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"The Word" by Doug Holder
May 2008 |
Well Anne Elizabeth Tom, the new head of the Cape Cod Writers Center, has finished booking and planning their annual conference in August. Go to their website to see what the program includes. Mark Pawlak, Gloria Mindock and yours truly Doug Holder will be on the panel titled: “Demystifying the Small Press.” Still no word on the Somerville Poet Laureate. Boston’s got its Cornish, Cambridge has its Payack, and Somerville has its??? The Word brought it up with Somerville alderman Bob Trane, and hopefully the Trane is on track pushing this through…will keep you posted. Boston –area vocalist/poet Jennifer Matthews is leaving the area for good (along with her manager & BGG creator Rose Gardina) for the wilds of Alaska and the greener pastures of Europe. The Word has it that she plans to eventually settle in the West…so as Bob Dylan sang “ When your rooster crows at the break of dawn, look out your window and I’ll be gone…” Good luck! Little did Tim Gager know that when he secured the services of novelist Junot Diaz for The Somerville News Writers Festival that Diaz would win the Pulitzer Prize. Well he did…stay tuned for November. See you next month… Doug Holder
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This
young buck is Doug at 23 !
April 2008 At the Newton Free Library annual poetry festival the readers will be Freddie Frankel, Robert K. Johnson, and Deborah DeNicola. It starts at 7PM, April 8, 330 Homer St.,Newton Free Library, Newton, Mass.Cambridge poet Philip Burnham Jr. will have a poem read from his collection “Housekeeping” ( Ibbetson Street”) on the Writer’s Almanac on NPR April, 4. This is a national broadcast. Congrats Philip! Well Bagel Bard Anne Elizabeth Tom is the new director of the Cape Cod Writers Center. Anne tells me she has lined up the creative writing head at Emerson College in Boston, Dan Tobin as poet –in-residence. THE WORD will be out at the center in August as part of a small press panel. Tim Gager, co-founder of the Somerville News Writers Festival has secured Junot Diaz as the featured reader in next November’s fest. Keep tuned on this one folks!
Ibbetson poet Jennifer
Matthews is back from her Italy tour, and she tells me that a publisher
in that boot-shaped land wants to translate her Ibbetson poetry collection
“Fairytales and Misdemeanors.” I think that “translates”
into pretty damn-good news for THE WORD recently suggested to Somerville alderman Robert Trane that he consider a Poet Laureate position for Somerville. I am told that Mayor Curatone fully supports the idea, and Trane has brought it up at the latest board meeting. My editor at The Somerville News was at the meeting and he opined that it has a good chance. Of course funding in these lean times are always a problem. Meanwhile, my pal poet Harris Gardner invited me to the Parkman House in Boston for a reception for Sam Cornish, the new Poet/Laureate of Boston. Gardner was on the committee that selected Cornish. Hey, it was nice affair: good grub, witty conversation, Mayor Menino in attendance, and all those players on the Boston-area poetry scene. Well Timothy Gager and The Word have been working feverishly on the next Somerville News Writers Festival. http://somervillenewswriterfestival.com So far we secured; Junot Diaz, Marty Beckerman, Dan Tobin, Meg Kearney, Steve Almond, Afaa Michael Weaver, Tino Villanueva…stay tuned. THE WORD
is proud to say it will be the featured poet in the journal of the groundbreaking
avant-garde PRESA PRESS. “Presa” (the journal) And Poesy magazine (http://www.poesy.org) will be out online and hopefully in print this month. Harris Gardner, the impresario of the Boston poetry scene will be a featured subject of an interview by THE WORD. I am told the new edition will be perfect bound. Well, that’s just perfect.
