Todd D'Anna (1977-2012) Ropes & Flowers

Todd D'Anna and Jessica Rogers

Ropes &Flowers

Picture of her and the sky

And

Like a dog I chase the shadows

Of a dance

I danced

Ten Years ago

You always take my watch off

Before we get into bed

And the seconds

Drip from my wrist

With fresh suicide

Ten years ago

I

Danced

A dance

Chasing shadows

That wore your perfume

And

Like a dog I howl at the back of the moon

With hourglass rhythms

Singing acappella

Just to handicap

My dreams

Smells of rape in the cool California night

Morning after pill with pink liquor

Staining memory

She says

"you gotta work thru that shit baby"

Full moon empties into san francisco bay sunrise

Like a dog I howl

And wait for the rain to come

It never does

We lay in bed

A switch is touched

My watch is off

Suicide

Freshly

Ticks

Beside

My

Sleep.

Todd D'Anna (Poems from Penny Lane, 2002)

100 Thousand Poets For Change

Poster Art by Trina Faundeen

9:00 am - Noon
Interactive Poetry / Collage / PicturePoem Responses to
WHAT MOVES YOU?

Panel includes Jim LaVilla-Havelin / Gary Parrish / Laurel Bodinus / and Bill Lewis

NOON at The Twig Bookstore

Local readers include:
Darby Riley
Mobi Warren
Gary Parrish
Laurel Bodinus
Palmer Hall
Fresh Ink - Anthony Flores
Jim LaVilla-Havelin

Jesse Cardona

Rod Stryker

The Twig Bookstore

200 E Grayson, Ste. 124,
San Antonio, TX 78215,
www.thetwig.com

100 Thousand Poets for Change Organizes Largest Poetry Event in History

Number of Participants Worldwide Growing Daily

600 events in 450 cities and 95 countries will take place on September 24 to promote environmental, social, and political change. Poets, writers, artists will create, perform and demonstrate in their communities, and decide their own specific area of focus for change within the framework of peace and sustainability, which founder Michael Rothenberg stated, “…is a major concern worldwide and the guiding principle for this global event.”

Bob Holman and Margery Snyder, in a recent article on About.com said, “the beauty of the concept of 100 Thousand Poets for Change is that it is completely decentralized and completely inclusive.” All those involved are hoping, through their actions and events, to seize and redirect the political and social dialogue of the day and turn the narrative of civilization towards peace and sustainability.

Poetry demonstrations are being organized in political hotspots such as Madison, Wisconsin and Cairo, Egypt. A poetry and peace gathering is planned in strife-torn Kabul and Jalalabad.

In Mexico there are over 30 events, with 18 poetic actions in Mexico City, where poets as well as environmental and political activists are hoping to encourage reflection and creative responses against systemic violence through the written and the spoken word with day long street events, readings and workshops. More than a third of these events are organized by collectives actively working towards a non-violent approach to solve the country's most pressing problems.

To date there are over 250 events in the United States. There are 20 events statewide in North Carolina where teacher/poets have mobilized to protest cuts in education funding. And along the Platte River near Omaha, Nebraska, poets will be demonstrating against TransCanada’s planned Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. 


More examples of events can be found at the 100 Thousand Poets for Change www.100TPC.org. Each event organizer has an Event Location blog page on the website for posting, poetry, artwork, photos, and video to document this global mega-event across national borders.

Immediately following September 24th all documentation on the 100TPC.org website will be preserved by Stanford University in California, which has recognized 100 Thousand Poets for Change as an historical event, the largest poetry reading in history. They will archive the complete contents of the website, 100TPC.org, as part of their digital archiving program LOCKSS.

Founder Michael Rothenberg is a widely known poet, editor of the online literary magazine Bigbridge.org and an environmental activist based in Northern California.

