The Prada Poet

Wed Feb 29 The Green Pavilion Poetry Event in Brooklyn

2012-02-27T19:43:00.000-08:00

Folks,

This Wednesday, Wednesday February 29th, Sadie Hawkin's Day, I will be reading & singing all about love in Brooklyn at the Green Pavilion Restaurant. Joining me will be poets Bernard Block and Hilary Sideris. There will also be an open mic.

Here are details followed by the Facebook event link:

DATE: Wednesday February 29, 2012

TIME: 7pm-9pm (Open Mic Signup starts at 6:45pm)

PLACE: The Green Pavilion Restuarant, 4307-18th Ave., Brooklyn, NY

ADMISSION: $5.00 food/drink minimum + $3.00 suggested donation.

DIRECTIONS: F train to 18th Ave. station. Last car coming from Manh, right staircase to street. You will be only about 1/2 block away from rest., same block you will be standing on.

The Green Pavilion Poetry Event, held the last Wednesday of every month, is hosted by Evie Ivy and Cindy Sostchen-Hochman.

RSVP:
http://www.facebook.com/events/305355309520457/

About the featured poets:

HILARY SIDERIS has published poems in many journals, and in the anthologies "Pomegranate Seeds: An Anthology of Greek-American Poetry," and "Token Entry: Poems of the New York City Subway." Her first and third chapbooks, The Orange Juice is Over and Gold & Other Fish, have been published by Finishing Line Press, and her second chapbook, Baby, was published by Pudding House Press. She lives in Brooklyn and works for The City University of New York, where she develops programs for English language learners and first-generation college students.

BERNARD BLOCK's poems have appeared in the NY Quarterly, the Minnesota Review, Colorado Review and other university presses. Published four chapbooks: Quest; Prometheus Returns; Portraits; and To Music. Born and raised in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. He attended Cornell University and completed a B.A. in English and American Literature at Brooklyn College in 1965. Hitch-hiked out to California in 1965 and helped organize the Port Chicago Vigil outside the Port Chicago Weapons Station in the Bay Area. He moved to the Haight-Ashbury and was there for the January, 1967 Be-In, the Monterey Pop Festival and the 1967 "Summer of Love". Gave poetry readings at the I and Thou Coffee Shop, City Lights Bookstore and in Golden Gate Park. He returned to New York City and earned his living as a social worker for the NYC Special Services for Children for the next 25 years. Studied with the poet Colette Inez in the mid-1970's. Read at Speakeasy, poet Emilie Glen’s apartment, Henry St. Settlement and Cornelia St. Cafe. Recently he has read at Nightingale, Cornelia St. Café, Bowery Poetry Club, Green Pavilion, Brownstone Poets, Phoenix, SOB’s, TOMI Jazz (a Japanese jazz club), Asian American Writers' Workshop, Penny’s, StringPoet and Molloy College.

ROXANNE HOFFMAN worked on Wall Street, now answers a patient hotline for a New York home healthcare provider. Her work has been published widely in literary journals like “Amaze: The Cinquain Journal,” “Clockwise Cat,” “Danse Macabre,” “The Fib Review,” “Hospital Drive,” “Lucid Rhythms,” “Mobius: The Poetry Magazine,” “The New Verse News,” “The Pedestal Magazine,” and “Shaking Like A Mountain,” as well as in several anthologies including “The Bandana Republic: A Literary Anthology by Gang Members and Their Affiliates” (Soft Skull Press), “Love after 70” (Wising Up Press), and “It All Changes in an Instant: More Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure” (Harper Perennial). Her vampire poetry can be heard during Dave Gold’s 2005 indie flick “Love and the Vampire.” She runs the small literary press Poets Wear Prada, since 2006. Her new chapbook "In Loving Memory" with illustrations to by Edward Odwitt was released December 2011.

New from Black Buzzard Press: IN FRAGILITY by Michael Graves

2011-11-16T19:19:00.000-08:00

IN FRAGILITY

by Michael Graves

$15.95

Black Buzzard Press

ISBN 0-978-938872-47-8

Soft Cover, 86 pp.

Praise for In Fragility:

"Emotion recollected in fragility, these poems lucidly etch the power of darkness that endures, that returns. These poems are amazingly lucid, which gives them a paradoxical power."

--ROBERT VISCUSI, author of the novel Astoria (American Book Award winner) and of the poem "Ellis Island"

"This grave book deals with such volatile elements as alcohol, sexual frustration, and apostasy. The reader will watch fascinated as Mike Graves burns his fuse down to the stick of dynamite he holds in his hand, for these poems approximate a searing self¬murder note addressed to any reader strong enough to peruse it. Only a poet as skilled and knowledgeable as Graves could render raw and repressed emotion with such acute control of form and diction, such range of allusion. But reader beware: you are about to take your own life into your hands."

--GEORGE HELD

"To adapt a phrase from James Joyce, whom Graves is influenced by, In Fragility offers readers the curve of multiple emotions. While traversing sentiments of aloneness and aloofness, and both objective and introspective, these poems are at once bleak, menacing, disturbing and humorous. They bespeak a stark sobriety often in conflict with itself and, through the effective use of metaphor and the recurrent theme of alienation, achieve a narrative coherence."

--A. NICHOLAS FARGNOLI, Dean of Humanities, Molloy College, Rockville Centre, NY, and President of The James Joyce Society.

Title Poem:

IN FRAGILITY

Speak to her
In fervent prayer
And fevered need
With brimming heart,
Shaking like a poisoned cup
And soft, sick gut,
Of where you rose
From nothingness
To nascent consciousness,
Inheritor of world
And family legacy,
Consuming time
And fragile self
That can't connect
Although it grow
In pain, organically,
Enthused by hope
And every false approach
Fear and circumstance allow

About the Author:

MICHAEL GRAVES is the author of a full-length collection of poems, Adam and Cain (Black Buzzard, 2006) and two chapbooks, Illegal Border Crosser (Cervana Barva, 2008) and Outside St. Jude’s (R. E. M. Press, 1990). In Fragility from Black Buzzard Press is his second full-length collection.

In two thousand four (2004), he was the recipient of a grant of four thousand five hundred dollars ($4,500.00) from the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation. He is the publisher of the small magazine PHOENIX. Many years ago, he was a student of James Wright and organized a conference on James Wright at Poets House in 2004. And he became a member of P.E.N. a couple of years ago.

In addition to leading a James Joyce Ulysses’ Reading Group, he has published thirteen (13) poems in the James Joyce Quarterly and read from them and others of his poems influenced by Joyce to a gathering of the Joyce Society at the Gotham Book Mart.

Watch Michael Graves on YouTube.com at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjGZeKfSW8g, an in depth interview and a reading. (Credit: Poetry Thin Air)

Tonite 11/11/11: Book Party for Chocolate Waters' The Woman Who Wouldn't Shake Hands

2011-11-11T13:06:00.000-08:00

come celebrate with us!

the woman who wouldn’t shake hands

and here's a cool trailer, w/audio

http://tinyurl.com/3fyxbyx

chocolate will be reading from her new collection

featuring Mark Larsen, Fran Witte and Chavisa Woods

with emcee/publisher Roxanne Hoffman

Manhattan Plaza, 400 W. 43rd St. (SW corner at 9th Ave.)

Ellington Room, 2nd Floor

Nov. 11, Friday @ 7:30 p.m.

(11/11/11)

FREE

Single copies will be on sale: $12.

Signed, numbered collectible edition plus bonus CD: $25.

If you’re unable to attend but would like a copy: A single copy is $12. + $3. postage.

Collectors’ edition is $25. postage free for U.S. orders (foreign add $5.) and includes a CD with six audio tracks plus an extra bonus track of a poem not in the book.

Paypal is the best (cwaters@nyc.rr.com) or snail mail Chocolate Waters

@ 415 West 44 St. Apt. 7 , NY, NY 10036-4440.

POETS WEAR PRADA
C/O Roxanne Hoffman
533 Bloomfield Street - 2nd Floor
Hoboken, NJ 07030
http://pwpbooks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Poets-Wear-Prada/41483895438
http://twitter.com/pradapoet

POETS WEAR PRADA is a small press based in Hoboken, New Jersey devoted to introducing new authors through limited edition, high- quality chaplets, primarily of poetry.

New press, great authors, a publisher who is one miracle short of sainthood.-Angelo Verga, Poetry Curator of The Cornelia Street Cafe

Poets Wear Prada is a poetry publishing house with excellent poets and affordable books with beautiful covers. Have you had your poetry today?-Meredith Sue Willis, Books for Readers

Stylistically, these beautifully designed and produced chaplets bear their own distinctive signature.-Linda Lerner, Small Press Review

Proud Member of CLMP
http://flordelconcreto.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/flordelconcreto

A Poem "All Hallows Eve" on The New Verse News.

2011-10-31T21:46:00.000-07:00

Trick or Treat? A new poem "All Hallows Eve" appears in the online journal The New Verse News edited by James Penha (posted 10/31/2011). I hope you enjoy another abcedarian and a little bit of silliness to celebrate Halloween, and what would quite accurately describe the view from my window of the activities on Bloomfield Street in Hoboken New Jersey earlier this evening -- we had our annual Ragmuffin parade. Please follow the link, read the little ditty and show some love:
http://newversenews.blogspot.com/2011/10/all-hallows-eve.html

Mon 10/24 Saturn Series: Sarah Bedell & Roxanne Hoffman 7PM Nightingale Lounge NYC

2011-10-20T19:38:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, Su Polo invited me to read at her Monday night Saturn Series Poetry Reading at Nightingale Lounge in Manhattan's East Village neighborhood. Regretfully I've been absent from the weekly open mic for quite some time, returning last week to support wonderful poet and friend, Mary Orovan, who was the feature. The open mic had several bright spots including two friends of Mary's both named Harold, Richard W. who read a piece inspired by the recent Wall Street demonstrations and a Mr Austin who read a very interesting long narrative about the artist Ray Johnson, known for his "nothing" performances and his final "nothing" -- his carefully planned death by drowning. I did catch most of Mary's reading on my little RCA Small Wonder and will be sharing some footage on YouTube and BuzzSprout shortly.

I'll be back at Saturn Series next Monday October 24th as a featured poet. Joining me will be another poetry friend, Sarah Bedell. I met Sarah for the first time at one of weekly sessions the late Arthur Bitterman's Riverside Poets Workshop at the Riverside Branch of the New York Public Library during the summer of 2003. One of the steady contributors to the weekly workshop, and an editor of the group's annual chapbook workshop, she and the poet and actor Anthony Moscini now lead the weekly workshop.

Hoping to see many of you in the audience and at the open mic next Monday at 7pm at Nightingale Lounge at East 13th and 2nd Avenue on Monday, October 24th. Here's are the details of the event:

Saturn:
A NYC Poetry Periodical

~ Poetry Open Mic every Monday nite for 18 years ~

Featuring Sarah Bedell and Roxanne Hoffman

Hosted by Su Polo

Date: Monday, October 24th

Time: 7pm - 9pm. (Open mic sign up starts at 6:30pm.)

Place: Nightingale Lounge, 213 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10003 ( NW corner of East 13th & 2nd Ave) 212.473.9398 http://www.nightingalelounge.com/
Directions: By subway take 4, 5, 6, N, Q, R to Union Square/14th St. or L to 3rd Avenue or 1st Avenue. NJ PATH to 14th Street and head west.

Admission: 2 Drink/$10 Minimum + $3 Suggested Donation. 21+.

About the Featured Poets:

Sarah Bedell is a poet who has been a New Yorker since college. By day she works in a law firm, and in the evening she teaches English as a Second Language and leads The Riverside Poets Workshop with Anthony Moscini. Her poems have appeared in the annual anthology of The Riverside Poets Workshop, including Volume 13 which was published this fall.

Roxanne Hoffman worked on Wall Street, now answers a patient hotline for a New York home healthcare provider. Her work appears in several anthologies including The Bandana Republic: A Literary Anthology by Gang Members and Their Affiliates (Soft Skull Press), Love After 70(Wising Up Press), and It All Changed in a Instant: More Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure (Harper Perennial). She's run the small independent literary press, Poets Wear Prada, since 2006.

About the Host:

Su Polo is a multi-talented artist. A native New Yorker, her songs and stories convey unusual insights and surprises found in life's everyday events and encounters. She is a singer/songwriter with guitar and dulcimer, Jazz vocalist, photographer, painter and sculptor, set designer, computer graphic artist specializing in print production and created her website http://www.supolo.com/ . Her book, Turning Stones, a collection of poems and stories is available at St. Marks Books.

She is the founder and host of the Saturn Series poetry reading in it’s 18th year every Monday night at Nightingale Lounge. She hosts the Artists' Lounge Music Showcase & Open Mic, also at Nightingale Lounge. Su is the set designer for the last 6 years of the New Years Day Poetry Extravaganza held at the Bowery Poetry Club. You can find her on Facebook and Myspace.

Su is currently working on her second book and her one woman show.

