Poetry Thursdays
Spring is here in Harrisburg. Spread your petals and bloom.
Come flower your soul with some stomping stanzas at the Midtown Scholar Bookstore! Our reading is FREE and open to the public Bring yourself and a friend, or two, or three. ----------------
May 16th:
7-8 PM -- Open Reading 8-9 PM -- Feature These Seeds: Dustin Nispel and Bobby Yagodich with Host Christian Thiede
 These Seeds: Dustin Nispel and Bobby Yagodich, featured May 16.
These Seeds is a collaborative effort of Bobby Yagodich and Dustin Nispel. They perform atmospheric/ambient music with a strong poetic sense of mind. Bobby has been involved in music for more than a decade. His dedication to creation is portrayed in this very unique sound that takes ambient music to a whole new level of perception. Dustin Nispel has been deeply involved in the poetry community for over ten years as well. His words and complex lyrical content paint vivid images of real issues and experiences of life that we all can relate to. Together this unique duo portrays expression in modern times...they are THESE SEEDS. 
This poetry event is hosted by the Almost Uptown Poetry Cartel.
Here's some background on upcoming features:  Maria James-Thiaw, featured May 23. Maria James-Thiaw is the author of Talking "White", the latest release from postDada Press [http://www.amazon.com/Talking-White-Maria-James-Thiaw/dp/1475979770/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1368737798&sr=1-1&keywords=maria+james-thiaw]. This talented singer, actress and writer has been performing her poetry since the mid 1990's & has 'blessed the mic' at venues from the U.S. to France. Her poetic honors include winning three poetry slams in Harrisburg, PA & publication in several journals including Black Magnolias Literary Journal, Love Your Rebellion, Magaera, The Harrisburg Review, Poetry Ink, The Pitkin Review and others. Maria is the author of two other collections of poetry published by Shippensburg University Press: Windows to the Soul (1999) and Rising Waters (2003). In 2006 she released her first spoken word CD, FREEverse. She is a 1996 and 2003 graduate of Shippensburg University and in 2009, she earned her MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College. Maria James-Thiaw is a wife and mom and a full professor at a small private college in Central PA.  Rich Hemmings, featured June 13.
Richard Hemmings currently resides in Stewartstown, PA, with his wife Debberae Streett. He was born in New York City. He has been writing poetry for thirty-eight years and has been published in Nimbus, A Year of Voices, Digges Choice, Fledgling Rag and Mad Poets Review. Further, he has appeared in Bill Diskin's Somewhere on George Street and Dana Sauers' My Letter to the World (which were both compilations of poetry that appeared in local newspapers). He has also been featured on the argotistonline.com and Poetz.com websites. Rich appreciates the various poetic forms and enjoys applying them to his work. Host of too many venues to speak of, his real passion is seeing new poets bring their work out to shine. His poetic interests are diverse and Rich is also a full-time postal history collector preparing a scholarly book and exhibit on the story of New York City's Towers District (sometimes known as Ground Zero) as told through documents, photos and stamps. Rich believes poetry is sacred, and that anyone who shares their innermost feelings is a brother or sister.
 Alyse Bensel, featured June 20.
Alyse Bensel the author of the poetry chapbook Shift (Plan B Press, 2012). She received her MFA in poetry from Penn State in 2012. Her poetry has appeared in Cider Press Review, Cold Mountain Review, MAYDAY Magazine, and Word Riot. She is a regular contributor to Newpages and the Los Angeles Review, and additional work has appeared in CALYX, Colorado Review, Prairie Schooner, and Rain Taxi. In the fall of 2013, she will begin doctoral studies in creative writing. Her latest non-profit work includes leading creative writing workshops at a local girls’ group home, organizing a poetry reading to promote relationship violence awareness for Penn State PHREE, working for Greenmoore Gardens CSA farm, and volunteering for a local cat rescue in State College, PA. 
Jack Veasey is the author of ten published collections of poetry--including his newly released book "Shapely: Selected Formal Poems." [http://www.amazon.com/Shapely-Selected-Formal-Jack-Veasey/dp/0922558736] His poems have also appeared in many periodicals including Assaracus, The Blue Guitar, The Philadelphia Daily News, The Pittsburgh Quarterly, and The Painted Bride Quarterly. His plays have been produced by Theater Center Philadelphia and Theater Of The Seventh Sister (Lancaster, PA).  He has hosted literary radio programs for WITF FM in Harrisburg and WXPN FM in Philadelphia, been awarded a Fellowship from the PA Council On The Arts, been nominated for a Pushcart Prize in poetry, and is a two-time honoree of The PA Center For The Book's PENNBOOK celebration. His article for The Gay History Project about Walt Whitman’s relationship with his longtime companion Peter Doyle was syndicated to about 40 LGTB periodicals and websites nationwide, and his chapter on Whitman’s involvement in the Civil War will be included in the Gay History Project’s forthcoming book, "We Are America.” A native of Philadelphia, he now lives in Hummelstown, PA with David Walker, his life partner of 34 years. He is a member of The Harrisburg Men’s Chorus and of The Almost Uptown Poetry Cartel.  Yolanda Wisher, featured July 11.