For information contact: http://www.100TPC.org

Contact: walterblue@bigbridge.org

Phone: 305-753-4569

Jamey Jones - Blue Rain Morning (Farfalla Press 2011)

A book party & reception
'
for BLUE RAIN MORNING

a new book of poems by Jamey Jones

published by Farfalla, McMillan & Parrish

Thursday, April 28, 6 PM

Long Island University (Brooklyn)
H Building, 4th floor, English Department
Robert Spector Lounge

Jamey, an alumni of the MFA program at LIU, now living in Pensacola, Florida, will also read from his book

Copies of BLUE RAIN MORNING will be on sale

"A jolt of the glorious quotidian, startling moves and rhythms make BLUE RAIN MORNING one of the best books of the season."
Anne Waldman

"Jamey Jones finds the music in the sidewalk and the cracks between."
Jack Collom

"Jones is both a resident and traveler of these poems, where "abroad here means elsewhere" and elsewhere is "how to write / this new wave of lost."
Edmund Berrigan

"Jamey Jones communicates the truth in poetry."
Bernadette Mayer

A Tribute to Akilah Oliver

A Tribute to Akilah Oliver

FRIDAY, APRIL 8th
8-10pm

A Toast in Your House:
a memorial reading to celebrate
the life & work of Akilah Oliver

Featuring:
Adrienne Dodt
Krista Franklin
Jenny Henry
Jennifer Karmin + dancer J’Sun Howard
John Keene
Kevin Kilroy
Marie Larson
Todd McCarty
Marissa Perel

Hosted by Rebecca George
& Luis Humberto Valadez

at Outer Space Studio
1474 N. Milwaukee Ave
Chicago, IL

$4 suggested donation
All funds will be donated to assist the Oliver family with the costs
associated with Akliah’s departure and to keep her work alive.

Co-presented by the Midwest Naropa Writers & Red Rover Series
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/redroverseries

AKILAH OLIVER was a poet, a dedicated teacher, and an inspiration to the lives she touched. Her books include An Arriving Guard of Angels, Thusly Coming to Greet (Farfalla, McMillan & Parrish, 2004), The Putterer’s Notebook (Belladonna, 2006), a(A)ugust (Yo-Yo Labs, 2007), and A Toast In The House of Friends (Coffee House, 2009). She taught poetry in New York at The New School, Pratt Institute and The Poetry Project. She also taught at Naropa University’s Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, http://www.akilaholiver.com.

We will remember her warmly, in a house of friends, with our words.

Akilah Oliver- In Aporia/The Stand Still World. Recorded with photos by Ambrose Bye

Akilah Oliver (1961-2011)

My friend, collaborator and Farfalla author Akilah Oliver has passed away. Her work is done here on Earth and like all great people and poets that's what we're left with. Thank you for what you gave here, An Arriving Guard of Angels, Thusly Coming to Greet, In Aporia and Matching Half with Anne Waldman and Ambrose Bye with your accompaniment.

From An Arriving Guard of Angels, Thusly Coming to Greet

dear oluchi -

the light is blinking rapidly on the black boxy answering

machine. your room seems bigger than before and i am still

planning to read some of those robert jordan books of yours.

yesterday at the used bookstore where i was browsing the

mysteries to "stall reality"-- they are really not mysteries at

all, they just employ death as the plot mistress but are

unable to grasp its mystery at all-- well the point is, things

were calm down here for awhile and the world was little. i

want to be big like you. or i want you not vast, not dead, not

gone, but human small and here. i am so selfish. that is what

i really want. to see you again. to oil your scalp. to hear you

walk in the door, say, ma i'm home. give me a chance to say,

welcome home son. or when leaving, don't forget your hat.

what do you wear out there? i wish you could have taken

your new shoes with you. i'm so proud of you. i'm so sorry

for the way you died. i miss you all the time. even before, i

missed you. out there, one time, some different men said:

"shake for me girl, i wanna be your backdoor man". who dat

you love.

5/18/03

Howl Festival: Homage to Allen Ginsberg

Friday, February 18th starting at 8:15 pm

Screening of the movie HOWL: starring James Franco

Mary-Louise Parker, Jeff Daniels and Treat Williams

at The Shambhala Meditation Center of San Antonio

1114 South Saint Mary's Street, San Antonio, TX 78210

10 dollar suggested donation. Pot-luck and BYOB.

