Emerging Writers Network

Author Reading - the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn - March 18, 2018

This was a reading to commemorate the March 2007 bombing of Baghdad's street of booksellers--A Reading for Al-Mutanabbi Street. An event I was previously unaware of, and one that has spawned readers and writers from more than 30 cities around the world to get together and celebrate the written and spoken word, as well as come out against war, violence and oppression.

The gathering in Dearborn was set up by Alise Alousi. 

It began with a performance on the oud by Laith Allatar (the link to a video is not from this particular performance) which showed off his skills on this instrument with which I was not at all familiar prior to Sunday.

The first of three readers was Hajjar Baban--a Pakistan-born Afghan Kurdish poet. She's currently a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and she read somewhere between half a dozen and a dozen poems. Some of them were to fit a particular style that spins off of the form of ghazal. Others were what she referred to as more Page Poems--where seeing their form on the page might work better than hearing them read aloud. I hope to have a chance to see her read again after a book tour's worth of seasoning and confidence building. Her work was really very interesting and I look forward to reading more of it.

Next up was Lamees Al Ethari, who moved from a small village (actually per her, not even a village, her grandfather's home surrounded by some other family members) in Iraq to Canada--she currently teaches at the University of Waterloo. She has a collection of poems coming out later this year (From the Wounded Banks of the Tigris) and is wrapping up a memoir, After the Rain, which should see publication in 2019. She read a little poetry but kicked into the memoir. I enjoyed the poetry, but found myself really looking forward to the memoir as well.

Last up was Dunya Mikhail, an Iraqi-American poet, who also sees her The Beekeeper: Rescuing the Stolen Women of Iraq, a work of non-fiction, publishing from New Directions later this month. (side note--I'm about 25% of the way through this book and it's fascinating and well written). She was a little more reluctant to read, though read a poem and then discussed her forthcoming book--how it came about, how she NEEDED to write it, etc. It was interesting, almost like seeing the Q&A done instead of the reading, and having the author decide in advance what Questions needed Answering. Very interesting.

It was a great event, gave me three more writers to watch for, and was to honor the written and spoken word. Was really glad I went.

Author Reading - The Scarab Club, Detroit - 2/15/2018

Author reading doesn't quite cut it. Last night's event at The Scarab Club (in the main gallery) in Detroit was titled, Ekphrasis: Poetry & Art in Conversation. I was planning on looking Ekphrasis up but the creator of the event was kind enough to do so---it's a Greek word for poetry about art. And that's what last night was--five poets had a few months to come up with poems about, or inspired by, artworks of five artists. 

<all photos below have been borrowed from the website of the artist--please click on the links to see more representations of their art>

To start, this even was PACKED. Counting the number of rows of chairs, and the numbers of seats per row, and a side section and the number of people standing, I can safely say a minimum of 80 people were present at one point or another during the evening. I haven't really seen a crowd like that in a long time--it was fantastic to see. And most stayed around after everything was over to look at the works of art, to talk with the poets, etc.

First up was Rhonica Dhar, who was paired with the artist, Michelle Johnston, who works in commercial entomology---which does not at all seem like a cool enough description of what she does--click on her name to visit The Insect Shoppe, and learn much more. It was maybe not the way the evening was planned as these two artists actually knew each other, maybe not as well as they do now, months after being put together for this show, but they were well aware of each other and the other's work when they were paired up. All that really seemed to mean though is that perhaps Rhonica had had a little more time than the other four poets, to find some common ground for her work with the work of Michelle. Now, I missed the first poem or two due to said crowd size and the need to park four blocks away, but the poems that I heard were playful, both personal and worked in conjunction with specific works of Michelle's and were pretty universal--an impressive feat.  And Michelle's works were really cool--little, almost terrarium-like enclosures with tons and tons of natural Found items used to create her art. 

Next up was poet, Christine Darragh, also the proprietor of Dark Oak Bindery. She was paired with the artist Mandisa Smith, owner of Detroit Fiber Works, and one who creates with felt. Unfortunately, during this portion of the reading, there was a high volume of traffic coming in the front door, which coincidentally is near the back of the room, where I was standing, and so it was very difficult to hear. If I heard right there was a poem or two about the idea of the color white and light (as some of Mandisa's work had the felted creation sitting on/over a light so that it would shine through. So, sorry, poor reporting on this 20% of the night.

