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 As one of originators of the early ‘90s resurgence of spoken-word with live music, her work has been archived in the compact discs Kentucky Stories, Subtracting Down and Carousel Lounge.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.