Monday October 3 Poetic License Features Poetry, Spoken Word and Music in Central Park

2011-10-02T21:52:00.000-07:00

Monday, October 3, 2001, New York, NY -- The public is invited to enjoy free poetry performances by some of the city's most popular poets at the Naumberg Bandshell in Central Park, this Monday, October 3rd, from 4pm to 7:30pm, at an annual event series hosted by the infatigible poetry powerhouse Angela Peluso. Budding and seasoned poets of all ages are encouraged to join the scheduled line up by reading their work at an ongoing open mic between the schedule performance. The event known as Poetic License is 17 years old, and celebrates freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, the pursuit of happiness, and mankinds's creative spirit in the glorious public green space at the core of Manhattan. Poetic Licences has seen may changes, enduring new mayors and their political regimes, Wall Street and the city's real estate booms and crashes, the death of some of the most regular performers, while continuing to welcome new faces from the New York poetry scene as well as old friends. This Monday's stellar line-up include poets Roxanne Hoffman, Evie Ivy, Ron Price, Florence Kindel.

Naumberg Bandshell, Central Park, New York City, New York

Evie Ivy, a dancer and poet who currently curates two reading series, including the long running Green Pavilion Poetry Event in Brooklyn says "I always enjoy reading for Angela at Central Park, in the fresh air, among the trees. And have been happy to read or listen to an always nicely chosen group of poets! Looking forward ..."

Angela Pelusa says,"Come join us to close the seventeenth season. We're still here, no matter what!"

Directions: Central Park's Naumburg Bandshell, South of Bethesda Terrace btwn 66th & 72nd Sts., New York, NY. By subway take the C train to 72nd Street at Central Park West, or 1, 2, 3 to 72nd Street & Broadway. Enter the park at 72nd St. & Central Park West. Walk east towards the Bethesda Fountain, then head south passing the roller skaters on your right to the bandshell on you left.

Ron Price, a Pulitzer-Prize- and a National Book Award-nominated poet, works as Poet in Residence at the Juilliard School . He has taught as a Poet in the Parks, Poet in the Schools and Poet in the Prisons in Tennessee and Pennsylvania – these in addition to an endless string of useless jobs that include mailroom gopher, assembly line worker, forklift driver, leather craftsman, house organ editor, parking lot attendant and bookstore clerk. He has published in "The American Poetry Review," "The Hindu" (India), "Leviathan Quarterly" (U.K.), "The Painted Bride Quarterly," "Poetry," "Revista Forum" (Mexico,) and "Zone3." He is a past U.S.I.A. Visiting Poet to Belgium; has read and lectured throughout India for the Bureau of Cultural and Educational Affairs; and has twice given readings in Israel at the invitation of the American Center. He is the author of "Surviving Brothers," "A Crucible for the Left Hand," and "A Small Song Called Ash from the Fire."

Evie Ivy, is a professional dancer and published poet in the NYC poetry circuit. She has three chapbooks, her latest, "Cinquain, My Dear Cinquain, Selected Cinquains" was recently released by Grey Book Press. Her full-lenth collection, "The First Woman Who Danced," includes poetry based on her experiences as a dancer and dance instructor. She co-hosts one of the longest running poetry readings in the city, The Green Pavilion Poetry Event in Brooklyn, as well the Poets-on-White Reading Series in Tribeca, Manhattan.

Roxanne Hoffman worked on Wall Street, now answers a patient hotline for a New York home healthcare provider. Her words can be found on and off the net in such journals as "Amaze: The Cinquain Journal," "Clockwise Cat," "Danse Macabre," "The Fib Review," "Hospital Drive," "Lips Magazine," "Lucid Rhythms," "Mobius: The Poetry Magazine," "The New Verse News," "The Pedestal Magazine" and "Shaking Like a Mountain;" the indie flick "Love and the Vampire"; and several anthologies including "The Banana Republic: A Literary Anthology by Gang Members and Their Affiliates" (Soft Skill Press), "Love After 70" (Wising Up Press), and "It All Changed in an Instant: More Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure" (Harper Perennial). She runs the small press, Poets Wear Prada, since 2006 and blogs at http://roxanne-hoffman.blogspot.com/ and http://pwpbooks.blogspot.com/ .

Florence Kindel is the author of the chapbook Dissolutions (Green Zone, 2009. Kindel was born in Orange, New Jersey. She has her BA in Fine Arts from Kean University, NJ, and her MFA from the School of Visual Arts, NYC, in painting and drawing. She has taught at several colleges in NJ. She has been writing since early childhood and left painting to write poetry in 1983. She lives with her husband and dog in NYC

Angela Peluso, long-time model, performance artist and writer, is the author of "Nude Poet," a very personal collection of poems and stories with vivid color and moody black & white photos interspersed. Angela has been featured and produced shows at The Back Fence, The Yippie Cafe & Museum, Bowery Poetry Club, The Telephone Bar and the Smalls Jazz Club and has been featured on the "Poetry Thin Air" Cable Show.

A Poem Reprinted from The Rutherford Red Wheel Barrow 4

2011-10-02T19:42:00.000-07:00

“Relativity,” M. C. Escher, 1953, lithograph, 27.7 × 29.2 cm

LIFE WITHOUT CLOCKS
By Roxanne Hoffman
The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once.
—Albert Einstein

would mean no waiting
no anticipation

never EVER being late
nor early
nor on time

just existing in the moment
always PRESENT
future and past, spun on a dime.

no cause and no effect
no unfolding story to foretell or to retrospect.

if we’re born and we die INSTANTANEOUS
have we even existed at all?
or if we lead schizoid lives, two-faced like Janus,
does polygamy become protocol?

Or are we merely chaste immortals?

FOREVER wandering the door-locked halls…

Poems Published in Literary Anthology Celebrating William Carlos Williams

2011-10-02T19:00:00.000-07:00

I am pleased to announce that 3 of my poems "Life With Clocks," "The Family Tree," "The Pursuit of Progeny" appear in the 4th edition of the The Rutherford Red Wheelbarrow.

The Rutherford Red Wheelbarrow, No.4 - 2011 reflects a diversity of voices and styles rarely combined in one book. The fourth annual edition of the literary journal was published last month by the Red Wheelbarrow Poets. A open call to poets connected with the William Carlos Williams Poetry Cooperative Reading of South Bergen County, past features including guest poets from the Tri-State region and regulars open mic readers, as well as participants of the peer-to-peer poetry workshops at the GainVille Learning Center and Café. Thirty poets are featured: John Barrale, Céline Beaulieu, Sondra Singer Beaulieu, Marian Calabro, the late George de Gregorio, Milton P. Ehrlich, Mark Fogarty, Thomas Fucaloro, Davidson Garrett, Elissa Gordon, Roxanne Hoffman, Jim Klein, Melanie Klein, Janet Kolstein, Kathy Kuenzle, Brant Lyon, Zorida Mohammed, Rick Mullin, Mike O’Brien, Jane Ormerod, George Pereny, S. Gili Post, Tony Puma, Dan Saxon, Claudia Serea, Francesca Sphynx, Madeline Tiger, John J. Trause, Dorinda Wegener and Don Zirilli.

In addition to the poetry, four essays give insight into the life and work of the Rutherford doctor/poet: "William Carlos Williams and the Baroness" by John J. Trause; "The Poetry Reading" by Madeline Tiger; "Friendship and ‘The Figure 5’" by Marian Calabro and "Medicine, Languages, a River and the American Muses in the Work of William Carlos Williams" by Céline Beaulieu. Noted poet Jim Klein, who leads the Gainville poetry workshop, shares his thoughts on creating a painting in "Don’t Talk Unless You Can Improve the Silence," and Mark Fogarty gives a preview of his novel in excerpts from "It’s So Easy to Fall in Love."

The journal was launched on Wednesday, September 7, 2011 at 7PM at the Williams Center in Rutherford, New Jersey. Copies are available online at Lulu.com (http://www.lulu.com/content/10922431) and will be available through Amazon.com by the end of the year. For more information and mailorders contact the Editors.

June 20: GENERATION BEAT at Yippie Museum Café in NYC

2011-06-16T22:02:00.000-07:00

GENERATION BEAT

Date: Monday, June 20, 2011

Time: 6:30 – 8:30 pm

Place:

THE YIPPIE MUSEUM

CAFE & GIFT SHOP

9 Bleecker Street

(near the Bowery)

New York, NY 10002

(212) 677-5918

http://yippiemuseum.org/

Admission: $2

Host: Gordon Gilbert

Featured Readers:
(Reading Their Favorite Beat Writer
& Their Own Work)

ALAN BAXTER
*

PETER CHELNIK
*

BOB HEMAN
*

CINDY HOCHMAN
*

ROXY HOFFMAN
*

EVY IVY
*

KIM KALESTI
*

RONNIE KORPAL
*

JOSH MEANDER
*

ORION 0.62
*

EVE PACKER
*

PUMA PERL
*

BOB QUATRONE
*

CHRISTINE TIMM
*

JOHN J. TRAUSE
*

RICHARD WEST

Sorry, This is Not an Open Mic.

Beverage and Snacks Availalble at the Refreshment Stand.

COME EARLY

for 4 pm screening of a Lawrence Ferlinghetti documentary by Chris Felver.

I'll be performing "The Mummy Piece" by William S. Burroughs and "Mum's The Word" by me.

THE MUMMY PIECE
by William S. Burroughs

Good Afternoon. The most arbitrary, precarious and bureaucratic immortality blueprint was drafted by the ancient Egyptians.

First, you had to get yourself mummified, and that was very expensive, making immortality a monopoly of the truly rich. Then your continued immortality in the western lands was entirely dependent on the continued existence of your mummy.

That’s why they had their mummies hid real good.

Here’s this plain GI Joe: He’s got enough baraka to survive his first physical death. He won’t get far. He’s got no mummy. He’s got no names. He’s got nothing. What happens to a bum like that? A nameless, mummiless jerk. Why, demons will swarm all over him at the 1st check point. He will be dismembered and thrown into a flaming pit, where his soul will be utterly consumed and destroyed forever, while others with sound mummies and the right names dropped in the right places sail through to the western lands.

There are, of course, those who barely squeeze through. Their mummies are not in a good sound condition. These second class souls are relegated to third-rate transient hotels just beyond the last check point where they can smell the charnel house disposal of shit from their skimpy balconies.

Might as well face facts. My mummy is going downhill. Cheap job to begin with. God! Maggots is crawling all over. Way that demon guard looked at me this morning. Transient hotels! And here you are in your luxury condo deep in the western lands. You got no security. Some disgruntled former employee sneaks into your tomb and throws acid on your mummy or sloshes gasoline all over and burns the heck out of it. OH, SOMEONE ‘S MESSING WITH MY MUMMY! Mummies are sitting ducks. No matter who you are, what could happen to your mummy is a pharaoh’s nightmare: the dreaded mummy-bashers and grave-robbers, scavengers, floods, volcanoes, earthquakes. Perhaps a mummy’s best friend is an Egyptologist: sealed in a glass case, kept at a constant temperature ... but your mummy is not even safe in a museum. Air raid sirens. It’s the blitz!

FOR RA'S SAKE! GET US INTO THE VAULTS! scream the mummies, without a throat, without a tongue.

Anybody buying in on a deal like that ought to have his mummy examined!

Monday June 13: Summer Gazebo Reading in Long Island

2011-06-09T12:26:00.000-07:00

The Summer Gazebo Readings are back! Our 5th season promises to be spectacular--great authors and poets (twenty of whom will be making their Gazebo debut), generous sponsors--and delicious desserts waiting, all served up on Schoolhouse Green.

Next Monday, June 13, from 7pm to 8pm I will be reading with Tom Phelan, Lousia Calio and Steven Schimdt under the Gazebo at School House Green in Oceanside, New York.

This summertime every Monday event is curated by Tony Iovino in June, July & August. (Except this year, our Independence Day Celebration is Tuesday, July 5!!)

Each evening 4 authors and poets share their work from our Gazebo on Schoolhouse Green in Oceanside, NY.

There is no admission fee. Free refreshments & desserts are provided.

Bring a lawn chair and a friend!

See you at the Gazebo!!

Contact: Tony Iovino tonyiovino@gmail.com

Upcoming Schedule

6/13/2011
Tom Phelan Louisa Calio
Steven Schmidt Roxanne Hoffman

6/20/2011
Richard Vetere Cindi Sansone-Braff
Lloyd Abrams Darren Sardelli

6/27/2011
Robert Lipsyte Barb Reiher-Meyers
Gayl Teller Gail Goldstein

7/5/2011 (TUESDAY!!!)
Independence Day Celebration

7/11/2011
Melissa de la Cruz Christina Rau
Jack Anderson Kio

7/18/2011
Ellen Meister Carol Hoenig
Robert Savino Peter Dugan

7/25/2011
Vicki Iorio Harriett Slaughter
Bruce Grossberg Jackie Sheeler

8/1/2011
Denis Gray Jane Ormerod
Vincent Maher Ed Stever

8/8/2011
Deborah Hauser Herb Siegel
Alix Strauss Linda Opyr

8/15/2011
Florence Gatto Tammy Nuzzo-Morgan
Jerry Zezima Doreen Spungin

8/22/2011
Gae Polisner Barbara Southard

8/29/2011
Beverly Kotch Annabelle Moseley
Paul Grossman Doug Swezey

BOOKSNJ 2011 Sunday June 12 at Paramus Library in NJ

2011-06-09T11:23:00.000-07:00

Sunday, June 12th
1pm - 5pm

Rain or Shine!