In the middle we had Matthew Landrum, who also set the evening up, paired with sculptor, Leah Waldo. Matthew introduced each of his works, frequently noting that he's still working on poems inspired by specific pieces of Leah's art, but not quite nailing them down to his satisfaction prior to last night's show--and that maybe more of the works that he read last night were inspired by the idea of guardianship, which he sees in Leah's sculptures. This led to an interesting conversation as it wasn't always a specific piece created by Leah that Matthew was writing to, or about, but her overall aesthetic conversing with that idea of guardianship that Matthew has within many of his own poems. 

The fourth pairing was that of poet Marlin M. Jenkins and painter Angelo-David Sherman (actually Mr. Sherman also sculpts and draws--but what Mr. Jenkins was writing about last night were paintings). The link when you click on Marlin's name takes you to the recent publication of the poem inspired by the painting titled Jimi, which you can see to the left. Other poems were inspired by the paintings you can see at the Sherman link titled Head of a Negro, Revolution, and a painting that Marlin thought was unnamed (and is not currently on the Sherman website)--we found out during the artist Q&A after the readings that this poem was left untitled, AND was shown upside-down, as Sherman wanted to see how Jenkins would see the poem without any nudge from the painter via a title. And it turned out he nailed it, as that painting was meant to show people encased, in glass houses (poor paraphrasing from me here) and Jenkins saw the eyes as being under glass. Jenkins referenced other poets, and poems, and artists and made it very clear that to be personal is to be political and vice versa. His poems were full of energy and entertaining. Which was necessary to match the power and energy of Sherman's paintings.

Last up was Christina Kallery, who was paired up with Justin Milhouse, a photographer. Christina took a slightly different approach, concentrating on one single work and allowing it to inspire her to write a single poem. She selected the photo Justin has titled, While You Were Sleeping (the photo that can be seen here). What Christina saw in this photo was the snow, and the idea that snow is one of the few things that can literally change how things are overnight. She then pushed, pulled and stretched this idea into a triptych of a poem, where the first section was about just that--how snow can change things overnight. Then there was section two, back to age 16 in the Upper Peninsula when a boy she once thought too cool to notice her took her hand and went for a walk and kissed her, and how it fits the idea. Section three hits very hard--the loss of a parent, in this case her mother. Christina has mentioned prior to reading the poem that something about working on this poem and subject allowed her to actually complete something on a topic she'd previously been unable to and hearing this poem--powerful, brave, fantastic--alone would have made the trip downtown worthwhile.

After the poets read we got to hear from the artists (all but Justin Milhouse who was unable to attend) themselves--about what they thought of the idea, of the particular poems created based on inspiration from their own work, and how the work from the evening compared to their own typical work. In general they were really excited by the idea, by their pairings, and by the work that was created. Most of their works being looked at last night were pretty in-line with their typical work, though Michelle Johnston had created one final piece that brought elements that she was not overly familiar with into play. And Leah Waldo brought some cement into her sculpting which was not overly common to her work previously.

Overall, just a really great evening. A great idea, with great artwork that inspired some poets to do wonderful work--it truly felt like there were conversations between the arts going on. And again, to see a crowd that big having something to do with poetry? With art not up on a big screen or with sound? It was very impressive. Let's hope it's just the first of many.

Readings - May 20 and May 21 - Poetry in Detroit

Saturday evening found me in Detroit at Pages Bookshop (which was the first time I've been and it was impressive in its selections--I look forward to returning more as a shopper than as one attending a reading). I was there to see a conversation on the power of poetry between Robert Fanning and Peter Markus. It was really an interesting event, as both briefly read from recent books--Robert's most recent, Our Sudden Museum, and Peter's is Inside My Pencil. Robert's is a collection of his poetry; Peter's is a book explaining his 20 year career with InsideOut Literary Arts Project as a writer going into the public schools of Detroit and teaching poetry to students. Between the two of them they have very strong opinions on the power of poetry, as well as a long-standing friendship and admiration of each other's work that made the conversation very open and free. 

As noted a couple of weeks back, Robert is a fantastic reader of his work, and Peter is as well, which definitely added to the event. The fact that it was a full-house, and many friends and family present, also added to the atmosphere. It was nice to see and catch up a bit with Dwayne Hayes and Jessica Bomarito, and briefly see a couple of other local poets and to see former students of Peter from Detroit come back to this event.

