Welcome to PoemAlley, Stamford, Connecticut's eclectic venue for poets, poetry reading and discussion! Open to anyone living in Fairfield County and the surrounding area, we meet Tuesday nights at 7:30 pm at Curley's Diner on 62 Park Place (behind Target) . Come contribute, get something to eat, or simply listen!
An enthusiastic conversationalist, Jim Janke is often the first to draw newcomers into PoemAlley's Tuesday night proceedings. A font of voluminous, often anecdotal knowledge encompassing pop culture, 20th century history and, in particular, his beloved hometown of Stamford, CT, Jim's writing infuses major events with a richly-observed personal touch.
1938 Hurricane
Ladybird Johnson comes to town, 1968
Hosted by Frank Chambers, the Barnes & Noble's Open Mic Poetry program meets the second Monday of each month in the cooking section on the main floor of the bookstore (located in the Stamford Down Center), beginning at 7:15 p.m. To get a sense of Open Mic's flavor, see the video below of October's guest reader, Richard Duffee:
For more information, contact:
Barnes & Noble
Stamford Town Center
100 Greyrock Place Suite H009, Stamford, CT 06901
Join Nick Miele and other Fairfield University students tomorrow night as they celebrate the October opening of the university's new bookstore. Located on the site of the old Borders in downtown Fairfield, the new off-campus location is operated by Barnes & Noble and will be hosting "Stories, Stories, Stories", presenting selected essays, poetry and short fiction read by Nick and others newly-enrolled in the school's MFA in Creative Writing program.
Using his contributions to PoemAlley to dissect the subtlety with which the day-to-day and large-scale political worlds trade off one another's dysfunctionality, Nick works in Stamford, where he uses his Air Force background to provide technical analysis services at Aircastle, LLC, a company that leases and sells commercial jets to air carriers worldwide. For a sampling of his poetry and literary commentary, go here, here and here. And don't forget to check out his blog, Wordsmiths: A Gaggle of Poets under "Associated Links" on the left.
Among the highlights of the evening will be excerpts from Where the Tall Grass Grows, a novel-in-progress set in Mali by award winning writer and editor, Adele Annesi. Nick's Ridgefield-based classmate also runs a monthly online workshop on editing from her blog, Adele M. Annesi and Word for Words, LLC at http://www.adeleannesi.com/Online-Writing-Workshop.html.
When:
Wednesday, December 7, 7 pm
Where:
Fairfield University Bookstore
1499 Post Road
Fairfield, CT 06824
PoemAlley Advisory Committee head Bill Buschel is the featured speaker this Monday, November 14, 2011, at Barnes & Noble's Open Mic night, hosted by Frank Chambers, beginning at 7:15 pm in the Cooking section of the Stamford Town Center location.
A regular host on Hellenic Public Radio (Cosmos FM on WNYE 91.5 FM), Bill will share his special combination of scholarship and "you-are-there" humanity through a mix of contemporary subjects and pieces drawn from Greek mytho/historical themes. Here you can listen to audio of one of his past programs from Cosmos' 2004 archives.
For more information, contact:
Barnes & Noble
Stamford Town Center
100 Greyrock Place Suite H009
Stamford, CT 06901
203-323-1248 Prior to his August appointment, Bill was known not just for his poetry and a measured, authoritative presentation style, but for his dedicated video chronicling of PoemAlley gatherings and special readings, such as this latest YouTube offering of PA member Carly Pierre "Long Time Lovers".
An equally devoted online presence, Bill manages several blogs (see the full list here), most notably "Just My Eyes" (http://billbuschel.wordpress.com/), whose frequent focus is on all things Hellenic in academic and popular culture, like this interview with the Parlapanedes brothers, writing team behind The Immortals, the latest Hollywood interpretation of Gods, humans and Titans, centering on the exploits of Theseus.
Bill's companion blog, "Things We Need [to make it thru the day]" (http://thingsweneed.tumblr.com/) lists events and incidental imagery distilled from the media, other bloggers and Bill's own camera, scoping out everything from the controversy over a former porn star visiting public schools to promote literacy and assorted portrait tributes to the late Steve Jobs, to the six-month anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe.