@ Paramus Public Library
116 East Century Road
Paramus, NJ 07652

Join us at BooksNJ2011: a celebration of books and the readers who love them, sponsored by BCCLS, Berkeley College, the Paramus Public Library, and the New Jersey State Library, Sunday, June 12 from 1pm-5pm. The fair includes non-fiction authors as well as writers of fiction, childrens books and poetry.

I will be featured at the Poetry Tent along with two authors published by my press, Joel Allegretti and John J. Trause as well as Elijah Brown, Teresa Carson, Sondra Gash, Roxanne Hoffman, Marcia Ivans, Diana Lockward and George Witte. Please come by, say hello, introduce yourself, and listen to a poem or two from 1:00 -1:40PM MEET THE POETS, THEIR STYLES AND INSPIRATIONS.

Please come to the POETRY SLAM I am hosting from 3:30 PM - 4:10 PM.

I will also be participating as panelist at 2:00 PM - 2:40 PM on E-BOOKS with Tracey Baptiste, Shirley George Frazier, Dave White, and Charles Calde and at 2:45 PM - 3:25 PM on MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION with Diane Lockward and George Witte.

And leading the panel WRITING POETRY IS EASY. RIGHT? BUT WILL FOLKS LISTEN? at 4:15 PM - 5:00 PM with panelists Elijah Brown, Teresa Carson, Sondra Gash and Marcia Ivans.

Local Celebrity Authors also be presenting at BOOKSNJ include Chris Grabenstein, Carol Higgins Clark, Mary Higgins Clark, Brad Parks, Mary Jane Clark, and Allison Fishman.

There will be many, many readings, discussions, booksignings and workshops, lots of opportunities to get up close and personal with published writers and of course many, many books for sale!

Saturday June 4 Underground Howl Event: 8pm at The New York Underground Museum

2011-06-02T17:17:00.000-07:00

“Symposia, Poetry & Party-ing”—w/Phoebe Legere & friends @ the Underground Museum on June 4^thw/poetry by Taylor Mead, Dorothy Friedman & Richard West; slideshow of the LES by Shell Sheddy;

Yours Truly will be participating in the UNDERGROUND HOWL EVENT hosted by Phoebe Legere and Dorothy Friedman August on Saturday, June 4th at 8 PM at Phoebe Legere's gallery, The New York Underground Museum, located at 221 E. 2nd Street (Between Aves. A & B) in Manhattan's Alphabet City.

I will be reading some poetry by Allen Ginsberg as well as my own.

Remembering Jack LaLanne (September 26, 1914 – January 23, 2011

2011-01-25T10:06:00.000-08:00

“I can’t die. It would ruin my image.”

Jack LaLanne, noted American fitness, exercise and nutrition expert, motivational speaker, TV personality, and father of the modern physical fitness movement, died Sunday afternoon, January 23rd at his home in Morro Bay, Calif. He was 96.

"Enjoy Yourself!"

My mother idolized Jack so I've always had a soft spot for him. While other moms were packing twinkies and peanut butter sandwiches in their kid's lunch boxes, my mom was packing carrot and celery sticks, a little can of V-8, along with the veggie and sprout sandwiches in mine. Atopped with little notes quoting Jack: "Make it happen!," "Have a positivie attitude!," "Enjoy yourself!."

James Penha, Editor of The New Verse News was kind enough to post my poem for Jack, "The Battlle of the Bulge," on his blog today, Tuesday January 24th along with a video clip of Jack courtesy of YouTube. Follow the link to read the poem.

http://newversenews.blogspot.com/2011/01/battle-of-bulge.html

Happy MLK! The New Verse News: I HAD A DREAM

2011-01-17T00:01:00.000-08:00

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)

January 16, 2011

Dear Friends & Fellow Poets;

Check out Roxy's poem "I HAD A DREAM" on The New Verse News:

http://newversenews.blogspot.com/2011/01/i-had-dream.html

Barack Obama
as a boy
on his tricycle

Have a great weekend!

Roxy & Herb

p.s. To read & remember the entire text of Dr. King's "I Hav A Dream" speech go to : http://www.usconstitution.net/dream.html
e

President Barack Obama
44th President of the United States of America

Our President
Still Riding Strong!

Sat Jan 1: Poets Welcome the New Year at Bowery Poetry Club 2pm-12am

2010-12-30T18:59:00.000-08:00

January 1, 2011

DARK MATTERS

The 17th Annual Alternative

New Year's Day Spoken Word/Performance Extravaganza

150+ Artists will Play Music, Read poetry and Dance
+ Open Mic

The Bowery Poetry Club

308 Bowery St.

(between Houston and Bleecker Sts.)

New York, NY

212-614-0505

http://www.bowerypoetry.com/

http://spokenwordextravaganza.org/

PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD NEAR AND FAR THAT THE LINK

FOR THE BOWERY POETRY CLUB STREAMING PAGE IS:

http://www.bowerypoetrylive.com/

FREE

I'll be reading sometime between 8 and 10pm.

By Subway: Take F to 2nd Ave. or 6 to Bleecker St.

A Non-Stop Poetry Reading, Spokenword and Peformance Poetry Marathon.

Starts at 2 p.m. and continues all afternoon, thru' the evening, till midnite.
Admission is FREE!!!
Please bring paperback books for Books Through Bars, a nonprofit organization that gives literature to prison inmates, and canned and dried goods for Urban Pathways, Inc.

Come out and celebrate the New Year with some great readings and great sounds!

Performers Include:

Hassan Abdullah
Nelson Alxndr
Austin Alexis
E J Antonio
Madeline Artenburg
Dorothy Friedman August
Brett Axel
Faruque Azam
Jane Grenier B.
Albey Balgochian
Berty Barranco
Philip Beitchman
Sarah Bernstein
Mark Blickley
Steve Bloom
Hobo Bob
Laura Boss
Andrew Boston
Christina Bruni
Charles Butler
Steve Cannon
Patricia Carragon
Samantha Chanse
Peter Chelnik
Shafi Chowdury
Rafaella Ciavatta
Mary Elizabeth Clark
Douglas Collura
Mitch Corber
Erika Dagnino
Steve Dalachinsky
Sylvie Degiese
Laura Dinnebell
Pete Dolack
Dubblex
Robert Dugdale
David Elsasser
Nicole Failla
Adam Falkner
Jim Feast
Adam Fitzgerald
Yolaine St. Fort
Luis H. Francia
Thomas Fucolora
Kathy Georges
Robert Gibbons
J M Theison de Gonzalez
Laraine Goodman
Ann Hanavan
Leigh Harrison
Bob Hart
Stephanie Hart
Jane Heil
Bob Heman
Cindy Hochman
Roxanne Hoffman
Bob Holman
John Holt
David Huberman
Patsie Ifill
Kate Irving
Evie Ivy
Jon Jenson
Larry Jones
Caledonia Kearns
Ron Kolm
Richard Kostelanetz
Peter Kozlowski
Lutnun Nahar Lata
David Lawton
Jane LeCroy
Master Lee
Joy Leftow
Jean Lehrman
David Leopold
Linda Lerner
Rick Librizzi
Tsaurah Litzky
Wayne Lopes
Hiram Lorenzen
Fran Luck
Ellen Aug Lytle
Michael Lytle
Stan Marcus
Susan Maurer
Virginia Mayer
Nancy Mercado
Big Mike
David Mills
Barbara Minch
Lissa Moira
Velez Moore
Gertrude Morris
Ras Moshe
Ngoma
Nicco
Maureen Nolan
Jeff Norman
Ronnie Norpal
Tom O.
Obsidian
Valery Oisteanu
Jane Ormerod
Yuko Otomo
Amy Ouzoonian
Eve Packer
Angela Peluso
Mireya Perez
Bobby Perfect
Puma Perl
Howard Pflanzer
Jim Pignetti
Su Polo
Jim Porter
John Marcus Powell
Kelly Powell
Ron Price
J D Rage
Nicca Ray
Nancy Reghay
Eugene Ring
Lucas Rivera
Robert Roth
Harilyn Rousso
Armand A. Ruhlman
Shahed Sadullah
Metta Sama
Jon Sands
Sarah Sarai
Tom Savage
Sohnya Sayres
Iris N. Schwartz
Ilka Scobie
Susan Scutti
Naznin Seamon
Nina Sharma
Jackie Sheeler
Veronika Sheer
Phillip Sherrod
Danny Shot
John Silver
Hersch Silverman
Sparrow
George Spencer
Diane Spodarek
Miriam Stanley
Max Steele
Shelly Stenhouse
Lawrence Swan
Alice B. Talkless
Mary Jane Tenerelli
Ken Thompson
Habib Tiwoni
Zev Torres
Angelo Verga
Jeanann Verlee
Faith Vicinza
Robert Viscusi
Laura Vookles
George Wallace
Barry Wallenstein
Bruce Weber
Joanne Pagano Weber
Richard West
Nathan Whiting
Liza Wolsky
Chavisa Woods
Jeffrey Wright
Van Yu
Susan L. Yung
Zork

Roxanne & Friends in MOBIUS, The Poetry Magazine, 28th Anniversary Issue

2010-12-30T11:08:00.000-08:00

MÖBIUS,The Poetry Magazine
28th Anniversary Issue

I've just received my beautiful azure blue copy of MÖBIUS,The Poetry Magazine, 28th Anniversary Issue and delighted to be included with several friends: Austin Alexis, John J. Trause, Gil Fagiani, Margery Hauser, Erica Mapp, Jim Pignetti, Thad Rutkowski, Mary Orovan, Laura Boss, Patricia Carragon and of course editors Juanita Torrence-Thompson, Dominick Arbolay, and Diana Festa, amoung the luminaries: Rita Dove, Nikki Giovanni, Sonia Sanchez, Lyn Lifshin, Daniella Gioseffi and Hal Sirowitz.

By coincidence this fall I've been rereading several collections by Nikki Giovanni & Rita Dove but only recently discovered the work of Ms. Sanchez. I was totally charmed by Ms. Giovanni's Bicycles: Love Poems and intrigued with Ms. Dove's contemporary application of Persephone myth in Mother Love. I highly recommend you get your hands on copies of each title to keep you company this winter.

Copies of MÖBIUS are available from the publisher at $15 a copy which includes $3 for shipping and handling within the USA. (Outside the USA, please pay S&H using International Reply Coupons. Order forms are available at http://www.mobiuspoetry.com/. ) Please send your checks to:

MÖBIUS,The Poetry Magazine

P.O. BOX 671058

Flushing NY 11367-1058, USA

For a sneak peak, here is my contribution:

WIND CHIMES
5-7-7 Katuata in Sedoka Pairs

in the summer breeze
what song do the wind chimes sing
with their jingle jangling song?

wind chimes play your song
the one muddy rivers sing
as you skip across their stones
in the summer breeze
what song do the wind chimes sing
with their jingle jangling song?

wind chimes play your song
darning needles hum along
the sun dances on your back
in the summer breeze
what song do the wind chimes sing
with their jingle jangling song?

wind chimes play your song
goldfinch twitter rambles on
su-weet, su-weet, so sweetly!
in the summer breeze
what song do the wind chimes sing
with their jingle jangling song?

wind chimes play your song
ring ring Canterbury bells!
harken bumble bees to dine!
in the summer breeze
what song do the wind chimes sing
with their jingle jangling song?

wind chimes play your song
trumpet flowers regale us
the sparrow from his perch chirps
in the summer breeze
what song do the wind chimes sing
with their jingle jangling song?

wind chimes play your song
sunlight shimmies on water
the tall grass becomes a harp

Copyright 2010 Roxanne Hoffman

All the Best Wishes for a Very Happy & Healthy New Year to You and Yours!

Wed Dec 8: Love Songs and Monkey Lab at The Tank Tonight!

2010-12-08T09:12:00.000-08:00

LOVE SONGS AND MONKEY LAB AT THE TANK TONITE!

December 8th, 2010 [New York City]: Alphabet Soup Productions brings NO PIANOS ALLOWED to The Tank for a night of acoustic and electroacoustic, vocal and chamber music. In a nostalgic, tree-clubhouse fashion, we highlight the creation of new works without the iconic, Romantic instrument. The result is a concert with an eclectic mix of music with live electronics, guitars, vocals, computers, and acoustic orchestral instruments featuring works from living composers: Composer in Residence David Morneau, Camila Cano, Matt Frey, Yotam Haber, Marie Incontrera, Rob Voisey and Rain Worthington.

Described by Molly Sheridan as a "flashing beacon" of inspiration, David Morneau's eclectic output is best exemplified by 60x365, his "ambitious yearlong musical project" for which he composed a new one-minute composition every day; which was highlighted on "The Year of Musical Thinking, A Minute
At A Time" for NPR's All Things Considered.

Morneau has been selected as this season's composer-in-residence with Alphabet Soup Productions, which will feature selections from Love Songs Project. The project is a collaboration with eleven poets that combines Shakespeare's sonnets with contemporary poetry in genre-crossing songs.

