from the Creative Loafing blog...

How Indie Presses Will Save the World and How You can Help Them

so, poetry....

Over the past few months, my kids have been engaging me in post-bathtub conversations before they go off the bed. These conversations begin the same, "so, poetry...." and it's become a developing piece of mine by the same title. It's a performance piece and the entire piece is composed of my kids limited understanding of what poetry is. They overhear snippets of conversations between Katy and myself as we discuss the Press, or of poets who visit our house, or from watching video tape of poets reading at various poetry events in the mid-1990's.

Among the lines that my kids recite almost nightly are "poetry is our friend, poetry likes us" and "poetry kills people for real". So when I saw this book, I had to get it for the title alone. Poets Never Kill (that should end the debate entirely, except the one arguing that poetry DOES kill people is 2 years old)

Actually, my kids' understanding of poetry is about on par with the majority of Americans understanding of poetry. Perhaps we need to focus on getting kids informed, and liking it, before we attempt to "educate the masses". Who are the masses anyway but large numbers of former kids! Happy Mid-poetry month! "so, Daddy, let's talk about poetry...."

updating Plan B Press

The latest book we have brought out is Joseph Kerschbaum's Your Casual Survival (the air & the echo). Joseph is 1/4 of an Indiana-based poetry troupe called Reservoir Dogwoods. He along with fellow Dogwood member, Tony Brewer, will be at the next Poetry Lab in Vienna, VA on April 2, 2010. In fact, their appearance will be part of their mini-tour which they are calling "Bottomless Cheetah Blood Tourette"

here's their tour dates:

Thurs 1 April
Zanzibar Brews
740 E. Long St.
Columbus, OH
9p

Fri 2 April
The Soundry
316 Dominion Rd.
Vienna, VA
8p

Sat 3 April
Wild Goose Creative
2491 Summit Street
Columbus, OH
7p - $5 cover

I am glad to say that I am particularly happy that their 3rd leg of the tour will be at Wild Goose Creative in Columbus, Ohio. They held Talia Weisz & Jason Venner book release gig back in December. Good people there. If you are going to be heading through Ohio, trying to set up an event at Wild Goose is an option worth checking out.

Additionally, we are more than happy to announce that Dan Maguire's chapbook Finding the Words has gone into a 5th printing. Incredible, Dan, you are the Everready Bunny, aren't you?

till soon


stevenallenmay

due to successful emergence of the Poetry Lab...

we are creating a Poetry Lab blog to document this fantastic new series.....
suffice it to say that we are overwhelmed with positive feedback we have so far received, and are impressed with the 30 people who showed up for a 10PM start in Vienna, VA!

the next twist : Plan B Press @the Soundry

s - a - m has been working to establish a new series at the Soundry in Vienna, VA called "the Poetry Lab". Working with Saul Rosenberg of Poetry Pure Poetry and Tommy Tavenner, a vision of the future is being explored once a month. Saul taped and posted the first batch of videos onto YouTube.

PoetryPurePoetry

in March 2010, CL Bledsoe will be reading at the Poetry Lab, in May 2010 Daniel Collins will be performing. Both were published by Plan B Press. The April event will feature Tony Brewer and Joseph Kerschbaum of Indianapolis, IN - each with a freshly published chapbook by Plan B Press. (Brewer - Little Glove in a Big Hand, Kerschbaum - Your Casual Survival)

more to come!


s - a - m

Following Richard Brautigan by Corey Mesler

In 2005 I decided that the short fiction contest that Plan B Press held would be a "Beat Generation" themed contest as the year marked the 50th anniversary of the first reading of Howl by Allen Ginsberg. I went to such lengths as to secure a number of fairly obscure Beat titles as part of the winning prize and secured ruth weiss to write the foreword to the winning chapbook. As it happened, the judge selected Corey Mesler's entry Following Richard Brautigan.

Now almost 5 years later, the complete novel by Corey is being published by Livingston Press. The click above comes from Corey's own source. The section he reads from is contained in the winning chapbook. The chapbook sports Mesler in a well known Brautigan cover pose.

We couldn't be happier for Corey's upcoming success. It's long overdue. Cheers to you, Corey Mesler. Enjoy the ride!!

Full Moon on K Street anthology is IN THE NEWS!

See the article in Sunday Feb. 7, 2010 Washington Post Style section written by Dan Zak :

"Chicago has Carl Sandburg's fog, coming on little cat feet. Los Angeles has Bukowski's drunks, sleeves soaking up spilt booze. New York has as many poets as rats. Washington has . . . what, exactly? Its reputation in popular poetry is that of a way station for gestating genius, a quarry of one-liners chipped into monuments, the coronation spot of a poet laureate who lives elsewhere.

Quote a line from a poem that captures the capital as a place to live.

Can't.

Couldn't, until now.

'Full Moon on K Street' -- the first anthology of modern poetry to be wholly for, about and by current and former Washington residents -- teems with poets who've distilled the region's lifeblood into verse over the past 50 years."

FULL ARTICLE



enjoy!


stevenallenmay

Full Moon on K Street anthology is HERE

the books have arrived, the books have arrived. the books !
gorgeously done cover by Katy Jean May. 101 poems expertly edited by Kim Roberts.
The first reading at Folger Shakespeare Theatre went swimmingly well, congrats all around.
more to follow!

s - a - m

the anthologies are here!

the gorgeous Full Moon on K Street : Poems about Washington DC has arrived and tonight, Jan. 11, 2010, at Folger's Theater in Washington DC as part of the beginning of their Spring season. It's the first time that Folgers is presenting a local reading and it's going to be quite an event. Will post pix later (should there be a shutterbug in the house)

noting two passings, Dennis Brutus and Don Belton

In my time in Philadelphia as Katy and I were taking over the daily operations of Plan B Press, I got to meet any number of fantastically talented and influential people. Two of them died over the holidays.



I got to know Dennis Brutus through his friendship and association with poet/publisher Lamont Steptoe and Larry Robin of Robins Bookstore, who created the Celebration of Black Writing in 1984 as a natural outgrowth of the very successful Black Ink program that been on-going at Robins for many years. The gentleman I met was full of grace and determination, a man bursting with energy and righteous cause. His presence, his shadow, will continue to be seen and felt by all who knew him and heard his words.

Don Belton was the kindest, most gentle man I met in Philadelphia. The tragic end of his life reminds me of the horrible ending of Matthew Shepard's life. Why is it that homophobes claim that they are assaulted by gay men as a justification for the hate in their own hearts, trying to justify murder of people who would not harm a fly? For anyone who wishes to know more about the moves in Indiana to seek justice for Don Belton please go to Justice for Don Belton.