Up until this December (2007) I had never been overseas. I’m not a kid. At 52, I have arrived at the second half of the roller coaster ride, or as Camus put it by now I am “responsible for my own face.” I have never been the adventurous type. I have been content to travel back and forth to my ancestral grounds of New York City, or to my favorite isle in Maine, or perhaps the rare trip to the heat and swamps of Florida to visit an old friend. I was well traveled in Somerville of course: from the tony environs of Davis Square to the hinterlands of Sullivan Square. But when I had the offer to judge the “International Reuben Rose Poetry Award” sponsored by the “Voices Israel” literary organization, and to travel to Israel to run workshops and read from my own work, I was like a dog on a meat truck. I knew my time for travel had finally arrived. Mind you, for my maiden voyage, I was not traveling to a relatively benign England or France; I was heading to a part of the world that has seen its share of strife. But I never really had any doubts that I would undertake the trip, and I am glad that I did. Say what you will about Israel’s foreign policy, it is none-the-less
surrounded by countries hostile to its existence. Traveling the country
from the mountains in the north, to the south and the Mediterranean
Sea, there is a strong sense of a country under a siege. Soldiers, young
women and men, with M-16s slung over their shoulders are a ubiquitous
sight. Conducting workshops in Haifa, Tel Aviv, and Jerusalem, it seemed
that everybody had been intimately and recently affected by violence.
I often stayed in homes or apartments complexes that were hit by SCUD
missiles in the last Lebanese incursion. Security checks are common
in restaurants and shops. But in spite of this the people I met were
vibrant and alive. Mike Scheidemann, the president of Voices, and one of the co-founders of the “World Congress of Poets,” sponsored by UNESCO, ferried me to many of my destinations, and I stayed on the kibbutz he resides in called "Yizre'el." "Yizre'el" is located about 60 miles outside of Tel Aviv. A kibbutz is an Israeli collective community. It combines socialism and Zionism in the form of practical Labor Zionism. The original kibbutzim developed as a pure communal mode of living. "Yizre'el" is one of the last purely socialist kibbutzim. I ate some of my meals in the communal dining hall. The food was nothing fancy, but they had excellent produce, sardines, eggs, etc… A lot of their food is grown on their own farm. I was also told the kibbutz has its own fish farms, and produces internationally acclaimed pool filtration equipment in their factory. Schiedman told me that everyone on the kibbutz has their own house, everyone from plant manager to dishwasher gets the same pay, and they all share a small fleet of communal cars. Each resident is required to have some type of job in this community. Later in the trip I stayed in Metula, the most northern city in Israel. Metula is right next to the Lebanon border, and the town was hit over 100 times by SCUD missiles during the Lebanese incursion. I stayed in the home of Helen Bar-Lev and Johnmichael Simon. Bar Lev is a well-respected landscape painter in Israel and abroad. She used to own a successful art gallery in Jerusalem. She is the current editor- in -chief of the “Voices Israel” anthology. Her partner, John Michael Simon is a published poet, and a collaborator with her in many projects. Recently Bar Lev and Simon published a poetry collection “Cyclamens and Swords” with the Ibbetson Street Press. There was an informal poetry workshop at their home. It included a female Rabbi, an art therapist, and an English teacher—in short an interesting mix. Like all the workshops I ran I found the participants as passionate about their poetry as they were about their politics. Being the urban and hopefully urbane man that I am, I was anxious for more of a taste of the cities. One night I stayed at the home of Voices members Susan and Richard Rosenberg who have an apartment in Haifa. Susan is the secretary of the Voices organization. It is situated high up on a hill above the city, with a striking view of the Mediterranean. Wendy Blumfield, a journalist with the Jerusalem Post, and her husband David, were my guides around the city the next day. They showed me the old Arab Quarter, and the Jewish section that was peopled with many Hasidic Jews in full traditional garb. Haifa is the third largest city in Israel. It is situated in the Carmel Mountains, and it has a terraced landscape with some breathtaking panoramas of the sea and the city. I had the chance to see the Bahai Shrine—a golden-domed spiritual center for the Bahai religion. The Bahai Garden around it is artfully manicured, making a striking picture for a legion of tourists’ cameras. From Haifa the Rosenburgs escorted me by train to Tel Aviv. I had judged the “Voices” poetry competition so I was expected to help present awards, make a speech, and read from my own work at a venue in the city. Tel Aviv is the second most populated city in Israel after Jerusalem. It is located on the Mediterranean coastline. As we took a cab and traversed the downtown I got the impression of a sleek, modern city with little of the traditional trappings of Haifa. The award ceremony was held at the ZOA House. ZOA House was founded in the 1950’s. by the Zionist Organization of America. It has established itself as a cultural center for the city that operates 24 hours a day. In this center there are three auditoriums for theatre performance, a movie theatre, workshop, course facilities, an art gallery, etc…The ceremony took place in of all places “Douglas Hall” and was well-attended. The award-winning poets Zvi Sessling and Celia Merlin were announced and Merlin read from her work. The honorable mentions also read from their selected poems.
