Bench Press Releases LIGHTLY IN THE GOOD OF DAY Poems by Bob Hart

LIGHTLY IN THE GOOD OF DAY
by Bob Hart
(Bench Press, September 2010)
6x9, perfect bound, 84 pages, $15.00

Publisher/editor Jee Leong Koh, Bench Press and author/poet Bob Hart will launch Lightly in the Good of Day, a new collection of poetry by Bob Hart, this September at the Cornelia Street Cafe in Greenwich Village, New York. This will the second title released by Bench Press, after its inaugural Equal to the Earth, a full-length collection by Jee Leong Koh, released last summer. And a second book for Bob Hart who has a previous small book of poems titled Acrobat. 

Bob Hart,  a beloved and long-time regular at the Friday night open mic at the Cornelia Street Cafe, has been regaling New York audiences with his wistful and lyrical verse for decades.  An observant and thoughtful writer, his poetic confessions at the open mic are more revelatory of the world around him than of himself.   Hart grew up in Harlem, on 145th Street, 142nd Street and 158th Street. He served in the army from 1952 to 1954, and was stationed in Germany during the Korean War.  He now works for a mail sorting company in Midtown West, and lives in Brooklyn, often sporting one of his many colorful trademarks vests. 

Friday, Sep 17 at 6:00PM

SON OF PONY Kat Georges, host

The Friday night legendary open mic poetry series

~features~

BOB HART

@ 

The Cornelia Street Cafe

29 Cornelia Street

(Between Bleecker & West 4th) 

New York, NY 10014

212.989.9319

Arrive before 6 pm to sign up.

Cover $7 (includes one house drink)

For more details about Bench Press and Lightly in the Good of Day by Bob Hart please visit: http://www.benchpresspoetry.com/

BENCH PRESS
poetry that exerts pressure at every point, and so achieves a momentary rest

Sun June 13 PHANFest: NJ Publishers & Poet Support NJ Food Banks 12-5pm Secuacus Library

PHANfest, Publishers Helping America’s Needy NJ Poetry Festival is sponsored by David Messineo of the Six Centuries Club, in support of N. J. food pantries.

Artists are often known to “sing for their supper” – but next weekend, dozens of poets will read to help pay for someone else’s.
writes E. Assata Wright, Hudson Reporter staff writer.  To read her entire article "Words Against Hunger: Area Poets to Raise Money for Needy" which appeared Sunday June 6th, click here: http://hudsonreporter.com/bookmark/7809040
It’s an opportunity to…hear some fine poets from various regions of the state. – David Messineo, PHANfest organizer and Editor of Sensations Magazine.

The event takes place

SUNDAY, JUNE 13, 2010, 12 noon – 5 p. m.

at the Secaucus Public Library and Business Resource Center,

1379 Paterson Plank Road, Secaucus, NJ.

Readings will be held in the Panasonic Room. There is a suggested donation of $10 to benefit NJ Food Banks.

Confirmed Participants will each have display tables and two readers.

* Anhinga Books - Jack Kreuter
* Cherry Blossom Press - Anthony Buccino
* Cup & Chaucer Bookstore - Marina Kramer (used books related to poetry)
* The Idiom Magazine - Mark Baird
* Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction - Gordon VanGelder
* Marymark Press - Mark Sonnenfeld
* North Jersey Literary Series (Beyond The Rift Anthology) - Paul Nash & Denise la Neve
* North River Review ("Presses of the Past") -Melanie Pimont
* Poets Wear Prada Press (poetry chapbooks) - Roxanne Hoffman
* Sensations Magazine - David Messineo
* Snake Hill Press - David Messineo
* Thunderclap! Magazine and Thunderclap Press - Amanda Deo
* Watchung Booksellers - Marina Cramer (new poetry books)

For more details:  http://centclub.webs.com/phanfest1.htm

Valery Oisteanu: Peter Orlovsky (July 8, 1933 – May 30, 2010)

Peter Orlovsky (July 8, 1933 – May 30, 2010)
Remembrance by Valery Oisteanu

That was your face laughing wild
As if it could trick madness
At the entrance to the St. Marks Church
Peter is confessing about pills
Talking to Ira Cohen and me
Lithium and anti-depressant are mentioned
Andy Warhol & Peter’s “The Couch”
Allen Ginsberg’s trashed kitchen, cops called in
The existential gray ponytail is revealed
While the wind blows his hat off in the East Yard
Deep voice, drinking with your eyes shut
Lamenting his brother, his lover, his own mind
Insanity fallows him to Creedmoor mental ward
But at that fragile morning of last day of May
A sunflower blossomed and starts bleeding petals
Alone in death, alone and still, alone and naked
Folded arms, closed lips, heart full of unwritten poems
Swimming up the stream of eternity
Shivering up the glittering dream.

©2010 Valery Oisteanu


Peter Orlovsky was best known as Allen Ginsberg's lover and companion of almost three decades, from about the fifties to the seventies. What is less well known is that he was a wonderful poet in his own right. His work has appeared in numerous magazines and antholologies. Peter died May 30, 2010 at the age of 76. To read 4 of Orlovsky's poems from Clean Asshole Poems & Smiling Vegetable Songs, Pocket Poets Series #37, City Lights Books ©1978 by Peter Orlovsky online visit Brian Nation's blogspot Beat the Devil: http://boppin.com/orlovsky.html


Valery Oisteanu is the author of 11 books of poetry; his latest is Perks in Purgatory (Fly By Night Press, 2009). He is a columnist at New York Arts Magazine, and art critic for Brooklyn Rail and ArtNet.com. His website is http://zendadanyc.vpweb.com/

PWP Releases FOR LINCOLN by AUSTIN ALEXIS. 3/28 Book Launch at Bengal Curry!

