12/28/18

January 3: Stone Soup's Open Mic Returns in 2019

 
Stone Soup meets every Thursday from 6:30 to 8:30 on 138 Tremont Street in St. Paul's Cathedral's Lawrence room (past the receptionist area after entering the cathedral on the right-side entrance). On January 3, Stone Soup returns for another open mic, followed by a poetry workshop.

If you want work workshopped, please bring a poem of any form and style no more than 1-2 pages. Bring copies of your poem to share. If you have trouble printing your work, you can email it to  chadpoetforhire@yahoo.com by Thursday morning.


12/27/18

December 27: No Stone Soup


St. Paul's Cathedral is closed for the holidays. Stone Soup will resume next Thursday on January 3. Stay tuned for no announcements.

12/17/18

December 20: Stone Soup's FINAL Open Mic and Optional Poetry Workshop for 2018

 
Stone Soup meets every Thursday from 6:30 to 8:30 on 138 Tremont Street in St. Paul's Cathedral's Lawrence room (past the receptionist area after entering the cathedral on the right-side entrance). On December 20, Stone Soup returns for the final open mic of 2018 before St. Paul's closes it's doors due to it's holiday work. There promises to be several new and returning voices for this night, so please try to make it down.

If you want work workshopped, please bring a poem of any form and style no more than 1-2 pages. Bring copies of your poem to share. If you have trouble printing your work, you can email it to  chadpoetforhire@yahoo.com by Thursday morning.


12/10/18

December 13: Stone Soup Open Mic and Optional Poetry Workshop

 
Stone Soup meets every Thursday from 6:30 to 8:30 on 138 Tremont Street in St. Paul's Cathedral's Lawrence room (past the receptionist area after entering the cathedral on the right-side entrance). On December 13, Stone Soup returns for another open mic, followed by a poetry workshop.

If you want work workshopped, please bring a poem of any form and style no more than 1-2 pages. Bring copies of your poem to share. If you have trouble printing your work, you can email it to  chadpoetforhire@yahoo.com by Thursday morning.


12/3/18

Jan Rowe and James Van Looy to Receive the 2018 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.

For 2018 we have selected Jan Roe and James Van Looy, without whom Stone Soup may have been further delayed (if not indefinitely) in finding a new home. We are grateful for their ongoing contributions.

We hope you will be able to attend the full night of celebration at Stone Soup this Thursday on December 6, when they'll be presented their prize by Gordon Marshall, who is also that night's featured poet.

11/29/18

December 6: Gordon Marshall to Feature and Present the Jack Powers Stone Soup Savor Poetry Prize



Stone Soup meets every Thursday from 6:30 to 8:30 on 138 Tremont Street in St. Paul's Cathedral's Lawrence room (past the receptionist area after entering the cathedral on the right-side entrance). On December 6, Gordon Marshall returns to not only feature but present the 2018 Jack Powers Stone Soup Savor Poetry Prize.

Gordon Marshall recently published his fortieth book, Here Before. He is a speed poet, writing as quickly as possible, so there is no censorship, and what occurs on the page is what occurs in his mind. His poetry draws much from surrealism and Romanticism, with subject matter taken from music, the body, nature, and urban experience. He is also a journalist and music critic, having performed over forty interviews with national jazz musicians. He has a blog, The Flash Boston (theflashboston.com). He lives in Boston.
 

11/28/18

November 29: Stone Soup Open Mic and Optional Poetry Workshop

 
Stone Soup meets every Thursday from 6:30 to 8:30 on 138 Tremont Street in St. Paul's Cathedral's Lawrence room (past the receptionist area after entering the cathedral on the right-side entrance). On November 29, Stone Soup returns for another open mic, followed by a poetry workshop.

If you want work workshopped, please bring a poem of any form and style no more than 1-2 pages. Bring copies of your poem to share. If you have trouble printing your work, you can email it to  chadpoetforhire@yahoo.com by Thursday morning.


11/19/18

This Week: NO STONE SOUP


Due to the Thanksgiving Holiday, there will be no Stone Soup on Thursday or any other day this week. We look forward to seeing you all again on November 29.


11/15/18

November 15: Stone Soup Open Mic and Optional Poetry Workshop

 
Stone Soup meets every Thursday from 6:30 to 8:30 on 138 Tremont Street in St. Paul's Cathedral's Lawrence room (past the receptionist area after entering the cathedral on the right-side entrance). On November 15, Stone Soup returns for another open mic, followed by a poetry workshop.

