Poets Patricia Smith & Willie Perdomo Headline The Inspired Word - Sept. 30!

Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word NYC poetry/spoken word event featuring Willie Perdomo and Patricia Smith + a 6-slot open mic (open not only to poets and spoken word artists but fiction/nonfiction writers, comedians, monologists, singers, and musicians).

When: Thursday, Sept. 30, 2010

Where: One and One Bar & Restaurant (downstairs Nexus Lounge)
76 East 1st Street (corner of 1st Avenue)
Manhattan, NYC
http://www.oneandoneny.com/
Phone: (212) 598-9126

Time: 7:30pm

Cover Charge: $10

Must be 21 years of age or older. Please make sure to bring ID.

*****

Willie Perdomo is the author Where a Nickel Costs a Dime and Smoking Lovely, which received a PEN America Beyond Margins Award. He has also been published in The New York Times Magazine, Bomb, Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood, OCHO, and African Voices. He has been a Pushcart Prize nominee, a Woolrich Fellow in Creative Writing at Columbia University and is a 2009 fellow in Poetry from the New York Foundation for the Arts. He is co-founder/publisher of Cypher Books. www.willieperdomo.com



Patricia Smith is the author of five books of poetry, including "Blood Dazzler," a finalist for the 2008 National Book Award, and "Teahouse of the Almighty," a National Poetry Series selection. Her work has appeared in Poetry, The Paris Review, TriQuarterly and many other journals, and she has been performed around the world, including Carnegie Hall and Rotterdam’s Poetry International. She is a Pushcart Prize winner and a four-time individual champion of the National Poetry Slam, the most successful poet in the competition’s history. A professor at the City University of New York/College of Staten Island, she is also on the faculty of both Cave Canem and the Stonecoast MFA program at the University of Southern Maine.



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Inspired Word NYC Spoken Word Poetry on Twitter: http://twitter.com/InspiredWordNYC
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Inspired Word NYC Spoken Word Poetry Meetup Group: http://www.meetup.com/InspiredWordNYC/

Lemon Andersen @ The Inspired Word NYC Sopken Word Poetry Event

HBO Def Poetry superstar Lemon Andersen dazzles @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word NYC spoken word event
Thursday, Sept. 23, 2010
One and One Bar/Restaurant
Manhattan, NYC.

For more info on Lemon, visit http://lemonshood.com/

Videographer: Richard Adrion (www.evprosonline.com)

See more videos on YouTube.com/NYCInspiredWord

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Inspired Word NYC Spoken Word Poetry Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/InspiredWordNYC/

Find us also on Facebook too: http://bit.ly/SBMhs

Oveous Maximus @ Mike Geffner's Inspired Word NYC Spoken Word Poetry Event/Part 4

Superstar Poet/Spoken Word Artist Oveous Maximus @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word NYC spoken word poetry event
Thursday, Sept. 9, 2010, (Le) Poisson Rouge
Manhattan, NYC

The Inspired Word is New York City's hottest new poetry/spoken word series, produced by longtime writer/journalist and former Village Voice columnist Mike Geffner and hosted by Erik "Advocate of Wordz" Maldonado.

Videographer: Richard Adrion (www.evprosonline.com)

Music by: Oveous

For more info on Oveous, please visit his site: http://oveous.blogspot.com/

Inspired Word NYC Spoken Word Poetry YouTube channel: http://www.YouTube.com/nycinspiredword

Inspired Word NYC Spoken Word PoetryTweets: http://twitter.com/InspiredWordNYC

Inspired Word NYC Spoken Word Poetry Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/InspiredWordNYC/

Caridad De La Luz ("La Bruja") @ The Inspired Word NYC Spoken Word Poetry Event

Caridad De La Luz ("La Bruja") @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word NYC Spoken Word Poetry Event
One and One Bar & Restaurant
Manhattan, New York City

http://twitter.com/InspiredWordNYC
http://www.youtube.com/user/NYCInspiredWord
http://www.meetup.com/InspiredWordNYC

Poet T.S. Eliot Reading The Waste Land

New Video! Oveous Maximus @ Mike Geffner's Inspired Word NYC Spoken Word Poetry Event/Part 3

Superstar poet/spoken word artist Oveous Maximus @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word NYC spoken word poetry event
Thursday, Sept. 9, 2010
(Le) Poisson Rouge, Manhattan, New York City

Videographer: Elaine Delehant (bonobofilms.com)

New Video! Oveous Maximus @ Mike Geffner's Inspired Word NYC Spoken Word Poetry Event/Part 2

Superstar poet/spoken word artist Oveous Maximus @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word NYC spoken word poetry event
Thursday, Sept. 9, 2010
(Le) Poisson Rouge, Manhattan, New York City

Videographer: Elaine Delehant (bonobofilms.com)

Lemon Andersen Headlines @ Mike Geffner's Inspired Word - Thursday, Sept. 23!

Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word NYC poetry/spoken word event, featuring the dazzling talent of HBO Def Poetry superstar Lemon Andersen + a 15-slot open mic (open not only to poets and spoken word artists but also comedians, monologists, singers, and musicians).

When: Thursday, Sept. 23, 2010

Where: One and One Bar/Restaurant (downstairs Nexus Lounge)
76 East 1st Street (corner of 1st Avenue)
Manhattan, NYC
http://www.oneandoneny.com/
Phone: (212) 598-9126

Time: 7pm (open mic sign-up starts at 6:30)

Cover Charge: $10

Must be 21 years of age or older. Please make sure to bring ID.

*****

LEMON ANDERSEN is an original cast member of Russell Simmons’ Def Poetry Jam on Broadway. The show took home the Tony Award for “Special Theatrical Event” in 2003 and the Drama Desk nomination for “Unique Theatrical Experience.” Lemon’s film acting credits include The Soloist, starring Robert Downey, Jr. and Jamie Foxx, as well as Spike Lee’s Miracle At St. Anna, Sucker Free City, She Hate Me, and he appeared opposite Denzel Washington in Inside Man. His theater credits include Slanguage, which was directed by Jo Bonney and premiered at the New York Theater Workshop to rave reviews and sold out shows. He is currently touring County of Kings the show which was produced by Spike Lee and the Culture Project at the Public Theater. The book based on the show is the Grand Prize Winner of the 2010 New York Book Festival. His poetry has been featured on everything from radio spots, to print ads, to the limited edition Absolut Brooklyn bottle and most recently on a viral spot directed by Rik Cordero. A native New Yorker, Lemon was born, raised, and currently resides in Brooklyn.

The Great Photography of Inspired Word Staff Photographer Cathryn Lynne

Corrina Bain

Sean Patrick Conlon

Caridad de la Luz (La Bruja)

Vaimoana Niumeitolu

Oveous Maximus

Erik "Advocate of Wordz" Maldonado

Jane Ormerod

Jamaal St. John

Caroline Rothstein

Photos By: Cathryn Lynne
NYC Freelance Photographer

Please visit Cathryn's site and Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/cathrynlynnephoto

http://www.facebook.com/cathrynlynnephoto

 

Oveous Maximus @ Mike Geffner's Inspired Word NYC Spoken Word Poetry Event

Poet/Spoken Word superstar Oveous Maximus @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word NYC spoken word poetry event
Thursday, Sept. 9, 2010
(Le) Poisson Rouge, Manhattan, NYC

Videographer: Richard Adrion (www.evprosonline.com)

Lemon Andersen Headlines @ Mike Geffner's Inspired Word!

The Great Photography of Inspired Word Staff Photographer Peter Woloszyn

Ngoma

Jon Sands and Adam Falkner

Rich Villar

Mike Geffner, Erik "Advocate of Wordz" Maldonado, Marvin Mendlinger

Sara Brickman and Corrina Bain

Jeanann Verlee

Carvens Lissaint

Rachel McKibbens

Photos By: Peter Woloszyn
NYC Photographer

Please visit Peter's sites:

http://www.picsbypeter.com/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/doyouknowpeter/

Poetry Quotes of the Day

"Poetry is the universal language which the heart holds with nature and itself." - William Hazlitt

"Poetry must have something in it that is barbaric, vast and wild." - Denis Diderot

"Poetry is not only dream and vision; it is the skeleton architecture of our lives. It lays the foundations for a future of change, a bridge across our fears of what has never been before." - Audre Lorde

"Poetry lifts the veil from the hidden beauty of the world, and makes familiar objects be as if they were not familiar." - Percy Bysshe Shelley

"Poetry is the language in which man explores his own amazement . . . says heaven and earth in one word . . . speaks of himself and his predicament as though for the first time." - Christopher Fry

"Poetry is a way of taking life by the throat." - Robert Frost

"Poetry is truth in its Sunday clothes." - Joseph Roux

"Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality. But, of course, only those who have personality and emotions know what it means to want to escape from these things." - T.S. Eliot