As a survivor of Russia's own Chernobyl nuclear disaster from 1986, Tuesday's November 15 guest speaker at Curley's has explored a resultant fascination with crisis and dramatic social change via a series of historical novels, beginning with 2009's Wynfield's Kingdom and its sequel, Wynfield's War (2010), meting out gritty treatment to class struggle in Victorian England and the subsequent trials of key historical and composite characters during the Crimean War. As with such figures as Florence Nightingale, Marina Julia Neary's new sequence sets the record straight on the Irish struggle for autonomy, the secret Republican Brotherhood and the maligned Bulmer Hobson and his role in the 1916 Easter Rising.
Coined by critics as examples of "Irish noir", Marina's Brendan Malone: the Last Fenian and Martyrs & Traitors: a Tale of 1916 (both published this year) are the latest projects from an author who is also an actress, former PA poet, journalist and playwright. Marina's past activities include appearances in several independent art and horror films shot in the Connecticut/New York area, the writing of "Hugo in London", a tragicomedy about the French literary genius in England during the Crimean War and its sequel, "Lady with a Lamp: An Untold Story of Florence Nightingale", produced in Greenwich and New York, 2008-2009, respectively.
In 2007, Marina was commissioned to collect and publish the memoirs of over 40 senior residents from a Stamford-based retirement community. Click here, here and here for additional details on Marina's work from this blog; her homepages are http://mjneary.webs.com and www.marinajulianeary.com.
Following the publication in January of Brendan Malone: The Last Fenian, former PoemAlley member, actress/playwright, poet and novelist Marina Julia Neary further taps into her East European/Irish heritage with her latest historical work, Martyrs and Traitors: A Tale of 1916, setting the record straight on Bulmer Hobson, the unfairly maligned patriot, and how he and his actions were really understood by his contemporaries during the Easter Rising. Marina will elaborate on the origins of her book, her passion for history and her creative process at the Ferguson Library in Stamford, CT this Saturday.
As with her past projects assaying the class disparities and exploitation of Victorian London and the battlefields and intrigue of the Crimean War (Wynfield's Kingdom, 2009; Wynfield's War, 2010), Neary continues to weave fictional characters with pivotal events and figures to craft period pastiches infused with an uncompromisingly visceral texture and holistic characterization free of the hageographic depictions of standard historical accounts.
Similarly, her stage production "Lady With a Lamp: An Untold Story of Florence Nightingale" (2009), performed live regionally by herself and her husband, Walt, was highly-praised for its unique portrayal of Nightingale as a complex, real human being, rather than as a two-dimensional "angel of mercy", and was performed as a benefit for The Wyatt Foundation.
Her poetry has appeared in Alimentum, The Recorder and First Edition in the United Kingdom. She is currently an ongoing contributor covering entertainment for the Norwalk Beat, a Connecticut-based leisure publication.
PoemAlley participant Hoby Rosen is one of 40+ photographers, ceramicists, line artists and other creative professionals of the Loft Artists Association, opening their studios to the public this weekend. Since its inception over 30 years ago, the LAA is a non-profit cooperative, presently located in a former printing plant in the South End, committed to supporting the visual arts in Fairfield County and to educational outreach to the general public.
A graduate of Johns Hopkins and the University of Southern California, Hoby studied writing, drama and film production. He works primarily in wax for bronze casting and has work represented in galleries and shows in the CT/Westchester area, as well as in private collections.
Rebound (1993)
Tipping It In (1988)
Among his current projects are a new series of nudes in treated paper and wood, glass castings, sculptures made from electronic components, as well as dynamic figurative pieces drawing from his former background in puppet animation which replicate the elan found in today's athletes.
In addition to the LAA, Hoby is a member of the Stamford Art Association, the Greenwich Art Society, the New Canaan Society for the Arts and is also on the UCONN Stamford Arts Committee. Contact Hoby at hobyart@aol.com.
Open Studio Hours:
Friday, November 4, 6-9pm
Saturday, November 5, Noon-6pm
Sunday, November 6, Noon-6pm
Location:
Loft Artists Association
845 Canal Street, Stamford, CT 06902
The Open Studio is sponsored in part by: The City Arts Partnership Program Grant; Michael A. Pavia, Mayor; Harbor Point; Kim Harris; The Louis J. Kuriansky Fund; Alex & Ricki Miller; Wagner Instruments; WSTC 1400 & WNLK 1350.
