Persistent Fool

Harry Chapin on Songwriting

2011-07-19T13:07:00.001-04:00

David Schnittman on a songwriting workshop with Harry Chapin: "that was very interesting. I still remember the advice he gave about writing lyrics. Paraphrasing, he said: Once you got your lyric and you think you've got a great opening line, make that your SECOND line and (or verse) and put another one (even better) in front of that. Simple and elegant tool I thought..."

interesting

2011-03-01T17:04:00.000-05:00

Pinocchio Paradox
http://analysis.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2011/01/27/analys.anr007.full
http://analysis.oxfordjournals.org/content/70/2/212.full

Amazingly

2011-01-19T00:02:00.002-05:00

According to Google, no-one else has posted "The smog comes in on litter box feet."

Bach Festival

2010-12-23T23:25:00.001-05:00

Rosalind Tureck Playing Goldberg variations on WKCR. (89.9FM NYC, wkcr.org)
I'm not her biggest fan, but this is good! Bach Fest through New Year's Eve.

Choice Events on Long Island

2010-09-30T21:48:00.003-04:00

10/04 Monday 7pm Peace Poets Westbury Library 445 Jefferson Street
10/06 Tomaž Šalamun Slovenian poet Tomaž Šalamun is one of Europe’s most prominent poets and a leader of the European avant-garde. He is the author of more than 30 collections of poetry in Slovenian and English. Wednesday, October 6, 2010, 7 p.m. Lowenfeld Conference and Exhibition Hall, Joan and Donald E. Axinn Library, 10th Floor, South Campus Hofstra U. free and open to the public. (516) 463-5410 http://hofstra.edu/gwgr.
10/07 Thursday 7:00pm - 8:45pm Poet Lynn Cooper plus Open Reading, hosted by Judy Turek & Jamie White at Westbury Library, 445 Jefferson St., Westbury, NY
10/09 2:00pm Saturday poets Edgar Carlson and Narges Rothermel plus open reading at Locust Valley Library 170 Buckram Road, Locust Valley (516) 671-1837 http://www.nassaulibrary.org/locustv/
10/09 Saturday 6:30pm - 9:00pm Tiokasin Ghosthorse & Matou Concert & Discussion in Honor of Mother Earth Jeanne Rimsky Theater at Landmark on Mainstreet 232 Main Street - Port Washington, NY 11050 for more information or to reserve a seat: 516-457-3885 to purchase tickets on line: http://poetographylongisland.com/Paumanok/Current_Events.html
10/10 Sun 2-4pm, featured reader,Darryl Blaine Ford,the personification of Walt Whitman + Open reading hosted by Nancy Keating Babylon Village Arts Council "Poetry in the Village" series. Babylon Public Library, 24 S. Carll Avenue in Babylon Village.(631) 669-1624 http://www.babylonvillagearts.org/ 631-669-1810
10/15 Fri 8pm Poetry Conklin Barn, New York Ave just South of High St, Huntington
10/16 Saturday 9:30am-2pm [?] Write Poems about the Long Island Salt Marshes Poetry Writing Workshop With Maxwell C. Wheat, Jr. First Poet Laureate, Nassau County Theodore Roosevelt Nature Center Jones Beach State Park To Register & for Directions 516-679-7254 Bring Brown Bag Lunch. Binoculars if Possible. Jerry Ahern, Sea Cliff, song writer, guitarist, folk singer will be at each workshop singing his environmental and Long Island songs. http://maxwellcorydonwheatjr.com/
10/16 opening at about 6:30 with a poetry feature,then an all arts welcome open mic. Corvinus & Nicola Borders Stony Brook
10/19 Tuesday poet JR Turek plus open reading at Wyld Chyld Tattoo Café, 1708 Sunrise Hwy, Merrick, NY 516 662 0192 + Open Mic http://www.performancepoets.org/
10/22 Fri 7:30pm poet Giovanni Corvinus + open reading. Caffé Portofino, 249 Main St., Northport, opposite the theater. http://persistentfool.blogspot.com/2007/10/poets-in-port.html
10/23 Saturday 2-4 pm Poets Joan Higuchi and Gloria g Murray East Meadow Public Library, 1886 Front St.
10/24 Sunday 12:00pm - 8:00pm Patchogue Arts festival Patchogue Theatre For the Performing Arts 12pm: Walking Art Tour 5pm: Improv/Playback, Music, Poetry
10/24 Sunday 3:00 pm : Sol y Sombra Spanish Dance Company Lively Arts Concert Series Van Nostrand Theater, Sagtikos Arts Bldg. Grant Campus, Suffolk Community College Brentwood, NY Tickets & Info: 631-851-6589 http://www.solysombra.org/
10/25 Monday 7:30pm Long Island Poetry Collective presents Max Wheat plus open reading--The (optional) theme for the open reading is "Monumental Fire" Barnes & Noble East Northport
10/26 Tuesday 7pm poet Russ Green + open reading hosted by Lorraine Conlin, Bellmore Memorial Library, 2288 Bedford Ave, Bellmore, NY http://www.poetsinnassau.blogspot.com/
10/29 Friday 5:00pm RYAN CASSATA W/ THE CLICK FIVE (KYLE PATRICK) @ VIBE LOUNGE The Vibe Lounge 60 North Park Ave Rockville Centre, NY
10/31 Sunday 6:00pm The North Sea Poetry Scene at Best Bargain Books, WalMart Shopping Center, 217 Middle Country Road, Centereach (631) 737-7777 Open Mic follows
11/03 Stephen Dunn Part of Hofstra’s 75th Anniversary Celebration! Poet and Hofstra alumnus Stephen Dunn is the author of 16 books, including Different Hours, winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for poetry. His newest collection of poems, Here and Now, is forthcoming from W.W. Norton in May 2011. Wednesday, November 3, 2010, 3 p.m. Monroe Lecture Center Theater, California Avenue, South Campus Hofstra U. free and open to the public. (516) 463-5410 http://hofstra.edu/gwgr.
11/04 Thursday 7:00pm - 8:45pm Perspectives Anthology Reading http://www.bardsinitiative.com/localgems/perspectives.html Westbury Library, 445 Jefferson St., Westbury, NY
11/06 Saturday 4:00 - 6:00pm The Healing Sounds of Tibetan Buddhism with Lama Lobsang Palden www.lamalobsang.com www.blueberyl.org $20 -- seating is limited. reserve a space Ohm in the Home 18 Candee Ave Sayville, NY 11782 www.ohminthehome.com 631-589-3044
11/11 http://www.symphonyspace.org/event/6249-david-amram-the-first-80-years
11/12 359th birthday of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz de Asbaje y Ramírez de Santillana (November 12, 1651)
11/12 65th birthday of Judith Roitman (born November 12, 1945
11/17 Thomas Lynch Thomas Lynch is a celebrated poet, author and undertaker, and is the subject of a feature documentary. His essay collection The Undertaking won an American Book Award and was a finalist for the National Book Award. Wednesday, November 17, 2010, 11:15 a.m. Lowenfeld Conference and Exhibition Hall Joan and Donald E. Axinn Library, 10th Floor, South Campus Hofstra U. free and open to the public. (516) 463-5410 http://hofstra.edu/gwgr.
11/19 Fri 8pm Poetry Conklin Barn, New York Ave just South of High St, Huntington
11/26 Friday 7pm TREE LIGHTING at Northport Harbor Park Come sing along with the Northport Chorale and see Santa too!
11/26 Fri 7:30pm Open Poetry Reading. Please include a favorite poem by someone else. Caffé Portofino, 249 Main St., Northport, opposite the theater. http://persistentfool.blogspot.com/2007/10/poets-in-port.html
11/28 Sun Meditation program from 4.00 P.M. to 6.00 P.M. (in English) Long Island Meditation Center 5 Baylis Avenue Port Jefferson http://www.buddhistmessage.org/Default.aspx 631-828-6396
11/28 Sat William Blake 253nd birthday (28 November 1757
11/28 Sunday 6:00pm The North Sea Poetry Scene at Best Bargain Books, WalMart Shopping Center, 217 Middle Country Road, Centereach (631) 737-7777 Open Mic follows
11/30 Tuesday 7pm poet Samantha Barrow + open reading hosted by Lorraine Conlin, Bellmore Memorial Library, 2288 Bedford Ave, Bellmore, NY http://www.poetsinnassau.blogspot.com/
12/02 Thursday 7:00pm - 8:45pm Poet Gail Goldstein with Drum Accompaniment, plus open reading Westbury Library, 445 Jefferson St., Westbury, NY
12/04 Saturday 9:30 A.M.-2 P.M. Write Poems about Long Island’s Winter Beach Poetry Writing Workshop With Maxwell C. Wheat, Jr. First Poet Laureate, Nassau County Theodore Roosevelt Nature Center Jones Beach State Park To Register & for Directions 516-679-7254 Bring Brown Bag Lunch. Binoculars if Possible. Jerry Ahern, Sea Cliff, song writer, guitarist, folk singer will be at each workshop singing his environmental and Long Island songs. http://maxwellcorydonwheatjr.com/
12/06 101th anniversary of the birth of Mary Ethel Barnard (December 6, 1909-August 25, 2001) an American poet, biographer and Greek-to-English translator, known for her clear interpretation of the works of Sappho.
12/10 Emily Elizabeth Dickinson's 180th birthday
12/10 Friday 8pm Northport Chorale WINTER CONCERT at the Northport High School.
12/11 Saturday, December 11, 2010, 1-4 PM, Readings from Poets in Toward Forgiveness an anthology of 99 poets (Editor, Gayl Teller, Writers Ink Press, 2010) Freeport Memorial Library, 144 West Merrick Road, Freeport, NY 11520; (516) 379 3274
12/12 Sunday 2pm MESSIAH SING-IN at Trinity Church - 130 Main St, Northport sponsored by Northport Chorale
12/17 Fri 8pm Poetry Conklin Barn, New York Ave just South of High St, Huntington
12/19 Sun Meditation program from 4.00 P.M. to 6.00 P.M. (in English) Long Island Meditation Center 5 Baylis Avenue Port Jefferson http://www.buddhistmessage.org/Default.aspx 631-828-6396
12/21 6:38pm Winter Solstice
12/26 Sunday 6:00pm The North Sea Poetry Scene at Best Bargain Books, WalMart Shopping Center, 217 Middle Country Road, Centereach (631) 737-7777 Open Mic follows
12/28 Tuesday 7pm End Of The Year Poetry OPEN MIC + open reading hosted by Lorraine Conlin, Bellmore Memorial Library, 2288 Bedford Ave, Bellmore, NY http://www.poetsinnassau.blogspot.com/
12/31 Tue Blessing for the New Year Long Island Meditation Center 5 Baylis Avenue Port Jefferson http://www.buddhistmessage.org/Default.aspx 631-828-6396
01/10 Monday 7:00pm - 9:00pm Poetry Reading featuring Charles Peter Watson Starbucks 25441 Horace Harding Expressway Little Neck, NY
01/19 202nd birthday of Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809
01/25 252nd birthday of Robert Burns (25 January 1759 - 21 July 1796)
01/28 Friday 7:30pm Do-Ing Music -- Artist TBA at the Northport Library, 151 Laurel Ave. Free admission, meet the artist reception immediately following.
01/28 Friday 7:30pm Poets in Port, featuring Susan Pilewski http://www.poetryvlog.com/spilewski.html plus open reading Caffé Portofino, 249 Main St., Northport, opposite the theater. http://northportarts.org/
02/04 Friday, February 4, 2011, 7 PM, Readings from Poets in Toward Forgiveness an anthology of 99 poets (Editor, Gayl Teller, Writers Ink Press, 2010) Presented by Poets in Nassau, Host, Christina Rau Hillside Library,155 Lakeville Road, New Hyde Park, NY 11040; ( 516) 355 7850
02/23 Amy Hempel Short fiction writer Amy Hempel’s collections include Reasons to Live, At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom, Tumble Home, The Dog of the Marriage and The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel. She is a recipient of the Hobson Award and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Wednesday, February 23, 2011, 11:15 a.m. Guthart Cultural Center Theater, Joan and Donald E. Axinn Library, First Floor, South Campus Hofstra U. free and open to the public. (516) 463-5410 http://hofstra.edu/gwgr.
02/25 Friday 7:30pm Poets in Port, featuring Andy Burke plus open reading Caffé Portofino, 249 Main St., Northport, opposite the theater. http://northportarts.org/
03/01 Frederic Chopin's 201st birthday
03/02 Martha McPhee Special Faculty Reading Join Hofstra Associate Professor of English Martha McPhee as she discusses her fourth novel, Dear Money, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in June 2010. She is also the author of Bright Angel Time, Gorgeous Lies and L’America. Wednesday, March 2, 2011, 11:15 a.m. Guthart Cultural Center Theater, Joan and Donald E. Axinn Library, First Floor, South Campus Hofstra U. free and open to the public. (516) 463-5410 http://hofstra.edu/gwgr.
03/19 Sat 7pm A Tribute to the Recipients of TNSPS’s recognition Award: Ms. Gayl Teller (Nassau County Poet Laureate 2009-2011) Dr. David Axelrod (Suffolk County Poet Laureate 2007 – 2009) Dr. Edmund Miller (Chairman of English @ C. W. Post Campus of Long Island University) Dr. Dan Levin (Retired Sergeant-Combat Correspondent; U.S. Marine Corps in World War II & Professor of Creative Writing & World Literature @ C.W. Post Campus)! The North Sea Poetry Scene’s 10th Anniversary & its Director, Tammy’s Nuzzo-Morgan’s 50th Birthday! West Lake Inn 322 Montauk Highway Patchogue, NY 11722 631-475-1300 per person: $50 Hot and Cold Buffet, Dessert & Coffee Celebration Cake .There will be a cash bar 50/50 drawing & raffle prizes, Music & Dancing Please Rsvp by: Friday, March 11th, 2011 Email: thenorthseapoetryscene@hotmail.com Phone: 631-413-7702 Mail checks to: the North Sea Poetry Scene 33 Woods Lane Southampton, NY 11968-1719
03/23 101th birthday of Akira Kurosawa (?? ? or ?? ?, Kurosawa Akira?, 23 March 1910 – 6 September 1998)
03/25 Friday 7:30pm Poets in Port, featuring Kempton Boone van Hoff plus open reading Caffé Portofino, 249 Main St., Northport, opposite the theater. http://northportarts.org/
04/06 Christopher Durang Christopher Durang is a playwright whose plays include the Tony Award-nominated A History of the American Film. His most recent works are Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge, Miss Witherspoon, the musical Adrift in Macao, and Why Torture is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them. Wednesday, April 6, 2011, 11:15 a.m. Guthart Cultural Center Theater, Joan and Donald E. Axinn Library, First Floor, South Campus Hofstra U. free and open to the public. (516) 463-5410 http://hofstra.edu/gwgr.
04/10 Sunday, April 10, 2011, 7-9 PM, Readings from Poets in Toward Forgiveness an anthology of 99 poets (Editor, Gayl Teller, Writers Ink Press, 2010) Mid-Island Y JCC 45 Manetto Hill Road, Plainview, NY 11803; (516) 822 3535 X347
04/22 Friday 7:30pm Poets in Port, featured poet plus open reading Caffé Portofino, 249 Main St., Northport, opposite the theater. http://northportarts.org/
04/29 Friday 7:30pm Do-Ing Music -- Artist TBA at the Northport Library, 151 Laurel Ave. Free admission, meet the artist reception immediately following.
05/02 351st birthday of Alessandro Scarlatti (2 May 1660 – 24 October 1725)
05/17 60th birthday of Pankaj Udhas (born 17 May 1951)
05/23 201st birthday of (Sarah) Margaret Fuller (Ossoli), (May 23, 1810 – July 19, 1850)
05/27 Friday 7:30pm Poets in Port, featured poet plus open reading Caffé Portofino, 249 Main St., Northport, opposite the theater. http://northportarts.org/
05/28 101st birthday of T-Bone Walker (May 28, 1910 — March 16, 1975) American blues guitarist, singer, pianist and songwriter
05/29 151st birthday of Isaac Albéniz i Pascual (May 29, 1860 – May 18, 1909) Spanish pianist and composer
05/31 Walter Whitman (May 31, 1819
06/24 Friday 7:30pm Poets in Port, featured poet plus open reading Caffé Portofino, 249 Main St., Northport, opposite the theater. http://northportarts.org/
06/27 105th birthday of Vernon Watkins (June 27, 1906 — October 8, 1967), Welsh poet, and a painter.
07/03 151st birthday of Charlotte Perkins Gilman (July 3, 1860 – August 17, 1935)
07/07 151st birthday of Gustav Mahler (7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911)
07/12 107th birthday of Pablo Neruda (1904-1973)
07/22 Friday 7:30pm Do-Ing Music -- Artist TBA at the Northport Library, 151 Laurel Ave. Free admission, meet the artist reception immediately following.
07/22 Friday 7:30pm Poets in Port, featured poet plus open reading Caffé Portofino, 249 Main St., Northport, opposite the theater. http://northportarts.org/
08/26 Friday 7:30pm Poets in Port, featured poet plus open reading Caffé Portofino, 249 Main St., Northport, opposite the theater. http://northportarts.org/
09/23 Friday 7:30pm Poets in Port, featured poet plus open reading Caffé Portofino, 249 Main St., Northport, opposite the theater. http://northportarts.org/
10/28 Friday 7:30pm Do-Ing Music -- Artist TBA at the Northport Library, 151 Laurel Ave. Free admission, meet the artist reception immediately following.
10/28 Friday 7:30pm Poets in Port, featured poet plus open reading Caffé Portofino, 249 Main St., Northport, opposite the theater. http://northportarts.org/
11/25 Friday 7:30pm Poets in Port, featured poet plus open reading Caffé Portofino, 249 Main St., Northport, opposite the theater. http://northportarts.org/
12/23 Friday 7:30pm Poets in Port, featured poet plus open reading Caffé Portofino, 249 Main St., Northport, opposite the theater. http://northportarts.org/

