Open Mic/Emerging Poets Series
Program Director: Maria Villafranca
Launched in July 2004, Dactyl Foundation's Open Mic/Emerging Poets reading series brings together Dactyl's established poets and New York's emerging ones. There is a reading every month, email registration. For further information or to join the mailing list please contact Maria Villafranca at maria@dactyl.org.
NEXT READING:
To Be Announced.
PAST READINGS :
June 9, 2007. Readers: Lucia Cammarata, Judie David, Ice, Andrew Aaron, Robert Siek, Kevin O'Sullivan, Kevin Estrada, Gus Iversen, Phil Radiotes and Andy Tran.
May 6, 2007. Readers: Tom Oleszczuk, Karl Lorenzen, Richard Fein, Van Hartmann, Alkamal, Lucia Cammarata, Laurel Peterson, Debra R. Andrews.
July 29, 2006. Two Year Anniversary Party & Reading featuring Jason Schneiderman
Jason Schneiderman is the author of Sublimation Point, a Stahlecker Selection from Four Way Books (2004). His poems and essays have appeared in numerous publications including Teachers & Writers, Tin House, Grand Street, American Poetry Review, Best American Poetry, and The Poetry Book of the Sonnet. He has received fellowships from The Corporation of Yaddo, The Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, and The Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference. A Chancellor’s Fellow at the City University of New York’s Graduate Center, he teaches creative writing for the Gotham Writers Workshop and literature at Hunter College.Moscow by Jason Schneiderman
For a while I was alone,
so I dated whoever’s work I was reading,
but the relationships always ended badly.
I wasn’t smart enough for Wayne,
I wasn’t caustic enough for David.
Kevin & I were doing well,
but then I met his real boyfriend,
and it turns out I’m not his type.
Sometimes I broke it off.
Jean got to be too depressing.
Fyoder was a bad provider.
After Franz, I started dating myself,
and that was nice. Of course, then I met you
and I had to stop being the man in my life.
I miss me sometimes, but we’ll always have Moscow.
June 24, 2006. Featuring Richard Jeffrey Newman
Richard Jeffrey Newman, a poet, essayist and translator, is the author of The Silence Of Men (CavanKerry Press, 2006), a book of his own poetry, and two books of translations from classical Persian literature, Selections from Saadi’s Gulistan and Selections from Saadi’s Bustan (both from Global Scholarly Publications, 2004 and 2006 respectively). Richard Jeffrey Newman sits on the advisory board of The Translation Project and is listed as a speaker with the New York Council for the Humanities. He is an Associate Professor in the English Department at Nassau Community College in Garden City, New York.Like Wet Clay On A Wheel by Richard Jeffrey Newman
She leaned into his hands and he took her,
kneading her back on the bench next to mine
in the weekend chaos of Washington
Square Park, where I sat trying to let go
of what I couldn’t help but hold; and when
his touch pulled her gaze up out of herself
and chance turned it towards mine, I saw
in her eyes how much I wanted to be
beneath hands like his, that knew which muscle
held my tears, and how much pressure would be
permission to let them go. Today, I woke
for the first time since we buried him
wanting my brother alive: someone to tell
I’ve made it this far, who won’t ask From where?
May 21, 2006. Featuring Timothy Liu. Readers: Gail Stoughton, Lucia Cammarata, Loren Kidd, Jonathan Coppola, Woody Loverude, John Findura, Tom Oleszczuk, Heller Levinson, Richard Jeffrey Newman, Karl Lorenzen, Frederick Speers, Linda Tieber, ice, Milan, Jason Fleeting, Viviana Gorell and Nelson Chimilio. THE DESERT FATHERS by Timothy Liu Singing hymns which had more scope
February 25, 2006. January 21, 2006. December 13, 2005.
November 12, 2005.
October 21, 2005. Featuring Peter Covino & Jerry Williams September 10, 2005. One Year Anniversary Party & Reading. August 4, 2005. Readers: Ilene Starger, Patricia Carragon, G. Emil Reutter, Karl Lorenzen, Albert Depas, Marjorie, Jane Ormerod, Alexis Beeth, Richard Fein, Debra R. Andrews, Frederick Speers and Kevin Barden.
June 4, 2005.