FOR LINCOLN & OTHER POEMS by Austin Alexis ISBN 978-0-9841844-3-9 soft cover - saddle-stitched - 36 pp. $10 (+ $1.50 S&H) Poets Wear Prada Release Date: March 2010 Austin Alexis contemplates the way time's passage alters our sense of artists such as Chopin, Haydn, Poe, and Martha Graham as well as, among others, grandparents, Einstein, and presidents Lincoln and Obama. The way the poet cultivates sound, sense, and form, he grows, as he writes George Sand did for Chopin, "the branch he needs / in order to soar." — George Held, author of Phased, Grounded, and other poetry collections By use of precise imaginings, Austin Alexis allows us an intimacy with select artists: Chopin, or a street poet, or Lincoln, that great artist of rhetoric and vision. An engaged and observant poet, Alexis reveals grace, connection, legend and mortality. This book is an ode to all of us. — Sarah Sarai, author of The Future Is Happy The poet's vision enables the reader to see connections between Einstein and Merce Cunningham whose choreography "penetrates... the mysteries of space time [and] weight," and how Lincoln's last day actually culminates in another with the inauguration of Barack Obama: "each verse a fetus / waiting to be born / in the heart of a reader." — Linda Lerner, author of Something is Burning in Brooklyn, and thirteen other collections About the Author Poems and stories by Austin Alexis have appeared in journals such as Six Sentences and Tuesday Shorts and in the chapbook Lovers and Drag Queens (Poets Wear Prada, 2007). Recently he served as a panelist for The Bronx Council on the Arts Literary Fellowships. One of his poems won a prize in the 2008 Poets for Forest Competition. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in a number of anthologies, including Bowl of Stories (Oregon Council of Teachers Anthology Winners Publication), Off the Cuffs (Soft Skull Press), Dinner with the Muse (Ra Rays Press), Art's Buoyant Felicity: Art/Healing/Creativity (Lickle Nine Press), and And We the Creatures (Dream Horse Press), among others. Meet the Author at the Following Events: Sunday March 28 5:30PM - 7:30PM Phoenix Reading Series ~ presents ~ *Linda Lerner & Austin Alexis* @ Bengal Curry 65 West Broadway (Between Murray & Warren Sts. 11/2 blocks South of Chambers) New York, NY 10007 212.571.1122 $3 Donation Dinner, Snacks & Soft Drinks Available for Purchase Open Reading Hosts: Michael Graves & George Spencer Take A, C, 1 to Chambers or E to last stop WTC Saturday May 1st 4PM-6PM (Note: open mic sign up ends at 5PM) The Shout Out ~AUSTIN ALEXIS~ Otto's Shrunken Head 538 East 14th Street Between Avenues A&B Hosted by Hobo Bob and Obsidian $3 Hobo Fee (and please patronize the bar!) Time Square Shout Out!: timessquareshoutout.blogspot.com Hobo Bob: theadventuresofhobobob.blogspot.com OBSIDIAN: obsidianthemystic.blogspot.com A SHOUT OUT AT OTTOS! Anthology Blogsite: theshoutoutatottos.blogspot.com Monday July 12th 7:30PM till 10PM Saturn Series ~AUSTIN ALEXIS~ Nightingale Lounge 213 2nd Avenue at East 13th Street New York, NY Age 21 & up Open Reading $3 Suggested Donation + 2 Drink/$10 Minimum at the Bar Hosted by Su Polo & David Elsasser http://www.supolo.com/ * * * POETS WEAR PRADA C/O Roxanne Hoffman 533 Bloomfield Street - 2nd Floor Hoboken, NJ 07030 http://pwpbooks.blogspot.com/ http://poetswearprada.blogspot.com http://thesmokingbook.blogspot.com/ POETS WEAR PRADA is a small press based in Hoboken, New Jersey devoted to introducing new authors through limited edition, high- quality chaplets, primarily of poetry. New press, great authors, a publisher who is one miracle short of sainthood.-Angelo Verga, Poetry Curator of The Cornelia Street Cafe Poets Wear Prada is a poetry publishing house with excellent poets and affordable books with beautiful covers. Have you had your poetry today?-Meredith Sue Willis, Books for Readers Stylistically, these beautifully designed and produced chaplets bear their own distinctive signature.-Linda Lerner, Small Press Review Proud Member of CLMP http://www.myspace.com/poetswearprada http://www.youtube.com/pradapoet http://gcast.com/u/pradapoet http://twitter.com/pradapoet http://twitter.com/flordelconcreto

Poets House 2010 Showcase:
June 28, 2010 (Opening Reception)
Submission Deadline: May 31, 2010

Dear Publisher,

This summer Poets House invites you to celebrate the 2010 Poets House Showcase, a festival of the art unlike any other—where all of this year's new books, from publishers large and small across America, will be on display. Now that we are in our new home on the banks of the Hudson River, the Showcase will fill Kray Hall, and the voices of poets and audiences will spill out into the park. This year marks the first of a new summer festival of poetry. Please join us by making your new books a part of it.

Opening on June 28, 2010, the Showcase will be on view throughout the month of July, including all of the year's new poetry and poetry-related books, chapbooks, and multimedia titles published in the United States. Over 2,000 books were in last year's exhibit, representing close to 600 publishers—commercial, university, independent, small, and micro-presses.

Inclusion in the Showcase is entirely FREE. To participate, please email maggie@poetshouse.org to let us know of your interest in participating in the Showcase and then send us review copies of your latest poetry books. The 2010 Showcase will include all poetry and poetry-related titles (volumes by individual authors, anthologies, chapbooks, biographies, critical studies, essay collections, CDs, DVDs, etc.) published since April 2009.

