PoetsHaven.com Publisher's Blog

Shows!

2012-01-19T23:28:00.000-05:00

Based on the number of text messages and now phone calls I've gotten the past week, I feel that I may need to emphasize something: There is NO Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven event this month. Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven shows are now bimonthly, held every even-numbered month exclusively at Phoenix Coffee in South Euclid. The next Saturday Night show will be on February 18th. A feature announcement will be made soon.

I will be using the months that we do not have a Saturday Night show to do other types of events. Poet's Haven will be going to art festivals and staging other types of unique events, working on exposing modern poetry to the wider masses.

While I was planning something cool for this month, the series of automotive catastrophes I've dealt with recently have caused me some financial distress. As a result, I put the plans on hold for another time, when I have the financial resources (read that as "gas money") necessary to successfully pull off the larger event I was aiming for. As it is, with limited travel options, I've managed to get a significant amount of work done on the new podcast series (and even some work on material for the "Saturday Night" podcasts, too). More on that in the near future. (NOTHING is getting posted until at least five episodes are complete.)

Fortunately, there's another big event happening this month that I can direct your attention to! Stardust Poetry at Karma Cafe starts off this coming Tuesday, January 24th! Stardust Poetry will be a monthly open-mic event, held on the fourth Tuesday each month. It is semi-unmoderated, meaning adult language will be okay as long as no young children come in. (We will also do our best to warn any parents that bring kids with them.) Karma Cafe is located at 4339 Dressler Road NW, Canton, OH 44718 (behind Rooster's, the former Arabica location). Skylark will be emceeing this show. :-) See you there!

TONIGHT! First Friday Poetry Spectacular!!!

2012-01-06T00:50:00.000-05:00

Canton's First Friday Poetry Spectacular returns tonight in a new location! The slam will be taking place at Cable Recital Hall in the Canton Cultural Center for the Arts! (That's the same place as the Canton Museum of Art, if you didn't know.) (1001 N. Market Ave. Canton, OH 44702) See you there!

2011 Chapbook Bundle Offer - FREE SHIPPING!!!

2011-12-10T18:28:00.000-05:00

I've updated the 2011 Chapbook Bundle! Get all six books published by The Poet's Haven this year, "Getting There" by Jacob King, "Street Corner Poetry" by Andrew Tobias Line, "Seasons of Discontent: Spring & Summer" by Jeff Kosiba, "Interfaces: Drilling Deeper" by Ben Bartman, "The History of Chickpeas" by Laraine Seidl, and "A Thousand Voices: A City Shaman's Notebook" by C.M. Brooks with FREE SHIPPING! Plus, place your order by Wednesday, December 14th and the books will ship in time for X-mas!

http://www.PoetsHaven.com/bookcontents.php?section=23&page=7

Please help spread the word about this!

December 17th - Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven!

2011-12-09T01:49:00.001-05:00

While I'm still working on the new event calendar for Poet's Haven, I wanted to get word out about December 17th's Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven show. The featured poets will be none other than ZACH ASHLEY from Ferndale, MI and Cleveland's own AUTUMN AKI! We'll also be launching C.M. Brooks' chapbook, "A Thousand Voices: A City Shaman's Notebook" and collecting donations for the Poetic Provisions Food-Drive!

This will be the last show where you can get a copy of this year's "VENDING MACHINE: Poetry for Change" anthology in exchange for a food-drive donation.

This will be the FINAL show where the open-mic is recorded for podcasting! (See my blog post from November 10th for a full explanation of what's going on with the podcasts.)

After playing around with a couple open-source event calendar programs, I finally decided to just do what everyone else is already doing and use a Google Calendar. I'm still tweaking some things, and will be adding events to it in the days ahead.

Oh, and did I mention that the Canton First Friday Poetry Slam will return in January at our new location? Did I mention that the new location is Cable Hall at the Canton Cultural Center? 8-D And did I mention that the First Friday slam is now partnered with Lake Effect Poetry? Meaning that poets competing in the First Friday slam will earn points towards qualifying for north-east Ohio's official National Poetry Slam team?

Also, keep an eye out for another big announcement regarding a new poetry open-mic series in Canton! I'm hoping to be able to make the announcement at December 17th's Poet's Haven event. :-)

See you soon!!!

NO Poetry Spectacular at December's First Friday

2011-11-30T00:49:00.000-05:00

Due to lack of an available, suitable location, there will be NO Poetry Spectacular at December's Canton First Friday.

News will be posted when we have confirmed a location for January's poetry slam.

Poet's Haven Events

2011-11-23T00:57:00.001-05:00

FYI: Some changes are being made to the event pages at PoetsHaven.com. Some things are going on, some locations are being updated, and some new events will be added to The Poet's Haven's lineup. ;-) (Before anyone starts up rumors or makes ASSumptions, no *I* won't be emceeing any additional events. Poet's Haven will be helping with promotion and planning, but I do not have time to be the lead on any new poetry series.) Please be patient while the pages are updated.

Meanwhile, here's what's coming up:

Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven
Phoenix Coffee
(4441 Mayfield Road - South Euclid, OH 44121)
December 17, 2011: 7:00 PM
featured poets TBA
includes open-mic
NOTE: This will be the FINAL show in which the open-mic is recorded for the "Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven" podcast. (Only the features will be podcast from future events.)

VENDING MACHINE 2 Cover Art!

2011-11-14T21:46:00.000-05:00

Here's the cover for "VENDING MACHINE: Poetry for Change" volume 2! Artwork by Craig Firsdon!

Open-Mic and Podcast Decisions...

2011-11-10T00:22:00.000-05:00

It's no secret that I am MASSIVELY behind on getting podcast episodes done. No excuses, I just haven't had enough time to keep up with everything, and work on the podcasts has been the thing that has fallen by the wayside. However, with over a two-year backlog of recorded shows, I've been thinking about the future of the podcast series. I've reached some decisions:

The Vending Machine event on November 19th and the Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven event on December 17th will be the FINAL shows where the open-mic is recorded for podcasting.

We will continue to record the feature performances at the Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven shows and any of our other events that use the same format (IE: Vending Machine).

The "Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven" podcast series will end when the open-mic recording backlog is finished.

The remaining "Saturday Night With..." podcasts will not include feature performances, they will consist entirely of open-mic performances.

A new podcast series will be introduced, the exact title of which is yet to be determined. (I'm thinking of simply calling it "Poet's Haven Live," though that may imply they are live broadcasts rather than edited and cleaned up recordings.) This new series will consist of feature performances from the live Poet's Haven events. Episodes with featured musicians will include a complete set rather than just one song per episode. The new series will be released at a higher bitrate than the current series, resulting in better sound quality. (We're talking 128 or 156 kbps as opposed to the current 80. It won't be CD quality, but it'll sound a lot better playing through the headphones you use with your iPod.)

While time will still be an issue in getting new episodes done, these changes will at least slow down the rate at which the backlog is growing.

Thanks for your continued support, and I look forward to seeing everyone at the Vending Machine event on the 19th!

Authors Appearing in VENDING MACHINE 2!

2011-11-08T00:57:00.002-05:00

The following authors will be appearing in VENDING MACHINE: Poetry for Change volume 2: Autumn Aki, Lynne Albert, Dianne Borsenik, Steve Brightman, John Burroughs, Shelley Chernin, Catherine Criswell, Weldon Davis, Craig Firsdon (cover artist), T.M. Göttl, Shelly Gracon-Nagy, Marlana-Patrice Pugh Hamer, Amy Hikel, Timothy House, K-- (Kristie LeVangie), Jackie Koch, Lori Ann Kusterbeck, Chris Lawrence, Marc Mannheimer, Jen Pezzo, Dan Provost, Tina Puckett, Andrew Rihn, Alexis-Rueal, Heather Ann Schmidt, Larry Smith, Teleri, Eva X, and Katherine Zaleski!

The Poet's Haven presents VENDING MACHINE: Poetry for Change featuring Shelly Gracon-Nagy, Andrew Tobias Line, and the music of Glass Audrey

2011-10-27T19:30:00.000-04:00

The Poet's Haven presents VENDING MACHINE: Poetry for Change! This special open-mic event features music by Glass Audrey and the poetry of Shelly Gracon-Nagy and Andrew Tobias Line! We will be collecting non-perishable food donations for the Akron-Canton Foodbank as part of the Poetic Provisions Food-Drive. Bring a donation to this event to receive a copy of the "Vending Machine: Poetry for Change" anthology volume 2!

This will take place in the cabin at Letha House Park West, 5800 Richman Road, Chatham Township, Ohio 44256. PLEASE TAKE NOTE OF THE EARLIER 6:00 PM START TIME!!! We're starting this event an hour earlier than our other Saturday shows due to the park closing at 10:00 PM.

After the features, there is an open-mic. The open-mic is recorded for the Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven podcast. Poets and musicians wishing to perform at the open-mic can sign-up at 5:30. The features will begin at 6:00. ALL TIMES LISTED ARE REAL-TIME, NOT "POETRY STANDARD TIME." In other words, GET HERE BEFORE 6:00!!!

This is an ALL-AGES/UNMODERATED event, meaning kids are welcome to attend and participate, but parents should be aware that there are no restrictions on language. Some performances may (and most likely will) include coarse language.

Letha House Park's cabin is fully wheelchair and handicap accessible.

DRIVING DIRECTIONS:

FROM CLEVELAND
Take I-71 South to I-480 West.
I-480 West becomes OH-10 West.
Take EXIT 3 towards US-83.
Turn LEFT onto Butternut Ridge Road.
Turn RIGHT onto OH-83 South/Avon Belden Road.
Follow OH-83 S/Avon Lake Road through traffic circle.
Turn RIGHT onto Garver Road.
Turn LEFT onto Richman Road.
Turn RIGHT into Letha House Park West.

FROM AKRON
Take I-76 West / I-77 North.
Take the ramp to follow I-76/I-277 West.
Follow the signs for I-76/US-224 West.
Continue on US-224 West when I-76 ends.
Turn RIGHT on Vandemark Road.
Take the first LEFT onto Kennard Road.
Turn RIGHT on Avon Lake Road / OH-83 North.
Turn LEFT on Spencer Lake Road.
Turn RIGHT on Richman Road.
Turn LEFT into Letha House Park West.

FROM CANTON
Take I-77 North to US-224 West.
Continue on US-224 West when it splits from I-277.
Continue on US-224 when I-76 ends.
Turn RIGHT on Vandemark Road.
Take the first LEFT onto Kennard Road.
Turn RIGHT on Avon Lake Road / OH-83 North.
Turn LEFT on Spencer Lake Road.
Turn RIGHT on Richman Road.
Turn LEFT into Letha House Park West.

FROM ELYRIA
Take OH-301 South.
Continue on OH-301 South through traffic circle.
Turn LEFT onto Smith Road.
Turn RIGHT onto Root Road.
Take the first LEFT onto Garver Road.
Take the first RIGHT onto Richman Road.
Turn RIGHT into Letha House Park West.

FROM MASSILLON
Take OH-21 North to I-76/US-224 West.
Continue on US-224 West when I-76 ends.
Turn RIGHT on Vandemark Road.
Take the first LEFT onto Kennard Road.
Turn RIGHT on Avon Lake Road / OH-83 North.
Turn LEFT on Spencer Lake Road.
Turn RIGHT on Richman Road.
Turn LEFT into Letha House Park West.

Change of Venue for November 19th VENDING MACHINE Event

2011-10-27T18:57:00.000-04:00

Due to a scheduling conflict, the location of November 19th's VENDING MACHINE: Poetry for Change event and Poetic Provisions Food-Drive has been moved to a different venue. The show will now take place in the cabin at Letha House Park West, 5800 Richman Road, Chatham Township, Ohio 44256. PLEASE TAKE NOTE THIS SHOW WILL START AT 6:00 PM!!! We're starting this event an hour earlier than our regular Saturday shows due to the park closing at 10:00 PM.

We will also have a café set up in the cabin, with coffee, tea, soda, and some baked goods for sale. Proceeds will go to the Akron-Canton Foodbank, along with the collected food-drive donations. :-)

Time's almost up! Get all 6 chapbooks for just $25!!!

2011-10-26T23:02:00.000-04:00

The (newly expanded title) "Vertigo Needed a New Car and Needs New Speakers for Poetry Shows, a New Printer, and a Ton of Other Crap He Didn't Want to Spend Money On Yet" sale will be ending on MONDAY! This is your last chance to get all SIX chapbooks published by The Poet's Haven in 2011 for just $25 plus FREE SHIPPING!!! That's like getting one of the books for free! Did I mention FREE SHIPPING!!! That saves you another six bucks! THIS OFFER IS OVER, KAPUT, DONE ON MONDAY!

Vending Machine: Poetry for Change volume 1 - NEW E-BOOK

2011-10-03T01:05:00.000-04:00

2010's "Vending Machine" anthology has now been released as a free e-book download!

Get it here!

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction by Zach
"Love Initiative Poem" by Bekey Hewit
"Singularity" by Geoffrey Landis
"Wet Down with Mother's Spit" by Steve Brightman
"In These Times" by Kay Eaton
"For the Fifty (Who Made PEACE With Their Bodies)" by Phillip Metres
"Surfacing" by Marc Mannheimer
"Torches" by Michael Bernstein
"Vending Machine For Change" by Dianne Borsenik
"Leap of Faith" by William Merricle
"August of Now" by Cheryl A. Townsend
"Fun House Mirrors" by Michael D. Grover
"Refugee" by Tina Puckett
"Depth of an End" by Katherine Zaleski
"Sparrowz (A November Poem)" by Marlana-Patrice Pugh Hamer
"No Boundaries" by Christina Brooks
"Late Autumn" by Joshua Gage
"Evening Things" by Nabina Das
"Lets Go Fly a Kite" by Sarah Wells
"En Mass" by Michelle "Mikki" Williams
"Men" by Eric Odum
"Can It" by John Burroughs
"Love Is" by Arija Lee
"Whitman Knew" by Timothy R. Gates
"STORMS (It Is Now Time To Open Our Eyes)" by Leah B. Beck
"Corners" by Ann DiFrangia
"Speak a Revolution" by Katie Brown
"A Wish for Peace" by John A. Todras
"Meditations to The Max" by Amylia Grace
"Amina's Field Trip" by Judith Fanny Rose
"Becoming Light" by J.E. Stanley
"Re Routed" by Chris Lawrence
"Journey of Change" by Jenna Arthur
"Virgin Mango Pickles" by Sivakami Velliangiri
"Embrace It" by Jen Pezzo
"Celebration" by Barbara Moore
"Busy" by Elisha Aglioit
"If I Were Hungry" by Peter Hessman
"Hard to Disagree" by A. Molotkov
"Solitaire" by Steve Thomas
"The Road" by Craig Firsdon

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: "Vending Machine: Poetry for Change" volume 2

2011-10-02T20:55:00.000-04:00

The Poet's Haven is seeking submissions inspired by the following quote:

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." -- Mahatma Gandhi

This is for the next "Vending Machine" anthology that will be released at a special Poet's Haven show this November 19th, in conjunction with the "Poetic Provisions" food-drive. This event will be held at Sonnets Cafe in Wadsworth and will feature the music of Glass Audrey and the poetry of Andrew Tobias Line and Shelly Gracon-Nagy. Copies of "Vending Machine: Poetry for Change" volume 2 will be given FREE to anyone who brings a non-perishable food donation to the event. Donations are being collected for the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank.

THE RULES & GUIDELINES:

POEM SUBMISSIONS MUST BE LESS THAN 60 LINES. Poems under 30 lines are recommended. Story and essay submissions must be under 500 words.

Submissions must be received by October 18th!

SUBMISSIONS MUST FIT THE THEME!!! If you can't take the time to read the theme, we won't waste time considering your work.

As this is a charity project to benefit the Akron-Canton Foodbank, we are unable to provide contributor copies.

Submissions should be e-mailed to VendingMachine[at]PoetsHaven.com.

While this is a Poet's Haven publication, this project is separate from the PoetsHaven.com online galleries and The Poet's Haven Chapbook Series. Submissions for this project MUST be made to the above listed e-mail address, NOT to the online galleries. Authors retain the right to have their submissions published elsewhere, as long as the other publishers do not require first-time or exclusive rights. Previously published material is acceptable though discouraged.

This anthology will also be published as a free e-book download in 2012.

SPACE IS LIMITED, NOT EVERY SUBMISSION CAN BE PUBLISHED.

UPDATE: Event Names, Feature Lineup

2011-10-01T12:38:00.001-04:00

I have made the decision that only the events at Phoenix Coffee will be called "Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven." This will make promotional language easier to write and understand. (I've always found it challenging to explain the multiple venue format in a fast manner. Now, its simply "SNWTPH events are held every other month at Phoenix Coffee in South Euclid.") When we do have an event that uses the same format during the other months (such as November's show at Sonnets), it will be promoted with its own title.

Speaking of November 19th's Vending Machine: Poetry for Change event (see how easy that was), I am pleased to announce that the feature lineup will include Shelly Gracon-Nagy! She'll be joined by Andrew Tobias Line and the music of Glass Audrey!

