The official blog of Mike Geffner's Inspired Word NYC open mic/performance series that happens every week in downtown Manhattan, featuring the best spoken word artists, spoken word poets, singers, musicians, comedians and storytellers. Upcoming open mic event info; pics, words, videos from past open mic shows; current news in the performing arts, open mics, poetry, spoken word, comedy, music, and storytelling.
Poets George Green & Amy Holman @ The Inspired Word's Big Apple BAP: NYC's Best American Poetry Poets, Thursday, June 16, 2011, @ One and One Bar/Restaurant, Nexus Lounge, Manhattan, NYC.
George Green received an MFA in poetry from The New School and currently teaches poetry courses at Lehman College, CUNY, in the Bronx. His poems have appeared in various journals and in the anthologies Poetry 180; 180 More Poems; The Best American Poetry 2005; The Best American Poetry 2006; Bright Wings: An Illustrated Anthology of Poems about Birds; and The Swallow Anthology of New American Poets. In 2011 a selection of his poems will be included in an anthology of six American poets published by the Anvil Press in Great Britain.
Amy Holman's poem "Man Script" was published on the cover of Literal Latte flanking a photo of a naked woman with henna tattooes and spotted by Robert Bly when he was lunching in The Noho Star. He added it to the 1999 Best American Poetry anthology. Jennifer Michael Hecht posted "1,500 Parakeets Rescued From 2-Room Apartment" ten years later on the Best American Poetry Blog. Other than that, she has a collection, Wrens Fly Through This Opened Window, published in 2010 with Somondoco Press, and a chapbook, Wait For Me, I'm Gone, which won the 2004 Dream Horse Press annual prize. Her poetry has been in Archaeoogy Magazine, American Letters & Commentary, Barrow Street, Failbetter, Gargoyle, The Potomac Review, and in the anthology Token Entry: NYC Subway Poems. She writes, fiction and nonfiction, and is a literary consultant.
This inaugural Big Apple BAP: NYC's Best American Poetry Poets was a night celebrating New York City's finest poets, whose poems over the years have been honored with inclusion in the highly respected annual anthology, The Best American Poetry. http://www.bestamericanpoetry.com/
Hosted by The Best American Poetry's founding editor, David Lehman, the debut lineup included a dazzling array of accomplished poets: Mark Bibbins, Jennifer Michael Hecht, David Shapiro, R. Erica Doyle, Jerome Sala, Elaine Equi, Michael Cirelli, Stacey Harwood, George Green, Carly Sachs, Matthew Yeager, Amy Holman, and Vicki Hudspith.
It was a fabulous night of poetry.
Founded by award-winning journalist and former Village Voice columnist Mike Geffner, The Inspired Word is one of the hottest new poetry/spoken word series in the country, happening every Tuesday and Thursday night in Manhattan's East Village.
Venue: One and One Bar/Restaurant (downstairs Nexus Lounge)
76 East 1st Street (corner of 1st Avenue)
Manhattan, New York City
Poets Elaine Equi & David Lehman @ The Inspired Word's Big Apple BAP: NYC's Best American Poetry Poets, Thursday, June 16, 2011, @ One and One Bar/Restaurant, Nexus Lounge, Manhattan, NYC.
Elaine Equi is the author of many books including Ripple Effect: New & Selected Poems and most recently, Click and Clone, from Coffee House Press. Her work has appeared in The Nation, The New Yorker, Poetry, and several editions of Best American Poetry (1989, 1995, 2002, 2005, 2007, 2010) She teaches at New York University and in the MFA programs at The New School and City College.
David Lehman is a poet, writer, editor, and teacher. He launched The Best American Poetry in 1988 and continues as the series editor of the acclaimed annual anthology. His own books of poetry include When a Woman Loves a Man (2005) and Yeshiva Boys (2009). The most recent of his seven nonfiction books, A Fine Romance: Jewish Songwriters, American Songs, won the 2010 Deems Taylor Award from ASCAP. Lehman has edited The Oxford Book of American Poetry. He teaches in the graduate writing program at the New School in New York City.
