Open mic, tonight-- poetry reading, February 21. Yeah!

Midtown. The sun is shining, the roads are open, and hey, there's an open mic, tonight-- February 21. Yeah!

Poetry Thursdays, a gig for all seasons, happening at the Midtown Scholar, just across the street from the Market House on Third. Lotta parking by the market.
This event is hosted by the Almost Uptown Poetry Cartel.
No sign-up sheet, it's all Quaker style. Perform, declaim as the spirit moves you, or stare out the window. It's all good.
But, listen: everything’s waiting for you. Doors open at 6:45 pm. Seating is limited. Midtown Scholar Bookstore. 1302 N. 3rd Street, 17102. For more information, (717) 236-1680.

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Tonight: Open mic, Valentine verse, or not.

Tonight's the night. Open mic, Valentine verse, or not. Your call.

Remember, Midtown Scholar, Almost Uptown Poetry Cartel.

Doors open at 6:45pm. 1302 N. Third. Don't forget! https://twitter.com/gadZookia/status/1095940753027678208

Thinking of Ng, a Steelton performance, May 2, 2001

The only promoted tangible episode of "Thinkin' bout Ng" (a 5-year-long [1998-2003]
performance-art piece) took place at this Steelton poetry event. Esworthy and
O'Leary-Rockey, seated, spoke by cassette-taped transcription-- i.e. no lips were
moved-- simulating thought transmission. Esworthy and O'Leary-Rockey
were seated in the audience. The rest of the audience had absolutely no clue
as to what was going on. But it did go on. In that regard, it was quite successful.

Jack Benny and You, Peppers-- You! Mein Twofer.

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Jack Benny Remembers Tides; I Remember You

There is a tide in the affairs of men, women, and children.

A flood too, Rolling like wildfire across the plains.
Across Nebraska. Yes, across, it is.
And a comma after women.

Flash, BAM! Alakazam,
indeed. Through the states
the systems roar, sez Al Roker
& others of ilk.

Across the wide Missouri. Yes, the.
No one unleashes the soaring, heroic power and
poetic potential of the violin more profoundly than Brahms.

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Astronomy, the Sweetest Pepper

Asteroids are of no danger to the pure of heart.

They fall, benign as snowflakes into rivers, lakes and swimming holes.
Great, deep, unendingly brutish holes near and far, and high above
the frayed nerves of speech therapists in love.
Everywhere, devil-may-care love, love.

Love. It's all good. More pathetic than Shelley,
more minuscule than a mite, right?

Luck, be degrading tonight: more powerful than sparklers,  metaphysical
locoweed, or the truly needy. More trivial than, say, Halston, or unbranded
cattle. Hush, listen: they're lowing as we speak.

  ***   **  *   ***  **  *  ***   **  *   ***  **  *

Hush, Lowing in Progress. Hush, knowing no shame or fear. Gentle.
Oblivious. More boric than acid-washed jeans.

More brazen than Finger Lakes. Buoyant as a child's lost balloon,
the Adirondack Mountains are still growing, yeah,
maybe a foot taller every 100 years.

Faster than the Himalayas in Asia. Stronger than Al Hirt.
Trippier than a kaleidoscope in a strobe-lit cellar. Yes.

More hip, even, than Tony Strupchevsky, buried in my purple yearbook,
buried in my purple yearbook, lo these many, many years.

--mge

Holiday book choice: After the Aughts, Marty Esworthy

AFTER the AUGHTS, Worte und Musik, Marty Esworthy.

Truly a requirement for any modern aesthete's library. --Kyle R. Burton

http://www.lostalphabet.com/after-the-aughts/

          Marty Esworthy, a leading advocate for sound poetry and meta-verse. Esworthy, a Megaera award- winning poet, editor emeritus of Steel Point Quarterly, renowned poetry impresario  and founder of the Almost Uptown Poetry Cartel.

  He’s been published in numerous regional and national publications, including Haggard & Halloo, text_TOWER, Literary Chaos, Fledgling Rag, The Fox Chase Review , logodaedalus, Syzygy, The International Digest of World Poetry, and The Miserere Review.

Recent Esworthy tomes include hard reality, Pacobooks, 2004, and The Object Stares Back, Uh-Oh!, T&T Press, 2009.

  His collection Twenty-Six Javanese Proverbs won the 2006 R.E.Foundation Award for Outstanding Poetry from Iris G. Press in 2006. And, of course, his ground-breaking After the Aughts, Lost Alphabet, 2018.

  

   In 2006, Esworthy set in motion A Poets’ Tour of Harrisburg, a poetic stroll through the Capital City, impressed for posterity in a book and on a CD.

  A recent Pushcart nominee, he also teaches poetry composition and literary performance.

A cascade of world lyrics, AFTER the AUGHTS is a bright, genius-written, visually stunning Holiday book-choice, resoundingly acclaimed by aficionados as "best new verse collection of 2018!"

https://www.amazon.com/After-Aughts-Marty-Esworthy/dp/1948333821

Poet Richard Robbins Oct. 18 at Midtown Scholar

October 18-- Richard L. Robbins
is Poetry Thursdays' Feature
at Midtown Scholar

Richard Robbins, featured reader at the Midtown
Scholar Bookstore, October 18, grew up in
Southern California and Montana and graduated
from San Diego State University, and University
of Montana, where he studied with Richard Hugo
and Madeline DeFrees.

Robbins currently teaches at Minnesota State
University, Mankato.

Poetry Thursdays, a weekly, long-running literary
reading series features many talented writers,
poets, and artists, as well as wonderful guest
readers and headliners.

Poetry events, always Free and open
to the Public are hosted by the
Almost Uptown Poetry Cartel.  

The Cartel meets
every Thursday evening,
at the Midtown Scholar
Bookstore, 1302 North Third Street, (across
from the Broad Street Market) Harrisburg,
17102. Call 717.236.1680

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One Night Only-- Barbara DeCesare-- September 13!

Barbara DeCesare, on September 13, 
will be featured versifier at the Midtown Scholar Bookstore.

Doors open at 6:50pm, and good seats are limited so come early, especially in the event you'd like to perform in a brief, but vigorous, open reading 
which will precede DeCesare's presentation.

Barbara DeCesare speaks directly to you with simplicity, naturalness, and her own brand of humor that questions just about anything she finds interesting, tender, painful, and/or cruel. She's quite a fascinating performer.

DeCesare earned her MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College and teaches Creative Writing for HACC York. She is the author of the collections Jigsaweyesore, Adrift, Silent Type, some acts of fiction and a billion tiny plays. Poems and fiction by Barbara DeCesare have appeared in many literary journals, including Poetry, Alaska Quarterly, and Gargoyle Magazine. 

The Almost Uptown Poetry Cartel hosts open readings every Thursday at the Midtown Scholar Bookstore, 1302 North Third Street, Harrisburg, PA 17102 from 7-9PM. 
More: 717.236.1680