Big night in the sports world as Matt Cain pitched the 22nd no hitter in MLB history. Ended up staying up until one in the morning to watch the last inning. Never seen one before. Very exciting.
R.A. Dickey of the Mets has been mowing batters down with his knuckle ball. First pitcher to reach ten wins this season. With some semblance of a middle relief staff, the Mets would be flying high instead of fighting for a wild card spot.
The Rangers FC is no more. Being sold because of tax problems and other issues involving financial malfeasance. What happens next will be another chapter in the soap opera that is Scottish soccer. Does the league vote to put the NewCo, the reorganized Rangers Football Club, in the league this coming season? Or do they vote them out, relegate them to a lower league and make them fight their way back to the top division? Needless to say, opinions are divided. Opponents of relegation say it will cripple the league financially. I say the league is already a financial mess, and with the Old Firm split, it would eventually enhance the fortunes of one or two clubs looking to finish in second place to gain play in European tournaments. Attendance figures may prove lower but I think that is a risk the league could take. The problem is television revenue. Sky may have a provision in their contract that there must be an Old Firm. Going to be very interesting to see what happens.
Last night Writers’ Block held its first qualifying slam for the Individual World Poetry Slam season. Seven poets took to the stage to start the season. I got the six slot in the first round and went with a new poem called Condom Kabuki. It’s based on a scene from a horrible film a dozen or so poets viewed last Saturday called Street Poet. I’ll probably post about the experience in a few days, it’s still sinking in, but the sex scene was excruciating and I cannot unsee it. Hence the poem, which got me the high score of the round so I got to read first in round two. Here I read gaythiest, which got a decent score, but I did not think it was good enough to keep me up top. Rose Smith scorched the stage, Alexis, Ythan, Louise and Vernell all did well. Brandon kicked ass in round one with a poem about gangsta’ Connect Four with a child.
In the end I finished in first, got the three points by .2. Rose came in second, Alexis third. The difference between first and seventh place was 1.6 points. Very tight scoring in a great slam.
Open mic was a blast. The first poet up pulled her poem out of her pack of cigarettes. That’s hardcore! Scott burned the stage with his hosting and a poem. The Suarez family represented. Jon Sands is featuring next Wednesday night. All is well.
Showing posts with label Jon Sands. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jon Sands. Show all posts
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Friday, December 23, 2011
2011, a Year in Poetry
Yes, it's just a calendar and a year ain't nothing but a number yet it's time to reflect on my year in the world of poetry.
I don't post goals, but have them in my head sometimes. Not sure what I achieved this past year. There was some good work done, I got published in the online journal The Legendary. That was a goal. It's not print, but it's closer.
The writing did not go as well this year though. I was distracted too much, not particularly focused and it showed. I can do better. Sure, the highlight was being asked by Will Evans to be on a Rust Belt slam team at the last minute. The Collective of Atticus, Ellie, Paula and myself did great, after that, what?
Finally was asked by Mark Hersman to feature at Sips Coffeehouse and did a good gig with Joe Suarez.
Was a part of the Language of Art exhibit. Again. Read at Arts Fest. Again. Is it me? Or should I be challenging myself more? Not sure if I have anything worthy of submitting for Arts Fest 2012. Am I feeling complacent, not confident or am I looking for something bigger, whatever that is?
Know what's great, going to another country where no one has heard your work so you can do some old shit. That's why reading a few poems with the Bards in the Park at Tolcross Park in Glasgow was so awesome. I could have read anything!
There was plenty of fun too, Jon Sands read my poem, the Race War reached new lows, I pulled out my guitar and played "I Do the Chet" in front of an audience, something I had never done before. Seuss lost to Silverstein and I read "The Smoke Off" as a tribute. Hearing the Humpty Dance in Italian during the Rap Lyrics Slam was one of the hottest poems of the year.
Wanted to put out another chapbook, but released a CD instead. Is this a step forward, or back?
So I'm going into another year with uncertainty about where I want to go, and a lack of confidence with what's in my backpack. I want to write better, perform better and the only way to accomplish these things is to stop farting around and do it.
And there it is. What am I missing, and what did I miss?
I don't post goals, but have them in my head sometimes. Not sure what I achieved this past year. There was some good work done, I got published in the online journal The Legendary. That was a goal. It's not print, but it's closer.