If you want work workshopped, please bring a poem of any form and style no more than 1-2 pages. Bring copies of your poem to share. If you have trouble printing your work, you can email it to  chadpoetforhire@yahoo.com by Thursday morning.


11/5/18

November 8: Stone Soup Open Mic and Optional Poetry Workshop

 
Stone Soup meets every Thursday from 6:30 to 8:30 on 138 Tremont Street in St. Paul's Cathedral's Lawrence room (past the receptionist area after entering the cathedral on the right-side entrance). On November 8, Stone Soup returns for another open mic, followed by a poetry workshop.

If you want work workshopped, please bring a poem of any form and style no more than 1-2 pages. Bring copies of your poem to share. If you have trouble printing your work, you can email it to  chadpoetforhire@yahoo.com by Thursday morning.


10/31/18

November 1: Stone Soup Open Mic and Optional Poetry Workshop

 
Stone Soup meets every Thursday from 6:30 to 8:30 on 138 Tremont Street in St. Paul's Cathedral's Lawrence room (past the receptionist area after entering the cathedral on the right-side entrance). On November 1, Stone Soup returns for another open mic, followed by a poetry workshop.

If you want work workshopped before the open mic, please bring a poem of any form and style no more than 1-2 pages. Bring copies of your poem to share. If you have trouble printing your work, you can email it to  chadpoetforhire@yahoo.com by Thursday morning.


10/23/18

October 25: Stone Soup Open Mic and Optional Poetry Workshop

 
Stone Soup meets every Thursday from 6:30 to 8:30 on 138 Tremont Street in St. Paul's Cathedral's Lawrence room (past the receptionist area after entering the cathedral on the right-side entrance). On October 25, Stone Soup returns for another open mic, followed by a poetry workshop.

If you want work workshopped before the open mic, please bring a poem of any form and style no more than 1-2 pages. Bring copies of your poem to share. If you have trouble printing your work, you can email it to  chadpoetforhire@yahoo.com by Thursday morning.


10/15/18

October 18: Stone Soup Open Mic and Poetry Workshop

 
Stone Soup meets every Thursday from 6:30 to 8:30 on 138 Tremont Street in St. Paul's Cathedral's Lawrence room (past the receptionist area after entering the cathedral on the right-side entrance). On October 18, Stone Soup returns for another open mic, followed by a poetry workshop.

For the workshop, 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 other's work. If you have trouble printing your work, you can email it to me before Thursday Afternoon to chadpoetforhire@yahoo.com

10/10/18

October 11: Stone Soup Open Mic


Stone Soup meets every Thursday from 6:30 to 8:30 on 138 Tremont Street in St. Paul's Cathedral's Lawrence room (past the receptionist area after entering the cathedral on the right-side entrance). On October 4, Stone Soup returns for another all-open mic night.

9/30/18

October 4: Stone Soup Open Mic


Stone Soup meets every Thursday from 6:30 to 8:30 on 138 Tremont Street in St. Paul's Cathedral's Lawrence room (past the receptionist area after entering the cathedral on the right-side entrance). On October 4, Stone Soup returns for another all-open mic night.

9/24/18

September 27: Stone Soup Open Mic


Stone Soup meets every Thursday from 6:30 to 8:30 on 138 Tremont Street in St. Paul's Cathedral's Lawrence room (past the receptionist area after entering the cathedral on the right-side entrance). On September 27, Stone Soup returns for another all-open mic night.




9/17/18

Stonecoast Review #9 Release Party at The Dudley Cafe


Boston's weekly Stone Soup Poetry series and The University of Southern Maine's Stonecoast Review join forces in Roxbury's beloved Dudley Café for the release party of the Journal’s  9th issue on Saturday, October 27. 

The event will include an open mic hosted by Stone Soup Poetry’s Chad Parenteau and a selection of Stonecoast contributors introduced by Lo Galluccio, poet, memoirist, and former Cambridge Poet Populist who is currently enrolled in the university's MFA program.

Features listed will include Skoot Mosby, a Boston-based performance poet, as well as issue 9 contributor Lee Karhs (creative non-fiction) and Stonecoast Managing Editor Emily Bernhard (fiction).

Admission is free. There will be delicious food available from the Café’s kitchen. The event will go from 7:00 to 9:30 pm. Copies of the Review will be on hand for sale. All are welcome!

The Café is located at 45 Warren Street in Roxbury Center and is easily accessible via numerous buses including the #1 bus in Cambridge.

Skoot Mosby 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 3x Semi finalist National Slam Team. Skoot is currently a member of the Compassionate Poets and an assistant facilitator for Writers Without Margins.

