I’ve been so busy working on chapbooks and worrying about live events (more on that another day) that I’ve fallen quite behind on the online galleries’ submission queue. I was shocked to discover today that the Poetry 6 gallery had gone over 1000 pages!
The Poetry 7 gallery is now open and all new online poetry publications will be placed there. 🙂
Glass Audrey vocalist Meganne Stepka featured at a Poet’s Haven event in 2009. Since then, I’ve tried to catch as many of her performances as possible. (In other words, yes, I am a fan.) Now at last, she and partner Michael Roberts have completed Glass Audrey’s first full length album!
In the past I have described Glass Audrey’s sound as like Sarah McLachlan doing vocals for Pearl Jam. I hereby retract that statement. The complex lyrics and musical styling is much more akin to “Boys for Pele” era Tori Amos, with hints of influence from Siouxie and the Banshees, Heart, The Pretenders, and The Cure. Each track takes the listener on an emotional journey, an auditory rollercoaster ride.
The one and only negative thing I can say about this album is that a few of the tracks use too much echo on the vocals. Meganne’s voice is well suited to a raw, unfiltered sound, and the studio effects layered over her voice end up covering the nuances one hears in her live performances.
All said, the album gets my highest recommendation. But don’t just take my word for it, listen to it yourself on Glass Audrey’s Bandcamp page and then order the full album download:
http://music.glassaudrey.com
Cleveland, Ohio’s DRAGON INC. is having a 24-hour poetry marathon event at Phoenix Coffee on West 9th Street in downtown Cleveland, starting at 8:00 PM this Friday! This is a fundraiser event, raising money to help Cleveland’s National Poetry Slam team get to Boston. Anyone can feature! Time on the mic is just $1 per minute, with a minimum of 10 minutes.
The event will be broadcast on Ustream, so poets performing here will be seen and heard by folks all over the planet (and possibly beyond). There will also be a big screen and computer set up so that poets not able to attend the show in person can perform live via Skype!
Performers of all types are welcome. If you would like to play music*, stage a play, or do an interpretive dance, time is available. (* Due to licensing restrictions, music performed must be original or in public domain.)
To reserve a time-slot, contact AKeem Jamal Rollins (Dragon Inc.’s coach). (There’s a contact form on the Dragon Inc. website, if you are unable to contact AKeem via Facebook.)
Event page on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=120150718079534
(Huge thanks and apologies to Scott Woods for allowing us to steal his fundraising idea.)
(And because I know someone will ask, I am assisting the Dragon Inc. team at this event, being their tech-guy. This is not a Poet’s Haven event.)
Check it out, Tanisha Herrin interviewed me for the Akron Poetry Examiner:
http://www.examiner.com/poetry-in-akron/interview-with-vertigo-xi-an-xavier-and-the-poet-s-haven
🙂
More that I keep forgetting to post here on the blog: The Poet’s Haven released two new chapbooks this month!
Andrew Tobias Line’s “Street Corner Poetry” launched on June 10th at his Deep Cleveland feature!
Jeff Kosiba’s “Seasons of Discontent: Spring & Summer” was released at the June 18th Saturday Night With The Poet’s Haven event in Cleveland!
Andrew’s book was rushed to print as he is part of Cleveland’s Dragon Inc. slam team and will be doing some heavy promotion and fund-raising leading up to the team’s trip to National Poetry Slam. We now resume our normal bimonthly release schedule. 🙂
These books can be purchased at several independent bookstores around north-east Ohio (and if you are interested in carrying Poet’s Haven chapbooks at your retail establishment, dealer inquiries are welcome), purchased at any live Poet’s Haven event, or ordered online.
It’s time for Canton First Friday’s CHALK THE WALK event, and this year we’re taking part in a big way! We will again be assembling a street team to cover the walkways with short poems, and we also want poem submissions for the street team to use!
For info on submitting poems:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=166382496761460
For info on joining our street team:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=185174014869063
Then, we’re taking a month off from the normal open-mic and slam event and instead bringing POETRY TO THE PEOPLE! Poets will be performing all over the downtown arts district, out amid the crowd of people! The goal is to let folks who wouldn’t normally come to a poetry event hear how awesome performance poetry is (and hopefully get some of those people to check out some poetry events in the future). Poetry performances will start at 6:00, and will conclude with members of DRAGON INC. (who will be sending Cleveland’s team to National Poetry Slam) performing on “THE POET’S HAVEN STAGE” (YES!) from 9:00 to 10:00!