Poets in Port, August 27, 2010

2010-07-23T01:14:00.008-04:00

August 27, 2010 Caffé Portofino - Northport

Poets in Port will feature Photopoet aka Christine Zabrouski at 7:30 pm on Friday, August 27, 2010 at Caffé Portofino, 249 Main St., Northport, opposite the theater. There will also be an Open Reading — bring your poems and music and participate. For more information, contact Steven Schmidt. Also there is an exhibit, "Eclectic Voyage" works from 2004-2010 by Kate Kelly at the Caffé until August 31.
On the reader:

Years of poetry readings, and the creation (including printing and saddle stitch) of several chapbooks.
Ability to recover from drastic physical and/or emotional damage which motivated people to ask Christine
to write about how she recovers so atypically. Queens College: Communication Arts, and English that
included a writing class with John Tytell. Nassau Community College - Photography on Film in the
Darkrooms…before all the computers moved in. At least they are Apples.

Mainsail

After a fat new moon stills the day-seas,
stars seem to breathe and
history unfurls a mainsail.

He tells me.
His eyes dance over the horizon, wide,
as if he is seeing Eridanus differently again
for the first time.

I cast a mesh net out over his currents.
Collect his drifting pearls in tiny webs.
Tuck a few into the pocket of my jeans.
Throw some back into the currents again.

The next morning
I walk barefoot along the shore
knowing the ones I set free
might be under my sole.

∞

1/30/04

Modal Logic and Theology

2010-07-15T15:33:00.002-04:00

If Alvin Plantinga had used GL(aka KW) or S9 instead of S5 as his base modal logic, would he have had an ontological proof of the death of God instead of the existence of God?

Original Intent?

2010-06-15T17:01:00.000-04:00

The intentions of those who framed the Constitution don't matter. Only the understanding of those who ratified it.

Some Choice Upcoming Events June-Aug 2010

2010-06-10T14:44:00.005-04:00

Long Island +. Also anniversaries. I'll make it to some, not all, & maybe see you.

06/11 Friday 7:30pm poets Grace Beniquez and Lorraine Conlin plus open reading 380 Walt Whitman Rd, Huntington, NY

06/12 Sat 2-4pm, Poets Mindy Kronenberg and Carole Emerson + Open reading Babylon Village Arts Council "Poetry in the Village" series. Babylon Public Library, 24 S. Carll Avenue in Babylon Village. http://www.babylonvillagearts.org/ 631-669-1810

06/12 Sat 3:30-10:00 LITMA House Sing http://litma.org/housesing.htm

06/12 Saturday 8:15-10:30pm Sing-along: Early 20th century popular songs led by Mike Soloway on piano Caffé Portofino, 249 Main St., Northport, opposite the theater.

06/13 Sun 4-7pm Northport ArtWalk Pick up a map at our "Welcome Booths" located at Caffe' Portofino 249 Main Street & Copenhagen Bakery 79 Woodbine Avenue Many of the participating venues will be hosting special events for the day. FREE nptartwalk.com

06/13 Sunday 1-4pm Public garden dedication at the Anne Frank Memorial Arboretum in Melville, NY. Including steel sculpture by Thea Lanzisero. Threepence Dr @ Wincott Dr & Riga Lane (near Bagatelle Rd.)

06/14 Monday 2pm, Michael Krasowitz artist talk at Huntington Library

06/14 Monday 7pm Poetry at the Gazebo, at Schoolhouse Green Oceanside Road and Foxhurst Road John Hanc Peter Dugan Darren Sardelli Barb Reiher-Meyers

06/16 Wed. 6 - 7:30pm, TBD Shab-e She'r, A Night of (Persian) Poetry, at the Bowery Poetry Club (BPC)

06/17 6:30 poet Pramila Venkateswaran reading at the Tamarind Art Gallery, NYC,

06/18 Fri 8:30pm Northport Chorale Concert, Park

06/18 Fri 8pm Poetry Conklin Barn, New York Ave just South of High St, Huntington

06/20 Sunday 6:00pm - 7:30pm poets Kate Eichhorn Danny Snelson James Copeland This is the second event in the P||R||O||J||E||C||T||I||O||N||S event series, curated by Paolo Javier and Jeremy J F Thompson. http://autotypist.blogspot.com/2010/05/projections-premier-may-16.html The Bowery Poetry Club 308 Bowery New York, NY $6 at the door. Full bar available.

06/21 Monday 7pm Poetry at the Gazebo, at Schoolhouse Green Oceanside Road and Foxhurst Road George Held Robert Savino Doreen Spungin Louisa Calio

06/21 7:28am Summer Solstice

06/22 100th birthday of Peter Neville Luard Pears (pronounced /'p??rz/ "peerz"; Farnham, 22 June 1910 – Aldeburgh, 3 April 1986) English tenor

06/23 150th birthday of Albert Giraud (June 23, 1860 – December 26, 1929), Belgian poet, author of Pierrot lunaire: Rondels bergamasques (1884),

06/25 Fri 7:30pm poet Mary Jane Tenerelli + open reading. Caffé Portofino, 249 Main St., Northport, opposite the theater. http://persistentfool.blogspot.com/2007/10/poets-in-port.html

06/27 Sunday One Day Meditation Program from 9.00 A.M. to 5.00 P.M. (in English) Long Island Meditation Center 5 Baylis Avenue Port Jefferson http://www.buddhistmessage.org/Default.aspx 631-828-6396

06/27 103rd birthday of Vernon Watkins (June 27, 1906 — October 8, 1967), Welsh poet, and a painter.

06/27 Sunday 6:00pm The North Sea Poetry Scene at Best Bargain Books, WalMart Shopping Center, 217 Middle Country Road, Centereach (631) 737-7777 Open Mic follows

06/28 Monday 7.30pm Musaic Concert Series : Charity Benefit for TWLOHA "To Write Love on Her Arms" (http://www.twloha.com/). Crash Mansion 199 Bowery Tickets @ the door : $10

06/28 Monday 7pm Poetry at the Gazebo, at Schoolhouse Green Oceanside Road and Foxhurst Road Tom Schaudel Vicki Iorio Paula Curci Deborah Hauser

06/28 Monday 8:00pm - 10:00pm Camillo Di Maria's Book Party Reading @ Bar 82 on 2nd Ave btwn Saint Mark's and 9th St in Manhattan

07/03 150th birthday of Charlotte Perkins Gilman (July 3, 1860 – August 17, 1935)

07/05 Independence Day Celebration Monday 7pm Poetry at the Gazebo, at Schoolhouse Green Oceanside Road and Foxhurst Road

07/07 150th birthday of Gustav Mahler (7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911)

07/08 Thursday 8pm Lucky 13 & Karyn Oliver double bill at Christopher Street Coffee House @ Christopher Street Coffee House 81 Christopher Street, New York, NY (212) 242-5737

07/10 Saturday 2:00pm - 8:00pm Poetry Picnic Sunken Meadow State Park, LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK FEATURING - Frankie Soto (Hidden Legacy). David Herbert (Savant), Mike Topping (Overnight Poet), Kempton Van Hoff, James P Wagner (Ishwa) & Daniel Rock ( D-Rock) A day of activities, sports, bbq food and of course the MAIN DISH - POETRY. We will be having bbq food and drinks, basketball, frisbee, baseball you know it. The event will begin at 2pm and the poetry will start around 5:30pm. We ask for $2 admission due to the expenses for all the food and event. We will be having featured performers and an open mic list. The event will take place in field 4 but it is subject to change. hiddenlegacypoeta@yahoo.com

07/10 Saturday Lucky 13 at Great South Bay Music Festival @ Great South Bay Music Festival Shorefront Park, Smith Street, Patchogue, NY Set: TBA-sometime after 7:30PM Tickets: $24.00 at gate $18.50 online

07/10 Sat 3:30-10:00 LITMA House Sing http://litma.org/housesing.htm

07/12 Monday 7pm Poetry at the Gazebo, at Schoolhouse Green Oceanside Road and Foxhurst Road Christina M. Rau Herb Siegel Chris Knopf Florence Gatto

07/12 106th birthday of Pablo Neruda (1904-1973)

07/15 Thu 8:30pm Northport Chorale & Community Band Concert, Park

07/16 Fri 8pm Poetry Conklin Barn, New York Ave just South of High St, Huntington

07/18 Sunday 12:00pm - 8:00pm Riverhead Blues Festival Behind East Main St & Peconic Ave Riverhead, NY

07/19 Monday 7pm Poetry at the Gazebo, at Schoolhouse Green Oceanside Road and Foxhurst Road Gayl Teller Denis Gray Tammy Nuzzo-Morgan Bruce Grossberg

07/23 Fri 7:30pm poet Joli Ienuso + open reading. Caffé Portofino, 249 Main St., Northport, opposite the theater. http://persistentfool.blogspot.com/2007/10/poets-in-port.html

07/25 Sunday Esala Full Moon day. Invitation to monks for Vassana retreat season. 9.00 A.M. to 5.00 P.M. Long Island Meditation Center 5 Baylis Avenue Port Jefferson http://www.buddhistmessage.org/Default.aspx 631-828-6396

07/25 Sunday 6:00pm The North Sea Poetry Scene at Best Bargain Books, WalMart Shopping Center, 217 Middle Country Road, Centereach (631) 737-7777 Open Mic follows

07/26 Monday 7pm Poetry at the Gazebo, at Schoolhouse Green Oceanside Road and Foxhurst Road Reed Farrel Coleman Saralee Rosenberg Ellen Meister Brenda Janowitz

08/02 Monday 7pm Poetry at the Gazebo, at Schoolhouse Green Oceanside Road and Foxhurst Road Clive Young George Wallace Jack Anderson Geraldine Green

08/03 Tuesday poet Jane Ormerod at Wyld Chyld Tattoo Café, 1708 Sunrise Hwy, Merrick, NY 516 662 0192 + Open Mic http://www.performancepoets.org/

08/04 Wednesday 3:00pm-Sunday, August 8 at 12:00pm "Happiness is the Way (Summer Mindfulness Retreat)" Blue Cliff Monastery Phap Khong says, "Dear Friends, our teacher encourages us to organize an US Tour 2010 regardless whether Thay can come to the US or not. This retreat Aug 04-08 is part of such an US Tour.There we invite you to come to support our effort in attending or helping to organize.".

08/07 Saturday 3:00pm-6:00pm Huntington Folk Festival Heckscher Park, Huntington

08/07 10:45am Lughnasad - interpolated Cross-Quarter Day

08/09 Monday 7pm Poetry at the Gazebo, at Schoolhouse Green Oceanside Road and Foxhurst Road Judy Turek Walter Wagner Kerriann Flanagan Brosky Brian Cohen

08/14 Sat 3:30-10:00 LITMA House Sing http://litma.org/housesing.htm

08/15 Sun One day Meditation Program from 9.00 A.M. to 6.00 P.M. Long Island Meditation Center 5 Baylis Avenue Port Jefferson http://www.buddhistmessage.org/Default.aspx 631-828-6396

08/16 Monday 7pm Poetry at the Gazebo, at Schoolhouse Green Oceanside Road and Foxhurst Road Richard Vetere Harriet Slaughter Ursula Nouza

08/16 150th birthday of Jules Laforgue (French pronunciation: [?yl la'f??g]) (Montevideo, 16 August 1860 – Paris, 20 August 1887) French poet

08/19 Little Wilson Band Northport Park

08/20 Fri 8pm Poetry Conklin Barn, New York Ave just South of High St, Huntington

08/21 Sunday 1 pm Fifth Jack Kerouac Softball Challenge Northport Zen Tigers vs North Sea Hawks (Rain date August 22nd ) PLAYERS & CHEERERS needed for both teams and a food dish for BBQ The North Sea Community House 130 Noyac Road Southampton, NY 11968

08/23 Monday 7pm Poetry at the Gazebo, at Schoolhouse Green Oceanside Road and Foxhurst Road Ellen Pickus George Guida

08/25 100th birthday of Dorothea Tanning (born August 25, 1910) American painter, printmaker, sculptor and writer.

08/27 Fri 7:30pm poet Christine Z. + open reading. Caffé Portofino, 249 Main St., Northport, opposite the theater. http://persistentfool.blogspot.com/2007/10/poets-in-port.html

08/29 Sunday 6:00pm The North Sea Poetry Scene at Best Bargain Books, WalMart Shopping Center, 217 Middle Country Road, Centereach (631) 737-7777 Open Mic follows

08/30 Monday 7pm Poetry at the Gazebo, at Schoolhouse Green Oceanside Road and Foxhurst Road Paula Comacho Edgar Carlson Phil Reinstein Amy Holman

09/05 Sun Blessings for New School term at 6.00 P.M. Long Island Meditation Center 5 Baylis Avenue Port Jefferson http://www.buddhistmessage.org/Default.aspx 631-828-6396

09/11 Fri: "9-11 Memorial Meditation Offering" Long Island Meditation Center 5 Baylis Avenue Port Jefferson http://www.buddhistmessage.org/Default.aspx 631-828-6396

Poets in Port: Dorothy Friedman May 28

2010-05-21T14:45:00.004-04:00

Poets in Port will feature Dorothy Friedman at 7:30 pm on Friday, May 28, 2010 at Caffé Portofino, 249 Main St., Northport, opposite the theater. There will also be an Open Reading — the audience is encouraged to bring their poems and music and participate. For more information, contact Steven Schmidt.

Dorothy Friedman

wordle - pictures from word frequencies

2010-05-15T13:26:00.002-04:00

A Java applet. Reasonably fast. I needed to play with the options to get something acceptable both graphically and according to the way the words were displayed.
This example made from Shakespeare's Sonnets.

LI "Poetography"

2010-04-29T01:14:00.002-04:00

Paumanok: Poems and Pictures of Long Island contains a carefully matched poem and picture for every day of the year. Just the thing for someone who has moved away from Long Island and only remembers the traffic. There's also some samples from the book and links to photographers and authors on the site. And info on the Sunday, May 2 LI Poet Laureates Celebration.

talk to me

2010-04-17T13:40:00.002-04:00

I just saw Obama's Thursday talk on his plans for NASA on CSPAN. He presented them in a well-reasoned way. It made me sad because it highlighted how unusual it is for politicians to do this. It's like when Bloomberg was talking about long-term planning for NYC, something I'd never heard of before. Maybe some of Obama's ideas are flawed. Is it really a good plan for private companies to build the next generation of rockets while NASA researches the one after that? There's the basic question: will any long-term plans survive the political process. But the presentation is at least respectful, as if both the questions and the citizens deserve thought. Of course, whitehouse.gov loves the buzzwords.

Facebook world Domination?

2010-02-25T12:11:00.002-05:00

Thanks for the
Alert
but will they be any more successful than AOL?