This inaugural Big Apple BAP: NYC's Best American Poetry Poets was a night celebrating New York City's finest poets, whose poems over the years have been honored with inclusion in the highly respected annual anthology, The Best American Poetry. http://www.bestamericanpoetry.com/
Hosted by The Best American Poetry's founding editor, David Lehman, the debut lineup included a dazzling array of accomplished poets: Mark Bibbins, Jennifer Michael Hecht, David Shapiro, R. Erica Doyle, Jerome Sala, Elaine Equi, Michael Cirelli, Stacey Harwood, George Green, Carly Sachs, Matthew Yeager, Amy Holman, and Vicki Hudspith.
It was a fabulous night of poetry.
Founded by award-winning journalist and former Village Voice columnist Mike Geffner, The Inspired Word is one of the hottest new poetry/spoken word series in the country, happening every Tuesday and Thursday night in Manhattan's East Village.
Venue: One and One Bar/Restaurant (downstairs Nexus Lounge)
76 East 1st Street (corner of 1st Avenue)
Manhattan, New York City
Poets Carly Sachs & Vicki Hudspith @ The Inspired Word's Big Apple BAP: NYC's Best American Poetry Poets, Thursday, June 16, 2011, @ One and One Bar/Restaurant, Nexus Lounge, Manhattan, NYC.
Carly Sachs is the author of the steam sequence, winner of the 2006 Washington Writers' Publishing House Book Prize, and The Why and Later (Deep Cleveland Press, 2007), an anthology of female authored poems about rape and assault. Sachs was awarded an Arts Fellowship at the Drisha Institute in 2007, and her poems have appeared in The Best American Poetry 2004, Alimentum, Another Chicago Magazine, PMS, Court Green, and on National Public Radio. She currently lives in New York City and teaches writing and yoga workshops to help victims of trauma. When not writing or teaching yoga, you can find her making everything from martinis to homemade granola.
Vicki Hudspith is the author of White and Nervous and Limousine Dreams. She is on the Board of Directors of The Bowery Poetry Club in New York City. Her work has appeared in, "Poetry After 9/11: An Anthology of New York Poets," published by Melville House Publishing and Crown Publishers anthology, Out Of This World, edited by Anne Waldman, with foreword by Allen Ginsberg, as well as numerous small press magazines and webzines. She has been a judge for both, Urban Word teen slams and Russell Simmon's Speak UP! teen slam auditions for HBO. She has written criticism for Poetz.com., Exquisite Corpse, Cover and The Poetry Project Newsletter. She has one spoken word cd, URBAN VOODOO and lives in New York City.
This inaugural Big Apple BAP: NYC's Best American Poetry Poets was a night celebrating New York City's finest poets, whose poems over the years have been honored with inclusion in the highly respected annual anthology, The Best American Poetry. http://www.bestamericanpoetry.com/
Hosted by The Best American Poetry's founding editor, David Lehman, the debut lineup included a dazzling array of accomplished poets: Mark Bibbins, Jennifer Michael Hecht, David Shapiro, R. Erica Doyle, Jerome Sala, Elaine Equi, Michael Cirelli, Stacey Harwood, George Green, Carly Sachs, Matthew Yeager, Amy Holman, and Vicki Hudspith.
It was a fabulous night of poetry.
Founded by award-winning journalist and former Village Voice columnist Mike Geffner, The Inspired Word is one of the hottest new poetry/spoken word series in the country, happening every Tuesday and Thursday night in Manhattan's East Village.
Venue: One and One Bar/Restaurant (downstairs Nexus Lounge)
76 East 1st Street (corner of 1st Avenue)
Manhattan, New York City
The Inspired Word Presents a SPECIAL EVENT - the first of what will be a regular feature of its weekly Thursday night series: Big Apple BAP: NYC's Best American Poetry Poets.
It is a night celebrating this city's finest poets, whose poems over the years have been honored with inclusion in the highly respected annual anthology. http://www.bestamericanpoetry.com/
The debut lineup includes a dazzling array of poets: Katha Pollitt, Mark Bibbins, Jennifer Michael Hecht, David Shapiro, R. Erica Doyle, Jerome Sala, Elaine Equi, Michael Cirelli, Stacey Harwood, George Green, Carly Sachs, Matthew Yeager, Amy Holman, and David Lehman (who will also host the event).