Here’s the schedule of performing poets:
The locations are subject to some tweaking. I’ll have the most up-to-date schedule posted at Citizen X during the event.
I hope to see everyone there!
I’m falling into a trap of not updating this blog. I seem to post status updates on Facebook when I have something to announce, but forget to come over here and post it.
The first book in The Poet’s Haven Chapbook Series was released last month! “Getting There” by Jacob King can be picked up at Backlist Books in Massillon, the Citizen X / BRsquare offices in Canton, Mac’s Backs Books on Coventry in Cleveland Heights, and Visible Voice Books in Tremont! You can also get a copy from me at any Poet’s Haven event or any other poetry event you see me at. For those not located in the north-east Ohio area, you can also order a copy online from The Poet’s Haven.
I know I never posted a follow-up about the server move, but FYI: everything’s moved and the galleries are open to submissions. Just in case you were wondering…
While the big changes I’d hope to complete in time for the server move are not complete, the move has to happen now. (Otherwise, I have to pay for another year at the old server, which I’d really rather not have to do.) The PoetsHaven.com galleries will be closed to submissions while the move is completed. The galleries will be open to submissions on the new server, however it may take up to 48 hours for everyone’s ISPs to update their DNS info. If you wish to submit work to the galleries and are not able to do so, please come back in a day or two.
(If I don’t close the galleries on the old server and that’s the version of the site you are seeing, your submissions will be lost. This way, no submissions get lost during the transition from the old server to the new.)
Good things are in store at the new server. I am promised unlimited (within reason) bandwidth, and as such will be able to do things like hour-long podcast episodes (instead of half-hour episodes) and the upcoming ebook releases without worrying about data transfer limits. I am also continuing to work on upgrades to the galleries, but what I am trying to do there has proven to be a major undertaking somewhat beyond my self-taught PHP programming skills. It’ll get done someday, I just have to figure out how to get certain functions to work the way I want.
As the subject says, I will be guest emcee at Snoetry in Elyria, OH from 1 AM to 5 AM Saturday night / Sunday morning. If you haven’t heard, Snoetry is a 150-hour poetry reading staged by John Burroughs and Dianne Borsenik that’s set to claim the world record for longest poetry event in modern times. The event is happening NOW, and can be viewed live at Ustream!
So, I have four hours to fill and some nifty technology that allows me to hook my cell phone up to the event’s sound equipment. Anyone want to read by phone? Send me an e-mail or a private message if you’re interested. Let me know how long you would like to read for (15 to 30 minutes), who you are if I don’t already know you, and what your phone number is. I’ll put a schedule together and let you know what time to expect the call. 🙂
This trick is also useful for getting around campus or work-place firewalls on certain sites. This is not guaranteed to work, as more advanced firewalls will block the whole IP range of certain sites, and in the case of what’s happening in Egypt right now, the ISPs may completely shut-down or disconnect from the internet until the government lifts the ban. However, as long as the shut-down is being done in the way described by NPR today, this method should work.
Also, if you’re not trying to work around a block, do NOT add entries to your HOSTS file. Sites such as these change their IP addresses somewhat frequently, and when they do your entry will no longer be valid. This is why DNS servers are important, as they are updated every few hours with current data. However, as these sites have made it clear they stand on the side of the protesters and against the Egyptian government’s block, hopefully they will keep their current IP addresses until the crisis is over.
I did some laundry when I got home tonight, and a thought struck me. Why do I still match my socks into pairs when I don’t wear them that way?
(For anyone who doesn’t know, I have had some trouble with my left leg, and now wear a compression stocking. While I do occasionally wear compression stockings on both legs, I usually wear a normal sock on my right foot.)
Is this just a course of habit that I’ve yet to break away from? A built-in reflex that will never change?
Someone I know who is a landscaper once told me about a job he took. He did some planting and whatnot and installed those little lights along the sidewalk. The thing was, the man who lived in the house was blind. He could not figure out why the blind man would want lights along his sidewalk. My first thought was that perhaps the client wasn’t totally blind and could follow the lights to get to his door in the dark. My second thought was that he wanted them there for guests, friends and relatives who would stop over regularly. But tonight, another possibility crossed my mind. Perhaps it was some sort of reflex action, wanting lights. How long does it take someone who has lost their sight to stop reaching for the light switch?