The Hotel I was staying at was named the “Residence Hotel” It overlooked the beach, and my room had a tremendous view of the ocean. I ran two workshops at the hotel during Friday and Saturday. In attendance were a number of fine poets from Voices, many of whom won awards and honorable mention in the contest, including Celia Merlin the author of the second prize-winning poem: “Paris Unsaid.” It turned out that Celia’s sister Peri works at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass., the very place I have worked at for the past 25 years. I used to work with Celia’s sister in the early 80’s, on the inpatient ward of McLean; which is world-renowned psychiatric hospital outside of Boston. For you poetry aficionados out there Robert Lowell, Sylvia Plath, and Anne Sexton, were all hospitalized at the hospital at one point. Sexton was most noted for the poetry workshops she ran at the hospital. Other poets in attendance at the workshop were Donna Bechar (who grew up in a neighboring town on Long Island, NY around the same time I did), Rena Nevon, who won a record of four honorable mentions in this year’s contest, and noted literary critic, Saul Bellow scholar, and peace activist Ada Aharoni. Aharoni, 74, has taught Comparative Literature at Haifa University, and she founded the group: “ The International Forum For Literature and Peace” of which she still is president. Also in the workshop was actor/poet Amiel Schotz, who wrote a groundbreaking book for theatre training: “Theatre Games and Beyond: A Creative Approach for Young Performers.” Dara Baranat, a poet and faculty member of the English and American Studies Department at Tel Aviv University where she teaches creative writing and poetry was also an active participant. I had my fears traveling across the world to the Middle East, especially in these troubling times, but I faced them. I was challenged on many fronts: the jam-packed schedule, finding relevant and helpful things to say about scores of work-shopped poems, and dealing with an unfamiliar culture and environment. But I am glad to say I have arrived back at my usual seat at the Sherman Café (and occasionally Bloc 11) in Somerville in one piece, and I am a much better man for the experience. December 2007 Well, the Somerville News Writers Festival was a hit. To see the pictures
of this year’s festival go to:
somervillenewswritersfestival.com November 2007 The Word was sorry to hear that Jimmy Tingle’s Off Broadway Theatre is closing November 1. A lot of great shows were staged there, and I had the pleasure to review more than a few. “Inflorescence” a poetry collection by the late poet Sarah
Hannah is out from the Tupelo Press. Lo Galluccio will be reading
a selection of Hannah’s poetry, as well as her own work, at the
Somerville News Writers Festival
, Nov. 11, 7PM at the VFW Hall, 371 Summer St. Davis Square, Somerville. We are anxiously awaiting the debut of “Eden Waters” a new yearly anthology published by Bagel Bard Anne Brudevold. Keep tuned. Speaking of Bagel Bards, that Somerville/Cambridge band of poets and writers; it seems that five members are among the nominees for the Cambridge Populist Poet position! And did you know that Somerville poet and Bagel Bard member Afaa Michael Weaver was featured in the current issue of Poets and Writers? His thoughtful mug is graced on the front of the said magazine. Weaver has recently released a new poetry collection: “ Plum Flower Dance.” (U Pitt Press) I am proud to announce that I am traveling to Israel to judge the Rueben Rose Poetry Award for the “Voices Israel” literary group. I will be running workshops, and doing a few readings in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. I am very excited about it all. October 2007 I got an email from poet Robin Clarke who runs a new poetry venue in West Dennis, on the Cape. Named the “Poetry Session,” it is housed at O’Shea’s Olde Inn. It meets the third Thursday of every month from 7 to 9PM. Open mic, music features. I hear the likes of Richard Cambridge, Valerie Lawson and others have read out there. I will be reading out there Nov. 15. Speaking of a new poetry series; I hear that Gloria Mindock’s “Cervena Barva Press” reading series at the Pierre Menard Gallery 10 Arrow St. Harvard Square was a hit, Sept. 19. The readers were Lucille Lang Day, Diana Der-Hovanessian, and F.D. Reeve. I heard that my dear old friend David Slavitt was in the audience. How I miss him! The next reading will be Oct. 17. The featured readers: John Minczeski, Mark Pawlak, and Susan Tepper. Starts at 7 PM …wine and chesses and stuff follows… See you there! September 2007 August 2007 Did you know the founder of Stone Soup Poets Jack Powers will be turning 70? Well there is going to be a party for him Sept 15 at 5PM at the International Community Church in Allston, 