samples.

April 6th: Sue Savoy 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 6th, Stone Soup begins National Poetry Month with the return of Sue Savoy. You are recommended to get there early and buy her recently printed chapbooks.

Sue Savoy always hated poetry and is not sure what she writes actually is poetry. She can't bring herself to refer to herself as a poet, but she's been a regular at the Cantab venue for years and has read and featured at numerous venues including the Cantab and Tapestry of Voices.

Reminder

Pam Rosenblatt features tonight, March 16th.

March 30th: G Emil Reutter and Vincent Quatroche 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 30th, Stone Soup ends the month with visiting poets G Emil Reutter and Vincent Quatroche.

G Emil Reutter is an author/poet from Philadelphia Pennsylvania. Several collections of his short fiction and poetry have been published in addition to three collections of poetry. Most recently his selected poetry collection titled Blue Collar Poet was released in February 2009.

Vincent Quatroche is from Fredonia New York and is a Professor at Fredonia State University. Quatroche has released two CD’S of his work at Sleeping Giant Records and has published several full length collections of his poetry and prose. Quatroche was recently nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

Visit Reutter's website.

Visit Quatroche's website.

March 23rd: Ian Thal Returns


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 March 23rd, Ian Thal returns to Stone Soup for his first solo feature in five years. Thal will be performing his short, one-man play, Arlecchino Am Ravenous, a blend of literary satire and physical comedy, in which he plays Arlecchino, a clown character whose origins trace at least as far back as the masked commedia dell’arte performances of the Italian renaissance. In Arlecchino Am Ravenous, the title character is so driven by hunger, as to eat flies, his fingers, and even his own stomach, and even ravages both heaven above and hell below in search of a meal. The piece developed out of a series of improvisations inspired by Thal’s reading of Italian Nobel-Laureate, Dario Fo.

Ian Thal has performed with Bread and Puppet Theatre, was a founding member of Cosmic Spelunker Theater and frequently performs with the commedia dell’arte troupe, i Sebastiani. He has taught mime and commedia at The Huntington Theatre, The Stoneham Theatre, and Open Air Circus. His poetry has appeared in such magazines as BOOM! For Real, Flash!Point, Poesy, Ibbetson Street Press, and Crooked River Press and the anthologies Becoming Fire: Spiritual Writings from Rising Generations (Andover, MA: Andover-Newton Publications), Tokens: Contemporary Poetry of the Subway (New York: P & Q Press.) and Out of the Blue Writers Unite, and the forthcoming Crude: Poetry After the Age of Oil (Columbus, OH: Pudding House Press) and has been exhibited at Boston City Hall and incorporated into a public installation at the 2003 Boston Cyberarts Festival. His blog about his experiences with Bread and Puppet Theatre was recently placed on the reading list for a course at Royal Holloway, University of London. Thal studied mime from James Van Looy, with whom he co-founded Cosmic Spelunker Theater.

Thal recently composed a five-act play, Total War, which he will be presenting as a staged reading at Outpost 186 in Cambridge on April 26th.