On a lighter note, tonight I heard what has got to be the best bad pick-up line ever. I’ve been listening to more country music of late, and had one of the bands named “Iron Horse” playing in my car. (There are three bands named “Iron Horse” that I know of. One is a Scottish Celtic band, one is a bluegrass band from Alabama that is best known for doing Metallica and Ozzy cover albums, and the last, the one I was listening to tonight, is a country/metal band from Columbus.) The song “Bring It On” has the line “Baby if you wanna ride / I’ll be your motorcycle.” LOL
The Poet’s Haven will be launching a chapbook series in 2011. Plans are underway for the first volume to be released in April, with new books to follow every other month.
While I have spoken with several authors about this, and have some other authors in mind for upcoming releases, I would also like to open the series up to submissions. Whether you are a veteran or a newcomer to the small-press publishing world, if you’re interested in having a collection of your work published I would like to read your proposal.
Here are the details for the series format, publishing schedule, and pay structure:
Chapbooks will measure 5.5″ wide by 8.5″ tall and will be saddle-stitched (aka stapled). The books will be 40 pages in length, including a title page (which can also include a table of contents or an introduction) and the page with copyright notices and all the other required fine-print. A full-color, cardstock cover will adorn the books. The cover price will be $5, subject to change with any drastic increases in production costs (paper prices, etc.).
The chapbooks will be kept in print for a period of 12 months. After 12 months, no additional copies of the chapbook will be printed. 13 months after the original publication, the chapbook will be made available as a free e-book download. The e-books will not be printable.
Authors will receive 20% of all printed copies. That breaks down like this: If the first print run is 100 copies, 20 of them go to the author. If the first print run sells out and a second print run of, say, 50 copies is produced, the author will receive 10 of them. If the author wants/needs to acquire additional copies, he or she can do so at a 40% discount.
I’d like to take a moment to address this pay structure. After discussing how other small-presses compensate their chapbook authors, two common flaws became apparent. With many (not all) small-presses, a chapbook is either limited to its original print run and is finished once it is sold out, or the publisher can produce as many print-runs as demand calls for but the author receives no additional payment. I have designed this pay structure to allow for multiple printings over the 12 month release window while continuing to compensate the book’s author for increased sales.
What is The Poet’s Haven looking for?
A collection of your poems centered around a theme, a collection of work from a certain era of your life, a series of poems that tell a narrative story… These are just a few general ideas. Also, while most chapbooks contain poems, nobody ever said that’s all a chapbook could be! Surprise me!
WHO is The Poet’s Haven looking for?
The Poet’s Haven has always taken pride in being open to both newcomers and seasoned pros. That said, for legal reasons, chapbook authors must be at least 18 years of age or have a parent or guardian involved in the process from submission to publication. Authors who manage other small-presses are welcome to submit a proposal, but be aware that you may have a harder sell. (I’ll wonder why you’re not publishing the book yourself.) Also, authors who have been previously published by The Poet’s Haven (whether in the online galleries or in the podcast) will probably get some preferential treatment. 😉
How to submit a proposal:
Click the “Contact Publisher” link on PoetsHaven.com and send me an e-mail with “Chapbook Proposal” as the subject. You can also contact me via private message on Facebook. Tell me who you are if I don’t know you, and tell me what your idea is for a chapbook. Include a selection of pieces that would be submitted for the chapbook in the proposal (5 pieces maximum). If your proposal interests me, I will contact you requesting a full manuscript.
Thanks, and I look forward to your responses!
Hey, hey, hey! Check that link out over on the right side of the blog! There’s a new podcast up for your listening pleasure!
A total of five new episodes have been completed. Due to problems with the current server, I cannot post all five episodes at once. (Five episodes times 800+ people downloading them in a matter of two or three days would be more than it could handle.) To avoid crashing the server, I’ll be posting two episodes a week, one on Saturday and one on Wednesday, until I run out. I’m hoping to complete a few more relatively soon, but I’m trying to balance getting podcast work done with working on the updated scripts for the galleries so that I can get the site moved to a new server. Once the site is on the new server, bandwidth will be less of an issue. I am considering changing the show to hour-long episodes once the server move is complete.
Episode 36, now online, features poetry by Timothy House, Vladimir Swirynsky, Christina Brooks, and Samantha Bako with music by Ramona Stone.
Episode 37, coming Wednesday, features poetry by Kisha Nicole Foster and John Burroughs with music by Meganne Stepka.
Episode 38 features poetry by Timothy House, Azalea Tidwell, Debbie Goings, Marc Manheimer, and Dianne Borsenik with music by Meganne Stepka.
