Boston Poetry Marathon (JULY 29 - 31)

Every year (or so), there is a wonderful event that takes place in Boston. The Boston Poetry Marathon is a three day event with a number of staggering poets (both in number: 88 and in talent: Dorthea Lasky, David Rivard, Deborah Morkun, Ish Klein, Macgregor Card, Matvei Yankelevich, ETC ETC ETC, 82 times ETC).

A Summer Poetry Marathon
featuring 88 local and visiting poets
reading for 8 minutes apiece
Admission is free but the hat will be
be passed


Friday 7/29, 7 PM - 10 PM
Saturday 7/30, 1 PM - 10:30 PM
Sunday 7/31, 1 PM - 5 PM
OUTPOST 186
186 1/2 Hampshire St., Inman Square, Cambridge

I stumbled upon it last year when Elisa Gabbert read and I got to hear Eileen Myles and hosts of others. Sadly, I will not be able to make the Saturday and Sunday readings, but will try and make the Friday night (living an hour north without a reliable car sucks) but if you are in Boston you should check it out. I guarantee you'll enjoy it (although it will get hot, Outpost 186 is small). There are a variety of styles and the turnover is quick (8 minutes per writer). Please support in any way possible, even if you stop by for 10 minutes and move on. Having events like this in Boston is awesome, and I can only imagine the amount of work going into logistics.
Did I mention BBQ? BBQ!

Link to the list of readers and info is here: Boston Poetry Marathon

Boston Reading! Sunday July 17th

What's this? A reading you say? A luscious lineup of language liaisons? Holy snakes Batman! Zap Pow!

I will be reading on Sunday the 17th with a number of awesome writer/publishers. I'll let the writeup do the rest.
Note: the reading is at 7:30 at Lorem Ipsum Books
1299 Cambridge Street Cambridge, MA

Come for handmade books, hot readings and chilled drinks to carry you through the heart of summer! If you've already come to an installment in this series, you are aware of the unwavering quality of these events. If you have not, then perhaps you should become aware.

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The night's readers will be:

Stephanie Anderson is the author of four chapbooks: A Spot A Scheme (forthcoming, Cinematheque Press), The Nightyard (Noemi Press), The Choral Mimeographs (dancing girl press), and In the Particular Particular (New Michigan Press). She is poetry editor for the Chicago Review and co-editor of Projective Industries. She lives in Chicago.

MC Hyland is the author of Neveragainland (Lowbrow Press, 2010), and the chapbooks Every Night In Magic City (H_NGM_N, 2010), Residential, As In (Blue Hour Press, 2009) and (with Kate Lorenz and Friedrich Kerksieck) the hesitancies (Small Fires Press, 2006). She lives in Minneapolis, where she runs DoubleCross Press and the Pocket Lab Reading Series, and works at Minnesota Center for Book Arts.

Jeremiah Gould is an Assistant Editor for Rope-a-Dope press in South Boston, MA. His poetry can be found or is forthcoming online in the Sink Review, So and So Magazine, and Sixth Finch. His blog, http://incident​almemoirs.blogs​pot.com/, houses his most current publishing projects, Poetry Projector and Line Collector, aimed at promoting contemporary poetry through new media. He currently lives in Rye, NH and makes his living selling running shoes.

Sarah Green is a PhD candidate in creative writing at Ohio University. Her chapbook "Temporary Housing" was recently printed by the Oberlin College Letterpress Project. She cofounded and coedits Octave Magazine.

Mary Walker Graham was born in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, and now lives in a former rum distillery in South Boston. Together with Robert DaVies, she founded Rope-a-Dope Press in 2007. Her poems have appeared in Poetry Magazine, Poetry Daily, and FreeVerse.


- From the field thanks to BlogPress.

Reading Recap

The reading on Wednesday was a huge hit. I would love to thank everyone who came, especially Tim, Sam, Joe, Ben, Eli and Carl. Oh and my mom, who pulled the classic mom stunt of saying: "come here, you have something on your face" moments before I was introduced. (I couldn't believe she actually said that without any sarcasm or irony in her voice.)

I had thought the reading would be small (I mean, come on, Exeter NH?) but as I walked in there were at least 30 people there. The number would swell to around 60 when two high school English classes showed up, complete with an old teacher of mine (who remembered me? It has been 10 years!) 60 people. Needless to say I was pumped, and it showed.

Pat followed, and I really appreciated her candor. Her husband of many years had passed in the past month, and she dedicated the reading to him. It follows that she read a lot of poems about him. There was a bit of sentimentality, but the best poems really approached the relationship with an attentiveness and perspective I was jealous of. Given the situation, it was all entirely appropriate and made me think about the traditions of poetry in every day life. I only hope to be writing at her age.

The open mic was almost as long as the reading, with about a thousand high school kids reading poems from class. Brings me right back to my high school days. I'm glad I wrote, but I feel bad for those who had to listen to me read at open mics.

Reading was followed by some drinks and conversation at my house, thanks to all those who showed up and listened to my best Truman Capote impressions.

So I got some good comments on my poems, some more good comments on my reading (Slam Poetry did SOMETHING good for me) and overall can't wait for the next reading. hear that people,
BOOK ME.