Chicago Poetry Calendar

WHAT'S HOT AND WHAT'S NOT

*Ongoing until April 1, poems for Poetry Cram Volume 13 will be selected from the Contemporary American Poetry Prize entries, click here for details.

*Fri, Dec 16, 7:30 PM, Real Talk Live, featuring Lynne Procope, Chance tha Rapper, Scott Whitehair, and St. Moses the Black Santa, at Elastic Arts, 2830 N Milwaukee 2nd Floor, BYOB, $7, 18+

*Sat, Dec 17, 8;30 PM, support the open mic scene at the Bad News Bible Church with featured guest Stevie Edwards, West Side School for the Desperate, 3608 W. Wrightwood Ave, 18+, $5 suggested donation.

*Sat, Dec 17, 8 PM, 3rd Saturday Coffeehouse, Unity Temple in Oak Park, 875 Lake Street in Downtown Oak Park, presents and open mic for poets, musicians, and storytellers, with special guest John Hasbrouck & Matt Gandurski, $3-$5 donation.

*Sat, Dec 17, 3 PM, well the tacky promo poster for the show says "Don't Call Us Poets" and with that I'll simply have to agree. Two of the most egotistical people living in the city of Chicago will feature for this month's Café Mestizo (1738 W. 18th St.) event, but if you can put up with the same old shit from two of the trouble makers who managed to drum up last year's hysteria that scared everyone else away from the open mic scene so they can feature themselves over and over and over and yes over once again, the venue is otherwise a great space to perform your open mic poem.

*Sun, Dec 18, 1 to 4 PM, Celebration of Lee Groban's Life and Work, Packer Schopf Gallery, 942 W. Lake St., Chicago, IL 60607. Friends and family are encouraged to bring their stories about Lee, as well as artistic, written or musical tributes, and to dress in Lee’s style if you wish. If you would like to make a presentation during the event, please email dickolson@comcast.net and cc dgo@esoplaw.com to allocate time.

*Mon, Dec 19, 8 PM, one of the longest running open mics in Chicago, Mental Graffiti, continues it's rollicking good times at its new location, Cole's Bar, 2338 N Milwaukee Ave, with a slam and featured guest Kevin Kern, sign-up at 7:30, 21+

*Mon, Dec 19: The Waiting 4 The Bus "collective" is to the Chicago Poetry Scene what karaoke is to the Chicago Music Scene. If you perform, you'll probably get applauded regardless of the quality of your writing or performance; if you attend again and again it will become a social event where you can proudly wear the button of mediocrity that says "We Are ALL Chicago Poetry"; but no matter how many times you participate, the event is never going to magically transform into fine art--because, let's face it, when it comes to art, you either have it or you don't have it, and if you have it, you don't need to wear a button to prove it. and you have better places to share it than at a karaoke bar. After all, we AREN'T "all" Chicago Poetry, just like we aren't all Chicago Music. Like a karaoke bar getting a rare visit from an actual vocalist, once in a while someone who actually knows how to write is invited to read for W4TB. This time that someone is Jan Bottiglieri.

*Wed, Dec 21, 7:30 PM, put on an ugly Christmas sweater and come mingle with the Revolving Door Jingle & Mingle featuring Adam Jameson, 1825 S. Halsted Gallery

*Tue, Dec 27, 7:30 PM, Lylanne Musselman will take the TallGrass Writers Guild spotlight upstairs in the newly opened, right-hand side of The Bourgeois Pig, 738 West Fullerton, followed by one of the most respected open mics in the city, $6 / $5 for students.