The writing did not go as well this year though. I was distracted too much, not particularly focused and it showed. I can do better. Sure, the highlight was being asked by Will Evans to be on a Rust Belt slam team at the last minute. The Collective of Atticus, Ellie, Paula and myself did great, after that, what?
Finally was asked by Mark Hersman to feature at Sips Coffeehouse and did a good gig with Joe Suarez.
Was a part of the Language of Art exhibit. Again. Read at Arts Fest. Again. Is it me? Or should I be challenging myself more? Not sure if I have anything worthy of submitting for Arts Fest 2012. Am I feeling complacent, not confident or am I looking for something bigger, whatever that is?
Know what's great, going to another country where no one has heard your work so you can do some old shit. That's why reading a few poems with the Bards in the Park at Tolcross Park in Glasgow was so awesome. I could have read anything!
There was plenty of fun too, Jon Sands read my poem, the Race War reached new lows, I pulled out my guitar and played "I Do the Chet" in front of an audience, something I had never done before. Seuss lost to Silverstein and I read "The Smoke Off" as a tribute. Hearing the Humpty Dance in Italian during the Rap Lyrics Slam was one of the hottest poems of the year.
Wanted to put out another chapbook, but released a CD instead. Is this a step forward, or back?
So I'm going into another year with uncertainty about where I want to go, and a lack of confidence with what's in my backpack. I want to write better, perform better and the only way to accomplish these things is to stop farting around and do it.
And there it is. What am I missing, and what did I miss?
Friday, November 25, 2011
You never know who will show up
When you become part of a meme, the only thing better would be to turn up as the subject of a Downfall video.
Jon Sands did a great feature Wednesday night at Writers' Block. You already knew that was going to happen.
At dinner that night, my wife an I were talking about Scott bringing up Jon to do about five encores last year, nearly killing him. She came up with the idea of Jon reading other people's poems all night. I brought this up to Scott, and he liked the idea so much he handed me a note to have one of my poems ready for Jon to read. The decision I had to make! First off, I needed a clean copy, one that was not edited or annotated since my handwriting is atrocious. Second I wanted to give him a good poem, not a raunchy piece of fluff, like the poem I read earlier in the evening. So I chose David's Rock, and Jon was a great sport.
He also did one of Hanif's poems, which was really long. So long I thought the battery in Hanif's phone would die.
Another sick night at Writers' Block.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Listen to the words
On Wednesday night, Writers' Block Poetry will be hosting Jon Sands. He's been on this blog before, and is most likely going to be on this blog in the future. Why? Because he's one of the best damn poets I've had the pleasure to know.
Sure, the video is off a blurry phone, but through the Vaseline lens, Sands' work hugs you hard. He's hard to let go of.
Here's Sands with more visual clarity.
Sands' book, The New Clean, is available at the usual places.
He will also be appearing at Writing Wrongs Open Mic in Columbus tomorrow night.
Sure, the video is off a blurry phone, but through the Vaseline lens, Sands' work hugs you hard. He's hard to let go of.
Here's Sands with more visual clarity.
Sands' book, The New Clean, is available at the usual places.
He will also be appearing at Writing Wrongs Open Mic in Columbus tomorrow night.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
A Long Post About Several Things
Been a good run these past few days. A lot of poetry, friends, and driving.
Wednesday night Kafe Kerouac was packed as the Win and You're In slam went down. Teams from Cleveland, Detroit and two from Columbus went head to head. I'm not sure about the scoring, I was busy keeping time, but Cleveland won with some solid poems.
Again, I've seen the place crowded before, with people on stage sitting, but this was a serious standing room only crowd, and it was amazing!
Friday night's First Draft had Columbus' own Rose Smith doing a feature of all new work.
A couple of powerful poems about a father trying to keep his children fed and about how Obama needs to tighten up really moved me. Great work.
I did a new piece after a one word prompt Scott Woods gave me back in November. It's called Gaythiest and I thought it went over very well.
Later the was a white guy (stay with me, there's a reason I'm calling his skin color) who none of us had never seen hanging around. He paid his admission, got on the list. When he took the stage he simply started taking, no paper, about hospitals, emergency rooms then he dropped the N-bomb. N-please to be a bit more specific. It was some weird unfunny Seinfeldian routine that ended with him saying if you say you are suicidal in a hospital emergency room you will be admitted. And he was done.
The applause was uncomfortable as he left the room. Questions were raised. He did come back, which was good considering the topic of his poem. Suicidal thoughts are not to be laughed off.