Robert Voisey who has been described around the world as "mad" for his 60x60 project. "With few opportunities and much competition, young composers show creativity in just getting heard." And in Chris Pasles's article in the Los Angeles Times, Robert Voisey is highlighted as one of those composers. In David Cutler's book The Savvy Musician, he describes Voisey as "an artist who knows how to create opportunities where they don't exist"

His collaboration with David Morneau in "Monkey Lab" describes a journey to reach the monkey lab from a labyrinth of catacombs below - nothing less than madness for Robert Voisey's Birthday!

Marie Incontrera was awarded the Meet the Composer's Metlife Creative Connections to be a featured guest composer and speaker at the Hartford Women Composers' Festival. This performance will feature Two American Poems, a short cycle comprised of contrasting poetic texts: the first, Requiem, is Mark Twain's adaptation of Robert Richardson's poem Annette; the second Little Orphant Annie, by James Whitcomb Riley, a humorous, popular children's poem about the importance of being good and obedient.

"The rhythmically thoughtful works of Rain Worthington take ideas of American musical style to a new place - like a walk in a familiar, yet very different park." -- Kyle Gann, Chamber Music,

Yotam Haber has received the Frederic A. Juilliard/ Walter Damrosch Rome Prize. He also won the second bi-annual ASCAP/CBDNA Frederick Fennell Prize for the wind ensemble work, Espresso, which was performed at Carnegie Hall.

Alphabet Soup Productions is a female-run opera company based in New York City that focuses on works by living composers. The Board of Directors is comprised of talented and dedicated musicians, each of whom exhibit a strong investment in premiering new works. During their first season (2009-2010), ASP proudly celebrated many successes, including the full production of a night of new electro-acoustic opera, High Voltage Opera, at Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn, NY. High Voltage Opera was featured on the international television network Noticias Culturales Iberoamericanas. In addition to producing operas, ASP also hosts the Alphabet Soup Concert Series, which features guest artists and chamber musicians.

NO PIANOS ALLOWED
Dec 8, 2010 9:30 PM
The Tank
354 West 45th Street
New York, New York 10036
http://www.thetanknyc.org/

Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=171255912895937

* * *
http://5of4.com/
http://60x365.com/
http://www.immigrantbreastnest.com/releases/ibn009/

Reprinted from Press Release Email, Dated: Wednesday, December 8, 2010 11:15 AM, From: David Morneau

Shakespeare Anyone?

2010-12-08T09:11:00.000-08:00

David Morneau's "No Pianos Allowed" concert is on Wednesday, 12/8.

David will be presenting three songs from his LOVE SONGS PROJECT:

"Behind Corneal Gates," Shakespeare's Sonnet 56 with poetry by Patricia Carragon
"Music In Me," Shakespeare's Sonnet 8 with poetry by Susan Maurer
"Now I Love You Best," Shakespeare's Sonnet 115 with poetry by Roxanne Hoffman

These will be performed by Mary Hubbell (soprano), Roberta Michel (flute) and Ernesto Ramos (guitar).

LOVE SONGS is a new songwriting project that pairs sonnets by William Shakespeare with poems by contemporary writers. Each collaborating poet selects one sonnet and pairs it with a work of their own—an existing poem or one written especially for the project. David is setting each pair to music.
You can preview "Behind Corneal Gates" at the 5OF4 website: http://5of4.com/love_songs/sounds.html

The text for all 3 pieces as well the other pairs selected for the project can be read at the 5OF4 website:
http://5of4.com/love_songs/poets.html

Also Robert Voisey and David Morneau will performing MONKEY LAB.

NO PIANOS ALLOWED CONCERT

Wednesday, December 8, 9:30pm

The Tank

354 West 45th Street (between 8th and 9th Avenues)

$10 ($7 - students)

(212) 563-6269

http://www.thetanknyc.org/music

Take the 7, N, Q, R, 1, 2, 3, A, C, E to 42nd Street Times Square

For more information about David Morneau and various projects visit:

http://5of4.com
http://60x365.com
http://www.immigrantbreastnest.com/releases/ibn009/

IN THE (NEW VERSE) NEWS: SALVATION RINGS ON FIFTH

2010-11-30T09:52:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, November 30th, 2010

James Penha, Editor THE NEW VERSE NEWS (who by the way is the author of SNAKES and ANGELS: Adaptations of Indonesian Folk Tales, Winner of the 2009 Cervena Barva Press Fiction Contest) has posted a jpg of my poem "SALVATION RINGS ON FIFTH" this morning. Check it out: http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fnewversenews.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F11%2Fsalvation-rings-on-fifth.html

Here's the original, written 11/24, in anticipation of tonights (11/30) Tree Lighting at Rockefeller Center, NYC:

SALVATION RINGS ON FIFTH

( *

avenue

bellringers

chiming

ZZZZ

dollars

emerge$

$faith

gleams

Heaven’s

intermittent

jovial kaddish

looms majestically!

Newsrooms observe:

+ + + + + + + + + + + + +

+ + pilgrims + + + + + + + + +

+ + + + + + + + + queuing + + + +

>|< >|< >|< >|< >|< >|< >|< >|< >|< >|<

Rockefeller’s *S*P*R*U*C*E* twinkling

>|< >|< >|< >|< >|< >|< >|< >|< >|< >|< >|<

>>>>>>>> underneath? voices <<<<<<<<<

: )

!WOW!

X-MAS-SIVE!

YULE-TIME-ATE!

ZONIC!

~ rmh 11/24/2010

Happy Holidays!

SKIVE Nov 2010 Americana Now Available on LULU!

2010-11-03T20:32:00.000-07:00

I just got the good word from SKIVE Magazine Editor Matthew Ward that the November 2010 "Americana" issue is in print and now available on LULU (please see my note about November LULU coupon codes at the end of this post):

Hi

The printed November 2010, "Americana" issue of Skive is now for sale

260 pages, perfect bound.

