New Visions Recap

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I want to thank everyone who came out to the New Visions Writers Showcase on Saturday. We had a packed house and a very attentive audience. Our featured readers, Rachael Goetzke, Charlie O’Donnell, Reena Ranells, Sandee Gretz Umbach, and William James, did a fantastic job. William concluded the night with some of his SLAM pieces, and he blew the roof off, drawing raucus applause at the end of his set.

We plan to keep this reading series going for as long as we can, especially since the audience for it keeps growing and growing. We do indeed have a wonderful, supportive writing community here, and I hope it only continues to grow. Here are some pics of the event, courtesy of Sandee Gertz Umbach.

Rachael reading from her memoir

Sandee reading from her collection, The Pattern Maker’s Daugther

Me reading bios of the readers

William James getting us started with an opening poem

 

Our next New Visions Writers Showcase will be in May. We already have most of the readers lined up, and I promise they will not disappointment. I will write about the event more when it’s closer.

Third New Visions Writers Showcase

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The third New Visions Writers Showcase is set to take place this Saturday at  7 p.m. at New Visions Studio and Gallery, 201 Vine Street in Scranton. I’m proud to again co-host this event with my friend and fellow writer Jason Lucarelli. This event is different from our first two readings because we are bringing in some folks from out of town, including national slam poet William James, who will be entertaining, that I can promose. Known for his punk rock ethos and performance-based poetry, James will surely keep the crowd’s attention. Go Lackawanna ran a wonderful article about the event, focusing on James’ work. Check it out here.

To give you a little more info about our six featured readers, here are their bios.

Rachael Goetzke: Raised in the Blue Ridge Mountains of southwestern Virginia, Rachael Goetzke currently calls Sugar Notch, PA her home. She lives with her cats, Cinnamon and Sugar, and works as an Early Literacy Specialist at the Osterhout Free Library. She also founded and is the Managing Editor of Word Fountain, a literary magazine housed at the library. Rachael received her B.A. in English from Radford University and her MFA in Creative Writing from Wilkes University. She enjoys discussing creative projects, especially music-related ones, over fair-trade coffee beans.

Sandee Gertz Umbach is a poet and writer from Western Pennsylvania, currently residing near Pittsburgh.  Her poems have been published in numerous literary journals, including Poet Lore, The Ledge, Gargoyle, and The Green Mountains Review. She has been the recipient of a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts fellowship grant and is a Sandburg-Livesay Award Winner. Her recently released poetry collection, The Pattern Maker’s Daughter, (published by Bottom Dog Press) is set in the industrial steel city of Johnstown,Pennsylvania and reflects coming of age themes with a strong narrative sense of place and landscape.

Reena Ranells is the author of the recently published collection of poems Dancing Trees of Life. She is also a member of the Mulberry Poets and Writers Association. Besides writing poetry, Reena has worked as an RN for the last 25 yeras, and recently started a non-profit for farm and animal rescue.

Keith Gilman has been a police officer in the Philadelphia area for over 15 years. His most recent novel is My Brother’s Keeper, and he is also the author of one previous novel, Father’s Day, which won the Private Eye Writers of America’s Best First Novel Award.

Charlie O’Donnell graduated from King’s College where he majored in English and minored in psychology. He was a mental health worker for many years and now works at the Arts Seen Gallery on Public Square in Wilkes-Barre, where he organizes the Third Friday of the Month Spoken Word series.

William James is a member of the Steel City Slam and current host of the Yount Steel Youth Slam. He has performed over 300 shows across America, touring both as a solo act and in support of musical acts ranging from punk rock to folk. He has featured or competed at poetry slams, readings, music venues, and basements in almost every state east of the Mississippi.

This event is free and open to the public. Wine and snacks will be provided.

L’vis Lives!

