July and August Poetry at Rachael's Cafe

POETRY AT RACHAEL'S JULY AND AUGUST

Hosted by Joel Barker and Virginia Thompson

Saturday , July 30th, 7pm at Rachel's Cafe. 'Respond to your time! - Community Open –mic.

Friday, August 26th, 'Dog Days of Summer', 7pm at Rachel's Café with featured readers, followed by a community open mic.

HART Rock Poetry Series and Open-mic hosts Free-Range Poets, June 24, 2011

Hello Everyone,

Peggy and I are looking forward to our last poetry program of the 2010 - 2011 year this Friday, June 24th at 7:00 pm!

Click Here to Read Information on our website

Friday, June 24th, HART ROCK POETRY SERIES AND OPEN-MIC at RACHAEL'S CAFÉ hosts “FREE-RANGE POETS” Lee James Chapman, Jack King, Judy Lafferty Beerman, Jerry Smith, Suzanne Sturgeon, Bob Taylor, Ian Woollen followed by a Community Open-Mic. The Free-Range Poets are the product of a 2001 idea of Bob’s. Jerry and Ian were friends with whom Bob knew he shared an interest in the craft of poetry. He met Jack through a writing workshop at the John Waldron Art Center in Bloomington. Wouldn’t it be grand, Bob thought, if we could get together and share what we’ve been writing. The invitations were issued, all accepted, and the group was born. It has been meeting ever since. has been meeting ever since. The format has remained the same. A member reads a recent work, the others mull it over, and then there is time for written and oral critiques. So the process goes—around the table until all have had their turn. From the beginning coffee, tea, and cookies have been a necessary part of the ritual. Meetings happen every two weeks or so. Until 2006 we took summers off but now meet year-round. Since the group’s founding, three others have joined the circle. Judy, Lee, and Suzanne were met during poetry classes at the Waldron. There have been some leaves of absence from our circle—getting married, finishing and publishing a novel, spending winters in Florida, occasional unavoidable obligations of earning a living, assorted grand tours, etc.—but none have been permanent. We’re grateful for that. Lee James Chapman wrote his first, terrible, poems at age 15 but spent most of his life energy helping physicists smash atoms at Fermilab. Between quarks he wrote songs and poems and set poems of Emily Dickinson to music. While a member of the Naperville Writer’s Group in Illinois he had several poems published. He set a collection of Bloomington poets’ poems, including some of his own, for voice and piano, and produced a performance of them in Bloomington. He has been a member of the Free-Range Poets since 2005. Jack King is a New Yorker by birth—a Hoosier by choice. He moved to Bloomington with his wife Sylvia and their three children in 1974 to take a position with the now defunct Center for University Ministry at Indiana University. While in town he has practiced—and retired from—at least three distinct careers. Through all three he wrote—lectures, a thesis or two, sermons, résumés, funding proposals, newsletters, etc. Now he writes poetry as a means of self expression, exploration, and spiritual discipline. The third retirement seems to be final. Judy Lafferty Beerman, A native of Kansas, Judy moved to the Bloomington area in the late 1980’s. A retired Interior Designer for Residential Programs and Services, Indiana University, her experiences as a wife and mother and her appreciation of nature and the out-of-doors are strong influences on her poetry. Judy has been a member of the Free Range Poetry Group since 2002. Jerry Smith and wife Betty, having lived in Bloomington for forty years, now call it home. Jerry “wakes to sleep and takes his waking slow.” He’s too old to try a new art form and too young to stop writing. He has 100 favorite poets and 1000 favorite poems. Don’t ask for the list. It’s not compiled and constantly changes. He tries to read 50 poems for each one written but seldom succeeds. Betty is his most helpful critic and daughter Linda and son Paul, his most prized accomplishments (with Betty). He has been writing poetry seriously, though not without humor, since 1996. His poems have been published in several magazines and anthologies. Suzanne Sturgeon lives on a farm in Owen County with her husband, Michael Tracy, and three cats, Lancelot, Murphy, and Bear. Michael and the cats are instrumental in the poetry writing process—from inspiration to revisions. She began writing poetry by taking classes at the John Waldron Art Center, where she met members of the Free-Range Poets. An attorney in private practice in Bloomington, Indiana, her Monday-through-Friday writing consists of motions, wills, and trusts. Bob Taylor, In the 70’s, I wanted to record memories from childhood on a small Iowa farm and thought that poetry could be a way to proceed. Upon taking them to a knowledgeable poet he noted that there was a child in there but probably they were not poems. Haiku and tanka style offered some improvement, along with graduate courses and workshops. As a student and professor of psychology, I find the power of story with dense structure, image, and metaphor useful and healthy for me. Honing skills with this writing group is most gratifying. Ian Woollen, walks his dog in Bryan Park almost every day. Poems have surfaced in Zone 3, Porcupine, and Red Dancefloor. His short stories have appeared in The Massachusetts Review, Onthebus, and The Mid-American Review, from which he received a Sherwood Anderson Prize. His novel, Stakeout on Millennium Drive, won the 2006 'Best Books of Indiana' Fiction Award. Come to share poems, songs and stories of your favorite poets and to listen. Open-mic readers have up to three minutes to share their own or another’s works. ******************************************* Rachael's Café is located at 300 East 3rd Street, Bloomington, IN (812) 330-1882 Send questions to poetry@hartrock.net or bloomingtonpoetry@gmail.com. This event is FREE and open to the public. Food and drinks are available for purchase.