I was talking to Scott about this afterward. In my five years of going to WB I've only heard the N word a handful of times, never used by a white guy. And we talked about how WB definitely uses racial humor as part of the act, we do not do racial slurs. Big difference. You never know what the night will bring.
Also during this time we saw the film A Town Called Panic a silly animated film from Belgium. Simply put, a cowboy, Indian, and horse have an adventure. Here's a short of theirs which may, or may not explain what this is about.
It's not a long film at 75 minutes, but I giggled a lot, and that's hard for me to do these days.
Saturday was a long day. Started with me headed to the junkyard to try and harvest a couple of small parts for my car. Went into the yard with a phillips head screwdriver and hope. Took me some time to find the Subarus. Walked by the sad Volvos and a long line of damaged Beetles, which was where they were behind. Found a trashed, older Outback, there were no Legacys that I could fine, and opened the hatchback. I was looking for a clip for the curtain, which was tough to get out and a lock for the rear seat to move it up and down.
Turns out, only one of the items, the seat lock, fit.
The tragedy was that my sunglasses were missing. They clip on to my frames with magnets. I had the screwdriver and sunglasses in my inside coat pocket. Somehow, when I took the screwdriver out, the sunglasses were attached and went flying.
Went back in the Subaru area, and thanks to St. Anthony the sunglasses were right on the ground, easily seen.
After this stress it was off for coffee at Cup O' Joe in Bexley where I sat with the iPod Touch, updating and updating as Everton took Chelsea to penalties in their FA Cup match, and won! Happy morning!
After watching my son swim it was time to get the car ready for the trip to Cincinnati. This was a test for the Subaru as it was the first long drive I have taken with it.
We were joined by our friend B-Dazzle, who did a craft project with my wife during the drive down.
It was an Army of Amys and one of them stared at me the whole drive down. I think there's one left in the back of the wagon.
Out first stop was Jungle Jim's in Fairfield. We've been here before, but not B-Dazzle. Out main objective was the IRN-Bru, which was, to our delight, available in 12 packs. We bought one of those while my Scottish Wife tossed candy and crisps into the cart. I almost picked up a can of haggis.
Picked up a few beverages including, the national drink of Austria.
After Jungle Jim's it was time to head to Cincinnati proper. Thanks to B-Dazzle's GPS we arrived with little trouble.
By this time we were a bit hungry. Sure, we had plenty of IRN-Bru, but we needed hot food. The place across the street from where we parked was closed, but my wife spotted a beer light about a block away. Turns out it was a bar and grill called Arnold's.
Immediately upon entering I knew we found the right spot. Reminded me of Ulrich's and McSorley's. This was an old school place (since 1859) in a building that has been standing since 1948 and it did not disappoint. Good food, good beer and friendly service. If we're in downtown Cincinnati again, this is the place to go.
We walked the two blocks to the Blue Wisp for the other reason for the road trip, the Whirlwind Company, Brisn S. David, Mike McGee, Mindy Nettifee and Jon Sands, a group of touring poets.
We immediately met three other Columbus poets who made the trip down and Jon Sands. Jon took a table from the back of the room and moved it to the front, which was where we sat the rest of the night. Great people, great poetry family.
I had never heard of Mindy before this tour and was completely gobsmacked by a poem she wrote about her father called Tremelo. I do not buy as much merchandise as I should, but I bought the book the poem is in.
It was good to meet Brian and Mindy and reconnect with Mike (who I had not seen since Berkeley) and Jon. On the drive home under an extremely bright moon I thought how lucky I am to have such great, talented friends, and to be a small part of the poetry community locally and nationally.
Wednesday night Kafe Kerouac was packed as the Win and You're In slam went down. Teams from Cleveland, Detroit and two from Columbus went head to head. I'm not sure about the scoring, I was busy keeping time, but Cleveland won with some solid poems.
Again, I've seen the place crowded before, with people on stage sitting, but this was a serious standing room only crowd, and it was amazing!
Friday night's First Draft had Columbus' own Rose Smith doing a feature of all new work.
A couple of powerful poems about a father trying to keep his children fed and about how Obama needs to tighten up really moved me. Great work.
I did a new piece after a one word prompt Scott Woods gave me back in November. It's called Gaythiest and I thought it went over very well.