Why participate?

• Books are organized by publisher and displayed face-forward, offering free publicity not only for your latest titles but for your press as well.


• Exposure to national prize and library acquisition committees.


• Free listings in our online Directory of American Poetry Books, the country's most complete bibliographic resource for contemporary poetry books.

After the Showcase, all titles are incorporated into Poets House's 50,000-volume, noncirculating poetry library.

To ensure your new books are included:

• Please send an email to maggie[at]poetshouse[dot]org to let us know which books you will be sending no later than May 15, 2010.


• Send two copies of each book to Poets House as soon as they are available. All books must be received by May 31 , 2010 to ensure a spot in the display.
  

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Truly,

Maggie Balistreri, Librarian
Poets House
10 River Terrace
New York NY 10282

Little Sky Press Launches Peter Chelnik's STRAWBERRY HARMONY

"Peter Chelnik's poems take us across America's highways, down back roads, up city streets, across the tracks and into open fields. They sing a song of America and they swing with the blues and be-bop." -- Bob Feldman

STRAWBERRY HARMONY

New Poems

By Peter Chelnik

ISBN 978-0-964 270 9-9-3

$12.00

Little Sky Press

Release Date: March 2010

"Peter Chelnik's Strawberry Harmony is an odyssey across the physical and spiritual plains of America with the fast paced images that are his signature poetry snapshots. In an age where voices often express cynicism and rage, Chelnik's energetic ovice always resonates with affirmation and optimism. Fans of Peter Chelnik with cheer his newest and strongest book of poems Strawberry Harmony." -- Laura Boss, Editor of Lips

~Book Launch + Open Mic~

***PETER CHELNIK with BOB FELDMAN on Tenor Sax***

Monday, March 15, 2010

at 7:30pm

@
S A T U R N S E R I E S P O E T R Y R E A D I N G
Nightingale Lounge
213 2nd Avenue at East 13th Street
New York, NY
Age 21 & up

$3 Suggested Donation + 2 Drink/$10 Minimum at the Bar

Hosted by Su Polo & David Elsasser

"Peter Chelnik's Strawberry Harmony tantalizes with its odd juxtapositions, its American Highway jump cuts. Using refrains and a broad range of cultural allusions, from "Baptist wood pew prayers" to "Matisse paint joy," Chelnik creates a 21st Century vision: three-dimensional, speedy, ecstatic and reverent. Chelnik's new book will entertain as it surprises readers and satisfies our humber for poems that resonate in the mind."

-- Austin Alexis, Author of Lovers and Drag Queens

STRAWBERRY HARMONY
New Poems
By Peter Chelnik
ISBN 978-0-964 270 9-9-3
$12.00
Little Sky Press
Release Date: March 2010

Peter Chelnik’s books include Railroad Heart, East Coast Line, Manhattan Wilderness, Eternity Road and Wildflower Serenade. He has had seven plays produced Off-Off-Broadway. These dramatic works include Street Rag, Prairie Fire, Parking Lot, Moving Target, Scarsdale Station and Tremont Vortex. Peter has also written Trick Bag, a novel of the 1960's. And yes, he does believe "the word will set you free."

PWP Releases THRUM by Joel Allegretti

THRUM
Poems
by Joel Allegretti
ISBN 978-0-9841844-4-6
soft cover, saddle-stitched, 40 pp.$12.00

"In Thrum Joel Allegretti, deftly and delightfully, strums his magical musical instrument, which is poetry, as he forges fresh forms of songs and stories that are inspired by strummers' strings. “Context is everything,” Allegretti reminds us, and we’re planted in the heart of a global ancient/modern orchestra. Prepare yourself for the revelatory performance."

Martine Bellen
Author of Tales of Murasaki and Other Poems,
1997 National Poetry Series selection

"Joel Allegretti's latest collection of poems is as enjoyable as it is different. Thrum takes the reader on a journey that explores known musical instruments, such as the mandolin, dulcimer and fiddle, as well as some not-so-known instruments, such as the oud, koto and theorbo. But what makes this journey unique is that each instrument is in a sense personified as the emotive element of each instrument is brought to life. Allegretti does a wonderful job tuning every poem so that the music of each instrument is realized again and again in the words on the page. An intriguing and must read for anyone who has a sense of all that culminates in the commingling of the arts."

Raymond Hammond
Editor, The New York Quarterly

About the Author

Joel Allegretti is the author of The Plague Psalms, which appeared in 2000 and is now in its third edition, and Father Silicon, selected by The Kansas City Star as one of 100 Noteworthy Books of 2006. Allegretti’s work has appeared in many national journals, including The New York Quarterly, Margie, The Laurel Review, Art/Life Limited Editions, Rattapallax, Slipstream, Confrontation, and Xcp Cross-Cultural Poetics. He is represented in the anthology Chance of a Ghost (Helicon Nine Editions, 2005), and his poem in that collection received an Honorable Mention in the 2006 edition of The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, published by St. Martin’s Press. In April 2009, Kean University in New Jersey presented the world premiere of a song cycle based on Allegretti’s poetry, “A Cycle by the Sea” by Frank Ezra Levy, who served several decades as cellist with the Radio City Music Hall Orchestra and whose symphonic work is available in the American Classics series on Naxos. Allegretti is a graduate of New York University and lives in Northern New Jersey. His website is www.joelallegretti.com