 

Sunday morning I noticed that Robert Fanning was going to be doing another reading, from 2-4 p.m. at the Hannan House in Detroit. Was to be him and a singer-songwriter. We messaged back and forth and he let me know that a) there was an open mic before those two and b) he was going to ask Christina Kallery to come up and read a few poems before he read. Checkmate--afternoon plans decided--I'm not going to miss either of these two read, let alone both together.

I'm really glad I went, and not solely due to getting to see the two of them again. The series, Musings, run by Ann Holdreith, currently at the Hannan House the third Sunday of each month (though, I discovered the series just in time for a hiatus for the summer). As one that bypassed 50 over a year ago, I hesitate to refer to things as old, but I would consider this to be a series where you'll see more old school Detroiters. M.L. Leibler was in attendance. Some of those that hit the open mic portion talked about having been around the block a few times, at least one had a collection published, and for the most part, had very good, revised and worked on poems to share.

Apologies to anybody here whose name I have butchered.

Denise Sedman

--Big Boys - a poem inspired by her 25th high school reunion

--Stillborn - a poem in conversation with a poem by John Sinclair

Both works were very good--strong, polished, she read well. I'd be interested in seeing her read again for sure.

Ken Meisel

--Letter to Paul <then I missed the rest of this as it was a decently long title> - this was inspired by a chalk angel drawing at the Heidelberg Project

--Forgiving

The first poem was from a journal, possibly MQR? And the second was from a collection of Ken's. Both were really strong, very raw and emotional. Another poet I'd happily go see read again and will most likely be ordering a book from soon.

John Mullins

I'm fairly certain I've butchered John's last name. He also ran the sound for this event which was great.

--The Great West Virginia Bear Encounter

A much longer poem than other material read this afternoon, but again, strong. He weaved in among this story of an encounter with a bear, other events from life including a childhood meeting of a bully with his best friend, and later, the death of his father, and in no instance did this feel forced. Also, the first reader to read from his tablet and not paper.

Luther Taylor

Maybe a younger poet than the others that read, and Luther went from memorization. The two poems he read: The Boy Who Couldn't Talk, and The Promises to Bare, both seemed extremely personal and closer to story telling than poetry. There was something there though--something holding the listeners very closely while he performed.

Dawn McDuffie

A long-time Detroit teacher and poet, Dawn got up and noted that lately she's been fascinated with poems that have drink themes.

--Smooth John B (after the song, and perhaps inspired by a catamaran cruise in Hawaii)

--St. Patrick - about a bar in Grosse Pointe

Another excellent performance of solid work.

Susan Sunshine--the Earth Poet

Susan is a proponent of the environment, and is a bit pissed off. She read two poems, the first from 1997 was titled --Spring Forward, Fall Back

--Constant Exposures

Her performance was interesting as she frequently went off in different directions, discussing issues, and then falling back into the poem itself. Relevant stuff though for sure.

Ann Holdreith

--There's a Crazy Me Inside the Heavenly You - this had a line that stuck with me---"there is a hole in the sky and God is leaking out"

--Evening Star - a poem that had her singing the word blue over and over at the end in different tones and vocal ranges that was quite powerful

Then the open mic portion ended and Robert Fanning took the microphone. He noted he'd been working on this collection for about 15 years during which he lost his father, a brother and his sister, while seeing the birth of his two children. He then recognized the fact that somebody in the audience was seeing him for the third time in two weeks and with that in mind, he had searched for a new group of poems to read (which he had also done for the 2nd such reading).

--Maybe Via Social Media...  - Robert noted his father's birthday would have been a couple of days earlier. This poem went back to a time when his dad signed up for Facebook. He noted they weren't great communicators with each others, just great talkers, and the poem was the hope that maybe social media would break that down some.

--The End Apparently Isn't Near - I must have been very caught up in this one as I have zero notes by it

At this point, Robert invited Christina Kallery up to read a couple of poems, beginning with a very warm introduction about why he wanted others to have the opportunity to hear her work.

Christina Kallery

--Swan Falls in Love with a Swan Shaped Boat - I recently saw Christina read and so she apologized to me that I'd have to hear this poem again. Quite the opposite, I'd be more than a bit upset if I went to see her read and this was not read aloud. It's a fantastic poem--you can find it online via her website, I suggest you do so.

--Missed Connections - based on the Craiglist section

Many thanks to Robert for this addition to the afternoon. Any chance you get to see Christina read, figure out how to work it into your schedule. Search for her work online. Publishers of poetry, ask to see her work. 