Episode 39 features poetry by Dave Nichols, Teleri, Jen Pezzo, and Timothy House with music by Meganne Stepka.
Episode 40 features poetry by Dave Nichols and Christopher Franke with music by Meganne Stepka.
This Saturday, December 18, we close out 2010 with Saturday Night With The Poet’s Haven at the Root Café in Lakewood, OH! Our featured poets will be Rachelle Gallant and Jacob Oet!
Rachelle Gallant is a modern poet for the new world. With twenty-five years of formal English and literary training, Rachelle’s poetry brings her uniquely poignant yet intimate look into the everyday human condition. Her signature fusion of poetry and photography strikes to the heart of life’s randomness. Other artistic performances to her credit include; featured poet at the Tremont Art and Cultural Festival in 2008, 2009, and 2010, featured poet at the Literary Café in November 2008, featured poet at Club Alchemy in February 2009, and The Cleveland Playhouse in May 2010. (http://www.theurbanwordcha
Jacob Oet lives in Solon, Ohio and is currently a junior at University School. He has loved writing stories and poems since he was little. His favorite poets include e.e cummings, Mary Oliver, and Pablo Neruda. Jacob was a finalist in Playhouse Square’s 2010 SlamU! program and looks forward to participating again this year. His poem, “Metamorphosis,” was recently named a winner of the Poetry in the Garden competition, co-sponsored by Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Botanical Garden. Jacob is also a champion chess player, taking first place three years running at the Ohio Grade Level Chess Championships. (http://phantasmicmelody.de
This is an ALL-AGES/MODERATED event. That means that language must be kept within PG-13 guidelines. (This show rating was the decision of The Poet’s Haven, it was not requested by the venue. Our show last April at the Root Café saw a high number of younger children, usually with parents who were stopping for coffee while out shopping. For this reason, we decided to make this show a moderated event. This is NOT censorship. If you want to read material with explicit content at a Poet’s Haven show, we’re just asking you to save it for January or February.) Hint: If you have kids or siblings that don’t get to go to many poetry events due to mature content, now’s your chance to bring them along. The open-mic is open to writers of ALL AGES!
This will also be your LAST CHANCE to get a copy of “VENDING MACHINE: POETRY FOR CHANGE!” We will be collecting canned food donations for the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank. Bring a donation to get a copy of the “Vending Machine” anthology. (Offer only good until we run out of books!)
The Love Initiative’s “Music for Meals” food drive may have wrapped up (after collecting over 1,000 lbs. of food!), but the Akron-Canton Foodbank still needs donations!
If you missed out on getting a copy of “Vending Machine: Poetry for Change” at November’s “Saturday Night With The Poet’s Haven” event, you now have a second chance at tonight’s Canton First Friday Poetry Spectacular! “How do I get one?” you ask. Why, it’s simple! Bring a non-perishable food donation to tonight’s show (cans and/or boxes only, no glass jars) and you can trade your donation for a copy of this awesome poetry anthology. Quantities are limited, so they will only be available until we run out. The food donations will go to the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank.
Tonight’s Poetry Spectacular features Robert Miltner. Robert Miltner teaches literature and creative writing at Kent State University’s Stark campus. He is the author of “Hotel Utopia,” selected by Tim Seibles as winner of the New Rivers Press book prize, and a dozen chapbooks, including “Against the Simple” (Wick chapbook award). Miltner has published poems in “Artful Dodge,” “Barrow Street,” “LIT,” “Diagram,” “Pleiades,” “Prose Poem,” “Sleeping Fish,” and “Sentence,” and short fiction in “Istanbul Literary Review,” “Apple Valley Review,” “Storyglossia,” “Ophelia Street,” “Perigee,” and “Christmas Stories from Ohio.” He is working on a novel, “Tempest,” and edits “The Raymond Carver Review” (http://dept.kent.edu/english/RCR/).
Canton’s First Friday Poetry Spectacular takes place at the Kathleen Howland Theatre, downstairs at the Second April Art Gallerie (324 Cleveland Ave. NW Canton, OH 44702). Sign-up time for the open-mic and poetry slam is at 7:00, with the open-mic starting promptly at 7:30.
See you there! 🙂
The Poet’s Haven has teamed with The Love Initiative to bring the Music for Meals food drive to “Saturday Night With The Poet’s Haven” on November 20th. As an added incentive for donations, The Poet’s Haven will be publishing a limited edition chapbook/zine titled “Vending Machine: Poetry for Change,” that will be given FREE to anyone who donates non-perishable food items during the show. Food donations will go to the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank.