Only $14.95*

Secure site where you can use your credit / debit card or PayPal

http://budurl.com/SkiveAmericana

cheers

Matt

Also, you can join up to the free Skive Facebook group to get the latest in Skive news. See link below

~~~

Matthew Ward
Editor,
Skive Magazine

http://www.skivemagazine.com/
Facebook Group: http://tinyurl.com/SkiveFBGroup

* Enter these verified coupon codes at the checkout on your LULU book purchases this month:

Save 20% on book orders (Save up to $10) with NOVEMBOOK (Expires: 11/30/2010)

Save 10% with TURKEY through November 30, 2010 and help your favorite author win this month's sales contest.

Each coupon can only be used once and cannot not be used in combination with any other coupon. LULU may pull the plug on these at anytime.

Hey, you can use these on all LULU books except your own titles!
Read my poem "Once Was A Banker" in the November 2010 "Americana" issue of SKIVE MAGAZINE!

House of Horror Anthology Raises Money for Children's Charity

2010-10-23T19:19:00.000-07:00

HOUSE OF HORROR Announces £1 from Every Book Sale Goes to Children's Charity Fund.

The House of Horror Best of 2010 Anthology is now available for pre-order!! Woohoo. It is £11.99 with free shipping from http://www.houseofhorror.org.uk/ -- just go to the Book Shop. £1 from every book sale goes to the HOH Children's Charity Fund. Please remember to type the name of your favorite contributor (hopefully that's me!) into the BUYERS INSTRUCTIONS section on the order and that writer, artist or interviewee will receive a small royalty as well. The book will be ready in 2 weeks time and sent straight out to those who have ordered them.

The lyrics to my popular Halloween song "Rattle Them Bones" are included in the Poetry section!

Here's a complete listing of the Table of Contents -- 257 pages chock full of some of the finest contemporary horror writing availabe today!:

Contents

Introduction

Fiction
The Rock Garden, Stacey Boli
Blind Date, John F. Taylor
My Sweet Prince, Nandy Ekle
Rope, Gayle Arrowood
Lunch Date, R. A. Hunter
Dark Water, George Wise
Route Cobra, Jason Duke
Leech, Travis Gate
The Victim, Jason D. Brawn
Mike Patterson, Murderer, Jokeen Krupyer
Cactus Face, Joseph Hill
A Little Bit of Heaven, Aaron J. French
Presence, Charlotte E. Gledson
Death Comes in Pieces, Shells Walter
There's a Light, A. E. Churchyard
Family Legacy, John Arthur Miller
A New Day,Alva J. Roberts
Pocket Giant, Gary McKenzie
Grandpa Jack O' Lantern, Ken L. Jones
Price to Sell, Kevin L. Jones
Phases, J. Derris Ward
Incarnation, E. W. Bonadio
The Disappearers, Jeffrey B. Burton
Bad Teeth, Marc Lyth
Mayonnaise, The Real Story, Neil E. Leckman
Darkness Within, Ash Krafton
Getting Home, David Bernstein
Dinner is on the Table, Chris Dean
Theatre of Pain, Lee Pletzers
Suffering Begins in the Mouth and Ends in the Belly, Alan Spencer

Poetry
Bloody Cup, Kim Talafuse
Elsie's Friend, Sharon M. White
Dies Irae, Sharla Anderson
Fur to Suit, Rhonda Parrish
My Final Masterpiece, Richard H. Fay
Serial, Stephen D. Nadaud II
Raggedy Hag, William Andre
The First Cut, Doree Weller
Blood Bound, Graylin Fox
Rattle Them Bones, Roxanne Hoffman
Night of the Demons, Stephanie Smith

Artwork
Darren James
Nick Rose
Sandy Swagger
Bret Jordan
A.W. Gifford
Gary Mclusky

Articles
Writing for Yourself, Shells Walter
Learning from the Best, A.E. Churchyard
Imagination, Simon Marshall-Jones

Interviews
Alan Spencer
Shane McKenzie
Lori Titus
David Dunwoody
Eric S. Brown
Jerrod Brown
Kevin Wallis
Suza Kates
Tonia Brown

Book Reviews
Inside the Perimeter
Unbound and Other Tales
Ruthless
Whispers of a Witch
Lucky Stiff
Desiree
The Occult Files of Albert Taylor

Sam Cox, Editor in Chief
Charlotte Gledson, Poetry Submissions Editor
Nandy Ekle, Copy Editor
AJ Brown, Proof Editor
House of Horror
http://www.houseofhorror.org.uk/

November Edition of SKIVE Magazine celebrates Americana

2010-10-21T15:36:00.000-07:00

SKIVE MAGAZINE
Nov. 2010
"Americana"
$14.95
On Sale (at LULU.com)
1 Nov. 2010

And if you are wondering why I am mentioning this ...

I just received word from Editor Matthew Ward that my poem "Once Was A Banker" will appear in the November 2010 "Americana" issue. Skive Magazine has published 506 Authors published since 2003! Check out the roster of past contributors at http://www.skivemagazine.com/ and those knock-'em-dead covers.

And if you are wondering what that magazine name is all about I found this information on contributor Scott Taylor's All Night Diner blogspot:

skive: verb, infinitive to skive, third person singular skives, simple past skived

To avoid one's assigned work or duty. To slack off.

Scott's story "Club for Exceptional Gentlemen" appeared the August 2010 "Vampire$, we're all cashing in on Twilight" issue. Friend, Daniel de Culla, has poetry in the same issue. Here are the comments posted on LULU for this past issue:

"Amazing. The stories are chilling, beautiful, haunting and vivid. The poetry is stellar. And the issue itself is aesthetically appealing with a great montage on the back cover. I've been very pleased with my copy and look forward to the next." -- KAKEITH

"An excellent read! Skive just seems to get better. " -- ANDREW SCOBIE

SKIVE MAGAZINE
Aug. 2010
'Vampire$'
$9.95
http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/skive-magazine---vampires-august-2010/12046931

And you know how much I love vampires so I've just ordered my copy and am very much looking forward to receiving both issues.

Another work accepted by HOUSE OF HORROR!

2010-10-11T19:09:00.000-07:00

THE VAMPIRE POET
[Photo Credit: Madeline Artenberg]

I just got the good news from Sam Cox, Editor of HOUSE OF HORROR, that the lyrics to my popular Halloween song "Rattle Them Bones!" will be published in the magazine's special Halloween edition due out October 31, 2010.

In the meantime, please visit their website at http://www.houseofhorror.org.uk/ and check out Issue #16 featuring reviews of Desiree by Ken Goldman, The Horror Zine Volume Two: Twice the Terror and The Occult Files of Albert Taylor by Derek Muk also an Interview with author of Lucky Stiff, Tonia Brown.

If you can spare a few pounds/dollars, I urge you to grab one of their anthologies to help raise money for their childrens charity. They are all inclusive of shipping and if you mention a contributor's name for Frightening Fables, Stitched Up or A Pint of Bloody Fiction, on your paypal order then they will receive a royalty payment.

###

Update from David Morneau on the Love Songs Project

2010-10-05T11:06:00.000-07:00

Will Shakespeare

Hi everyone,

I'm writing to give you a quick update on Love Songs Project. Things are beginning to move quickly now, and I'm excited about how it's going.

First of all, the first track is almost finished. You can hear it here: http://5of4.com/love_songs/sounds.html It features Patricia Carragon's "The Corneal Gates" and Sonnet no. 56. The performance is by soprano Mary Hubbell. She's great and will be recording one more song for me, as well as performing more songs too.

Second, as I mentioned before, I've been honored to be the composer-in-residence for Alphabet Soup Productions this season. I will be presenting 2-3 songs on each of their concerts so that by the end of the season all 11 songs will have received a performance. The first concert is on Wednesday, December 8, at the Tank. I'll send more details as it gets closer. For that concert, I will be presenting "Behind Corneal Gates" (on Patricia Carragon's "The Corneal Gates" and Sonnet no.56), "Music In Me" (on Susan Maurer's "Music" and Sonnet no.8) and "Now I Love You Best" (on Roxanne Hoffman's "Many Have Asked How We Stay Together" and Sonnet no.115)

Finally, I want to again encourage you to promote and share this project with you friends and fans. Together we can make this a big success for all involved. Several of you have been so kind as to make a financial contribution, which is most welcome. However, there is still a long way to go. Please take a moment to forward the project site to your lists and ask them to consider supporting our work as well.

Thanks so much,
David Morneau

http://5of4.com/
http://60x365.com/
http://www.immigrantbreastnest.com/releases/ibn009/

2010-09-22T19:12:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends & Fans,

Maureen Brady & I will be reading at Vittoria Repetto's Women's & Trans' Poetry Jam & Open Mike the last Tuesday of October, October 26 at the Bluestockings Bookstore, located at 72 Allen St. (between Staton & Rivington) about 1 1/2 blocks south from E. Houston. 7PM - 9PM.

Bluestockings Bookstore
72 Allen Street
(Btwn Staton & Rivington)
1 1/2 blocks south from E. Houston
New York, NY 10002
http://bluestockings.com/
info@bluestockings
212-777-6028

Ladies bring your poetry, your prose, your songs, and your spoken word to share at the open mic. Gentlemen are welcome to cheer us on but this open mic is for us gals only. (Maybe our host will let you on if you come in drag!) 8 minute limit, please. Open mic sign up starts at 7PM.

Maureen Brady

Maureen Brady will read from a new collection of linked stories about a woman who stabs her abusive husband and runs away before knowing if he will survive, and makes her way to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Yay for Maureen! To find out more about Maureen visit her website www.maureenbradyny.com

I will be sharing some work about my multi-ethnic heritage, growing up female in this too often male dominated world, my mother dating at 80, as well as my vampy favorites. (Heck, it will almost be Halloween!)

Your $5 suggestion donations (that means please give what you can) will be most welcome as they help to pay the featured readers. We will be bringing our books, cds, and whatever we have to sell too.

Take V or F train to 2nd Ave. and exit from the 1st Ave exit at E. Houston St. and walk south down Allen St. (aka. 1st Ave) 1 ½ blocks to the store.

This event is graciously and generously hosted by Vittoria Repetto, the hardest working guinea butch dyke poet on the lower east side.

Press Contact: Vittoriar@aol.com

p.s. Mobius: The Poetry Magazine accepted "Wind Chimes" for this year's issue due out this November.

Memorial Reading for Barbara Brackney: Sunday September 12 @ CakeShop

2010-09-07T09:16:00.000-07:00

BARBARA BRACKNEY
Memorial Reading
Sunday, September 12
5pm
@
CAKESHOP
153 Ludlow Street
New York, NY
http://www.polestarpoetry.com/
Hosted by Melissa Broder
& Jason Schneiderman

~featuring~

LATE AUGUST
by Barbara Brackney
Paperback, Oct 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-929355-58-7
Pleasure Boat Studio
$9.00

11 Poets Read from Ms. Brackney's

posthumously published chapbook

MELISSA BRODER
JACK ESTES
STACEY HARWOOD
ROXANNE HOFFMAN
JOAN LARKIN
NICOLAS POWERS
JOSEPH RIPPI
PAUL ROMERO
NICK POWERS
JASON SCHNEIDERMAN
JANICE SUSSMAN

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Barbara Brackney spent her youth living in the deep south, California, and Europe. She received her doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Michigan and resolved to make Ann Arbor her lifetime home. After graduation, she became a professor of psychology, had a clinical private practice and spent her free time traveling. In 1998, she retired quite early, eager to explore aspects of life that working precludes. One of these avenues was poetry, which opened up an exciting world of inner exploration. Barbara developed terminal cancer but this only fueled her desire to continue in her poetry quest. She died in 2007.

PRAISE FOR LATE AUGUST:

"Late August by Barbara Bracknew does what great poetry should do: it elucidate our ephemeral human condition and brings us comfort. Her poems are clear, consise, intelligent indictments of death, illness, her own short comings, God and everything in between. But they're also exquisite and funny. She writes from a place where there's nothing to hide, and reveals an unsentimental, eternal love for our lot."
~ Jennifer L. Knox

"Brackney's space and honest work is beautifully powered by the cruel, churning motor of urgency. Balanced between deep breaths of acceptance and wornder, each poem serves as a postcard to the living, reminding the reader that death is as much a part of life as love, sex, and beauty. She asks,, "May I leave this black?" and the world answered Yes, but what remains in a recording of that black, a way through, a light."
~ Ada Limon

20% of the proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to the Susan B. Koman Breast Cancer Foundation. A further portion (10%) will be donated to Alcoholics Anonymous.

PLEASURE BOAT STUDIO: A Literary Press
www.pleasureboatstudio.com
201 West 89th Street
New York, NY 10024

Contact: Jack Estes
Fax: 888.810.5308
Email: pleasboat@nyc.rr.com

88 Stories Campaign Against Domestic Violence To Raise Funds For Abused Moms & Kids

2010-09-02T09:40:00.000-07:00

I am very honored to have my story "Yom Kippur, circa 1962" included in this new anthology from Familia Books which includes the work of 86 daughters and sons. Each of us has shared a very personal story about their mother or grandmother and in doing so hopefully some insight into "motherhood" and what makes a mother a mother. Editor/Publisher Eric Bowen has pledged a percentage of the proceeds from sales of this book to aid shelters for women and their children who are escaping abusive relationships. Please support this effort by buying copies for yourself and your friends and letting your friends and family know about this publication. The Facebook page for Familia Books is http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bellingham-WA/Familia-Books/119264101459401. Please join the WISDOM OF OUR MOTHERS Group Page at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=151600108186145.

WISDOM OF OUR MOTHERS

Stories and Poems by Daughters and Sons

Edited by Eric Bowen

Trade Paperback, 296 Pages

ISBN 978-1453631010

Familia Books, 2010

$14.95
Now Available at CreateSpace.com
https://www.createspace.com/3461303
&
from Amazon.com
http://amzn.com/1453631011

From the mother who taught her daughter to wire a lamp
to the mother who recruited the President to save her daughter's life,
the memories of daughters and sons of the remarkable wisdom and dedication
of their mothers come to vivid life in this anthology of true stories.

~Contributors~

Aderemi Adegbite

Lily Alex

Liz Allen

Sally Bellerose

B. Lynch Black

L. Michael Black

Sylvia Bright-Green

Rheana Lee Campbell

Iona Carroll

Selene Castrovilla

Vijayalakshmi Chary

Eve Cogdell

JaeLynn Conrad

Flavia Cosma

Althea Gael Coupé

Shirley Anne Cox

Julie Curwin

Lynne Daroff

Carole Davis

Laura Aviella Davis

Mary Dempsey

Liz Dolan

Melissa England

Fred Evans

Deepanjolie Sonya Figg

Sandra Fischer

Virginia Fortner

Michele Graves

Susan Harmon

Jean M. Hendrickson

Roxanne Hoffman

Stephanie Holbrook

Andrea Hernandez Holm

Anne-Marie Hood

Dee Ann E. L. Horvath

Patrick Hurley

Amanda Hyslop

Beverly Jackson

Sally Jadlow

Diane Kolb

Kathy Krisko

Erin Lawlor

Loraine Lawson

James W. Lewis

