Come gather round people, wherever you roam!

Guess what time it is?

It's open mic night time is what.




Come to the

Unitarian Universalist Church

@ 701 B Ave.

Saturday night at 6:30

Unfortunately, I was not able to attend the last reading, but the famous Terry Gresham was there, and he made a post featuring two of the poems read that night, by Monty May.

Here is one of them:

MUSIC

Sing and play,
Cast a ray,
Draw from the wealth within you;
Dance, direct-
Use your own dialect,
The Muses are waiting to guide you.

Day raining dreams,
Sky reigning themes;
Circling motions of wonder-
Rising within, rising without,
Ringing like carols of thunder!

You can read the other at Terry's awesome blog, Toenail Moon, where he also keeps his poetry, links to interesting things, and musings about Frenchmen, Woodchucks, hipsters and werewolves.

I hope both Terry and Monty will be back tomorrow night, and I hope to see you there, too!

Labor Omnia Vincit

Oklahoma Laborfest sounds like it's going to be great!

The festival takes place in Oklahoma City's

Plaza District

from

August 26th to August 28th.

It will begin with a poetry reading at Coffy's Cafe, hosted by Jeanetta Calhoun Mish, whose book, Work is Love Made Visible: Poetry and Family Photographs, won the 2010 Oklahoma Book Award for Poetry.



Several Oklahoma writers will read, including our own Aaron Rudolph, Jason Poudrier and more. Lawton will be represented! Let us know if you are going, too.

Here's a link to a map of the Plaza District.

Here's the schedule of events for the rest of the weekend, including panel discussions, screenings of documentaries, live music and art shows!

The festival will wrap up with "Labor Speaks," an event that "will include dramatic readings of selected historical texts from Oklahoma’s labor and civil rights movement as well as musical performances of songs connected to these movements."

This is a great opportunity to support the arts and to learn about Oklahoma history.

Poem of the Day 4/17

Poem of the day is an Ancient Egyptian Love Poem that Teri McGrath selected because she read it once in an anthology and thought it sounded a little bit like a diary entry she wrote about Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran.

After Anis Shivani's reading, Friday, perhaps you would like your face rocked off.

I'll tell you something else about Friday, February 12th.

The punk/metal band, Day of the Sick, featuring Rev. Jones (our fellow poet, Rob Duncan), will be performing at the Railhead. Beginning at 10pm.

This performance will not be an artsy performance.

It will be a wall of doomish noise.

March 2nd Show at Cameron Campus Ministry

Featuring Levi the Poet , a "Death Metal Poet." Here's a clip of him performing at Cameron in September '09:



The show will also feature Andrew the Poet, our new Facebook friend, who let us know about this event.



C-Note and the Ballerz, who were interviewed by Jeremy Bigelow for the March '09 issue of OKIE MAGAZINE, will perform.



And so will Paid in Blood

Show starts @ 8pm at Cameron Campus Ministry

500 SW 27th Street . Lawton, Oklahoma . 73505

Sounds like it could be pretty cool. Check it out. Tell us what you think.

February 12th Cameron Visiting Writer

Author, Anis Shivani, will be reading from his collection,

ANATOLIA AND OTHER STORIES

@ Cameron University

in CETES Conference Room B

Friday, February 12

@ 7 pm

Here's a picture of Shivani that you can click on to get to his website:



Here's a bit about ANATOLIA AND OTHER STORIES:

In these stories of novelistic breadth, Shivani takes the measure of the fallout from globalization as well as its advantages, exploring cultures old and new to gauge their ultimate resiliencies. An undocumented Indian worker in Dubai, an Issei man in a California internment camp, a persecuted minority novelist in contemporary Tehran, and a loyal-to-the-core Jewish trader in the Ottoman empire are the kinds of sympathetic characters who bridge place and individuality in this powerful collection. These stories make us confront the hardest intellectual challenges of the emerging world, without losing narrative urgency, concision, and lyrical power.

These readings are usually very intimate and enjoyable. Afterward, the authors often invite questions from the audience. It's a great way to spend a few hours on a Friday. See you there!

Read This!

Local poet, Tracy Haught, has some poems appearing in this publication:

You may have heard her reading some of these poems at the monthly reading.

Read them! Love them! Say so!

"Riding the Curl of Light: Poems to Love."

John Graves Morris will give his traditional Valentine's Day reading
in the beautiful Leslie Powell Gallery
@ 620 Southwest D Ave.
on Friday, February 13th, at 7pm.

There will be wine and other refreshments.

And there will be love.