Readings At Poetry Project

Monday, February 2nd at 8 PM

Holly Melgard and Morgan Parker reading from their works 

Poetry Project
131 East 10th Street
New York, NY 10003
(212) 674-0910
info@poetryproject.org

Words Of Wisdom

Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance.


~Carl Sandburg, poet (1878-1967)

Dance

DANCE:Access
Raja Feather Kelly& Tzveta Cassabova
January29-31 @ 8PM

This is a collaboration of four distinct works consisting of two solos and two duets.

Dance Space Project
131 East 10th Street
New York, NY 10003
Phone: (212) 674-8112
Fax: 9212) 529-2318
Tickets: (866) 511-4111

Email: info@dancespaceproject.org 

Still Choosing

I'm still picking out what books to read this year. Add to the books that I want to purchase and I have quite a conundrum of choices. One of the books that I will read is the Constitution of the Unites States. I read this every year and now with all that's happening on the political landscape, it's important to know what our rights are.

Zora Neale Hurston

Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960) was a folklorist, author, and anthropologist. Her most famous book is the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. Ms. Hurston was more conservative than her counterparts such as Langston Hughes.

She was criticized for her use of the African American dialect in her novels. Decades earlier, Paul Laurence Dunbar, was criticized for the same thing. To me people DID talk that way so why shouldn't it be talked about. Ms. Hurston was criticsed for her conservative beliefs. Unlike her counterparts she opposed the New Deal, Brown vs. Board of Education ruling,  and communism. She supported  the self-help ideas of Booker T. Washington and foreign policy non-intervention. 

Her books and writings are not reviewed much but I believe that they are worth going over again. Ms. Hurston in my mind is an underrated writer.

Words Of Wisdom

The crown of literature is poetry.


~W. Somerset Maugham, British Playwright (1874-1965)

Brain Too Fast For Hand To Write

I have a lot of stories and commentaries to write about. The trouble comes when I don't know which one to write first. Too many ideas buzz in my head which sometimes results in me not doing anything. I've been writing a chapbook for a couple of years and am still writing it. 

My problem comes because I think much faster than I write. I have a ton of notebooks lying here. I have ideas but need to focus on them AND complete them. This has been a lifetime battle for me. When I complete my projects, I feel good about it. I'm sure a lot of writers have gone through the same thing I do. It does get frustrating because I could be much further along in my writing.

Right now I'm creating an action plan as to how to complete my projects. Sure isn't easy because I need to slow down and focus. The writing part is easy; it's the organizing part that's difficult.  
 

Tapping in Greenwich Village

TAPPING INTO NEW YORK
K, host.  Combines tap dance and memoir to tell a story
TUESDAY, January 20th @ 6 pm 
Cornelia Street Cafe
29 Cornelia Street
New York, NY 10014
212-989-9319

SELMA

My wife and I watched this film today and it didn't disappoint. The events that happened conjured up the emotions I felt back then. The film focused on an event that was a turning point point in the direction of the civil rights movement. I recommend it for middle school and high school students as some may not know some the history of the civil rights movement.

Words Of Wisdom

Poetry is not an expression of the party line. It's that time of night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that's what the poet does.


~Allen Ginsberg, Poet (1926-1997)

Film Festival

New York Jewish Film Festival

January 14-29

Features world, US and New York film premieres

Go to filmlinc.com for information.

Fiction Reading

At The Inkwell:Fiction Night
January 14, 2015  7pm-9pm

Readings by Lori A. May, Suzanne Palmieri  and Kristen Fealy

Authors and Alcohol

A number of the writers and poets I have read and admired have also had alcohol/drugs as a companion. Women could give men a run for their money in the amount of alcohol they consumed. Prolific writers like Edna St. Vincent Millay, Jack Kerouac, Theodore Roethke, Dorothy Parker, Edgar Allan Poe, William Faulkner, Jean Stafford and Carson McCullers all were enslaved to drink. 

Some confessed that alcohol brought on their creative juices. Others drank to forget painful memories. Poet John Berryman was deeply affected by his father's suicide when he was twelve. Drink medicated that January day in 1972 when he threw himself off a bridge. Dorothy Parker, a screenwriter, critic and poet seems  to have many watering holes wherever she lived or visited. 

I often wonder what kind of work they would have written or produced if they hadn't been enslaved to drink drugs? Most of them had troubled and unhappy childhoods. The events that happened during those times shaped the way and the topics they wrote about. While all of them are gone, they left some great pieces of literature.

Words Of Wisdom

Discipline is what makes a writer. If writing is like lifting weights, then I'd look like Mr. Universe. Write every day. Give the Muse a chance to get to know you.

~Tony D'Souza

Goals

Every year at this time, I set goals for the year. Not only do I set them but chose a time frame as to when they will achieved.

It's important that the goals are realistic. Making them too difficult may bring discouragement when they are not met. There's no shame in scaling back once you find a goal unrealistic. You also don't want goals that are too easy. Goals need to challenge, to stretch our horizons. When one goal is achieved, set another one. 

It is important to focus and don't let other people's criticisms stop you from achieving your goals. I always say that no one else can live your life. When people have success it challenges them to seek greater goals. Happy 2015! 

More Photos from Poetry Marathon

Here are some more photos of folks who read at the New Year's Day Poetry Marathon.

Poetry Marathon

My wife and I attended a poetry marathon earlier this evening. Below are some of the readers.