Shadow Prison

One of my poems (The Geometry Of Truth) is in the current issue of New York Quarterly





This issue also has an interesting craft interview with Bruce Weigl.
He admits that his impatience attracted him to poetry. He "liked how you could
cause a huge ruckus and then settle things up in a matter of lines."

He was also asked about the idea that nothing new can be said. "My response
would be so what...what's wrong with saying the old stuff again, hopefully in a way
that contemporizes the old ideas and makes them relevant again in our lives."

Reading that was comforting, because I often feel that its far easier to stumble
onto something "new." I am usually more impressed by instances
where something old is re-imagined or approached in an inventive manner.


There's another craft interview with Steve Cannon, who talks about his tendency to yell
"Read the goddamn poem" whenever poets preface their poems with background info
or explanations at live readings. "I'm a strong believer, if it ain't in the poem,
it ain't happening."


I considered writing in this blog about where my Geometry Of Truth poem came from,
but Cannon's words still echo in my head.


So here is an audio clip of me reading the damn poem at a local coffeehouse:

Let the record show that I clearly prefer the format here in livejournal land

but there seems to be so much more activity and interaction over on facebook, nowadays.

So that's where I usually end up (feel free to add me over there, if I haven't already found you).


I still like having a place where I can make posts that aren't confined to twitter-sized updates, 
but LJ is using more and more annoying advertising pop-ups. So I will still check in here occasionally
to catch up on some of you, who still keep good blogs going and I might post something every now and then.

But most poetry updates will now be posted at my new blogspot:

http://batteredhive.blogspot.com

batteredhive.blogspot.com/



let me know if any of you have blogspots that I should add over there,

shawnte

I sent in a handful of poems to the Tucson Poetry Festival and just heard

that I was awarded Third Place for this year's Will Inman Award.

Here is a video of my series of costume poems.  I originally wrote these
for a Halloween reading, but this video is from the recent show at the Puppet Theater.

I was hoping to make little poet puppets to go along with each poem, but I just didn't have the time.

So here are my imitations of local poets from different scenes around the valley.


David Chorlton
Aaron Johnson
Cat Klotsche
Patrick Hare
Bill Campana
Jack Evans
Dogo Barry Graham

I wanted to kick off my first feature reading of 2010 with a bunch of brand new pieces. A few of the other pieces have only bed read once before, so all in all it was pretty fresh.


-first set-

Irreversible
Damned Superstitions
yet-to-be-titled Jazz conversation piece                        (NEW)
Approaching The Intersection                                          (NEW)
Restraint                                                                                (NEW)
Of Doves And Olive Leaves                                               (NEW)
How To Violate Every Precept As A Touring Poet
Farmville Hell pieces                                               (NEW and sprinkled throughout my set like updates)


-second set-

What The Liberal Hollywood Elite Movie Reviewers Aren't Telling You About WALL*E
My Grandmother Never Liked You                        (NEW)
Glass Fairway
Recycling Pangaea                                                   (NEW)
Things That Make Me Cry
Miscellaneous Abominations






I love reading with writers who awe and inspire me. Jeff Falk, Cat Klotsche, Jack Evans, Bill Campana, and Patrick Hare are all amazing.

We had a nice little intimate crowd for the first round, but it thinned out after intermission. There's always a bit of a let down when that happens, but I learned a lot tonight when Bill Campana came back for his second set and dedicated his EPIC Love Poem Excerpts to the empty chairs and bellowed them with sold-out-stadium intensity. It was an awesome experience that I will never forget witnessing.

I'm beginning to like when readings like this become our smug secret, our Fight Club and whoever misses out misses out.















( a few more pics behind the cut )

Neil posted a bootleg video of one of the pieces that I performed at this year's 9th Annual Poe Show.

I will also paste the text, under the cut.

( Text for the Hearing-Impaired )

I am still working on my pieces for this weekend's big Poe Show, but I like how they are turning out.
So I am looking forward to Saturday! It should be a fun show.




9th Annual Edgar Allan Poe birthday celebration SATURDAY



We sold out the Mesa Arts Center last year, so you should get your tickets ahead of time...

9th Annual Poe Show is THIS SATURDAY JAN 16th!
7:30pm


This year, the show's at the MADCAP Theaters in Downtown Tempe.

Scheduled to appear are:

The Arcana Collective featuring Provocatease
Nightwolf (Ryan Avery & Andrew Jemsek)
Jeff Falk of Deus Ex Machina
Robert X. Planet and the Planet Poe Players
HB of Homebase Poetry
Lauren Perry of the 2009 Mesa National Poetry Slam team
Neil Gearns of the 2009 Mesa Poetry Slam team
Performance artist Trish JusTrish
Aaron Johnson and the Josh Hill Quartet
Lindsey Miller of the 2009 Tucson National Poetry Slam team
Doc Luben of the 2009 Tucson National Poetry Slam team
Caffeine Corridor host Shawnte Orion

And of course, your hosts Stephen G. Roy and The Klute!

As usual, the Poe Show is a benefit for Anthology, a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to bringing poetry to the Valley for over 15 years.

This year, tickets are only 10 dollars, and can be purchased at the MADCAP box office or online. Last year, we sold out the Mesa Arts Center, and we're expecting another big show this year. Get your tickets soon!

Buy tickets at the Box Office here!

By the way!

Unless he has forgotten, mister_barista  will be featuring at our Caffeine Corridor poetry open mic tonight (Friday)!

Who knows how long it has been since he's featured anywhere,
so we are very excited about hearing him, again.


