NEW YEAR WISH

To writers, keep on writing
To poets, let your words heal, challenge, and stir change
To artists, keep creating
To dancers, let your personality flow
To actors, give performances people will remember
To filmmakers, create works that will create peace, love, and harmony
To all, teach, motivate, and express love. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

DON'T FORGET POETRY READING ON NEW YEAR'S DAY!

Remember to come to St. Mark's Church in the East Village for the annual poetry reading marathon. There will many poets and performers creating poetry in their own unique style. The will be food and books for sale also. The place is always packed for this event. It's a great way to start the new year.


ST. MARK'S CHURCH
131 EAST 10TH STREET
NEW YORK, NY 10003 

Writng and Reading Poetry

I have been writing much poetry over the past few days. I'm also reading some poetry including selected poems by Walt Whitman.

I am using prompts to begin and it has paid off. The number of  prompts is unlimited. I see now how any kind of prompts can be the seed to a piece of writing. I picked up from poetry books in the vestibule of a church the other day. I read several poems last night and was very impressed by the subjects and thoughts of the authors. I now remember using prompts when writing short stories.Guess I'm getting back to basics.

USING PROMPTS

Prompts are an excellent to begin crafting a piece of writing. Last year at church a group of us used prompts to create a performance about affordable housing."A Tales Of Two Cities"was performed at church, an open mic and at a community forum.

Prompts are cues in which words are used to lead to other words. Today, I wrote a poem using a article of clothing. Last night I wrote a poem about a subway station that I frequent. Prompts can a word, a sentence, a street scene,a question, and other forms. It's common among actors when prompts are used when a performer forgets his/her line(s). It's fun and can inspire us to write. Give it a try and see what happens. 

WORDS OF WISDOM

Poetry is like a bird, it ignores all frontiers.



~Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Russian Poet (1932-2017)

ARTS-NEED MORE

I do notice all the different venues that will be performing as the year draws to a close. Maybe its me but it seems that more was produced this year. I attended more events than usual. I have done some open mic and performances also. I try to expose myself to different venues because it gives me a different view of how each genre works. Classical music is so much different from rhythm and blues. Movies are so much different (IMO) from seeing a performance on Broadway.

As I anticipate more of the same in 2018, I would like to add how the arts are important to EVERYBODY! Creativity cannot to harnessed or contained. I would love to see more political and activist work like there was in the 1960s. It's great needed in these troubling times.

HOLIDAY WISHES

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

NEW STUFF

I have written some new poetry in recent days. Looked over some old short stories and perhaps a book is in order. The arts are more important now more than ever.  I've seen people blossom into butterflies through the arts.

I have taken up photography recently because pictures add something to the poetry I'm writing. As you can see I'm pretty busy. I already have some goals for 2018. It promises to an active year.

POETRY MARATHON

Ten days until the 44th annual poetry marathon at St. Mark's Church in-the Bowery.

MONDAY  1/1 @2 PM

ST. MARK'S CHURCH 
131 EAST 10TH STREET
NEW YORK, NY

WWW.POETRYPROJECT.ORG

WORDS OF WISDOM

Spoken word poetry is the art of performance poetry. I tell people it involves creating poetry that just doesn't want to sit on paper, that something about it demands that it be heard out loud or witnessed in person.



~Sarah Kay 

Creating My Own World

As a writer I can create whatever world I want to and what kind of character I want. I love the challenge of doing this. Every genre has this potential. I believe that horror may be the best at being able to do this. Science fiction is also a viable medium. 

INFLUENCES

Influences are reciprocal. They influence us who in turn influence others. I have a number of influences. Some of them are Edgar Allan Poe, Langston Hughes, Herman Melville, Sylvia Plath, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Rumi, Jack Kerouac, Rita Dove, Walt Whitman, Jim Morrison, Virginia Woolf, and Maya Angelou.  

HARLEM RENAISSANCE

I have been reading about the Harlem Renaissance the past couple of days. It was a literary movement from the 1910s through the mid 1930s which produced from of the greatest black writers of our time. It wasn't limited to writers. It featured artists, musicians, and performers.

What the Harlem Renaissance accomplished is that African Americans were creative and intelligent and not the brutes and primitive backward people much of society believed about blacks..

WORDS OF WISDOM

I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and there are as few as there are any other great artists. Teaching might be the greatest of the arts since the medium is human mind and spirit.



~John Steinbeck, Author (1902-1968)

Another Sylvia Plath Book

Yesterday at Barnes and Noble I found this book in the fiction and literature section. I didn't know (or had forgotten) that Sylvia Plath wrote short stories also. I read one (The Death Of Mr. Prescott) and enjoyed it. I'm considering purchasing this book.

Christmas Classic

Beginning today this Christmas classic will be shown until December 24th.


IFCCenter
323 6h Avenue
New York, NY
www.ifccenter.com

WORDS OF WISDOM

The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep.


~Robert Frost, Poet (1874-1963)  

POETRY MARATHON AT ST. MARK CHURCH IN-THE BOWERY

The annual New Year's Day Marathon Benefit Reading will be here before you know it. It's sponsored by the Poetry Project at St, Mark's in-the-Bowery on East 10th Street and 2nd Avenue in the East Village. I have attended for over a decade and enjoy the many varieties of poetry and the spoken word.

In the rear of the church books and food are for sale. I have chatted with other artists and enjoy listening to their thoughts on literature. Seems that more artists are coming to New York from all over the world. The event will take place on January 1st from 2 PM to 2AM. Tickets are sold at the door. Look forward to seeing you there.

POETRY PROJECT
@ ST.MARK'S IN-THE-BOWERY
131 EAST 10TH STREET
NEW YORK, NY 10003