Bad Stuff, Good Stuff...

2011-09-29T02:23:00.000-04:00

If you're not connected to me on Facebook, you might not have heard... This past Friday, I was in an auto accident. I am okay, my only injuries were the ones caused by the airbags. (When will they finally give us a way to turn those blasted things off?) My laptop's screen was damaged, but it is still under the warranty plan. My car, however, did not survive the impact. I do have full coverage insurance, but as my car was 12 years old I am not expecting a very large payment from them to go towards getting a new set of wheels.

So, I need to generate some cash, and fast. No, I don't want donations, I don't believe in money-for-nothing. What I do want is to sell some chapbooks!

For a limited time, The Poet's Haven is offering all six chapbooks published in 2011 for the low price of $25.00 with FREE SHIPPING in the USA! That's like getting one of the books for free!

http://www.PoetsHaven.com/bookcontents.php?section=23&page=7

Please pass this offer on to all your poetry-inclined friends, associates, and cohorts!

Poet's Haven at INGENUITY FEST - Schedule of readings, signings, & performances

2011-09-14T02:40:00.000-04:00

I need to preface this. There are DOZENS of poets I wanted to get on the schedule and a limited number of time-slots. Almost everyone on here was asked in real-time, either when I saw them at a poetry event or when they were signed on to Facebook's instant messenger. I apologize to anyone who was hoping for an invitation to read that didn't get one.

Friday and Saturday, readings and signings will take place at The Poet's Haven's booth. Sunday, readings will take place at the Coffee Shop Stage.

The booth will feature books from The Poet's Haven, Crisis Chronicles, Deep Cleveland, Seven Beers and a Hedgehog, Writing Knights, and more! We'll also have some CDs for sale, including new releases from Glass Audrey and Zach!

Here is the schedule of authors appearing and performing:

FRIDAY - Readings & Signings @ Poet's Haven Booth
05:00 PM Jacob King *
06:00 PM Azriel Johnson
07:00 PM John Burroughs
08:00 PM Steve Brightman
09:00 PM T.M. Göttl
10:00 PM Joshua Gage
11:00 PM J.E. Stanley
12:00 AM Michael Bernstein

SATURDAY - Readings & Signings @ Poet's Haven Booth
12:00 PM Christine Howey
01:00 PM (Steven B.) SMITH
02:00 PM Laraine Seidl *
03:00 PM AKeem Jamal Rollins
04:00 PM Ben Bartman *
05:00 PM Timothy House
06:00 PM Suspicious (Jessica Skrzypiec)
07:00 PM Jeff Kosiba *
08:00 PM Dianne Borsenik
09:00 PM Vladimir Swirynsky
10:00 PM Andrew Tobias Line *
11:00 PM Poets of "Brandt 21" (Russ Vidrick, Tom Orange, & More)
12:00 AM Robert Miltner

SUNDAY - Poetry Performances @ Coffee Shop Stage
12:00 PM Miguel Sandoval
12:30 PM Gina Tabasso
01:00 PM Christina Brooks **
01:30 PM Catherine Criswell
02:00 PM Julia Jones
02:30 PM Caira Lee
03:00 PM Carla Thompson-King
03:30 PM Skylark
04:00 PM Lake Effect Poetry Slam

LAKE EFFECT POETRY SLAM INFO: Lake Effect Poetry is the new name for Cleveland's National Poetry Slam team. This slam will be a qualifier for Cleveland's spot at Individual World Poetry Slam next month. IWPS will be held in Cleveland October 12-15. This slam will consist of a 1-minute round and a 4-minute round. A sign-up sheet will be available in the cafe 15 minutes before the slam begins. If you want to compete, be there on time! The top four poets will get points and qualify to compete in the finals held 9/23 at the Root Cafe in Lakewood. The winner of that slam will be representing Cleveland at IWPS.

* = poets with books published by The Poet's Haven
** = poet with book to be published by The Poet's Haven

Ingenuity Fest is held on the lower level of the Detroit-Superior bridge. The Poet's Haven's booth will be located on the east side of the bridge, near the Doodle Bar. Visit http://ingenuitycleveland.com for more info on the festival and for a map of the bridge. The Doodle Bar is the beer & cocktail vendor close to the eastern entrance.

I hope to see you there!

EVENT NEWS!!! SCHEDULE CHANGES!!!

2011-09-08T01:54:00.000-04:00

I've once again fallen behind posting on this blog, but this time you may understand why. I hate posting bad news, even if that bad news puts things in motion that lead to some wonderful news. Read on...

First, the bad news: The café that has been home to The Poet's Haven's Akron shows for the past two years has chosen to discontinue hosting our poetry events. It is their loss, and that is all I will say on the matter.

If you know me at all, you know that I do not allow things like this to be set-backs, that I find a way to turn them into opportunities. In other words, the rest of this post is good news. :-)

We will not be having a Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven event in September... Instead, The Poet's Haven will be at INGENUITY FEST in Cleveland, September 16th through 18th! We will have a booth set up selling books, CDs, and more from not only The Poet's Haven, but from other Ohio-based small presses and independent creators as well. Each hour of the festival Friday and Saturday, we will have a different author hanging out at the booth, reading some of their work and signing their books (or CDs) for anyone that buys one. Then on Sunday, the poets will take over the coffeehouse stage! The readings begin at noon, and will lead up to a LAKE EFFECT POETRY SLAM at 4:00! (Lake Effect Poetry is the organization formerly known as Dragon Inc.) This slam will be a qualifier event for Lake Effect's spot at Individual World Poetry Slam (IWPS)!

Speaking of IWPS... Our Cleveland shows will continue to be held at Phoenix Coffee in South Euclid every "even-numbered" month (February, April, etc.), with one exception: There will be no Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven event in October. Why? Individual World Poetry Slam is coming to Cleveland, and the finals are scheduled at the same time our show would normally take place. IWPS is one of the largest poetry events on the planet. It would be foolish to try to promote a poetry show up against that. Plus, I want to be there, cheering on Cleveland's poets that will be in the competition.

November 19th will see a special Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven event at Sonnet's Café in Wadsworth! One of the featured poets will be Andrew Tobias Line! The featured musician will be Meganne Stepka, possibly with the rest of Glass Audrey! The second featured poet will be announced soon. This event will also include the "Vending Machine: Poetry for Change" food-drive! Bring a non-perishable food donation for the Akron-Canton Foodbank to the show and you will recieve a copy of "Vending Machine: Poetry for Change volume 2." A donation to the food-drive is the ONLY way to get a copy of this anthology!

December 17th, we will resume our bimonthly schedule at Phoenix Coffee.

What is the plan for the "odd-numbered" months in 2012? At this time, I am planning to have the show go back its nomadic roots. However, rather than an open-mic show every month, I want to take The Poet's Haven to more festivals and events like Ingenuity. Having the odd months free will allow me to do that.

The poetry scene is often described as incestuous. The same small group of poets frequent the same handful of shows every month, and the same poets make the feature rounds when they have new books or CDs to promote. In order to have the scene grow, we need to build our audience. We need to take poetry and put it in front of folks that have never experienced poetry the way it should be. That is what I want to do.

I'll be posting the schedule of readings and signings Ingenuity in a few days. Stay tuned!

Poetry Gallery # 6 FULL! :-)

2011-08-14T18:53:00.000-04:00

I've been so busy working on chapbooks and worrying about live events (more on that another day) that I've fallen quite behind on the online galleries' submission queue. I was shocked to discover today that the Poetry 6 gallery had gone over 1000 pages!

The Poetry 7 gallery is now open and all new online poetry publications will be placed there. :-)

CD review: "Little Waves" by Glass Audrey

2011-08-04T01:44:00.000-04:00

Glass Audrey vocalist Meganne Stepka featured at a Poet's Haven event in 2009. Since then, I've tried to catch as many of her performances as possible. (In other words, yes, I am a fan.) Now at last, she and partner Michael Roberts have completed Glass Audrey's first full length album!

In the past I have described Glass Audrey's sound as like Sarah McLachlan doing vocals for Pearl Jam. I hereby retract that statement. The complex lyrics and musical styling is much more akin to "Boys for Pele" era Tori Amos, with hints of influence from Siouxie and the Banshees, Heart, The Pretenders, and The Cure. Each track takes the listener on an emotional journey, an auditory rollercoaster ride.

The one and only negative thing I can say about this album is that a few of the tracks use too much echo on the vocals. Meganne's voice is well suited to a raw, unfiltered sound, and the studio effects layered over her voice end up covering the nuances one hears in her live performances.

All said, the album gets my highest recommendation. But don't just take my word for it, listen to it yourself on Glass Audrey's Bandcamp page and then order the full album download:
http://music.glassaudrey.com

DRAGON INC. team hosting 24-hour poetry marathon fundraiser event!

2011-07-27T23:37:00.001-04:00

Cleveland, Ohio's DRAGON INC. is having a 24-hour poetry marathon event at Phoenix Coffee on West 9th Street in downtown Cleveland, starting at 8:00 PM this Friday! This is a fundraiser event, raising money to help Cleveland's National Poetry Slam team get to Boston. Anyone can feature! Time on the mic is just $1 per minute, with a minimum of 10 minutes.

The event will be broadcast on Ustream, so poets performing here will be seen and heard by folks all over the planet (and possibly beyond). There will also be a big screen and computer set up so that poets not able to attend the show in person can perform live via Skype!

Performers of all types are welcome. If you would like to play music*, stage a play, or do an interpretive dance, time is available. (* Due to licensing restrictions, music performed must be original or in public domain.)

To reserve a time-slot, contact AKeem Jamal Rollins (Dragon Inc.'s coach). (There's a contact form on the Dragon Inc. website, if you are unable to contact AKeem via Facebook.)

http://www.DragonIncSlam.com

Event page on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=120150718079534

(Huge thanks and apologies to Scott Woods for allowing us to steal his fundraising idea.)

(And because I know someone will ask, I am assisting the Dragon Inc. team at this event, being their tech-guy. This is not a Poet's Haven event.)

I've been interviewed!

2011-07-15T00:12:00.000-04:00

Check it out, Tanisha Herrin interviewed me for the Akron Poetry Examiner:
http://www.examiner.com/poetry-in-akron/interview-with-vertigo-xi-an-xavier-and-the-poet-s-haven

:-)

New Chapbooks

2011-06-30T01:28:00.001-04:00

More that I keep forgetting to post here on the blog: The Poet's Haven released two new chapbooks this month!

Andrew Tobias Line's "Street Corner Poetry" launched on June 10th at his Deep Cleveland feature!

Jeff Kosiba's "Seasons of Discontent: Spring & Summer" was released at the June 18th Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven event in Cleveland!

Andrew's book was rushed to print as he is part of Cleveland's Dragon Inc. slam team and will be doing some heavy promotion and fund-raising leading up to the team's trip to National Poetry Slam. We now resume our normal bimonthly release schedule. :-)

These books can be purchased at several independent bookstores around north-east Ohio (and if you are interested in carrying Poet's Haven chapbooks at your retail establishment, dealer inquiries are welcome), purchased at any live Poet's Haven event, or ordered online.

July First Friday - CHALK THE WALK & POETRY TO THE PEOPLE

2011-06-29T00:23:00.003-04:00

It's time for Canton First Friday's CHALK THE WALK event, and this year we're taking part in a big way! We will again be assembling a street team to cover the walkways with short poems, and we also want poem submissions for the street team to use!

For info on submitting poems:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=166382496761460

For info on joining our street team:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=185174014869063

Then, we're taking a month off from the normal open-mic and slam event and instead bringing POETRY TO THE PEOPLE! Poets will be performing all over the downtown arts district, out amid the crowd of people! The goal is to let folks who wouldn't normally come to a poetry event hear how awesome performance poetry is (and hopefully get some of those people to check out some poetry events in the future). Poetry performances will start at 6:00, and will conclude with members of DRAGON INC. (who will be sending Cleveland's team to National Poetry Slam) performing on "THE POET'S HAVEN STAGE" (YES!) from 9:00 to 10:00!

Here's the schedule of performing poets:

6:00 - BEN BARTMAN - at the Rubber Duckie (corner of 5th and Cleveland Ave.)
6:20 - HERE BE DRAGONS (Jennifer Cline & John Cezanne) - at 4th and Cleveland (across from the Buzzbin Stage)
7:00 - CHRISTINA BROOKS - outside Second April Gallerie (324 Cleveland Ave.)
7:20 - STEVE BRIGHTMAN - at the Rhino (corner of 4th and Cleveland Ave.)
7:40 - CARLA THOMPSON & JACOB KING - at the Shutterbug (the mosquito, corner of 5th and Cleveland Ave.)
8:20 - ARIJA LEE - outside Arcadia Grill (Court Ave., the parking lot behind Second April)
8:40 - KONKRETE ROSE - at the Saxophone (corner of 3rd and Market Ave.)
9:00 - DRAGON INC. (with AKeem Rollins, Andrew Line, Caira Lee) - The Poet's Haven Stage (at 3rd and Court Ave.)

The locations are subject to some tweaking. I'll have the most up-to-date schedule posted at Citizen X during the event.

I hope to see everyone there!

"Getting There" by Jacob King

2011-05-07T15:11:00.001-04:00

I'm falling into a trap of not updating this blog. I seem to post status updates on Facebook when I have something to announce, but forget to come over here and post it.

The first book in The Poet's Haven Chapbook Series was released last month! "Getting There" by Jacob King can be picked up at Backlist Books in Massillon, the Citizen X / BRsquare offices in Canton, Mac's Backs Books on Coventry in Cleveland Heights, and Visible Voice Books in Tremont! You can also get a copy from me at any Poet's Haven event or any other poetry event you see me at. For those not located in the north-east Ohio area, you can also order a copy online from The Poet's Haven.

Galleries OPEN to submissions...

2011-03-21T17:11:00.000-04:00

I know I never posted a follow-up about the server move, but FYI: everything's moved and the galleries are open to submissions. Just in case you were wondering...

Galleries Closed to Submissions During Server Move

2011-02-25T19:00:00.000-05:00

While the big changes I'd hope to complete in time for the server move are not complete, the move has to happen now. (Otherwise, I have to pay for another year at the old server, which I'd really rather not have to do.) The PoetsHaven.com galleries will be closed to submissions while the move is completed. The galleries will be open to submissions on the new server, however it may take up to 48 hours for everyone's ISPs to update their DNS info. If you wish to submit work to the galleries and are not able to do so, please come back in a day or two.

(If I don't close the galleries on the old server and that's the version of the site you are seeing, your submissions will be lost. This way, no submissions get lost during the transition from the old server to the new.)

Good things are in store at the new server. I am promised unlimited (within reason) bandwidth, and as such will be able to do things like hour-long podcast episodes (instead of half-hour episodes) and the upcoming ebook releases without worrying about data transfer limits. I am also continuing to work on upgrades to the galleries, but what I am trying to do there has proven to be a major undertaking somewhat beyond my self-taught PHP programming skills. It'll get done someday, I just have to figure out how to get certain functions to work the way I want.

Vertigo guest emcee at Snoetry - 1 AM to 5 AM Saturday night / Sunday morning

2011-02-03T21:32:00.000-05:00

As the subject says, I will be guest emcee at Snoetry in Elyria, OH from 1 AM to 5 AM Saturday night / Sunday morning. If you haven't heard, Snoetry is a 150-hour poetry reading staged by John Burroughs and Dianne Borsenik that's set to claim the world record for longest poetry event in modern times. The event is happening NOW, and can be viewed live at Ustream!

So, I have four hours to fill and some nifty technology that allows me to hook my cell phone up to the event's sound equipment. Anyone want to read by phone? Send me an e-mail or a private message if you're interested. Let me know how long you would like to read for (15 to 30 minutes), who you are if I don't already know you, and what your phone number is. I'll put a schedule together and let you know what time to expect the call. :-)

SHARE THIS! How to get around the internet block in #Egypt

2011-01-31T22:47:00.001-05:00

Listening to NPR earlier today, they were talking about how "tech savvy" protesters were finding ways to get around the internet shut-down in Egypt. Their story mostly focused on folks breaking out the old dial-up modems and connecting to dial-up ISPs in other countries, but they also described exactly how the Egyptian ISPs had shut down access to the world wide web. It seems that the ISPs simply removed all the entries from their DNS servers. When you connect to their ISP and type in an address, the DNS server tells your computer where that site is located. Without a DNS entry for a site, your computer won't be able to find the site. However, if your computer has an entry for that site in the HOSTS file, your computer will skip accessing the DNS server for that site and connect to the IP in the HOSTS entry.

Make sure your computer is set up to show hidden files. Look for a file named HOSTS in either Windows\system32\drivers\etc or in the Windows root (for 98/ME users). If you're using a *NIX or Macintosh OS, go to /etc/hosts. Add entries for the sites you need to access, such as:

          69.63.189.26 facebook.com
          74.125.127.93 youtube.com
          74.125.95.93 google.com
          168.143.171.180 twitter.com

The above listed IPs work as of this posting. The IPs for Google and Youtube should be interchangeable, as they are hosted on the same servers.