Later the was a white guy (stay with me, there's a reason I'm calling his skin color) who none of us had never seen hanging around. He paid his admission, got on the list. When he took the stage he simply started taking, no paper, about hospitals, emergency rooms then he dropped the N-bomb. N-please to be a bit more specific. It was some weird unfunny Seinfeldian routine that ended with him saying if you say you are suicidal in a hospital emergency room you will be admitted. And he was done.
The applause was uncomfortable as he left the room. Questions were raised. He did come back, which was good considering the topic of his poem. Suicidal thoughts are not to be laughed off.
I was talking to Scott about this afterward. In my five years of going to WB I've only heard the N word a handful of times, never used by a white guy. And we talked about how WB definitely uses racial humor as part of the act, we do not do racial slurs. Big difference. You never know what the night will bring.
Also during this time we saw the film A Town Called Panic a silly animated film from Belgium. Simply put, a cowboy, Indian, and horse have an adventure. Here's a short of theirs which may, or may not explain what this is about.
It's not a long film at 75 minutes, but I giggled a lot, and that's hard for me to do these days.
Saturday was a long day. Started with me headed to the junkyard to try and harvest a couple of small parts for my car. Went into the yard with a phillips head screwdriver and hope. Took me some time to find the Subarus. Walked by the sad Volvos and a long line of damaged Beetles, which was where they were behind. Found a trashed, older Outback, there were no Legacys that I could fine, and opened the hatchback. I was looking for a clip for the curtain, which was tough to get out and a lock for the rear seat to move it up and down.
Turns out, only one of the items, the seat lock, fit.
The tragedy was that my sunglasses were missing. They clip on to my frames with magnets. I had the screwdriver and sunglasses in my inside coat pocket. Somehow, when I took the screwdriver out, the sunglasses were attached and went flying.
Went back in the Subaru area, and thanks to St. Anthony the sunglasses were right on the ground, easily seen.
After this stress it was off for coffee at Cup O' Joe in Bexley where I sat with the iPod Touch, updating and updating as Everton took Chelsea to penalties in their FA Cup match, and won! Happy morning!
After watching my son swim it was time to get the car ready for the trip to Cincinnati. This was a test for the Subaru as it was the first long drive I have taken with it.
We were joined by our friend B-Dazzle, who did a craft project with my wife during the drive down.
It was an Army of Amys and one of them stared at me the whole drive down. I think there's one left in the back of the wagon.
Out first stop was Jungle Jim's in Fairfield. We've been here before, but not B-Dazzle. Out main objective was the IRN-Bru, which was, to our delight, available in 12 packs. We bought one of those while my Scottish Wife tossed candy and crisps into the cart. I almost picked up a can of haggis.
Picked up a few beverages including, the national drink of Austria.
After Jungle Jim's it was time to head to Cincinnati proper. Thanks to B-Dazzle's GPS we arrived with little trouble.
By this time we were a bit hungry. Sure, we had plenty of IRN-Bru, but we needed hot food. The place across the street from where we parked was closed, but my wife spotted a beer light about a block away. Turns out it was a bar and grill called Arnold's.
Immediately upon entering I knew we found the right spot. Reminded me of Ulrich's and McSorley's. This was an old school place (since 1859) in a building that has been standing since 1948 and it did not disappoint. Good food, good beer and friendly service. If we're in downtown Cincinnati again, this is the place to go.
We walked the two blocks to the Blue Wisp for the other reason for the road trip, the Whirlwind Company, Brisn S. David, Mike McGee, Mindy Nettifee and Jon Sands, a group of touring poets.
We immediately met three other Columbus poets who made the trip down and Jon Sands. Jon took a table from the back of the room and moved it to the front, which was where we sat the rest of the night. Great people, great poetry family.
I had never heard of Mindy before this tour and was completely gobsmacked by a poem she wrote about her father called Tremelo. I do not buy as much merchandise as I should, but I bought the book the poem is in.
It was good to meet Brian and Mindy and reconnect with Mike (who I had not seen since Berkeley) and Jon. On the drive home under an extremely bright moon I thought how lucky I am to have such great, talented friends, and to be a small part of the poetry community locally and nationally.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
What if I shit on a Bird?
Jon Sands was the feature at Writers Block last night and Scott Woods kept making him read. Finally, he did the poem above. Dude's amazing.
His first non-chapbook will be published by Write Bloody Press in February.
Jon is also a Pop Up Poet.
This is art, love and poetry.
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