Northport Chorale Performance

2009-12-09T14:12:00.005-05:00

8pm Fri Dec 11 Northport High School Elwood Ave & Laurel Hill Rd=Bellerose Ave
tickets $10, $8 seniors, $5 student. Discounts in advance from a chorale member or at Jones Drugs, Main St, Northport and Munro Music, Larkfield Rd, East Northport

Gloria - John Rutter
Bashana Haba'ah - Manor & Hirsch
Cantique De Jean Racine - Gustave Faure
Ave Verum Corpus by Camille Saint-Saëns
Kala kalla from Five Hebrew Love Songs by Eric Whitacre
Away in a Manger
Don't Stop Believing
The Holly and the Ivy
In the Bleak Midwinter arr. Kirby Shaw
Goin' to Bethlehem - Jay Althouse
Santa Claus is Coming to Town arr. Kirby Shaw
Jingle Bells arr. Robinson & Althouse
Wake Up, Sinnuh, Let the Glory In - Parker & Larson
Hava Nageela arr. Maurice Goldman

Hallelujah Chorus Sing-along

Poetry Reading honoring Mary Barnard

2009-12-04T17:50:00.004-05:00

I'm the featured poet tomorrow(Saturday) 4pm at Wylde Child Coffee House 1708 Sunrise Highway Merrick, just east of Meadowbrook parkway. Since Sunday is the 100th anniversary of Mary Barnard's birth I'll read about her work for the first half & and finish with poems I wrote influenced by her.

Poets in Port, October 30, 2009

2009-10-22T13:34:00.001-04:00

Poets in Port will feature John Williams at 7:30 pm on Friday, October 30, 2009 at Caffé Portofino, 249 Main St., Northport, opposite the theatre. There will also be an Open Reading — bring your poems and music and participate. For more information, contact Steven Schmidt.

John A. Williams grew up in Madison, Wisconsin and was educated at the University of Wisconsin and the University of California, Berkeley. As a member of the History Department at SUNY Stony Brook from 1968 to 2004, he taught courses on the history of India, South Africa, and other regions of the British Empire. His book, Classroom in Conflict (SUNY Press 1994) discusses the problems of teaching controversial subjects. The book utilizes poetry as well as historical literature in presenting its arguments. He has studied poetry writing at the Frost Place in Franconia, New Hampshire and with Elaine Preston in Huntington, Long Island. He lives in Setauket, New York, with his wife Ginger and their two Shih Tzu dogs.

A Poet Named Williams

A poet named Williams, who does not use his middle 
name, has no prescription pad for writing short poems, 
because he is not a physician. He once owned a red wheel 
barrow for carting fifty pound bags of topsoil to the 
perennial garden, but it rusted out and the axle broke. His 
encounters with white chickens have been limited since 
childhood. By the time he sees them they are un-feathered, 
headless and oven-ready. He garnishes them with 
rosemary. So much depends upon the pop-up timer.

Disturbance

The neighbor’s Beagle bays loudly, protesting my presence as I 
pass by on my walk.  His baying splashes into the morning, 
rippling outward.  The sudden noise upsets the Airedale a block 
to the west.  Quickly, the two German Shepherds down by the 
Post Office prick their ears and scramble to their feet to voice 
their outraged objections.  Guard dogs, strays, mincing leashed 
and coddled pets, each in turn comments on the situation.  Along 
the streets of St. James, Smithtown, Kings Park, westward the 
length of Long Island the message is passed along.  In late 
morning, housewives in Huntington, clicking cups on saucers, 
step to the door to hush their dogs, lest neighbors might 
complain.  Woodbury horseback riders steady jumpy mounts; 
through populous western Nassau County the stream of sound 
widens, entering New York City at three o’clock.  After supper 
nervous Manhattan apartment owners squint through their 
peepholes to see what is going on.

Poets In Port: May 29, 2009

2009-05-27T12:44:00.004-04:00

Poets in Port will feature Gloria g. Murray at 7:30 pm on Friday, May 29, 2009 at Caffé Portofino, 249 Main St., Northport, opposite the theatre. There will also be an Open Reading -- the audience is encouraged to bring their poems and music and participate. For more information, contact Steven Schmidt.

Gloria g. Murray has been published in various literary journals, including The Paterson review, Poet Lore, The Long Island Quarterly, The Pittsburgh Quarterly, Amelia, Bardic Echoes, and others. She is a member of Poets & Writers, has wone various awards and was presented by Ted Kooser on-line in 'American Life in Poetry'. A playwright as well: two of her one-act plays were performed off-Broadway and on Long Island. She has read at many Long Island veues including The Mill Pond House, Locust Valley library and the JCC Plainview Y. Her book, In My Mother's House, was funded by a grant from the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation.

Poets in Port July 31, 2009

2009-05-24T14:31:00.007-04:00

Poets in Port will feature Jo Barry and Jim Friel at 7:30 pm on Friday, July 31, 2009 at Caffé Portofino, 249 Main St., Northport, opposite the theatre. There will also be an Open Reading -- the audience is encouraged to bring their poems and music and participate. For more information, contact Steven Schmidt.

Oklahoma City

     I woke on the floor
  of the cave of the world,
   
    My beliefs nearby,
 lying in shattered shards,

 And I knew in that moment
I would rebuild some new thing,

    Some ballast for a world
    gone mad in pain.
                               c. Jo Barry, April, 1995

Buddhist Peace Fellowship Peace practice

2009-03-15T14:46:00.003-04:00

Is found on the Buddhist Peace Fellowship Site. It has changed in interesting ways.

1: August, 2007: Peace Practice

Trusting the Heart's Intention

This practice comes out of sharing and themes we've explored in previous gatherings. In mindful conversation, what arose was a need to connect our so-called "personal" issues with awareness of being in relationship with everyone. This led us to explore how each moment of hardship is an opportunity to listen deeply to the intention, which underlies it, and in doing so, begin to transform hardship into opportunity to realize this intention.

We can realize the heart's intention through a path of engaged spiritual practice.

In this season when we mark the anniversaries of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and of Sept. 11,2001; we invite you to pause and reflect on the meaning of peace.

We invite you to do this in concrete terms, utilizing the tools of Buddhist practice.

We invite you to participate in this peace practice as we listen deeply and commit to trusting the heart's intention together with all beings.

Here's how the practice works:

Sit quietly for a few minutes. Then, allow each of the following three questions to drop in and listen deeply for any sensations, feelings, images, or thoughts which arise. There is no need to try to "think" about these. Please invite trust that the answer is already there, waiting to be heard once we can become quiet enough to hear it. Here are the questions:

1. Whenever anxiety or other forms of distressing/uncomfortable feelings or sensations arise, ask: What am I feeling right now and where do in my body do I sense it?

Try to be concrete with this and limited in scope, for instance: "I'm anxious and feel it as tightness in my chest."

2. After you realize the feeling and sensations, ask:

What is my heart's intention right now?

Notice the sensations, which arise as you consider this question. Offer yourself time to experience these and perhaps any shift in your state of mind/body/heart as you listen deeply.

For example: "I'm anxious because I really want to connect with this person and I'm not sure how."

3. After you notice your intention, ask:

What would support me in realizing this intention?

For example, you might hear a voice say, "Love you," and become aware of where you experience that sensation of loving or being loved. This might inspire you to keep breathing into this part of your body, deepening an experience of this sensation.

Your experiences and impressions are wholeheartedly welcome at the next BPFNY monthly gathering.

As we practice together in this season, may our heartfelt aspirations in each moment help us 'be peace' together with all beings.

in peace,
Judy

Judy Seicho Fleischman
Coordinator, BPF/NY

2: March, 2009:

Peace Practice: Choosing Peace

The season of the Buddha's passing into Nirvana is here and with it a new opportunity to focus on intention in practice as a way to (in the words attributed to the Buddha) "be a lamp onto yourself." During this time, which calls attention to impermanence and aspiration, the practice of mindfulness, especially while sitting or walking offers a concrete way to check in with intention and how it relates with changing feelings, thoughts, and sensations.

Specifically, when encountering difficulties, notably stress, how can we choose to meet the thoughts and feelings with an intention to connect, communicate and care? Right there, in the intention itself. This moment of choice, this path of peace, is a practice of acknowledging one's experience and then meeting whatever is happening right now with kindness and compassion.

Here's how the practice works:

Choosing Peace --- Connect, Communicate, Care

1. CONNECT: Whenever distressing/uncomfortable feelings or sensations arise, ask:

What am I thinking and feeling right now?

Try to be concrete with this and limited in scope, for instance:
Anxious, mind racing, angry, out of control. I've got to get out of here!

2. COMMUNICATE: After you realize the thoughts and feelings, ask:

Where in my body do I experience these?

For example:
Heart racing, palms sweating.

Offer yourself time to breathe into these areas, listening deeply.

3. CARE: Now ask,

What would help me to choose peace right now?

For example:
Breathe, slow down and breathe.

This might be followed by:
Love you.

Become aware of where you experience that sensation of loving or being loved. This might inspire you to keep breathing into this part of your body, deepening an experience of this sensation.

Pay attention to how these feelings and thoughts arise in relationship. Does interacting with certain people bring up these feelings and thoughts? Certain environments?

As you explore and let go of the mindstates fixated on judging good and bad, right and wrong, you can transform unskillful habits into the means of awakening, of naturally choosing peace, which is vibrant and fully functioning in harmony with everyone and everything.

Try it out and let's share what we discover. Feel free to write to the bpfny elist or share in person at the next BPFNY monthly gathering.

As we practice together during this season, may our loving steps reveal the marvelous path, which benefits all beings.

in peace,
Judy

Judy Seicho Fleischman
Coordinator, BPF/NY

http://www.bpfny.org/peacecommunity.html

Look at me reading poetry

2009-02-07T11:14:00.003-05:00

I'm featured on Poetry V-Log this week. Thanks to Michael Mart, who did the video. I look and sound much better than expected and will soon need to wear XXXL hats instead of size XXL. Permalink to my reading..

Native American Elders Speak

2008-12-19T16:35:00.003-05:00

Posted on youtube by "MadRazorRay"

Floyd Red Crow Westerman speaks on our spiritual relation to the Earth and other living things.

Epiphany Poetry Reading

2008-12-15T23:19:00.004-05:00

Tuesday, Jan 6, 2009 I'm reading at Solar Cafe in Brentwood.
7:30.
I'll include something Twelfth Night appropriate.
For now, look at this riff on "When that I was and a Little Tiny Boy":
Rain-mp3 Rain Lyrics

In Celebration of Emily Dickinson - Dec 10, 2008

2008-12-04T23:54:00.004-05:00

Wednesday, December 10th, 2008

Presented by the Northport Arts Coalition and
the Northport Public Library

A dramatic reading of selected poems

Poet and Actress, Janice Bishop

Musical Selections

"It was not death" by Michael Eglin	Mezzo-Soprano, Kara Cornell Pianist, Daniel Ragone
"I sing to use the waiting" (from Songs & Doubles) by Donald Bohlen	Soprano, Ruthann Turekian Pianist, Daniel Ragone Clarinetist, Gene Keyes
"Out of the morning" by Jane Leslie	Mezzo-Soprano, Kara Cornell Pianist, Jane Leslie
"There Is A Word" by Carmen Jude Aquila	Soprano, Ruthann Turekian Pianist, Daniel Ragone
Two Tales of a Delusional Narcissist: by Herbert A. Deutsch “A Little Madness in the Spring” “I Took My Power”	Tenor, Bruce Solomon Pianist, Daniel Ragone
"Heart, we will forget him" by Aaron Copland	Soprano, Ruthann Turekian Pianist, Daniel Ragone

All text selected from the work of American poet Emily Dickinson, (1830-1886.)

The Performers

Janice Bishop, poet and actress, has had poems published in journals across the United States, in Canada, Ireland, and most recently in Wales and England in the Swansea Poetry Magazine. Recent performances have been as Tiresias in Seamus Heaney's Burial At Thebes and as Saint Mary Margaret in The Eucharist by Arcadia Films.

Kara Cornell, Mezzo-soprano, performs in operas, recitals and orchestra concerts around the country. Highlights have been performances with Capital Opera (Albany), Center City Opera (Philadelphia), Union Avenue Opera (St. Louis) Hubbard Hall Opera (Cambridge, NY), The US Naval Academy and The Brooklyn Philharmonic. A lover of new music, Kara has premiered many works, including the solos for Sacred Songs and Interludes, available on CD Baby. Kara was a founding member of The Northport Opera. She has degrees from Carnegie Mellon and Stony Brook University. Kara is an adjunct professor of voice at Russell Sage College. (www.karacornell.com)

Gene Keyes, Clarinetist, attended the Manhattan School of Music and received a Bachelor's in Performance and Master's in Music Education. He has performed with the Metropolitan Opera , American Symphony Orchestra, Brooklyn Philharmonia, Westchester Philharmonia, New Jersey Symphony, and Long Island Symphony. He has worked in the Broadway Musical Theater recording industry and in various commercial engagements in the New York area. He has served as the Musical Director and Conductor of The Symphonic Band of Bay Shore/Brightwaters. Keyes lives in East Northport.

Daniel Ragone, Pianist, received his education at Penn State University and the University of Illinois. He has accompanied singers in all major New York concert halls and in Europe, where he recorded his first CD in 1990. Affiliations include the Carnegie Hall International American Music Competition for Singers, the Rome Opera Festival, and The Center for Contemporary Opera. Recent credits include preparation for the world premiere of Hester Prynne at Death by Stephen Paulus and the Carnegie Hall world premiere of the music of Croatian composer Bozidar Kunc. He has given master classes at SUNY Stony Brook and Suffolk County Community College and teaches at Five Towns College.

Bruce Solomon- Tenor, studied music at the Juilliard School, Queens College and the Manhattan School of Music. He has performed at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully hall and Avery Fischer Hall in New York and with the Lake George Opera festival. Bruce is a resident of Huntington and is a frequent performer at Opera Night in Northport.

Ruthann Turekian, Soprano, has sung with Central City Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis and Des Moines Metro Opera as well as many in the NY area. The New York Times proclaimed of her in Wagner’s Tannhäuser with Manhattan Opera, “The best of the singers was Ruthann Turekian, who delivered herself of a quite respectable account of Elisabeth, joyful hall-greeting, anguished prayer and everything in between.” She received a BM from Queens College and a Masters from Manhattan School of Music. She has performed with the Northport Opera Company and regularly for Opera Night

The Composers

Carmen Jude Aquila earned his BM in composition with honors from SUNY Fredonia, where he studied composition with Donald Bohlen. At Bowling Green State University he was apprenticed to Marilyn Shrude, Burton Beerman, and Mikel Kuehn. His MM in composition was awarded with honors in 2000. Preamble, his first orchestral work, was premiered under the baton of Edwin London. He was awarded the 1998 Victoria Bohlen Memorial Award for Composition. The Toledo Symphony has programmed several of Carmen’s orchestrations in recent years. Carmen teaches at Villa Maria College of Buffalo and at Erie Community College.

Donald Bohlen was awarded the Doctor of Musical Arts in Composition from the University of Michigan and received degrees from the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music and Princeton University. Bohlen has written for a wide variety of musical media including chamber music, choral and solo vocal works, and compositions for solo piano, opera and music for film. As Chair of Composition at the School of Music, SUNY at Fredonia, he established a nationally recognized program for the training of composers. Bohlen founded the ETHOS New Music Society and has been faculty advisor in the Society’s presentation of new music for thirty years.

Herbert A. Deutsch earned a Bachelor's at Hofstra University and a Bachelor's and Master's from Manhattan School of Music. A pioneer in electronic and multimedia composition, he collaborated with Robert Moog in 1964 on the first Moog Synthesizer. In 1965 he gave the first live concert performance on the Moog at Town Hall and the first synthesizer ensemble concert at the MOMA in 1969. He is the author of three books and forty published articles on electronic music and is a Professor Emeritus at Hofstra University, where he was Department Chair. He is the recipient of Hofstra's George Estabrook Distinguished Alumni, Award and numerous "Meet The Composer" and ASCAP Awards and a Lifetime Achievement Award from BB Kings for his contributions to electronic music; He is a L.I. Music Hall of Fame Music Educator of Note.

Michael Eglin holds degrees in piano and composition from SUNY Fredonia and from the University of California at Santa Barbara. He has studied with Donald Bohlen, Joel Feigin, and Bill Kraft, and studied early music with Alejandro Planchart. Active as a conductor and singer as well as a composer, Eglin presently serves as Director of Music and Organist at El Montecito Presbyterian Church in Santa Barbara, CA as well as Artistic Director of the men’s vocal octet, Adelfos Ensemble. His choral works are published through Santa Barbara Music Publishing.