Robert Fanning

--There is a Light That Never Goes Out - yes, also a Smiths song title (there are a few in this collection) - a poem about one of Robert's brothers and maybe the one time he helped Robert with his car

--Staying the Night - a poem about spending the night in his sister's apartment the night after she passed away on the operating table. This is the only poem Robert read at all three readings this month and truly, if there is one poem in the book I could listen to him read over and over, it is this one.

--Flute - an admission to his sister, after she passed away, that he used to sneak into her room as a child and look at her flute

 --Learning to Live with Your Death - a poem about survivor's grief and how grief grows within us 

--Paper Dolls - Robert noted that when he found out his wife was pregnant for the first time, that he almost had a heart attack. Suddenly there were things in the world to actually worry about. That night, around two a.m., unable to sleep, he found himself watching a documentary about conjoined twins.

--Old Postcard - a pretty straightforward, yet thoughtful, description of what one might find on an old postcard, the writing from whomever had sent it way back when

--What is Written On the Leaves - a powerful ending to his reading with a fantastic lead-in story about a woman living in an Assisted Living home, who tracked Robert down after seeing him read and asking for a copy of the poem so that she could read it to start her day off every morning.

There aren't a lot of people I can imagine myself going to see read their work multiple times in a month (let alone a weekend) but both Robert and Christina fit that bill. I can't imagine not finding a way to get to wherever either was reading, so the chance to catch them both at one event was fantastic.

The afternoon ended with the music of Anthony Retka.

--Radiant White - a song about hope that was quite beautiful

--Pictures Through Windows - a song inspired by the suicide of a friend, trying to get into their head to understand

--The Other Side - noticed during this song just what great vocal control Anthony had.

--Walk Away - a song inspired by trying to get a friend to get out of a bad relationship

--The Hardest Thing - as Robert did, Anthony closed out very strong. I'll be looking for him when he's playing around Detroit again soon.

Reading Report - The Woodward Line Poetry Reading - April 26, 2017

I attended the Woodward Line Poetry Reading last night in Detroit. The reading was supposed to be inside the Scarab Club, a lovely building across the street from the Detroit Institute of Arts (right across from the movie entrance). However...the building was locked. Fortunately, it was an absolutely fantastic evening, and just around the corner is the little known (okay, I never noticed it before even though I've driven by it numerous times) Hudson's Art Park---a semi-circle cement bench with a hedge of fauna behind it looking in on a structure that reminded me of a sail. As there were 24 people there, it worked out perfectly in terms of having enough spots for everybody to sit around the poet reading.

The outdoor aspect was interesting--it brought some charm, the birds chirping from the Scarab Club, or the hum or electricity from the building to the south--as well as some hurdles, the cars whizzing by occasionally on John R. and what I assume were freighter horns two times. But the temperature was perfect--not too warm out, and not remotely chilly. Just the simple realization that there's a little spot like this a mere block or two off of Woodward Avenue that you could stop and sit and read in semi-peace was great to find out.

James Hart III is the co-head of this reading series and he did introductions last night---not always perfectly loud enough but in each case just enough was audible and his enthusiasm for the upcoming poet was always very clear.

First up--Matthew Landrum--lives in Detroit, teaches high school.

Matthew was a good, solid reader. Loud enough, made sure to make some eye contact with his audience--realized there was a semi-circle and moved a bit to get each of us that "front row" seat every poem. The first poem he read was a translation of a poem by Agnar Artuvertin (sorry, there's supposed to be an accent over the u) from his collection: Hin Einsami Frelsarin (or, The Lonesome Savior), published by Cold Hub Press, translated from the Faroese by Matthew himself. Faroese is language known to about 50,000 people worldwide, mainly in the Faroe Islands, between Scotland and Iceland. If I'm not mistaken, there was a great line referring to the body as "flop house flesh and bones."

Next up was a poem Matthew had written for Tupelo's 30 in 30 annual poetry month challenge. It was titled "My Second Daughter," that began:  

One day, if you do exist one day

that was simply heartbreaking. A poem to a hopeful eventual second daughter to at least partially replace the first that left much too soon.

Matthew finished with five more poems from his recent chapbook, Berlin Poems, that he said spun out of two four day trips four years apart from each other. These were also excellent poems full of emotion and highlighting Berlin.