*Fri, Dec 30, I've been biting my tongue about the self-proclaimed Chicago School Of Poetics because I've been waiting to see what comes out of it but allow me to speak frankly. The "school of poetics" is the brainchild of Francesco Levato, who has a real knack for making himself appear important simply by announcing himself the founder of really official sounding things. He did serve as Director of the Poetry Center of Chicago and despite quite literally running it into the ground, his position there didn't hurt his own writing career any and for some reason they still collaborate with him. Through abuse of that position, he managed to send himself to Berlin to feature his own poetry videos, and now he has that to brag about on his resume as well. He attempted to turn the center's formerly free Big Table workshops into high priced classes and then posted himself in the position of workshop leader. Then he announced himself founder of something called Plastique Press, with which he published his own book and now he claims to be the author of four books of poetry (another one of his books is available only as a free download from vanity publisher LuLu). Now he's announced himself as the founder of the oh-so-official sounding Chicago School Of Poetics, which is charging $400 per class and claims to offer an awful lot for something that hasn't even started doing anything yet. The scary part is, Levato's self-invention works for him. People are fooled by his impressive sounding credentials, not knowing they are totally self-invented, and they offer him real opportunities that he actually has no qualifications for. Anyway, today is the last day for registration for Levato's new "school" and here's a link to it so that you can decide for yourself if it's worth $400 or if it truly represents "Chicago poetics".

*Wed, Jan 18, 7 PM, tonight Janet Kuypers will attempt to launch a new poetry open mic at Gallery Cabaret, to be held on the 1st, 3rd and sometimes 5th Wednesday of the month. What does this have to do with "The Café"? Well, nothing, of course. Just for the record, "The Café" open mic was a Tuesday night open mic hosted by David Rubin that started off at Café Aloha, which was once at Montrose and Lincoln. Café Aloha had some sort of kitchen fire and some time after that the guy who owned it, Baci, moved his business up the street to 5115 N. Lincoln. But host David Rubin had to leave Chicago, so he handed his Tuesday open mic to Charlie Newman, who had a lot of success with it for years, really, they were good years for Chicago Poetry, until a regular named JJ Jameson turned out to be an escaped fugitive named Norman Porter, and after that it kind of went to shit. Next thing you knew, Charlie handed The Café to Janet Kuypers, a poet who claimed she had been published nearly 10,000 times, and a required two dollar cover and a two drink minimum was added to the pass the hat donation. The event then got bumped to Sunday afternoons and finally it was cancelled altogether. So, really, the only thing that a Wednesday night poetry open mic at Gallery Cabaret has in common with The Café is Janet Kuypers. Now, I remember back in the early 90s when there was a really cool Wednesday open mic at Gallery Cabaret, hosted by Gregorio Gomez. He would pack that place, sometimes with 50 or 100 people. It was open to all and there weren't any W4TB goons plotting to turn you into the IRS or whatever. But then Gallery Cabaret got cockroaches. Seriously. There would be dozens of cockroaches just crawling around on the bar and tables. Years later, I hosted an event there for the Bucktown Arts Fest and to my astonishment, it STILL had cockroaches. I had to wonder if the owner Kenny ever heard of a freakin' fogger, but he didn't seem to mind them. As a matter of fact, he even had a cockroach shrine of sorts, as if he was proud the place had cockroaches. But, dude, having cockroaches isn't cool, you know, because they get in your backpack and up your pants leg and then you bring them home with you and then YOU have cockroaches. Now, granted, I haven't been to The Café since Kuypers took it over and I haven't been to Gallery Cabaret for just as long, so I'm just sayin'.

*Fri, Jan 20, 7:30 PM, The Book Cellar, 4736 N Lincoln Ave, hosts “Drowning in Paper” themed reading by Tallgrass Writers Guild poets.

*Sat, Jan 21, 8 PM, 3rd Saturday Coffeehouse, Unity Temple in Oak Park, 875 Lake Street in Downtown Oak Park, presents and open mic for poets, musicians, and storytellers, with special guest Randy Brooks, $3-$5 donation.

*Sat, Feb 18, 8 PM, 3rd Saturday Coffeehouse, Unity Temple in Oak Park, 875 Lake Street in Downtown Oak Park, presents and open mic for poets, musicians, and storytellers, with special guest Carlos Cumpian, $3-$5 donation.

*Fri, March 2, 7 PM, Tonight is a night of lit parties to kick off the AWP conference. Zenith Beast presents Reading Between the Lines: An AWP Offsite Event featuring a bunch of poets including Fred Arroyo, Sarah Carson, Larry O. Dean, Ben Tanzer, Snezana Zabic, and many, many other poets, at The Horseshoe, 4115 N. Lincoln Ave.