Animating observations amassed from 49 states' worth of motorcycling with her husband, Rebecca Forsythe also peppers her poetry and musical contributions with musings on biblical and historical themes, not to mention an abundance of figures drawn from her own family.
Of her recent collection, from which she will be reading, Prairie Morning (2010, Turn of River Press), PA member Karen Waigland Davis notes how the writing resonates with the intensity by which "Forsythe observes and lives her life." Adds Barbara Holton, "Rebecca's poetry has a clarity and a grace that's sometimes missing in the poetry written in these post-modern days... Her throwaway lines can take my breath away."
Listen here to samplings of her daughter, Amanda, performing as soprano on New Dawn, an album of song and piano music by contemporary classical composer Carson Cooman, which features poetry by Rebecca.
Spanning poetry, satire and essays, PoemAlley regular Richard Duffee's ouvre explicates the human-scale effects of systemic injustice, geopolitical machinations and social/class relations. As October 10's featured speaker of Barnes & Nobles' Open Mic Poetry program, Richard has lived in Chicago, Philadelphia, as well as South Asia, where he married into an Indian family. A legal advocate for the homeless, his work experience ranges from painter, bookseller and psychiatric aide, to plumber, editor and law professor. A two-time candidate for Congress with the CT Green Party, Richard is the author of The Slow News of Need (Yuganta Press, 2001), a 35-year compilation of impassioned observations on the universal (but under-acknowledged) struggle between the pathology of "making a killing" versus the need to eke out a living.
Open Mic Poetry gathers the second Monday of each month at 7p.m. in the cooking section adjacent to the cafe on the main floor of the Stamford Barnes & Noble (located in the Stamford Town Center).
For more information, contact:
Barnes & Noble
Stamford Town Center
100 Greyrock Place Suite H009
Stamford, CT 06901
203-323-1248
For the "B" side, come by the following night just a couple of blocks over to hear Kaaren Whitney read as featured guest for the October 11 Tuesday at Curley's PoemAlley session. A former Connecticut resident, Kaaren has lived in England since 1971, where she works as a homeopath and serves as guardian of a labyrinth and Tree Circle. Among various credits, Kaaren has placed work in the UK's 2006 National Poetry Anthology and the Moonwise Diary (2007 through 2009), and was also a commended winner of the Fakenham Poetry Competition in 2008. Karen has contributed her nature-inspired writing to Painting to Poem (2006), Spring (2009), Shades of Light and Dark (2009), among other titles, as well as to 2009's Voicing Visions, a DVD/booklet collaboration between assorted artists and poets. She has read at Cotton's Yard Gallery, the Halesworth Fringe Festival and numerous open mic venues in England, the United States and Australia.
Find out what she's up to at her Ink, Sweat and Tears Webzine here; for a seasonal sampling of her Neo-Pagan poetry, see her frequent input across the pond on Living the Wheel of the Year, a UK-based online celebration of Celtic festivals and nature culture.
At the age of eleven, Iyaba Ibo Mandingo was plucked from the tropical comfort of his childhood and taken to a new life in a strange country. unFRAMED is his poetic tale of life as an immigrant--from boyhood in Antigua to manhood in America. Using canvas, paint, poetry, prose and song, Iyaba tells a story of his transformation, from “Mommy Me No Wanna Go Merrica”--a prophetic piece that hints at the many trials he will face in a new land, to his powerful political poetry which leads to his arrest and attempted deportation in post- 9/11 America, Iyaba shares his rage, his determination, and his hope while he paints his self-portrait and successfully struggles to redefine his humanity, rediscover his smile, and truly accept himself for the first time. Presented in conjunction with an exhibit of his original artwork, audiences are invited into the studio of the artist where painting and poetry create unframed art.
When:
Thursday, September 22—Saturday, September 24, 2011
Presented by the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College, in collaboration with Double Play Connections and Doing Life Productions; Jane Dubin, Executive Producer, Brent Buell, Director.
Other examples of Iyaba's art and performances can be found at iyabart.blogspot.com. At right is his cover for a PoemAlley collection, to which he also contributed three poems (please see the publications box at the bottom of the blog for ordering).