Lee Kahrs is the managing editor of The Other Paper, a weekly community newspaper in South Burlington, Vt. with a loyal following and a circulation of 10,400. She is a July 2018graduate of the University of Southern Maine’s Stonecoast MFA program, majoring in creative nonfiction. Lee’s essays have appeared in Idol Talk: Women Writers on the Teenage Infatuations That Changed Their Lives, and the July 2018 issue of The Stonecoast Review. She has completed a collection of essays titled Hair on Fire: Essays From a Life, detailing her life as a 9/11 refugee and her move to domestic life in Vermont. She is also working on a TV show, and a nonfiction book about the dearth of Butch lesbian characters in modern literature, film and television. Lee is currently seeking representation.

Emily Bernhard has written, produced, and directed documentaries that have appeared on National Geographic, PBS, History, NOVA scienceNow!, and American Public Television. She has led documentary expeditions to the Britannic at the bottom of the Aegean Sea, the Lighthouse of Alexandria in the Mediterranean, Loch Ness in Scotland and the Pyramids in Egypt. She has captured intimate moments of life lived with autism and Parkinson’s and recreated a Civil War Siege at Petersburg, Virginia. Her documentaries have won a number of awards including two Cine Golden Eagles, a Science Journalists Award and has won four regional Emmys®. She is currently at work on her first novel and halfway through her MFA program at Stonecoast.

September 20: Deborah M. Priestly Features at Stone Soup


Stone Soup meets every Thursday from 6:30 to 8:30 on 138 Tremont Street in St. Paul's Cathedral's Lawrence room (past the receptionist area after entering the cathedral on the right-side entrance). On September 20, we welcome the return of Deb Priestly.

Deborah M. Priestly is co-founder of the Out of the Blue Art Gallery formerly located in Cambridge, Masssachusetts with Tom Tipton. For years, she ran the gallery's Saturday Night reading series called Open Bark. Her publication credits include Ibbetson Street, Spare Change, Poesy, Fresh!, Boston Poet, The Boston Herald, The Boston Girl Guide and Out of the Blue Writers Unite (which she also co-edited). She is the author of The Woman Has A Voice from Ibbetson Street Press, an eclectic combination of healing poetry and images of women in transition.

9/3/18

September 13: Meg Smith Features at Stone Soup


Stone Soup meets every Thursday from 6:30 to 8:30 on 138 Tremont Street in St. Paul's Cathedral's Lawrence room (past the receptionist area after entering the cathedral on the right-side entrance). On September13, Stone Soup returns for another open mic and the long-awaited feature of Meg Smith.

Meg Smith is a poet, journalist, dancer and events producer living in Lowell, Mass. In addition to Poetry Bay, her poems have appeared in The Cafe Review, The Offering, Astropoetica, Illumen, Dreams & Nightmares, the Dwarf Stars anthology of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association and many more. She is a past board member of Lowell Celebrates Kerouac! and produces the Edgar Allan Poe Show, honoring Poe's presence in Lowell, Mass. 

Dear Deepest Ghost is the second book of poetry by Meg Smith. It includes new works as well as poems previously published in Pudding, Poetry Bay, The Cafe Review, Dreams & Nightmares, the Dwarf Stars Anthology of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association, and many more.

8/27/18

September 6: K. Peddlar Bridges Returns to Stone Soup

Photo by Tammy  Murawski

Stone Soup meets every Thursday from 6:30 to 8:30 on 138 Tremont Street in St. Paul's Cathedral's Lawrence room (past the receptionist area after entering the cathedral on the right-side entrance). On September 6, Stone Soup kicks off the new month with an open mic and the return of  K. Peddlar Bridges as feature. 

K. Peddlar Bridges is the Bikerpoet/Roadpoet, and has ridden for years. At present he owns a black 2003 Harley XLH. He has written a number of books and chap books, the most resent being Laconia 1916, The Beginning and Laconia, Chasing The Road. He has produced over 100 cable TV shows, including "The Roadpoets Studio," "The Roadpoets Café’" and "The Laconia and Roadpoets Studio." He and his co-producer Tammy Mauraski recently won a national award for his Elephant’s Gaveyard of Tin video. 

He is a long-time columnist for the Connecticut Cruise News and The New York Cruise News. Newspaper He is the Former Poet Laureate of the Old Connecticut Bikeweek, and Don Clady’s Super Sunday Expo ®. He currently serves as the Laconia Motorcycle Week Poet Laureate and Central Archivist.

Peddlar also holds a double degree from The Harvard Extension School. His goals are to ride more miles, write more books, shoot more videos and to build another Harley. 