.

.

Cocktails before and after screening at The Monterrey

Located across South Saint Mary's Street.

.

.

Saturday, February 19th starting at 6:00pm

Homage to Allen Ginsberg at The Twig Bookstore

@ 200 E Grayson St, San Antonio, Texas 78215

.

.

A reading of the complete text of Ginsberg's HOWL

Followed by a marathon open mic reading celebration.

This event is free, sign up or drop by The Twig

on the day of the reading to secure your time slot.

Small presses from around the southwest area

will be on hand with new books and broadsides.

Drive-In Picture Show by Gary Parrish

Gary Parrish

Drive-In Picture Show

Erudite Fangs, 2010

Cover design, interior design & typesetting

by HR Hegnauer

Original Art Work

by George Schneeman

Boulder, Colorado.

There are two things going on simultaneously in Gary Parrish’s poems-- a mix of awkwardness and grace--the absentminded poet stepping on the toes of the goddess, and then apologizing, while his music plays on. The presentation of self is all periphery and sidelong glance and teetering at the edge, and tension--but with a bounce that keeps it all afloat.

These poems are always on the verge--and then (at some point) they explode, like fireworks, in a shower of sparks. He’s been in some odd places, seen things no one else I know has seen, stepped back from and entered into experiences that required more than a share of providence to survive. His poems are just like him--shy and flirty without being coy. He manages to give it all away every time.

Lewis Warsh

To purchase a copy from SPD click here

To purchase a copy from St. Marks Bookstore click here

36th Annual New Year’s Day Marathon Benefit Reading

January, 1st 2010

The Poetry Project

at St. Marks Church

131 E. 10th Street

New York NY 10003

212-674-0910

Poets and performers this year include Ammiel Alcalay, Bruce Andrews & Sally Silvers, Penny Arcade, Arthur’s Landing, Ari Banias, Jim Berhle, Charles Bernstein, Anselm Berrigan, Edmund Berrigan, Ana Bozicevic, Donna Brook, Michael Brownstein, Franklin Bruno, Tyler Burba, Peter Bushyeager, Reuben Butchart, Callers, Yoshiko Chuma, Church Of Betty, Michael Cirelli, Todd Colby, John Coletti, CAConrad, Brenda Coultas, Geoffrey Cruickshank-Hagenbuckle, Mónica de la Torre, Mina Pam Dick, Steve Dalachinsky, LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs, Maggie Dubris, Douglas Dunn, Marcella Durand, Steve Earle, Will Edmiston, Joe Elliot, Christine Elmo, Laura Elrick, Maggie Estep, Avram Fefer, Jess Fiorini, Corrine Fitzpatick, Foamola, David Freeman, Ed Friedman, Greg Fuchs, Joanna Furhman, Cliff Fyman, Kelly Ginger, Pepi Ginsberg, John Giorno, John Godfrey, Toby Goodshank, Nada Gordon & Gary Sullivan, Stephanie Gray, Ted Greenwald, Tim Griffin, Miguel Gutierrez, John S. Hall, Janet Hamill, Robert Hershon, Tony Hoffman, Lisa Jarnot, Paolo Javier, Patricia Spears Jones, Pierre Joris, Adeena Karasick, Erica Kaufman, Lenny Kaye, John Kelly, Aaron Kiely, David Kirschenbaum, Bill Kushner & Merle Lister, Susan Landers, Joan Larkin, Dorothea Lasky, Denizé Lauture, Joel Lewis, Brendan Lorber, Michael Lydon, Kim Lyons, Dan Machlin & Serena Jost, Filip Marinovich, Chris Martin, Gillian McCain, Legs McNeil, Tracey McTague, Taylor Mead, Jonas Mekas, Sharon Mesmer, David Mills, Rebecca Moore, Tracie Morris, Will Morris, Eileen Myles, Elinor Nauen, Murat Nemat-Nejat, Jim Neu, Geoffrey Olsen, Dael Orlandersmith, Richard O’Russa, Yuko Otomo, Gary Parrish, Simon Pettet, Nicole Peyrafitte & Miles Joris-Peyrafitte, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Kristin Prevallet, Brett Price, Arlo Quint, Elizabeth Reddin, Evelyn Reilly, Ariana Reines, Citizen Reno, Bob Rosenthal, Douglas Rothschild, Tom Savage, Michael Scharf, David Shapiro, Frank Sherlock, Elliott Sharp, Nathaniel Siegel, Christopher Stackhouse, Stacy Szymaszek, Anne Tardos, Susie Timmons, Edwin Torres, Rodrigo Toscano, Tony Towle, David Vogen, Nicole Wallace, Lewis Warsh, Phyllis Wat, Simone White, Emily XYZ & more t.b.a.