This trick is also useful for getting around campus or work-place firewalls on certain sites. This is not guaranteed to work, as more advanced firewalls will block the whole IP range of certain sites, and in the case of what's happening in Egypt right now, the ISPs may completely shut-down or disconnect from the internet until the government lifts the ban. However, as long as the shut-down is being done in the way described by NPR today, this method should work.

Also, if you're not trying to work around a block, do NOT add entries to your HOSTS file. Sites such as these change their IP addresses somewhat frequently, and when they do your entry will no longer be valid. This is why DNS servers are important, as they are updated every few hours with current data. However, as these sites have made it clear they stand on the side of the protesters and against the Egyptian government's block, hopefully they will keep their current IP addresses until the crisis is over.

Random Musings...

2011-01-23T02:20:00.000-05:00

I did some laundry when I got home tonight, and a thought struck me. Why do I still match my socks into pairs when I don't wear them that way?

(For anyone who doesn't know, I have had some trouble with my left leg, and now wear a compression stocking. While I do occasionally wear compression stockings on both legs, I usually wear a normal sock on my right foot.)

Is this just a course of habit that I've yet to break away from? A built-in reflex that will never change?

Someone I know who is a landscaper once told me about a job he took. He did some planting and whatnot and installed those little lights along the sidewalk. The thing was, the man who lived in the house was blind. He could not figure out why the blind man would want lights along his sidewalk. My first thought was that perhaps the client wasn't totally blind and could follow the lights to get to his door in the dark. My second thought was that he wanted them there for guests, friends and relatives who would stop over regularly. But tonight, another possibility crossed my mind. Perhaps it was some sort of reflex action, wanting lights. How long does it take someone who has lost their sight to stop reaching for the light switch?

On a lighter note, tonight I heard what has got to be the best bad pick-up line ever. I've been listening to more country music of late, and had one of the bands named "Iron Horse" playing in my car. (There are three bands named "Iron Horse" that I know of. One is a Scottish Celtic band, one is a bluegrass band from Alabama that is best known for doing Metallica and Ozzy cover albums, and the last, the one I was listening to tonight, is a country/metal band from Columbus.) The song "Bring It On" has the line "Baby if you wanna ride / I'll be your motorcycle." LOL

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: Chapbook Proposals

2011-01-11T00:25:00.000-05:00

The Poet's Haven will be launching a chapbook series in 2011. Plans are underway for the first volume to be released in April, with new books to follow every other month.

While I have spoken with several authors about this, and have some other authors in mind for upcoming releases, I would also like to open the series up to submissions. Whether you are a veteran or a newcomer to the small-press publishing world, if you're interested in having a collection of your work published I would like to read your proposal.

Here are the details for the series format, publishing schedule, and pay structure:

Chapbooks will measure 5.5" wide by 8.5" tall and will be saddle-stitched (aka stapled). The books will be 40 pages in length, including a title page (which can also include a table of contents or an introduction) and the page with copyright notices and all the other required fine-print. A full-color, cardstock cover will adorn the books. The cover price will be $5, subject to change with any drastic increases in production costs (paper prices, etc.).

The chapbooks will be kept in print for a period of 12 months. After 12 months, no additional copies of the chapbook will be printed. 13 months after the original publication, the chapbook will be made available as a free e-book download. The e-books will not be printable.

Authors will receive 20% of all printed copies. That breaks down like this: If the first print run is 100 copies, 20 of them go to the author. If the first print run sells out and a second print run of, say, 50 copies is produced, the author will receive 10 of them. If the author wants/needs to acquire additional copies, he or she can do so at a 40% discount.

I'd like to take a moment to address this pay structure. After discussing how other small-presses compensate their chapbook authors, two common flaws became apparent. With many (not all) small-presses, a chapbook is either limited to its original print run and is finished once it is sold out, or the publisher can produce as many print-runs as demand calls for but the author receives no additional payment. I have designed this pay structure to allow for multiple printings over the 12 month release window while continuing to compensate the book's author for increased sales.

What is The Poet's Haven looking for?

A collection of your poems centered around a theme, a collection of work from a certain era of your life, a series of poems that tell a narrative story... These are just a few general ideas. Also, while most chapbooks contain poems, nobody ever said that's all a chapbook could be! Surprise me!

WHO is The Poet's Haven looking for?

The Poet's Haven has always taken pride in being open to both newcomers and seasoned pros. That said, for legal reasons, chapbook authors must be at least 18 years of age or have a parent or guardian involved in the process from submission to publication. Authors who manage other small-presses are welcome to submit a proposal, but be aware that you may have a harder sell. (I'll wonder why you're not publishing the book yourself.) Also, authors who have been previously published by The Poet's Haven (whether in the online galleries or in the podcast) will probably get some preferential treatment. ;-)

How to submit a proposal:

Click the "Contact Publisher" link on PoetsHaven.com and send me an e-mail with "Chapbook Proposal" as the subject. You can also contact me via private message on Facebook. Tell me who you are if I don't know you, and tell me what your idea is for a chapbook. Include a selection of pieces that would be submitted for the chapbook in the proposal (5 pieces maximum). If your proposal interests me, I will contact you requesting a full manuscript.

Thanks, and I look forward to your responses!

(At Long Last!) New Podcasts!!!

2011-01-03T21:42:00.000-05:00

Hey, hey, hey! Check that link out over on the right side of the blog! There's a new podcast up for your listening pleasure!

A total of five new episodes have been completed. Due to problems with the current server, I cannot post all five episodes at once. (Five episodes times 800+ people downloading them in a matter of two or three days would be more than it could handle.) To avoid crashing the server, I'll be posting two episodes a week, one on Saturday and one on Wednesday, until I run out. I'm hoping to complete a few more relatively soon, but I'm trying to balance getting podcast work done with working on the updated scripts for the galleries so that I can get the site moved to a new server. Once the site is on the new server, bandwidth will be less of an issue. I am considering changing the show to hour-long episodes once the server move is complete.

Episode 36, now online, features poetry by Timothy House, Vladimir Swirynsky, Christina Brooks, and Samantha Bako with music by Ramona Stone.

Episode 37, coming Wednesday, features poetry by Kisha Nicole Foster and John Burroughs with music by Meganne Stepka.

Episode 38 features poetry by Timothy House, Azalea Tidwell, Debbie Goings, Marc Manheimer, and Dianne Borsenik with music by Meganne Stepka.

Episode 39 features poetry by Dave Nichols, Teleri, Jen Pezzo, and Timothy House with music by Meganne Stepka.

Episode 40 features poetry by Dave Nichols and Christopher Franke with music by Meganne Stepka.

This Saturday in Lakewood!

2010-12-15T21:37:00.000-05:00

This Saturday, December 18, we close out 2010 with Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven at the Root Café in Lakewood, OH! Our featured poets will be Rachelle Gallant and Jacob Oet!

Rachelle Gallant is a modern poet for the new world. With twenty-five years of formal English and literary training, Rachelle's poetry brings her uniquely poignant yet intimate look into the everyday human condition. Her signature fusion of poetry and photography strikes to the heart of life's randomness. Other artistic performances to her credit include; featured poet at the Tremont Art and Cultural Festival in 2008, 2009, and 2010, featured poet at the Literary Café in November 2008, featured poet at Club Alchemy in February 2009, and The Cleveland Playhouse in May 2010. (http://www.theurbanwordcharmer.com)

Jacob Oet lives in Solon, Ohio and is currently a junior at University School. He has loved writing stories and poems since he was little. His favorite poets include e.e cummings, Mary Oliver, and Pablo Neruda. Jacob was a finalist in Playhouse Square's 2010 SlamU! program and looks forward to participating again this year. His poem, "Metamorphosis," was recently named a winner of the Poetry in the Garden competition, co-sponsored by Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Botanical Garden. Jacob is also a champion chess player, taking first place three years running at the Ohio Grade Level Chess Championships. (http://phantasmicmelody.deviantart.com)

This is an ALL-AGES/MODERATED event. That means that language must be kept within PG-13 guidelines. (This show rating was the decision of The Poet's Haven, it was not requested by the venue. Our show last April at the Root Café saw a high number of younger children, usually with parents who were stopping for coffee while out shopping. For this reason, we decided to make this show a moderated event. This is NOT censorship. If you want to read material with explicit content at a Poet's Haven show, we're just asking you to save it for January or February.) Hint: If you have kids or siblings that don't get to go to many poetry events due to mature content, now's your chance to bring them along. The open-mic is open to writers of ALL AGES!

This will also be your LAST CHANCE to get a copy of "VENDING MACHINE: POETRY FOR CHANGE!" We will be collecting canned food donations for the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank. Bring a donation to get a copy of the "Vending Machine" anthology. (Offer only good until we run out of books!)

"Vending Machine" food drive at First Friday Poetry Spectacular!

2010-12-03T03:02:00.002-05:00

The Love Initiative's "Music for Meals" food drive may have wrapped up (after collecting over 1,000 lbs. of food!), but the Akron-Canton Foodbank still needs donations!

If you missed out on getting a copy of "Vending Machine: Poetry for Change" at November's "Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven" event, you now have a second chance at tonight's Canton First Friday Poetry Spectacular! "How do I get one?" you ask. Why, it's simple! Bring a non-perishable food donation to tonight's show (cans and/or boxes only, no glass jars) and you can trade your donation for a copy of this awesome poetry anthology. Quantities are limited, so they will only be available until we run out. The food donations will go to the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank.

Tonight's Poetry Spectacular features Robert Miltner. Robert Miltner teaches literature and creative writing at Kent State University's Stark campus. He is the author of "Hotel Utopia," selected by Tim Seibles as winner of the New Rivers Press book prize, and a dozen chapbooks, including "Against the Simple" (Wick chapbook award). Miltner has published poems in "Artful Dodge," "Barrow Street," "LIT," "Diagram," "Pleiades," "Prose Poem," "Sleeping Fish," and "Sentence," and short fiction in "Istanbul Literary Review," "Apple Valley Review," "Storyglossia," "Ophelia Street," "Perigee," and "Christmas Stories from Ohio." He is working on a novel, "Tempest," and edits "The Raymond Carver Review" (http://dept.kent.edu/english/RCR/).

Canton's First Friday Poetry Spectacular takes place at the Kathleen Howland Theatre, downstairs at the Second April Art Gallerie (324 Cleveland Ave. NW Canton, OH 44702). Sign-up time for the open-mic and poetry slam is at 7:00, with the open-mic starting promptly at 7:30.

See you there! :-)

PRESS RELEASE: "Vending Machine: Poetry for Change"

2010-10-30T22:51:00.001-04:00

Poet's Haven to Release New Magazine as Part of Food Drive on November 20

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Massillon, Ohio, United States of America
October 30, 2010

The Poet's Haven announces the release of a new magazine as part of Love Initiative's Music for Meals food drive.

The Poet's Haven has teamed with The Love Initiative to bring the Music for Meals food drive to "Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven" on November 20th. As an added incentive for donations, The Poet's Haven will be publishing a limited edition chapbook/zine titled "Vending Machine: Poetry for Change," that will be given FREE to anyone who donates non-perishable food items during the show. Food donations will go to the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank.

November 20th's "Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven" event will be at the Angel Falls Coffee Company in Akron, and will feature poets Steve Brightman and Eric "Verbal Influence" Odum.

Steve Brightman is 1/4 cup dijon and whole grain mustard, 1/4 cup honey, 1/4 cup ground coffee, and 1/4 cup deep dark molasses. He lives in Kent, Ohio, with his pionus parrot and thinks that PNC park is the finest cathedral in North America. His poems have been featured in "Pudding House," "Kansas City Voices," "Origami Condom," "My Favorite Bullet," and he was included in the Ohio Bicentennial Anthology titled "I Have My Own Song For It: Modern Poems about Ohio."

Eric "Verbal Influence" Odum is a 20 year old poet hailing from Cleveland, Ohio. He has been part of Playhouse Square's SlamU! program for the past five years. He is a peer mentor, running workshops and working on a personal level with teens on performance and writing. He was part of Cleveland's National Youth Poetry Slam team for the past three years. He also runs a poetry group called Spit Poet Spit, which performed at Urbean Joe’s Coffee this past September. Eric is the founding member of an after school poetry group called New Age Poets. He started writing at the age of nine and began performing at fifteen. He has released one chapbook, "Unspoken Declarations," and has a CD in the works called "Verbal Therapy."

Angel Falls Coffee is located at 792 West Market Street, Akron, Ohio 44303, in Akron's Highland Square district.

Seeking Poetry Submissions! "Poetry for Change" benefits Foodbank

2010-10-25T23:44:00.001-04:00

The Poet's Haven, in collaboration with The Love Initiative, is seeking poetry submissions inspired by The Love Initiative statement:

"The world doesn't change in one big sweeping moment.
It is a continual journey.
Humanity's awakening.
This journey starts not with thousands but with one.
One.
The world of one person can change in an instant.
It just takes a minute.
This is that minute."

These poems will be published by The Poet's Haven as a chapbook titled "Vending Machine: Poetry for Change," and will be given FREE to all who donate non-perishable food items at the Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven event on November 20, 2010 at Angel Falls in Akron, Ohio. This project is part of the Love Initiative's regional "Music for Meals" holiday food drive.

Submission Guidelines:

- Poems must be no longer than 60 lines. Poems 30 lines or less are preferred.

- Deadline for submissions is November 7, 2010.

- E-mail submissions to VendingMachine [at] PoetsHaven.com.

- As this is part of a charity project to benefit the Akron-Canton Foodbank, we are unfortunately unable to provide contributors' copies.

http://www.PoetsHaven.com
http://www.theloveinitiative.com

Visit the Music for Meals event page on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=118151621578940

Additional notes (aka the fine print): While The Poet's Haven is publishing this chapbook/zine, this project is separate from the PoetsHaven.com galleries. Submissions for this publication MUST be made to the above listed e-mail address, NOT to the online galleries. Authors retain the right to have their submissions published elsewhere, as long as the other publishers do not require first-time or exclusive rights. Previously published material is acceptable though discouraged. The Poet's Haven retains the right to republish this material at a later date (IE: next year) as a free e-book download. Space is limited, and not every submission will be published.

Random Stuff, Site News

2010-10-23T17:08:00.001-04:00

So, I'm on Facebook today, and under their "People You May Know" thing on the side of the page, I see a picture of a hot chick wearing very skimpy attire. Being your A-typical hetero male, I click her name to see a larger photo. Under said larger photo, Facebook asks me if I'd like to poke her. You can't tell me that's not a sexual innuendo.

*********************************************************************

If you're not supposed to eat the brownie first, why do you have to take it out of the TV dinner tray half-way through cooking the rest of the meal?

*********************************************************************

There's been problems with the website going down on a regular basis. Regular as in every freaking night, around about the same time. HTML pages will still load, but anything that uses the SQL databases (like, say, the galleries) cannot be viewed. There is nothing on Poet's Haven that would be causing this, which leads me to believe that something else on the shared server I rent from is causing it to go down.
For this reason, I have decided to migrate servers once again.

This move should be quick and easy. When it starts, I will close the site to submissions. If you do not see the submission link as you browse the gallery, this is why. When the move is complete, the site on the new server will be open to submissions. This way, no submissions are lost in the transition.

This also gives me the opportunity to make some behind-the-scenes changes to how things are set up. I've been wanting to shut down some other sites I no longer have need for, and this will allow me to make Poet's Haven the primary site on my account instead of dependent to a site I no longer use.

Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven in 2011!

2010-10-21T01:43:00.000-04:00

After moving the show around the past three years, and then settling into a same-location-every-other-month routine this year, I have decided to find the show a home in Cleveland. I am pleased to announce that next year's Cleveland shows will all be held at Phoenix Coffee in South Euclid, and our Akron shows will continue at Angel Falls!

For those who aren't aware, here's the details: "Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven" takes place on the third Saturday of each month. Odd-numbered months (January, March, May, etc.), the show is in Akron at the Angel Falls Coffee Company. Even-numbered months (February, April, June, etc.), the show is in Cleveland (or, to be more precise, a few minutes east of Cleveland Heights) at Phoenix Coffee in South Euclid. These shows start at 7:00 PM (real-time, not "poetry-standard-time") and will be ALL AGES / UNMODERATED events. Each show will have featured poets and performers. Watch this blog for announcements about who the features will be.

Thumbs Down - Common Grounds Coffee

2010-10-14T03:17:00.001-04:00

I've been taking advantage of my mini-vacation this week to do some things that I've never gotten around to doing. I FINALLY got to check out the Common Grounds Coffee Bar tonight. I thought this place was in Cleveland's Ohio City district, but it was actually way out by airport, at the intersection of Lorain and Rocky River. They are open 24-7-365! How cool is that? The place is small, but it could be made to work for a poetry show. Cash only, no credit cards accepted, but that can be dealt with. There was a Wallgreens across the street for access to quick cash. The reason I walked out without getting anything and didn't come back? It was 12:30 AM and the place was full of kids. Not a problem. Many of these kids were likely minors, out violating Ohio's curfew laws. Okay, still not a problem to me, though I would be worried about the cops (who were out in massive force on Cleveland's east side tonight) coming in to hassle them. The big problem? Damned near every one of these kids is smoking. The place is full of smoke. You can see it in the air, it is seeping out the doors. To my knowledge, Common Grounds is NOT a hookah bar.