Meet the Author at the Following Events:
Sat., March 13:	Smalls' Jazz Club 183 W. 10th Street, NYC 5PM-7PM
Sun., March 28:	Literary Lounge Studio Luna 406 Tompkins Street, Orange, NJ 3PM-5PM
Sun., April 11:	Polestar Literary Series NATIONAL POETRY MONTH SOIREE Cakeshop 152 Ludlow Street, NYC 4PM-6PM
Sun., May 2:	Polestar Literary Series NIRVANA NEVERMIND NIGHT Cakeshop 152 Ludlow Street, NYC 5PM-7PM
Sat., May 15:	Greek American Writers Association Reading Series Cornelia Street Cafe 29 Cornelia Street, NYC 6PM-8PM
Sat., June 26:	North Jersy Literary Series The Classic Quiche Cafe 330 Queen Anne Road Teaneck, NJ 8PM-11PM
Tues., July 13:	Word for Word Bryant Park 6th Ave. between 41 & 42nd Sts., NYC 12:30PM to 1:45PM

POETS WEAR PRADA
C/O Roxanne Hoffman
533 Bloomfield Street - 2nd Floor
Hoboken, NJ 07030
http://pwpbooks.blogspot.com/
http://poetswearprada.blogspot.com
http://issuu.com/pradapoet

POETS WEAR PRADA is a small press based in Hoboken, New Jersey devoted to introducing new authors through limited edition, high- quality chaplets, primarily of poetry.

Proud Member of CLMP

Have you had your poetry today?

PWP Releases THE SLIP by Michael Montlack

THE SLIP

by Michael Montlack
Poets Wear Prada, October 2009
ISBN 978-0-9841844-2-2

soft cover/saddle-stiched/32 pages

$10 ( S&H $1.50)

The many moods of THE SLIP, from fabulous to funny to frenetic, announce the arrival of a promising new voice that can express, with consummate sensitivity and verve, the sorrows and celebrations of our complicated queerness. When Michael Montlack writes, he can make us sing or break our hearts. Each poem is a veritable “kiss of the artist”—passionate and memorable.

—Rigoberto González, author of Other Fugitives and Other Strangers

With pitch-perfect pacing and an intimate colloquial voice, THE SLIP reads as engagingly novelistic even as these memoiristic vignettes are untamed by wit and scathing humor. Ouch. The poems are at once revealing yet winningly imaginative as they reignite myth—there’s even a bisexual Orpheus here who helps Montlack to rewrite the past while instructing, bruising, and exposing suburbia’s lingering melancholy.

—Peter Covino, author of Cut Off the Ears of Winter,
winner of PEN/America Osterweil Prize

Michael Montlack's THE SLIP situates us in the middle of a life, threading together joys and sorrows. Some of the comic moments will truly make you laugh out loud. And at times, you'll get horribly wistful. Such is the richness of this collection.

—D. A. Powell, author of Chronic

**Meet author Michael Montlack at the following events:

Wed 10/7: Michael Montlack reads THE SLIP 6-7:30PM Hofstra University Spiegel Theater Hempstead, NY (off Hempstead Turnpike)

Fri 10/9: Michael Montlack reads THE SLIP 6-8PM The Cornelia St Café 29 Cornelia St NYC $7 include 1 free house drink 212.989.9319

Mon 10/12: Michael Montlack reads MY DIVA 6-8PM The Cornelia St Café 29 Cornelia St NYC $7 include 1 free house drink 212.989.9319

Fri 10/16: Michael Montlack reads from MY DIVA (on Stevie Nicks), with contributors Wayne Koestenbaum (on Anna Moffo), Mark Doty (on Grace Paley), Jason Schneiderman (on Liza Minnelli), Christopher Murray (on Margaret Dumont) and Richard Tayson (on Helen Reddy), 4-6 PM CUNY Graduate Center 365 Fifth Ave - Room 4409 @ W 34th St, NYC Q/A and Reception to follow.



Michael Montlack is the editor of the essay anthology My Diva: 65 Gay Men on the Women Who Inspire Them (University of Wisconsin Press, 2009) and the author of two other poetry chapbooks: Cover Charge (Winner of the 2007 Gertrude Prize) and Girls, Girls, Girls (Pudding House, 2008).

POETS WEAR PRADA
C/O Roxanne Hoffman
533 Bloomfield Street - 2nd Floor
Hoboken, NJ 07030
http://poetswearpradanj.home.att.net
http://poetswearprada.blogspot.com
http://issuu.com/pradapoet

POETS WEAR PRADA is a small press based in Hoboken, New Jersey devoted to introducing new authors through limited edition, high- quality chaplets, primarily of poetry.

Proud Member of CLMP

Have you had your poetry today?

BOOG CITY Small Press Fair in Brooklyn Sept 12

POETS WEAR PRADA will be at The Boog City Small Press Fair at Unameable Books in Brooklyn Saturday, September 12, 2009. We are launching two new releases at the fair: LAST CALL by David Elsasser and TWO NAKED FEET by Maria Lisella. All our chapbooks will be 20% off the list price (and of course you'll save the normal $1.50 S&H included on all mail orders if you buy your copies at the fair). We will also have copies of our summer releases: TOP TEEN GREATEST HITS by Carol Wierzbicki and DETAILED STILL by Karen Neuberg and very limited copies of our older chapbooks.

And best of all, AUSTIN ALEXIS will be reading at the mic to represent the press at 12:50PM!

Lots of poetry and music to hear and enjoy! Plenty of books to browse and buy!

And this event is FREE!

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 12th
12:00 Noon
BOOG CITY SMALL PRESS FAIR
@
Unnameable Books
600 Vanderbilt Ave.
(bet. Prospect Place/St. Marks Avenue)
Brooklyn, NY

By Subway: 2, 3 to Grand Army Plaza,

C to Clinton-Washington avenues,

Q to 7th Avenue

The day's program will include readings from the following small presses:

A.P.D, artCHOKE Press, Belladonna, Bloof Books, Book Thug, Corollary Press, Ellipsis, EOAGH, Futurepoem, Litmus Press, little scratch pad press, POETS WEAR PRADA, Portable Press at Yo-Yo Labs Press, 2nd Avenue, Straw Gate Press, Stubborn Plant Press, Ugly Duckling Presse.