30 Gordon St. Email me for details: ibbetsonpress@gmail.com Although not formally known as a poet, The Word” was sorry to hear that “Mr. Butch” a beloved street figure in the Hub (mostly between Kenmore Square and Allston/Brighton) passed away at the age of 56 in a motor scooter accident. Butch was known to spouts bits of verse and wisdom over the years, and “The Word” will miss him. And “The Word” has heard that Linda Larsen former editor of Spare Change News will be releasing a book of poetry this summer from a local press. Poet Anne Brudevold, has a new baby, and she named it the “Eden Waters Press." The first issue is due out this fall. And do you have a book project in mind? My good friend Steve Glines has started a new agency that may be just the thing the doctor ordered. ISCS PRESS http://www.iscspress.comCheck them out! July 2007 I was asked to participate in a small press publishing panel at U/Mass Boston, as part of the William Joiner Writers’ Workshop last month. On the panel were Mark Pawlak (Hanging Loose Press), Sara Burke (Peacework), and others… I also attended a panel on politics and publishing at the Center and chatted with Lady Borton, the noted translator. She tells me that she has a book she edited of Vietnamese poetry titled “Defiant Muse” coming out from the Feminist Press. “The Word” has it that Cynthia Brackett Vincent publisher of the “Aurorean” is editing an anthology: “Words&Images of Belonging,” and she is looking for submissions. Email her for details: cafpoet37@encirclepublications.com The Ibbetson Street Press http://ibbetsonpress@msn.com has had a flurry of new releases including poetry collections from Wilderness House Literary Review http://www.whlreview.com poetry editor Irene Koronas, not to mention Emerson College prof. Abbott Ikeler, and rumor has it that Robert K. Johnson (submission editor for the Ibbetson Street Press), and Linda Larsen (former editor of Spare Change News) will have releases later this summer. June 2007 Jack Powers, founder of "Stone Soup Poets" (1971) is celebrating
his 70th Sad News. "The Middlesex Beat" a magazine for the arts that
I wrote for Cambridge, Mass. poet Lo Galluccio got a glowing front page review for her book "Poems for Dave Tronzo," in Len Fulton's "Small Press Review.' Way to go Lo. "The Word's" good friend Beth Purcell, PR Guru for the Newton
Free Library May 2007 Also sharing the bill is Hudost... an 'Alternative World Music' ensemble with Moksha Somers on Lead Vocal, Harmonium and Jemal Wade on Gtrs & Mandolin... Hudost music ranges in style from Alternative World to their own 'Country and Eastern' Fusion - a blending of traditional Sufi Music, Bulgarian & Balkan Translations, Turkish, Arabic, Folk, Pop and Southern Gospel. Get tickets at the door or e-mail jennifer@jennifermatthews.com Yes, it is true; Robert Pinsky former poet/laureate
of the United States has Rumor has it that Cambridge poet Douglas Worth has
agreed to edit Somerville The Bagel Bards, that band of bagel- chomping poets and writers will
be reading at the Somerville Museum June 23 from 3 to 5 PM, as part
of the "Imagining Somerville" extravaganza. Ed Galing, that soon -to-be ninety year old poet/laureate of Hatboro, PA. has not slowed down a bit, and is getting published in every nook and cranny of the small press. An inspiration to us all! April 2007 Harris Gardner's brainchild "The Boston National Poetry Month
Festival" will be held at the Boston Public Library (Copley Square)
April 14 to 15 this year. Go to On a personal note: yours truly will have two new poetry collections
released by two cutting-edge Somerville presses titled " No One
Dies at the Au Bon Pain" Somerville poet Afaa Michael Weaver had two poems in what some would
call the most prestigious poetry magazine in the country "Poetry"
He also made the front March 2007 what comes around goes around. The “Celebration of Somerville’s Small Presses” played to a packed house at Richard Cambridge’s Poets Theatre at Club Passim in Harvard Square. Special thanks to Dave McNamara of sunnyoutside press, Gloria Mindock of Cervena Barva Press, and Lo Galluccio for making this possible. “The Word” has it that Lo Galluccio has signed a contract for a new poetry collection to be published in 2008 from the Cervena Barva Press in Somerville, Mass. I hear the Diesel Cafe in Davis Square, Somerville is going to put up a new branch in Union Square, Somerville…and folks there is going to be poetry there…I’ll keep you posted. The Somerville News and Poetry Series headed by singer/songwriter Lisa Locke is a hit, with packed crowds, at that fine independent bookstore” Porter Square Books,”portersquarebooks.com in Cambridge. It meets the first Sunday of every month from 3 to 5PM. Open Mic included. This month’s featured poet is Valerie Lawson—who has a new book out.