Christy Lowman

Rose Marks

Tara Masih

Caryl McAdoo

Lyn McConchie

Myrna McKee

Rajendar Menen

Susan E. Méra

Jayne Moraski

Brooke Mullins

Hugh Neeld

Jean Noble

Lucy L. Painter

Sr. Josie Palmeri, MPF

Roberta Filzer Pearl

Perry P. Perkins

Carolyn Piper

Gayle Portnow

Oluwafemi Reis

Pat Richards

Dmae Roberts

Gwen Russell Green

Sheri Ryan

Wanda Ryder

Lynn Veach Sadler

Mark Scheel

Jacqueline Seewald

Virginia Settle

Ryma Shohami

Sheila Sievewright

Sharon Skinner

Serena Spinello

Madeline Steeg

Deborah Straw

Annmarie B. Tait

Laura Tamayo

Nicole A. Tatum

Rita Janice Traub

Dalia van den Boogaard

Sarah Wagner

K. K. Wilder

Lisa K. Winkler

Opposing domestic violence: In honor of those mothers doing their work in the most difficult of circumstances, editor Eric Bowen has pledged to donate one-half of his profits from the sale of this book to shelters for women and their children who are escaping abusive relationships.

About the Editor

Born in Renton, Washington State in 1953, Eric Bowen uses his day job as an accountant to support his family and his various hobbies and social activities, including Toastmasters, the Unitarians, hiking, taekwondo, linguistics, singing, and of course writing. His first book, An American View of Wales, chronicled his decade of volunteering for the Welsh home rule and language restoration movement.

* * * FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE * * *

Aug 25, 2010

Contact:

Patricia Carragon
917 679 5002
pcarragon@gmail.com

EIGHTY-EIGHT STORIES CAMPAIGN AGAINST DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Anthology aims to raise funds for abused mothers and children

Bellingham, Washington (July 1, 2010) Wisdom of Our Mothers (Familia Books, 2010) is an anthology of true stories and poetry based on the theme of lessons learned from the authors’ mothers. It is the brain-child of part-time philanthropist Eric Bowen.

Following the publication of Tim Russert’s popular Wisdom of Our Fathers, Bowen saw the need for a companion volume of maternal wisdom. Bowen solicited writers from around the world to contribute their stories of what they had learned from their mothers. Guided by his own mother’s teaching that “one does well by doing good,” Bowen has pledged half his profits from the book to raise funds for shelters for abused mothers and children.

Everyone has a mother, and readers will doubtlessly find stories in this anthology that relate to their own experiences. Yet Bowen’s presentation isn’t sentimental. The mothers profiled in the stories are human. Their virtues are balanced by their flaws, and in some cases, the lessons learned from those flaws form the basis of the story.

The anthology explores maternal wisdom in various categories: emotional, relationship, and practical skills; virtues, humor, and heritage. One chapter delves into “the dark side,” profiling some truly dysfunctional mothers. “From other lands” describes motherhood in cultures outside the American mainstream.

For more information about Wisdom of Our Mothers, please visit http://www.familiabooks.com/ or contact Eric Bowen at 360-384-1028.

About Eric Bowen:

Eric Bowen has worked as an occasional free-lance reporter. Of Welsh descent, he covered the Welsh nationalist movement of the 1990s, summarizing his work in his first book, An American View of Wales. In addition to his writing experience, Bowen brings to his new book a social conscience and multicultural perspective developed in his volunteer work with the United Farm Workers and Amnesty International. These perspectives, coupled with his personal trauma as both an observer and victim of domestic violence in his extended family, are evident in the yeasty, gritty, and multicultural facets of the anthology.

About Familia Books:

Familia Books is Eric Bowen’s publishing enterprise. In addition to Wisdom of Our Mothers, Bowen plans further anthologies including Wisdom of Our Children and Surviving Domestic Violence.

###

The Rutherford Red Wheelbarrow No. 3: Now Available from LULU.com

2010-08-22T14:07:00.000-07:00

The Rutherford Red Wheelbarrow No. 3

ISBN 978-0-557-58376-8

Paperback: 232, Price: $15

Red Wheelbarrow Poets, August 2010

http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/the-rutherford-red-wheelbarrow-no-3/12206587

Masthead:

Editor: Jim Klein

Managing Editor: Mark Fogarty

Managing Editor: Sondra Singer Beaulieu

Designer: Claudia Serea

Editor Advisor: John Barrale

Editor Advisor: Céline Beaulieu

Editor Advisor: George DeGregorio

Contributors (in alphabetical order):

John Barrale

Céline Beaulieu

Sondra Singer Beaulieu

Marian Calabro

Teresa Carson

George DeGregorio

Gil Fagiani

Jane Fisher

Mark Fogarty

Elissa Gordon

Max Greenberg

Roxanne Hoffman

Pamela Hughes

Josh Humphrey

Gail King

Jim Klein

Melanie Klein

Janet Kolstein

Joel Lewis

Maria Lisella

Pete Loria

Zorida Mohammed

Michael O'Brien

Moira O'Brien

Tony Puma

Gabriella Radujko

Susan Rappaport

Susanna Rich

Dan Saxon

Claudia Serea

Ed Smith

Rosemarie S. Sprouls

Anna Toher

John J. Trause

Miyuki Tsurumaki

David Vincenti

B.J. Ward

Dorinda Wegener

Don Zirilli

Sander Zulauf

~BOOK LAUNCH~

William Carlos Williams Poetry Cooperative of Southern Bergen County

Presents

Poetry in Rutherford

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

7:00 PM

~Featuring~

THE RED WHEELBARROW POETS

Celebrating the Release of the Third Edition of

THE RUTHERFORD RED WHEELBARROW

Plus the work of

WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS

presented by JOEL LEWIS

Open Readings from the floor

This program is held at:

Williams Center for the Performing Arts
One Williams Plaza
Rutherford, NJ 07070
Tel: (201) 939-6969
Fax: (201) 939-0843
http://www.williamscenter.org/

Call the Rutherford Public Library at 201.939.8600 for more information.

Virgogray Press on YouTube.com

2010-08-13T14:36:00.000-07:00

VIRGOGRAY PRESS Publisher/Editor Michael Aaron Casares is providing updates on his press on YouTube.com at http://www.youtube.com/user/VGPMEDIA. The July 21 installment of his video blog includes announcements for a new chapbook NEW POETRY GARAGE SALE by Peter Maggliocco, the re-release of LIMBO by Michael Aaron Casares, and the new chapbook anthology AMERICA REMEMBERED. A sound clip of my reading of "The Wright Brothers" from the new VGP chapbook anthology is included on the broadcast.

Michael also mentions his inverview on SIX QUESTIONS FOR ... , a new blog maintained by Jim Harrington "where editors, publishers, agents, educators, and writers discuss writing." For more information about this blog and to read the inverview visit http://sixquestionsfor.blogspot.com/. The interview was posted on Monday, July 19, 2010 and is catalogued under Virgogray Press.

And some press on Dennis Cooper's blog, DC's, for another title from VGP, MOSTLY SPINACH by Joseph Goosey. http://denniscooper-theweaklings.blogspot.com/2010/07/please-welcome-joseph-gooseys-mostly.html.

I hope you will take a few moments an tune in to Michael VGPMEDIA channel on YouTube.com, watch his video blog, listen to my reading and subscribe to his channel. Also, please check out Jim Harrington's SIX QUESTIONS FOR ... , and Dennis Cooper's DC's.

September 1: Launch for THE RUTHERFORD RED WHEELBARROW 3

2010-08-12T09:04:00.000-07:00

I will be reading at this event. 2 of my poems are included in this anthology.

William Carlos Williams Poetry Cooperative of Southern Bergen County

Presents

Poetry in Rutherford

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

7:00 PM

~Featuring~

THE RED WHEELBARROW POETS

Celebrating the Release of the Third Edition
of

THE RUTHERFORD RED WHEELBARROW

Plus the work
of

WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS

presented by JOEL LEWIS

Open Readings from the floor

This program is held at:

Williams Center for the Performing Arts
One Williams Plaza
Rutherford, NJ 07070
Tel: (201) 939-6969
Fax: (201) 939-0843
http://www.williamscenter.org/

Call the Rutherford Public Library at 201.939.8600 for more information.

Poem Accepted for LIPS Poetry Magazine

2010-08-01T10:42:00.000-07:00

I've just learned from LIPS Poetry Magazine editor Laura Boss that my poem "The Burden of the Body" has been accepted for the next issue due out Spring 2011. I'm honored to be included in this fine magazine of poetry founded in 1981 by Laura Boss that has included poems by Robert Bly, Allen Ginsberg, Ruth Stone, David Ignatow, Marge Piercy, Michael Benedikt, Nicholas Christopher, Anne Waldman, Ishmael Reed, Gregory Corso, Lyn Lifshin, Ted Berrigan, Paul Hoover, Jana Harris, Toi Derricotte, Joseph Bruchac, Alice Notley, Warren Woessner, Robert Phillips, Hal Sirowitz, Theodore Weiss, Alicia Ostriker, Maria Mazziotti Gillan, Stanley H. Barkan, Michael Weaver, Molly Peacock & Richard Kostelanetz.

Laura Boss is a poet that I've admired for years and an important influence on my own work. I first heard her read at Symposia Bookstore in Hoboken, New Jersey when she read for the Debaun Spoken Word Series, and always enjoy the humor, insight and compassion she shares in her work. She is a great observer of human nature and a gifted story-teller.

To find out more about LIPS and Ms. Boss please visit the LIPS website at http://home.earthlink.net/~poetry_magazine/Lips.html.

Find Me at Amazon Author Central

2010-08-01T10:03:00.000-07:00

I have an new author page at Amazon Author Central: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003XQKL5M

I just found out that anyone who has authored, edited or contributed to a book that appears in the Amazon.com catalogue can create a page for free, link their blog and also post their events. So far I've uploaded my photo and a brief bio and I am starting to link all my titles in the Amazon.com catalogue. There is a section for "Customer Discussions" so please feel free to post your questions and your comments.

SLIVER OF STONE: Inaugural Issue is Now Online!

2010-08-01T09:34:00.000-07:00

August 1, 2010

Sliver of Stone just announced that its inaugural issue is now available online. The issue features the poetry of Denise Duhamel, non-fiction by Kim Barnes and fiction by John Dufrense. The other contributers to this issue are Alan Britt, Alex Alderete, Andrea Askowitz, Andrew Abbott, Changming Yuan, Chloe Nimue Clark, Ernest Williamson III, Gabriela Suarez, Jennifer Hearn, Jessica Barrog, Joe Clifford, John Riley, John Solensten, Jon Page, Jonathan P. Escoffery, Julia Meylor Simpson, Laura Merleau, Mary Christine Delea, Nicholas Garnett, Pete Borrebach, Rae Spencer, Robert E. Wood, Roxanne Hoffman, Russ Hicks, Russell Reece, Samantha Knapp, Sherry O’Keefe, T.J. Beitelman, Terry Sanville, Tim Curtis, Whitney Scott, and Yia Lee.

My poem "Choosing" is included in the magazine and can be read at: http://site.sliverofstone.com/Roxanne_Hoffman.html

The editors are looking for submissions for their second issue! DEADLINE: October 31st.

Sliver of Stone is a bi-annual, online literary magazine dedicated to the publication of work from both emerging and established poets, writers, and visual artists from all parts of the globe. We publish work that is surprising and inventive.

The editors are interested in the following:

Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Essays (3,500 words or less).
Poetry, any form or genre (No more than 5 poems)
Visual art

Note the following restrictions:

Multi-authored works are not eligible.
No previously published works.
Simultaneous submissions are acceptable but we must be notified immediately should your work be accepted elsewhere for publication.

For complete submission guidelines, please visit http://www.sliverofstone.com/

2 Poems Forthcoming in THE RUTHERFORD RED WHEELBARROW 3!

2010-07-28T12:12:00.000-07:00

Just sharing some good news! Two of my sonnets, "My Love for Will" and "Track Marks," have been chosen for publication in the forthcoming The Rutherford Red Wheelbarrow 3, which will be launched on Wednesday, Sept. 1 at the Williams Center for the Arts in Rutherford, New Jersey.

Here is "Track Marks" with a self-portrait by Leonardo Da Vinci -- his words inspired the poem:

Leonardo DaVinci, Self-portrait in red chalk,
circa 1512 to 1515.
Royal Library of Turin

TRACK MARKS
For Leonardo Da Vinci, who said "After forty years, a man is responsible for his face."

...a man is responsible for his face.
And way beyond the razor nicks—
Each laugh and worry leave their trace,

Brow, raised-and-furrowed till inscribed.
The broken nose you would not fix.
The shots of alcohol imbibed.

A life’s indulgence, doubling chin,
Rounds out the once slim oval bisque.
Sun’s worship flecks translucent skin.

And pleasure’s crows? Their footprints race.
Life’s little torments, we self-inflict,
Write lines, time nor artist can erase,

Tattle tales of just where and how we’ve been—
Track marks of escapades expose each sin.

Poem Accepted for 1st Issue of SLIVER OF STONE Magazine

2010-07-21T16:49:00.000-07:00

A new bi-annual, online literary magazine Sliver of Stone, founded by M.J. Fievre, is launching August 1, 2010. I just found out from the founding editor my poem "Choosing" will be included in the first issue. The magazine promises to be "dedicated to the publication of work from both emerging and established poets, writers, and visual artists from all parts of the globe," and "publish work that is surprising and inventive."

Looking at their new website, http://www.sliverofstone.com/, and checking out the masthead I see Ms. Fievre is the author of several books in French, both mystery novels and children books, and has has her poetry and short stories published in P'an Ku and The Mom Egg. One of the 3 poetry editors, Marina Pruna, is a native of Patagonia, Argentina and has work coming out in Flatmancrooked’s Slim Anthology of Contemporary Poetics 2010. The other editors include: Corey Ginsberg, non-fiction editor; Fabienne S. Josaphat, fiction editor; Laura Richardson, poetry editor; Patricia Warman, poetry editor; and Holly Mayes, art editor. Abigail Sedaris is the webmaster. Most of masthead seems to be affiliated in some way with Florida International University's Creative Writing program, either having graduated from or currently enrolled in the MFA program.

I am thrilled to be included in their new venture and looking forward to the inaugural issue of Sliver of Stone. (I just love that name. By coincidence, my poem references a chunk of green slate.)

###

4 Poems in July Issue of Dark Gothic Resurrected Magazine Out Now

2010-07-07T10:37:00.000-07:00

Four of my poems, "Once Bitten," "This Kiss," "Just a Little Bit of Hocus Pocus," and "Letting Him Go," appear in the July Issue of Dark Gothic Resurrected out now. The issue is available in both print and e-book (pdf download) formats from LULU.com, fairly priced at $10 and $5 respectively. To order your copy visit http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/dark-gothic-resurrected-magazine--summer-2010/11609560 . For more information about the magazine and their submission policy, please visit: http://bloodtouch.webs.com/darkgothicmagazine.htm