This event will be held in the Sanctuary. General admission $18, Students & Seniors $15, Members $10.

Red Noir (Farfalla Press) Dec 7th -Jan 30 at the Living Theater

based on the writings of Anne Waldman

adapted & directed by Judith Malina

OPENING DECEMBER 10th

Performances December 7-January 30

Wednesdays-Saturdays at 8pm

*(with the followingexceptions, no performance Friday, December 18).

Tickets are $20

(Wednesdays are Pay What You Can).

For reservations call 212-352-3101

or

Click here for Online Tickets!!!

The Living Theatre continues its 2009-10 season with acclaimed poet and experimental author
Anne Waldman's RED NOIR – a detective thriller based on film noir techniques and themes – with previews set to begin December 7 prior to an office press opening December 10 at The Living Theatre (21Clinton Street) in Manhattan.Judith Malina directs.

In RED NOIR, writer Anne Waldman combines metaphors of the film noir genre and reflections on modern life in our economically and ecologically trouble ridden war culture. Set on the Lower East Side, with an array of vivid characters whose lives intertwine, the play follows a female detective as she investigates a black market deal done by many greedy hands and pursues two men, each carrying a valise – one filled with a nuclear or toxic substance; the other filled with the seeds of the future.

Integrating Ms. Malina's direction and Ms. Waldman's vast and accomplished literary catalogue, RED NOIR exposes lists of toxic chemicals, reaches out to the Middle East, and expounds upon troubles in our worldly existence in an attempt to find ways toward revelation, revolution and redemption.

The ensemble cast of RED NOIR includes Camilla de Araujo, Brent Barker, Vinie Burrows,Maylin Castro, Ben Cerf, Sheila Dabney, Jay Dobkin, Luis Christian Dilorenzi, Erin Downhour, Eno Edet, Tjasa Ferme, Ondina Frate, Gemma Forbes, Maria Guzman, Home Hynes, Silas Inches Albert Lamont, Jenna Kirk, Celeste Moratti, Martin Munoz, Lucie Pohl, Marie Pohl, Erik Rodriguez, Judi Rymer, Anthony Sisco, Lori Summers, Enoch Wu, and Kennedy Yanko.

Since the 1960s, Anne Waldman has been an active member of the experimental poetry community as a writer, performer, collaborator, professor, editor, scholar and cultural/political activist. She has served as director of the Poetry Project at St. Mark's and co-founded, with Allen Ginsberg and others, the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, where she remains a Distinguished Professor of Poetics and the Director of Naropa Institute's famed Summer Writing Program.

She has published more than forty books of poetry, including "Kill or Cure," "Marriage: A Sentence," "Structure of the World Compared to a Bubble," "Fast Speaking Woman" and epic "Iovis" trilogy. Her work has been widely anthologized, and her poems translated into French, Italian, German, Turkish, Spanish and Chinese. Ms.Waldman is also the editor of several volumes relating to modern, postmodern, and contemporary poetry. Her extensive historical literary, art and tape archive resides at the Hatcher
Graduate Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

assistant directed by Brad Burgess

lighting design by Richard Retta

set design by Judith Malina, Illion Troya, Richard Retta

musical direction by Sheila Dabney

To order a copy of Red Noir (Farfalla Press) by Anne Waldman click here