HART ROCK, http://www.hartrock.net , a member of the Indiana Holistic Health Network, http://www.indianaholistichealth.net Hosted and produced by Patricia C. Coleman and Peggy Squires. Readings for the 2010-2011 season are every fourth Friday, September through June. 2011-2012 Poetry Season Join us on September 23rd, 2011 for the Opening Program of our 2011-2012 season! http://www.hartrock.net/poetryrachaels.htm poetry@hartrock.net ALSO: to connect with the BLOOMINGTON WRITERS GUILD contact Patsy Rahn at prahn@worldnet.att.net WRITERS, ARTIST AND STORYTELLERS RESOURCES – http://www.hartrock.net/writersartistresource.htm **********************************

After April Reading Note and Community Poem

Greetings,

Rain and storm yesterday and throughout the night, and Peggy and I are grateful that listeners were not kept from coming out to Rachael’s Café to listen to, and share some of their own poetry.

The HART Rock Poetry Series and Open-mic, hosting Bronislava Volkova and Feliz Cicek as featured poets, offered the community a program replete with well crafted and equally well presented poems in celebration of National Poetry month. Bronia read from the anthology she recently edited featuring more than 62 poets “Up The Devil’s Back: A Bilingual Anthology of 20th Century Czech Poetry” (with Clarice Cloutier, 2008), and poems from “Drink We Will from Delectable Well” her most recent collection of poetry. Filiz’s, reading came from a variety of poets with her presenting some of them in the Turkish language followed by English translation. She also shared some of her own writing, passing copies to listeners so they could see the color/emotional associations she attached to some specific words. She explained earlier, that as a visual artist, she enjoys using visual cues and each poem creates its own unique form on the paper.

Last month Peggy started a new tradition for the HART Rock readings. It is a line by line poem where one line is written and the page is passed along and whoever wants to join in can write a line. The paper is folded so that the writer sees only the line previously written. Follow is the poem composed last night.-----

Community Poem on Earth Day

– Line by Line poem written by participants and attendees at HART Rock’s Poetry Series and Open-mic, April 22, 2011

Earth and air, water and all fires of life

Purify and save us from the Tea Party!

With its toxic leaves and stolen spoons

The junk drawer burst its’ brim

Forks, spoons, & knives splash up like a bowling ball hits water

AND AS THEY FALL; I AM UNAFRAID

As the photons bubble, bubble up from the Sun

We may open to this bubbling on a soul level

So that we can paint orange colored days

That fade to a ribbon of moonlight stretching across the lake

The lake of delirious dreams

AND, so it is that

April is the month of melted clouds

Before me ruffles and lace, softening the night, creamy

And dreamy, casual and formal all at once

Converge upon me, begging to comfort me.

This, of such borrowed surroundings

Will not rest, surges out of the water like a whale

Free like a dolphin

Menaced by nets cast by man’s infirmity

And yet

A fiery anger

That fills and sears and eats away and

Does all matter of consumption, without remorse or regret

Poetry Readings April 2011 - National Poetry Month in Bloomington, Indiana

National Poetry Month Readings in Bloomington, IN!

• “Framing the Silence: The Myriad Forms of Poetry” is 2-3 p.m. today at the Bloomington branch of the Monroe County Public Library, 303 E. Kirkwood Ave. Celebrate poetry in its various forms by bringing a poem or two written by you or your favorite poet. A discussion will be lead by Dory Lynch.

• The High School Poets will read at the library 6:15 p.m. April 14.  Poets from several high schools come together for the event.

• The Hart Rock Poetry Series and Open-mic presents readings by poets Peter Bethanis and Filiz Cicek at 7 p.m. Followed by a Community Open-mic - April 22 at Rachael’s Cafe, 300 E. Third St.

• Teen poets and songwriters from area high schools will perform 7:30-9 p.m. April 27 at Rachael’s Cafe.

• Book Launch Party for Ross Gay and Micah Ling - Saturday, April 23rd at 7pm, The Bishop Bar, 123 South Walnut St.  For more info, please visit http://www.boxcarbooks.org

• The Lemonstone Reading Series presents visiting poet Christine Rhein and classical guitarist Maja Radovanlija 7-8:30 p.m. April 29 at Sweet Claire Gourmet Bakery, 309 E. Third St.

Connect with all styles of writers through The Writers Guild of Bloomington, part of the Arts Alliance of Greater Bloomington, Indiana. Learn more online at www.bloomingtonarts.org.

OTHER VENUES WHERE SPOKEN WORD MAY BE HEARD ALL YEAR LONG

• MAX'S PLACE hosting weekly open-mic every Wednesday

 

• PLAYERS PUB every Monday 8:00pm (donation) Singer Song Writers Night, April 10th, IU Songwriters Extravaganza and April 28th Open-mic Night (free). See calendar. 

• Poetry Revival, 10 p.m. Fridays, a weekly performance event for writers, readers, musicians and more at the Michael Lindsay Studio, 110 E. Sixth St.

Welcome to HART Rock's Poetry and Open-mic Blog and Calendar

 Welcome to HART Rock's Poetry Blog!  This is where we will, as often as possible post incoming press releases related to poetry in Bloomington, Indiana and surrounding communities. 

To give us the the greatest chance to list your event, please send your information to us a month in advance.  If later, we will make an effort to get your event posted, providing there is time in our schedule.