I ended up purchasing both of the books Matthew brought with him--writers, be SURE to bring your works with you to readings, you never know who wants to be a little supportive of your endeavors.

Next up was Christina Kallery, and to be honest, the reason I attended--she's probably my favorite unpublished, in chap or book form, poet. I first met Christina, probably some eleven or twelve years ago now, at the home of Dwayne Hayes. It was either at an Absinthe-related party, or Absinthe board meeting (I think this one was a party). Not long after that I received an invite to go see her read at an event I believe she set up that was great (also reading that I got to see read for the first time were Norene Cashen and Jessica Bomarito, and I met James Hart III and Vievee Francis for the first time--and bought Vievee's debut collection because she had copies with her!). I was blown away by all four and continued to catch Christina read when she did over the next few years. There's a reason that Christina is the only person that I've asked to contribute to the Emerging Writers Holiday Gift Email more than once--I love her work and find it haunting in the best ways possible.

She too read to the entire audience, and probably read louder than she ever has in her life. She started with a poem that I've heard before and love--Swan Falls in Love with Swan-shaped Boat, a poem based on a Reuters headline she saw that captures loneliness and unrequited love in as unique a way as possible. She then read "Trying to Start the Van," a poem she wrote while living in New York about homesickness. Next up, "Missed Connections," about the section on Craigslist. Fourth was a poem for those with friends in bands titled "On the List." It had the great line that:

when plus one means having someone to watch movies with

and lastly she read "Burn Outs," that had at least two lines that caught my attention:

starter moustaches shadowing their upper lips

and

a black Camaro they said would never get off the blocks

 

 I still anxiously await a book of these poems to own and read at my whim.

Next up was the best and worst part of the evening--a FOURTEEN year old named Jackson Wright read a dozen poems. Those that were directly in front of the reader reacted in great fashion to at least ten of the works. Those reactions ranged from laughter, to "Wow!" and just happy faces. Unfortunately, I might have heard a dozen words during those dozen poems. I'm amazed that somebody fourteen years old (FOURTEEN!) is working his craft as a poet AND has the willingness to read in front of an audience and look forward to seeing his name for more readings in the future so that I can get front and center (or just indoors might help). I do know he started with a poem he wrote in the 3rd grade that his mother recently found. And the 6th poem was a numbered poem as well. I do hope to get another chance to hear this young man read in the future.

The fourth and final reader of the evening was Marcella Harb (who also happens to be Jackson's mother). She read five poems, each of at least a couple of pages in length. She didn't always start off with the title of the poems (and I have no idea, they may be untitled), but occasionally led in with information. She started her first poem noting that he name meant Jupiter, or god of war. She noted within the poem that she was Palestinian and so she had to be political, and the poem was. The line:

My name means war

jumped out at me. She followed with a numbered poem that she stated was patterned after metaphysical longing. I had some trouble following this poem and would love to read it instead--I liked many of the different ideas throughout but wasn't tying them together very well.

At this point Marcella said she was going to read some more recently written work, and I have to say I enjoyed these last three works more--they were more personal, less philosophical maybe? I think the first two poems would work better on the page than they did out loud.  The last three were easier to follow--and I should also point out that Marcella was an excellent reader--loud enough, made sure everybody got that front row seat throughout, and emphasized some things in her last poem almost like a judge banging a gavel, or like Eminem keeping the rhythm (just at a slower pace than his usually is). The third poem was written while Jackson was in the school's principal's office. The fourth  was titled "Ocean Rescue" and probably my favorite of her works. The last was a poem following Noam Chomsky."

It was a very nice evening, some great work was read (and purchased), and it was nice to catch up a bit. Nice to see the work being done out there and artists crossing the high wire act of showing their art in public to a live, responding, audience.

 

 

Author Reading - Alexander Weinstein at Nicola's in Ann Arbor

Last night I went to Nicola's in Ann Arbor to catch Alexander Weinstein doing what sounds like his last reading on this tour for his debut story collection, Children of the New World. Knowing I'd be going to the reading, I read the opening story from the collection, "Saying Goodbye to Yang," the night before. It's a great story about a Caucasian couple having adopted a Chinese girl, and worrying about cultural differences, also taking on an "older brother" robot, Yang.