Yes, I voted for the smoking ban here in Ohio, and yes, I'd vote for it again. The many bars that closed, claiming it hurt their business? News flash: It was the economy, stupid. Smokers are the minority, and now the rest of us can patronize bars and cafes that we would have previously avoided due to smoke. If your establishment ignores the law and allows indoor smoking, you will not receive my business. Period. I will walk out and go someplace else.

(For the record, though, I have no issue whatsoever with bars and restaurants that built enclosed patios for smokers.)

Common Grounds can be scratched off the list of places I'd consider setting up a show at. For that matter, scratch them off the list of places that I'll attend someone else's show at. So disappointing.

PRESS RELEASE: The Poet's Haven Celebrates Thirteen Years

2010-10-13T16:18:00.001-04:00

The Poet's Haven Celebrates Thirteen Years
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Massillon, Ohio, United States of America
October 13, 2010

The Poet's Haven, publisher of an online literary journal and podcast series and promoter of live poetry and music events in northeast Ohio, announces the thirteenth anniversary of the press's official launch and the upcoming event schedule.

The Poet's Haven started out as publisher Vertigo Xi'an Xavier's personal webpage on America Online back in late 1995. Over the course of 1996 and early 1997, the small page began accepting and publishing submissions from other writers and artists. By October 1997, it had grown to the point that it was relaunched at PoetsHaven.com and The Poet's Haven made its official debut as an online press. Today, PoetsHaven.com features over 6,000 pages of poetry, stories, and artwork, and has published work from more than 2,000 creators.

Celebrating the press's tenth anniversary in 2007, the first "Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven" open-mic event was held, recording the live performances for a podcast. A second event was scheduled in April 2008, a third the following June, and from there the shows eventually became a regular monthly event. "Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven" shows are now held on the third Saturday of each month, rotating between Akron, Ohio and Cleveland, Ohio each month.

The Poet's Haven has also taken over promotion of the poetry slam that is held during Canton, Ohio's First Friday festival. The show has been expanded to include featured poets as well as the open-mic and slam competitions. Arts in Stark sponsors the poetry slam, with $50, $30, and $20 prizes going to first, second, and third place in the competition.

Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven will be at Phoenix Coffee in South Euclid on October 16, featuring music from Nick Wilkinson and with featured poets Jill Riga and Lee McKinstry.

Nick Wilkinson began his music career sometime around his sophomore year of high school with a few friends. Playing bass and doing vocals, the punk-ish band was rocking the world, or at least small parts of Ohio. After that project dissolved, Nick began attending the University of Akron. Now wielding a beat up Johnson acoustic guitar and pretending he knows a thing or two about a thing or two, he writes and plays songs about those things or twos.

Jill Riga graduated in 2007 with an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the first graduating class of the Northeast Ohio Master of Fine Arts program. She is also a fairly decent dancer and smells good. Her favorite shoe is the left one. Her poetry has appeared in Moonlit Magazine and in the drug-induced visions of used car salesmen everywhere.

Lee McKinstry is a 19-year-old Cleveland Native who has been writing, doodling, and somehow marking up papers since she was five. She is currently a student at the College of Wooster. She has participated in Playhouse Square's SlamU! program, and has been on Cleveland's National Youth Poetry Slam team the past two years. She spends most of her time in flannel, looking for lost pens.

November 20's Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven event will be at Angel Falls in Akron, with featured poets Steve Brightman and Eric "Verbal Influence" Odum.

Steve Brightman is 1/4 cup dijon and whole grain mustard, 1/4 cup honey, 1/4 cup ground coffee, and 1/4 cup deep dark molasses. He lives in Kent, Ohio, with his pionus parrot and thinks that PNC park is the finest cathedral in North America. His poems have been featured in "Pudding House," "Kansas City Voices," "Origami Condom," "My Favorite Bullet," and he was included in the Ohio Bicentennial Anthology titled "I Have My Own Song For It: Modern Poems about Ohio."

Eric "Verbal Influence" Odum is a 20-year-old poet hailing from Cleveland, Ohio. He has been part of Playhouse Square's SlamU! program for the past five years. He is a peer mentor, running workshops and working on a personal level with teens on performance and writing. He was part of Cleveland's National Youth Poetry Slam team for the past three years. He also runs a poetry group called Spit Poet Spit, which performed at Urbean Joe’s Coffee this past September. Eric is the founding member of an after school poetry group called New Age Poets. He started writing at the age of nine and began performing at fifteen. He has released one chapbook, "Unspoken Declarations," and has a CD in the works called "Verbal Therapy."

Canton's First Friday Poetry Spectacular will feature Trenchcoat Manifesto on November 5 and Robert Miltner on December 3.

Trenchcoat Manifesto is poet Tom Adams and artist/musician Richard Hearn. Adams and Hearn combine spoken word and audio samples (both found and manufactured) with original music and multi-media art for spinning tales culled from just-beneath-the-surface of everyday life and the abstract and sometimes bizarre depths of the human condition. Tom Adams began developing his craft in the mid 1980's and has performed his work at open-mics and organized poetry events around the Northeast Ohio area and beyond, including Mac's Backs, Border's Books, the Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art, the Barking Spider Tavern, Spaces Gallery, and Shakespeare & Company in Paris. Tom has published chapbooks of his work, including "Lament for The Fallen Soldier." Richard Hearn has been involved in the Northeast Ohio art and music scene since 1980, playing in local underground "alt.art" bands of note - Uzizi and Breakfast In India, and working in the visual mediums of painting, photography and mixed-media sculpture. In the late 80’s, Richard worked on more experimental audio projects, including cut-up assemblages of field recordings and an early collaboration with Tom Adams, before forming his own band, Angst Café (1989-1995) which released the EP "Sad Venus." Besides performing at local clubs and regional festivals, Angst Café presented multimedia events at venues around Northeast Ohio that included performances by local poets and artists. During this period Richard also began to experiment with digital photography, at first by digitizing his 35mm film images for further treatment in PhotoShop, to working entirely in the digital realm, and later experimenting with analog/digital video loops.

Robert Miltner teaches literature and creative writing at Kent State Stark. He is the author of "Hotel Utopia," selected by Tim Seibles as winner of the New Rivers Press book prize, and a dozen chapbooks, including "Against the Simple" (Wick chapbook award). Miltner has published poems in "Artful Dodge," "Barrow Street," "LIT," "Diagram," "Pleiades," "Prose Poem," "Sleeping Fish," and "Sentence," and short fiction in "Istanbul Literary Review," "Apple Valley Review," "Storyglossia," "Ophelia Street," "Perigee," and "Christmas Stories from Ohio." He is working on a novel, "Tempest," and edits "The Raymond Carver Review" (http://dept.kent.edu/english/RCR/).

For more information on The Poet's Haven and Poet's Haven events, visit:
http://www.PoetsHaven.com
http://www.facebook.com/PoetsHaven
http://www.facebook.com/FirstFridayPoetry

###

True story.

2010-10-02T22:35:00.000-04:00

Starting with last night's First Friday Poetry Spectacular, we have changed the order of things so that the open-mic now starts first. It is about 8:00, and a kid (I'll be nice and won't identify him here) arrives and walks up to me.

"I was here earlier, but didn't see the list. Can I still go?"

"When were you here?"

"That guy was still going."

"What guy?"

"The headliner guy."

"You mean the featured poet?"

"Yeah, he was still reading when I got here earlier."

"Hmmm. That's strange. 'Cause he hasn't read yet."

"What?"

"Yeah, we changed the order. The open-mic starts first now."

"Oh, well, I guess I wasn't here then..."

"You can still sign up for the slam, the list is over by the sign."

He walks over to put his name on the list for the slam, and I duck back stage so nobody sees me cracking up laughing.

13th Anniversary Merch!

2010-09-24T01:29:00.000-04:00

The Poet's Haven turns 13 this Halloween! For a limited time, you can pick up special edition Poet's Haven "13" shirts in this new CafePress store:
http://www.cafepress.com/PoetsHaven13

Again, these will only be available for a limited time, so get your order in ASAP!

Tomorrow Night!!!

2010-08-20T20:26:00.002-04:00

Canton's First Friday Poetry Spectacular - August 6, 2010

2010-08-05T23:18:00.000-04:00

Random Blogness - Laughing at the Gas Station

2010-08-05T23:16:00.000-04:00

I'm in line at the gas station earlier tonight. There's a gal in front of me picking up a few items. I glance at what she's buying, and have to force myself to keep a straight face. She finishes paying and leaves. As I place my coffee on the counter, I can't help it anymore. I burst out laughing. The cashier asks, "What's so funny?"

"That, there, was almost every man's dream."

She raises and eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"A chick who runs to the store to pick up cigarettes and condoms."

"Oh." She chuckles. "Almost every man's dream? It's not your dream?"

"No," I reply. "Rule number one. I don't date smokers."

Rimshot! Exit sliding door left!

TONIGHT! Poet's Haven at Angel Falls!

2010-07-17T11:11:00.000-04:00

Canton's First Friday Poetry Spectacular - July 2, 2010

2010-07-05T21:14:00.000-04:00

Chalk the Walk and First Friday Poetry Spectacular photos

2010-07-04T23:15:00.000-04:00

I've got some photos from First Friday and Chalk the Walk posted on Facebook. They should be viewable to the public. Others are posting more and better photos as I type this, so feel free to search and network. :-)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2070092&id=1201537293

TONIGHT! Cat Listening and Alana Belle feature for Poet's Haven at W.9th Phoenix!

2010-06-19T01:17:00.000-04:00

TONIGHT!!!

A word of warning to everyone: THIS SHOW WILL START ON TIME! That's "REAL TIME," not the "poetry standard time" so many of us have become used to. Unfortunately, the venue's hours are shorter than they were last time we did a show there, so time is precious. You can sign-up for the open-mic at 6:30, and the features WILL start AT 7:00. Trust me, you do NOT want to miss these features!

STREET TEAM NEEDED for July 2 (Literally!)

2010-06-09T01:06:00.000-04:00

Attention all Canton First Friday Poetry people! We need to assemble a street team for July's event. Literally. See, July's First Friday theme is "Chalk the Walk," and I've gotten the okay to have a team of poets write haiku and short poems on the walkways of downtown Canton.

Some rules will apply. Everything's got to be all-ages appropriate, and certain areas will be off-limits. (They'll be marked off with tape, areas for artists to do their sidewalk art.) Original material will be welcome as well as pieces from poets of all eras.

Let me know if you want to join the team!

Final plans will be announced once I know how many people are on board. I would like everyone meet beforehand with lists of poems and haiku that they plan to use, so we can make sure nobody duplicates any of the pieces. We can also coordinate things on the map, assign certain areas to each poet so that we can be sure to cover the entire arts district. Chalk will be provided.

This is in part inspired by my friend Christina Brooks, who recently began chalking poetry on the sidewalk in front of her home near Detroit. :-)

Anyone that wants to join in is welcome to do so, just contact me so we can coordinate everything. Also, if you are unable to take part in the actual chalking, we could still use help gathering up short poems for this project.

Thanks!

--VX

Canton's First Friday Poetry Spectacular - May 7, 2010

2010-05-09T14:25:00.001-04:00

Friday night's Canton First Friday show went well. A HUGE thanks to Todd and Brennis from the Second April Gallerie for not chasing us out when we ran WAY past the time the show is supposed to be wrapped up. Vince Robinson delivered an awesome set to start the night. (I'll have to get Vince booked for a Saturday Night show next year so we can get him in the podcast!)

Something new we'll be doing: Since I started emceeing this show, folks have been asking if there is some way we can get a little more exposure for the slam winners. So, starting this month, we'll have a camera rolling during the slam and video of the winners will be posted on YouTube.

This month, Kedric Wolfe placed third and first place resulted in a tie between Blu and February Luv. To try to break the tie, we had a POETRY DEATH MATCH. (Yes, that has to be all caps, it is a rule.) Unfortunately, the POETRY DEATH MATCH also resulted in a tie. Since we didn't have time to go another round, it was decided that first and second place would be left tied, and the prize money for both was split down the middle.

Did I mention that Arts in Stark provides the prize money? And that BR Square sponsored the featured poet?

Anyway, here's the video of the winners. Due to YouTube's 10 minute time limit, the POETRY DEATH MATCH was uploaded separately, and can be viewed directly below this video.

Primary Election Day

2010-05-04T21:22:00.000-04:00

While walking in to my local polling station today to cast my ballot in the primary election, I came to a realization. The Democrats being represented by a donkey and the Republicans by an elephant are no longer accurate portrayals of the parties. They both need new mascots. Here's my proposal:

DEMOCRATS:

The Democrats have become the party of pussies. Democrats won far and wide in 2008, because we the people wanted liberal change. They won by large margins because us, the wide majority, wanted things to move back to the left. Not just back to the center, but to the FAR LEFT. Then a small but vocal minority started yelling and screaming and they chickened out. Instead of "lets do what we need to do" it became "lets try to make the other side happy, too." Now they have accomplished NOTHING. They proved themselves to be a bunch of PUSSIES! So I propose that the new mascot for the Democratic party be a vagina!

REPUBLICANS:

If the Democrats have become the party of pussies, the Republicans are a party of dicks. All they want to do is fuck the Democrats. They'll fuck the Democrats over health reform, they'll fuck them over civil liberties, they'll fuck them over financial reform, the list goes on and on. It's only appropriate that the new mascot for the Republican party be a man's phallic member.

As I wrote this, I tried to find some pictures to attach. Not photos, nothing of a pornographic nature. I just wanted some simple black-and-white line drawings, like I remember from the health book back in high school. No luck. Even with safe-search turned on, everything I found was too detailed or graphic for this purpose. Sorry, folks, words only here.

That aside... Has anyone else wondered if the "tea baggers" know that "tea bagging" is when a male stripper bangs his scrotum up against the forehead of a patron? The term was coined by John Watters in the 1990's for his movie "Pecker."

Is your book or CD on Amazon?

2010-04-23T02:07:00.000-04:00

Attention all Poet's Haven contributors! Do you have a book or CD published and is it available on Amazon? If so, please contact me and let me know!

I'm looking for books and CDs by authors and artists that we have published both on PoetsHaven.com and in the podcast. I would like to add more items to the rotating Amazon ads appearing on the site, and have been considering a regular or semi-regular "Vertigo Picks" type thing posted here. (Remember how the old Poet's Haven Newsletter e-mails had staff entertainment picks at the end of the message? Ahhh, the good ol' days...) While the "Vertigo Picks" thing might occasionally be something not on Amazon, I would like to try to keep it focused on things that we can get commission on. (Hey, those commissions are what pays to keep the site up!)

Thanks!

Whoops... Forgot to post... Episode 34 online!

2010-04-23T01:55:00.000-04:00

I just came here to post something else, and noticed that I forgot to post that podcast episode 34 was online! It features poetry from Cavana Faithwalker and Allisun Hovater and music from Ramona Stone. Go! Listen! Enjoy! :-)

Two new podcasts, now online!

2010-04-06T23:44:00.000-04:00

Two new episodes of the Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven podcast have gone online!

Episode 32 features the poetry of Tangina Stone, Debbie Goings, Crutch, The Dude, and Marlana-Patrice, with music by Ramona Stone.

Episode 33 features poetry from Tangina Stone and Cavana Faithwalker with a poetry/music hybrid piece from AURAL Heather.

Stay tuned, more episodes are on the way!

Random Observations

2010-04-03T02:45:00.000-04:00

Random Observations

Wearing compression stocking with shorts, I probably look like a dork. But wearing shorts in our first 80+ day felt great. (Or did it hit 90? It was 88 when I drove through downtown, and that was after 5:00.)

I had been working on a little blurb about "you know its spring when the poets read without shoes." I even had a picture from last month's Deep Cleveland of a poet reading barefoot. Walking around Canton's First Friday tonight, after the poetry show was done, I realized that you also know it is spring when drunk gals are wandering from bar to bar in skirts so short you can see what color panties they are wearing. I suppose I should just be glad they were wearing panties at all.

It is sad that I've become the cranky old geezer complaining about chicks wearing skimpy clothes.