For more information, go to www.unframedtheplay.com, meanwhile, preview Iyaba's passionate multi-tasking combination of art, poetry and testimony in the video excerpts from unFRAMED below.
An avid member at Tuesdays at Curley's, Rona Schenkerman will read several pieces (many of which are the refined end-product of the group's supportive critique process), reflecting her unique blend of quietly atmospheric observation, romance and challenge.
Barnes & Noble's Open Mic Poetry program meets monthly in the Cooking section next to the in-store cafe on the main floor (located in the Stamford Town Center), beginning at 7 p.m., September 12. Rona is a social worker specializing in the needs of adolescents. She aspires to combine her love of animals with poetry, to establish a youth refuge center, where teens can benefit from a program using animal and self-expressive therapies.
For more information, contact:
Barnes & Noble
Stamford Town Center
100 Greyrock Place Suite H009, Stamford, CT 06901
Phone: 203-323-1248
The man shuffles the deck, kicks his boots. He'd excuse himself from the place and take to the road wondering off he wanders on reminiscing when the day will come and thinking bout' them days of old, he would petition the lord in heaven for good measure and a bit of betterment, the peacock, pelican, and phoenix for stregnth, a hedge of protection, and sense of discernment. There would be no starting over but rather making the best of what's left, damn it, it was a day like none other yet one like all the rest. it was a midsummer night in May where whistler winds sharp as fangs tried to kill a man, not to stab him in the back but to shoot him in the vein, and then look the other way. He'd write a song about it- The dispassion and the wickedness, the catheter and tourniquet, and for a minute there he fell, fallen over like a broken leaf and was scattered all across the street from the hospital, on a hill under construction. They were all in on it- a three ring circus ranging from the EMS, doctors and nurses to the department of fire and the city's finest, but the poison nurse with Middle Eastern accent was like sushi-a fish out of water with Middle Eastern accent that couldn't hit the vein. The bitch couldn't hit the mark, couldn't hit the fucking mark, so something would save the man, pardoning him from the throe and annal, whips and arrows, of death and dying, dying and death,- hallelujah. "It's not very good as it is," says the man, So may as well just get on with it instead. The man would complain and they'd arrest him for harassment for all that he underwent. So it goes, and what would be would be, yet in the good book the lord says 'vengeance is mine. So there you go," the man's reassured. These courts here on this rock of earth all too often fall all too short, all but a pig circus and kangaroo court. These courts don't hold the heart in judgment but in contempt, for the higher palm of a higher hand is the one who does advise and give consent.
------------
"The cop" the man recalls, hoovering over him like a ghost with folded arms,
just wanting to have the satisfaction of being
the last chiming ghastly glimpse and final nocturnal image
before the man would eclipse and gasp his last and final breath.
The room was different, as he'd lay there on his mattress
like it were his whipping post he'd think,
and sat against the wall was the RN,
straight ahead like sushi, like a fish out of water
and staring dead center ahead at the man's cross,
"you're done," the man told her.
So they and them would pour dirt on the truth,
and bury it with lies on First and McGovern
and Second and Ferguson 'neath distorted
light. They pound down on their chest,
and raise up there fist, but the day of reckoning is not up to us,
for judgement is hanging in the balance as
the hour of day will come
when Jesus will catch up to you like a mosquito bite.
Like a bad omen the puckish moon stalks the man
and the chain link fence the dogs would crash
breaking up all the magnolia in a thrash,
bud, bloom, and blossom, our justice of the peace,
stamping her out and voting her down, just like that.
The car across the street hit the gas instead of breaks
making a costly mistake
gridlock traffic at full swing.
It's a mean rain and heavy as a mountain peak,
it's been such a bad streak every single day of the weak.
Enzo Malagisi
August, 2011
original to the blog
"The Curse of Timeless Existence" and "Black Widow 1"
It wasn’t too long ago you suggested I read Eliot’s Four Quartets. I managed to make it through the first part of the first quartet. I will only say that I have no clue what the hell he is talking about except for the bit about time being unredeemable, that part makes sense but the rest is just plain nonsense to me. It takes a learned person to read and understand such things and I am far from that. My own writing comes straight from my heart and has very little to do with my head except that it is in my head where I war with words to make the emotion of the poem fit. All these classic writers are great and all but truly, I understand very little of what they are saying unless it strikes me as something emotional for that is the element of a poem, which to me, is the most facilitating, and which has the greatest effect upon me. Academics scare me because even if they are lying thru their teeth, who am I to challenge it when I have no clue what is taking place beyond the surface. I would go so far as to say that it is for this reason that poetry is kept barely alive…it seems a good old boys club that will not suffer any grandeur other than the prescribed methods that are known only to its members. Perhaps when I am educated a bit more I will at least be able to regurgitate what I have learned, listen to the arguments and then form an opinion of my own.