The story starts with Yang slamming his head into his bowl of cereal over and over, goes to the realization that Yang is malfunctioning to a level they cannot handle, and so on as the father tries to get Yang repaired. In the story we realize that this is at least slightly into the future--robots and discussions of cloning--but as the story progresses, it becomes more about how the family has gotten used to having Yang as a son, and as a big brother to the little girl they adopted. It hits them harder than they thought losing a robot would. It's an excellent opener to the collection.

There was a crowd of between 25 and 30 people to hear Weinstein read. I had a nice chance to talk to him a bit before the crowd really started to appear and would say that he is closer to being a soft spoken person than a boisterous one. Which made his reading and performance all the better. He noted to the crowd that with all of the low spirits due to recent political events, he felt that a story with some sex, drugs, and rock and roll would be necessary and chose to read an excerpt from the story "Migration."

The story hits all of those notes--it begins with a teacher being approached by an attractive young women after class and the promise of a sexual encounter when the teacher is pulled out of what initially seems like a daydream by his son, Max. However, it wasn't a daydream, but some form of virtual reality between the father, an actual professor, and a student of his. It turns out that virtual reality is how everybody is living at this time, again, somewhere down the line into the future. The only people going out into the world seem to be truck drivers, bringing groceries and such things out to the people in the houses. There is talk of a bicycle tire air pump by Max for the bikes in the garage his grandparents had given to the family years before but mom and dad laugh at that idea. There are drugs, but they're the result of dot patterns and movement on a computer screen, not something ingested physically.

Where I'll refer to Weinstein's reading as performance is during an actual virtual reality sex scene between the professor and Kira, his student, during which penises and vaginas appear damn near on every appendage each of them have, and not gender specific at all and Kira has a penis on her foot and his thrusting said penis into the vagina on the professor's knee and Weinstein is coming close to acting this out while reading intently and it was really pretty fantastic. Not long after this scene, Weinstein closed the book and noted he was stopping the story there.

In the Q&A after that, many questions and thoughts were about the ideas that seem to be prevalent in this collection--where we're going with our technology and inter and intra personal relationships we have these days and where things seem to be headed. But the stories come back beyond simply looking at what might come about in regard to technology and looks at, with great concern, how that tech. might affect us. There is great heart that is at the least, underneath the surface of these works.

Weinstein talked about where his work may go in future efforts (which I'd bet will be in the form of more short stories)--and wherever that direction takes him, I look forward to reading. And if he's anywhere in the area reading from his work, I'm going to my best to get there.

Reading Re-Cap - Peter Geye at Nicola's Books in Ann Arbor

Went to see Peter Geye read at Nicola's Books in Ann Arbor last night and it turned into a fairly cozy reading. That is, summer in Ann Arbor might not always be the best time for readings, especially right around Art Fair as people are running around, busy, worn out, etc. After those of us that were there for the reading spread ourselves our rather widely in the available seating, the moderator of the event suggested maybe we sit around their (UNLIT) fireplace--couple of couches, some comfy chairs, etc., and so we did.

Peter read the first chapter and then opened things up for questions and as he knew 71.4% of the listeners, I think maybe it opened up for some different types of questions than from a completely cold audience. He had a former student in the crowd, somebody with which he had shared a panel at Voices of the Midwest, another novelist, etc. He also had people that had read all three of his novels and knew of the association between the new one, Wintering, and the last before that, The Lighthouse Road, and those who had yet to read any of them. 

So one or two of the questions were a bit more personal than you might usually see, and at the same time, Peter was doing his best not to release anything that might spoil the reading of Wintering for those that had not yet done. What it was though was enjoyable. The novel is fantastic, Peter's a nice guy who gave very long, thoughtful answers--a couple of the questions were in similar veins to those that he's been asked, but different enough that he had to think a bit about how exactly to answer them. Had it been snowy and cold out and that fireplace lit up might have been a bit more appropriate for this particular author/novel combination, but it was still a very good way to spend a portion of my evening.

Reading - Desiree Cooper at Literati in Ann Arbor

Monday night I went out to the first reading I've been to in a while. Desiree Cooper, whose story collection, Know the Mother, I had just reviewed, was reading. Earlier in the afternoon I also happened to hear her give a great interview on the local NPR station.

As is typical with readings at Literati, the introduction was fantastic--not too long, but not a simple announcement. Desiree had a great reading voice, was plenty loud for those of us who opted to sit in the back, and she had the ability to, without using voices, convey the different characters as she read her work.

The collection has many flash stories--and many of her flash stories are 750 words or less. This allowed her to read more than one or two complete works and not excerpts. She began with the opening story, "Witching Hour," which is a wonderful introduction to her collection.