---------------------------------

When I was a kid, I'd go with my mom to the Flower Factory for art supplies. The place was awesome. They had a whole room filled with nothing but painting supplies. A whole isle filled with brushes, every size and shape of canvas one could want, and five or six isles full of paint. They had thousands of bottles lined up, just of t-shirt paint. I could go there and pick out specific SHADES that I wanted. I never had to mix paints to make a color, I could just paint right from the bottle. (Before anyone asks, I would use tracing paper to copy splash-page images from comic books, then crayon on the other side of the tracing paper to make a temporary transfer, iron the image to a shirt, and then paint it. I was pretty good at it, even eventually modifying images into original poses and designing backs and name logos myself.) I've recently found myself in need of some art supplies and sign-making items. Not having a Flower Factory membership, I first went to Pat Catan's and Michael's. Walking through isles of paints and drawing supplies and sketchbooks and the like, I really miss being in an artist studio, drawing and painting. That aside, not finding what I needed at multiple locations, I decided to try to get in to the Flower Factory. Turns out, they'll give anyone a membership now. (You used to have to have a vendors license, which I did have at one point but didn't renew when I realized I didn't need one for the type of business I'm running.) Unfortunately, the Flower Factory I remember from when I was a child no longer exists. The store I found myself in looked like Dollar General meets a Michael's that's going out of business. Their entire paint selection was half of one isle, and wasn't even 20% of what the smallest Pat Catan's I visited had in stock. They also didn't have the display sign items I needed, but what they did have in that department made even Office Max's paltry selection look extensive. Another memory of youth, down the drain.

---------------------------------

On a forum question-and-answer thing, I saw the question "What is a normal allowance for a 10-year-old?" Replies were in the $15 to $20 range. When the hell did this happen? Has inflation gone up that much that a ten-year-old needs twenty bucks a week? When I was that age, I got a dollar a week. When my little sisters were that age, they got a dollar a week. When comic books went up to $1.25 each, I still only got a dollar a week. Hell, as a teenager, I only got paid $12 for mowing the yard, and we had a whole acre! Being generous, and using that same "cost of a comic book" guide, a kid's allowance should be no more than $5 a week. Most comic books cost $3.99 each, so that'll leave room for the next round of inflation. Not that kids can ride to the corner store and buy comics any more...

---------------------------------

I think I have a thing for eyes. Look at all the fliers I've designed over the past year. Notice a frequent trend? I tend to go for photos that highlight the featured poets' eyes. Even the pic of Tabitha Katt on the ad logo highlights her eyes. I don't know why this is, I just like it when the poets are staring out at you. Perhaps something about the eyes, like a poet's work on the page, being a window to the soul. Then again, my definition of "soul" varies pretty drastically from what a religious or spiritual person will tell you.

---------------------------------

I got asked tonight, "Do you know of any other shows where I can read poetry?" Oh, yes. Do I!

---------------------------------

People need to start posting shows on neopoets.org. It isn't my personal calendar, people. Share, share, share!

---------------------------------

My stack of poetry books near the computer has reached above eye level. Methinks I need to get these things on a shelf.

---------------------------------

I think I need to do more posts like this. I come up with random crap I wanna say all the time, but the most I can ever manage to do with it is a Facebook status update. I need to start collecting these thoughts for blog use.

That's all for now...

Tonight! First Friday in Canton!

2010-04-02T02:19:00.000-04:00

Tonight! Come check out the First Friday festival in downtown Canton, OH! I'll be emceeing the poetry open-mic and slam at the Second April Art Gallerie. The slam has CASH PRIZES for the winners! $50 for first place, $30 and $20 for second and third places! 7:30 PM, don't miss it!

And coming in May, Arts in Stark and The Poet's Haven present Canton's First Friday Poetry Spectacular! The show's start time will be moved a half-hour earlier, to 7:00 PM, allowing us to include a featured poet. Our first featured poet will be Vince Robinson! A huge thank you to BRsq.org for sponsoring this show!

THANK YOU

2010-03-21T23:27:00.000-04:00

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who came to Angel Falls last night and made this our most successful show yet! Standing room only, not only during Laraine's feature and T.M. and Zach's set, but well into the open-mic part of the evening. :-D

New poetry & story...

2010-03-15T00:45:00.000-04:00

Just a note: I spent some time today working through the submission queue. One new story and 45 new poems have been added to the galleries. There's more for me to get through, but my mind is starting to turn into marmalade. Not the best way to review poems and stories, so the rest will have to wait for another night.

New Podcasts! April's Show Details!

2010-03-09T01:37:00.001-05:00

After a few days of me chaotically bouncing around, trying to get too many things done at once, your patience is now rewarded. ;-)

Two new podcast episodes are available for your listening pleasure! Episode 30 features poetry from Jason Floyd Williams, Dave Meyer, Amanda DiDonna, and Dianne Borsenik. Episode 31 features poetry from Parker Amsel, Terry Provost, The Fidget, Steven B. Smith, and Jill Riga. Both episodes feature music from Ramona Stone. If you're reading this on my blog, you can download the episodes from the column on the right. If you're reading this on Facebook, you can stream the episodes off my profile page. You can also subscribe to the podcast through iTunes at (http://itunes.PoetsHaven.com). Please, if you use iTunes, do subscribe! The more subscribers we have, the higher ranked the podcast gets, and eventually they'll take notice and feature the podcast in the iTunes store.

Also, here's the flier for April's show. I still have to get the event listing page updated on the site, but that'll have to wait until tomorrow. April's show will be at the Root Café in Lakewood, Ohio, and we will be featuring competitive slam poet Suspicious and Cleveland poetry legend Vladimir Swirynsky!

April 17th update...

2010-03-05T15:25:00.002-05:00

I can now confirm that one of the features for April 17th's "Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven" show at the Root Cafe in Lakewood will be Vlad Swirynsky! :-D

April's show... :-D

2010-03-01T19:48:00.000-05:00

Just a note, I can now confirm that April's show will be at the Root Café in Lakewood. :-D

Stuff...

2010-03-01T00:25:00.000-05:00

So, my internet connection has been sporadic of late. As of right now, it works if we connect a computer directly to the modem, but the modem won't connect to any of our routers, so only one computer can be online at a time. I seized control of the connection yesterday, and spent the last two days catching up on a week's worth of stuff. Not fun.

I've also got some podcast work done. If all goes according to plan, there'll be at least one new episode up for your listening pleasure this week. May's show had some microphone problems, and tweaking the audio is taking a bit more time than normal, so no promises about a second episode. I'm also going to try to get the audio from several more shows prepped for the podcast before I do more "block outs." (That's where I take all the pieces, written on little "blocks" of paper with the runtime logged on them, and plan what goes in to each episode. Think how you've seen TV schedules planned out in movies.) I know there's material recorded in August that I'd like to combine with material from June and material from July that might go well with material from May and... yeah, you get the idea.

This coming Friday, March 5th, come to Canton, Ohio for the First Friday Poetry Slam! Downtown Canton has a big art festival every First Friday. There's a poetry open-mic and slam competition, sponsored by Arts in Stark (and emceed by yours truly), at the Kathleen Howland Theatre, under the 2nd April Art Galerie. You can sign-up to read or perform at 7:30 PM, with the open-mic starting at 8:00. Also, come early! The theater will be hosting a special reading of the poetry of Pablo Neruda at 6:30, organized by the Canton Symphony Opera.

Then don't forget about this month's Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven event! March 20th, we'll be at Angel Falls in Akron. The features are Laraine Seidl and T.M. Göttl with music by Zach! This show is not to be missed! (Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven is NEVER to be missed!)

Okay, now I find it is an hour later than I planned to have this finished. Time to call it a night!

Don't Forget - Tonight: Poet's Haven at Blue Arrow Records!

2010-02-20T03:00:00.002-05:00

Don't forget, tonight is Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven at Blue Arrow Records, featuring the music of Blackwell and the poetry of Miles Budimir and Azalea Tidwell!!!

Open-mic sign-up is at 6:30, with the features starting at 7:00. There is NO COVER, but please spend some money in the record store. FREE refreshments will also be available. (PUNCH AND PIE!)

Blue Arrow Records
16001 Waterloo Road - Cleveland, OH 44110
(about a block away from the Beachland Tavern)

See you there!

--VX

New Poet's Haven Merchandise

2010-02-15T22:33:00.000-05:00

Since I know I'll never find the time to screen print the Poet's Haven t-shirts I've been talking about for two years now, I've gone ahead and updated the old Cafe Press store with the new logo, and plenty of new merchandise.

http://www.cafepress.com/poetshaven

Check it out!

Welcome to the new Publisher's Blog

2010-01-30T14:53:00.000-05:00

This here marks the point where the new Poet's Haven Publisher's Blog goes live.

I've spent some time over the past several months checking out various blog programs, intending to keep the blog hosted on PoetsHaven.com. There are many great programs out there, but none that had all the features I wanted to have already built in. While I certainly could work on a program and add everything, I decided that time is an issue (or the lack thereof) and it would be best to simply take the easy route. So, the new blog is here on Google's Blogger.com.

I was selective in which old posts I imported here. Many posts promoting shows or announcing a new podcast were left behind, along with all the posts (and all the newsletters from before the old blog was launched) talking about parts of the site that have been closed. (How many posts would you want to read about the old chat room, which has been closed for several years? lol)

So here we be. This is where I'll now be posting Poet's Haven event promotion, podcast updates, and the occasional rant or bitching session. Have fun!

More Updates...

2010-01-27T03:25:00.001-05:00

For the first time in a VERY long time, the PoetsHaven.com submission queue is all caught up. Now it is time for me to get some work done on the site itself.

The review sections have been removed from the site. These sections have never been terribly popular: Only two music review submissions have been received in the last six years. As part of the ongoing effort to streamline the site into something more akin to a literary journal, the movie, music, book, and game reviews have fallen outside the territory we want to cover. If I want to throw an entertainment recommendation your way, don't worry, I'll do it right on the blog.

Speaking of: Everyone HAS to go see "The Lovely Bones" while it is still in theaters!!! Why is "Avatar" collecting awards when this AMAZING piece of cinematic art is showing on a neighboring screen? I can count the films I've found truly moving on one hand, and "The Lovely Bones" has made that list. (And since I know someone will ask, no, I have not read the book, though I may pick it up if I see it at Mac's Backs or HPB.)

Okay, back on topic...

The next thing to go will be the message forums. As soon as the blog has been moved, this will happen. If you need to collect any work or drafts out of the "Work in Progress" forum, get it done ASAP.

I've been asked why the forums are being closed. When the internet was a new thing for most people, having a community discussion on a poetry site worked. However, as time has gone on, the community discussions have moved away from sites like this and taken up residence on sites like Facebook. Again, efforts are being made to focus on the core of poetry, stories, and art that have made PoetsHaven.com popular these past thirteen years, leaving the mass-media chit-chat and skewed polls to the social networking sites.

Work is underway on more podcasts. Three new episodes were released earlier this month, and two more are nearing completion. Unfortunately, due to time limitations, the podcast work had to take a temporary pause while I worked through the submission queue. There's one more big change on the way for the presentation of the podcasts, something that I think everyone will love to hear. Keep listening.

Our live event schedule is right on track! Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven shows will now be held on the third Saturday of every month.

February 20th, we'll be at Blue Arrow Records in Cleveland, with featured poets Azalea Tidwell and Miles Budimir and featured musician Blackwell!

March 20th, we're at Angel Falls Coffee in Akron, with featured poet Laraine Seidl and a featured poetry/music set by T.M. Göttl and Zach!

April 17th's show is in the works, and won't be what was expected. Then May 15th, we're at Angel Falls with John Dorsey and Christina Brooks!

Also, be sure to check out the Canton First Friday Poetry Slam! The first Friday of every month, a huge art festival fills downtown Canton, Ohio. Come to the 2nd April Art Galerie (downstairs in the Kathleen Howland Theater) at 7:30 for the First Friday Poetry Slam. The show starts with an open-mic to warm everyone up, then we have the competition. First place takes home $50, second and third take home $30 and $20.

Okay, back to work I go...

Updates...

2010-01-10T04:40:00.001-05:00

Three new podcast episodes have finally gone online! Changes are underway in the format and presentation of the episodes that will help me produce the episodes faster while giving them a bigger-budget sound. You'll hear some of the initial changes across these three episodes, with more changes in the weeks ahead.

Episode 27 features Jason Floyd Williams, Ramona Stone, Gina Tabasso, T.M. Göttl, and Timothy House!

Episode 28 features the poetry of Parker Amsel and Lisa Vicious, with the music of AURAL Heather!

Episode 29 features Lisa Vicious, Ramona Stone, Jake from (Me) vs Them, Christopher Franke, Jen Pezzo, and Anne McMillen!

Download episodes directly at:
http://podcast.PoetsHaven.com

Or subscribe to the podcast through iTunes at:
http://itunes.PoetsHaven.com

The Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven open-mic series will be happening on the third Saturday of every month through 2010. Odd-numbered months (January, March, etc.), we will be at Angel Falls in Akron, Ohio. Even-numbered months (February, April, etc.), we will be at various venues across Cleveland.

January 16th, we will be featuring poets Michelle Sinsky and February Luv at Angel Falls!

February 20th, we will feature poets Azalea Tidwell and Miles Budimir with hip-hop artist Blackwell at Blue Arrow Records in Cleveland!

Please note: I will be closing the forums on this site in the not-too-distant future. I will be moving this blog to a traditional blogging program (complete with RSS feeds, etc.). Anyone who has work posted in the "work in progress" forum that you do not have saved elsewhere, you should get it copied to your own system ASAP. Or, y'know, finish it and submit it to the poetry gallery. (AHEM... Riske...)

Poet's Haven Event News

2009-11-10T03:58:00.000-05:00

This Saturday, The Poet's Haven will be at Angel Falls in Akron, Ohio with featured poets Gina Tabasso and Terry Provost! This ALL-AGES/UNMODERATED show starts at 7:00 PM (sign-up for the open-mic at 6:30).

December 12, The Poet's Haven will be at Phoenix Coffee on West 9th Street in Cleveland, Ohio with featured poets Wendy Shaffer and Eric Alleman! This show is ALL-AGES/UNMODERATED and starts at 7:00 PM (sign-up for the open-mic at 6:30).

2010, The Poet's Haven will have a show on the third Saturday each month.

"Odd" months (January, March, May, etc.), we will be at Angel Falls in Akron, Ohio. One of the features for January 16th will be Canton area poet February Luv!

"Even" months (February, April, etc.), the show will move around to different Cleveland area venues.

All the dates have been listed on the PoetsHaven.com open-mic event schedule, so start marking your calendars!

Plans for the new Poet's Haven Digest magazine and e-book series have been put on hold. Issue one was nearly complete (we just needed cover art), but ultimately the decision was reached to put off relaunching the second publication due to time restraints. (Between the site, the open-mic events, and the podcast, I simply don't have time to take on another schedule-sensitive project.) The Poet's Haven has another e-book and print publication project in the planning stages, but I'm not prepared to publicly announce details yet. (Ask me in person and you might get an earful, though. lol) Poems that were being held for use in the magazine have now been published on PoetsHaven.com.

Speaking of the website, over 100 new pages of poetry and stories have been added to the galleries! Every time I think I'm almost caught up, the submissions start rolling in! :-D

YES or NO quiz thing...

2009-09-07T12:10:00.000-04:00

Yes or No

1. You can only answer YES or NO

2. You are NOT ALLOWED to explain ANYTHING unless someone messages or comments you and asks. And believe me, the temptation to explain some of these will be overwhelming...nothing is exactly as it seems.

3. It is harder than it looks. But no explanations !!! You will want to...But don't!!!

Copy and paste this into your notes, delete my answers, type in your answers, and tag as many of your friends as you'd like to.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kissed any one of your Facebook friends?--- yes
Been arrested?--- yes
Kissed someone you didn't like?--- no
Slept in until 5 PM?--- yes
Fallen asleep at work/school? --- yes
Held a snake? --- yes
Ran a red light? --- Yes
Been suspended from school?--- yes
Experienced love at first sight? --- no
Totaled your car in an accident? ---yes
Been fired from a job? --- yes
Fired somebody?--- yes
Sang karaoke? --- yes
Pointed a gun at someone? --- yes
Done something you told yourself you wouldn't? --- yes
Laughed until something you were drinking came out your nose? --- no
Caught a snowflake on your tongue? --- yes
Kissed in the rain? --- yes
Had a close brush with death (your own)? --- yes
Seen someone die?--- yes
Played spin-the-bottle? --- yes
Sang in the shower? --- yes
Smoked a cigar? --- no
Sat on a rooftop? --- yes
Taken pictures of yourself naked?--- no
Smuggled something into another country? --- no
Been pushed into a pool with all your clothes? --- yes
Broken a bone?--- no
Skipped school? --- yes
Eaten a bug? --- yes
Sleepwalked? --- yes
Walked a moonlit beach? --- no
Ridden a motorcycle? --- yes
Dumped someone? --- no
Forgotten your anniversary? --- no
Lied to avoid a ticket? --- yes
Flown in a helicopter? --- no
Shaved your head? --- no
Played a prank on someone? --- yes
Hit a home run? --- no
Felt like killing someone? --- yes
Cross-dressed? --- yes
Been falling-down drunk? --- yes
Made your girlfriend/boyfriend cry? --- yes
Eaten snake? --- no
Marched/Protested? ---yes
Had Mexican jumping beans for pets?--- no
Puked on amusement ride? --- no
Seriously & intentionally boycotted something? --- yes
Been in a band? --- yes
Knitted? --- yes
Shot a gun? --- yes
Skinny-dipped? --- no
Caused someone to need stitches? --- no
Eaten a whole habenero pepper? --- no
Ridden a surfboard? --- no
Drank straight from a liquor bottle? --- yes
Had surgery?--- yes
Streaked?--- no
Taken by ambulance to hospital? --- no
Passed out when not drinking? --- yes
Peed on a bush? --- no
Donated Blood?--- no
Grabbed electric fence?--- yes
Eaten alligator meat?--- no
Eaten cheesecake? --- yes
Eaten kids' Halloween candy? --- yes
Killed an animal when not hunting? --- yes
Peed your pants in public? --- no
Snuck into a movie without paying?--- no
Written graffiti?--- yes
Think about the future? --- yes
Think about the past?--- yes
Been in handcuffs? --- yes
Believe in love? --- yes
Sleep on a certain side of the bed? --- no

Poet's Haven Schedule Updates

2009-08-31T02:14:00.000-04:00

http://om.PoetsHaven.com/open-mic_schedule.html
This is the Poet's Haven show planning spreadsheet.