Anslem Berrigan in conversation with Buck Downs.

Readings from:

Ammiel Acalay, Anslem Berrigan, Brenda Coultas, Mike County, Buck Downs, Jim Dunn, Danielle Le Gros Georges, Ish Klein, Jean-Paul Pecqueur, Ryan Walker, Dana Ward, Karen Weiser, Katie Yates

Music from:

Gracefully, Phoebe Kreutz, Jesse Schoen

For an online copy of the Welcome to Boog City festival issue of Boog City, which serves as a program for the even: http://welcometoboogcity.com/bc59.pdf

August Poetry Postcard Festival

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

The Poetry Postcard Project continues in 2009:

Paul Nelson and Lana Ayers invite you to "August Poetry Postcard Fest" on Monday, July 27 at 12:00am.

Event: August Poetry Postcard Fest
"write and send a poem postcard every day in August"
What: Festival
Hosts: Paul Nelson and Lana Ayers
Start Time: Monday, July 27 at 12:00am
End Time: Saturday, August 31
Where: http://concretewolf.com/august

Here's what's involved:

Get yourself at least 31 postcards. These can be found at book stores, thrift shops, online, drug stores, antique shops, museums, gift shops. (You'll be amazed at how quickly you become a postcard addict.)

On or about July 27th, write an original poem right on a postcard and mail it to the person on the list below your name. (If you are at the very bottom, send a card to the name at the top.) And please WRITE LEGIBLY!

Starting on August 1st, ideally in response to a card YOU receive, keep writing a poem a day on a postcard and mailing it to successive folks on the list until you've sent out 31 postcards. Of course you can keep going and send as many as you like but we ask you to commit to at least 31 (a month's worth).

What to write? Something that relates to your sense of "place" however you interpret that, something about how you relate to the postcard image, what you see out the window, what you're reading, using a phrase/topic/or image from a card that you got, a dream you had that morning, or an image from it, etc. Like "real" postcards, get to something of the "here and now" when you write.

Do write original poems for the project. Taking old poems and using them is not what we have in mind. These cards are going to an eager audience of one, so there's no need to agonize. That's what's unique about this experience. Rather than submitting poems for possible rejection, you are sending your words to a ready-made and excited audience awaiting your poems in their mailboxes. Everyone loves getting postcards. And postcards with poems, all the better.

Once you start receiving postcard poems in the mail, you'll be able to respond to the poems and imagery with postcard poems or your own. That will keep your poems fresh and flowing. Be sure to check postage for cards going abroad. The Postcard Graveyard is a very sad place.

That's all there it to it. It's that fun and that easy.

To check out what we've done before, visit the blog [where you'll also see we also have Perennial Poetry Postcard List of folks who try to write a postcard poem at least once a week regardless of receiving in order to keep connections flowing.], Paul Nelson's website or our Facebook group.

To get started, click to register. Once you've registered, you just need to login to see the list of participants.

Flor Del Concreto thanks Tony Iovino for extending this invitation.

PERSIAN POETRY BOOK LAUNCH

Wednesday June 22 at 6:00 p.m.
@

Pomegranate Gallery

133 Greene St
between Houston & Prince Sts.
(212- 260-4014 / info@pomgallery.com).
Subway: B, D, F, V to Broadway Lafayette;
W, R to Prince St; 6 to Bleecker St;
C, E to Spring St; 1 to Houston St.

*FREE Persian Bilingual Poetry Book Launch—Iran, Yesterday & Today:
Mahmood Karimi-Hakak & Bill Wolak, co-translators of Your Lover’s Beloved: 51 Ghazals by Hafez, will read in both Persian & English from the book, as well as from new poems addressing the current stolen election, followed by a Q&A on the whole situation in Iran today. Plus singing of a ghazal with accordion accompaniment by Michela Musolino & Zoe B. Zak. Wine & cheese. Contact: Stan Barkan, publisher 516.868.5635

Thursday June 23 at 12:30 p.m.

The East Meadow Public Library
in collaboration with
Cross-Cultural Communications
~Presents~

Discussion on
Your Lover’s Beloved: 51 Ghazals
by Hafez
and
Iran Today
with translators
Mahmood Karimi-Hakak and Bill Wolak

On Thursday, July 23 at 12:30 p.m., a discussion of Your Lover’s Beloved, a new publication of works by the 14th Century Iranian poet Hafiz will be presented at the East Meadow Public Library. Mahmood Karimi-Haka and Bill Wolak have translated this latest publication of Hafez’s work and will be at the library to lead the discussion.

Mr. Karimi-Haka is an Iranian educator, playwright, director and actor. He is currently a Professor of Creative Arts at Siena College. Mr. Wolak is a poet and the recipient of several National Endowment for the Humanities grants and two Fulbright-Hayes scholarships. He has been an Adjunct Professor at William Paterson University for over twenty years.

There will be a question and answer session on Iran today and time to speak with the presenters. Copies of the book will be available for purchase. Join us for this timely, exciting, and enlightening program. Refreshments will be served

FROM:
Stanley H. Barkan, Publisher
Cross-Cultural Communications
239 Wynsum Avenue
Merrick, NY 11566-4725
Tel: 516-868-5635
E-mail: cccpoetry@aol.com

BooksNJ2009 : Sunday June 14, 1PM -5 PM

Save the Date!

Sunday, June 14th
1pm - 5pm

Rain or Shine!