May 14, 2005. Featuring Richard Jeffrey Newman. Readers: Debra Andrews, A. K. Allin, Todd Cincala, Patricia Carragon, Tom Oleszczuk, Ilene Starger, Peter Emile, Jane Ormerod, Richard Fein, Ice. Home by Richard Jeffrey Newman You come to my room left for you to find Stretching the sleep there's nothing underneath when I stood frozen he was inside you, singular I wanted, becomes my home. past the small cafe and here you are, and what is waiting With your hands, you show me part with my tongue house, were suddenly mine tight against this moment almost ended What would you change? I could live here. turn the clock April 21, 2005.Readers: Ilene Starger, Patricia Carragon, Richard Fein, Karl Lorenzen, Iris Berman
March 26, 2005.Readers: Rich Newman, Peter Emile, Patricia Carragon, Jane Ormerod, Ilene Starger,Richard Fein, Ondi Mcmaster, George Paterson, Ice, Deborah Asch, Lourdes Vazquez and Debra Andrews. February 17, 2005. Readers: Joel Allegretti, Debra Andrews, Deanna Barillari, Peter Emile, Richard Fein, Douglas Korb, Karl Lorenzen, Albert Min, Robert Siek, Ilene Starger and Nate Stengrevics. Ferris Wheel, 1966 by Ilene Starger Asleep by day, a steel colossus;
Coupled behind the safety bar,
You would leave us soon.
I saw it in the distance, asterisked,
The Wheel’s gears, jittery, groaned; Another century; starred
A New York City resident, Ilene Starger is working on her first collection of poems. Her poetry has appeared in Bayou and Oyez Review, and will appear in upcoming issues of The Georgetown Review and Paper Street. She received an Honorable Mention in the 2004 Ann Stanford Prize sponsored by the Southern California Anthology, and was a semi-finalist in the most recent New Millennium Writings Competition. For two decades, she has been a casting director for film and theater, and is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. January 22, 2005. Featuring poet Lance Phillips.
November 11, 2004. Readers: Alexis Beeth, Peter Carravetta, Rich Newman, Jane Ormerod, Maya Pindyck, Ilene Starger and Brian Unger. August 19, 2004. Readers: Debra R. Andrews, Joselyn Almeida Beveridge, Todd Cincala, Geoffrey Cruickshank-Hagenbuckle, Christian Georgesco, Justin Lacour, Karl Lorenzen, Steven Matrick, Rich Newman, Jane Ormerod, Margarita Shalina, Robert Siek and Ilene Starger. July 15, 2004. Readers: Debra R. Andrews, Peter Covino, Richard Fein, Joel Gold, Rene N. Hargrove, Justin Lacour, Timothy Liu, Rich Newman, Jane Ormerod, Laura Rothenberg, Robert Siek, Ilene Starger and Celest Woo.
Timothy Liu is the author of six books of poems, most recently For Dust Thou Art (Southern Illinois University Press, 2005). His poems have been translated into seven languages, and his journals and papers are archived in the Berg Collection at the New York Public Library. He is an Associate Professor of English at William Paterson University and a member of the Core Faculty in Bennington College's Graduate Writing Seminars.
than a one kiloton nuke. Thirteen million
dead from AIDS—the life expectancy
in Botswana less than forty years of age.
Wiping out an entire nation. Not for lack
of drugs had we come for this: emotion-
laden buggery levied against God’s word—
a world at odds with a go-as-you-please
self-serving style, the sacred rendered
void. As meanings can be mean, choose
ye this day windfall hopes proscribed
in medias res—cadential points cobbled
together for emotional effect—jazzed-up
jihad mufti muzaked through the roof.
Readers: Timothy Liu, Patricia Carragon, Emily Candace Shaw, Debra R. Andrews, Todd Cincala, Jessie Male and Nicole Spector.
Readers: Tom Oleszczuk, Patricia Carragon, Christian Georgesco, Bob Rainey, Debra R. Andrews, Todd Cincala, Richard Jeffrey Newman, Nelson Chimilio, Aglaia Davis, Iris Berman, Miriam Hartstein, Carrie Tocci and Nicole Salis.
Readers: Lucia Cammarata, Debra R. Andrews, Peter Emile, Patricia Carragon, Mary Beth Shanahan, Todd Cincala, Kevin Estrada, Mary Kelly, Umoja, Glen River, Bob Rainey, Miriam Hartstein and Jennifer Burch.
Readers: Deborah Asch, Emily Candace Shaw, Robert Siek, Todd Cincala, Idalmis Toro, Karen Delasala, G Emil Reutter, David Curzon and Glen River.