Some items to note: I have removed the October date from the schedule. My sister's wedding is that month, and I do not want to be worried about getting out to promote a show when I need to be at family gatherings. Starting in November, Angel Falls in Akron will be our "home" location. We'll be doing the show there every "odd" month. "Even" months, the show will still travel around the Cleveland / North-East Ohio area.

The next show is September 19th at Blue Arrow Records in Cleveland. Our features will be poet/author Anne McMillen and singer/songwriter Meganne Stepka! This show starts at 7:00 PM! Let me repeat that... This show starts at 7:00 PM! We have to start on time here, the record store closes at 10:00. Spread the word! The open-mic will be open to both spoken-word and musical performances!

Then, after the aforementioned break in October, November 14th we will be at Angel Falls in Akron for a show featuring poets Gina Tabasso and Terry Provost! This show will also start at 7:00 PM.

Both of these shows are ALL-AGES/UNMODERATED. That means you can bring the kids, but they might hear some R-rated words. Parental advisory.

Podcasts: I am working on them. What's going to happen is, it'll take me a while to get the audio from several shows processed, then several episodes will all go up quick. I've prepped the audio recorded at both March and April's shows, and am now working on the audio from May's show. Once I'm through May, I should be able to get several episodes finished.

Stay tuned, there's more to come, and I hope to see many of you on the 19th!

--VX

Survey Thing: "My Life According to Jim Steinman"

2009-07-23T21:14:00.000-04:00

Pick a band or musician and answer the questions using only song titles by that artist.

Pick your Artist:
Jim Steinman

Are you a male or female:
Lost Boys and Golden Girls

Describe yourself:
All Revved Up With No Place To Go

How do you feel?
I've Been Dreaming Up a Storm Lately

Describe where you currently live:
Back Into Hell

If you could go anywhere, where would you go?:
Nowhere Fast

Your favorite form of transportation:
Peel Out

Your best friend[s] is[are]:
More Than You Deserve

You and your best friends are:
Rebel Without a Clue

What's the weather like?:
The Storm

Favorite time of day:
Faster Than the Speed of Night

If your life was a TV show, what would it be called?:
Dance in My Pants

What is life to you:
Love, Death, and an American Guitar

Your current relationship:
Stark Raving Love

Your fear:
Left in the Dark (Again)

What is the best advice you have to give?
Safe Sex

Thought for the Day:
It's All Coming Back To Me Now

How I would like to die:
Tanz der Vampire

My soul's present condition:
Pray Lewd

My motto:
A Wasted Youth Is Better By Far Than a Wise and Productive Old Age

Submission Backlog, New Work On Site...

2009-07-15T03:48:00.001-04:00

I'm still trying to get caught up with the submission backlog. Many new poetry pages have been added to the site tonight, with many more to come. There are also several short stories awaiting review.

Work has begun on the all new Poet's Haven Digest magazine! Six issues are being planned, with the first coming very soon. COVER ART is needed for the magazine! The covers will be full-color!

I'm also working on more podcasts. Episode 25 will be finished soon, featuring Jeff Kosiba.

Server Glitch, Other Issues, Other News

2009-06-06T23:47:00.000-04:00

Apologies to anyone who had trouble accessing PoetsHaven.com, neopoets.org, or any of the other sites I host last night. There was a glitch on the server that caused errors whenever a PHP script tried to run. (Almost everything here runs through PHP.) The glitch was fixed late Friday night / early Saturday morning, and everything is now back to normal. Nothing was lost during this time, the pages were simply unable to load.

Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven episode 23 should have been released by now. Here's what's going on there. After a stressful day last Sunday, I woke up Monday morning to discover that I'd bitten down on my tongue in my sleep again. While it wasn't as bad as when this happened in February, I am once again having trouble speaking clearly. Episodes 23 and 24 will be released soon, but will feature a guest emcee. As for how to stop this from happening again, once my tongue is healed, I'm going to get to the dentist and see about getting some kind of mouth guard to wear at night. I know this has to be stress related, but I don't foresee any reduction in my stress level anytime soon. I do know that I cannot allow this to happen again. I heal slow as is, and I need to be able to speak and perform at shows. Especially this month's show. ;-)

June 20th's Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven event is coming together quite nicely. While the show I had originally been planning did not work out (that would be the above mentioned stress from last Sunday), I have changed the direction of the show a bit, targeting a different section of the NE Ohio poetry scene. As much as I often lament how many small factions make up the poetry scene around here, all of these groups share respect for the others. Most of the poets I've come to know belong to at least two of these groups. One advantage a show like The Poet's Haven has amid all this is that if a "competing event" is announced, we can simply target a different audience than the other show. We still want to draw as many poets and performers as possible, but we don't have to be in direct competition with another poetry event. In the end, this motivates me to put together some very unique shows rather than following the trends and featuring the same poets as everyone else. The shows are better for it.

I don't want to say too much, but I'm planning something for this show that you have to be there for. Something that will NOT be used in the podcast. Something involving me on the microphone. This is your chance to see me embarrass myself in front of an audience. It will NOT be repeated. And, yes, I will be hitting the big three-zero right before this show.

Moderated vs. Unmoderated Poetry Events

2009-05-18T03:15:00.000-04:00

T.M. Göttl, a frequent guest in the Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven podcast series and open-mic events, has written an excellent essay commenting on moderated vs. unmoderated poetry events, the need for both, and poets who feel the need to break the rules at moderated shows. Check it out at Cleveland Poetics:
http://clevelandpoetics.blogspot.com/2009/05/all-things-in-moderation.html

Medicine Through the Ages...

2009-03-07T21:30:00.000-05:00

I just stole this off someone's MySpace page. (I'm sure he stole it from somewhere else on the web, too.)

2000 BC, Here eat this root.
1000 AD, That root is for a heathen, here say this prayer.
1850 AD, That prayer is superstition, here drink this potion.
1940 AD, That potion is snake oil, here swallow this pill.
1985 AD, That pill is ineffective, here take this antibiotic
2000 AD, That antibiotic is artificial, here eat this root.

Site Issues

2009-03-01T02:12:00.001-05:00

Okay, after three days of chaos and confusion, the issues that have plagued the PoetsHaven.com site since Thursday are now resolved. I have reactivated the forum and turned poetry, story, art, and essay submissions back on.

I have decided to do something different with the book, music, movie, and game review sections, and have kept them closed to submissions until I complete the changes there.

I apologize for any inconvenience readers and writers may have experienced these past few days.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Vertigo Xavier
publisher, The Poet's Haven
http://www.PoetsHaven.com

podcast updates...

2009-02-21T21:52:00.001-05:00

I'll be working on some new podcast episodes very soon. My mouth injury is mostly healed, and should be fully healed by Monday or Tuesday. I'll probably release a "double feature" or two, two episodes back to back, to get caught up. The next episode will conclude Dianne Borsenik's feature reading from December 6th at the Phoenix, then we will begin hearing readings from January's Angel Falls show and last weekend's Phoenix Coffee show.

WE NEED MUSIC! I'll come right out and say it. The big delay in getting new podcast episodes out the past two months has been that the music submissions stopped coming in. Spread the word! This podcast has over 700 subscribers, and that number goes up with each new episode. This podcast's audience is varied and diverse. Your music won't be heard by just one type of music fan. If you're interested in getting you or your band's music featured in upcoming episodes, send me an e-mail!

Don't forget our next gig, March 21 at Insights Coffee & More in Brunswick featuring poetry by Jason Floyd Williams and music by Ramona Stone! This will be an ALL-AGES/MODERATED show, meaning language must be kept PG-13 but you can bring your kids / sibs / evil minions / etc. Remember, The Poet's Haven is open to writers of ALL ages (though any writer under 13 years of age will require a parent or guardian's signature on the podcast recording release form).

Another Smashing Success!!!

2009-02-14T23:09:00.001-05:00

Tonight's Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven event was another smashing success!

I am considering starting future shows an hour earlier, at 7 PM instead of 8 PM, to give us more time for poetry. Any feedback?

Again, THANK YOU to tonight's featured poets, Jeff Kosiba and Carmen Tracey! THANK YOU to Neal, Mark, Josh, and Rich from Dear Holden for playing a great set. These guys came all the way up from Dover/New Philly! THANK YOU to new voices (at least at a Poet's Haven show) Marlana-Patrice, Robert O'Lexa, Michele McBride, Jeremy R. Himmelright, Suzanne Savickas, and Peter Hessman (who runs an open-mic at Arabica in Canton on the first Tuesday of every month)! THANK YOU to returning poets Jen Pezzo, 'Bert Paliwoda, Dianne Borsenik, and Christopher Franke! THANK YOU to the many faces I recognized in the crowd who did not read tonight, including Wendy Schaffer, Steve Goldberg, Rob Rosin, and Jacob and Carla (who run the open-mic and Slam at April 2nd Gallery in Canton on the first Friday every month). THANK YOU to the Phoenix for hosting us. And THANK YOU to Joe Sabatino (whom will be my brother-in-law come October) for filling in on MC duties.

Our next show will be an ALL-AGES/MODERATED event at Insights Coffee & More in Brunswick, Ohio on March 21st featuring singer/songwriter Ramona Stone and poet Jason Floyd Williams! Don't miss it!

Sincerely,

Vertigo Xavier
publisher, The Poet's Haven
http://www.PoetsHaven.com

Updates...

2009-02-07T21:00:00.000-05:00

I've got a million things going on lately.

I'm checking out poems in the submission queue whenever I have a few moments. No promises as to when the queue will be cleared, but I'm picking them off one at a time.

New CD: You can't get this on Amazon (yet, I hope). The Dreaming, featuring Christopher Hall from Stabbing Westward, have been selling a special disc at shows, and are now selling it on their MySpace page. It contains some "b-sides," covers, and remixes. Last year's "Etched in Blood" doesn't go more than week without finding itself back in my CD player, and I'm delighted to have this "pre-op" disc to mix into my playlist. It includes a cover of The Cure's "Lets Go to Bed" that simply must be heard. It also has their version of "Send Me an Angel," which if you bought "Etched in Blood" off of Amazon MP3 or iTunes, you might've missed. (It was a hidden track on the CD.)
http://www.myspace.com/thedreaming

PODCASTS: We have enough poetry for the next five episodes, but we need music for those episodes! If you're interested in getting a song or two featured in upcoming episodes, please send me a message.

SHOW UPDATES:

See the flier for March's show below!

April 25 at Visible Voice Books in Cleveland will feature poet Lisa Vicious from Detroit!!!
May 23 at Phoenix Coffee in South Euclid will feature C. Allen Rearick!!!

As soon as the second features for these shows are confirmed, I'll have fliers ready.

March 21 at Insights Coffee & More in Brunswick, OH features singer/songwriter Ramona Stone and poet Jason Floyd Williams!!!

Don't forget, this Saturday, Valentine's Day, we are at the Phoenix in South Euclid, featuring Jeff Kosiba and Carmen Tracey!

Kitchen Stand-Off...

2009-02-07T15:39:00.000-05:00

This started out as a Facebook status update, but ran too long. This really happened. :-)

There is a stand-off in the kitchen. The human is fixing sesame teriyaki noodles and meatballs. To his right: the dog - "Meatball? I smell meatball? Give me meatball? Meatball? I smell meatball?" To his left: the cat - "I don't care what you are making, but you will be giving it to me. I'm waiting. If you do not give me what you are making, I will be forced to use my claws." The human reaches for the minced onion. The cat head-buts him in the kneecap and digs a claw into his ankle. The dog smells meatball and takes a step forward. The cat jumps off the human's foot and claws the dog's face. Both creatures land in their original positions. The stand-off resumes. Cat: "You aren't planning on eating that, are you? It will be mine." Dog: "Meatball? Meatball? Meatball?" The human removes the meatballs from the microwave and starts to drop them in the noodles. "MEATBALL!" The dog tries to knock the human over so the last meatball falls to the floor. The cat moves faster and knocks the falling beefsphere under the baby-gate that keeps the dog out of the basement. The cat is certain to twitch her tail in the dog's face as she crawls under the gate to claim her prize. Taking note, the human removes two slices of American cheese from the refrigerator. As he opens the wrappers, the cat runs back into the kitchen, her meatball forgotten. "CHEESE IS MINE! CHEESE IS MINE!" Turns out, the dog likes cheese too, and is delighted to wolf down two slices, sharing none with the cat. The human then transfers the noodles from the saucepan into a bowl, gets a pair of chopsticks from the drawer, and retires with his lunch to the computer room.

Angel Falls show a HUGE success!!!

2009-01-25T16:44:00.000-05:00

I'm still riding high from last night's standing-room-only Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven event! We had a total of sixteen people read at the mic, and a coffee house FULL of people there to enjoy poetry. I'll begin putting together some podcasts ASAP. The next two episodes will contain material from the last two shows of 2008 as well as some material from last night. (Episode 18 has been ALMOST ready for a couple weeks now, it just needed one more poem to fill the runtime. I'll probably use Christopher Franke's poem from last night, as the episode includes his feature read at Cool Beans. 19 will feature the second half of Dianne Borsenik's feature at the Phoenix in South Euclid.)

That said, I will be needing music for the next few episodes. If anyone is interested in having a song or two included in upcoming episodes, contact me.

Don't miss next month's Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven event. February 14th, we will be at Phoenix Coffee in South Euclid, OH. Our featured poets will be Carmen Tracey and Jeff Kosiba. Jeff and Carmen featuring on Valentine's Day! This will be fun! :-D

Here's a look at the schedule ahead:

March 21st at Insights Coffee & More in Brunswick will feature singer/songwriter Ramona Stone! The featured poets for that event and for April and May's shows will be announced soon.

--VX

16 Things (okay, get off my case, everyone...)

2009-01-18T05:59:00.002-05:00

1. I have not written a poem in ten years. Most of the poems I wrote ended up getting burned. On purpose.

2. Tobacco smoke disgusts me. I don't have as much of a problem with marijuana smoke.

3. The first concert I attended was Hank Williams Jr. I was 8 at the time. All I remember is the horrible job the sound crew did. When I was 9 or 10, we went to see the New Kids on the Block in concert at the outdoor Blossom Music Center. All I remember is the chick who passed out before the show started and eating Mr. Hero sandwiches out of a cooler. The first concert I bought tickets to was Def Lepard when I was 16. I broke up with my girlfriend two weeks before the concert and ended up going to it with my mom.

4. I have dated three girls named Angie. I regret dating all three of them. One of them, I regret more than all others, because I lost one of my best friends as a result.

5. I don't drink as much or as often as one would think I do based on my humor and and Facebook posts. I can count the number of times I've been drunk on one hand. That said, it does take very large quantities of alcohol to get me drunk.

6. I spend more time shopping for video games than I do playing them. Yet I continue to buy them.

7. I refer to the owner of the comic book store I shop at as my drug dealer. Hey, $50 a week in comics is still cheaper than heroin, right?

8. In college, I wrote a critical essay about a comic book to antagonize an English professor who made a joke about "juvenile habits" after seeing a copy of David Mack's "Kabuki" on my desk. (Google it if you are not familiar. Definitely NOT a book aimed at kids.) That professor ended up wanting to read the book I wrote the essay on. Mission accomplished.

9. In 2000, I voted for George W. Bush. (Sorry, I could not vote for any ticket with Joseph Lieberman on it, let alone a Gore/Lieberman ticket.)

10. I attribute my surviving high-school to a well-worn cassette of The Cure's "Wish" album.

11. I attribute several of my high-school classmates surviving to the fact that I did not have access to guns as a youth.

12. I currently own six record players and one 8-track player. I have, since the new year, purchased eight new vinyl records, including new releases from The Offspring and Panic at the Disco.

13. I root for the bad guys.

14. I know how to bake and cook. I'm just too impatient to do all the work when I know I can just buy it in the freezer section ready to nuke.

15. It is really challenging to come up with one sex-related item to put on this list when I use Facebook for professional purposes...