Each poet will read the poem or poems appearing in BAP, as well as something new.
Please join us for what promises to be an amazing night of poetry.
*****
Produced by: Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word
When: Thursday, June 16, 2011
Where: One and One Bar & Restaurant (downstairs Nexus Lounge)
76 East 1st Street (corner of 1st Avenue)
Manhattan, NYC
Phone: (917) 703-1512
Time: 6:30pm
Cover Charge: $15
Must be 21 years of age or older. Please make sure to bring ID.
*****
BIOS (in alphabetical order):
Mark Bibbins is the author of The Dance of No Hard Feelings and the Lambda Award-winning Sky Lounge. He teaches at The New School and Columbia University, and edits the poetry section of The Awl. His poems were included in the 2004, 2009, and 2010 editions of Best American Poetry.
Michael Cirelli was born in Providence, RI in 1975. His newest collection, Everyone Loves The Situation (Penmanship Books, 2011), deconstructs MTV’s hit reality show, Jersey Shore, flipping the cultural zeitgeist on its (gelled and sprayed) head. He is also the author of Vacations on the Black Star Line (Hanging Loose Press, 2010), which was named in About.com’s Poetry Picks “Best Books of 2010,” and Lobster with Ol’ Dirty Bastard (Hanging Loose Press, 2008), which was a NY Times bestseller from an independent press and was featured in the “Debut Poets” issue of Poets & Writers Magazine. His work has appeared in The Best American Poetry, Hanging Loose, Texas Review, World Literature Today and King Magazine, among others. He is the Executive Director of one of the nation’s largest youth literary arts organization, Urban Word NYC, and has authored two poetry curricula, Poetry Jam (Recorded Books, 2010) and Hip-Hop Poetry & the Classics (Milk Mug, 2004). He has also appeared on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam and Brave New Voices. He appears in the 2011 Best American Poetry.
R. Erica Doyle was born in Brooklyn to Trinidadian immigrant parents, and has lived in Washington, DC, Farmington, Connecticut and La Marsa, Tunisia. Her poetry and fiction have appeared in Best American Poetry (2001), Our Caribbean: A Gathering of Lesbian and Gay Writing from the Antilles, Callaloo, Ploughshares, Best Black Women's Erotica, Bum Rush the Page, Bloom, and from the Fishouse, among others. She has received grants and awards from the Hurston/Wright Foundation and the Astraea Lesbian Writers Fund, and was a New York Foundation for the Arts Poetry Fellow. She is also a fellow of Cave Canem, and her manuscript, proxy, was a finalist for the 2007 Cave Cavem Poetry Prize, selected by Claudia Rankine. Excerpts from proxy were also published as a Belladonna* chapbook. She received her MFA in Poetry from the New School, and lives in New York City, where she teaches in the NYC public schools and facilitates Tongues Afire: A Creative Writing Workshop for queer women and trans and gender non-conforming people of color.
Elaine Equi is the author of many books including Ripple Effect: New & Selected Poems and most recently, Click and Clone, from Coffee House Press. Her work has appeared in The Nation, The New Yorker, Poetry, and several editions of Best American Poetry (1989, 1995, 2002, 2005, 2007, 2010) She teaches at New York University and in the MFA programs at The New School and City College.
George Green received an MFA in poetry from The New School and currently teaches poetry courses at Lehman College, CUNY, in the Bronx. His poems have appeared in various journals and in the anthologies Poetry 180; 180 More Poems; The Best American Poetry 2005; The Best American Poetry 2006; Bright Wings: An Illustrated Anthology of Poems about Birds; and The Swallow Anthology of New American Poets. In 2011 a selection of his poems will be included in an anthology of six American poets published by the Anvil Press in Great Britain.
Stacey Harwood's essays, poetry, and journalism have appeared or are forthcoming in Michigan Quarterly Review, Lit, Women's Studies Quarterly, Humor: International Journal of Humor Research, Saveur, Time Out New York, the Los Angeles Times, Poets.org and elsewhere. She is the managing editor of the Best American Poetry blog and appeared in the 2005 Best American Poetry.