Peter Covino's new book Cut Off the Ears of Winter (2005) was recently published by Western Michigan University/New Issues Press. His awards include the 2001 Frank O'Hara Chapbook Prize in Poetry; a scholarship from the Fine Arts Work Center; and two prestigious Steffensen Cannon Fellowships from the Dean of Graduate Programs at the University of Utah, where he is finishing his Ph.D. in English/Creative Writing. His poems have appeared in Colorado Review, Columbia, The Journal, The Paris Review, Verse, and The Penguin Anthology of Italian-American Writing among other publications. He is one of the founding editors of Barrow Street and Barrow Street Press.
Jerry Williams was born and raised in Dayton, Ohio. He received a BA from Vermont College and an MFA from the University of Arizona. His first collection of poems, Casino of the Sun (Carnegie-Mellon University Press, 2003), was a finalist for the prestigious Kate Tufts Discovery Award. His poetry and creative nonfiction have appeared in American Poetry Review, Crazyhorse, Exquisite Corpse, Hayden's Ferry Review, The Southeast Review, Barrow Street, Under the Sun, and many others. He has received a New Jersey Arts Council Fellowship, several Academy of American Poets awards, and recently a nomination for a Pushcart Prize. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the English Department at Marymount Manhattan College in New York City.
Readers: Todd Cincala, Debra R. Andrews, Rachel Bennett, Kevin Estrada, ebony monique figueroa, Frederick Speers, Peter Carravetta, G Emil Reutter, Patricia Carragon, Ilene Starger, Mary Beth Shanahan, Tom Oleszczuk, Jane Bradbury, Richard Jeffrey Newman, Marjorie Dalrymple, Sharon Lynn Griffiths, Naren Gupte, Ruth Siekevitz, Joe Pacheco, Peter Marcus and Jane Ormerod.
Richard Jeffrey Newman is an essayist, poet and translator. His essays and poems have appeared in Changing Men, Salon.com, The American Voice, On The Issues, The Pedestal, Circumference, Prairie Schooner, ACM, Birmingham Poetry Review, Potomac Review among others. He has given talks and led workshops on writing autobiographically about gender, sex and sexuality. His first book, a translation, Selections from Saadi’s Gulistan, the 13th century Persian masterpiece, has just been jointly published by Global Scholarly Publications and the International Society for Iranian Culture. His own book of poems, The Silence Of Men, is forthcoming from CavanKerry Press. He is currently translating selections from Saadi’s other masterpiece, the Bustsan. He is an Associate Professor in the English Department at Nassau Community College. His website is www.richardjnewman.com.
in the gray sweatshirt
the lover you once asked me
to join you with
the morning he flew
back to Barcelona.
out of your arms,
you let the jersey rise
just enough for me to see
and smile the same smile
you gave that night
at the foot of your bed,
watching you lift
the blanket. Yes I saw
and yes you were both
beautiful, but it was you
as I want you now
these last hours
before New York again
Yesterday, I followed
the narrow streets of your city
we sat in my first night here
till I came to the fountain
you said I granted you
the childhood wish
you'll never reveal.
I could live here, I thought,
for me beyond the airport is nothing
compared to the red-blond glow
the sun finds in your hair.
where you want me,
and I bend to you,
these lips that really do
resemble rose petals,
and
as if this room, this
to offer you, I close my arms
around your waist, hold you
that is not why I came to visit;
and from the night
that two weeks ago
where we are right now;
your voice comes back to me,
And my answer,
I'd want not to be afraid,
but I realize I am afraid:
You push me back
onto the bed,
to the wall
and whisper
Stay!
at night, high-powered neon, glorious.
I begged you to take me to it,
centerpiece of the country fair;
August sign of summer’s passing.
Much unsaid beneath bright surfaces.
I begged you to lead me to it,
paradise, found: the Wheel,
pleasure palace, rentable
for one dollar.
we sat in our private car, an awkward
father-daughter pair.
Urged on by electricity and shouts,
the Wheel, ringed planet,
began its rotation. We rose
above our lives; gravity was gone.
Your sweater hugged my shoulders.
Suspended, we seemed close
to stars; we dipped into their silence.
the price of flood-lit beauty.
descent, toward slow ground.
We grew dizzy with the ending:
our dollar’s worth, one ride.
words, suspended, in cool dark.
Lance Phillips holds degrees from the University of North Carolina and the Iowa Writers' Workshop. His first book, Corpus Socius, was published in 2002 by Ahsahta Press and his second, Cur aliquid vidi was released this past December from the same. His work has appeared in Aufgabe, Colorado Review, Fence and Slope among others. He lives in Charlotte, NC.