Jane Leslie has been honored with several ASCAP Awards and Meet the Composer grants for her compositions. Her music has been performed in concerts throughout the country and the New York area,most recently at the Tilles Center for the Performing Arts. Her albums, Dreamsongs, and Southampton Sunset, are featured in radio broadcasts and on the internet. Leslie holds two degrees from Juilliard and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Manhattan School of Music. She has been on music faculty at Nassau Community College, and is currently a pianist, composer and teacher on Long Island. (www.janelesliemusic.com.)

Coordinators: Michelle T. Whittaker and Steven C. Schmidt

Poets in Port, December 26, 2008

2008-12-02T15:02:00.003-05:00

Poets in Port will feature B. J. Cassidy at 7:30 pm on Friday, December 26, 2008 at Caffé Portofino, 249 Main St., Northport, opposite the theatre. There will also be an Open Reading -- the audience is encouraged to bring their poems and music and participate. For more information, contact Steven Schmidt.

B. J. Cassidy grew up in Floral Park and Huntington Bay and lives in Northport; raised two sons, Chris Nielsen and Jamie Cassidy;
helped run the Huntington Poetry Cafe at the Conklin Barn circa 1993-9; participated in the LI Poetry Collective workshop for many years; was a founding board member of the Northport Arts Coalition; has coordinated "The Kerouac Connection" readings celebrating the creative energies of Jack Kerouac, annually at Gunther's Tap Room in Northport since 1996;
performs on the Northport Celebrates Jack CD Tribute to Jack Kerouac; won a Poets Performance Association Award; has had poetry published in Long Island Quarterly, The Light of City and Sea, An Anthology of Suffolk County Poetry 2006, Doppelganger, and other journals in the US, Canada, and the UK; published a chapbook, LeavingPort.
Her drawings have illustrated poetry anthologies and there were shows of her pastels and watercolors at the Northport Library in 2005 and 2007.

Oscar Brand's "My Old Man's a Sailor"

2008-08-28T17:29:00.002-04:00

additional verse:

My old man's a burglar.
What do you think about that?
He wears a sailor's collar;
he wears an anthropologist's hat.
He wears a refrigerator repair man's raincoat;
he wears a cotton-pickin' finger-lickin chicken plucker's shoes.
And every Saturday evening he bring's home something new.
And one day, if I can,
I'm gonna be a fence for all the guys like my old man.

-based on the Smothers Brothers' version

Alternate Last Verse

2008-08-28T17:27:00.001-04:00

If I had a pry bar
I'd pry apart the morning
I'd pry apart the evening
all over this land.
I'd open up justice.
I'd open up freedom.
I'd open up Love between my brothers and my sisters
all over this land.

Choice Events on Long Island

2008-08-08T07:44:00.000-04:00

On View through September 2008
‘Huntington Columns’, a Public Art Installation In Huntington, NY
Columns built entirely out of bamboo, jute rope & solar lighting
by Thea Lanzisero, with guest artists including Sydra Nightingale
WHERE: Fair Meadow Park at Park Ave and Pulaski Road,
Parking across the street at Citibank
www.thealanzisero.com

August

Month of August DeepSEE Dream Conveyor
by Thea Lanzisero Monier-Williams http://www.thealanzisero.com/
TOAST Alternative Art Space, 242 East Main Street, Port Jefferson, NY
http://www.toastcoffeehouse.com/ (Coffee House 8am-4pm 7 days)
Installation of work made of recycled steel and LED lights inspired
by the deep ocean. An inspired dream of the sea floor while
contemplating our planet's fragile 'Great Ocean Conveyor Belt'
which regulates world climate and weather.
Solo Show brought together by http://www.freshartlongisland.com/

08 Fri 7:30pm poets Judy Turek & Tony Iovino + open reading.
Barnes & Noble, Rte 110, Huntington Station.

09 Sat 1:30pm Poetry Workshop:Lake Grove at United Methodist Church,
792 Hawkins Ave (At Five corners) Lake Grove. Bring 8 -10 copies of a
poem which needs review.

09 Sat 6pm Poetry Reading by North Sea Poetry Scene at
THE THIRD ANNUAL OUTSIDER ART IN THE HAMPTONS:
INTERNAL GUIDANCE SYSTEMS EXHIBIT
Galerie BelAge, 8 Moniebogue Lane, Westhampton Beach, NY 11978
Contact: 631-204-1240 ; thenorthseapoetryscene@hotmail.com
631-288-5082; http://www.galeriebelage.com
Open Mic After Featured Poets:
Suffolk County Poet Laureate David Axelrod, Tammy Nuzzo-Morgan
Judy Turek, Syma Gerard, Victoria Cooper, (Mankh) Walter Harris,
Russ Green, Kelly Powell, Michelle Whittaker, Kempton Boone Van Hoff,
Patrice Hasbrook, Barbara Rieher-Meyers, Andrea Rowen, Steven Schmidt,
Ruth Sabth Rosenthal

09 Sat 8am Four Harbors Audubon bird walk in Avalon Preserve. Meet at the
entrance gate across from the Grist Mill. One and a half to two hours.

12 Tue 7pm Singers, Musicians, Poets Open Mic Night & Jam / Singalong
Solar Café, 1 First Ave., Brentwood (631) 348 7181 www.solarcafeus.com
Hosted by Dorothy Malone 2nd and 4th Tuesdays
Welcome All Ages and Every Ability, from Pocket-change Percussion
to In A Gadda Da Vida

13 Wed 8pm Acoustic Long Island. Open Mic(sign up before 7)+Feature
Deepwells Mansion, Rte 25A, St James
http://www.acousticlongisland.com/

14 Thu 7pm LI Poetry Collective Workshop, Sky Room, Cinema Arts Center,
Park Ave & 25A, Huntington
Bring 12 copies of your poem.

15 Fri 8pm Poets Leonard Greco, Lauren OBrien, Thad Rutkowski,
Walter C. Wojcik III at Conklin Barn,
New York Ave just South of High St, Huntington

16 Saturday 5:30pm
Guitarist Liam Murphy + guitarist Brian Fleming and soprano Tara Kavanagh
Artsites Gallery 651 W. Main St., Riverhead
Classical guitar music that spans the 20th Century by composers from
Japan, South America, Spain (songs by Granados) and several other countries
in between.
http://www.evite.com/pages/invite/printView.jsp?event=OODLHSKMVKRBVHOANOAG
http://www.evite.com/pages/invite/viewInvite.jsp?event=ESSJSFYTLHAXBRUYWKLH

19 Tue 7:30pm poet Ellen Rittberg + Open Mike
Solar Cafe, 1 First Avenue, Brentwood

20 Wed 8pm Acoustic Long Island. Open Mic(sign up before 7)+Feature
Deepwells Mansion, Rte 25A, St James
http://www.acousticlongisland.com/

21 Thu 7pm LI Poetry Collective Workshop, Huntington Library
Youth & Parent Services Room (upstairs)
Bring 12 copies of your poem.

22 Fri 7:30pm poet Tony Policano + open reading.
Caffé Portofino, 249 Main St., Northport, opposite the theatre.

http://persistentfool.blogspot.com/2007/12/poets-in-port-august-22-2008.html

23 Sat 8:00pm (also Thurs & Fri) Theater Games, a play by Claude Solnik
premiere production by the BARE BONES THEATER COMPANY.
Directed by Jeff Bennett All tickets $15
the Posey School, 57 Main Street, Northport NY 11768
http://barebonestheater.com/
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/03peopleli.html?_r=2&sq=capturing&st=cse&oref=slogin&scp=1&pagewanted=print
http://weblogs.newsday.com/news/local/suffolk/huntington/blog/2008/08/teachers_trick_leads_to_play_i.html

26 Tuesday: 7pm Doreen Spungin + Open reading
Bellmore Memorial Library www.poetsinnassau.blogspot.com

27 Wed 8pm Acoustic Long Island. Open Mic(sign up before 7)+Feature
Deepwells Mansion, Rte 25A, St James
http://www.acousticlongisland.com/

28 Thu 7pm LI Poetry Collective Workshop, Huntington Library (downstairs)
Bring 12 copies of your poem.

29 Fri 7:30pm poet Frank Dowd + Open Reading
Starbucks Islandia, 1706 Veteran’s Memorial Hwy
(In the shopping center)
Call 631-348-6626 to make sure the Starbucks hasn't closed.

29 Fri-Mon Long Island Mozart Festival, Old Westbury Gardens
8pm Fri, 3pm Sat-Mon
http://www.limozartfestival.com/

September

02 Tue 7:30pm poet Greg Moglia + Open Mike
Solar Cafe, 1 First Avenue, Brentwood

03 Wed 7pm Reading by Young Poets
Smithtown Library

03 Wed 8pm Acoustic Long Island. Open Mic(sign up before 7)+Feature
Deepwells Mansion, Rte 25A, St James
http://www.acousticlongisland.com/

04 Thu 7pm LI Poetry Collective Workshop, Huntington Library (downstairs)
Bring 12 copies of your poem.

04 Thu-Sun 8:00PM September 4 through 7, ARTMOSPHERE
Musicians, dancers, visual artists and poets together
retell the creation of the universe.
Tilles Center for the Performing Arts
C.W. Post campus of Long Island University, Brookville, NY
(Tickets on sale May 1 through Ticketmaster.com)
http://www.debbydoll.com/artmosphere.htm

05 Fri Opera Night Northport Chamber Music at 7:29. Opera Arias
(etc.) start at 8:00 St Paul's Methodist Church, Main St. Northport

06 Sat 4:00P Gathering Time (Trio)
Saturday Series at the Common Ground Bandshell, Sayville, New York
http://www.myspace.com/gatheringtime
http://www.gatheringtimetrio.com/

08 Mon 7pm Poet ___ + read-around
Hosted by Gladys Henderson & Ginger Williams
Cool Beanz, St James. 25a just East of Lake

09 Tue 7pm Singers, Musicians, Poets Open Mic Night & Jam / Singalong
Solar Café, 1 First Ave., Brentwood (631) 348 7181 www.solarcafeus.com
Hosted by Dorothy Malone 2nd and 4th Tuesdays
Welcome All Ages and Every Ability, from Pocket-change Percussion
to In A Gadda Da Vida

10 Wed 8pm Acoustic Long Island. Open Mic(sign up before 7)+Feature
Deepwells Mansion, Rte 25A, St James
http://www.acousticlongisland.com/

11 Thu 7pm LI Poetry Collective Workshop, Huntington Library (downstairs)
Bring 12 copies of your poem.

13 Sat 1:30pm Poetry Workshop:Lake Grove at United Methodist Church,
792 Hawkins Ave (At Five corners) Lake Grove. Bring 8 -10 copies of a
poem which needs review.

13 Sat 8am Four Harbors Audubon bird walk in Avalon Preserve. Meet at the
entrance gate across from the Grist Mill. One and a half to two hours.

14 Sun 2:00 p.m. Canta Libre Chamber Ensemble
Cold Spring Harbor Library
95 Harbor Rd. Cold Spring Harbor, NY, 11724
631-692-6820
http://cantalibre.org/ 631-261-9364

16 Tue 7:30pm poet Russ Perry + Open Mike
Solar Cafe, 1 First Avenue, Brentwood

17 Wed 8pm Acoustic Long Island. Open Mic(sign up before 7)+Feature
Deepwells Mansion, Rte 25A, St James
http://www.acousticlongisland.com/

18 Thu 7pm LI Poetry Collective Workshop, Huntington Library (downstairs)
Bring 12 copies of your poem.

19 Fri 8pm Poetry at Conklin Barn,
New York Ave just South of High St, Huntington

21 Sun 2-4pm, Poets Philip Postiglione and Steven Schmidt + Open mic
+ possible appearance by Lynn Kozma
Babylon Village Arts Council "Poetry in the Village" series.
Babylon Public Library, 24 S. Carll Avenue in Babylon Village.

21 Sun Cow Harbor Day, Main St. Northport. Parade Begins at: 12:00 noon
Opera Carnivale: "DO" a costume within the theme of Opera and Art for
yourself or someone else to wear at the annual Cow Harbor Day festivities
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BRsWV2I74Y
http://www.villageofnorthport.com/events.htm

23 Tue 7pm Singers, Musicians, Poets Open Mic Night & Jam / Singalong
Solar Café, 1 First Ave., Brentwood (631) 348 7181 www.solarcafeus.com
Hosted by Dorothy Malone 2nd and 4th Tuesdays
Welcome All Ages and Every Ability, from Pocket-change Percussion
to In A Gadda Da Vida

24 Wed 8pm Acoustic Long Island. Open Mic(sign up before 7)+Feature
Deepwells Mansion, Rte 25A, St James
http://www.acousticlongisland.com/

25 Thu 7pm LI Poetry Collective Workshop, Sky Room, Cinema Arts Center,
Park Ave & 25A, Huntington
Bring 12 copies of your poem.

26 Fri 7:30pm Doug Swezey, Kate Kelly, and others reading poems
by Jean Schmidt aka Grace Darling aka
fairsCaPe(http://fairscape.blogspot.com)
+ open reading.
Caffé Portofino, 249 Main St., Northport, opposite the theatre.

http://persistentfool.blogspot.com/2007/11/poets-in-port-september-26-2008.html

27 Sat 2:00PM Locust Valley Poetry Series features Jay Jii
Locust Valley Library, 170 Buckram Rd. Locust Valley, NY

28 Sun 2:30 p.m. Canta Libre Chamber Ensemble
Freeport Library
144 West Merrick Road, Freeport, NY, 11520
516-379-3274
http://cantalibre.org/ 631-261-9364

28 Sun 9pm "The Kerouac Connection"
Reading of Poetry by, about, and inspired by Jack Kerouac
Gunther's Tap Room. Jack's old hangout. 84 Main St., Northport

30 Tuesday: 7pm Roberta McQueen + Open reading
Bellmore Memorial Library www.poetsinnassau.blogspot.com

October

01 Wed 7pm poet Mario Susko + Open Reading
Smithtown Library

01 Wed 8pm Acoustic Long Island. Open Mic(sign up before 7)+Feature
Deepwells Mansion, Rte 25A, St James
http://www.acousticlongisland.com/

03 Fri Opera Night Northport Chamber Music at 7:29. Opera Arias
(etc.) start at 8:00 St Paul's Methodist Church, Main St. Northport

05 Sun 2:00 p.m. Canta Libre Chamber Ensemble
Port Jefferson Arts Council
Sunwood Estate, SUNY Stony Brook President's Residence
631.473.5220
$25 - $20 Seniors and Students
http://cantalibre.org/ 631-261-9364

07 Tue 7:30pm poet Yolanda Coulaz + Open Mike
Solar Cafe, 1 First Avenue, Brentwood

08 Wed 8pm Acoustic Long Island. Open Mic(sign up before 7)+Feature
Deepwells Mansion, Rte 25A, St James
http://www.acousticlongisland.com/

10 Fri 7:30pm poets Lorraine Conlin & Paula Camacho + open reading.
Barnes & Noble, Rte 110, Huntington Station.

11 Sat 1:30pm Poetry Workshop:Lake Grove at United Methodist Church,
792 Hawkins Ave (At Five corners) Lake Grove. Bring 8 -10 copies of a
poem which needs review.

11 Sat 8am Four Harbors Audubon bird walk in Avalon Preserve. Meet at the
entrance gate across from the Grist Mill. One and a half to two hours.

12 Sun 12:00P Huntington Fall Festival Huntington, New York
Gathering Time (Trio)
http://www.myspace.com/gatheringtime
http://www.gatheringtimetrio.com/

12 Sun 2-4pm, Poets Barbara Donovan and Sandy Wicker, including piano
music and song from Barbara and her husband Irv. + Open mic
Babylon Village Arts Council "Poetry in the Village" series.
Babylon Public Library, 24 S. Carll Avenue in Babylon Village.