*Fri, March 2, 7 PM, The Beautiful Words AWP Event will take place at The Beauty Bar, 1444 W. Chicago Ave, and it also will feature a slew of poets, including Kim Addonizio, Vanessa Veselka, Stacy Bierlein, Tod Goldberg, Shannon Cason and many more, sponsored by ten great lit orgs including The Nervous Breakdown, Bookslut, Curbside Splendor, and Sunday Salon Chicago.

*Fri, March 2, 8 PM, and the night of lit parties continues at Lincoln Hall, 2424 N. Lincoln Ave, with a party benefiting Young Chicago Authors, featuring Tim Kinsella, Dorothea Lasky, Mary Miller and more with hosts Zach Dodson and Lindsay Hunter and sponsored by School of the Art Institute of Chicago Writing Program, featherproof, Wave Books and a bunch of other great orgs

*Sat, April 28, ChicagoPoetry.com celebrates its 13th year with the release of Cram Volume 13 at the Poetry Fest at Harold Washington Library, details TBA.

*Coming in 2012: City of the Big Shoulders: An Anthology of Chicago Poetry (University of Iowa Press)

Lee Groban

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Chicago Poetry is saddened to have to report that poet Lee Groban died at St. Francis Hospital in Evanston at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, December 9. Mr. Groban was very ill for the last two months suffering from congestive heart failure and emphysema and recently had a pacemaker installed surgically. On Thursday his kidneys began to fail. He was with friends when his heart stopped; he died quickly without suffering.

Lee held a Bachelors Degree in Russian Language Studies and a Masters Degree in Library Sciences, and much of Lee's work is inspired by his avid interest in ancient ancestries and the cultures which surrounded them. Lee has been an integral part of the Chicago art community for more than three decades. If you have attended art events and street festivals in Chicago, you have seen Lee Groban, who also appeared for ChicagoPoetry.com sponsored events on several occasions (click here to listen to one of his performances). But, of course, Lee Groban is best known for The Cure for Insomnia, a 4,080-page poem that was turned into the 1987 film of the same title that was officially declared the world's longest movie by the Guinness Book of World Records. Running three days and fifteen hours in length, the film consists of Lee reading his poem spliced with occasional clips from heavy metal and pornographic videos. It was first played in its entirety at The School of the Art Institute in Chicago, from January 31 to February 3, 1987, in one continuous showing. In addition to his writing career, Lee Groban was also an accomplished visual artist and had been a featured artist in Pulp Magazine, the Chicago Reader, the Globe, and New City.

There will be a Celebration of Lee Groban's Life and Work on Sunday, December 18, 2011 from 1 to 4 at the Packer Schopf Gallery, 942 W. Lake St., Chicago, IL 60607. Friends and family are encouraged to bring their stories about Lee, as well as artistic, written or musical tributes, and to dress in Lee’s style if you wish. If you would like to make a presentation during the event, please email dickolson@comcast.net and cc dgo@esoplaw.com to allocate time. Lee's family asks that donations go to the endowment fund of the Circle Pines Center, 8650 Mullen Road, in Delton, Michigan, 49046.

State of the Poetry Scene Address

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CLICK HERE TO READ THE ANNUAL POETRY ADDRESS
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The Contemporary American Poetry Award

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The poems for Poetry Cram Volume 13, to be released free to the public at the Chicago Public Library Poetry Fest on Saturday, April 28, 2012, will be selected from the entries into the Contemporary American Poetry Prize contest.

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Welcome to the inaugural round of the Contemporary American Poetry Prize sponsored by PoetryAward.org, the national wing of ChicagoPoetry.com. The CAPP Award offers substantial cash prizes for the best contemporary poetry of any style and is open to all poets living in the United States.

THREE BIG CASH PRIZES
The Contemporary American Poetry Prize Contest offers a Grand Prize, a Silver Prize and a Bronze Prize, as well as three Honorable Mentions.

THE POETRY PRIZE THAT GROWS WITH EVERY ENTRY
The CAPP Contest offers a Grand Prize in the form of a cash award of 40% of all entry fee donations collected during the submission period*. There is no ceiling to the CAPP Grand Prize. The more poets who enter the CAPP Contest, the higher the Grand Prize grows. The Grand Prize amount will be periodically updated on this page after it surpasses the minimum Grand Prize amount of $100.