Jennifer Michael Hecht is the author of award-winning books of philosophy, history, and poetry. She has appeared in two editions of Best American Poetry, 1999 and 2005. Her Doubt: A History (HarperOne, 2003) demonstrates a long, strong history of religious doubt from the origins of written history to the present day, all over the world. Hecht's The End of the Soul: Scientific Modernity, Atheism and Anthropology (Columbia University, 2003), won the Phi Beta Kappa Society's 2004 prestigious Ralph Waldo Emerson Award “for scholarly studies that contribute significantly to interpretations of the intellectual and cultural condition of humanity.” She earned her Ph.D. in the History of Science and European Cultural History from Columbia University in 1995 and now teaches at The New School University. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband John, and their two children.
Amy Holman's poem "Man Script" was published on the cover of Literal Latte flanking a photo of a naked woman with henna tattooes and spotted by Robert Bly when he was lunching in The Noho Star. He added it to the 1999 Best American Poetry anthology. Jennifer Michael Hecht posted "1,500 Parakeets Rescued From 2-Room Apartment" ten years later on the Best American Poetry Blog. Other than that, she has a collection, Wrens Fly Through This Opened Window, published in 2010 with Somondoco Press, and a chapbook, Wait For Me, I'm Gone, which won the 2004 Dream Horse Press annual prize. Her poetry has been in Archaeoogy Magazine, American Letters & Commentary, Barrow Street, Failbetter, Gargoyle, The Potomac Review, and in the anthology Token Entry: NYC Subway Poems. She writes, fiction and nonfiction, and is a literary consultant.
David Lehman is a poet, writer, editor, and teacher. He launched The Best American Poetry in 1988 and continues as the series editor of the acclaimed annual anthology. His own books of poetry include When a Woman Loves a Man (2005) and Yeshiva Boys (2009). The most recent of his seven nonfiction books, A Fine Romance: Jewish Songwriters, American Songs, won the 2010 Deems Taylor Award from ASCAP. Lehman has edited The Oxford Book of American Poetry. He teaches in the graduate writing program at the New School in New York City.
Carly Sachs is the author of the steam sequence, winner of the 2006 Washington Writers’ Publishing House Book Prize, and The Why and Later (Deep Cleveland Press, 2007), an anthology of female authored poems about rape and assault. Sachs was awarded an Arts Fellowship at the Drisha Institute in 2007, and her poems have appeared in The Best American Poetry 2004, Alimentum, Another Chicago Magazine, PMS, Court Green, and on National Public Radio. She currently lives in New York City and teaches writing and yoga workshops to help victims of trauma. When not writing or teaching yoga, you can find her making everything from martinis to homemade granola.
Jerome Sala’s books of poetry include Spaz Attack, I Am Not a Juvenile Delinquent, The Trip, Raw Deal and most recently Look Slimmer Instantly (Soft Skull Press). His poetry and criticism have appeared The Best American Poetry 2005, Pleiades, Conjunctions, Rolling Stone and many others. He has a Ph.D. in American Studies from New York University. His blog is: http://www.espressobongo.typepad.com/
David Shapiro is an American poet, literary critic, and art historian. He has written some twenty volumes of poetry, literary, and art criticism. He was first published at the age of 13, his first book was published when he was just 18, and he was a finalist for the National Book Award at 24. Shapiro is one of the most prolific and important figures of the second generation of the New York School and has appeared in six editions of Best American Poetry.
Matthew Yeager's poems have appeared in Best American Poetry (2005 and 2010), Bat City Review, NY Quarterly, Gulf Coast, and others. His short film "A Big Ball of Foil in a Small NY Apartment," was an official selection at eleven film festivals in 2009-2010, picking up two awards. Other recent accolades include the Barthelme Prize in short prose. He is the co-founder of Chicken Truck Productions and lives in Brooklyn, NY.
Musician Robin Andre & Poet Erica Miriam Fabri (The Robin & The Lady Poet) @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word, Thursday, March 24, 2011 @ One and One Bar/Restaurant, Nexus Lounge, Manhattan, NYC.
The Robin and the Lady Poet are a hybrid-mix of music, poetry and performance. Robin Andre (musician, singer/songwriter and performer) and Erica Miriam Fabri (poet and performer) are NYC-based artists and partners in love. Their work embraces romantic and political storytelling and a touch of sexy humor and genuine heart goes into all that they do. For more info, please visit http://ericafabri.wordpress.com/.