12 Sun 8:00 p.m. Canta Libre Chamber Ensemble
Shelter Island Friends of Music
Shelter Island Presbyterian Church
Rt. 114 Shelter Island, N.Y. 11964
Tickets and Information
631-749-1488
http://cantalibre.org/ 631-261-9364

13 Mon 7pm Poet ___ + read-around
Hosted by Gladys Henderson & Ginger Williams
Cool Beanz, St James. 25a just East of Lake

15 Wed 8pm Acoustic Long Island. Open Mic(sign up before 7)+Feature
Deepwells Mansion, Rte 25A, St James
http://www.acousticlongisland.com/

17 Fri 8pm Poetry at Conklin Barn,
New York Ave just South of High St, Huntington

21 Tue 7:30pm poets Gladys Henderson & Ginger Williams + Open Mike
Solar Cafe, 1 First Avenue, Brentwood

22 Wed 8pm Acoustic Long Island. Open Mic(sign up before 7)+Feature
Deepwells Mansion, Rte 25A, St James
http://www.acousticlongisland.com/

28 Tuesday: 7pm Mary Healey and Anthony Policano + Open reading
Bellmore Memorial Library www.poetsinnassau.blogspot.com

29 Wed 8pm Acoustic Long Island. Open Mic(sign up before 7)+Feature
Deepwells Mansion, Rte 25A, St James
http://www.acousticlongisland.com/

30 Thursday: OPEN READ at Nassau Community College's Firehouse Gallery --
Time TBA
www.poetsinnassau.blogspot.com

31 Fri 7:30pm poets Ginger and John Williams + open reading.
Caffé Portofino, 249 Main St., Northport, opposite the theatre.

http://persistentfool.blogspot.com/2007/12/poets-in-port-october-31-2008.html

November

05 Wed 8pm Acoustic Long Island. Open Mic(sign up before 7)+Feature
Deepwells Mansion, Rte 25A, St James
http://www.acousticlongisland.com/

07 Friday: 7pm Robert Windorf at The Village Bookshoppe
www.poetsinnassau.blogspot.com

08 Sat 8am Four Harbors Audubon bird walk in Avalon Preserve. Meet at the
entrance gate across from the Grist Mill. One and a half to two hours.

09 Sun 1:30 p.m. Canta Libre Chamber Ensemble
Comsewogue Public Library
170 Terryville Road, Port Jefferson Station, 11776
631-928-1212

14 Fri 7:30 p.m. Canta Libre Chamber Ensemble
Salmagundi Center for American Art
47 Fifth Ave. N.Y. N.Y. 10003
212-255-7740
http://cantalibre.org/ 631-261-9364

18 Tue 7:30pm poet Doreen Spungin + Open Mike
Solar Cafe, 1 First Avenue, Brentwood

25 Tuesday: 7pm Doug Swezey + Open reading
Bellmore Memorial Library www.poetsinnassau.blogspot.com

28 Fri 7:30pm poet Barbara Reiher-Meyers + open reading.
Caffé Portofino, 249 Main St., Northport, opposite the theatre.

http://persistentfool.blogspot.com/2008/03/poets-in-port-november-28-2008.html

December

01 Tue 7:30pm poet Jay Chollick + Open Mike
Solar Cafe, 1 First Avenue, Brentwood

05 Friday: 7pm OPEN READ at The Village Bookshoppe
www.poetsinnassau.blogspot.com

13 Sat 9am Four Harbors Audubon bird walk in Avalon Preserve. Meet at the
entrance gate across from the Grist Mill. One and a half to two hours.

16 Tue 7:30pm poet Solar Cafe Holiday Party + Open Mike
Solar Cafe, 1 First Avenue, Brentwood

26 Fri 7:30pm poet Bonnie J. Cassidy + open reading.
Caffé Portofino, 249 Main St., Northport, opposite the theatre.
http://persistentfool.blogspot.com/2007/10/poets-in-port.html

February 2009

08 2:00 p.m. Canta Libre Chamber Ensemble
Mastic Moriches Shirley Community Library
407 William Floyd Pkwy. Shirley, NY 11967
399-399-1511
http://cantalibre.org/ 631-261-9364

12 Charles Darwin's 200th birthday

April 2009

03 Friday ???? Euterpe Poetry Group Instant Book Party.
Emma S. Clark Library, Main Street, Setauket

25 Sat 6:00 p.m. Canta Libre Chamber Ensemble
Castello di Borghese Vineyards
17150 County Rd. 48 (Sound Ave.) Cutchogue, NY 11935
631-734-5111
http://cantalibre.org/ 631-261-9364

PLEASE, YOU MUST GET BACK TO ME URGENTLY

2008-08-07T16:54:00.002-04:00

Just got this spam today:

Dear Friend,

I need your assistance in other to receive and accommodate the sum of US$36,800,000.00 on my behalf.

My name is Sergent David Viliami from Tonga Island located in the south pacific. I am among the 55 Royal Marines deployed in late 2007, guarding the command headquarters at Camp Victory in Baghdad.

My country is among the Multi-National Force in Iraq (MNF-I), led by the United States, that is fighting the Iraq War against Iraqi insurgents.

During one of our rescue Mission we came across a safe in a tunnel that contains the total sum of $210,000,000 (Two hundred and ten Million United States Dollars). This money belongs to the Iraqi insurgents. We believe that they use it to purchase arms and ammunitions. This was not our first time of making such discovery and in every such case we report it, i.e http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2988455.stm but in this case, all troupe members decided that we will keep it to ourself. I am the only Tongan national in this particular troupe and my own share of the money is as mentioned above (US$36.8Million), the rest are from USA. Most of the details I will relay to you later.

My country Tonga is a very small Island country with a very poor economy and taking such an amount there will attract great attention. I have therefore decided to relocate to your country as soon as we are discharged from this duty.

I need you to help me receive and keep this money while I wait for my discharge letter which is under processing. I have a solid arrangement in place and I need your willingness to assist me so that I can proceed. I am willing to offer you 20% of the total amount.

I know you do not have any knowledge of me but I was able to get your contact after searching out some information about you through the internet and if this proposal is acceptable by you, kindly send me an e-mail signifying your interest including an I.D and most confidential telephone numbers for quick communication, also your address where the fund would be delivered.

Please, do not entertain any fears, as I am assuring you 100% success.

As soon as I receive your email with the information, I will furnish you with full details on when and how the fund shall be delivered to you.

Waiting for our urgent reply.

Best regards,

Sgt. David Viliami

So, if the story were true, not only would this guy be stealing, but he'd abandon his "poor economy" homeland, where he could certainly live quite well with $36 Million, and help out his 113,000 fellow-citizens quite a lot.

Nest of Flames/"Miscarriage"

2008-05-27T12:35:00.003-04:00

The poem "Miscarriage" (No, it's not a sad poem) that I put in Nest of Flames was already illustrated here:

Follow the link and keep going to Next> to get the whole story.

Dialogue #1

2008-05-07T15:14:00.001-04:00

Alarmed by arousal, overwrought but alert,
we awkwardly terminate arduous touseling.

This morning
across the parking lot
you swim through October sunlight

And clamber to the island of your closed arms.
One spicy code calibrates our responses
though, damaged by teasing, we pretend distance.
But we swing when you laugh at the leaves on my sweater.

(italicized stanza by Moira Scheuring)
circa 1990

Dialogue #8

2008-05-07T15:12:00.003-04:00

Play with the truth and with trusting simplicity;
the abundance of faith makes beauty efficient.

An abundance of beauty makes faith unneeded.

Your glut of gracefulness is incredibly cloying,
an engine of played-out, unctuous ploys.

The smell of rich earth.
I lie among hollyhocks
watch the soft white sky
ignore dissatisfied men
their circling, caustic words.

(italicized stanzas by Moira Scheuring)
circa 1990

Dialogue #7

2008-05-07T15:08:00.003-04:00

With domestic links removed from my loins,
I left ruined sequoias for the river-quest.
My few chattels with their faint enchantments
decay in my satchel like sad excuses.

Yes, I am the river
and often you have dreamt of me.
My silver bubbles streaming through your fingers.
You return to land before childhood.

I loot the banks, burrow for philology,
But otters wound with unanswerable words.
The rapids construct parentheses that stream down
to where I meet my match in the muck that yields methane.
Can I learn my mouth's own language and remember
my self out of the circle of animals?

Yes, but you must swim under the mud.
See my markings
the snails, the starfish under my skin.
It is not pleasant
When the black muck fills your throat,
your lungs.
But you will survive
to crawl onto the rippled sand-bars
where the sunset
forms towns and washes them away.

(italicized stanzas by Moira Scheuring)
circa 1990

Dialogue #6

2008-05-07T15:06:00.002-04:00

Provoke a frolic, vie in affronts;
Turn phony shyness into shocking fun.

Is your mouth as warm and soft
as it looks?

My dry uvula, like an adroit yo-yo,
joins in enthusiasm for your joking thigh.
The hot underside of an oral hunch
puzzles modestly to a mossy puddle.

(italicized stanza by Moira Scheuring)
circa 1990

Dialogue #5

2008-05-07T15:02:00.003-04:00

To be in love is to live in bondage
Where honor and discipline are redundant oddities

She carried a blue-gray bag of pearls.
One by one they fell on the sidewalk.
If leant upon
you fade away.

With a mouth full of chalk, I choke modestly--
no protest to the militia boy prodding me along
But fastidiously I kept your antique clothing
splendid-- no larvae, no splotches, no leaching,
and searched underground for a palisades or a grotto,
paid off the bouncers, stole a burning palm tree,
I cling like silk as it climbs to your side,
Sputtering in the showers at the spot your shadow was,
Prophesying in a puddle the pangs of the proud.

(italicized stanza by Moira Scheuring)
circa 1990

Dialogue #4

2008-05-07T14:59:00.002-04:00

When the blood pools heavy about your heart
smarminess, kowtows and smells must be cut
-Ephesian sucklers must fire the city
of nematodes massing to annihilate mystery.

The hour is unknown
I tell no secrets.
Like gardenias mushrooms glow
larger than fists of men

The peppery tradition of pageless dirges
is a fit of nerves that is never fatal.
Don't worry, I irradiated the rotting wood,
The nameless shock of sugarbeets is nourishing.

Your mother plays the piano, the orchids admire her.
A small loss clutches to climb into her lap.
This harried child seeks hollows like a church.
Legato gliding like blown glass called the girl.

Kiss the baby, slap the baby, put the baby down

Around her metal breasts
flies spiral.
Milk splats on the floor.
Like a puppy the baby laps it up.

She plants her babies
among the mushrooms in the cellar.
Under the black soil
a city of children's bones
(matchstick thin and white).
Towers, tunnels, bridges.

(italicized stanzas by Moira Scheuring)
circa 1990

Dialogue #3

2008-05-07T14:56:00.002-04:00

Sullenly beachcombing, with sick biorhythms,
a frustrated trickster tries to get free,
finds hope and scissors to sacrifice a horseshoe crab
for a return to the civilized tangle of Soho.

Your sullen trickster,
let him go. Have him leave
my honeysuckled cliffs
pebble beaches
tidal pools
where life is ordered,
rhythmic.

The rough ocean oscillates its ravages.
The law around his ankle is lonely and insular.
He dreams through portals, stripped pink, away from drumming,
And a million trees that trill against the marching.

(italicized stanza by Moira Scheuring)
circa 1990

Dialogue #2

2008-05-07T14:54:00.002-04:00

Carving itself, acceding to capture,
the heart with its nebula heals the fanatics.

White hot teeth, razor lips
shred slips of flesh
suck yellow-jackets
from the apple blossom

The dust forms a macrophage, a dark mesh
that makes weapons as blunt as blacktop where it wanders.
Old memories of delighting in marshmallows release
the quieted dead end, throwing quartz ovals.

You've never
fooled me.
And your violence is not hidden.
It shines from you
like sweat on the trees
in the heavy summer dusk.

In the dialectic of laws, speculations and delusions,
pause to taste the pure tones,
the harmonics of wisdom in well of moods,
that temper the unwritten toxic rules.

To check if I deserve the disease or the chatter,
metallic pizza is the perfect test.

(italicized stanzas by Moira Scheuring)
circa 1990

Dialogue #17

2008-05-07T14:48:00.004-04:00

Use “feminine” means to demolish fiction,
that meagre holiday that cements the hideousness.

Lace ribs on spit accordion style,
and secure with holding forks. Ad-
just on rotisserie above drip pan.
Let ribs rotate over slow coals.

(italicized stanza by Moira Scheuring)
circa 1990

Dialogue #10

2008-05-07T14:43:00.003-04:00

It's time to really taste the root--
The night can chew through nacreous cheeks.

The Root of All scares me.
I want the sores on my face
to be soft roses hanging in the dark.

Press ointment through your veil to your vesicant ego.
There is no warehouse of seeds, no soil for this weather.

Hazy grey, this August night.
Attendants asleep in the hall
I'm clinging to a sound:
smoking moon through barred window.

(italicized stanzas by Moira Scheuring)
circa 1990

Dialogue #9

2008-05-07T14:41:00.003-04:00

The laws of figures bend fatuous lines
crawling down highways to a crash with history.
From ardent insomnia through slow arrogance
Foggy boldness farms embarassment.

I don't care.
I sit alongside the foggy highway
where wineberries ripen and fall among columbine.

Red lights swept the swans along.
Pines won't mention why the pigeon mourns.
You may be strong-armed away to a street with walls,
shot in derision, unshaded, unwreathed.

(italicized stanza by Moira Scheuring)
circa 1990

Cherry Trees

2008-05-04T22:56:00.003-04:00

Cherry Flower

2008-05-04T22:55:00.003-04:00

Cherry Trunk

2008-05-04T22:43:00.002-04:00

"This picture says it all."

2008-05-04T22:10:00.002-04:00

Prompt for Long Island Poetry Collective Workshop, May 8, Huntington Library, 7pm.

International Women's Day

2008-03-08T22:41:00.004-05:00

It's almost over for this year.
A small observance,
this poem by April Rose Brown:


    Baking a Cake on
International Women's Day
           or
  How Far We Have Come


Granny's old bowl...
I mix in
chocolate, beat it
three hundred strokes
by hand
with my mother's
wooden spoon-
the spoon I used to
lick-- the bowl
I used to
stick my head in,
tongue run wild.  I
used to
swallow
everything.

Counting strokes-
nothing changes.
Lumps remain, as usual

My stomach churns.
I cannot
lick this bowl.

more by A.R.B

Choice Events March

2008-03-06T18:23:00.002-05:00

My choices for the rest of March.

Of course you should check http://poetz.com/longisland.

07 Fri 8pm PeaceSmiths Coffeehouse: Tom Ryan (of Copper Rose);
Tom Karlson, Poet for Peace; The band: Copper Rose (
http://www.copperrosehome.com/ ); Open Mic.
First United Methodist Church, 25 Broadway/Rt. 110 (southmost end near
Merrick Rd./Montauk Highway) in Amityville. A donation of $7 (half
for kids) is suggested to help promote the Coffeehouse series and
towards PeaceSmiths’ ongoing work for peace and justice. PeaceSmiths
hotline (631) 798-0778 or http://www.peacesmiths.org/

08 Sat 2:00 pm poets David Axelrod & Susan Pilewski + open. Babylon Library

08 Sat 8:00 PM Recital - Claudia Schaer, violin SUNY Stony Brook

09 Sun Baroque Sundays at Three, "Plucked Delight", 3:00 pm SUNY Stony Brook

09 Sun 8:00 PM Recital - Adam Meyer, viola, final DMA recital SUNY Stony Brook

10 Mon 7pm Poets George Held & Susannah Simpson + read-around at Cool
Beanz, St James. 25a just East of Lake

11 Tue Piano Project, 12:00 pm, 4:00 pm, and 8:00 pm SUNY Stony Brook

12 Wed 7pm Japanese Classical Dance: A celebration of the seasons. Northport Library www.ichifuji-kai.org Northport Arts Coalition

13 Thu 7pm LI Poetry Collective Workshop, Huntington Library
Bring 12 copies of your poem.

14 Fri 7:30pm Religion & Spirituality poetry read-around. Barnes &
Noble Huntington Station.

15 Sat 1:30pm Poetry Workshop:Lake Grove at United Methodist Church,
792 Hawkins Ave (At Five corners) Lake Grove. Bring 8 -10 copies of a
poem which needs review.