16. I once spent four days working as a second-shift telemarketer. I quit when I realized that the call that woke me and had me screaming about how we were on the do-not-call list at 9:30 AM was from someone on the other shift.

FLASHBACK: April 2000 - Issue Zero Debut in Pittsburgh

2008-12-26T04:09:00.001-05:00

It's FLASHBACK time! A photo on the MySpace page of an upcoming Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven featured poet made me think of one of these pictures, so I decided to repost them. (I'll be announcing the featured poets soon.)

The time: April 28, 29, and 30, 2000. The Poet's Haven Digest Issue Zero made its debut at the Pittsburgh Comicon and small press expo. I was excited upon arriving there, as my table was only 30 feet away from fantasy artists Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell! Unfortunately, their line turned the wrong direction and did not pass my table. My table was across from the Hooters Girls (there is a Hooters restaurant just down the road from the Monroeville Expomart convention center), which did not draw the people whose attention I was trying to grab. LOL

Ryo-Oh-Ki helped hand out Poet's Haven business cards.

Stormtrooper TK725 perused Issue Zero to make sure none of the content would offend the Emperor.

Hmmm... Is the approval of a HellSpawn a good thing?

Mercenary Wade Wilson, aka Deadpool

Avenger Hawkeye, now deceased, errr, resurrected as Ronin... Oye, comics...

Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Mercury

Tuxedo Mask

Tomb Raider Laura Croft

Bad weather, but still a great show!

2008-12-07T05:37:00.001-05:00

Tonight, I find myself wishing I'd used the "idiots who don't know how to drive" intro to the new podcast. It would've been appropriate. But despite icy roads, we still had an excellent Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven event at the Phoenix in South Euclid!

I had a rough start to the night. Dominica Sanchez had to cancel her appearance due to the flu. A number of things had me leaving the house two hours later than I'd wanted to. The weather wasn't very helpful, either. I arrived at the café a little bit after 7:00 and went to work setting up. The good news is, the more shows I've done, the faster I've gotten at setting up and tearing down. LOL. While a number of people that we'd hoped would be there were not able to make it, we did have a decent turn-out, including one poet from Michigan, three poets who had not yet read for the podcast, and three more friends and dare I say "regular contributors." I also threw in my short comedy routine (though I haven't decided whether or not to include it in a podcast). We'll be back at the Phoenix on Valentine's Day. For now I get a few weeks to catch up on my rest, maybe get some more T-shirts screen printed, and get down to business scheduling shows and featured poets for 2009. :-D

Best day I ever had in retail...

2008-11-27T02:25:00.002-05:00

Best day I ever had in all the years I worked retail. It was mid-December of the year I worked at Wal-Mart. This lady was pacing around the toy department, looking distraught. I realized the other person working the department that day was avoiding her, so I went up and asked if I could help her. "I don't know... I don't know what to get for my daughter. She's in first grade. She wrote Santa asking for a 'for real friend.' I don't know what to do..."

"Umm... She wants a toy cat."

"What?"

"Its called a 'FUR-Real Friend.' It's a robot cat. They're this year's 'Tickle-Me-Elmo,' the hot item."

The look on this lady's face went from distress to pure joy and relief. She seriously thought her daughter was having social problems at school based on her Santa letter, and was elated to learn that all her daughter was asking for was a toy.

While we didn't have any of the cats in stock, some of us in the department had been sharing info with friends at other stores about when we got the hot items in. I knew Toys-R-Us had gotten a shipment in and would put them out that night, so I quietly relayed this to the customer. (My co-worker's friend at T-R-U would do the same when we got our shipments in.) I don't know if she managed to get one before the holiday, I hope she did.

I do know I will never forget the way she lit up. Two minutes of my time focusing on customer service changed her whole day for the better. That I will never forget.

Remember, as you hit the "Black Friday" sales today and do any of your offline holiday shopping this year, if you encounter a sales person who helps you, even in a little way, to thank them. Retail sales are hell this time of year, especially with the economy like it is and bosses breathing down employees' necks. Sometimes, a simple "thank you" is all it takes to brighten that sales-floor worker's day.

Moving Past Prejudice

2008-11-15T06:41:00.002-05:00

One of my favorite bumper stickers... "I support gay marriage, if both chicks are hot."

I live in what I often refer to as the "northern tip of the bible-belt." I grew up in a catholic family, was sent to a catholic school for eight years, and live in a town where high-school football is god and homophobia is considered the norm. Needless to say, as a youngster, I too thought "gay" was "wrong" and "not the way things are supposed to be." I wasn't ever as hateful as these so-called "love thy neighbor" religious types, but I was homophobic enough that I would never have been able to have a conversation with someone I knew to be gay.

Back in the days when Usenet was used for more than pirating DVDs and porn, I was involved in a conversation about graphic novels and comic books that could be used in a college course. The lists people posted included the usual "Watchmen" and "The Sandman" and the occasional "Lone Wolf and Cub." One other book kept popping up on people's lists: Howard Cruse's "Stuck Rubber Baby." Then one week I was picking up my usual stack of comics and I saw a hardcover copy of "Stuck Rubber Baby" on the shelf. "Yeah, Diamond (Distributions) shipped that here by mistake. You can have it for five bucks." Sold. I hadn't noticed the words "Gay Literature" on the spine of the book.

It sat at the bottom of my book pile for a while, until late one night I wasn't tired and decided to start reading it. That was when I noticed the words on the spine. "What the hell is this?"

I decided to read it anyway.

It is one of the best damned books I have ever read.

I quickly found myself relating to and empathizing with Toland's experiences. The book begins with a young man growing up as the civil rights movement of the 1960's is underway. As he becomes more involved with the movement, he is also confronted with his own homosexuality. As he travels his life's journey, he discovers and accepts who he is.

I am not going to write a full review here, but I will repeat: It is one of the best damn books I have ever read. (And if you know what I do, you KNOW I've read a lot of books.)

As I closed the book after reading the last page, I noticed that the sun was already up. I'd read it cover to cover in one night. I wasn't able to read anything else for over two weeks. Every time I tried to open a book, my mind just went back to "Stuck Rubber Baby." I'd found myself relating to and understanding the emotional journey of a man discovering that he's gay. If I could relate to it, it couldn't be "wrong," it couldn't be "not the way things are supposed to be." It just simply was. It wasn't something someone chose, it was simply the way nature had created them.

That's not to say I was cured of all the homophobic tendencies I grew up with. I was confronted with my own knee-jerk discomfort the first time someone submitted an erotic poem to The Poet's Haven that was clearly written by a man to a man. After clearing my brain and thinking past it, I did publish the poem. As the years have gone by, it has become easier to think past it, to the point where it is no longer a conscious effort and my thoughts just adapt when they need to. It doesn't bother me to see two guys holding hands or kissing in public. (As a straight man, it has NEVER bothered me seeing two women kissing in public: Hence the bumper sticker quote at the start of this essay.) I still get very uncomfortable in a situation where a guy is hitting on me or flirting. (Strangely, or sadly, though, while I can count the number of times a woman has hit on me or flirted with me one one hand after an accident with a power saw, I've lost count of how many times a man has hit on me. I'm a large, scary looking dude who grew up in the world of auto racing. This has never made sense to me. Then again, writing that out, I'm a large, scary looking dude who works in the world of art and poetry and listens to bands like The Cure. So maybe it does make sense.) But the discomfort isn't that different from what I felt when an underage girl was stalking me.

What this nation needs to get us on the path to proper, equal civil rights for gay folk is a generation of people who can move past their own unease like I have. The generation that follows will be the one that progresses past all the hatred. The civil rights movement of the 1960's succeeded in getting equal rights under the law for African-Americans. The laws that made this so were passed by white dudes who were able to look past their own knee-jerk reactions and see what was RIGHT. That generation's children (and, yes, grandchildren) have elected a black man as PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. There is still racism out there, but with each new generation of citizens, it grows smaller and smaller. Now it is time for a new civil rights movement. It is time for marches in front of government buildings demanding that legislation be passed ensuring that people of all races, genders, and ORIENTATIONS have the same rights under the law, including the right to a state-issued marriage license. It will be a long battle, but it will eventually be won. The question is whether my generation has the courage to put us on the right path.

Last Night's Poet's Haven Open-Mic in Akron :-)

2008-10-25T06:03:00.001-04:00

We had a great turnout tonight! I'd like to thank Dianne Borsenik, Christopher Franke, T.M. Göttl, Sarah Lambert, and Jen Pezzo for coming out and reading tonight, and a huge THANK YOU to Geoffrey Landis and Mary Turzillo for being tonight's featured authors.

The wonder of modern technology also allowed Katherine Zaleski to read at the open-mic, while she was in Philadelphia, PA. This wasn't something I planned, but during the night's readings the idea of a "long-distance open-mic," a poet reading over the phone to the live audience, clicked in my mind. I might try this again in the future. Thanks, Kathy!!!

The next Poet's Haven open-mic event is coming right up on November 1, at Muggswigz in Canton. This one's a Halloween event. A camera will be rolling to capture any poets who come in costume for a special video edition of the podcast.

I'm looking forward to getting started on the podcasts from tonight's show... just as soon as I get a few hours sleep. :-) The first episode including tonight's readings should be online by Monday, November 3.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Vertigo Xi'an Xavier
publisher, The Poet's Haven
http://www.PoetsHaven.com

My Letter to the GOP

2008-10-24T02:09:00.000-04:00

FYI: The spam e-mail this was in response to was sent to my old "CDIdesign.com" e-mail address, the one I used when I designed websites for companies in the world of auto racing.

********************************************************************

I'm kind of curious as to how I, a registered DEMOCRAT whose political views include Socialist reform, ended up on the GOP's spam list? The only thing I can think of is that because I use this e-mail address to do business in the world of auto racing, you assume I must be a redneck (which I may well be), and therefore assume I must vote Republican (which I certainly do not). It has been entertaining seeing what new out-of-context misdirections and even outright lies your campaign wishes to spread. This whole "Joe the Plumber" thing has been hilarious. How am I like "Joe the Plumber?" Well, I am NOT. See, I am NOT like "Joe the Plumber" because I am not working a day-job that requires a license without having said license. See, I am NOT like "Joe the Plumber" because while I may write and publish under a pseudonym, when it comes to my day-job, I use my real name. Hell, even in my publishing work, when it comes to money, I use my real name. And see, I am NOT like "Joe the Plumber" because I actually pay my taxes.

"Spread the wealth" does not mean taking your rich buddies' money away and giving it all to poor people, no strings attached. It means fixing it so that this country can once again have a strong middle-class. Right now, 5% of this nation's people control 95% of the nation's wealth. 1% of this nation's people control 90% of the wealth. The last eight years have seen to it that this country no longer has a middle-class. There's the obscenely rich, and then there's the rest of us, struggling poor. This has to end.

How do we "spread the wealth?" We stop giving tax breaks to companies that send jobs overseas. They want a tax break, they have to hire American workers. Plain and simple. The more new, full-time jobs a fortune-500 company creates, the bigger tax break they become eligible for.

How do we "spread the wealth?" We close the loopholes that allow the richest people to pay a smaller percentage in taxes than the rest of us. These loopholes are commonly called the "Bush tax cuts."

How do we "spread the wealth?" By getting this country's head out of its ass regarding socializing health care. Even Barack Obama is wrong on this issue. This is the ONLY western country that does not socialize health care. I am a type-1 diabetic. I have private health insurance through my day-job. The insurance is the only reason I have to work my day-job and the need for the insurance is the thing that keeps me from living my American dream of being able to run my own business full-time. Even with my private insurance, my out-of-pocket expenses for my insulin, syringes, lancets, and test strips comes to over $240 a month. Three years ago, my out-of-pocket expense was less than $120 a month, and that was taking a newer, more effective yet more expensive type of insulin. Last year, the copay for that insulin went up so high (over a $200 copay for a one month supply) that I had to change to a less effective alternative. The cost of this insulin has not changed over the last three years, as a matter of fact it is cheaper now than it was three years ago. What my "wonderful" private insurance provider is willing to cover has changed. The private insurance industry needs to be shut down. The government already has the best and most cost-effective insurance program in place. It is called Medicare. It needs to be expanded to cover everyone. The increase in taxes this would require would be FAR LESS than what both I and my employer pay to the private insurance companies. C'mon, America, time for that rectal-cranial separation.

Sincerely,

Chris Draime
also known as Vertigo Xi'an Xavier
owner, The Poet's Haven
registered Democrat, state of Ohio

> Team,
>
> We're now 11 days out from Election Day and I wanted to give you an
> important campaign update.
>
> An Associated Press headline said the other day that this race is "All
> even in the homestretch." All indicators point to this race coming down to
> the wire, so it's extremely important to reach out to undecided voters -
> the key to winning this election. The election is in your hands and I'm
> asking you to make the case to undecided voters for John McCain and Sarah
> Palin. Here's what you should tell them...
>
> Instead of spreading wealth around, John McCain and Sarah Palin will
> spread opportunity.
>
> Recently in Ohio, Senator Obama finally broke down and famously told "Joe
> the Plumber" that his economic plan is to, "spread the wealth around." Joe
> is working hard to realize the American dream, as are millions of other
> people who work hard, pay taxes and dream of owning a small business one
> day. Barack Obama will raise taxes on hardworking Americans to give a
> government handout to the 40% of Americans who pay no income taxes.
>
> Thanks to "Joe the Plumber," voters are starting to see the clear
> difference between John McCain and Barack Obama on taxes. Joe's story is
> your story ... the story of hard work and the American dream. "Joe the
> Plumber" isn't just one man in Ohio ... it's every person in America with
> hopes, dreams and the desire to work hard with the opportunity to succeed.
>
> John McCain and Sarah Palin have an economic plan that celebrates the
> American dream of opportunity, not government giveaways. In this country,
> we believe in spreading opportunity, for those who need jobs and those who
> create them. That's why their economic plan - Jobs for America - is so
> important for the American people in this time of economic crisis.
>
> While Barack Obama is ready to "spread the wealth around," John McCain has
> a plan to get our economy moving so everyone has access to good jobs, a
> quality education and the opportunity to succeed.
>
> John McCain and Sarah Palin don't just talk about change ... they deliver.
>
> This election is certainly about change - there's no doubt about it. But
> that's why we're talking to voters about the difference between lower
> taxes and the opportunity to work hard for the American dream ... or
> higher taxes and government giveaways with Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
>
> You can trust John McCain and Sarah Palin because they are the real deal;
> reformers with a record who stand by their words and will always put their
> country first.
>
> Time and time again this team of mavericks has stood up, taken on tough
> issues and delivered. They're the real deal. They have a clear record that
> can deliver results, not just rhetoric that delivers votes.
>
> In the last 11 days of this campaign, we want voters to hear the story of
> "Joe the Plumber" to understand the important differences between John
> McCain and Barack Obama. Please take a minute today to watch videos
> submitted to our "I'm Joe the Plumber" video contest to see how people all
> across America recognize that they too are Joe the Plumber. Then forward
> this message to your friends with a personal message about why you're like
> Joe the Plumber and why you are supporting John McCain and Sarah Palin on
> Election Day.
>
> Thanks,
> Rick Davis
> Campaign Manager, McCain-Palin 2008
>
>
>
>
> Please visit this page if you want to remove yourself from the email list.
>
> Paid for by McCain-Palin 2008
>
>
>

FEEDBACK NEEDED: new bookmarks

2008-10-18T20:09:00.001-04:00

I'm on the final batch of Poet's Haven bookmarks, and will be getting new ones printed soon. I've decided to redesign them, so that rather than using clip art images (even clip art images that I customized), we have one design that uses my graffiti cat logo. These are going to get used for some more... guerrilla style promotional campaigns than what The Poet's Haven has used thusfar. (This is something I'll be asking for some street team help to implement. More on this later.) I'd like to know what y'all think of this design. Is the rotating text distracting, or does it work? Is there a better way to word things? Should I include anything else on here? Things like that. Please take a look and let me know what you think.

Thanks!

--VX

WHOTTA DAY! Show cancellations, new booking, more...

2008-09-25T02:37:00.002-04:00

These are the kinds of days that you wish you could just hit the RESET button on...

Okay, the two open-mics I just announced a few days ago at After Dark have both been canceled. Blame the state of Ohio for not renewing the club's liquor license. They are closing down after this weekend. I can't be pissed at anyone at the club, I do know enough of what had been going on there before I booked July's open-mic. The owners are great people, and Paula, the manager as long as I've been going to the club, is wonderful. I'm hopeful that the issues that caused all this to happen will be cleared up soon and they can reopen next year. I don't know that that'll happen, but I can hope.

But anyway, that leaves me with two holes in the open-mic schedule...

I'm still working on finding another venue for the November 15 show. I would like to have a show on that same date, however it may not be in the Summit County area. I've got several possibilities in mind.

October 18 is off the table. It is too close to effectively promote a show. October 25, however, is still four weeks away.

There will be a Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven open-mic at the Angel Falls Coffee Company, 792 West Market Street in Akron, OH on October 25 at 8:00 PM. This will be an event.