@ Paramus Public Library
116 East Century Road
Paramus, NJ 07652

Books books and more books

BooksNJ2009 brings together writers and readers

90 authors, illustrators, and poets up close and personal
talking about their books and their craft!

Readings
Panels
Crafts for kids
Storytelling

The event is FREE and open to everyone.
Please join us!!!

FOR MORE INFO: http://www.bccls.org/booksnj/












Sponsored by BCCLS, Berkeley College, the Paramus Public Library, the New Jersey State Library, and New York Life.

LIPS 30/31 Publication and Celebration

LIPS #30/31 Publication Celebration in Clifton, NJ

Stanley Barkan · Mark Brunetti · David Stanford Burr,
Linda A. Cronin · Jessica G. deKoninck · Suzanne Rae Deshchidn
Aleksey Dayen · Marilyn S. Gelman · Maria Mazziotti Gillan
Jim Gwyn · Gloria Rovder Healy · Mark Hillringhouse,
Tina Kelley · Adele Kenny · Deborah LaVeglia · Michelle Lerner
Sheila O'Neil Massoni · F.L. Niccoletti · Susan Rappaport
Christine Redman-Waldeyer · Susanna Rich · Susan Tepper
John J. Trause · Bruce Weber
plus surprise guests

@
Thursday, May 14, 7:30P.M.
Barnes & Noble
395 Route 3 East
( Clifton Commons)
Clifton, NJ

Free Open Reading ( time permitting)

Contact: Laura Boss ( Editor) ( 201) 662-1303
or Store :(973) 779-5500

Lips, a magazine of poetry founded in 1981 by Laura Boss, has published poems by: Robert Bly, Allen Ginsberg, Ruth Stone, David Ignatow, Marge Piercy, Michael Benedikt, Nicholas Christopher, Anne Waldman, Ishmael Reed, Gregory Corso, Lyn Lifshin, Ted Berrigan, Paul Hoover, Jana Harris, Toi Derricotte, Joseph Bruchac, Alice Notley, Warren Woessner, Robert Phillips, Hal Sirowitz, Theodore Weiss, Alicia Ostriker, Maria Mazziotti Gillan, Stanley H. Barkan, Michael Weaver, Molly Peacock & Richard Kostelanetz. For submission policy and subscription please visit http://home.earthlink.net/~poetry_magazine/Lips.html

New from Terrace Books: MY DIVA

Coming in May from UW Press...

“These deeply personal, campy, and insightful essays illuminate the eternal bond between gay men and their fabulous diva icons.”—Michael Musto

MY DIVA
65 Gay Men on the Women Who Inspire Them
Edited by Michael Montlack

Publication Date: May 7, 2009

ISBN: 978-0-299-23120-0, Cloth, $24.95, 320 pages
Terrace Books: A trade imprint of the University of Wisconsin Press

“I’m living for this book—What a thrill! Even if I wasn't one of the Divas myself I would be curling up with this tome and letting the multiple muses enthrall me. These women are lifelines to creativity, self-actualization and freedom of spirit. Uh-Mazing! ”—Justin Bond (a.k.a. Kiki Durane)

From Elizabeth Taylor, Bette Midler, and Diana Ross to Queen Elizabeth I, Julia Child, and Princess Leia, these divas have been sister, alter ego, fairy godmother, or model for survival to gay men and the closeted boys they once were. And anyone—straight or gay, young or old, male or female—who ever needed a muse, or found one, will see their own longing mirrored here as well.

These witty and poignant short essays explore reasons for diva-worship as diverse as the writers themselves. My Diva offers both depth and glamour as it pays tribute with joy, intelligence, and fierce, fierce love.

“Inspiration is contagious—and inspiration, excitement, and appreciation resonate through these essays. This is a story about how in the worst of times, there are the best of women—women in whom we find our courage and sometimes our heartbroken tenderness. My Diva is an act of love, well deserved and without reservation. Read it in the spirit in which it was made—this act of adoration, awe, and yes, love.”—Dorothy Allison, author of Bastard Out of Carolina



Editor Michael Montlack splits his time between New York City, where he is professor of English at Berkeley College, and San Francisco. He has published two chapbooks of poetry, Girls, Girls, Girls and Cover Charge. This book was inspired by his love for Stevie Nicks.

MY DIVA
65 Gay Men on the Women Who Inspire Them
Edited by Michael Montlack

Publication Date: May 7, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-299-23120-0, Cloth, $24.95, 320 pages

Terrace Books – A Trade Imprint of the University of Wisconsin Press

“A completely fascinating and lovely book. In every case the diva is a kind of saint—for her suffering, for the emotional warble in her voice, as she sang, as she spoke those classic lines. It’s hard to miss the dovetailing of the gay male writer’s psyche and the voluptuous (much more than her body) voice of the diva. She shines her light on the way. Man, does she ever.”—Eileen Myles, author of Sorry, Tree

Featuring...

D. A. Powell on Eartha Kitt
Joseph Campana on Audrey Hepburn
Rigoberto González on Rocío Dúrcal
Michael Klein on Laura Nyro
Lloyd Schwartz on Gracie Allen
David Bergman on Lotta Lenya
Edward Field on Gloria Swanson
Kenji Oshima on Margaret Cho
Michael J. Andrews on Parker Posey
Brian Teare on Virginia Woolf
Forrest Hamer on Mahalia Jackson
Alfred Corn on Billie Holiday
Mark Doty on Grace Paley
Patrick Letellier on Queen Elizabeth I
Walter Holland on Marlene Dietrich
Michael Broder on Sappho
Michael Schiavi on Karen Black
Guillermo Castro on Evita
Peron Wayne Koestenbaum on Anna Moffo
Richard Blanco on Endora
Jonathan Howle on Patti LuPone
Regie Cabico on Nina Simone
Timothy Liu on Rickie Lee Jones
Lewis DeSimone on Auntie Mame
Christopher Murray on Margaret Dumont
Bill Fogle on Julia Child
Jason Schneiderman on Liza Minnelli
John Dimes on Björk
Christopher Lee Nutter on Sade
Jeff Oaks on Wonder Woman
David Trinidad on Joan Crawford versus Bette Davis . . .