"I write poetry in order to live more fully." - Judith Rodriguez

"Good poetry could not have been otherwise written than it is. The first time you hear it, it sounds rather as if copied out of some invisible tablet in the Eternal mind than as if arbitrarily composed by the poet." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

"All good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility." William Wordsworth

"When power leads man towards arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the area of man’s concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses." - President John Fitzgerald Kennedy

"A speech is poetry: cadence, rhythm, imagery, sweep! A speech reminds us that words, like children, have the power to make dance the dullest beanbag of a heart." - Peggy Noonan

"Writing a book of poetry is like dropping a rose petal down the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo." - Don Marquis

"Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance." - Carl Sandburg

"Poetry is the art of substantiating shadows." - Edmund Burke

"Poetry, like the moon, does not advertise anything." - William Blissett

New Vid! Vaimoana Niumeitolu @ Mike Geffner's Inspired Word NYC Spoken Word Poetry Event

Poet/Spoken Word Artist Vaimoana Niumeitolu @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word NYC spoken word poetry event
Thursday, Sept. 9, 2010
(Le) Poisson Rouge, Manhattan, New York City

Videographer: Elaine Delehant (bonobofilms.com)

Molly Kat & Justin Vinokur @ Mike Geffner's Inspired Word NYC Spoken Word Poetry Event

Poets/Spoken Word Artists Molly Kat & Justin Vinokur @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word NYC Spoken Word Poetry Event
Thursday, Sept. 2, 2010
One and One Bar and Restaurant
Manhattan, New York City

Videographer: Elaine Delehant (bonobofilms.com)

Two Poems by Tomas R. Montalvo: I Live in Fear & A Peek at My Past

I LIVE IN FEAR

I live in fear
A roof over my head
Warm plate of food every day
And a girl that loves me unconditionally

Yet I live in fear

Fear of the park bench that I slept on
Trash cans that I ate from
And public bathrooms in which I bathed in
Fear of losing what I have and stepping back into my past
The multiple incarcerations just to get out of the cold
Being alone like I once was where everyone walked by me oblivious to my existence

I live in fear

Fear of the newspaper insulation
The long lines out in the freezing cold just to be turned away by the Bellevue Mens shelter
Cause they had no empty beds
Fear of not having the strength to lift myself up before hitting the ground once again

But you’ll never understand
You’ll never understand unless you’ve been there back to the ground
Wishing it were rice and beans you were eating while chowing down on an Alpo sandwich
Yes an Alpo sandwich
Yaeh you’ll never understand that I live in fear
Fear of being anywhere but here

A PEEK AT MY PAST

This is not a poem
This is the life of a helpless man living in the streets of NYC
No home to go to
No menu to choose from
Whatever he finds along the way
Will be just what he puts in his stomach for that day
His resting place, the NYC subway.

This is not a poem
This is to tell you that the streets of NYC are lonely and cold
To live in them you have to strong and bold
This is to show you how fucked up humanity is
When a person can walk by a homeless woman, man or child
And not even care to look their way
With nothing but a smile and ask are you okay
But with a look of disgust they turn their faces and
Walk on by
Ooh yeah
Walk on by

Again
This is not a poem
This is the story of a homeless man
5 brothers, 1 sister, a mother and a father
That showed not even an ounce of care
If he ate today
If he’s fine today
But fuck today, did they think about him yesterday?
No they didn’t
‘Cause you see they were blind
Blind to see that he had a problem
He had an addiction
And no matter how much he cried out for help
For understanding with a bit of affection he got none

Did you hear me?
This is not a poem
This is the story of a young man with no other place to turn to at night
But a park bench under a star light sky
No one to keep him company but his crack pipe

DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT THIS IS NOT A POEM!
This is the worst two years of my life
And I know it aint right and my future wasn’t bright
Living with a hopeless dream that one day I may surpass my addiction
Stand tall
Head high in the sky
And develop the strength to leave these streets which for the past two years
I have called home
Two years spent sleeping anywhere, everywhere but home
But what is home?
There is no such thing as home
When everyone turns their back on you
Not in a hurry but fast
Did you understand me the first four times that this
This is not a poem
It’s a peek at my past.

