First, we take Massachusetts, then we take Scotland. THEN Manhattan.

Posted by Jeff on Sep 26th, 2021 in News | 0 comments

Last month, I mentioned that I had a crazy whackload of online events coming up in October.
That has not changed. And I’ve started going to Zoom events again, but with hair grown on my head and face to cover the silly shingles blisters.

So the next Month of Jeff is going to go something like this:

1) First Friday Open Mic
I’m kicking off the month with a thirty-minute feature set at this series based in Swampscott, Massachusetts.

2) Like a Blot from the Blue
Only two days later, I get to be the headliner in this popular series based in Scotland, which attracts a lot of familiar faces in the international Zoom community.

3) Ad Lib’s Got Talent
Another one of these – a special Halloween edition.

4) Brownstone Poets
One of three featured readers at this long-running series in Brooklyn. This one requires pre-registration with a US$5 cover paid online.
(Fun fact – I’ve attended this series in real life… way back in 2011, I believe. I doubt they remember me.)

All of these events are also open mics, so bring something to share of your own. If you ain’t coming for me, come for your own exposure.

More, slightly bigger news coming later.
And now… ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Conway Twitty!

Happy Thanksoween.

What if Sean Connery were talking about a singles bar?

Posted by Jeff on Sep 5th, 2021 in News | 0 comments

The shingles isn’t healing as quickly as I’d hoped, so I’m still holed up at home and even limiting the Zoom events I’m attending these days. When I do attend, I keep the camera off. It still looks as if I have bad acne. It’s not worse than it was before, but it’s hard to tell if it’s getting better. The areas that were in extreme pain three weeks ago now get near-painfully itchy at times.

The worst part is that I’ve had to bow out of several IRL events with friends to which I’d been looking forward – just as life is slowly returning back to normal in Ontario.
I’m giving the shingles another two weeks to clear up, because I have three performance events scheduled by the end of September… and one of them is a live one:

1) Spoken Word in the Park
My first IRL gig in more than a year and a half, on the 21st. Apparently it’s in a park, way way out in the west end of Toronto. And there’s an open mic. Really, that’s all I know. Assuming it doesn’t rain, I’ll read and/or perform a set of all-new material, most of which has barely been heard by Canadian audiences, if at all.

2) Ad Lib’s Got Talent
Damon Lum’s informal monthly series is back on Zoom on the 24th.

3) Bill’s Back at the Globe
An international group of poets, including some I know via Zoom, will be reading from Act I of William Shakespeare’s Coriolanus on the 25th. You can watch it on Facebook Live.

But wait, there’s more!

October is going to be another big month, because I have no less than three (3) international Zoom poetry gigs lined up. (Four, if you count another Ad Lib night.) When features come, they come not single spies, but in trios.

Details for all of the above on the right sidebar, with relevant links to be updated when available.

Here’s a song I hadn’t heard in well over thirty years and have become inexplicably obsessed with lately:

Happy Labour Day, Charlie Brown.

Anthology 2. Or, two anthologies

Posted by Jeff on Aug 22nd, 2021 in News | 0 comments

Hi. Remember a few months ago, when I said that I was being published in a handful of literary anthologies this year?
Well, I wasn’t lying. I wouldn’t lie to you, you know. (Assuming anybody reads this and there’s a “you” there.)

And now, two more of these anthologies are out and available for sale.

This Tuesday night is the online launch party for Sinew: 10 Years of Poetry in the Brew. It even has a poster and everything.
(The theme of the anthology is “bodies”. Hence all the… bodies in the poster.)

This new book includes my silly prose poem “Kirschner’s Groovy Style”, along with works from many writers from around the world… including some whom I’ve met and gotten to know, virtually, through Zoom poetry events.

Click here to order a copy of Sinew.
You can also get it at Barnes & Noble and other sources. Yes, something I wrote is going to be sold in Barnes & Noble. Isn’t that sweet?

Details about the online launch, including a link, on the right sidebar.
I’ll be reading my piece… but with the camera off, unfortunately, due to illness. (Shingles.)

If you happen to be in the Nashville area, there’s also a live launch party on Saturday, at Portland Brew East. I won’t be there, not just because of the shingles, but because the commute looks a bit tough.
(Though I do have a feature in Nashville next February – and I’m really hoping it’ll be a live gig and everything. If travel is back to relative normal by then.)

Also out this month: Paper Teller Diorama – the annual anthology by Great Weather for Media in New York, which features my experimental poem “How to Make Money in Poetry”.
The press is planning a series of online readings from the anthology over the next several months, and I assume I’m going to be performing in one of them… but have no idea when yet.

Click here to order a copy of Paper Teller Diorama.

Have a good one. Don’t take any wooden igloos.

I’m all right, Jackanory

Posted by Jeff on Jun 20th, 2021 in News | 0 comments

Hi there.

Up for some poetry on a Saturday morning?
Think of it like the Saturday morning cartoons from your childhood.

This Saturday the 26th at 9:00 a.m. EST, I’m featuring on Zoom in Jackanory (based in Wakefield, England) along with my Nashville friend Christine Hall (host of Poetry in the Brew) and British poet Pauline Seawards. Hosted by Halima Mayat. There’s also an open mic, so bring something of your own. Link on the right sidebar.

That’s about it for now.

Now watch this.

Bye there.

Lucky we didn’t say anything about the Runcible Knife

Posted by Jeff on May 2nd, 2021 in News | 0 comments

It’s May. Two events coming up… and a bit more publication news.

First up: next Sunday, I’m doing another Zoom feature in Runcible Spoon, based in Leeds, England. This is my second Runcible gig in less than five months – they must like me or something.

The other feature will be my Australian Zoom buddy Skylar J. Wynter, who has been very busy over the last year. Her recent book Pieces of Humanity was included in gift bags for Academy Award nominees, which makes her, if not famous, at least famous-adjacent.
The night (afternoon here) will be hosted by American expat Kathleen Strafford, and there will be an open mic, so tune in and bring something of yours to read or perform. Another truly international poetry event.

Also, another Ad Lib night happening later in the month. I promote this monthly event as a gig, even though it’s really more of a glorified open-mic night these days… anyway, bring something to share for a supportive group.

More info and stuff on the side. If there’s no Zoom link yet, be patient.

*****

Also: the Italian arts website The Dreaming Machine recently published my poem “If It Happened Now”. Here’s the linky link.

I initially worried that this poem was going to offend and anger people. I was expecting reactions like, “How dare you suggest cancel culture might exist!” or “How dare you take a swipe at the #MeToo movement!” or “How dare you make fun of Saint Ronan Farrow! And his brave sister, God bless her!”
Instead, people seem to like the poem. And the few who don’t are more like, “Oh come on, you’re just trying too hard again, stupid. More of your dumb hacky stand-up clichés,” followed by bored yawns and snorts.

But that’s the weird thing about offence, isn’t it?
I have a long history of offending and angering people, with my spoken word and social-media posts, and ninety-nine percent of the time, it’s not on purpose. It’s when I think I’m going to offend people that nothing happens, or I get bored reactions like the one above. But then, people – sometimes even the same people – will completely freak out and tell me I’m single-handedly destroying society because of one throwaway line that I didn’t think about, that it never even occurred to me would be offensive. That’s what happened with “A Love Letter”, of course, and with a few other pieces. It’s a constant learning experience. You can never predict what will trigger people, or what won’t.

Anyway. Who cares? It’s just art.
Like this:

Good day.