________________________________________________________

Dear Friends;

Please join me in celebrating the publication of MY DIVA at one or both of the NYC DIVA EVENTS.

AND look for the piece on it in TIME OUT NEW YORK THIS WEEK!

NYC DIVA EVENTS:

APRIL 27 (Mon) 7pm. MY DIVA READING.
Barnes & Noble. 82nd &
Broadway. 2289 Broadway.
With Michael Klein, Walter Holland, Jason Schneiderman
& Michael Montlack.

MAY 13 (Wed) 6pm - 9pm. RECEPTION & READING.
Out Professionals My Diva Event.
At the LGBT Center: 208 West 13th Street. (West Village).
With Mark Wunderlich, Tim Liu, Michael Broder,
Richard Tayson, Steven Cordova & Michael Montlack.

Thanks and hope to see you,

Michael

PS Doing events in Fort Lauderdale, New Orleans, San Francisco, Rhode Island, Philadelphia, DC, Portland, Atlanta, and more soon (if you're not in NYC).

NY Rainbow Book Fair at The Center, NYC March 28, 2009

Saturday March 28, 2009

11AM - 6PM
New York Rainbow Book Fair
@ The Center
208 West 13th Street
(Between 7th & Greenwich Aves.)
New York, NY 10014

Dear friends,

This Saturday, March 28, is the first New York Rainbow Book Fair at the LGBT Community Center, 208 West 13th Street ('tween 7th Ave. and Greenwich Ave. in Greenwich Village), from 11 to 6 pm. It's going to be fannn-tastic, I mean it, with an amazing line up of authors, publishers, poets, and other events.

This always works fabulously, except there's one thing missing: people who love books. I mean you, my friends who put up with my writing (and maybe even love it), and who care about the art of books themselves. Books are an intimate, personal, and telling part of human life. We talk through them, and with them. But they are losing out by the minute and this saddens me terribly. Still like any true believer, I'm always waiting for the Book Fairy to come dancing back in.

And at the Rainbow Book Fair, he (or she) will. Trust me.

So come to this great day of books! It's completely free, and open to anyone. And you'll find all kinds of books, from totally great to totally trashy and fabulous. Books for adults, for kids, and for the wild kid in any adult. But I want to see you there, and hope you'll come by and say hello to me.

Here's a list of readers, and poets. So, even if, for some reason, you can't find a single book to buy, then just come in (it's still March, and the weather ain't great outside) and hear some wonderful words spoken by talented writers.


Perry
Perry Brass


Author reading—brief readings by featured authors at the Fair:

First Session: 11:15 to 11:45

Norman Beim, GNYIPA
Gene Kahn
Jee Leong Koh, POETS WEAR PRADA
Robin Glasser, Phaze Press
Steven Rivellino, Eighth Sea/Xlibris
Pamela Sneed, Vintage Entity Press

2nd Session: 12 noon to 12:30

Perry Brass, Belhue Press
Herukthuti, Vintage Entity Press
Erik La Prade, POETS WEAR PRADA
Bobbie Geary, The Graeae Press
Marquette Carney

3rd Session: 12:45 - 1:15

Francine Trevens, T & T Classics
Timothy Brough
Shawn Stewart Ruff
Carren Strock
G. Winston James, Top Ten Press

(Author readings coordinated by Michele Karlsberg Marketing and Management.)


Poets at the Poet's Salon (1PM - 4PM)

Poets Bill Kushner, Stephanie Gray, Eileen Myles, Douglas A. Martin, Tim Peterson, Betsy Andrews, Moonshine Shorey, Carol Mirakove, Joseph O. Legaspi, Jen Benka, Guillermo Castro, Elizabeth Reddin, and Regie Cabico will read their work on Saturday March 28th from 1-4 pm at the Center 208 West 13th Street (between 7th and 8th Avenues) NYC NY 10011.


The Poetry Reading is free and open to the public, and takes place during the NY Rainbow Book Fair: a LGBT Book Fair with publishers, authors, performance artists, a panel on the future of LGBT literature, and books to browse, read and buy! The Poet's Salon has been coordinated by Nathaniel Siegel.

Please forward this email to everyone you know who loves books and book people.

PWP Announces EQUAL TO THE EARTH by Jee Leong Koh

POETS WEAR PRADA
Announces
Its First Full-Length Collection:

EQUAL TO THE EARTH
Poems by
Jee Leong Koh

ISBN 978-0-9817678-9-5
Trade Paperback, 80 pp.
List Price: $14.99
Release Date: April 2009

&
Invites you to the author's virtual book party!

On March 20, 8 p.m. (EST/ GMT/ SST), I am throwing a Virtual Book and Birthday Party to launch my new book of poems Equal to the Earth. Everyone is invited, and you don't even have to leave the comfort of your home, or wherever you find yourself that evening. All you have to do is to visit the book blog or my Facebook page. Invite your friends. Invite your family. Invite your dog.

I'm thinking of reading, in my sexiest voice, a selection of poems from each of the five sections of the book. If you have other suggestions for the party, do write them on the blog. Virtual cheese and crackers will be provided. Bring your own bottle.

You may order the book in advance by using Paypal (blog sidebar) or by mailing me a check for USD $14.99 (3963 58th Street, Apt. 2, Woodside, NY 11377).