15 Sat 7:30pm Folk Music Soc of Huntington features Island Songwriters'
Showcase + Open Mic. Congregational Church of Huntington,
30 Washington Drive, Centerport http://fmshny.org/hard.htm

16 Sun 3:00 pm The Way to Nirvana
In connection with Shinjo Ito Exhibit at the Milk Gallery
New York (450 West 15th Street near 10th Ave) (register:
shinjoitoevents@dcinyc.com) http://www.shinjoito.com/exhibition/

18 Tue 7:30pm poet Judy Turek + Open Mike, Solar Cafe, Brentwood

20 Spring!

20 Thu 7pm LI Poetry Collective Workshop, Huntington Library
Bring 12 copies of your poem.

21 Fri 8pm Poetry at Conklin Barn, New York Ave just South of High St,
Huntington

22 Sat 1pm The Poetry Zone workshop/discussion led by Mindy Kronenberg at the Port
Jefferson Library

23 Sun 7pm poet Pat Falk at Mid-Island Y JCC, Plainview
http://www.miyjcc.org/cultural-arts.php

25 Tue 7pm poet Michelle Whittaker + Open reading, Bellmore Library

27 Thu 7pm LI Poetry Collective Workshop, Huntington Library
Bring 12 copies of your poem.

28 Fri 7:30pm poets Michelle Whittaker & Kempton Van Hoff + open reading.
Caffé Portofino, 249 Main St., Northport, opposite the theatre.
http://persistentfool.blogspot.com/2007/11/poets-in-port-march-28-2008.html

29 Sat 2pm Long Island Composers' Alliance Concert, Freeport Library

29 Sat 8 pm Stony Brook Symphony Orchestra Staller Center, Main Stage
SUNY Stony Brook. The premiere of a new work by Dawn Chambers (TBA)
Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 with Elaine Hou, concerto competition
winner Schumann, Symphony No. 4.

30 Sun 1:30 pm Long Island Poetry Collective hosts an Open Reading at
Walt Whitman Birthplace.

30 Sun 4pm Ridotto Piano Series. Old First (Presbyterian) Church, 25A near
Hecksher Park, Huntington

31 Sat 8:00 pm Colin Carr Presents Beethoven’s Complete Works for Piano
and Cello

Poets in Port, November 28, 2008

2008-03-05T00:09:00.005-05:00

Poets in Port will feature Barbara Reiher-Meyers at 7:30 pm on Friday, November 28, 2008 at Caffé Portofino, 249 Main St., Northport, opposite the theatre. There will also be an Open Reading -- the audience is encouraged to bring their poems and music and participate. For more information, contact Steven Schmidt.

Barbara Reiher-Meyers is a Long Island, New York poet, board member of the Long Island Poetry Collective. Barbara also curates a poetry calendar for www.poetz.com/longisland, has coordinated events for the Northport Arts Coalition and Smithtown Township Arts Council, among others. Her poetry has been published in print journals and on line. Barbara facilitates monthly workshops in Ronkonkoma, sends weekly Emails of local poetry events, and has edited several volumes of poetry. "Sounds Familiar" is the title of her first book of poems. Contact reiherbpoet@aol.com Some of Barbara's poetry can be read here, here, here, here, and here and she can be seen reading on Poetry Vlog.

This poem was sung on A Prairie Home Companion March 31st, 2007: (It can be sung to the tune of "Ta Ra Ra Boom- De-Ay" if that's legal. If not, you can thank Barbara & the persistence of a fool for planting the tune in your head, to resound for the next few days.)

Nature Poem

by Barbara Reiher-Meyers of Ronkonkoma, NY

It's poison ivy time;
get out the calamine.
It's not my favorite vine.
See how the blisters shine.

I'm itchy and forlorn.
It grows upon my lawn
from dusk to early dawn.
How I wish it was gone.

Three very shiny leaves
each Spring are my pet peeve.
The presents I receive
just spread and will not leave.

It makes my temper rise
when blisters grow in size.
I fight it as it tries
to creep up on my thighs.

Spring

2008-02-22T00:58:00.001-05:00

Rain Fever
Nest Balance
Color Wind
Spoken Egg

Nest of Flames instant anthology

2008-02-22T00:31:00.024-05:00

Spring starts with a time of balance. A month later birds build nests.
Join us at an instant book party to assemble

Nest of Flames

Bring 50 copies of your page (both sides!) of writing/drawings/photos/music/? . Place them on a table.
Collate one of each page and the cover (designed by Kate Kelly) and staple them on the side.
Read your poem(s), talk about your images, etc.
Go home with a book.

Poetry Cafe at Conklin Barn, SW Corner of High Street and NY Avenue, Huntington, NY

8pm, Friday, April 18

Does ‘Nest of Flames’ refer to the Phoenix? to Heraclitus? to Garuda? to the Fire Sermon? to Arthur Rimbaud? to Charles Henri Ford? to John Ciardi? to the Talking Heads? to Bob Dylan? to Marion Roach? to a solar eclipse? to Samantha Hahn? to a sea anemone? to an all-electric home on a holy day? Yes. Mostly to your own sense of the term, obvious to you, but perhaps to no one else. And to whatever rises from all of these like the young but ancient phoenix.

Extra margin at the left of the top page and the right of the bottom page for stapling. Maybe your name somewhere for future generations.

RSVP (to be sure 50 is enough copies—not required) or for more information: stevenschmidt@optonline.net

Poets In Port, July 25, 2008

2008-02-18T00:42:00.006-05:00

Poets in Port will feature Jack Barrett Wohl at 7:30 pm on Friday, July 25, 2008 at Caffé Portofino, 249 Main St., Northport, opposite the theatre. There will also be an Open Reading — the audience is encouraged to bring their poems and participate. For more information, contact Steven Schmidt.

Leonard Cohen ("Anthem", on The Future): "There's a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in."
Many poets write poems showing one thing, one crack, one ray of light. What I like about Jack's poems is that he usually tries to do more.

Too... You

I've walked rivers with carnivore gods
each step through burning darkness like coals
and I to stay alive thought
I buried what I needed to

but how did you know where my heart was hiding?

why did you shine your angry siren-light
your hurt hunger
into my almost becalmed
memory of fury and tears?

will you say I signed up for this as a writer?
I can hear your voice: "you should have read the small print"
when I thought I could trickle
the hurricane I had felt

I cannot turn away ... put you back ... tuck you in
between covers

can't walk away or break the weld
to your bared soul

can't find the door to close
can't outfly or climax out of it
you've entered me en flagrante
by love and lust and burning smothered tears
you've been too honest

too raw too you to turn away

--Jack Wohl

Video of my poetry reading at Peacesmiths

2008-02-08T23:34:00.000-05:00

Alternating with songs performed by Heather Lev. It's here.

Eclipse of Heaven

2008-01-30T12:52:00.000-05:00

by Gladys Henderson
Can be ordered here

The title poem is quite profound.

Choice Events

2008-01-16T22:56:00.001-05:00

Thursday, January 17 7pm LIPC Poetry Workshop, Huntington Library

Friday, January 18 8pm Poets Michelle Whitaker, Bart Allen, Levi Asher + Open Reading at the Conklin Barn, Huntington. SW corner NY Avenue & High Street.

Saturday, January 19 5pm "Nothing is Black And White" Poetry reading
Art Sites Galleries, 651 West Main Street (Rte 25), Riverhead, NY 11901
591-2401 thenorthseapoetryscene@hotmail.com

Thursday, January 24 7pm LIPC Poetry Workshop, Huntington Library

Friday, January 25 7:30pm Poet JoAnn Proscia + Open. Caffe Portofino, Northport.

Saturday, January 26 2pm Poet Ann Kenna. East Meadow Library, 1886 Front Street.

Wednesday January 30 8pm Tom Griffith + Open Mic. Deepwells, St James.

Friday 02/01 8pm Poet Max Wheat & Musician Premik + Open
Peacesmiths Coffee House, Amityville

Sunday, February 3 5 - 6 PM Location TBA (Manhattan)
The Everybody Can Sing (R) Beginners' Workshop FREE Elissa Weiss ElissaAnn@aol.com

Wednesday, February 6 7pm poet Carolyn Emerson + Open Reading. Smithtown Library.

Thursday, February 7 7pm LIPC Poetry Workshop, Huntington Library

Sunday, February 10 2pm Poets George Wallace, Michelle Whittaker & Tony Policano reading at the Babylon Public Library Plus Open Reading.

Sunday, February 10 7pm Poet Carolyn Raphael + Open Reading Mid-Island Y, Plainview

Ratio

2008-01-09T01:31:00.000-05:00

Let both of us always add the other
in continual increase
golden reason without fear of overload
microcosm of the universe of love
pentacle within pentacle
protecting our shared center.

This was my response to fairsCaPe's Leonardo's Lover.

OK LOVE

2007-12-31T12:48:00.000-05:00

Organic
Kosher

Lacto-
Ovo-
Vegetarian
Eats

Please create this business and succeed!
Both the restaurant chain and the prepared food.
To help fight global warming

( LOVE by fairscape)

I'm reading at PeaceSmiths in Amityville, Jan 4

2007-12-13T01:18:00.000-05:00

PeaceSmiths

MONTHLY TOPICAL, A-TYPICAL FOLK MUSIC AND WHATEVER Coffeehouse
FRI. Jan. 4th 8:00PM

Music by Heather Lev
Poetry by Steven Schmidt
OPEN TIME

First United Methodist Church
25 Broadway/rt110
(Southmost end near Merrick Rd/Montauk hwy)

$7 DONATION
SUGGESTED AT THE
DOOR COVERS PUNCH &
MUNCHIES
less if necessary, more if possible

PeaceSmiths...Community Organizing for Peace and Justice, Education, Activism, Culture, Mutual Help

More info: PeaceSmiths inc. Hotline: (631) 798-0778

Poets in Port, June 27, 2008

2007-12-13T00:45:00.006-05:00

Poets in Port will feature Jay Jii at 7:30 pm on Friday, June 27, 2008 at Caffé Portofino, 249 Main St., Northport, opposite the theatre. There will also be an Open Reading — the audience is encouraged to bring their poems and participate. For more information, contact Steven Schmidt.

Jay Jii spent most of his developmental years growing up in East Northport, NY, studying as a musician, choosing classical guitar as his main instrument. From 1988 to 1991, Jay attended Five Towns College where he received an associate's degree in jazz/commercial music. Today, Jay works out of his home studio, "The Avatar Lounge". He plays a wide variety of musical instruments and has written and recorded hundreds of compositions. Solar Tapestry (Trafford Publishing, 2006) represents his debut as a literary writer. Jay hosts poetry readings at the Solar Café in Brentwood on the first and third Tuesdays of each month at 7:30pm. Jay Jii's mission as a musician and author is clear: "My aim is always to innovate and challenge. If I merely amuse, I have failed..."

Jay's poems can be seen on his Myspace blog, http://www.myspace.com/jayjii .

Resonance of Past Promises

My thoughts had always drifted
On a tortured sparrow's wings
Set aloft a dreamless world of alabaster
I wished for just one chance
To replace fear with fantasy
And with every autumn leaf that fell
I waited for my prayers to be answered

You came to me
On a sea of butterscotch dandelions
Bearing a velvet kiss
On painted lips
And beneath your veil of violet smoke
The worn edges of my dusty faith
Burst with fresh golden springs

The world that had once been stony
Glowed in an emerald lattice of dreams
All fears spooned out
And replaced with trust
My thoughts reached as high as heaven
I found an answer to a prayer
In you

Poets In Port, August 22, 2008

2007-12-13T00:38:00.003-05:00

Poets in Port will feature Tony Policano at 7:30 pm on Friday, August 22, 2008 at Caffé Portofino, 249 Main St., Northport, opposite the theatre. There will also be an Open Reading — the audience is encouraged to bring their poems and participate. For more information, contact Steven Schmidt.

Tony participates in the Long Island Poetry Collective peer workshop. He lives in Oyster Bay.
Tony Policano can be seen reading "Finishing a Poem" at Poetry VLog.

"Some reasons I write poetry; to free the dove in the hat of springtime, to slow the global warming of my soul, to play in the mud any time i need, for the (lol) money, so i can drink like a barfly at the mouth of the Colorado river, to walk the talk while sitting down, to deconstruct the theory of negativity, to get away with something no one could care less about, to begin to hear myself again loud and clear, to start caring less about the things that matter less, to wash my conscience in night dreams, to meet friends who also believe in the sacredness of everything, because i know that FOX News is neither balanced nor fair, because i tried not writing for a long time and i felt like my self-portrait was being erased, and because Jack Kerouac was and will always be king of the beats"

Exile

(el destierro es redondo - Pablo Neruda)

whenever i open that door these days
feel for the light switch in the dark
like a tarantula on the wall
my fingers know darkness

my lungs inhale like a forbidden attic
breathing through a broken window
summer humidity, dusty air

for now i am done
looking for what i could never find
walk the stairs back down again

exile creaking

one step holds the full half weight
of who i wanted to become
the other could splinter instantly
into my blinking eye

exile creaking

one step follows another
mocking secrets of the kingdom
that i thought would be mine

shut the light  -  push the door closed
i don’t want to take inventory anymore
i don’t want to see all the things that remain
when i am not here to breath through them.

Tony Policano, March 2007.

Poets in Port, October 31, 2008

2007-12-04T00:01:00.008-05:00

Poets in Port will feature Ginger and John Williams at 7:30 pm on Friday, October 31, 2008 at Caffé Portofino, 249 Main St., Northport, opposite the theatre. There will also be an Open Reading — the audience is encouraged to bring their poems and music and participate. For more information, contact Steven Schmidt.

Ginger Williams has been active in the Long Island poetry community since 1992. She received a BS in Philosophy from Connecticut College and a MS in Counseling/Special Education from Fordham/Long Island Universities. Since retiring as a teacher of Special Needs Students in the Three Village School District, she continues to teach poetry in the schools as well as The Mills Pond House, The Walt Whitman Birthplace and other venues. She has led the UU Free Writers' Group since 2000. She co-hosts poetry readings the second Monday of each month at Cool Beanz in St. James. She was a winner in the 2005 & 2006 Performance Poets Association contests. Her poetry is informed by the practice of yoga, canoeing, watercolors, and walking by the sea. She lives in Setauket, New York with her poet-historian husband, John Williams.

She is the author of Restringing the Beads, Quaker Path Press, 2007.

John A. Williams grew up in Madison, Wisconsin and was educated at the University of Wisconsin and the University of California, Berkeley. As a member of the History Department at SUNY Stony Brook from 1968 to 2004, he taught courses on the history of India, South Africa, and other regions of the British Empire. His book, Classroom in Conflict (SUNY Press 1994) discusses the problems of teaching controversial subjects. The book utilizes poetry as well as historical literature in presenting its arguments. He has studied poetry writing at the Frost Place in Franconia, New Hampshire and with Elaine Preston in Huntington, Long Island. He lives in Setauket, New York, with his wife Ginger and their two Shih Tzu dogs.

A Poet Named Williams

A poet named Williams, who does not use his middle 
name, has no prescription pad for writing short poems, 
because he is not a physician. He once owned a red wheel 
barrow for carting fifty pound bags of topsoil to the 
perennial garden, but it rusted out and the axle broke. His 
encounters with white chickens have been limited since 
childhood. By the time he sees them they are un-feathered, 
headless and oven-ready. He garnishes them with 
rosemary. So much depends upon the pop-up timer.

Disturbance

The neighbor’s Beagle bays loudly, protesting my presence as I 
pass by on my walk.  His baying splashes into the morning, 
rippling outward.  The sudden noise upsets the Airedale a block 
to the west.  Quickly, the two German Shepherds down by the 
Post Office prick their ears and scramble to their feet to voice 
their outraged objections.  Guard dogs, strays, mincing leashed 
and coddled pets, each in turn comments on the situation.  Along 
the streets of St. James, Smithtown, Kings Park, westward the 
length of Long Island the message is passed along.  In late 
morning, housewives in Huntington, clicking cups on saucers, 
step to the door to hush their dogs, lest neighbors might 
complain.  Woodbury horseback riders steady jumpy mounts; 
through populous western Nassau County the stream of sound 
widens, entering New York City at three o’clock.  After supper 
nervous Manhattan apartment owners squint through their 
peepholes to see what is going on.

Poets in Port, September 26, 2008

2007-11-26T14:38:00.006-05:00

Poets in Port will feature Doug Swezey, Kate Kelly, and Tammy Nuzzo-Morgan reading the poetry of Jean Schmidt aka Grace Darling aka fairscape aka Jean Stainback at 7:30 pm on Friday, September 26, 2008 at Caffé Portofino, 249 Main St., Northport, opposite the theatre. Also Turtlehead will sing some songs she and Jean wrote. There will also be an Open Reading — the audience is encouraged to bring their poems and participate. For more information, contact Steven Schmidt.