The Inspired Word is New York City's hottest new spoken word poetry series happening every Thursday night in downtown Manhattan, produced by longtime writer/journalist and former Village Voice columnist Mike Geffner and hosted by 3-time Def Poetry star Gemineye.
LaTonia Phipps @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word, Thursday, April 7, 2011 @ One and One Bar/Restaurant, Nexus Lounge, Manhattan, NYC.
Phipps, actress, spoken word poet and educator, received a MFA in Acting from Brooklyn College and was last seen in "With Aarons Arms Around Me" at The Cherry Lane Theater. In 2010 Phipps debuted with her solo performance project, written and performed by Phipps, titled "Fishing in Brooklyn," last seen at the highly acclaimed Theater Row, featuring slam poetry, dance, drama and 16 humorous characters. Phipps is currently working on a book of poetry and short stories titled, "My Words Heal." To stay informed on "Fishing'In Brooklyn," or any upcoming projects email fiblatonia@gmail.com.
The Inspired Word is New York City's hottest new spoken word poetry series happening every Thursday night in downtown Manhattan, produced by longtime journalist and former Village Voice columnist Mike Geffner and hosted by 3-time HBO Def Poetry star Gemineye.
Poet Eliel Lucero @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word, Thursday, March 24, 2011 @ One and One Bar/Restaurant, Nexus Lounge, Manhattan, NYC.
Lucero is a native New Yorker of Afro Dominican descent. He is a poet and a DJ. His work appears in the International Poetry Review (The University of North Carolina at Greensboro ) and in Barber Shop Chronicles (penmanship press). He has performed his work, all over NYC, The Bay Area, Eugene Oregon, Baltimore, D.C. and Honolulu. He has served as co-editor of the Acentos Review, an Urban Word Mentor, a facilitator with the Alzheimer's Project, Production Manager of the Bowery Poetry Club, and DJ/Poet/Series Consultant for The Inspired Word.
The Inspired Word is New York City's hottest new spoken word poetry series happening every Thursday night in downtown Manhattan, produced by longtime writer/journalist and former Village Voice columnist Mike Geffner and hosted by 3-time Def Poetry star Gemineye.
Poet David Lawton @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word, Thursday, April 7, 2011 @ One and One Bar/Restaurant, Nexus Lounge, Manhattan, NYC.
Lawton is an actor, singer, and performance poet who is the curator/host of The Inspired Word's sister series. the JujoMukti Tea Lounge Spoken Word Sundays. He studied theatre at Boston University, and appeared Off-Broadway in "Aven'U Boys" and "Goose and Tom Tom." For ten years he sang backing vocals with the legendary downtown band Leisure Class. He participated in the inaugural performance at the Yippie Museum Cafe with John Sinclair, Mulligan's Underground WordRock Fest, the first Inspired Word Night of Stars, and as co-host and producer of "Downtown Does Huncke for His Birthday."
Spoken word artist Ayo The Nigerian Nightmare @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word, Thursday, April 7, 2011 @ One and One Bar/Restaurant, Nexus Lounge, Manhattan, NYC.
Ayo is a dynamic performance poet/musician living in Brooklyn, NY. He has two albums available on iTunes: http://tinyurl.com/3y4bnv8. For more on Ayo, please visit http://www.ayoinmotion.com/
The Inspired Word is New York City's hottest new spoken word poetry series happening every Thursday night in downtown Manhattan, produced by longtime journalist and former Village Voice columnist Mike Geffner.
Spoken Word Poet Paul S. Flores @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word, Thursday, April 14, 2011 @ One and One Bar/Restaurant, Nexus Lounge, Manhattan, NYC.
The Inspired Word's NYC Open Mic Joint makes its grand debut on Tuesday, June 7!
This will be a weekly Tuesday night series open to all types of artists - comedians, musicians, storytellers, singers, poets, fiction/nonfiction writers, playwrights, spoken word artists, performance artists, dancers, ANYTHING and EVERYTHING.
Hosted by the legendary Nathan P.
25-30 slots, 5 minute time limit.