Eric “Verbal Influence” Odum is a 20 year old poet hailing from Cleveland, Ohio. He has been part of Playhouse Square’s SlamU! program for the past five years. He is a peer mentor, running workshops and working on a personal level with teens on performance and writing. He was part of Cleveland’s National Youth Poetry Slam team for the past three years. He also runs a poetry group called Spit Poet Spit, which performed at Urbean Joe’s Coffee this past September. Eric is the founding member of an after school poetry group called New Age Poets. He started writing at the age of nine and began performing at fifteen. He has released one chapbook, “Unspoken Declarations,” and has a CD in the works called “Verbal Therapy.”
The Poet’s Haven, in collaboration with The Love Initiative, is seeking poetry submissions inspired by The Love Initiative statement:
“The world doesn’t change in one big sweeping moment.
It is a continual journey.
Humanity’s awakening.
This journey starts not with thousands but with one.
One.
The world of one person can change in an instant.
It just takes a minute.
This is that minute.”
These poems will be published by The Poet’s Haven as a chapbook titled “Vending Machine: Poetry for Change,” and will be given FREE to all who donate non-perishable food items at the Saturday Night With The Poet’s Haven event on November 20, 2010 at Angel Falls in Akron, Ohio. This project is part of the Love Initiative’s regional “Music for Meals” holiday food drive.
Submission Guidelines:
– Poems must be no longer than 60 lines. Poems 30 lines or less are preferred.
– Deadline for submissions is November 7, 2010.
– E-mail submissions to VendingMachine [at] PoetsHaven.com.
– As this is part of a charity project to benefit the Akron-Canton Foodbank, we are unfortunately unable to provide contributors’ copies.
http://www.PoetsHaven.com
http://www.theloveinitiati
Visit the Music for Meals event page on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/ev
Additional notes (aka the fine print): While The Poet’s Haven is publishing this chapbook/zine, this project is separate from the PoetsHaven.com galleries. Submissions for this publication MUST be made to the above listed e-mail address, NOT to the online galleries. Authors retain the right to have their submissions published elsewhere, as long as the other publishers do not require first-time or exclusive rights. Previously published material is acceptable though discouraged. The Poet’s Haven retains the right to republish this material at a later date (IE: next year) as a free e-book download. Space is limited, and not every submission will be published.
So, I’m on Facebook today, and under their “People You May Know” thing on the side of the page, I see a picture of a hot chick wearing very skimpy attire. Being your A-typical hetero male, I click her name to see a larger photo. Under said larger photo, Facebook asks me if I’d like to poke her. You can’t tell me that’s not a sexual innuendo.
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If you’re not supposed to eat the brownie first, why do you have to take it out of the TV dinner tray half-way through cooking the rest of the meal?
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There’s been problems with the website going down on a regular basis. Regular as in every freaking night, around about the same time. HTML pages will still load, but anything that uses the SQL databases (like, say, the galleries) cannot be viewed. There is nothing on Poet’s Haven that would be causing this, which leads me to believe that something else on the shared server I rent from is causing it to go down.
 For this reason, I have decided to migrate servers once again.
This move should be quick and easy. When it starts, I will close the site to submissions. If you do not see the submission link as you browse the gallery, this is why. When the move is complete, the site on the new server will be open to submissions. This way, no submissions are lost in the transition.
This also gives me the opportunity to make some behind-the-scenes changes to how things are set up. I’ve been wanting to shut down some other sites I no longer have need for, and this will allow me to make Poet’s Haven the primary site on my account instead of dependent to a site I no longer use.
After moving the show around the past three years, and then settling into a same-location-every-other-month routine this year, I have decided to find the show a home in Cleveland. I am pleased to announce that next year’s Cleveland shows will all be held at Phoenix Coffee in South Euclid, and our Akron shows will continue at Angel Falls!
For those who aren’t aware, here’s the details: “Saturday Night With The Poet’s Haven” takes place on the third Saturday of each month. Odd-numbered months (January, March, May, etc.), the show is in Akron at the Angel Falls Coffee Company. Even-numbered months (February, April, June, etc.), the show is in Cleveland (or, to be more precise, a few minutes east of Cleveland Heights) at Phoenix Coffee in South Euclid. These shows start at 7:00 PM (real-time, not “poetry-standard-time”) and will be ALL AGES / UNMODERATED events. Each show will have featured poets and performers. Watch this blog for announcements about who the features will be.