an Electrifying open mic, September 21 at Midtown Scholar Bookstore.

I sing the body electric. --Walt Whitman

e·lec·tric·i·ty/ əˌlekˈtrisədē/
a basic component of nature,
is the presence and flow of
charged particles.
Its best-known form is the
flow of electrons through
conductors such as
copper wires.

It blesseth those who sing
and those who listen.



                      Okay, poetry can be electric, you know that.There'll
                    be an electrifying open mic Thursday, September 21
                    at Midtown Scholar Bookstore. 1302 North Third Street,
                    Harrisburg, PA 17102. Phone, 717.236.1680.

         It's all hosted by the Almost Uptown Poetry Cartel
       where everything's sizzling for you. As usual, it's
       not unusual. Zzzzt!! Yeah.

November 10, Poet Jessica Flynn does Harrisburg's Midtown Scholar

The featured performer at Poetry Thursdays, a continuing poetry series (1999--2017), Jessica Flynn will be reading her unique, original work, November 10, 2016.

This long-anticipated event will occur at the Midtown Scholar Bookstore, 1302 N. Third Street in Harrisburg, right across from the historic Broad Street Market House, still fringed with bunting from a festive Clinton visit to the burg earlier this year.

The poet Jessica Flynn, festive in her own right, is also a visual artist, craft-maker, and co-owner of the fine arts space in downtown York called The Rooted. She is author of a fine verse collection,"Through the Cracks". Flynn, as well, a performing spoken word artist, was 2015's International Poetry Festival representative of the USA in Macedonia.

Her performing style has been called "spellbinding" and "electric!" It'll change your life. One night only! Seating is limited.

Midtown Scholar Bookstore, 1302 North Third Street, Harrisburg, PA 17102. Phone: 717.236.1680. All Poetry Cartel Thursday Events are from 7-9 pm.

As cool Hiraide-ian lip-Ice begins To grate Into seasonal Affectations...

True, truly the tines of Enola heights look down on the tracks of suburban America's endless trail of tears and smoke and motorings and seamless collective memories. Like train cars, its sections can be shuffled around and perceived in almost any order. This adds further to the associational feel, as objects, images, ideas, and memories flash in and out of view. Seemingly seamy.

Eyes don't lie. They project, in a kind and fey manner. Tonga. Chug-chug-- rollin' along. Looky here, here’s the whole of section 91: “The young rustling breeze blowing through the trees of a borrowed landscape, beside the glass window, insists it is a migratory anticyclone. Blow, winds, blow.

Everyone knows it's windy. That cheerful hustler, Hiraide. Chugging along. In this Spring of brute strength, you’ve tired yourself out confirming the balance between the fading halo and the boiling light. I, too, Me? Moi aussi. Tracks of mein tears. Am now to quickly understand, from that hoarse voice of yours, that something boiling over inside me has expended the balance of noon. Expanded? Wee small hours. The Tides. Tonga. The tirades rage. Raid roiling. Roiling.” What initially reads like free association turns out to be a near kismet-ish microscopic record of emotion and phenomena. Phenomenal. It's a gift.

To crack open a Christmas present is tantamount to celebrating new year's day on Lincoln's birthday. Lincoln, the man of the people.

Tonga. People driving Lincolns. To destroy automotive allure of/or cachet, to unlock a logician's secrets partially steals its energy und spelling prowess.

Their endless burgenstock.... Writing obstructs this intrusion, or at least seeks to defer it for as long as possible. There’s no narrative arc to the work, no resolution, no closure-- to the contrary, eraser is a favorite word: “Entering the room, a pulse is taken right when the heart is crushed upon a color-printed newspaper. Chug-chug-- rollin' along. Chug-chug-- rollin' along.[repeat until accident becomes crash for eternity and the planet's orbit begins to grate into seasonal affectations].

And so it is today, too.. a line of poetry goes grrrr or erases wham, Bam! without shooting you, and is maybe nothing more than a soundless watery segment floating up from the East River." Chug-chug-- rollin' along. Maybe a second clockwork, and for the first, or third time, well, finally these mirrored texts mimic a walnut’s fleshy swirl, as well as productively frustrating attempts to impose a definitive order on Hiraide’s unruly poetry. Whittler's Mother. George Washington
Carver. Yours trula.