Back when I first started going to readings, he was hosting at the Willow House
and it was the only place I felt like I almost fit in.


Mama Javas Coffeehouse
open mic starts at 7pm!

I am nothing, if not petty


I had to return some stuff for my wife at Office Max. I just needed it put back onto her card.
They wouldnt let me do it, without the number on the back of her card. So I went outside and called her to get that number.
So I went back in to give them the 3 digit number, but now they said they wouldnt do it without her actual card. I could understand nopt allowing me to PURCHASE something with a card that I am not holding, but obviously putting a credit back onto someone else's card is not much of a scam. It's not like they would argue, even if it was a stolen card. That would be some Robin Hood stuff.

But the manager refused, saying that he was not about to violate his procedures for me.

So I went home to pick up my wife's card. I also grabbed all of the other items on the receipt. I noticed that there were also two bottles of water, so I stopped by a grocery store to buy two duplicate bottles of water, just so I could go and return every single item on that receipt.

I am not proud...but I feel much better.

On the way home from a family Christmas Eve get together, we were listening to the holiday radio station.

They played a song from the Jackson 5's Christmas album
and the played the Beach Boys version of Frosty The Snowman.

Santa's squeezing down the chimney with a big old sack of irony.

No one conveys holiday spirit, like a bunch of Jehovah's Witnesses!
No one knows more about the magic of snow, than boys from the beach!

fa la la la la
la la la la

as read at Sound Effects last night:


Great Moments In Feminism Haiku

I hate when sexist
frat douchebags objectify
babes like that one chick


HUGE night at Mama Javas. We had such a great turnout that we could have assembled an all-star team from the poets who weren't even able to get on the open mic list. It felt like a Monday. There were even some people who couldn't find seats and ended up leaving.
It was the perfect environment for Bill's hosting capabilities.

Jonathan and Jessica were great. It was an excellent display of why we will miss them both so much.

Sorry, Bill
I took the liberty of making this flyer.

I just couldn't ignore the concept.

A year ago, I started co-hosting the monthly Caffeine Corridor Poetry Series with Jack Evans. In some ways, it seems like only yesterday and in other ways, it seems like forever ago. Especially when you think about all of the changes we've gone through in that span. We've been forced to change venues and days several times. It's been frustrating and exhausting, but I've been very proud of the kinds of the events we've been able to put together and the quality of poets and audiences that we've been able to draw. We've had some very impressive features and its been rewarding to see who shows up from month to month to spend their evening with us. I feel lucky to have the kinds of open mics that we have been able to have and I always go home feeling inspired.

The other night we had our one-year anniversary show. Since I put together a chapbook for the debut of our series, I decided it was time to put together another chapbook for this event. Jack did some covers from some of our past feature poets and it was cool to hear how some of our poems sounded, coming from him. I read a piece that I wrote after suffering through a painful set by the uninspired touring poet from the East Coast, who at least inspired Mark to create my banner (which was one of this guy's oddities that we had so much fun mocking). Then I read my entire series of imitation poems. It was awesome to read through those to a crowd who was pretty familiar with most of the poets that I was trying to impersonate.

Here are a few pics of some of the people who helped commemorate our first year.

At Chinese restaurants, our friends like to make everyone read their fortunes aloud and add "In Bed" at the end. They find that hilarious. We wondered if it is equally amusing to try that with quotes from other sources. Here are some of the quotes that I tested a few weeks ago, at the Deus Ex Machina show.
Add the "IN BED" part at the end of these:


...IN BED


Thou shalt love thy neighbor

Honor thy father and thy mother

Forgive them, for they know not what they do

A fool's mouth is his destruction

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

A wise son heareth his father's instruction

No one can serve two masters

Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it

Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might

let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth

The Wicked will be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth

Judge not, lest ye be judged

It is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and rains righteousness on you

Wow.

So I had a feature at Words In The Alley, the other night...

Let me back up a bit. Earlier this year, there was a touring poet who was not very good. He became a running joke for all of us who endured his set. Among his many offenses, he had an obnoxious banner that he set up beside him on the stage!

Mark has been threatening to make me my own banner, ever since. I kind of forgot about that, during the past few months, but when I approached the mic to perform my set, he surprised me by bringing out THIS:




It was embarrassing and amazing and it took me several minutes to stop laughing and begin reading. Half of the audience was cracking up because they were in on the jokehorse. The other half just looked bewildered...like "Who the hell does this egomaniac think he is????"
Btw- all of the stars are sparkly rhinestones! hahaha.






If you want to see this in person, come to Mama Javas coffeehouse on Friday night.
We are having the big One-Year Anniversary extravaganza for our Caffeine Corridor Poetry Series.
I will be reading the entire series of my "costume poems" (like Poem Yet To Be Written By Bill Campana, Cat Klotsche, Jack Evans, and more). This banner will also be on display!

Our open mic begins at 7pm
to see the FACEBOOK EVENT page, click here

So, I am featuring at Glendale's Words In The Alley Tuesday night. All of the downtown Christmas lights are up, so I am hoping they will make my poems sparkle. I am also hoping that I don't make anyone walk out. I scared a couple of people away from Bill's reading, last week. They didn't appreciate this:


Least Favorite Novelty Foods At This Year's AZ State Fair:


Piggly Wiggly Swine Fries

Chupacabra-changas

Roof Rat Kebabs

Ketchup Packets On A Stick

Deep Fried Chlorine

Mini Chupacabra-changas

Yard Clippings

Corn Dogs

Cotton Sunscreen

Strawberry Swackles

Deep Fried Crystal Meth