August 30: Stone Soup Open Mic at Its New Home


In 1971, Stone Soup started in the Beacon Hill area of Boston. For much of its forty-seven years of existence, Stone Soup has existed outside of Boston. In May, we returned to Boston to celebrate our anniversary. Join us August 30, from  6:30-8:30 for our regular open mic at St. Paul's Cathedral. Located outside from the Park Street T stop, we will be meeting in the cathedral's Lawrence room, which is next to the receptionist area after entering the cathedral on the right-sided entrance.

Special thanks to James Van Looy and Jan Rowe, who helped make this possible.

8/20/18

August 23: Stone Soup Open Mic at Its New Home


In 1971, Stone Soup started in the Beacon Hill area of Boston. For much of its forty-seven years of existence, Stone Soup has existed outside of Boston. In May, we returned to Boston to celebrate our anniversary. Join us August 23, from  6:30-8:30 for our regular open mic. Located outside from the Park Street T stop, we will be meeting in the cathedral's Lawrence room, which is next to the receptionist area after entering the cathedral on the right-sided entrance.

Special thanks to James Van Looy and Jan Rowe, who helped make this possible.

8/16/18

August 16: Stone Soup Open Mic at Its New Home


In 1971, Stone Soup started in the Beacon Hill area of Boston. For much of its forty-seven years of existence, Stone Soup has existed outside of Boston. In May, we returned to Boston to celebrate our anniversary. Join us August 16, from  6:30-8:30 for our regular open mic. Located outside from the Park Street T stop, we will be meeting in the cathedral's Lawrence room, which is next to the receptionist area after entering the cathedral on the right-sided entrance.

Special thanks to James Van Looy and Jan Rowe, who helped make this possible.


8/8/18

August 9: Stone Soup Open Mic at Its New Home


In 1971, Stone Soup started in the Beacon Hill area of Boston. For much of its forty-seven years of existence, Stone Soup has existed outside of Boston. In May, we returned to Boston to celebrate our anniversary. Join us August 9, from  6:30-8:30 for our regular open mic. Located outside from the Park Street T stop, we will be meeting in the cathedral's Lawrence room, which is next to the receptionist area after entering the cathedral on the right-sided entrance.

Special thanks to James Van Looy and Jan Rowe, who helped make this possible.


8/1/18

August 2: Stone Soup Open Mic at Its New Home


In 1971, Stone Soup started in the Beacon Hill area of Boston. For much of its forty-seven years of existence, Stone Soup has existed outside of Boston. In May, we returned to Boston to celebrate our anniversary. Join us August 2, from  6:30-8:30 for our regular open mic. Located outside from the Park Street T stop, we will be meeting in the cathedral's Lawrence room, which is next to the receptionist area after entering the cathedral on the right-sided entrance.

Special thanks to James Van Looy and Jan Rowe, who helped make this possible.


7/23/18

July 26 Stone Soup Open Mic at Its New Home


In 1971, Stone Soup started in the Beacon Hill area of Boston. For much of its forty-seven years of existence, Stone Soup has existed outside of Boston. In May, we returned to Boston to celebrate our anniversary. Join us July 26, from  6:30-8:30 for our regular open mic. Located outside from the Park Street T stop, we will be meeting in the cathedral's Lawrence room, which is next to the receptionist area after entering the cathedral on the right-sided entrance.

Special thanks to James Van Looy and Jan Rowe, who helped make this possible.


7/14/18

July 19 Stone Soup Open Mic at It's New Home


In 1971, Stone Soup started in the Beacon Hill area of Boston. For much of its forty-seven years of existence, Stone Soup has existed outside of Boston. In May, we returned to Boston to celebrate our anniversary. Join us tonight, July 19, from  6:30-8:30 for our regular open mic. Located outside from the Park Street T stop, we will be meeting in the cathedral's Lawrence room, which is next to the receptionist area after entering the cathedral on the right-sided entrance.

Special thanks to James Van Looy and Jan Rowe, who helped make this possible.


7/12/18

July 12: Stone Soup Open Mic at It's New Home


In 1971, Stone Soup started in the Beacon Hill area of Boston. For much of its forty-seven years of existence, Stone Soup has existed outside of Boston. In May, we returned to Boston to celebrate our anniversary. Join us tonight, July 12, from  6:30-8:30 for our regular open mic. Located outside from the Park Street T stop, we will be meeting in the cathedral's Lawrence room, which is next to the receptionist area after entering the cathedral on the right-sided entrance.