The Silver Prize winner will receive 10% of all entry donations.

The Bronze Prize winner will receive 5% of all entry donations.

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(Example of prize amounts: if at the end of the contest all entry donations add up to $2000, then the Grand Prize will be $800, the Silver Prize will be $200, and the Bronze Prize will be $100. In order to keep the prize amount transparent, a complete list of participating authors and poems submitted will be made available at the end of the contest.)

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There will also be Three Honorable Mentions.

All winners, honorable mentions as well as a number of runners-up, will be published in Poetry Cram Volume 13, to be given away FREE at the Chicago Public Library Poetry Fest at Harold Washington Library in Chicago on Saturday, April 28, 2012. Winning poems and honorable mentions will also be permanently published at PoetryAward.org and at ChicagoPoetry.com for thousands of people to read.

HERE ARE THE SIMPLE RULES
--All poems entered into the Contemporary American Poetry Prize Contest must be the original work of the author submitting them. Copyright reverts back to the author after publication.

--Poems should be primarily in the English language. Beyond that, all style, form and subject matter will be accepted.

--Both short and long poems will be accepted but poems should not exceed 150 lines.

--Previously published poems and simultaneous submissions are acceptable. Once your poems are submitted, however, they cannot be withdrawn from the contest, so it is up to you to inform other publications or contests that may be concerned about simultaneous submissions or republishing.

--You may submit up to three poems into the inaugural 2012 CAPP Contest. Entry donation for your first poem is $15. Entry donation for your second poem is $10 ($25 total for two poems). Entry donation for your third poem is $5 ($30 total for three poems).

--*Submission period is November 1, 2011 through March 1, 2012.

--Winners will be announced on or before April 1, 2012.

JUDGE AND SPONSOR
Judge. The final decision regarding the Three Winners and Three Honorable Mentions will be determined by this year's judge, Charlie Rossiter.

Charlie Rossiter, host of the audio website PoetryPoetry.com, is an NEA Fellowship recipient and three-time Pushcart Prize nominee. He is the author of four books of poetry and numerous chapbooks, including The Night We Danced With the Raelettes and All Over America: Road Poems (FootHills Publications, 2009), which is based on 60,000+ miles or road trip experiences throughout U.S. and Canada. He is also the co-author of the book Back Beat, of which Lawrence Ferlinghetti said: "Back Beat beats everything for being beater than the Beats." Rossiter's poetry has also been featured on National Public Radio, the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival in New Jersey as well as at the Chicago Blues Festival. He is the book review editor for the Journal of Poetry Therapy and he has led poetry workshops all over the country. PoetryAward.org is proud to have Mr. Rossiter serve as the judge for the inaugural Contemporary American Poetry Prize.

Sponsor. PoetryAward.org and the Contemporary American Poetry Prize is sponsored by CJ Laity, twelve year veteran publisher of ChicagoPoetry.com, curator of the Poetry Cram Magazine contest and twenty year host of poetry events and festivals for such distinguished venues as the Chicago Public Library, the Poetry Foundation's Printers Ball and the Chicago Tribune Printers Row Book Fair.

ENTERING THE CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN POETRY PRIZE
Step 1. Make the appropriate entry donation through PayPal.

You may enter up to three poems into the CAPP Contest.

The CAPP Contest accepts submissions electronically. To enter the CAPP Contest, use one of the links below to make the proper entry donation through PayPal. If you do not have a PayPal account, you can still use PayPal to make your donation with a debit card, credit card or personal check. Entry donations will be processed by ChicagoPoetry.com, on behalf of its subsidiary PoetryAward.org. Please make your donation now . . .

CLICK HERE if you are submitting one poem into the CAPP Contest.

CLICK HERE if you are submitting two poems into the CAPP Contest.

CLICK HERE if you are submitting three poems into the CAPP Contest.

Step 2. Submit your poetry by email.

Create a text document (.doc, .wps, .rtf) and place your poem(s) in it. Do not put your name or contact information on the page(s) with your poem(s). Instead, include a short cover letter with your name, your address, your email address, your phone number (optional), and the title(s) of your submitted poem(s). You may include a short personal biography that may be used when the winners are announced, but your name and biography will not be forwarded to the judge. This is a process called blind judging and guarantees that all submissions will be treated equally.