By Tomas R. Montalvo

Video - Jamaal St. John @ Mike Geffner's Inspired Word NYC Spoken Word Poetry Event

Poet/Spoken Word Artist Jamaal St. John @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word poetry/spoken word event
Thursday, Sept. 2, 2010
One and One Bar & Restaurant
Manhattan, New York City

Videographer: Elaine Delehant ((bonobofilms.com)

Vid - Tahani Salah @ Mike Geffner's Inspired Word NYC Poetry/Spoken Word Event

Poet/Spoken Word Artist Tahani Salah @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word poetry/spoken word event
Thursday, Sept. 2, 2010
One and One Bar & Restaurant
Manhattan, New York City

Videographer: Elaine Delehant (bonobofilms.com)

New Pics! Oveous Maximus @ The Inspired Word

Oveous Maximus @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word NYC Poetry/Spoken Word Event
Thursday, Sept. 9, 2010
(Le) Poisson Rouge
Manhattan, New York City

Photos By: Brooke McGowan

Mike Geffner's Inspired Word NYC Poetry/Spoken Word Event - Thursday, Sept. 16!

Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word poetry/spoken word event, featuring poets/spoken word/performance artists Luis Bernard, Jason Schneiderman, the Three GoD/Desses + 10-slot open mic.

When: Thursday, Sept. 16, 2010

Where: One and One Bar/Restaurant (downstairs Nexus Lounge)
76 East 1st Street (corner of 1st Avenue)
Manhattan, NYC
http://www.oneandoneny.com/
Phone: (212) 598-9126

Time: 7pm (open mic sign-up starts at 6:30)

Cover Charge: $10

Must be 21 years of age or older. Please make sure to bring ID.

*****

Bios:

Born in Spanish Harlem and, as he puts it, "raised in Activism." Luis Bernard is a Residential Mentor and Director of Workshops for the performance poetry group The Babble{0}nianz, which addresses community issues. He created a youth outreach organization called “The In Progress Group," has been a staunch advocate for citywide educational support for the physically challenged, and taught poetry, creative writing, public speaking and has coached participants for the ACT-SO (Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics) Regional competitions as well as being a committee member. He's been a featured poet at “Soul Food @ Bookies” in Portland Oregon, appeared in “DuEwa M. Frazier’s “Bringing in the New: Poems for the City” at the Nuyorican Poets Café, Vibe Theory in both Manhattan and Brooklyn. He currently lives in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn.

Jason Schneiderman is the author of Sublimation Point, a Stahlecker Selection from Four Way Books, and Striking Surface, winner of the 2009 Richard Snyder Prize from Ashland Poetry Press. His poetry and essays have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including American Poetry Review, The Best American Poetry, Poetry London, Grand Street, The Penguin Book of the Sonnet, Story Quarterly, and Tin House. He has received fellowships from Yaddo, The Fine Arts Work Center, and The Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. He was the recipient of the Emily Dickinson Award from the Poetry Society of America in 2004. A graduate of the MFA program at NYU, he is currently completing his doctorate at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

"A Night Of Three GoD/Desses" Presents: Land of Milk, Honey and Rose" featuring MilDred "Dred" Gerestant, Tantra-zawadi and Sokhna Heathyre Mabin in an evening of music, dance/movement, poetry, and gender expression. MilDred Gerestant's work is about BEing FREE to be yourSELF without worrying about if society will accept you or not. Tantra-zawadi describes her work as "the love that I make through my art to the vision of the unseen reality." Soulful and sublime, her poetry explores love in all its forms. Tantra's latest book "Gathered at Her Sky" is available at Lulu and Amazon.com. Sokhna Heathyre Mabin creates from self-reflected observations of longing to be one with nature. A self taught artist, she has performed on stages, beaches, in caves and in sacred gardens all around the world. For more information about the God/desses or to have "A Night of Three God/desses" perform at your event, please contact Mildred Gerestant at www.dredlove.com.

*****

Inspired Blog: http://inspiredwordnyc.blogspot.com/
Inspired Twitter: http://twitter.com/InspiredWordNYC
Inspired YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/NYCInspiredWord
Inspired Meetup Group: http://www.meetup.com/InspiredWordNYC/

Teaser Clip - Oveous Maximus @ Mike Geffner's Inspired Word NYC Poetry/Spoken Word Event

A teaser clip of Superstar Poet/Spoken Word Artist Oveous Maximus @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word NYC poetry/spoken word event, Thursday, Sept. 9, 2010, (Le) Poisson Rouge, Manhattan, NYC.

Full clip coming!

Videographer: Richard Adrion (www.evprosonline.com)