Special thanks to James Van Looy and Jan Rowe, who helped make this possible.


6/25/18

June 28: Stone Soup Open Mic at It's New Home



In 1971, Stone Soup started in the Beacon Hill area of Boston. For much of its forty-seven years of existence, Stone Soup has existed outside of Boston. In May, we returned to Boston to celebrate our anniversary. Join us tonight, June 28, from  6:30-8:30 for our regular open mic. Located outside from the Park Street T stop, we will be meeting in the cathedral's Lawrence room, which is next to the receptionist area after entering the cathedral on the right-sided entrance.

Special thanks to James Van Looy and Jan Rowe, who helped make this possible.


6/21/18

June 21: Stone Soup Open Mic at It's New Home


In 1971, Stone Soup started in the Beacon Hill area of Boston. For much of its forty-seven years of existence, Stone Soup has existed outside of Boston. In May, we returned to Boston to celebrate our anniversary. Join us tonight, June 21, from  6:30-8:30 for our regular open mic. Located outside from the Park Street T stop, we will be meeting in the cathedral's Lawrence room, which is next to the receptionist area after entering the cathedral on the right-sided entrance.

Special thanks to James Van Looy and Jan Rowe, who helped make this possible.



 

6/13/18

June 14: Stone Soup Open Mic at It's New Home


In 1971, Stone Soup started in the Beacon Hill area of Boston. For much of its forty-seven years of existence, Stone Soup has existed outside of Boston. In May, we returned to Boston to celebrate our anniversary. Join us tonight, June 14, from  6:30-8:30 for our regular open mic. Located outside from the Park Street T stop, we will be meeting in the cathedral's Lawrence room, which is next to the receptionist area after entering the cathedral on the right-sided entrance.

Special thanks to James Van Looy and Jan Rowe, who helped make this possible.



 

6/7/18

June 7: Stone Soup Open Mic at It's New Home


In 1971, Stone Soup started in the Beacon Hill area of Boston. For much of its forty-seven years of existence, Stone Soup has existed outside of Boston. In May, we returned to Boston to celebrate our anniversary. Join us tonight, June 7, from  6:30-8:30 for our regular open mic. Located outside from the Park Street T stop, we will be meeting in the cathedral's Lawrence room, which is next to the receptionist area after entering the cathedral on the right-sided entrance.

Special thanks to James Van Looy and Jan Rowe, who helped make this possible.



 

5/27/18

May 31: Julia Carlson and Lee Varon Feature




In 1971, Stone Soup started in the Beacon Hill area of Boston. For much of its forty-seven years of existence, Stone Soup has existed outside of Boston. This month we returned to Boston to celebrate our anniversary. From this week forward, we will be meeting every Thursday from 6:30 to 8:30 at St. Paul's Cathedral on 138 Tremont Street (just steps away from the Park Street T stop). To conclude our anniversary month, on May 31 we welcome Stone Soup regulars Julia Carlson and Lee Varon, who will be celebrating the release of their recently published collections.

Julia Carlson is a graduate of Boston University & the University of Toulouse-le-Mirail, France, where she studied Philosophy & Linguistics.She also earned her MSW at Boston University and worked as a clinical social worker until retirement a few years ago. She served as the first Fiction Editor of the Wilderness House LIterary Review as well as the editor of Bagel Bards Anthology V. Her poetry has appeared in many small presses, e.g., Ibbetson House, Wilderness House Literary Review, Lyrical Somerville, Fresh! Magazine, & Muddy River Poetry Review.  She was the winner of Davis Kidd Poetry Award, in 2001 and the PoetryKit Spring Competition in 2017. Her chapbooks include Turn of the Century, (Cloudkeeper Press, 2008) & Drift (March Hare Press,2012), Her most recent collection is Prayer for the Misbegotten. (Oddball Press, 2017).  A Cantabrigian, she enjoys reading, art, rock n roll, & a wee dram on a cold night. 

Lee Varon is a social worker and writer. Her chapbook Affairs Run In The Family was published by Finishing Line Press. She won the 2017 Sunshot  prize for poetry, and her upcoming book Shot In The Head will be published by New Millennium Writings this spring. She is currently working on another book of poetry, The Addict’s Mother.
 

5/18/18

May 25: Ryan Travis and Ethan Mackler Return!



In 1971, Stone Soup started in the Beacon Hill area of Boston. For much of its forty-seven years of existence, Stone Soup has existed outside of Boston. This month we will be returning to Boston to celebrate our anniversary. Come Friday May 25th, Ryan Travis presents another "Haiku of Horror," and he's bringing back Ethan "The Pulse" Mackler on bass to accompany him.