Jean Schmidt was a Registered Nurse, a graduate of Queens Hospital School of Nursing. Most of her career was at Central General Hospital (now Plainview Hospital). She was a long time member of the Northport Chorale. She described herself as "a full-time poet and a part-time human being". She participated in the Long Island Poetry Collective Peer Workshop and, as Grace Darling, in Island Songwriters' Showcase. (Songs co-written with Turtlehead: Wandering Days and When We Dance)

When the Paris Cafe in Huntington went out of business, she hosted the remaining scheduled featured readers in her home under the name Fairscape [anagram]. She helped George Wallace with the Poetry Barn for a couple of years and booked the musicians. She helped with Sundays at Seven at the Northport Historical Society, where she hosted Guitar Goddesses and organized the Real and/or Surreal immediate magazine assembly. She also organized a series of readings and workshops at the Northport Library.
She had poems published, as Grace Darling, in American Atheist, Aphrodite Gone Berserk, The Aurorean, Black Cross, Lucid Moon, Mediphors, North Shore Women's Newspaper, Poetalk, and Poetyr.
Jean died of cervical cancer on May 31, 2007. Don't delay your checkups because you're taking care of other people.
More about her life can be seen on
http://homecarevent.blogspot.com/.
Some of her poems can be seen on these blogs:
fairsCaPe, Evil Influences, and Poerotica.

From Jean's introduction to her reading at Peacesmiths Coffee House:

Jean Schmidt is a poet who believes there is a poet within each of us.
She is cursed with nearly unlimited patience and the ability to see problems from more than one point of view.
This makes it difficult for her to identify herself with any
specific isms or ists.
It also makes her dizzy at times.
Occasionally she is brave enough to write.
Sometimes she is bold enough to read.

above water

my ideas
are flat rocks
which I skip
across the sea
of your mind
as if your attention
alone is what is needed
to keep them visible

a lack of interest
on your part
is all that is necessary
for them to sink
forgotten

Essential

I am a virtual reality

—my eyes the colour
of storm clouds
against a clear blue
Autumn sky

my hair —  long  —  pale
begs stylists
for a good cut
—grain ready for harvest

as my time here
is to be short
and my life
insignificant
I lay  very small claim
to this very large planet

already
my atoms
scatter back
to the universe
outside my skin

when I shed
this crusty membrane
I will rejoin
all that I was

all that ever was

Poets in Port, Friday, May 30, 2008

2007-11-26T14:34:00.001-05:00

Poets in Port will feature Thomas Brinson at 7:30 pm on Friday, May 30, 2008 at Caffé Portofino, 249 Main St., Northport, opposite the theatre. There will also be an Open Reading — the audience is encouraged to bring their poems and participate. For more information, contact Steven Schmidt.

brief poetical vitae of thomas brinson

who has been writing poetry for the past 40 or so years as self-meditation against cynicism and nihilism, despair and abject hopelessness . . .

who enjoys reading his stuff at open mikes all over the island, because he gets to pretend again he is the actor he chose not to become 35 years ago, when he first moved to New York . . .

who has been published in several small magazines online and in real life, but who is mostly too lazy to go through the submittal/rejection-slip-notification game . . .

and who presently lives in a studio apartment in Long Beach with a splendid ocean view, where after a five year sojourn in Tucson and Sri Lanka he is most privileged to again be the ardent New York Peace Activist that he has been since returning home from duty in the American War in Vietnam, landing in Washington, DC’s National ("it’ll never be ray gun for me") Airport a couple of hours after Martin Luther King was assassinated on April 4th, 1968.

Thomas can be seen reading at Poetry VLog

sea smell
sweetly pungent

early light
soft, diffuse

surfers dance
white-flecked waves

was it as gloriously quiet
and stately serene that morning
in early morning sealight 
sixty-two years ago yesterday
in arbitrarily doomed
Hiroshima ?

                     August 7, 2007
                     Long Beach, NY

Poets in Port, April 25, 2008

2007-11-26T14:32:00.000-05:00

Poets in Port will feature Gladys Henderson at 7:30 pm on Friday, April 25, 2008 at Caffé Portofino, 249 Main St., Northport, opposite the theatre. There will also be an Open Reading — the audience is encouraged to bring their poems and participate. For more information, contact Steven Schmidt.

Gladys Henderson runs poetry workshops for Live Poets, based in Islip and the Poets Circle at the Graphic Eye Art Gallery in Port Washington and co-hosts a poetry reading venue at the Cool Beanz coffee house in Saint James, New York.

An award winning poet, in 2004 she was awarded first prize in the Live Poets, Mid-Island Y JCC, and Ronkonkoma Productions poetry competitions. In 2005 she won first place in the Farmingdale Poetry Group and Performance Poetry contests. For the year 2006, she received first place in the Ronkonkoma Productions competition and was a finalist for the Paumanok Poetry Award 2006.

Gladys Henderson’s poems have been published in: For Loving Precious Beast, Kaleidoscope, Long Island Dreams, Long Island Sounds, Lyrismos, Midwestern University Quarterly, Oberon, Performance Poets Anthologies, Robert Frost Participant Anthologies and The Light of City and Sea. In addition for fall 2007, her poems were selected to appear in Songs of Seasoned Women, PAUMANOK: Poetry and Pictures of Long Island, and Primal Sanities. Her chapbook, Eclipse of Heaven, has been selected for publication by Finishing Line Press, Georgetown, Kentucky and will be released in April 2008. It can be ordered here

She can be seen reading at Poetry VLog.

A Nine Year Old Prepares Dinner

You have been alone,
in the kitchen below the lights
kept dim, and sliced your finger
cutting raw onions for dinner
while they argued
and wrangled and never
saw that finger, although
you showed it to them twice —
the cut so deep you couldn’t
stop its bleeding, found
scrap sheets in the bottom
of the closet, ripped them
with your mouth and free hand,
like a soldier in a war movie,
and wrapped the wound,
until the top grew white
as though nothing had happened —
and went back to cooking
the dinner, the one you would
eat in silence, your finger throbbing
on the table, their leftover words
breaking  the quiet, your blood
seeping through the bandage,
while your father, the first aider,
mumbled under his sherried lips.
You have been alone, invisible,
danced for them a thousand
times. In the morning the blood
flow stopped and your mother
asked to take a glance.  It was a gash
that looked mean, reeked of onions.
She recoiled, turned away and went
on outside to feed the quail.

Poets in Port, March 28, 2008

2007-11-26T14:29:00.000-05:00

Poets in Port will feature Michelle Whittaker & Kempton Van Hoff at 7:30 pm on Friday, March 28, 2008 at Caffé Portofino, 249 Main St., Northport, opposite the theatre. There will also be an Open Reading — the audience is encouraged to bring their poems and participate. For more information, contact Steven Schmidt.

Michelle Whittaker creates poetry on a few sorted highways, and at her computer early mornings while eating clementines. Her poetry, she says, is "old school," listing Octavio Paz, Pablo Neruda, Ai, Lucille Clifton, Mary Oliver and Sharon Olds as influences. Co-founder of the Northport Opera Company, she holds a Bachelor of Music in composition and piano from SUNY Fredonia. She was a scholarship winner for her collection of poems Building a Backbone. She currently enjoys reading at various Long Island venues, and teaching music.

LEGACY

what was left was
advice for me
to have two children
to keep around the house
like two Bibles
in case one goes missing
and what was left were six
and a set of pearls
and cherry bushes
broken faces
into a late moment of August
stamping a tongue bitter
as if slipping off a pointed chin
of an air mail envelope
to someone thought forgotten
in a Freeport casket,
behind wailers,
on a Sunday walk
dropping a garden of stone
into a coffin now dented
as how a hunter bows
and finalizes a deer
from its lost grave

Kempton Boone Van Hoff is a member of the human race who earned a BFA in Writing from Green Mountain College in 2002. Since then, he's brought his interdisciplinary approach to life to various fields and cities, though he'd always rather be in, on or near the ocean. He is currently a teacher, writing assistant and student at C.W. Post, among other things, which you may come to know through conversation.

Legacy (beginnings [part 1: mathematics of religion])

Smoke and mist above crests craning
These the work of fisherman thorn

Texture-coat held close with leather
Remember life like old wooden

Pachyderm peers his one challenge
What human will you leave behind

Within hulls and gardens well kept
Secret son weaves crimson carpet

Kings craft paths as only kings can
Son of one son threading daughters

Needle learners through these thought seas
Dropping rain nimbly through the eye

And eye of one god was alive
Vanishing in a trail of smoke

Like philosophy on the breeze
With the equation that must fail.

Golden Spiral Bamboo Sculpture

2007-11-25T00:20:00.002-05:00

This sculpture by Thea Lanzisero Monier-Williams is back up in Heckscher Park in Huntington. For pictures, see http://www.thealanzisero.com/GoldenSpiral.html

Golden Spiral

One-way spiral dance
not to death
but to a beginning:
the first day and a half
of this cosmos--what
day meant before any sun, turn
before any nebula.
A month began before the moon
in original glade, simple and lush
screened from infinity,
where children forget.

Twist from strong point
down to greedy open gate--
and we must extend, think bamboo
continued sharper and smaller
to engulf park and slice fences.
Orbit spiral's domain--
Night partitions rigged stakes;
shadows on them change
as if to hide steps of a plan
one dare not picture whole.

Full moonlight shows them battered slack,
on grid renewed in orange.
Day's meaning follows woven ropes, gradual and jumping,
to knots and spurs, lives in harmless cracks and
breaks, in precise haphazard
slanting together.

Watson retires

2007-10-25T13:24:00.000-04:00

Why did James Watson need to retire?
Because he got well known facts exactly backwards:
The problem with the human race is not that we have subgroups that are too different from each other, but that overall, we have too little genetic diversity.
Most of our genetic diversity is in Africa, so making generalizations about Africans vs. others does not make sense.
He does, or at least used to, like controversy, so making the obvious point that we need to help all ethnic groups in Africa to thrive, in order to preserve our diversity (which may be vital if we mess up the environment badly enough) didn't appeal to him.
It's too bad that his very successful career as an administrator and fundraiser at Cold Spring Harbor had to end this way.

Watson's Letter
Political dissection of his remarks

Poets in Port, February 29, 2008

2007-10-23T02:02:00.006-04:00

Poets in Port will feature J R Turek at 7:30 pm on Friday, February 29, 2008 at Caffé Portofino, 249 Main St., Northport, opposite the theatre. There will also be an Open Reading — the audience is encouraged to bring their poems and participate. For more information, contact Steven Schmidt.

J R (Judy) Turek

is in her 10^th year as Moderator of the Farmingdale Creative Writing Group
winner of the Conklin Prize for Poetry, awarded on February 15, 2008
author of They Come And They Go
a member of Maxwell Wheat’s Nassau County Poet Laureate Committee
strives to write a poem a day and mostly succeeds
in 2007, edited several poetry anthologies

J R has been published in:

Grassroot Reflections, Volumes 3 through 6
primal sanities!
Free-Wheeling: Towe Auto Museum Poetry Collection
Soul Fountain
Friends of Hempstead Plains 2007 Poetry Anthology
The Meadowlark
Long Island Sounds: 2007 and 2006
Long Island Quarterly
For Loving Precious Beast
The Long Islander
the East Meadow Herald
Performance Poets Association Literary Reviews #8 through 11
Long Island Expressions Autism Awareness
2001: A Long Island Odyssey
the Farmingdale Poetry Chapbook

Her poetry will appear in:
Assbestos
and PAUMANOK: Poetry and Pictures of Long Island.

She is a born and bred Long Islander who resides in East Meadow with her soul-mate husband, her dogs, and her extraordinarily extensive shoe collection.

If you see the license plate MSJEVUS, follow her; chances are, she’s going to a poetry event.

Judy's poems can be read online at
Poetry Bay and pages 2 and 6 of this LI Writers' guild newsletter.
A video of J.R. reading can be seen at Poetry VLog.

Winner of CONKLIN PRIZE FOR POETRY,
Awarded February 15, 2008

1964

She came with a name I can’t remember
don’t know why I called her  Sylvia
an extension of my right hand
everywhere I went
her hard plastic  body, arms and legs jointed
her molded head with sandy
permed curls  usually tangled

as was mine
my mother would brush our hair stroke for stroke
Sylvia’s  sleepy eyes closing as our heads nestled for a nap
her closed mouth a defiant  pout refusing lunch or cookies
or milk colored with food dye
the ritual of  our diaper and dress changes
tiny apparel in powdered laundry  loads.

Sylvia secreted my wishes, agreed with me
my brother was a  jerk, mom could be stern
and dad was mostly perfect
her leg broke when my  brother roughed it from her body
my father surgeoned her back to me, her lace  collar
collected my tears, transformed them into laughter
my brother  pecked her cheek

in contrition and we hugged away the years
as Sylvia  sat on my bed, then a book shelf
watching as I struggled through math  homework
then relegated to a corner of my closet
where she kept company  with tap shoes
and rollerskates, tennis racket and jump rope
and I left  her for a circle of new friends.

I can still feel her in my arms
the  raised line of her seamed body
the crease on her temple where her head  dented
carried upside down up and down porch steps
in the formative years  of our togetherness.
Sylvia, wishing I could pull you from the closet
I  have so many secrets to tell you.

~ J R Turek September 13, 2007

***

Long Island Expressway

A honeysuckle summer day starts with a motorcycle
see-sawing lane to lane  in belly-crawling traffic,
hopscotches to follow the white dotted line  between vehicles,
horns blare, he thumb-nose laughs,  leaves
      a cough of exhaust as he rumbles  off.
In his wake, a diesel-driven 10-wheeler swings in
to cut me off, to  slide in like a ninth inning runner
to home plate; cinder pellets rain down  on my hood,
I swerve left/right in a roadway game of dodgeball
      trying to avoid rocks strewn by a  bully in the sandbox.
Siren screams, red/white flashing lights hula-hoop
from the monkeybar above the car, the trooper
musical chairs in to join  our ringolevio delay.
A plateless rusted hunk-of-junk snails in the left  lane,
      driver tries to peer through the  steering wheel
while cars merry-go-round him, cop tags him
to take to the  hokey-pokey; we spread wings and fly by.
Olly olly oxen free; it’s  Monday
we’re late again
      stuck on the  playground of the LIE.

~ J R Turek September 19, 2007

Poets in Port, January 25, 2008

2007-10-23T02:00:00.000-04:00

Poets in Port will feature JoAnn Proscia at 7:30 pm on Friday, January 25, 2008 at Caffé Portofino, 249 Main St., Northport, opposite the theatre. There will also be an Open Reading — the audience is encouraged to bring their poems and participate. For more information, contact Steven Schmidt.

JoAnn Proscia JoAnn Proscia studies Creative Writing at Suffolk Community College. She is a member of LIPC Peer Workshop at Huntington Public Library and the Northport Chorale. She lives in Northport.

Svegliati (Wake Up)


1
I speak Italian to no one in particular
Amore, avventura, affetto
Are words I like to use
Svegliati, I like to say.

2
Two women in a row
Read poems about dead brothers
And I realize I have never written one for you, caro fratellino.

Lying on the hard, cold table waiting to take my stress test
Paura di morire that something might be wrong
I heard your laugh
You know, the one that mocks and chides me for being a “scaredy cat”

And at the beach, I looked up and there we were children again
Digging for clams and catching killies
Again I hear your laugh
All ticklish and giggly this time
As the young woman we both loved plays with us
And lifts you up over the waves and onto her shoulders.

3
Io sono proprio come mia nonna
I live in the same apartment as my grandmother did
88-12 Liberty Avenue, Ozone Park
Right near the el
You could see it from her window
Everything rattled.
I have the same lace curtains
Listen to the opera on her radio and cry
Select fruits and vegetables from the stand
With her careful hands
Pray to Saint Anthony when something’s lost
Speak Italian to my friends.

Poets In Port, November 30, 2007

2007-10-23T01:59:00.000-04:00

Poets in Port will feature Kathaleen Donnelly at 7:30 pm on Friday, November 30, 2007 at Caffé Portofino, 249 Main St., Northport, opposite the theatre. There will also be an Open Reading — the audience is encouraged to bring their poems and participate. For more information, contact Steven Schmidt.

Kathaleen Donnelly, graduate of St.Vincent’s School of Nursing, currently a Nurse Practitioner in Cardiology at Stony Brook University Hospital. Earned a M.A. in Philosophy while working 12 years in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit through the 1990’s. Single mother, son Keith. Opened and ran Whispering Wonders Child Care Center in Port Jefferson Village for 12 years. A member of the Sweetbriar Photography Club, and new poet with published/awarded poems:

‘Whistles’—10^th Anniversary Issue of Literary Review, A Publication of Performance Poets Association, and ‘Solitude’ in the 11^th issue.
‘Claire’s House’—Long Island Quarterly. (2006)
‘August Days’—Second Place, Princess Ronkonkoma 4^th Annual Poetry Contest (2006) and ‘First Swim of the Season’—Honorable Mention, humor category.
‘Aging Remedy’—Songs of Seasoned Women, QUADRASOUL, INC. (2007)
‘Lost in Autumn’, ‘The Wind Calls’ and ‘Impossible’—2007 L.I. Sounds Anthology.