Cooper then discussed the various types of women in her stories and how they were the focus of the collection. She brought up women that worked and then read"Ceiling," a story about a lawyer asking about maternity leave and hearing the phrase: 'If you wanted to have babies, why did you go to law school." This followed by "Cartoon Blue," a story about a lawyer who actually goes through the beginning of a miscarriage while on the phone with a client. It's a brutal story and maybe even more so having heard it read aloud.

Other works I remember Cooper reading include:

"Princess Lily," about a 14 year old who got pregnant while living in Japan and how she stayed with a Japanese family during the time of her 'condition;'

"Mourning Chair," a story from the point of view of a mother waiting for her daughter to come home (containing the line she knows she'd tell a cop if one came to her door---'She's the one with her heart beating in my pocket;'

She read "Soft Landing," sort of a fantasy story, and she also read "To the Bone," and I'm glad I was there to hear the introduction to this one as it pointed out a very specific element of repetition that I hadn't noticed that really works well.

It was a nice evening as Desiree Cooper lives locally and so the crowd mostly knew her, or her work. She even had a relative show up. She did a Q&A at the end and signed copies of the book and all in all it was a good reminder of why I used to attend a lot more readings than I have lately.

Poem by Norene Cashen

A little over a month ago, I saw Norene Cashen read and really loved one of her new poems. She's been kind enough to allow me to post the poem here at the EWN:

 

WAR
By Norene Cashen

I’ve never seen peace.
I’ve seen a foxhole, combat boots, a drill sergeant
and a gun. I’ve heard the gun rattle
and talk and talk and talk
in its fast language, the clink of brass casings
spit out after each syllable.
I’ve seen girls in dog tags and dust
crawling under the barbed wire of the world
as if their mothers waited for them
on the other side, but there is no other side.
That’s what you learn.
There’s only more war.
There’s war outside and inside
war speeding on the highway
to get to work on time.
There’s war in our mouths, our hair,
our eyes. The best wars are in the movies
where we eat popcorn and tell ourselves
nobody dies. Then somewhere in the middle
of Afghanistan a boy from Wisconsin
is smeared inside a turret
just like the old poem says. It’s possible
we’re all walking cages
and it’s our job to keep ourselves closed
to keep the violence
from shaking out of our bones.

Reading review - Wednesday Night Sessions

I had the good fortune to make it out to the October Wednesday Night Sessions two nights ago in Farmington, MI where a crop of SE Michigan based publishers and  literary journals sponsor a monthly reading series.

Each month they bring a trio of writers to read and this month the readers were: Jeremy Schall, Norene Cashen, and Anca Vlasopolos.

Jeremy read from one of his books and then some poems from a new collection he's working on. I'd seen Jeremy read recently at one of the last readings at Leopold's which happened to be a little more crowded than Wednesday night's reading (there was little thing competing with the reading called Game One of the World Series) but I noticed that the difference in crowd size didn't dissuade how Jeremy reads at all. His style is an interesting one as he makes sure to make some sort of eye contact with everybody listening between and during each poem.

Norene Cashen read poems that had been published in literary journals (from the journals), as well as new work herself. Norene's style has developed over the years to include interesting introductions to her reading in general, to the specific poem she's about to read, and beyond and it works great for her. I've seen her read probably half a dozen times over the past decade and each time seems better than the time before.

Anca Vlasopolos read poems from a couple of different previously published collections and then two new poems from a collection she's working on. She also gave good introductions to her works.

There was also an excellent story about Ingmar Bergman and his father that Dwayne Hayes, MC of the event, told after Norene read that worked nicely with her own introduction to her reading.

This series is a consistently solid one and I'm really looking forward to next month when Christina Kallery comes back to town to read, along with Steven Gillis and I have to apologize as I do not remember who the third person is going to be.

Dan Wickett, Reader?

Which also seems to imply writer first, doesn't it? The fine folks at Hobart had a salon reading last Saturday and were kind enough to ask me to read the story that Quick Fiction published a few years back that was written during the Dzanc Write-a-Thon that year. While not nearly as entertaining as Sean Kilpatrick's reading of erotica trilogies, I did my best to avoid hyperventilating and/or falling over the railing.

 

Dan Wickett reading @ Hobart House Salon Reading Party from colin quinn quit twitter prod. on Vimeo.