Ryan "Rat" Travis is a Stone Soup veteran with about 20 years in the open mic scene. A modern American haiku master, Rat completed the daunting task of writing 1000 haiku in 100 days. His latest chapbook, Creature Double Feature, is the third in his haiku of horror series snd is a homage to giant monster movies. He is accompanied by long-time friend and collaborator Ethan Mackler on the bass to create a sensory experience and send a chill down your spine. By day, Rat is an English teacher and during the month of October he can be found scaring the crap out of people with his wife Fright Kingdom. He lives in Salem MA with his wife Holly and black cat, Midnight. 


5/12/18

May 18: Stone Soup Open Mic at It's New Home


In 1971, Stone Soup started in the Beacon Hill area of Boston. For much of its forty-seven years of existence, Stone Soup has existed outside of Boston. This month we will be returning to Boston to celebrate our anniversary. Come this Friday, May 18, from  6:30-8:30 at Cathedral of St Paul, 138 Tremont St., as close to Stone Soup's original home as it can muster.

Located outside from the Park Street T stop, we will be meeting in the cathedral's Lawrence room, which is next to the receptionist area after entering the cathedral on the right-sided entrance. We invite everyone who has ever been part of Stone Soup's history to share your poems, songs and other work with us.

Special thanks to James Van Looy and Jan Rowe, who helped make this possible.

5/9/18

May 11: Stone Soup Open Mic at It's New Home


In 1971, Stone Soup started in the Beacon Hill area of Boston. For much of its forty-seven years of existence, Stone Soup has existed outside of Boston. This month we will be returning to Boston to celebrate our anniversary. Come this Friday, May 11, from  6:30-8:30 at Cathedral of St Paul, 138 Tremont St., as close to Stone Soup's original home as it can muster.

Located outside from the Park Street T stop, we will be meeting in the cathedral's Lawrence room, which is next to the receptionist area after entering the cathedral on the right-sided entrance. We invite everyone who has ever been part of Stone Soup's history to share your poems, songs and other work with us.

Special thanks to James Van Looy and Jan Rowe, who helped make this possible.



 

4/30/18

May 11: Stone Soup BACK IN BOSTON! Celebrating 47 Years!


In 1971, Stone Soup started in the Beacon Hill area of Boston. For much of its forty-seven years of existence, Stone Soup has existed outside of Boston. This Friday on May 4, we will be returning to Boston to celebrate our anniversary from  6:30-8:30 at Cathedral of St Paul, 138 Tremont St., as close to Stone Soup's original home as it can muster.

Located outside from the Park Street T stop, we will be meeting in the cathedral's Lawrence room, which is next to the receptionist area after entering the cathedral on the right-sided entrance. We invite everyone who has ever been part of Stone Soup's history to share your poems, songs and other work with us.

Special thanks to James Van Looy and Jan Rowe, who helped make this possible.



 

4/1/18

April 19: Stone Soup Hosts a Spoken Word Tribute to Walter Howard

  

On April 19, Stone Soup assembles once again at the Jamaica Plain branch of the Boston Public Library on 30 South Street from 6:30 to 8:00 PM. We pay tribute to the late Walter Howard, a poet whose presence was felt for decades across Boston, Cambridge and anywhere there was an open mic in New England. We gather not just to read his work in tribute but to invite others to share poems and stories as well as purchase the recently released Walter Howard: Reflections in Moonlight.




Joan Alice Wood Kimball is a member of the Wayland Poetry Workshop, where she met Walter Howard and followed him to many open mike readings in the area. She is the editor of Walter Howard: Reflections in Moonlight, along with editor Debra Martin, who first suggested to Walter that we publish his poems. When Walter went into a nursing home in 2015 and his papers were lost, Kimball and other members of the workshop scrambled to find copies of his work. They ended up with 142 poems. Fifty-three are in the present collection, which is being published posthumously. Walter died this past January 2018. Kimball herself has poems in two chapbooks and many journals. Her limerick, "Cold October," is inscribed on granite in Edmands Park, Newton.




Debra K. Martin is a poet, photographer, mixed-media artist, and retired technical writer. She currently lives in Groton, MA, but is originally from the hills of West Virginia where she graduated with a bachelor degree in psychology. During her years as a member of the Wayland Poetry Workshop, Debra enjoyed listening to Walter Howard read his evocative poems and was surprised to find he kept most of them handwritten in stacks of dusty boxes. Thus began her effort to convince him to let her and another member, Kay Harrington, type them on the computer. He resisted, not wanting to briefly part with them. Much later, Walter was admitted to a nursing facility and wished to have his poems published. Debra became the co-editor of the poetry book Walter Howard: Reflections in Moonlight, along with fellow workshop member, Joan Kimball.