Yes, I realize that this means there will be Poet's Haven open-mic event two weeks in a row! Yes, I realize that this will start me on a path to crash and burn. Ya know what? After the December 6 show, we're done for the year. The next date I'm working on booking isn't until late January. I can get my head back on straight over the holidays. Then again, maybe not. LOL

Also, today's events put me behind on completing the next podcast. It'll go online as soon as I have it completed, but it most likely will not be up on Saturday. I'll try to get it as close to finished tomorrow as possible, but after my day job (which I have to be up for in less than five hours), I don't know how strong my brain will be working. I already had things scheduled to do all day Saturday and Sunday morning and afternoon, so I may not be able to complete the podcast until Sunday night.

More will come as I can get things finalized. Stay tuned...

2008-09-20T05:21:00.001-04:00

I just secured two Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven bookings at Lake Anna After Dark in Barberton, OH!!! The Poet's Haven will be taking over the "time slot" of this club's monthly poetry nights on October 18 and November 15. (The regular event coordinator and emcee is taking time off to have a baby.) Both these shows will have 7:00 PM start-times and be . I'll post fliers and announce featured poets/performers as soon as I get them scheduled.

These fill the calendar of dates I wanted to book for the remainder of 2008! (There is a slim possibility of one more show, but booking the October 18 date fills the "late October" spot I was trying to finalize. If the café I was trying to book a show at does call me back, I may still offer them 10/25, but I'll more likely push them into 2009.)

FYI: October 18 is "Sweetest Day." This means we have open-mics on both Sweetest Day (at After Dark) and Valentine's Day (at the Phoenix Café in South Euclid)!

Stay tuned, space cowboys!

--VX

PoetsHaven.com 2001 vs. 2008... Be Frightened...

2008-09-13T18:47:00.000-04:00

After receiving an e-mail from someone who did not remember submitting poems to the site (in early 2001, I still have his original e-mail archived), I found myself looking at an archive.org copy of the site from more than seven years ago. This was from before 9/11 happened, before the site found itself collapsing under hundreds of submissions every week from inexperienced poets who were jumping on the poetry bandwagon as this nation struggled to deal with its newfound rage and grief. This was before the site had to be closed to submissions and rewritten from the ground up thanks to the sudden closing of our original host server, basic page formatting that was written exclusively for the original host server and was not compatible with any new host, and an update system that could not be maintained under the surge of traffic and submissions that the site had begun receiving.

It was a very different time, back then. I've always been very hands-on in building the site. Even today, while I may not have written the programs that operate the site, I have read through every script and studied every line of code to make sure it all operates the way I want it to. But back then, the pages were created in Notepad (with occasional help from Netscape Composer). Each page was its own creation, hand-crafted to take the reader on a journey through various emotions.

Comparing the site then to today, the best analogy I can come up with is this: PoetsHaven.com 2008 is like the perfect cake bought at the best bakery in town. It is nearly perfect. The edges are straight, the frosting is even, and the decorations are photo-realistic. PoetsHaven.com 2001 (and earlier) is like the homemade cake. Some parts are thinner than others, but where the cake dips you get a thick gob of rich icing. It's sometimes imperfect, but heart went in to every bite.

The site is drastically more professional today. While I would certainly never go back to running the site the way it was run back then, there are aspects of it I miss. Back then, I could name every poem and author I had ever published. I could even recite a good 40 to 50 percent of the poems on the site. Today, I find myself unable to remember how to spell the name of a writer I only published a few weeks ago, and unable to remember the titles of the poems I published by that author. I no longer have the personal connection with every item I publish. I review the work, decide if I want to publish it or not, and then click "Accept" or "Delete." In the drive for professionalism and efficiency, have I lost the key aspect that made the site my labor of love for the art? Is my professional detachment from the work being published part of what is driving me to build a new, more personal experience with the Poet's Haven open-mic events and the podcasts?

Check it out for yourself:
PoetsHaven.com 2001
PoetsHaven.com 2008

My mind is still racing, and now I want to go bake a cake...

--VX

Scribbles Open-Mic Results...

2008-09-07T06:12:00.000-04:00

It was a pretty good night at Scribbles Café in Kent.

Dakota Kincer played some tunes, not all of which will be in the podcast. ("Myself and I" was previously featured in the podcast, and his cover of Weezer's "Say It Ain't So" cannot be used due to licensing restrictions. This is why you gotta be there!)

A handful of talented poets read, including a pretty amazing NINE year old girl! While I have knowingly published writers as young as 11 on PoetsHaven.com, young Miss Campbell Budzar is certainly the youngest poet to have read original work for the podcast.

Just a side note: This is why, despite the number of venues The Poet's Haven is scheduling "yellow" unmoderated events with (as well as a few adults-only "red" shows), we will still have "green" moderated events from time to time. I've always taken pride in The Poet's Haven's openness to young poets who are just getting started in "the scene." The "green" shows not only allow poets with families to perform in front of their kids, they also allow the youngest writers a chance to share their work.

It will be a few weeks before any of tonight's (or last night's, depending on how you interpret the clock) material will be featured in the podcast. The next two weeks will see more material from the August 23 Phoenix show, including John "Jesus Crisis" Burroughs, Parker Amsel, Robin Crawford, and more.

Plenty more shows are in the works. I've got something cooking for mid-October that I'll be announcing as soon as the details are worked out. November 1st will be the special Halloween event at Muggswigz in Canton, OH. Something else may be happening later in November, as well. December 6, we will return to the Phoenix in South Euclid for the first of three open-mics booked there, the others coming up in February and May. Several other gigs are being lined up for the first half of 2009 that I cannot yet reveal.

Stay tuned, space cowboys!

--VX

Vertigo on Politics...

2008-09-04T03:32:00.000-04:00

Anybody who has visited my profile on MySpace has probably noticed that I've got "Obama for President" at the top of my "friends" list. Anybody who knew me offline four years ago saw the Kerry / Edwards stickers all over my car. It's no secret that I'm pretty much a true-blue liberal. Sure, I differ with the Dems on quite a few issues. (For a big one, I believe abortion is murder. However, I do not want to see it made illegal, just unnecessary thanks to widely and freely available birth control. I also think most of the new Dems elected to Congress two years ago have proven themselves to be a bunch of worthless, spineless pussies who are too afraid to speak the truth and stand up against the Executive Idiot and his puppet masters.)

That said, I'm about to admit to something surprising. Eight years ago, I voted for Bush. Yeah, yeah, I know, stop screaming... Lemme explain... See, out of all the inalienable rights I hold true and dear, the ones I believe are the most important are those guaranteed by the First Amendment. Freedom of Speech. Freedom of the Press. Freedom of Assembly. Freedom of Religion. (Bet ya thought you'd never see me capitalize THAT word!) And no matter how much I knew Darth Bush and Emperor Cheney getting elected would fuck up this country on a financial level, I could not bring myself to vote for Al Gore, champion of censorship in music, and especially Joe Lieberman, champion of censorship in EVERYTHING (most notably video games and film). Nobody could have expected something like 9/11/2001 to give the reds free reign to throw out any rights they didn't see the need for. (Ya know, the First Amendment, the Fourth Amendment, Fifth Amendment, Sixth Amendment, Eighth Amendment...)

That said, here's what frightens me now. Since John McPain (who I wouldn't have minded 8 years ago, but like the Dems the past two years, he has spent two Bush terms being a spineless follower, NOT the "maverick" his campaign wants us to think of him as) announced his VP candidate last week, we've seen plenty of stories about her political record (and about how little a record it is) in Alaska. Out of it all, one very frightening detail jumps out at me. To quote Time Magazine:

Stein says that as mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. "She asked the library how she could go about banning books," he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. "The librarian was aghast." That woman, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn't be reached for comment, but news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire Baker for not giving "full support" to the mayor.

If I wasn't already decided on the Dems this election, this would seal the deal! CENSORSHIP AND BANNING BOOKS IS THE CALLING CARD OF FASCISM! We can NOT allow this Republican party to maintain any control over the government. It is time for the people to take back the rights the founding fathers deemed so incontrovertible that they had to add them to the Constitution as Amendments, they so believed the rights to be self-evident that they originally did not believe they needed to be written out.

Open-Mic Ratings

2008-08-19T02:53:00.000-04:00

Some conversations last week about censorship and free expression got my brain spinning... I have decided to implement a ratings system for the Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven open-mics. Here's how the ratings break down:

Family Friendly These events are open to ALL AGES and the material featured is MODERATED by Poet's Haven staff. No explicit language is allowed and content must fall within "PG-13" restrictions.

Warning: Contains Language These events are open to ALL AGES, but the material featured is UNMODERATED and may contain adult language and content. Poets are asked to avoid anything explicitly "XXX" pornographic, but "R" rated content is perfectly welcome. Parental advisory.

Adults Only These events are held in locations with an age restriction, such as a bar. These events are UNMODERATED and may contain adult language and content. Poets are asked to avoid anything explicitly "XXX" pornographic, but "R" rated content is perfectly welcome.

Vertigo / Poet's Haven on Facebook and MySpace

2008-08-11T03:15:00.000-04:00

Anyone out there who uses Facebook, you can find me at:
http://www.facebook.com/vertigoxx

MySpace users, you can find me here:
http://www.myspace.com/vertigoxx

MySpace users, you can find the MySpace mirror for the podcast here:
http://www.myspace.com/poetshavenpodcast

I'm still just getting started using Facebook, so I haven't done much networking there yet. Compared to MySpace, I've found much of Facebook to be overly complicated and over-thought. MySpace offers more control over how your profile and information is presented. However, the way Facebook's events are set up and the way invites work is drastically better than MySpace's similar offerings. (Plus, everything else aside, MySpace's parent company is still evil incarnate.)

Vertigo's Poetry Overload...

2008-08-11T03:04:00.000-04:00

Since I was unable to make it to the Deep Cleveland open-mic Friday night, and since I need to spend a weekday in Kent, here's what I've planned for this week:

Thursday, I'll be heading to Brunswick for the Brunswick Art Works Open Mic at Insights Coffee at 7:00. The featured poet will be Natalie Palmieri.

After that, I'll be dashing up to the Tremont district of Cleveland, for the Literary Café's monthly poetry extravaganza at 9:30. The featured poets will be David Hassler & Michelle Krivanek.

Even with gas back down around $3.60 a gallon, it's still cheaper to get a hotel room than to drive back to Massillon and then back up north the next morning. I'll probably crash for the night somewhere in Fairlawn or Stow.

On Friday, I'll be zipping around Kent distributing fliers for the September 6 open-mic at Scribbles Café. I'll also be stopping at a café in Akron that I won't name at this time, in hopes of getting a meeting with the manager to schedule a Poet's Haven open-mic there in October or November. I'm not 100% sure what I'm doing Friday night, but I do know of a few bands playing shows that I would like to see.

Saturday morning I'll be sleeping in. LOL I'll probably still be wiped out from Thursday, starting at my day-job at 7:00 AM and ending at the Lit well after 1:00 AM.

Saturday night, I'll be heading to Lake Anna After Dark in Barberton for Nadelaine's Poetry Nite. I'm telling everyone, you need to check this place out. It is phenomenal.

Then by Sunday, I should be at a poetry overload. I'll probably spend the day watching Law & Order and CSI reruns.

Then Monday, its back to the day-job and time to start the countdown to Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven at the Phoenix Coffee Co. in South Euclid on Saturday, August 23!

The Cleveland Shuffle...

2008-07-27T03:32:00.000-04:00

Okay, personal blog entry here. I know I don't do many of these. So much of my life is tied up with Poet's Haven related stuff, that the promo posts pretty much sum up what I've got going on. But when I have a weekend night that isn't tied up with open-mic stuff or website work (and you'll soon be seeing a promo post about why I can say website work is tying up a chunk of my time right now), I try to go out and have fun. Whether this is seeing a band play somewhere, going to a movie, or just hanging out in a club with a DJ spinning dance music, I like to go do something.

This past Saturday, I went to a dance-party-slash-boat-ride on the Goodtime III. (This was after spending Saturday afternoon zipping around Cleveland distributing fliers for the August 23 open-mic.) The boat has three levels. The lower level had a band playing. They were okay, pretty good when they covered blues tunes but not so hot when they covered 70's and 80's disco dance music. The top level was just for hanging out. The middle level was a dance club. The DJ was okay, though I was slightly annoyed when he started repeating songs during a short 2-hour trip. Okay, Justin Timberlake's "Sexy Back" twice I could see, its still a hot dance song, but playing Rick Springfield's "Jesse's Girl" three times? Anyways...

Now let me tell you about the Cleveland Shuffle...

About half-way through the trip, the DJ spun the Cleveland Shuffle. (Or would it be clicked, in this day and age of using a laptop with MP3s instead of vinyl or CDs?) Every time I'm somewhere, be it club or concert, if the Cleveland Shuffle comes on, there will be a fight. EVERY TIME!

My new-year's eve, I got to experience mace. I went to a club with a hard-rock/metal band playing. After the ball-drop, the band took a break and the club's DJ started spinning tunes from the likes of Snoop Dogg and the aforementioned Timberlake. Not quite the music that the crowd that was there for the rock band was expecting, but nobody complained. Hell, there was even a few hot chicks dancing on the bar. Then the DJ turned on the Cleveland Shuffle. Two minutes into it, the fight broke out. Some drunk dude said something stupid to another drunk dude, and fists started flying. One of the guys got shoved into the bar, knocking one of the hot chicks down, smacking her face as she fell. These guys were right in front of the entrance. The club security reacted quickly, spraying them both with mace and kicking them out of the bar, and I imagine into the custody of the police who were sitting in the parking lot most of the night. Problem was, there was now a cloud of mace filling the bar, and I was trapped on the other side of it. I finally pulled my shirt up over my face and darted through, out to the smoker's patio for the fresh air (that's funny, coming from a staunch NON-smoker). That was my new year's.

Couple months go by, then I'm out with some friends at another bar. There was a DJ playing music for people to dance to, nothing big. The DJ played the Cleveland Shuffle. Five minutes after the end of the song, two drunk women start trying to pull each other's hair out. A bartender and the bouncer at the door quickly separated them and kicked one out, then the other once the first was gone. Hey, it's drunk people on a Saturday night, nothing unusual, but still, it was right after the Cleveland Shuffle. This is just a goofy dance song where the lyrics are the steps for the dance. You think if people were gonna fight, it would be during something with violent lyrics or something fast and heavy.

So there I am Saturday night and the DJ spins/clicks the Cleveland Shuffle. My eyes go wide, and I have to get as far away from the dance floor as possible. Nothing happens. Hey, okay, it's all good, right?

An hour later, the party's over and everyone's getting off the boat. And that's where the fight was starting. From what I could see, it looked like two drunk women starting it, and then their boyfriends getting involved too. Cleveland police were there, and separated the two groups, friends of the people fighting also helped keep them separated, and then a bunch of guys from the boat's staff came out and assisted the police. Drunk people on a Saturday night, whaddya expect? One side got driven off by their DD, the other side got put in a cab and sent on their way.

This is the third time I've witnessed a fight start somewhere this year, and all three times it's been somewhere where they played the Cleveland Shuffle. So here's what I'm calling for: All clubs and bars in north-east Ohio (or at least the ones I visit) should put a moratorium on playing the Cleveland Shuffle! Despite the innocent nature of the song, it must have some sort of subliminal messages, if every time I hear it I then get to witness violence.

And now it's Monday, time to start another lousy work week... Ugh... G'nite all.

--VX

What Y'all Missed!

2008-07-13T15:58:00.000-04:00

You know, not everything that goes on at a live Poet's Haven open-mic event gets to go in the podcast...

Last night's open-mic included an amazing reading by T.M. Göttl, an amazing performance by Mike and Abe of Split Pea/ce, and amazing readings by La Princesse de L'amour, Elizabeth Hendricks, and Mello (a poet featured in episode four, except I fucked up his name; I'll post about that soon enough). But that wasn't all. We were also treated to a surprise concert by John Anderson! In addition to some of his original songs, he also performed several covers/reinterpretations. It was a spectacular performance that, sadly, won't all be in the podcast! You had to have been there!

And you also missed out on me DeeJaying before and after the poetry! (Well, after was only until the slick DJ VEL arrived and took over.)

A huge THANK YOU to all last night's performers and to Amanda and Ninja Joe for being the street team, handing out fliers at the Lake Anna Arts Festival.

Our next open-mic events will be August 23 at the Phoenix Café in South Euclid, OH, and September 6 at Scribbles Café in Kent, OH. I'm also working on booking an event in Cleveland on September 20, as well as more open-mics in October, November and December.

As for the podcast, I'm taking a couple days to catch up on some house-work. My randomly scattered work areas are all being collected together into one nice office area. No more running between three rooms to go between my primary system, audio system, and hardware workbench. I'll start putting the next episode together Tuesday or Wednesday, and should still have it ready for downloading by the end of next weekend. (Okay, I may also be slightly delayed by the new Batman movie, and I'd like to maybe go to the regular monthly poetry night at Lake Anna After Dark on Saturday...)

Y'all'll be hearing from me soon!

--VX