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Kevin Coval is one of my favorite poets on the contemporary American poetry scene. He is the co-founder of Louder than a Bomb, a youth poetry festival in Chicago that works with high school students, and he is the author of three collections of poems, the latest L’Vis Lives, published in 2011 by Haymarket Books. What I like about Coval’s work is his reference to contemporary music, especially hip-hop, which shapes the form and content of some of his work. I also like the theme and thread of identity that weaves his three collections together. His first book, Slingshops:A Hip-Hop Poetica, certainly has the hip-hop references, but it also has several poems that address his own identity being Jewish and white. His second collection, Everyday People, is a praise song to the working-class that populate Chicago, and his latest collection addresses the white black boys, meaning white suburban kids into hip-hop.

As a regular book reviewer for PANK, I had the chance to review Coval’s latest book of poems, and I was struck by how honest, brave, and bold these poems are, how they address the fact white people made a lot of money co-opting black culture. And at the heart of the collection is again the issue of identity. You can read my review of L’Vis Lives online by clicking here, and check out Coval’s work because he doesn’t run from the truth.

Here is a video of Coval performing quite a few of his newer poems. Enjoy!

Award-winning Poet/Iraq War Vet Brian Turner Coming to Scranton

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A few days ago, I announced that Patricia Smith is coming to Keystone College on April 3 at 7 p.m, and now I’m happy to announce that another big name poet is coming to the area- Brian Turner, an award-winning poet and Iraq war vet. He is going to read at the University of Scranton on Tuesday, March 27 at 7 p.m. as part of the university’s annual This is Justice Event. Turner will read in the Moskovitz Theater, located in the DeNaples Center.

Turner’s debut collection of poems, Here, Bullet, details his experience fighting in Iraq, and it also covers the war from the point of view of Iraqi civilians. He is also the author of the collection Phantom Noise, published in 2010.

The event is free and open to the public. You can find several audio/print interviews and some samples of his work on his website. I’ve never seen Turner read, though I have read his first book. I look forward to this event and getting a chance to hear some poems from his second book, which focuses on what happens when the soldiers return home and how they carry war with them.

Patricia Smith at Keystone

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I am eager and happy to announce that Keystone College is hosting Patricia Smith on Tuesday, April 3 from 7-9 p.m. at Evans Hall. This event is free and open to the public, and if you are looking for something to do to celebrate National Poetry Month in April, I recommend seeing Smith.  She is the author of five books of poetry, and her work has appeared in Poetry, TriQuarterly, The Paris Review, and other journals.  She is also a four-time individual champion on the National Poetry Slam, and she has been featured a few times on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam.

What I enjoy about Smith’s work is is the way that she has used music over the years to address various social issues, especially race. “What I Would Have Told Oprah if She Asked,” a poem about Michael Jackson’s insecurities and decision to whiten his skin, does this especially well.  Her poems are loaded with references to jazz, blues, Motown, rock ‘n roll, and hip-hop.

My favorite book by Smith is Blood Dazzler, a finalist for the National Book Award in 2008. It features poems solely about Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. That book truly shows the range of voice and persona Smith is able to capture in her work. It includes poems from the point of view of George Bush, a dog, the hurricane, and various residents of New Orleans, rich and poor, black and white.

I’ve often taught Smith’s work when discussing voice/persona in creative writing classes, and I’m happy some of my students will get to see her live. Here is a video of Smith performing the poem “Medusa.” You can also find a lot of her work online if you Google her name of visit the Poetry Foundation’s website here.

Doylestown Reading Recap

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On Thursday, I had the pleasure of reading at the Doylestown Bookshop with fellow local poet Dawn Leas. We were invited back after reading there a few months ago. At the time, Doylestown did not have any steady poetry series going on, but now it does. Every third Thursday of the month, starting at 6:30 p.m., the store runs a poetry series that includes at least one featured reader and a limited open mic. I recommend that poets check this out because it has a nice built-in audience, mostly young people and some poets from around the Philly area that make their rounds at various open mics. The audience is also generally responsive and receptive, eager to talk about the poems after the reading concludes.