Evening on the Beach

A small blond boy
stands at the shoreline
hurling flat rocks into the water,
surprised each time
they don’t skim the surface;
tries again,
and again.

Seagulls glide along the water’s skin,
fly towards me as I float atop,
not edible,
fly on.

On the beach, they avoid
airborne rocks;
sense danger.
How do their bird brains know?

Exposed green haired rocks
announce low tide;
I swim three feet
above a sandy floor.

The sun peaks between clouds.
Sunrays strike the sea,
leave a shimmering trail.
I could follow it,
circumvent the globe,
if land mass didn’t block the way.

My small friend leaves me,
I am alone on a beach on Long Island.
Where is everyone
on a hot mid August eve?

No matter.  I am with the shimmering sea.

Poets in Port, October 26, 2007

2007-10-23T01:56:00.000-04:00

Poets in Port featured Peter Dugan at 7:30 pm on Friday, October 26, 2007 at Caffé Portofino, 249 Main St., Northport, opposite the theatre. There was also an Open Reading.

Peter V. Dugan is a resident of East Rockaway, a graduate of The New School in New York City , a member of the Rockville Centre Poets and listed in Poets and Writers. Wysteria Ltd. published his first book length collection titled Medusa’s Overbite in 2001. He has taught poetry workshops and classes on form and style. Mr. Dugan has won local and national awards for his poetry. Some notables are an Honorable Mention by The American Academy of Poets, a 2^nd place for Farmingdale State College Raynor Wallace poetry contest, 2^nd place in the Barnes and Noble Poetry awards and a 2^nd place for the Dowling College Poetry Slam. His pieces have been published individually in recent years in Aitia, Long Island Sounds Anthology 2007, Soul Fountain, Perpetual Toxins, Good Liar, The Poet’s Art, The Five Town Forum, The Nassau Herald,the e-magazines Good Liar and Road Poet. He has also been published every year from 1997-2007 in the Long Island PPA Literary Review. He can be seen on Poetry Vlog.

My Reason

I write for those who go outside the box
and climb over the fence defying the signs,
Danger Keep Out, No Trespassing.
They are the ones who dance along
the precipice, doing pirouettes on the edge
of the abyss between the real and the ideal.
And as others have tried to bridge that chasm
with a structure made of old worm holed planks,
myth and magic tied with twine, a string
of lies, producing only an unfinished
catwalk that juts out like a diving board.

I write for those who will not take that leap
of faith, but use mortar, stone, and steel
in the here and now to span that gulf.
I write for those who live outside the lines
drawn by society, the biker, the hipster
and the burn out, those who don’t want
to live the life of the nine to five crowd,
wear stuffed shirts, a suit and tie, and be
a contestant in the rat race, running through
the maze looking for a slice of the American
Dream, that pie in the sky, that piece of cheese,
to be number one, the big cheese, a king,
an emperor, because they see the emperor
has no clothes and the cheese is Swiss
and full of holes. They see the Polly-O
String is dangling. I write for them.

I write for the musician, the artist, and the poet,
those who don’t want to go with the flow
of music. They seem to be tuned out or out
of tune but they follow a different beat.
They twist and shout, but they don’t dance
when others call the tune, or agree with
the choreography, it’s all hokey-pokey;
a big hustle to join the line and do the glide.
Call them wallflowers, I write for them.
I write for the outlaw, the outcast and the
outlandish. But they are not out of touch.
They are what they are and I am what I am.
I am a poet. I am on the outside looking in.

I write for myself.

Peter Dugan

Poets in Port, December 28, 2007

2007-10-23T00:42:00.000-04:00

Poets in Port will feature Phil Reinstein reading poems by Marie Emmons Wayne Reinstein 7:30 pm on Friday, December 28, 2007 at Caffé Portofino, 249 Main St., Northport, opposite the theatre. There will also be an Open Reading — the audience is encouraged to bring their poems and participate. For more information, contact Steven Schmidt.

Marie Emmons Wayne Reinstein (3/13/1952-5/22/2007) wrote poetry under the name of Marie Emmons.

In the words of Phil Reinstein:

Marie wrote her "old poems" between 1968 and 1974. She stopped writing poetry until 2001, as she devoted herself to her family, her friends, and her nursing work, mostly in the ICU. We met in October 2001 and soon found ourselves in love with a Capital "L". It was a second chance for both of us and we married on August 24, 2004. We had the 5 BEST years of our lives. When Marie became ill last Spring 2007, the love and compassion among her family and friends... her "pit crew"...thank you all, from Marie and from me. I am including a poem that was found posthumously. It was written on a blue 3" by 5" notepad. Titled "Four Days in Montauk 10/15/2001--10/19/2001". I first met Marie 10/20/01.

More of her poetry is available at MarieReinstein.com

Four Days in Montauk 10/15/01--10/19/01

Driving in anticipation
with doubtful thoughts and palpitations
on contemplating 4 days alone in
solitude

Determined to not be lonely
to find enough with just me
to stave off fears or to meet them head on
I will examine what has meaning here in this life of mine,
And broadening me to find the world there

I wrap a pink blanket 'round my shoulders and my legs
the wind is off the ocean

From the deck I see the whitecaps forming
on the expanse of Atlantic

Though the sun is shining and warm
the wind's speed and its audacity cuts us both—
Atlantic and me

I form whitecaps too in my life—yet
the depth of me is unchallenged as
Atlantic is too

Poets In Port

2007-10-23T00:30:00.052-04:00

Northport Arts Coalition presents a series of poetry readings on the fourth Friday of every month at 7:30 at Caffé Portofino, 249 Main St., Northport, opposite the theater.

Bring your poems and participate in the Open Reading. Music is also welcome.
For more information, contact Steven Schmidt.

Featured Poets:

May 27, 2011	Anna di Bella
June 24, 2011	Jeanette Klimszewski
July 22, 2011	To Be Announced
August 26, 2011	To Be Announced
September 23, 2011	Muriel Weinstein
October 28, 2011	Max Wheat

Past Readings
April 22, 2011	Barbara Southard & Linda Benninghoff
March 25, 2011	Kempton Boone van Hoff
February 25, 2011	Andy Burke
January 28, 2011	Susan Pilewski & Barbara Reiher-Meiers
November 26, 2010	Open Reading, including favorite poems by others.
September 24, 2010	Tara Propper
August 27, 2010	Christine Z.
July 23, 2010	Joli Ienuso
June 25, 2010	Mary Jane Tenerelli
May 28, 2010	Dorothy Friedman
April 23, 2010	Cliff Bleidner
March 26, 2010	George Held
January 22, 2010	Kelly Powell
November 27, 2009	Open Reading
October 30, 2009	John Williams
Sep 25, 2009	Tammy Nuzzo-Morgan
August 28, 2009	Phil Asaph
July 31, 2009	Jo Barry & Jim Friel
June 26, 2009	C. E. Hegarty
May 29, 2009	Gloria g. Murray
April 24, 2009	Lorraine Conlin
March 27, 2009	Doug Swezey
February 27, 2009	Destina Graf
January 30, 2009	Andrea Rowen
December 26, 2008	Bonnie J. Cassidy
November 28, 2008	Barbara Reiher-Meyers
October 31, 2008	Ginger Williams and Beverly
September 26, 2008	Doug Swezey, Kate Kelly, and Tammy Nuzzo-Morgan reading poems by Jean Schmidt aka Grace Darling aka fairsCaPe
August 22, 2008	Tony Policano
July 25, 2008	Jack Barrett Wohl
June 27, 2008	Jay Jii
May 30, 2008	Thomas Brinson
April 25, 2008	Gladys Henderson
March 28, 2008	Michelle Whittaker & Kempton Van Hoff
February 29, 2008	J.R. Turek
January 25, 2008	JoAnn Proscia
December 28, 2007	Phil Reinstein performing poems by Marie Emmons Wayne Reinstein
November 30, 2007	Kathaleen Donnelly
October 26, 2007	Peter Dugan
September 28, 2007	Edgar Carlson
August 24, 2007	Mankh
June 22, 2007	Bart Allen
May 25, 2007	Mary Jane Tenerelli
March 23, 2007	Steven Post
February 23, 2007	Jessica Lang
January 26, 2007	Richard Bronson
December 22, 2006	Greg Moglia
November 24, 2006	Barbara Hoffman
October 14, 2006	Kate Dellis Stover
September 22, 2006	Kate Kelly
August 25, 2006	Jessica Lang
July 28, 2006	Annabelle Moseley
May 26, 2006	Beverly Smith
April 28, 2006	Duane Esposito
March 24, 2006	Binnie Pasquier
October 28, 2005	Phil Sparacino
August 25, 2005	Open mic
April 29, 2005	Poetreeman (aka John Kicker) and music by Sun, Moon and Stars
January 27, 2005	George Wallace and music by Cathy Kreger

Poetry Readings in Northport

2007-10-21T22:34:00.000-04:00

I am hosting Poets in Port, a monthly series of readings, starting this Friday.

More exciting than the iPhone

2007-09-24T10:30:00.000-04:00

XO laptops will be available!
Rugged and energy efficient.
Quiet! -- No fan.
Largest wireless range.
$400 dollars to get one and give one - so it's also a status symbol.
Seems to have a superior user interface
I'll probably add more to this post when the excitement goes down.
One Laptop Per Child
Slashdot
NY Times: Buy a Laptop for a Child, Get Another Laptop Free

Eugenics

2007-08-21T02:04:00.000-04:00

What: People I like should have a lot of children. People I don't like should have none.
Why: To make life more pleasant for people like me in the future.
How: That's the problem.

Well, one couple I like just had a child and two more are expecting soon.

Shonen Knife

2007-07-29T00:44:00.000-04:00

Here is the Shonen Knife shirt mentioned in these comments. It is probably not an authorized shirt, but they signed it anyway. The picture of Michie is oddly unflattering. Do I wear it with pride? Yes and no. While waiting for it to be signed, I missed what was probably the last performance of Prunella at CBGB's. My main feeling about wearing it is wondering how many washings before the signatures disappear.
I first became interested in Shonen Knife as a big fan of Babes in Toyland. Asked Kat Bjelland about everything they recorded (before they went on at Wetlands) (almost whining "there's got to be more than Spanking Machine") she mentioned they were on the Shonen Knife tribute. Well, yes, but not on the CD or 1 LP album, but only the 2 LP album (1 pink, 1 white, soft looking). They covered "Watching Girl". As a bonus, this one has the Lunachicks doing "Antonio Baka Guy" and some other cool stuff, for example by the Angels of Epistemology (on which their singing was OK. After years with Fairscape, I can't tolerate the bad singing on their other stuff, in spite of the good songwriting, etc.).
So then I got some of the Knife's own stuff. Back then the sweetish vocals & slightly punkish instrumentals was refreshing. (No more. All genres are clearly fated to be mixed--¿what was that popular song 10 years ago with disco-style rhythm section, heavy metal guitar part, and punk vocals plus rapping?) You have to admire the courage, or whatever it is, of Japanese people learning English who write and sing "Blast, blast, parallel woman, Destroy, destroy, parallel woman" in the middle of a song in their own language--I like the part about office automation leading to a mass suicide.
"Twist Barbie" is fun. "Dali's Sunflower" is great purely as music. "Insect Collector" is worthwhile just for the ending.
Other favorites: "Gomi Day", "Flying Jelly Attack", "Public Bath", "Lazybones", "Cannibal Papaya" (although it's a bit condescending to third world farmers).

Anyway, I haven't worn the shirt yet this year. Maybe the September open reading at BJ Spoke, or some multiple event day.

Homeostasis

2007-07-07T00:52:00.000-04:00

after Dan Giancola's "The Watchman"

From hurricane to luminous stand-still,

emigrant-to-all jumps isobars,

finds a halcyon of pleasure beyond pleasure,

hollow axis firm and supple.

Falling away from death

makes mind a roller-coaster.

Charmed screams and favorite car soften;

thrill, then route, flatten,

setting mind outside, buoy

tattooed on a swelling cosmic breast.

Long Island Events - my choices for a few weeks

2007-07-06T17:29:00.000-04:00

July

06 Fri 7:30pm Chamber Music+Opera Night. St Paul's Methodist Church, Main St, Northport
07 Sat 8:30pm Tabou Combo Heckscher Park, Huntington
08 Sun 12-5pm NAC Sundays in the Park, Northport-Park at the end of Main St.
09 Mon 7pm Poetry at Cool Beanz, St James. 25a just East of Lake
12 Thu 3-5pm, 6-8pm Assembly & Opening reception of sculpture by Thea Lanzisero. Heckscher Park, Huntington
12 Thu 8pm Meridian Anthology Poetry Reading, Book Revue, Huntington. Hosted by Marci Geller.
13 Fri 8pm `Poets Aloud' BJ Spoke Gallery, 299 Main St., Huntington
14 Sat 5:30-8pm Lake Ronkonkoma Poets at Walt Whitman Birthplace
14 Sat 8pm Jim Frazzitta, Nylon & Steel + Open, @ St Lawrence of Canterbury Church, 655 Old Country Rd, Dix Hills.
18 Wed 7pm NAC Encore, Northport Library, Laurel Ave & Scudder Ave.
19 Thu 7pm LI Poetry Collective workshop, Huntington Library
20 Fri 8pm Poetry at Conklin Barn, New York Ave just South of High St, Huntington
21 Sat 7pm North Sea Poetry Scene at Walt Whitman Birthplace
25 Wed 6pm Hamlet at Caumsett Park
26 Thu 5:30pm Exhibit Opening with pianist-Huntington Arts Council, Main St.
26 Thu 7pm LI Poetry Collective workshop, Huntington Library
27 Fri 8:30pm Sol y Sombra Spanish Dance. Heckscher Park, Huntington
31 Tue 7:30pm Brave Combo. Heckscher Park, Huntington

August

01 Wed 7-8:30pm poetry: Susan Pilewski+open Smithtown Library 111 & 25A
02 Thu 7pm LI Poetry Collective workshop, Huntington Library
03 Fri 7:30pm Chamber Music+Opera Night. St Paul's Methodist Church, Main St, Northport. Starts promptly--arrive early!
10 Fri 8pm `Poets Aloud' BJ Spoke Gallery, 299 Main St., Huntington
11 Sat 10am-10pm Paumanake Powwow, Tanner Park, Copiague
12 Sun 10am-5pm Paumanake Powwow, Tanner Park, Copiague
12 Sun 2pm Toby Walker at Bayard Cutting Arboretum, Oakdale
12 Sun 5pm Folk Music Society of Huntington, Hecksher Park, Huntington
13 Mon 7pm Poetry at Cool Beanz, St James. 25a just East of Lake
14 Tue 7pm Andean & Argentinian Music, Heckscher Park, Huntington
16 Thu 7pm LI Poetry Collective workshop, Huntington Library

Titration of Mithra and Eleggua

2007-06-21T23:57:00.000-04:00

Opposite of bull's eye,
wild skittish heaven,
bolts from sight purer than rainbows.
Connate odium rips turf.
Vinegar plots
...quiet...
measurement of lye.
Wounds balance mouths.
Meristem, urge, and permit
shine and settle plaster
((old colors)).
Silt of
ram's urine dayglass
gels wasted time.
Crowned bobcats gnaw through chrome shanks,
no marrow under pennies.

mod_rewrite

2006-05-07T00:09:00.000-04:00

The April issue of Sys Admin has a nice article ("Rock your Wiki") on using mod_rewrite. Such articles are part of the reason that I subscribe, even though I'm a programmer, not a sysadmin.

The first 2 or 3 times I tried to use mod_rewrite were failures. I wasn't even sure whether it was possible to do what I wanted with it. Eventually the necessity of adding RewriteCond's in order to set matching variables %1, %2, etc., not to make the rewrite conditional, became apparent.

Anyway, this article uses RewriteMap programs for their side effects. Probably a 'straightforward' mod_perl approach which added a handler to do the side-effect stuff and then DECLINED would be more obfuscated and less stable.
Also ... use [final] for efficiency.