Steve Glines is the Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of Wilderness House Press and Wilderness House Literary Review, an online quarterly. In his past lives, he has been a general assignment reporter, a political commentator, a technical writer with two monthly technical columns and half a dozen computer science books to his credit. Today he writes poetry and fiction. In 2016 he was awarded the Ibbetson Street Press Lifetime Achievement Award and a lifetime achievement award from the Massachusetts State Democratic Party. He is a member of the Robert Creeley Foundation and is a past Assistant District Governor for Rotary International.



Cheryl Perreault is host/founder of Wake up and Smell the Poetry and Bittersweet Co. True Storytelling. With a background in psychology and education, she brings the art of poetry and life review story-sharing to different community settings and residences of people ranging from school-age to elders/hospice stage of life as she believes everyone has a an inner poet within. Her poetry is published upon invitation and she is especially fond of participating in Plein Air Poetry readings. She is co-editor of Hopkinton Through Poetry with Cynthia Franca, performs celebrant programs with Carolyn Waters and has two CDS of her spoken word poetry performed with guitarist Steve Rapson.




Literary performer & educator, Regie Gibson, has lectured & performed in the U.S., Europe & Cuba. Representing the U.S., Regie competed for & received the Absolute Poetry Award in Monfalcone, Italy. Himself & his work appear in love jones, a film based on events in his life. He is a National Poetry Slam champion, has featured on HBO, several TED X events & various NPR programs including On Point & Radio Boston. He’s received the Walker Scholarship for Poetry from the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center & a YMCA Writer’s Fellowship. He’s served as consultant for both the National Endowment for the Arts “How Art Works” initiative & “The Mere Distinction of Color”: an exhibit at James Madison’s Montpelier, examining the legacy of slavery. Regie has performed with & composed for The Boston City Singers, The Mystic Chorale & the Handel+Haydn Society. His volume of poems, “Storms Beneath the Skin” received the Golden Pen Award & his work appears in Poetry Magazine, Harvard’s Divinity Magazine & The Iowa Review, among others. He has received a Massachusetts Cultural Council Award, a Lexington Education Foundation Grant, and is a 2017 recipient of The Brother Thomas Fellowship from The Boston Foundation. When not teaching, he is co-creator of Shakespeare to Hiphop's "Shakespeare Time-Traveling Speakeasy," A multi-media performance focusing on the influence of William Shakespeare.


David P. Miller’s chapbook, The Afterimages, was published in 2014. His poems have recently appeared in Meat for Tea, Ibbetson Street, Constellations, riverbabble, What Rough Beast, The Ekphrastic Review, and Autumn Sky Poetry Daily. A Boston resident, he was a member of the multidisciplinary Mobius Artists Group for 25 years.

3/28/18

March 29: Stone Soup Takes the Stage Coach to Harvard!



Stone Soup Poetry has met weekly at both the Out of the Blue Art Gallery and Brew on the Grid in Cambridge. This Thursday on March 29,  thanks to the help of Melissa Castillo-Garsow, we we will be assembling at Harvard University in  Robinson Hall, located on the corner of Broadway and Quincy (35 Quincy Street) from 6:30 to 8:00 or later.

Bring you poems and stories and a friend. Stone Soup is coming back again!






3/9/18

March 9: Latinx Poetry Series @ Stone Soup Stagecoach


2018 Latinx Poetry Series at Harvard University

Organizer of Latinx Poetry Series @ Stone Soup Stagecoach

The Inagural Latinx Poetry Reading and workshop series in the Spring of 2018 was organized by Melissa Castillo-Garsow to promote a diversity of voices at Harvard, celebrate Latinx voices in poetry, and foster poetic connections with the greater Boston area.

DATE AND TIME
Fri, April 13, 2018
5:30 PM – 9:00 PM EDT

LOCATION
CGIS South
1730 Cambridge Street
Belfer Case Study Room
Cambridge, MA 02138

Acclaimed poet Carmen Bardeguez-Brown will host the poetry workshop "Poetry like bread is for everyone/ La Poesia como el pan es para todos" followed by an open mic, performance and reception.

Schedule of events:

5:30-7 p.m. Workshop
7-8 p.m. Open Mic
8-8:30 p.m. Performance
8:30-9 p.m. Reception
Free, sign up required!