After making the proper entry donation, email your submission to Publisher@ChicagoPoetry.com with a single attachment that includes both your poetry entries and your cover letter.

That's it. It's as easy as that.

Deadline is March 1, 2012. Winners will be announced on or before April 1, 2012. Current Grand Prize amount will be posted and updated as submissions are received.

May the best poetry win!

CJ Laity
CAPP Contest Sponsor

Guerilla Poets Declare War On Poetry Foundation

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On Tuesday, September 27, during a question and answer session following a reading by Chilean poet Raúl Zurita sponsored by the Poetry Foundation at their multi-million dollar River North home, a small group of poets called the Croaton Poetic Cell went into the poetry library and dropped two banners. One of the banners read “What Would Have Happened if Emily Dickinson Had Been Prescribed Prozac?” (referring to the money the Foundation inherited from the Lilly Corporation), and the other banner said “VIVA CADA” (referring to the Chilean Colectivo de Acción de Arte of which Zurita was a founder and leader during the 70s). Click Here for video.

The Poetry Foundation security (which some witnesses describe as wearing CIA outfits), promptly ripped the banners down. The poetry activists then entered the reading room and passed out leaflets explaining that their banners were an attempt to honor "Raúl Zurita and the heroic spirit of CADA". The leaflets protested the arrest of activist Stephanie Dunn, who was charged with "disturbing the peace" for what the Croaton describes as a peaceful protest action during the "Collections and Cocktails" library opening at the Foundation a few weeks before. "To our knowledge, this is the first time that a supposed institution of poetics has pressed charges against a poet for what is essentially a poetic act," the fliers said. The flier continued: "To us, it makes perfect sense that an institution funded by a 100 million dollar grant from Lilly Pharmaceuticals, manufacturers of Prozac, would find any behavior beyond polite docility objectionable enough to call the cops." The leaflet then demanded "the Poetry Foundation spend the remainder of its drug money on the creation of two new poetry centers in existent disused buildings: one on the south side and another on the west side, whose mission it would be to support poetry in impoverished communities by any means necessary." If this demand is not met, the leaflet threatened: "These disruptions will continue . . ." The Poetry Foundation secret service men "chased and cornered" the poets in an attempt to physically apprehend them to be arrested for "trespassing" by police who were on their way, but the poets managed to "make a break for it". Click Here for video.

Poet and former State of Illinois Teacher of the Year, Kent Johnson wrote on the site montevidayo.com: " . . . this multi-million dollar Poetry institution called the cops on the activists for doing nothing but hanging some banners and peacefully passing out the statement [about] the astonishing, outrageous issue . . . that a young poet and performance artist from Chicago, Stephanie Dunn, who carried out a guerilla-poet’s-theater type act . . . is now apparently subject to charges pressed by the Poetry Foundation." Johnson went on to call the Poetry Foundation a "Happy Big-Tent House" that calls "the cops on brash young poets who step beyond the bounds of High Society protocol . . ." "What does it say when this institution attempts to suppress such radical (and in the history of poetry, venerably practiced) spirit by calling on the POLICE to arrest poets and have charges brought against them . . . the Poetry Foundation has put the Po back into Poetry . . ." Johnson continued, "I suspect there will be more actions coming . . ."

However, a well known Irish singing poet who was at the event and witnessed her get arrested claims Dunn was "not arrested for an essentially poetic act but because she was drunk and started provoking the guards by taking off her clothes." Other witnesses reportedly describe her action as disrobing and groping "an unwilling person in a public space." So far my invitation to the Croaton to describe Dunn's actions and explain what they have to do with poetry have not been accepted. Instead, I've been told that I "can read a detailed description of the events leading up to her arrest in the forthcoming issue of Sous Les Pa" (whatever that is).

--CJ Laity
This is a breaking story and is being updated as more information comes to the surface. Check back for updates.

Coming Soon

Curtis Canino Killed at 600 N. Ashland

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Read the story from the Chicago Tribune

I could go on every day like this, posting stories about people getting shot in Chicago. What's wrong with you guys out there? Stop the killing.