Yolanda Wisher, a poet and educator, serves as Director of Art Education for the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program. Wisher received a B.A. in English and Black Studies from Lafayette College and M.A. in Creative Writing/Poetry from Temple University. At the age of 23, she was named the first Montgomery County Poet Laureate. A former English teacher and radio host, Wisher is a Cave Canem Fellow and Leeway Foundation Art and Change Award recipient. Her poems have been published in Fence, Ploughshares, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and in the anthologies Gathering Ground, The Ringing Ear, and Lavanderia. From 2006-2010, Wisher was the chief architect of the Germantown Poetry Festival, a neighborhood event in Philadelphia that showcased the talents of youth and locally and nationally known poets. Her first volume of poems is forthcoming from Hanging Loose Press in 2014.  Kenneth Walker, featured August 8.
Considered a "New Formalist", though many of his contemporaries have distanced themselves from the term as not to be pigeonholed, Kenneth Vincent Walker embraces it as a celebration to Poetry's glorious past and ever-evolving future. Out of the A.E.Stallings vein, he incorporates rhyme, rhythm and meter in a myriad of contemporary vignettes reflecting the human condition. Kenneth was born on the outskirts of Buffalo, New York and completed his higher education in Canada, where he was first introduced to the writings of William Blake. Kenneth's love for traditional poetry was cemented at this time. Now residing in South Central Pennsylvania, Kenneth has dedicated the remainder of his life to his true love, Poetry.Tony Oliveri, featured September 26.
Tony Oliveri bio forthcoming.
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Poetry Thursdays' upcoming events: Next up at Midtown Scholar Poetry Thursdays: All Events are from 7-9 pm with an Open Reading from 7-8 pm
followed by an 8-9 pm Feature, or continued Open.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- May 16 -- Feature These Seeds: Dustin Nispel and Bobby Yagodich with Host Christian Thiede. May 23 -- Feature Maria James-Thiaw with Host Christian Thiede. May 30 -- Open Reading with Host Christian Thiede. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- June 6 -- Open Reading with Host Christine O'Leary-Rockey. June 13 -- Feature Rich Hemmings with Host Christian Thiede. June 20 -- Feature Alyse Bensel with Host Christian Thiede. June 27 -- Feature Jack Veasey with Host Christian Thiede. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- July 4 -- Holiday : No Reading July 11 -- Feature Yolanda Wisher with Host Christian Thiede. July 18 -- TBA July 25 -- Open Reading with Host Marty Esworthy. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- August 1 -- TBA August 8 -- Feature Kenneth Walker with Host Christian Thiede. August 15 -- TBA August 22 -- TBA August 29 -- TBA ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- September 5 -- TBA September 12 -- TBA September 19 -- TBA September 26 -- Feature Tony Oliveri with Host Christian Thiede. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- October 3 -- TBA October 10 -- TBA October 17 -- TBA October 24 -- TBA October 31 -- TBA ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- November 7 -- TBA November 14 -- TBA November 21 -- TBA November 28 -- Holiday : No Reading ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- December 5 -- TBA December 12 -- TBA December 19 -- TBA December 26 -- TBA --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
by Billy
Collins
I have never been fishing on
the Susquehanna
or on any river for that
matter
to be perfectly
honest.
Not in July or any month
have I had the pleasure—if it
is a pleasure—
of fishing on the
Susquehanna.
I am more likely to be
found
in a quiet room like this
one—
a painting of a woman on the
wall,
a bowl of tangerines on the
table—
trying to manufacture the
sensation
of fishing on the
Susquehanna.
There is little doubt
that others have been
fishing
on the Susquehanna,
rowing upstream in a wooden
boat,
sliding the oars under the
water
then raising them to drip in
the light.
But the nearest I have ever
come to
fishing on the
Susquehanna
was one afternoon in a museum
in Philadelphia
when I balanced a little egg
of time
in front of a painting
in which that river curled
around a bend
under a blue cloud-ruffled
sky,
dense trees along the
banks,
and a fellow with a red
bandanna
sitting in a small,
green
flat-bottom boat
holding the thin whip of a
pole.
That is something I am
unlikely
ever to do, I remember
saying to myself and the
person next to me.
Then I blinked and moved
on
to other American scenes
of haystacks, water whitening
over rocks,
even one of a brown hare
who seemed so wired with
alertness
I imagined him springing right
out of the frame.
Billy Collins, “Fishing on the Susquehanna in July” from Picnic,
Lightning. Copyright © 1998 by Billy Collins --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A BRIEF HISTORY:
 The Almost Uptown Poetry Cartel, a true American institution, has been at Harrisburg's Midtown Scholar Bookstore's
Internet Cafe since September 2012.
 business much longer than that.
Poetry Thursdays, previously
at the Reel Cafe in the Midtown Cinema
(and many other venues
too numerous to mention)
has met (almost) every Thursday
since April 1999.
Venues? Well,
just to name a few:
Sweet Passions, 3rd St, Harrisburg, 1999--2001
Sparky & Clarks, 2d St, Hbg. 2001--2003 Gamut Theater, Strawberry Sq. Hbg. 2004
Susquehanna Art Museum, Hbg. 2004--2007
Crimson Frog, Cedar Cliff Mall, Camp Hill, 2007--2008
Midtown Cinema. Harrisburg, 2008--2012
Midtown Scholar. Harrisburg, 2012--present |
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