The 172-page perfect bound 8.5" × 11" magazine is chock full of dark delicious goodies. Kudos to Publisher and Editor Cinsearae Santiago.

Authors in this issue: Sana Riaz, Christopher Newman, Matthew Piskun, Daniel Fabiani, Nora Weston, Nigel Holt, Mike Florian, Michelle Willis, Peter Baltensperger, Roxanne Hoffman, Alec Kowalczyk, Gary Bewick Raven, Garrison R. Emmet, Corvis Nocturnum, Brian J. Smith, Tony Svaldi, David Perlmutter, Lanie Shanzyra Rebancos, Michael Upshaw, Anton Glascow, Rebecca Sarte, Rocky Caldwell, David Renfrow, Michael Garza, Luke Campen.

Interviews with: Suzanne Rock, Paige Leroy, Jade Perez, Anthony Beal, Calvin Miller II, Tony Paul deVissage, Clown Corpse, and John Neumeister.

The V Files spotlights Kiefer Sutherland.

The Batty Bookshelf contains the latest releases by Bryl R. Tine, John B. Rosenman, Teel James Glenn, Brain L. Porter, Cate Masters, D.M. Slate, Yolanda Sfetsos, Samuel King, Christy Poff, Lisa Lane, and Margaret Marr!

Book/Music Reviews of: Unholy Embrace by Neil Benson, Whitechapel Road by Wayne Mallows, Eden's Hell by Dawne Dominique, Het Madden by Calvin Miller II, Audio Zombie Vol. #1, Orchestra of the Dead, and The Zombie’s Playground by Audio Zombie Sound, and Dark God Descending by Tony Paul deVissage.

Dark Gothic Resurrected Magazine
Publisher and Editor: Cinsearae Santiago
http://bloodtouch.webs.com/darkgothicmagazine.htm

June 28: Goth Night with Gordon Gilbert 6-8pm at Yippie Cafe, NYC

2010-06-28T08:31:00.000-07:00

GOTH NIGHT THIS EVENING

WITH GORDON GILBERT & MORE!

Monday June 28, 2010 6:30PM-8PM @ Yippie Museum Cafe, 9 Bleecker Street, between Bowery & Elizabeth Streets, An Evening of Vampire Poetry & Performance featuring Big Mike, Mike Fiorito, Nicholas Fofonoff, Robert Gibbons, Gordon Gilbert, Viviana Grell, Roxanne Hoffman, Evie Ivy, Orion 0.62, Puma Perl, Minnie Petruzzi, and Tom White.

Hosted by Gordon Gilbert. No Cover.

Please purchase a beverage to help support the venue.

VGP Chapbook Anthology: America Remembered Now Available

2010-06-22T19:59:00.000-07:00

Reposted from Virgogray Press:

VGP Chapbook Anthology: America Remembered

Thanks to everyone who sent their work in for the America Remembers Anthology. We are very pleased to release this anthology as it has been a goal in our mind’s eye for sometime and we extended deadlines for this project and prompted with calls for submissions. The poets responded and the time has come. We are proud to release a publication on the topic of our nation, the United States of America. This fine menagerie of writers present a spirit of pride, concern, and honor to the American way of life and that which it once stood for. These poems evoke many images, ask many questions and proffer answers, and affirm commitments to what it means to be American and the many freedoms that are entitled.

Contributors include:
Danny P. Barbare, Roxanne Hoffman, David S. Pointer, Elizabeth Chapin-Pinotti, Michael Aaron Casares, J.P. Christiansen, Christa Pandey, Franklin Metro, Matthew Nadelson, Scot Siegel, Mitchell Waldmen, Thom Moon Bird, Chevalterre Nabil, Sal Treppiedi, James Brush, Elzy Cogswell, Claire Vogel-Camargo, Mikel K.

$7 + S/H.

Michael Aaron Casares
Publisher/Editor
Virgogray Press
http://virgograypress.wordpress.com/

http://virgograypress.wordpress.com/2010/06/22/vgp-chapbook-anthology-america-remembered/

VGP Chapbook Anthology: America Remembered Due Out June 22

2010-06-21T12:25:00.000-07:00

Sharing some good news! I just found out from Michael Aaron Casares, Editor/Publisher of Virgogray Press that my poem "The Wright Brother" will be included in a new VGP chapbook anthology AMERICA REMEMBERED, due out June 22, 2010. Michael describes the poem as "a quaint expression of American history" and thought it would "work nicely in the text."

The poem was inspired by Wilbur Wright's letter to Octave Chanute, dated May 13, 1900. “For some years I have been afflicted with the belief that flight is possible by man.” is the first sentence Wright's letter. In the second paragraph of the same letter, Wilbur Wright explains how “knowledge and skill” are critical to man’s flight. The incidents mentioned are documented in Wikipedia and other sources.

Here's the poem with a sound clip. Enjoy!

THE WRIGHT BROTHERS
by Roxanne Hoffman

Given to mischief, Orville was once expelled,
but could his father have predicted
his older son Wilbur would be so compelled?
“For some years I have been afflicted

with the belief that flight is possible by man.”
What most men only dared dream, his boys would plan.
Was it the hockey stick that struck Will’s face at 8?
Or the toy brought back from France propelling fate?

Made of bamboo, cork and paper with a rubber band,
flown and flown until it could fly no more,
then they made their own inventions soar!
As men they would glide over dunes of sand,

expanding their knowledge, honing their skill.
To unlock the secret of flight, their thrill.

“For some years I have been afflicted with the belief that flight is possible by man.” is the first sentence of Wilbur Wright's letter to Octave Chanute, dated May 13, 1900. In the second paragraph of the same letter, Wilbur Wright explains how “knowledge and skill” are critical to man’s flight.

Last year, my poem "Ash Wednesday" was published in another chapbook anthology from Virgogray Press, SO IT GOES, on the theme of death.

To find out more about Virgogray Press, their publication, and how to submit your own work, please visit Michael Aaron Casares at http://virgograypress.wordpress.com/.

New Review of Maja Trochimczyk's CHOPIN WITH CHERRIES Posted

2010-06-12T07:13:00.000-07:00

Some news from Maja Trochimczyk, Editor of Chopin with Cherries: A Tribute in Verse: Alison Ross just posted her review of the anthology on Clockwise Cat. Follow the link to read her review: http://clockwisecat.blogspot.com/2010/05/cherry-fully-chopin-book-review-by.html

The first official review of Chopin with Cherries appeared the Spring 2010 issue of The Cosmopolitan Review, a Canadian journal:
http://cosmopolitanreview.com/articles/56-2010-spring-vol-2-no1/204-chopin-with-cherries-review. John Guzlowski writes: "I cannot remember reading an anthology of poems centered around a single-theme that I liked more." The issue also includes a selection of poems by: Kerri Buckley, Ryan McLellan, Rick Lupert, Elizabeth Murawski, Ruth Nolan, William Pillin, Katrin Talbot, and Maja Trochimczyk.

Another review was published in London, March 2010 in The Polish Weekly.

This anthology of contemporary poetry celebrates the 200th birth anniversary of Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849). The volume presents 123 poems by 92 poets, including moi! The book is illustrated with vintage Chopin postcards and includes a translation of "Chopin's Piano" by Norwid. The editor, Dr. Maja Trochimczyk, is a Polish-American poet, music historian, photographer, and translator. She published four books on music, two books of poetry, and hundreds of articles and poems.

G
By Roxanne Hoffman

G,

I tell my piano
the things I used to tell you,
pull back its fallboard
after propping up the lid,
stroke its sturdy trusses,
hear the strings vibrate in sympathy,
undampered escapement permits,
as my fingers depress and release its keys
to unlock unsaid thoughts,
the music I dream.
The solid back frame
understands the balanced tension
of romance:
the give and the take
of the player and the played,
the rhythm of two heartbeats, even at rest,
the somber melody
of disharmony.
We of equal temperament
speak at length,
practice our arpeggios and scales,
regulate our voices,
and play Mozart in your absence.

F.

Note: Lines 1 and 2 are a quotation attributed to Chopin. Toward the end of his life he had a falling out with his long time love George Sand, they separated, and she was absent from his funeral. A final request of Chopin’s was to have Mozart’s Requiem sung in his memory. After his death, among his possessions, a lock of her hair was found in a small envelope embroidered with their initials “G.F” tucked in the back of his diary.

Response to Shakespeare's Sonnet 115 on David Morneau's 5 OF 4 MUSIC

2010-06-11T14:48:00.000-07:00

MANY HAVE ASKED...
A Response to Shakespeare's Sonnet 115
by Roxanne Hoffman

My response to Shakespeare's Sonnet 115, "Many Have Asked How We Stay Together" is now up on David Morneau's 5 OF 4 MUSIC website (http://www.5of4.com/love_songs/poets.html). Last August, David contacted me, after getting my name from fellow writer Susan Maurer, to participate in his "Love Songs" project. A composer, he is creating a set of songs based on Shakespeare's Sonnets. Each song is actually a pair of poems: one sonnet and one contemporary poem.

Here is the original description of the project he sent me:

My goal for these pairings is to find find a contemporary poem that addresses a subject similar to one of Shakespeare's sonnets. I am not looking for a specific relationship between the two beyond this. The modern poem can affirm, contradict, illuminate, ignore, embrace (etc etc) the sonnet. I am not simply looking for tributes or modernizations (though these are also fine). Also, I'm not necessarily looking for sonnets.

By leaving it this open (and vague) I am hoping that a poets choice of their own work also says something about their relationship to Shakespeare and their attitude about his work. I do not want to assume that everyone loves his work, after all not all composers like Mozart.

The other thing I'd like to get from you is input about how the pairing works within the song settings. Which poem comes first? Are they combined in one song or separated into two? Once I have a pair from you I will work on setting them for soprano voice and piano.

— David Morneau

A lover of Shakespeare and a songwriter I was certainly enticed to participate! David is only accepting one pairing from each contributor but I've continued to work on additional responses.

"Listen," my response to Shakespeare's Sonnet 23, appears in Pushing The Envelope: A Literary Magazine, Issue 2, Part 2 (http://ptealiterarymagazine.blogspot.com/).

LISTEN
A Response to Shakespeare's Sonnet 23
by Roxanne Hoffman

Here's other pairing previously shared with Facebook friends:

LXXII

O, lest the world should task you to recite
What merit lived in me, that you should love
After my death, dear love, forget me quite,
For you in me can nothing worthy prove;
Unless you would devise some virtuous lie,
To do more for me than mine own desert,
And hang more praise upon deceased I
Than niggard truth would willingly impart:
O, lest your true love may seem false in this,
That you for love speak well of me untrue,
My name be buried where my body is,
And live no more to shame nor me nor you.
For I am shamed by that which I bring forth,
And so should you, to love things nothing worth.

— William Shakespeare

MY LOVE FOR WILL
For The Bard
A RESPONSE TO SHAKESPEARE'S SONNET LXXII

Some say my love for Will is obsolete!
And that these saucy verses we’ve learned to repeat
Have soured — relish turning vinaigrette.
And those fourteen lines that make a sonnet?
Offer little meat to sink one’s teeth into,
Giving these zesty twists of wit less than due.
Perhaps in an age before DVDs and iPods,
When all to pass the time was sex, wine and bards,
Such screws of tongue & ink deserved their fame.
Still — much less has changed while more remains the same —
Don’t we line up to hear the poets slam and sling?
Rejoice while wincing from the smarts of verbal stings?
And since Love’s pen is not yet out of style,
I think I’ll keep my love of Will a while!

I for one will not let [Will's] name be buried where [his] body be! And apparently several others feel the same. Susan Maurer, Patricia Carragon, Anne Cammon Fiero, Ana Bozicevic, and Cindy Hochman have already contributed their pairs to "Love Songs." You can read their contributions and learn more about them on David Morneau's 5 OF 4 MUSIC website (http://www.5of4.com/love_songs/poets.html).

David is still looking for additional contributions to his project, so please take this opportunity to reread Shakespeare's sonnets and create your own match pair! He is also looking for help in raising funds to support "Love Songs" so he can create a CD. I think you will find Shakespeare address topics we still find relevant today: friendship, love, sex, jealousy, beauty, aging, mortality, and death. For more information about "Love Songs" contact David Morneau by email: david at 5of4 dot com.

One song, Patricia Carragon's "Corneal Gates," has already been set to music and will have its premiere performance at the end of September. Details follow:

Composer's Voice Concert
Sunday, September 26, 2010

1:00 PM

Jan Hus Church

351 E 74th Street

New York, NY 10021

Free Admission

###

3 Poems to Appear in DARK EYE GLANCES, New Canandian Horror Journal

2010-06-11T13:33:00.000-07:00

After a flurry of rejections, I just received notice of publication with contract from Dark Eye Glances, a new Canadian horror journal. 3 of my horror pieces, "I Scream at Dawn's Break," "Dare I," and "Persephone's Dream" have been accepted for the premiere issue and will be considered for the 2010 annual anthology. The editor, Garth Von Buchholz, thanked me for my submission and actually complimented my writing! I'm especially, delighted since one of the poems is "Persephone's Dream," edited down to a sonnet from the original rondelet, has been making the rounds since last summer! Repackaging and persistance does pay off. Here's the final successful result:

PERSEPHONE’S DREAM
by Roxanne Hoffman

A dream haunts me —
Silent, stealth-like, Winter enters.
Spine — frozen ice — I cannot flee!
Spying me helpless, he ventures!

His breath glazes lakes to mirrors,
Turning crystal each bare limbed tree.
My cries, a snowflake’s kiss censures
Till soft white blankets cover me.

Passion’s pyre dispels my terrors.
Nights linger, day's glimmer slenders
Until love’s furnace melts me free,
Sweet sweated from ardor’s pleasures,
And with Spring’s thaw life renters,
And flaunts dream free.

You can read and hear me hear reading "Dare I" on a previous post: http://roxanne-hoffman.blogspot.com/2010/03/vampire-poet.html

To find out more about Dark Eye Glances and how to submit your own work please visit: http://darkeyeglances.com/

WHITE RABBIT Compilation Party Sunday May 29 at Westbeth NYC

2010-04-12T20:40:00.000-07:00

Ms. Dorothy Friedman August is hosting the White Rabbit Issue 5 Compilation Party. Issue 5 is a celebration of spring and regeneration.

Saturday, May 29
@
WESTBETH COMMUNITY ROOM
57 Bethune St
New York, NY 10014
http://www.westbeth.org

Location:
57 Bethune Street mid block b/w Washington and West Sts, then up steps to inner courtyard.

Or 155 Bank St b/w Washington and West Sts, enter outer courtyard and up ramp to inner courtyard.

Directions:
Take A, C, E, or L trains to 14th Street and 8th Avenue. Walk south 6 blocks, turn right at Bethune Street.

Participation is by invitation of the host.