I hope to see you at the party, when you write in the guest book. I promise mindblowing acts and memorable speech.

Jee Leong Koh

--
New book of poems: equaltotheearth.blogspot.com
Poetry blog: jeeleong.blogspot.com


* * *

In his first full-length collection EQUAL TO THE EARTH, Koh writes in a variety of forms, speaks with a range of voices—ancestral, recent and contemporary—and travels a span of ground to investigate the imaginary claims of community and self. Here you visit Montreal and Montauk, Nebraska City and Fire Island, and a bar where Hart Crane, W. H. Auden and Cavafy hit on you. In the center of this investigation, as in the book, exerts the great question of love.

"Koh is a vigorous, physical poet very much captured by the expressive power of rhythm, rhetoric, and the lexicon. He is also, paradoxically, a poet in pursuit of the most elusive and delicate of human emotions. The contradiction is wonderful and compelling, and so are his poems."
—Vijay Seshadri, Author of The Long Meadow (Graywolf Press)

"His poems are like the sexy nerd you meet at a bar, the one you really want to get to know better—with his glasses and tie on and nothing else."

—Christopher Hennessy, Outside the Lines: Talking with Contemporary Gay Poets (University of Michigan Press)

"Smart, irreverent, often unnerving, these sonnets smirk,smile, argue and bless. Jee Leong Koh has taken a month of days and rendered a very contemporary version of the artist as a young man."
—Marie Howe, about Koh’s Payday Loans

Jee Leong Koh is the author of Payday Loans. His poetry has appeared in the Best New Poets 2007 and Best Gay Poetry 2008 anthologies, and was nominated in 2008 for the Pushcart Prize. Born in Singapore, he now lives in New York City, and blogs at Song of a Reformed Headhunter (http://jeeleong.blogspot.com).

The 17th Annual Poets House Showcase April 4-11, 2009

The only event of its kind, the annual Poets House Showcase is a free exhibit featuring all of the new poetry books and poetry-related texts published in the United States in a single year—with more than 2,000 titles on view (including volumes by individual authors, anthologies, biographies, critical studies, CDs and DVDs) from over 500 commercial, university and independent presses. The Showcase provides writers, readers and publishers with a fascinating vantage point from which to assess publishing and design trends and linguistic, aesthetic and philosophical shifts. Established in 1992 by Executive Director Lee Briccetti, the Showcase reflects Poets House’s mission to make the range of modern poetry available to the public and to stimulate public dialogue on issues of poetry and culture.

Each year, Poets House adds the bibliographic records of all the books exhibited in the Showcase to its free, fully-searchable online database, the Directory of American Poetry Books. With over 20,000 titles, the Directory contains the most comprehensive information about U.S. poetry books and publishers from 1990 through 2008.


The 17th Annual Poets House Showcase April 4-11, 2009

Opening Reception: Saturday, April 4, 1:00–4:00pm
Exhibit Hours: Saturday, April 4-11, during regular library hours

Catch an eyeful of what's happening in poetry today with this divergent, cacophonous display of all the new poetry and poetry-related books published in the United States in the last year. From micro-press chapbooks to masterworks from major commercial publishers, over 2,000 titles share shelf space for one week.

@ NYPL Jefferson Market Branch 425 Sixth Avenue (at West 10th Street) For library hours, call (212) 243-4334 Admission free

Guidelines & Submission Form | Showcase Facts

About Poets House | News | Programs & Calendar of Events | Collection | Poets House & Public Libraries | Poets House Showcase | Directory of American Poetry Books | Join Us!

TEMPORARY OFFICE ADDRESS:
Poets House | 594 Broadway, Suite 510 | New York, NY 10012 | (212) 431-7920 | info@poetshouse.org

The Rainbow Book Fair at The Center on March 28, 2009

The Rainbow Book Fair
Saturday, March 28 2009 : 11:00am – 6:00pm

@
The Center

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center

208 West 13th Street

New York, NY 10011

Between 7th and 8th Aves (map)

http://www.gaycenter.org/

Phone: 212-620-7310

The Center presents The Rainbow Book Fair on Saturday, March 28, 2009, 11:00AM - 6:00PM.Unleash the colors of your imagination. Let your hip, seductive, fabulous, smart side out at the First Annual Rainbow Book Fair, Saturday, March 28, from 11 am to 6 pm. Discover books for the entire LGBT community. Fiction, non-fiction, how-to, travel, poetry, erotica, hot books and cool ones, smart and fun books. Bestsellers and hip reads from cutting-edge indie publishers you won’t find at your local Barnes & Noble, many at rock bottom prices. Meet other readers and book lovers, authors and publishers. Readings, signings, and appearances by our community’s brightest authors, thinkers, and doers. Books for the entire wonderful rainbow of the LGBT family. You’re sure to find your next book and favorite story here. Free of charge, and open to the public.

Sponsored by Greater NY Independent Publishers Association (GNYIPA)

FREE TO THE PUBLIC

Authors and Publishers may reserve space in advance.

Registration levels:

• Sponsor Table, $250, 10 foot table. Sponsors will be listed on the Center's website and included on printed promotional materials (deadline January 23, 2009)
• Full Table, $100, 5 foot table
• Half Table, $50, Shared 5 foot table

AUTHORS & PUBLISHERS REGISTER HERE!

For More InformationFor Author/Publisher relations: hermes@mindspring.com or belhuepress@earthlink.net.

Directions:

Subway & PATH

Directions 1, 2, or 3 to 14th Street and 7th Avenue

A, C, E, or L to 14th Street and 8th Avenue

F or V to 14th Street and 6th Avenue

PATH to 14th Street and 6th Avenue

Hopstop Subway Directions MTA Website