Best,
Nick
8/19/11
Nick,
Famous poets-not necessarily all great--often figure in my dreams, mostly wish-fulfillment dreams. Once I saw myself as Milosz’ butler whom his old wife came to like so much that the couple would actually insist on having me sit down with them for dinner. I’ve found myself with Eliot numerous times--in my dreams, of course. He and I knelt in the quiet of a 17th century chapel once and said the rosary together--all fifteen mysteries. In another he appeared to me in the form of a Serbian maid (she had an unusually elongated face) who was trying to make a pass at me in a crowded market place and hard as I tried I couldn’t seem to shake her off until her mother found her and reamed her out for not helping cart the full basket of potatoes back into storage.
This is to merely say that although I’m an academic, I’m not merely cerebral and I certainly hope I don’t lie through my teeth as often as you seem to think academics do. I obviously have a dream life, intimately connected with the body, naturally. And I do often write from the heart, as you say you do, although I wonder if it can ever be done without at the same time the mind being engaged in the effort in some mysterious way. Indeed, one can break into a sob in the presence of something sad and sorrowful. But that’s not exactly a poem.
You just read the first movement of the five-part "Burnt Norton" (all of the quartets are symmetrical in this regard.) And it’s not an easy movement to get into because it IS so intellectual, at least the very beginning, and requires one to really ponder some of the metaphysical “assertions” the poet makes in the process of getting his long intellectual/spiritual/mystical reflection underway. I suggest you take it slowly. And try not to leave your heart behind.
Go, said the bird, for the leaves were full of children, Hidden excitedly, containing laughter. Go, go, go, said the bird: human kind Cannot bear very much reality. (ll 40 44)
Is the heart engaged? Mine is!
I also suggest you read some good commentary on this long poem which is laced with place names and historical allusions that you must know in order to grasp the hidden geography and landscape of the poem. Helen Gardner’s book would be a good place to start.
Nick, I’m confident that your patience will pay off. You don’t have to like Eliot’s politics or personality (many don’t!) to recognize and appreciate his magnificent achievement in Four Quartets, a poem that comes very late in his life after he’d moved through near insanity, his wife’s and his own and, famously, of the early part of the 20th century, entre le guerre, between the wars.
While you’re at it, I’d also recommend you read Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet. This would be great preparation for you not only for the Creative Writing program you hope to enter but also for life. There are perceptions and insights in the Letters that will, I’m sure, help form an indispensable foundation for your writing life.
Ralph
8/19/11
Ralph,
I did not mean to suggest that academics are heartless liars, it is just that to me it seems they armor those hearts with intellectual scale. Scale that moves and shimmers and offers glimpses of people, places, and ideas,, that most definitely engage us as readers; as for the lying bit, I meant that I am ill prepared to comment on something as deep as Elliot and so if a teacher’s analysis of a poem was something other than it should be, even as a test to his or her students, that I might not catch it. I think poetry should be our treasure as a species and not something that only the learned can cultivate. Young minds are thirsty these days and I think it would be spectacular to give them the tools to make poetry thrive all across the globe and watch them run with it.
I agree that raw emotion does not a poem make. Rather, I feel that a poem should carefully sculpt an emotion…or at least that is how I try to write. For me the whole process is cathartic, it really is my therapy.
Best,
Nicholas
8/21/11
Nick, before I comment on your latest letter, let me share with you my friend Mahriah Blackwolf’s reaction to your first letter in which you express your frustration with Eliot’s Four Quartets.
Mahriah, a dear friend of mine who lives in California, a poet and song writer, is the author of the lyric “Touch the Hand of Love.” Please click (the video clip below) for the great Blossom Dearie’s version, and (below right) for the rendition of the same lyric by one of the much-loved sopranos of our time, Renee Fleming, accompanied by possibly the greatest cellist of the last few decades, Yo-Yo Ma.