The bookstore also has a unique selection of books. Its poetry section includes a lot of chapbooks and full-length collections from local authors and smaller presses. Some of the only more well-known poets I saw on the shelf included Billy Collins, Robert Frost, and Tony Hoagland. Its other sections are also expansive.

If you’re looking for something to do in the Philly suburb area, I recommend stopping at the Doylestown Bookshop. You can also visit the quaint restaurants, bars, and cafes that line the streets downtown. For a full list of author events at the bookstore, click here.

Next Sunday, March 25, from 3:30-5, I’m taking part in a reading and Q & A session at the Belmar Arts Council Boathouse in Belmar, NJ. I’ll be joined again by Dawn Leas and our friend and prose writer Anne Henry. The three of us will be joined by some writers from NJ. I feel confident the experience will be as pleasant as the reading in Doylestown.

A Little bit of Irish Verse

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Parade Day may be over in Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, but that doesn’t mean the celebration of Irish heritage and culture is quite over in NEPA. This Friday, on the eve of St. Patrick’s Day, the Art SEEN Gallery on Public Square in Wilkes Barre is presenting a unique St. Patty’s Day event. There will be a reading of work by Irish writers starting at 8 p.m. A limited open mic will follow. Anyone can sign up to read, and if you aren’t sure what to share, just Google W.B. Yeats, James Joyce, Seamus Heaney, Frank McCourt, or any other Irish writer. There will also be some books on hand to chose from.

To get you in the mood for this event, here is one of my favorite love poems by Yeats.

When You are Old

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;
How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;
And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

March Events

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Over the next few weeks, I’m partcipating in several poetry-oriented events that I want to let everyone know about.

This Wednesday, March 14 at 11 a.m. Marywood University’s English Club is hosting me for a reading. It will be held in the second floor of the library.

On Thursday, March 15, I’m reading at the Doylestown Bookshop with Dawn Leas. The reading starts at 6:30 p.m. and a limited open mic will follow.

On Tuesday, March 20 from 6:30-8, I’m teaching a workshop at the Osterhaut Library in Wilkes-Barre. The event will focus on finding literary journals for your work.

On Sunday, March 25 from 3-5:30, I’m reading in Belmar, NJ at the Belmar Arts Council Boathouse with three PA-based writers and three NJ-based writers. A $5 donation is encouraged. We will also take questions from the audience after the reading.

On Saturday, March 31 from 7-9 p.m., I am co-hosting the next New Visions Writers Showcase with Jason Lucarelli. Our featured readers this month include Rachael Goetzke, Charlie O’Donnell, Renna Ranells, Sandee Gertz Umbach, Keith Gilman, and Pittsburgh-based SLAM poet William James.

For a full schedule of upcoming events, check the events page of my website here.

Be sure to also check out the Art SEEN gallery in Wilkes-Barre this Friday. Starting at 8 p.m., there will be a reading of work by Irish writers. An open reading will follow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Springsteen’s America

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Throughout Springsteen’s career, he’s always done a good job of documenting the times we live in. Darkness on the Edge of Town features gritty working-class characters in over their heads and trying to survive. Born in the U.S.A. also tackles blue-collar issues, especially Ronald Reagan’s trickle down economics and what it did to our country in terms of increasing economic disparity. Then, in the 1990s, Springsteen released the quiet acoustic album The Ghost of Tom Joad with a lot of songs from the immigrant’s point of view. On his latest album, Wrecking Ball, out this week, Springsteen addresses these issues again and the financial crash and economic meltdown that put a lot of people out of work. This album, in my opinion, is one of Springsteen’s best. It is big and epic, topical and direct.  Springsteen manages to contrast reality with the promises of the American dream and point out the stark differences.