February 2007 And in “The Word’s” mailbox—a beautifully illustrated book by Cambridge resident Andre B. Toth, with writings by Julia H. Low. The introduction reads: “This little book is dedicated to the residents and friends of the City of Cambridge.” Want a copy? Contact: juliahlow@yahoo.com I was at my usual seat at my old haunt in Union Square, Somerville “Sherman” Café (they have a wonderful oatmeal scone-folks.), where I talked with Mike O’Connell, the curator of the Somerville Museum. Mike’s last brainchild is “Imagining Somerville: Discovering A City Through Art,” a collaborative effort from artists of many mediums to present works that will hopefully influence the way Somerville is perceived and defined. There is going to be a poetry and writing component to this… “The Word” will keep you posted. Harris Gardner is working feverishly on the “Boston National Poetry Festival” scheduled for April 2007 at the Boston Public Library tapestryofvoices.com “The Word” will be there and will read there. Also Tim Gager and yours truly will be meeting with the powers-that-be
at “The Somerville News”
thesomervillenews.com to plan yet another “Somerville
News Writers Festival” slated for next November. January 2007 Poet/Vocalist Jennifer Matthews tells me she's got a gig with the original founding member of the J. Giles band "Danny Klein & Friends" in June. Stay tuned for that one! Get her current schedule @ myspace.com/jennifermatthews And Lo Gallucio, poetry editor "The Alewife" has a memoir she's shopping around titled: "Birdman" I read it and it rocks! You can read an excerpt on my literary blog: doughholder.blogspot I have been told that U/Mass Boston is opening a creative writing MFA program, to be headed by poet Joyce Peseroff. Oh did you read Alex Beam's column the other day about poet/translator David Slavitt? Seems that Beam is of the opinion that Dave is a pornographer as well. Dave you are so eclectic! December 2006 I am proud to report that my article on 89 year old Hatboro, PA. Poet Laureate Ed Galing, will be in “Rattle” magazine this month. Galing puts us youngsters to shame, and is still writing up a storm. He calls me almost everyday with his latest publication credits. The December issue of “Rattle” will be dedicated to poets of the “Greatest Generation.” (World War ll era) A few folks around the area and my little circle have been nominated for that coveted small press award the “Pushcart.” On my list are: Lo Galluccio (Poet and Cambridge Alewife columnist), Ibbetson Street Press art/editor Richard Wilhelm, Emerson College professor Sarah Hannah, and Spare Change Poetry editor, Marc Goldfinger. Deb Priestly’s popular "Open Bark” poetry series at the “Out of the Blue Art Gallery,” in Cambridge, is now presenting features, and who is booking them?... Bagel Bard poet Mike Adamo, that’s who! Speaking of the “Bagel Bards,” they are rather nomadic these days—splitting their time between the Au Bon Pain in Davis Square and the Au Bon Pain in Central Square. (I’m talking Somerville, Cambridge respectively). Jan Gardner of the “Boston Globe” calls them “the moveable feast,” and “poetry in motion.” For more info about the Bards call 617-628-2313. November 2006 Rumors abound: Somerville’s independent press “sunnyoutside,” is pondering publishing an encyclopedia of Somerville, Mass. You never know what Dave McNamara, the founder, is up to next! While sipping my java at the Diesel Café in Davis Square, Somerville I noticed this popular spot is putting out their own lit mag “Work.” The “Word” has it that they will take some submits from folks other than their employees. Send your literary works to: info@ diesel-café.com And my friend and founder of the Cervena Barva Press in Somerville, Gloria Mindock is opening an online bookstore the “Lost Bookshelf” that I encourage all you