I shared our brief exchange about Four Quartets with Mahriah. She just called to say that she resonated completely with what you said about your difficulties with Eliot’s poem. “I couldn’t agree with Nick more,” she said. She said that she’d felt stupid reading Eliot’s great poem and not grasping most of it, and she was consoled to know that it was not solely her problem but that there were others who also felt the poem was too obscure, cerebral and, possibly, ultimately not very helpful. Your honesty and courage in saying what you felt moved her deeply. I wanted you to know this, that our brief exchange has touched someone far away, and conversations like ours have the ability to bring people together, deepen culture and our understanding of ourselves. In your response to me, you say, “I think poetry should be our treasure as a species and not something that only the learned can cultivate. Young minds are thirsty these days and I think it would be spectacular to give them the tools to make poetry thrive all across the globe and watch them run with it.” You’re absolutely right, Nick. Poetry should be a precious shared experience, and not the private possession of a few ancient and isolated geeks!
You go on to say, “I agree that raw emotion does not a poem make. Rather, I feel that a poem should carefully sculpt an emotion…or at least that is how I try to write. For me the whole process is cathartic, it really is my therapy.”
I can think of so many of my friends who would agree with you wholeheartedly about what you identify as the healing effect of the poetic process. I know Mahriah would. (I hope you listened to her utterly heart-centered song and felt the healing that so many report when they hear it.) As you know, in our group at Curley’s, I’ve been known, while affirming our need and responsibility to be completely expressive of our sentiments and feelings, to come down a bit hard on sentimentality. I guess my belief is that in order to achieve the catharsis that you mention and which you achieve through the attentiveness you bring to the shaping of your emotions, one must be open to the complexity of experience, make sure that one is not merely and gratuitously wearing one’s heart on one’s sleeve but find the words that truly delve into the heart of the matter. This is not easy to achieve. It takes “careful sculpting,” as you say.
Thanks for sharing your perceptions with me. Maybe our exchange will widen into a conversation other poets join in and together we’ll move towards claiming poetry, honest and complex, as our common legacy that offers a promise of freedom.
Ralph
What are your views on the issues raised by Nick and Ralph? Post your comments below and join the discussion!
___
About the participants:
Recently accepted into Fairfield University's MFA in Creative Writing program, Nick Miele is a technical analyst for Aircastle, LLC, a Stamford, CT-based firm that leases and sells commercial jets to air carriers worldwide.
Facilitator of PoemAlley's weekly gatherings at Curley's, Ralph Nazareth teaches English at Nassau Community College on Long Island, where he also leads PeaceWork, a peace/social justice group. In addition, Ralph instructs inmates in creative writing at Green Haven Correctional Facility.
Gene Glickman and Nancy Hoch will be sharing their work and the experiences informing it at Curley's Diner in downtown Stamford on Tuesday, August 30, 2011, beginning at 7:30 pm.
Gene Glickman is a retired professor of music. He taught at Nassau Community College from 1963 to 1999. During the academic year 1969-70 he spent a sabbatical year in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, teaching at its Music Academy. He returned to Sarajevo for visits several times thereafter. His last trip there was for three weeks in 1997, after Yugoslavia had split into fragments and Sarajevo had undergone a prolonged siege conducted by Bosnian Serbs. During that three-week period he kept a journal; he will read from that journal.
Nancy Hoch teaches writing and literature at the City University of New York. Many of her students are teachers’ aids in the New York City public schools. She is completing a dissertation on the figure of the father in recent U.S. literature who positions himself on the periphery of the family. In particular, she is interested in the way economics shapes the father into an absent presence. She will read from her poetry, including some poems based on historical incidents and some of a more personal nature.
(See end of post for new information as of 8/16)
Festival! Stratford begins its sixth year at, and on the grounds of, Stratford, Connecticut's American Shakespeare Festival Theatre, beginning this Thursday, August 11 and running through August 21.
Among some of the participating performing companies, workshops and activities contributing to the program are Shakespearience Productions (presenting “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”), Dr. Joe Utterback and the Sister Cities Choir, the SquareWrights ("Quickies in the Park"), Hudson Shakespeare Company ("Tymon of Athens"), morning yoga instruction, as well as a week-long theatre camp.