Poetry Slam Celebrates 25 Years

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CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL REPORT

Dead Poets Society

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Later this year, the self-proclaimed Chicago "Literary Hall of Fame" will for the second time celebrate the work of six dead people during another big, overpriced, megalomaniacal affair in which the Chicago Lit Scene's greatest seeker of financial dues, The Chicago Writers Association, carves in stone for us the names of six writers who we already know are important. I can save you the $45 or whatever outrageous amount of money they plan to solicit from you this year so that you can have the privilege of attending their gluttonous affair. I'll tell you right now who they have chosen as the 2011 "Inductees": Cyrus Colter (died in 2002); Theodore Dreiser (died in 1945); Harriet Monroe (died in 1936); Mike Royko (died in 1997); Carl Sandburg (died in 1967); and Ida B. Wells (died in 1931). These six inductees were chosen from 24 nominees, each and every one of them pushing up daisies. The writers who most recently lived that were nominated were Carolyn Rodgers and Kent Foreman (both of whom passed away in 2010). The committee of nominators who chose the names of the deceased 24 reflect the absurdity of this year's New City Lit 50 List, in that it consists of six white men, two white women and one man of African descent. These nine nominators then passed their 24 spirit names to five admittedly more diverse "Selectors" who then chose which six dead people would be honored this year. Whew! All of that just to tell us Carl Sandburg was a great Chicago writer.

In their mission statement, the great Hall (throw your money at them--they're a nonprofit!)--says "Our annual induction ceremony . . . will be an occasion for Chicago to crown past, present and future literary achievements." But of course, without one single living writer so much as nominated, all that is being honored by this power hungry behemoth are past, past and past literary achievements. Hey, I get what they're doing. It's as smart and as slimy as including the recognizable names of 34 "honorary committee" members on their website. They are concentrating on these dead names for the first few years because they believe that will give their fledgling Hall of Fame more credibility. Some day, when they've included just about every name of every great dead Chicago writer out there, they'll start sneaking in the name of a friend or two. And, oh boy, won't they be in charge then! What power they will have when they get to decide for us which living authors are worthy of praise, but most importantly, which ones are NOT.

My advice is, instead of wasting your money on some uppity organization's supermarket sushi and wine out of the box theatre presentation, spend the same amount of money buying one book written by each of the authors above--then celebrate their lives by actually reading their work.

My name is CJ Laity

Poetry House Opening

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Lit 50: Who Really Books in Chicago 2011???

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Dear Chicago Poetry Scene,

Once again (days before the Printers Row Lit Fest) it is that one week of the year during which anyone I know cares about what that little free magazine that you line your birdcages with, NewCity, has to say. I'm sure everyone on the "Lit 50: Who Really Books in Chicago 2011" list is fully deserving in their own way, and I'm not trying to take anything away from them, but come on: the list is a complete joke.

This year's Lit 50 is simply a generic list of just about every editor, publisher, bookstore owner, academic chair and organizational head that the folks at NewCity could think of without giving it much thought. It is a list of 47 Caucasians, two African Americans (if you guessed the obvious, Haki Madhubuti and Quraysh Ali Lansana, you're right), and one single Latina / Hispanic (Moira Pujols of Contratiempo). I find it especially shocking that Erika Hilton of Poetry Center of Chicago--an organization that has barely hosted a half dozen events in the last three years--is included on this list, but Kimberly Dixon of Guild Complex--an organization that consistently sponsors lit programming, including a monthly bilingual poetry series--is not included on the list. It couldn't be that a few years back, the previous chair of the Guild criticized the very same list for not being inclusive enough, could it? Of course it could! And let's get my personal beef out of the way: the fact that I've never been included on the list couldn't date back some eighteen years to when the publication I worked for, Letter eX, criticized NewCity, could it? Well, let me stop there before Ray Bianchi accuses me of being nothing but a self promoting hack again.

The NewCity list is a clear representation of how Chicago's lit scene has been gentrified and whitewashed. It is truly a racist list that concentrates entirely on a nepotistic "industry" and ignores Chicago's neighborhoods and grassroots scene. It's not surprising that, in the opening statement, The Poetry Foundation is hailed in a paragraph that begins with the word "power." "Not only can we claim Poetry magazine, the premier publication of its kind anywhere, but its wealthy sibling the Poetry Foundation will open a whole building dedicated to the form later this month," says New City. As an afterthought, it continues, "Plus, this is the town that created the Poetry Slam as well as Louder Than a Bomb, the largest teen slam anywhere."