poets and writers out there to send your books to. For more info go to: http://www.cervenabarvapress.com. October 2006 A couple of years ago I was a visiting poet at Endicott College in Beverly, Mass. Well, I noticed in my dog-eared copy of “The Best American Poetry: 2006” that a poem from the “Endicott Review” was selected. Congrats to Dan Sklar the Creative Writing head. The word has it he is starting a new MFA program out there. The next reading at the Newton Free Library will feature poet and songster Lo Galluccio (“Hot Rain”) http://logalluccio.com, Jean Monahan http://jeanmonahan.com, and Richard Cambridge. Jean has a new book out the “Mauled Illusionist,” and Richard is the curator of the “Poet’s Theatre” at Club Passim in Harvard Square. By-the-way former poet/laureate Robert Pinsky phoned me at home to graciously bow out of the Somerville News Writers Festival. ( Nov. 12 Jimmy Tingle’s Off Broadway Theatre—Davis Square) http://somervillenewswritersfestival.com However David R. Godine, legendary Boston small press publisher and new owner of the famed “Black Sparrow Press” imprint, will be around to accept the Ibbetson Street Lifetime Achievement Award. I just interviewed local poet and songwriter Lisa Locke http://www.lisalocke.net . She’s slated to take over the “Somerville News Poetry and Music Series” from Chiemi in November, and move it from the Tir Na Nog to the Porter Square Bookstore. http://portersquarebooks.com. September 2006 The Mad Poets Café at the Warwick Rhode Island Art Museum had its final event in August with readers Timothy Gager and yours truly. There is a rumor, well, isn't there always one or two floating around?. that the Somerville News Poetry and Music Series is heading for Porter Square Books in the Fall, with a new host.stay tuned! I met with visiting Israel poet, and "Voices Israel" editor
Helen Bar Lev at my favorite haunt in Brookline, Mass. Zaftig's ( they
make a mean bagel and lox), and she tells me she is working on a manuscript
of poems about her said country along with her stunning illustrations.
she gave me a peek. Ran into an old publisher/friend of mine Diana Saenz of http://www.bostonpoet.com
fame. She August 2006 Well…I was in contact with former poet/laureate Robert Pinsky, and he looks like a good bet to be at the The Somerville News Writers Festival this November to receive the Ibbetson Street Press Lifetime Achievement Award…somervillenewswritersfestival.com Hard to believe, but I ventured out from the safe environs of my native Somerville recently to go to Watertown Community Access TV to take part in the filming of a documentary based on local writer Susie Davidson’s Holocaust anthology “I Refused to Die…” http://www.irefusedtodie.com I am told the film should be out in a few weeks…”The Word” will keep you posted… Somerville poets Alex Kern and Bert Stern are making a few waves…. Seems that Kern has edited an anthology of spiritual poetry and prose by twenty and thirty-somethings, and he calls the collection “Becoming Fire…” Bert Stern knows that old age isn’t for sissies, so he has become involved in a new venture “Off the Grid Press” that published poetry books by writers over sixty…you’ll have to wait your turn kiddies! http://offthegridpress.net Oh…by-the-way at the Au Bon Pain in Davis Square, in Somerville Mass. the “Bagel Bards” are baking in the summer sun, and talking about poetry and other such stuff every Saturday morning starting at 9AM…come and go whenever you want… Louisa Solano, former owner of Harvard Square famed Grolier Poetry
Book Shop is slated to be the luncheon guest at the “Wilderness
House Literary Retreat” Aug. 5, in Littleton, Mass. The retreat
was founded by Steve Glines…want to find out more? …go to
http://www.wildernesshouse.org... July 2006
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