Musically, Wrecking Ball is one of Springsteen’s most diverse albums, a criss-cross of genres, folk, gospel, rock, and even some hip-hop. “Shackled and Drawn” sounds like an old chain gang song. It also has some of his most poignant working-class lyrics. He sings, “Gambling man rolls the dice/workingman pays the bill/It’s still fat and easy up on banker’s hill/up on banker’s hill, the party’s going strong/down here below we’re shackled and drawn.” Has there been a song, poem, or novel in the last few years that so clearly highlights the economic inequality that has skyrocketed in this country?

Some of the tracks feel like sequels to some of his earlier work. “Death to My Hometown” could be seen as a follow-up to “My Hometown” from Born in the U.S.A. In the new track, there’s nothing left in the hometown. Springsteen sings, “They destroyed our families, factories/and they took our homes/They left our bones on the plains/The vultures picked the bones.” What a rustbelt anthem and truth!

However, the tracks on Wrecking Ball differ from some of Springsteen’s other working-class narratives in the sense that the working-class is starting to rise up and fight back. On “Death to My Hometown,” he sings, “Be ready when they come/for they’ll be returning/sure as the rising sun.”  Springsteen wrote a lot of the songs before the Occupy movement really took off, but he obviously realized enough was enough and America needs a social movement again to challenge power.

The album’s title track is also punctuated with some optimism in the simple refrain, “Hard times come and hard times go.” That seems to be a reoccurring theme on the album. A lot of the tracks state that America has always had periods of economic divide and great uncertainty, so it’s important for people to take care of each other through difficult times, and somehow, we’ll survive.

Wrecking Ball accurately depicts the times we live in, the great economic divides and  inequality, and while the album may feature some of the angriest lyrics the Boss has ever penned, it is clear he believes we will get through this if we take care of each other. Hard times come and hard times go.

Yes, Obama Could Lose

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In the most recent episode of “Real Time with Bill Maher,” Maher offered an apt metaphor for the possibility that yes, Obama can lose the election. He admitted that the GOP has been ruining its brand as of late, due to the long primary battle and the fight over birth control and women’s reproductive rights, but Maher compared the GOP to a horror movie slasher that won’t die. First, the hand starts moving, and then the whole corpse  comes back to life. As Maher pointed out, the GOP will eventually ends its primary season, probably quite soon if Romney wins a majority of the states this Tuesday (a Super Tuesday race). Then, the party will coalesce around the nominee and work on defeating Obama. The Koch Brothers and other right-wing billionaires will pour millions into Super PACS to unseat the president.

Maher’s comments reminded me of friends who believe Obama will definitely win re-election.  As an Obama supporter and someone currently working with his campaign in Luzerene County, I have told friends time and time again that the president can indeed lose re-election. The GOP may be in disarray now, but they will unite to defeat him.

Even Paul Begala, a major Democratic strategist, wrote in his column in the new issue of Newsweek that this election may very well be a toss up. Begala points out that there are a few foreign policy factors that can upend the election. He cites the Iran nuclear issue and skyrocketing oil prices as two major factors, as well as uncertainty and possible conflict in Pakistan. He also envisions the GOP uniting once the primary season is over. He writes, “The GOP will unify. Where once their central organizing principle was opposing communism, now it is opposing Barack Obama. As long as he is on the ballot, the Republicans will be able to reunite. There is not much the White House can do about that. The reality is the GOP demolition derby will end soon enough, and the president will be in a neck-and-neck race all year.”

The Election is still about 8 months away, and in a lot of ways, it feels much more important than it did in 2008, due to all of the problems facing this country, including growing income inequality, high unemployment, and impending foreign policy issues. Months ago, Obama started laying the groundwork for his campaign. Even here in NEPA, an office has already opened in Scranton and one is set to open soon in Wilkes-Barre. The White House must know that the landscape this time will be different than it was in 2008 and nothing is certain, especially since the economy is still fragile and serious foreign policy challenges loom.

It makes the canvassing and voter registration drives all that more important.