For More Information Please Contact Ms. August by email:

dfriedman AT york DOT cuny DOT edu

The P.U.P.S Celebrates National Poetry Month with Roxanne Hoffman on 107/5 WDEP

2010-04-06T09:34:00.001-07:00

The P.U.P.S Celebrates National Poetry Month with Roxanne Hoffman on 107.5 WDEP

Folks,

I will be featured tonight, April 6th, on 107.5 WDEP Radio's month long celebration of National Poetry Month. Please tune in at 8pm EST to www.blogtalkradio.com/1075wdep3/ Host Deron Pitts, Da Educated Poet, will be airing some of my tracks and there will be a short interview as well on The Poetic Uprising Poetry Show. The second hour features you on the open mic. Call in number is (914) 803-4197.

Roxanne
http://roxanne-hoffman.blogspot.com
http://www.reverbnation.com/pradapoet
http://www.facebook.com/roxanne.hoffman

National Poetry Month

Ladies and Gentlemen, as some of you know April is National Poetry Month. With that being said, 107.5 WDEP Radio is going to do something special for the poets.

During the month April both The P.U.P.S. (Poetic Uprising Poetry Show) & The Insomniac Poetry Theater will air every day during April.

The Goal for National Poetry month is to feature poets on every show. What we are planning to do with each 2 hour show is to have a featured poet for the 1st hour and an open mic session during the 2nd hour.

The P.U.P.S. will air every night from 7:00 - 9:00 PM CST & The Insomniac Poetry Theater will air every night from 12:00 - 2:00 AM CST.

To have your name added to the list please contact Da Educated Poet via email at info@wdepradio.com. If the demand is high enough we will feature 2 poets per show

107.5 WDEP - We Play Da Hitz Radio
Questions? Contact 107.5 WDEP - We Play Da Hitz Radio or 107.5 WDEP - We Play Da Hitz Radio, c/o FanBridge, Inc. - 14525 SW Millikan Way, #16910, Beaverton, Oregon 97005, United States

POETS WEAR PRADA
C/O Roxanne Hoffman
533 Bloomfield Street - 2nd Floor
Hoboken, NJ 07030
http://pwpbooks.blogspot.com

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Poets-Wear-Prada/41483895438 http://twitter.com/pradapoet

POETS WEAR PRADA is a small press based in Hoboken, New Jersey devoted to introducing new authors through limited edition, high- quality chaplets, primarily of poetry.

New press, great authors, a publisher who is one miracle short of sainthood.-Angelo Verga, Poetry Curator of The Cornelia Street Cafe

Poets Wear Prada is a poetry publishing house with excellent poets and affordable books with beautiful covers. Have you had your poetry today?-Meredith Sue Willis, Books for Readers

Stylistically, these beautifully designed and produced chaplets bear their own distinctive signature.-Linda Lerner, Small Press Review

Proud Member of CLMP
http://flordelconcreto.blogspot.com

http://twitter.com/flordelconcreto

Silver Boomer Books accepts "Kitchen Chore" for upcoming anthology.

2010-04-02T12:37:00.000-07:00

I just received the good news that Silver Boomer Books has accepted my prose piece, titled "Kitchen Chore," for their upcoming anthology From the Porch Swing - memories of our grandparents.

Here's the piece for your reading pleasure:

Kitchen Chore

With a quick twist and twirl of the knife, a sleight of hand like der kishefmakher [the magician] plucking a spanking-brand new silver dollar with a flick of his white gloved fingers gleaming from behind an unsuspecting ear, or culling a cavalcade of pink-eyed rabbits, a flock of cooing doves, a rainbow of silk scarves, a bouquet of blue cornflowers and fresh cut daisies from his seemingly empty black top hat, Grandma Molly extracts the glistening orange peel in one long continuous spiraling curlicue, releasing its sweet and sour jasmine-like fragrance without marring the firm flesh of the fruit or spilling a drop of its tasty libation.

Dangled on the tip of the blade, she displays her trophy for me to inspect like a prized Barguzin sable pelt before dropping it into the bubbling contents of the steaming vat. Then she passes me the knife, hands me an orange and leans back in her chair to watch, hands folded behind her head, lips pressed closed but smiling, her belly rising and falling rhythmically, then rumbling with laughter, her cries resonating throughout the kitchen, as I squirt orange juice everywhere, squinting to avoid the sting, clumps of slimy pulp and bits of white sticky rind all over my hands, just managing to extract the tiniest bit of zest before the bright orange sliver slips from knife to floor. Molly passes me another orange to try again, nodding her head to give me encouragement and direction. Satisfied with my third attempt, she reaches behind her back to tug open the kitchen drawer, and pulls out a second knife.

Orange by orange, we twist and turn, twirl and twirl, the kitchen filling with steam, brimming with sweet stickiness, the oranges’ piquant scent nipping at our nostrils, driving us to work steadily until each orange is skinned. We pause only to blot our faces with our heavy bleached-white cotton aprons.

When we are done, we each select a peeled orange to reward ourselves, pulling apart sections, plunging the firm flesh in our mouths to release instant gratification, then take turns spitting out pits into the brown paper bag lining the garbage tin.

After a final stirring of the bubbling brew with wooden spoon, Molly shuts off the stove, slams down the heavy cast aluminum lid with a potholder to announce the chore complete, and sends me off, skipping, to wash up for tea with her kiss pressed to the top of my head.

I pass Great Grand Mama who is just rousing herself from her nap, stretching up from her rocker by the parlor window as she beckons me in Yiddish “Kumzits, Libhober! Kumzits!” with a wave of her hand. “Ja, ja, ja! I coming, hold your horses!” I call back but all I’m thinking of is tomorrow’s treat of candied orange peel as I stare at my beautiful orange-stained fingers, reluctantly reaching for a bar of soap, the lukewarm water cascading over my fingers under the sink, the scent of the oranges still tingling my nostrils as I discard the apron to come out to join her and Molly for tea.

I hear the gurgle, the final hiss of steam, the tea ready to bubble forth from the spout of the brass samovar into awaiting glasses, see Great Grand Mama seated at the dining table grinning with two white sugar cubes perched between her cigarette and-tea stained yellow teeth, and Grandma Molly standing with a polished silver tray lined with white paper doilies, piled high with babkah, rugelach and tertle. Ah, the sweet fruits of labor!
Copyright 2010 Roxanne Hoffman

For more about Silver Boomer Books visit their website at silverboomerbooks.com.

April 25 Phoenix Reading with Gordon Gilbert in NYC

2010-03-30T10:34:00.000-07:00

Phoenix Reading Series @ Bengal Curry, April 25, 2010
*Please note: There will not be an Open Mic*

April 25, 2010
5:30PM-7:30PM
@
Bengal Curry
65 West Broadway
New York, NY 10007-2292
212.571.1122
Between Murray and Warren.
1 1⁄2 blocks below Chambers St
Take the 1, 2, 3, A, C or E trains to Chambers Street
Hosted by Mike Graves & George Spencer

This Sunday will be another great experience at the Phoenix Reading @ Bengal Curry. If you love poetry you will not want to miss it. If you love Indian food, including the best naan in NYC, you will not want to miss it. If you love both you will be in Nirvana.

If the weather is bad please call Bengal Curry at 212-571-1122 to verify that the venue is open.

The following poets will be featuring:

Gordon A. Gilbert, Jr. is a former educator who now consults for the NYC Dept. of Education. He has been writing both poetry and fiction since he was a teenager but not for publication. Only a year ago last March, he began to do public readings. Gordon has lived in the West Village for the last thirty-four years, but has been a resident of NYC since the early 60’s. He may be contacted at gordonagilbertjr@usa.net.

Roxanne Hoffman worked on Wall Street, now answers a patient hotline for a major New York home healthcare provider and runs the small press, Poets Wear Prada. Her vampy poetry can be heard during David Gold's indie flick "LOVE AND THE VAMPIRE" starring Rick Poli and featured at The Arlene's Grocery Picture Show's 2005 Festival. Her printed words appear in the anthologies THE BANDANA REPUBLIC: A Literary Anthology By Gang Members & Their Affiliates (Soft Skull, 2008), LOVE AFTER 70 (Wising Up Press, 2008), most recently in IT ALL CHANGED IN AN INSTANT: More Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure (Harper Perennial), and many other places off and on the net. She blogs at http://roxanne-hoffman.blogspot.com/

March 31 Green Pavilion Reading with John Marcus Powell

2010-03-16T08:09:00.000-07:00

I will be reading with the always delightly delicious & mischievous story-teller John Marcus Powell at this month's Green Pavilion Poetry Event in Brooklyn. Please come to support us and bring your poetry, music and humor to share at the open mic

Here are the details:

Wednesday, March 31st - 7PM
The Green Pavilion Poetry Event
Come read your poetry under the chandeliers!
JOHN MARCUS POWELL & ROXANNE HOFFMAN
@
Green Pavilion Restaurant
4307-18th Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11218-5616
(718) 435-4722
OPEN READING
$3 Donation requested + $5 Food/Drink Minimum
Hosts: Evie Ivy, Sol Rubin, Cindy Sostchen-Hochman
By Subway: Take F train to 18th Ave. station. Last car coming from Manhattan, right staircase to street. You will be only about 1/2 block away from the venue, same block you will be standing on.

New poem in SNM Horror Magazine

2010-03-16T07:34:00.000-07:00

My poem "Spider at Twilight Bar" appears SNM Horror Magazine on the "SNM DARK POETRY 6" page, edited by Theresa Newbill: http://www.snmhorrormag.com/snmdarkpoetry6.htm.

This 6 month anniversary issue of SNM Dark Poetry Page includes:

Paula Ray - "Harvest"
Arthur Crow - "Supernatural"
Roxanne Hoffman - "Spider at Twilight Bar"
Anthony Matias - "Dark Places"
Donna Burgess - "End Song"
Michael Garza - "The Rise and Fall"
Angel Bryant - "One Year Survivor"
Pavelle Wesser - "Daylight Into Dreams"
Harris Whitman - "Lovers' Eternal Embrace"
Brian Newbill - "The House and the Room"

Editor's Poetry Contributions:
Theresa Newbill - "Return "
Steven Marshall - "Time Heals All Scars"

*March 2010 Interview Spotlight Feature:
Dave Kuzminski of Preditors & Editors
Exclusive Interview with George A. Romero
Presented from 2009 Horrorfest Convention.

You can also read 2 previous publications in SNM Horror Magazine archives:

"Dream Lover" SNM DARK POETRY 5
http://www.snmhorrormag.com/snmdarkpoetry5.htm

"Once Bitten" SNM DARK POETRY 3
http://www.snmhorrormag.com/snmdarkpoetry3.htm

The Vampire Poet

2010-03-14T15:59:00.000-07:00

Roxanne, The Vampire Poet

Roxanne is a member of the Vampire Empire, the Bram Stoker Memorial Association and the International Society for for the Study of Ghosts and Apparitions. She loves ghost stories, especially those about vampires and werewolves and is completing a novel in verse about a family of vampires titled Bloodline.

Here is a selection of her vampire poetry. "The Slayer" was written specifically to be used as voice over for the independent film Love and the Vampire directed by Rick Poli, and produced by David Gold, Producer and Host of the David Gold Show on Manhattan Cable ©Madeline Artenberg 2004TV. "Dare I" and "A Vampire's Lament" were developed independently of the film and modified for use in the film. The original full-length versions of all three poems are posted below. For photo's of Rick Poli who also plays the Vampire Vasile Popescu in the film and his co-star Debra Lewis who plays Vasile's bride, please scroll down the end of the page.

"The Vampire's Lament" appeared in the 2005 Spring Edition of Nomads Choir.

DARE I?

Dare I tell of demon spell?
of mirrors, I dare not pass,
for now, I face an empty glass,
where once, I graced
a splendid figure, now erased,
I peer, reflecting only space.

©Roxanne Hoffman 2001

And yet, I see these haggard hands,
stretched out before me,
nails gnarled, bony knuckles cracked,
and their shifting shadow cast,
when thumbs linked with long fingers waving,
like a winged rat in flight.

Dare I tell of demon spell?
of window shades, I dare not raise,
where once I sat sunning,
and praised countless, cloudless, blue-sky days,
from which now I shrink, shunning
the sun’s scorching hellish blaze!

And yet, I yearn for light,
but must settle for the fleeting flickers
of imitation sun by way of
brass candles sticks and whale oil wicks.

Dare I tell of demon spell?
of late night walk,
and stealth-like stalk;
of fangs flesh rip,
with blood-stained lip;
of faces left as white as chalk,
and heavy heads slumped over,
with limbs, limp and lifeless,
dumped in shallow graves.

Dare I tell of demon spell?
of home’s sweet haven,
now choking, sunless, vaulted cell.
of Life’s-So-Lonely hell.

Dare I?
For who would listen to my complaint?
some noble patient saint?
or some slayer laying in wait?
for me to make some mistake,
and so tripped, trap me.

March 19, 2004
Roxanne Hoffman
Hoboken, NJ

©Copyright ©2004 Roxanne Hoffman

A Vampire's Lament

In this still hour before the night,
I contemplate my pitiful plight
to be lured by the wolfish howling of the wind,
each night, my primal prowling again begins.

I rise rejoining the restless pack
and stealthy seep out into the black
shadows cast by the remaining ruins of the day
to track the scent of human misery.

I creep along the well-trimmed hedges and neatly planted borders,
while their daytime tenders slumber soundly gated in their quarters,
until I hear the widow's weeping wail,
and spot her lighted window beckoning,
and so invited, I race rueful across the grounds
to do my rightful reckoning.

©Roxanne Hoffman 2001

And in this manner I continue my nightly haunt,
until Dawn's pink fingers climb the heathered hills
and spill her welcome warmth and golden glow
across the checkerboard fields laid out below.

For then I rest and sleep the dreamless sleep of death,
until woken by the wolfish howling of the wind
or the weeping widow's wail.

February 21, 2004
Roxanne Hoffman
Hoboken, NJ

Published in the Spring 2005 Edition of NOMADS CHOIR

Copyright ©2004 Roxanne Hoffman

©Roxanne Hoffman 2001

The Slayer

The Slayer hunts his prey by day:
The monsters who murdered his wife and child and got away,
A pair of parasites whose ceaseless appetite for human flesh and bone
have turned the Slayer's already heavy heart to leaded stone.

Without a tear or fear left to blur his vision,
He seeks his prey with eagle-eye precision:
Each disappearance tracked and traced;
Each clue, each lead, each suspect chased;
Each detail double-checked, cross-checked and categorized;

Each street and alley scrutinized.
The Slayer hunts his prey by day
and will not rest until they lay,
limp and lifeless {evaporated} at his feet
for only then will his mission be complete.

And only then will his heart beat free again
so he can once more laugh and cry like other men.

April 26, 2004
Roxanne Hoffman
Hoboken, NJ