The new "power players" (i.e., people with money) in today's lit scene love to throw the poetry slam a bone once in a while, because they recognize the "power" that the slam has, but if you want to know what the "powers that be" truly think of the slam, just look at their list. Out of 50 people who "really book" in Chicago, two of them might be looked at as representing the slam (if you guessed the obvious, Kevin Coval and Robbie Q. Telfter, you're right). In the year that the Poetry Slam is celebrating its 25th anniversary, apparently Marc Smith isn't worthy of being on that list. The opening paragraph to this list can be translated as follows: we have a two hundred million dollar foundation now that supports the mainstream, academic, city approved downtown scene, so we don't need the rest of you troublemaking jerks, and there's no reason to pretend to be diverse or inclusive anymore. In case you didn't get that the first time around and to shove that message home, guess who is number one on the list of people who really book in Chicago? Is it an author of a bestselling title--Roger Bonair-Agard perhaps? Is it someone who has worked diligently and selflessly for years, perhaps Larry Sawyer of Milk Mag or Al DeGenova of After Hours? Maybe it's someone from Oyez or RHINO? Why, no, of course not, it's John Barr, ex-Wall Street mogul who once did work for Enron, who was hired to manage the Poetry Foundation not because he "books" (in fact one of his books of poetry was even criticized as being racist) but because he knows how to manage large sums of money (and probably spends quite a bit of it buying advertising from publications like NewCity). And if two nods to the Poetry Foundation weren't enough, Christian Wiman (Barr's editor) and Fred Sazaki (Barr's Printer's Ball man) are both on the list as well!

I tried to warn the poetry community about how the Poetry Foundation--as well as the city sponsored "ChicagoPublishes" (planning to define for the rest of us what the "new Chicago style" of poetry is at an upcoming event at the Cultural Center)--was threatening to whitewash the poetry scene. But instead of working together to keep the grassroots poetry scene alive, a lot of poets were simply played and were convinced to attack me for speaking my mind. And look at what we have now. Do you see Poetry Cram Mag on the list? Do you see the Neighborhood Writers' Alliance on the list? Proyecta Latina? How about the big shots from Waiting 4 The Bus or the Poets Club of Chicago or even Puddin'head Press--are any of those guys on the list? How about that? It's as if that entire scene doesn't even exist. Where's the gay/lesbian presses on the list for that matter? Where is anyone that represents the world of online publishing (other than Dan Sinker's fictional twitter handle @MayorEmanuel)? But, gee, some guy named Donald G. Evans, who last year compared the Chicago Poetry Fest to "a backyard barbecue" when I told him I couldn't afford to pay $45 to attend his exclusive Lit Hall of Fame--his name made it on the list. And Dominique Raccah, who runs a publishing house located in Naperville--she's on Chicago's list. And if you go on Facebook you can probably find people who are on the list congratulating a dozen of their closests friends who are also on the list. There you have it.

I hate to say I told you so, but I TOLD YOU SO!

Never silent,

CJ Laity

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Poetry Foundation House Half Done

Richard Fammeree has passed away

Chicago Poet Richard Fammeree has passed away.

http://fammeree.com/

http://www.universeofpoetry.org/

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Dear Friends,

This is Rachel, writing from Richard's account.

Richard passed away early yesterday morning after a valiant battle with the devastating illness, ALS. We are so glad that he is free from suffering. And we will miss him deeply and always.

He left us with a beautiful daughter, Adele Fammeree, hundreds of brilliant songs and poems, the website and non-profit foundation, UniVerse of Poetry, and awareness of our human magic and interconnectedness. He lived to create from heart and soul, and he mentored and inspired so many of us on his journey.

We will be celebrating his life with a memorial service next weekend, time and location to be announced. Please check the websites, fammeree.com or www.universeofpoetry.org for details. We'll also post on facebook.

Rest in peace beloved Richard. We will love you always.

Rachel

Poetry Cram 11 Release Event April 30, 2011