Picturesquely situated along the Housatonic River, the American Shakespeare Festival Theatre is located at 1850 Elm Street. Website: http://festivalstratford.org/.
Theatre Tour Opportunities:
Tours of the restored American Shakespeare Festival Theatre (loosely inspired by the design of the original Globe Theatre) begin 6:30 through 7:45 on August 18 through 21. Each tour closes 15 minutes before performances.
2011 Festival! Stratford Schedule (check here for the complete program for the summer):
August 16th, Tuesday
9:00 AM Theatre Camp with Shakesperience (9 am – 3 pm)
August 17th, Wednesday
9:00 AM Theatre Camp with Shakesperience (9 am – 3 pm)
August 18th, Thursday
9:00 AM Theatre Camp with Shakesperience (9 am – 3 pm)
6:30 PM Stratford Arts Guild – Arts Exhibit (6:30 pm – 11:00 pm, inside theater)
8:00 PM Hosted by Mark Goldstein; Featuring: Broadway’s Jerold Goldstein, Annie Edgerton & more! - Broadway Meets The Bard, A Night of Music, Magic, and More!
August 19th, Friday
8:30 AM AM Yoga
9:00 AM Theatre Camp with Shakesperience (9 am – 3 pm)
6:30 PM Stratford Arts Guild – Arts Exhibit (6:30 pm – 11:00 pm, inside theater)
8:00 PM Jazz for the Spirit – Music
Temple Players – Learning Experience at Elderhostel & Soldiers of the Lord
Eastbound Theatre – Maybe in Another Universe
Bridgeport Theatre Company – Highlights from 2011 & 2012 Seasons
The Players at Putney Gardens – Shakespeare in the Garden
August 20th, Saturday
8:30 AM AM Yoga
12:30 PM Stratford Arts Guild – Arts Exhibit (12:30 pm – 1:45 pm, inside theater)
2:00 PM SquareWrights – Quickies in the Park
8:00 PM Shakesperience – A Midsummer Night’s Dream
August 21st, Sunday
8:30 AM AM Yoga
12:30 PM Stratford Arts Guild – Arts Exhibit (12:30 pm – 1:45 pm, inside theater)
2:00 PM Festival! Theatre Camp performance, etc. – Shakesperience
2:30 PM Jeff Butler & Sean Morrissey – Uno Duo
4:00 PM Shakesperience – The Jungle book
A long-standing facilitator at Tuesdays at Curley's, Ralph Nazareth will present a selection of his work as guest reader of the Open Mic Poetry program, which meets monthly adjacent to the cafe on the main floor of the Barnes & Noble bookstore (located in the Stamford Town Center), beginning at 7 p.m., August 8. Ralph is a professor of English at Nassau Community College, where he leads PeaceWork, a group committed to peace/social justice issues; for the past five years he has also instructed inmates in creative writing at Green Haven Correctional Facility.
For more information, contact:
Barnes & Noble
Stamford Town Center
100 Greyrock Place Suite H009, Stamford, CT 06901
Phone: 203-323-1248
Blinding shades of green
Lightning bugs fill the yard.
My flashlight’s beam catches shadows moving, hiding from the day.
There, secrets make me weep.
Breeze.
More wood.
Fire fed.
Red flame and heat.
Rejoice.
Grace is called for,
hoped for,
proffered
and rejected.
The price too high.
Lightning bug violence guide deer across my yard
their dead eyes inspect the stains on my shirt.
Laughing they continue their journey.
Through my yard.
Through my life.
Through the yard next door.
Their contempt makes me smile--
laughter soothes the savage,
the breast
and the beast*.
Six times 6 times 6** hides in those shadows
John of Patmos*** lurks there too
So does The Christ.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
The wretched are blessed as they reach for another beer.
Bill Buschel
8/2/11
*A play on: Music has charms to soothe the savage breast.
**666, the number of the beast; The Antichrist
***John of Patmos, the reputed author of The Book of Revelation
____
Against the day-to-day experiences of the poor and blue collar workforce of Los Angeles, Charles Bukowski (1920-1994), described by Time magazine as the "laureate of American lowlife", wrote with sparse, but intimate grit about romance, drinking and his own creative process during his many years as a postal clerk.