Tonga. I don’t particularly like tercets— their texture is borderline; and choppy narratives ruin anything they’re added to, specifically of the fragment borne by a poetic line where the literal lives in pieces. Down to the sea in ships. Like seashells. I’m not sure how much Hiraide enjoys them either, but I bet he admires their Deleuzian folds and resemblance to a cerebral cortex totem. Of that we can be sure. Or, say it loud.

Leasing lips save those going down to sea. Cracks. Ice-bergs, lip-ice. Tracks, As mice race Carving Boards-- the wheels of the tines make cool designs in peanut butter and Sand. Tonga.

Selah.

October 8-- Carlos Mason Featured at Poetry Thursdays, Midtown Scholar

October 8-- Highly acclaimed poet, just this side of legendary, Carlos Mason will be featured performer at the Poetry Thursdays' Reading Series. You'll find that Mason's verse, verve and energy matches perfectly with an October evening.

Mason hails from Philadelphia, PA and has been writing spoken word since the 4th grade. He is currently working on completing his Bachelor’s degree in Business Management and Mason immerses himself in such creative activities as acting, dancing, movie watching and marriage. His spoken word has been characterized as “intelligent and thoughtful meets witty and sensual” and has taken him to places like Puerto Rico as well as Trinidad & Tobago.

Mason believes all people should be working, helping each other to grow instead of looking for reasons to oppress and hate one another. He loves to laugh, inspire and be inspired, and he fully intends to leave this world better than he found it.

Poetry Thursdays is hosted by the Almost Uptown Poetry Cartel. Carlos Mason's performance-- from 7 t0 9pm, at the Midtown Scholar Bookstore in Harrisburg, PA. 1302 North Third Street, 17102. 717.236.1680 for more information.

Viewing Joelle Biele, on Laptop, Phone or Bookstore: Your Choice

Do you know Joelle Biele? September 24, poet Joelle Biele will be featured performer at the Midtown Scholar Bookstore. Biele is the author of White Summer (Southern Illinois University Press, 2002) and the editor of Elizabeth Bishop and The New Yorker: The Complete Correspondence (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011). She was 2008-09 Fulbright Professor in American Literature at Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland. The Almost Uptown Poetry Cartel hosts Poetry Thursdays, a community reading series every Thursday from 7:00 to 8:55 pm. Midtown Scholar Bookstore, 1302 North Third Street, Harrisburg, PA 17102 , Phone: 717.236.1680. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Don't forget, coming up October 8th -- the incomparable Carlos Mason!

August 27, Kwoteman Featured Performer at Poetry Thurdays

The Almost Uptown Poetry Cartel's Poetry Thursdays presents Kwoteman aka Thomas J. Tolbert as our featured poet, August 27, at The Midtown Scholar Bookstore.

Tolbert (Kwoteman) was born in D.C., landed in Georgia, became part of a group called Poetic Magic where he was encouraged not only to write, but to recite his work. That's when "Kwoteman" was born. He began touring throughout Georgia, in Tampa and Orlando eventually through school and, finally, in schools and venues in Pennsylvania.

On Etsy, where his book, "...and so I write" (Poem Sugar Press, 2015) is available-- this description says it all, & very well: Spoken word with sweetness of spirit and honesty of soul characteristic of a true southern gentleman who has made the streets of Pennsylvania equally his domain. From memory reflections and touching family tributes to passionate calls to cultural empowerment and spiritual reflection, this collection is a look into the heart of of a Black man.

"Why do I write," asks Kwoteman, "because, like everyone else I have voice and a story to tell."

The Almost Uptown Poetry Cartel hosts Poetry Thursdays, a long-running community reading series, every Thursday from 7:00 to 8:50 pm. Midtown Scholar Bookstore, 1302 North Third Street, Harrisburg, PA 17102 , Phone: 717.236.1680





There are lots of exciting events coming soon, for instance-- check it out!

Next month--

September 3-- Open poetry reading

September 10-- Shane Tanzymore

September 17- Open poetry reading

September 24-- Joelle Biele