Carmen Bardeguez-Brown work was showcased in the documentary: Latino Poets in the United States. She has been invited to read at The Nuyorican Poets Café, The Fez, Mad Alex Foundation, Smoke, The Soho Arts Festival, Long wood Gallery, The Kitchen, La Casa Azul, New Years Alternative Poetry Marathon at Dixon Place, The Boricua College Poetry Series, Caribbean Theater, Word Festival 2013 and many other venues in the tri-state area. Some of her work has been performed by Felipe Luciano’s Poets’s Choir and Butch Morris Conduction series #27 performed at The Whitney Museum. Her work has been published in Tribes, Long Shot, Fuse, School Voices, Anthology: Aloud Voices from the Nuyorican, ¡Manteca!: An Anthology of AfroLatin@ Poets and Pha'titude. She has two poetry books: Straight from the Drums: Al Ritmo del Tambor could be and Dreaming Rhythms Despertando Silencios published by Miguel Estepario. Her third book of poetry: Meditation on Love, Dance and Loss will be published late this year. She is one of 50 Puerto Ricans showcased in the exhibition Homenaje created and curated by Ricardo Muniz that is currently housed at the Centro for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College.

See the Eventbrite page. 

3/6/18

The State of Stone Soup, 3-6-18


Less than four days after one of our most energetic nights since our new era began, I was informed that the Brew on the Grid in Cambridge closed down their Windsor Street location for good.

Long story short, management tells me they will be researching spaces for a potential new home on the red line. The manager I've been dealing with has told me he would still love to have Stone Soup return to wherever the Brew's new home is.

For now, however, Stone Soup is in limbo again.

Therefore, I am cancelling this Thursday's reading with Lee Varon and Julia Carlson. I am spending the rest of the week searching for a potential venue for the other poets I have scheduled for this month along with April and May.

I have at least one potential new home as it is. If they accept us, Stone Soup will likely have to move to an earlier time and possibly a different day.

I am linking this announcement on Facebook and tagging all the poets I've scheduled so they will learn the latest news. If any potential time, date or location is a deal breaker, they can let me know.

I will be troubleshooting this while working this week. If any of you have suggestions, please let me know.

If I'm lucky, I will have more to announce this week. If not, I'll have to consider more tough decisions. 

--Chad Parenteau

2/15/18

May 24: Meg Smith 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 May 24, Meg Smith helps to celebrate Stone Soup Poetry's forty-seventh year of existance and the release of her new poetry collection, Dear Deepest Ghost.

 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.

 Meg Smith is a poet, journalist, dancer and events producer living in Lowell, Mass. In addition to Poetry Bay, her poems have appeared in The Cafe Review, The Offering, Astropoetica, Illumen, Dreams & Nightmares, the Dwarf Stars anthology of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association and many more. She is a past board member of Lowell Celebrates Kerouac! and produces the Edgar Allan Poe Show, honoring Poe's presence in Lowell, Mass. 

Dear Deepest Ghost is the second book of poetry by Meg Smith. It includes new works as well as poems previously published in Pudding, Poetry Bay, The Cafe Review, Dreams & Nightmares, the Dwarf Stars Anthology of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association, and many more.

2/13/18

Cancelled: March 8: Julia Carlson and Lee Varon Feature at Stone Soup


Cancelled.

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 March 8, Stone Soup regulars Julia Carlson and Lee Varon celebrate the release of their new poetry collections. 

 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.

Julia Carlson Graduate of Boston University & the University of Toulouse-le-Mirail, France, studied Philosophy & Linguistics. Also, MSW, Boston University, worked as a clinical social worker until retirement a few years ago. 1st Fiction Editor of the Wilderness House LIterary Review, & editor of Bagel Bards Anthology V. Poetry in many small presses, e.g., Ibbetson House, Wilderness House Literary Review, Lyrical Somerville, Fresh! Magazine, & Muddy River Poetry Review. Davis Kidd Poetry Award, 2001; Winner, PoetryKit Spring Competition, 2017. Chapbooks: Turn of the Century, (Cloudkeeper Press, 2008) & Drift (March Hare Press,2012), Most recently, Prayer for the Misbegotten. (Oddball Press, 2017). A Cantabrigian, I like reading, art, rock n roll, & a wee dram on a cold night.

Lee Varon is a social worker and writer. Her chapbook Affairs Run In The Family was published by Finishing Line Press. She won the 2017 Sunshot prize for poetry and her upcoming book Shot In The Head will be published by New Millennium Writings this spring. She is currently working on another book of poetry, The Addict’s Mother.