Our goal: to be the BEST open mic variety event in NYC.
The venue: One & One (downstairs Nexus Lounge), 76 E 1st St (corner of 1st Ave), Manhattan, New York City
Grammy nominated singer Carolyn Malachi (backed up by drummer Baba Don of The Last Poets) @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word, Thursday, April 14, 2011 @ One and One Bar/Restaurant, Nexus Lounge, Manhattan, NYC.
Songstress, musician, dancer, spoken word artist, philanthropist are just a few titles 2011 Grammy Nominee, Carolyn Malachi holds. She is a Washington DC native whose great grandfather happens to be legendary jazz pianist John Malachi. Her sound is a soothing genre-bending blend of jazz, pop, R&B, and spoken word. Her 2010 release of the "Lions, Fires & Squares" EP is composed of songs regarding relationships, love, and strength which bear influence of her recent tours in South Africa inspired by the South African artist Hip Hop Pantsula. The single "Orion" from the "Lions, Fires, & Squares" EP has earned Carolyn a 2011 Grammy Nominee for Best Urban Alternative Performance. For more info on Ms. Malachi, please visit http://carolynmalachi.com.
The Inspired Word is New York City's hottest new spoken word poetry series happening every Thursday night in downtown Manhattan, produced by longtime writer/journalist and former Village Voice columnist Mike Geffner and hosted by HBO Def Poetry star Gemineye.
Poet Michael Cirelli @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word, Thursday, April 28, 2011 @ One and One Bar/Restaurant, Nexus Lounge, Manhattan, NYC. Host: Erica Bradshaw.
Cirelli was born in Providence, RI in 1975. His newest collection, Everyone Loves The Situation (Penmanship Books, 2011), deconstructs MTV's hit reality show, Jersey Shore, flipping the cultural zeitgeist on its (gelled and sprayed) head. He is also the author of Vacations on the Black Star Line (Hanging Loose Press, 2010), which was named in About.com's Poetry Picks "Best Books of 2010," and Lobster with Ol' Dirty Bastard (Hanging Loose Press, 2008), which was a NY Times bestseller from an independent press and was featured in the "Debut Poets" issue of Poets & Writers Magazine. His work has appeared in The Best American Poetry, Hanging Loose, Texas Review, World Literature Today and King Magazine, among others. He is the Executive Director of one of the nation's largest youth literary arts organization, Urban Word NYC, and has authored two poetry curricula, Poetry Jam (Recorded Books, 2010) and Hip-Hop Poetry & the Classics (Milk Mug, 2004). He has also appeared on HBO's Def Poetry Jam and Brave New Voices.
The Inspired Word is New York City's hottest new spoken word poetry series happening every Thursday night in downtown Manhattan, produced by longtime writer/journalist and former Village Voice columnist Mike Geffner.
Spoken Word Poet Paul S. Flores @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word, Thursday, April 14, 2011 @ One and One Bar/Restaurant, Nexus Lounge, Manhattan, NYC.
Paul S. Flores, one of the most influential Latino performance artists in the country, is a published poet, playwright, novelist, and co-founder of Youth Speaks. Flores was raised in Chula Vista, California near the Mexican border. He moved to San Francisco in 1995 where he co-founded the Latino poetry performance group Los Delicados: Poetas del Sol and recorded the spoken word CD Word Descarga (Calaca Press, 2000). His performance projects have taken him from HBO's Def Poetry to Havana, Cuba, Mexico City, and El Salvador. He is the 2003 PEN Award winning author of the novel Along the Border Lies, and his most recent play REPRESENTA! was directed by Danny Hoch, commissioned by the San Francisco International Arts Festival and presented by the Hip-Hop Theater Festival 2007. Flores holds an MFA in Creative Writing, and teaches Hip-Hop Theater and Spoken Word at the University of San Francisco. He is married with two children and lives in San Francisco.
The Inspired Word is New York City's hottest new spoken word poetry series happening every Thursday night in downtown Manhattan, produced by longtime writer/journalist and former Village Voice columnist Mike Geffner and hosted by 3-time HBO Def Poetry star Gemineye.
NYC Youth Poet Laureate Justin Long-Moton @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word, Thursday, April 28, 2011 @ One and One Bar/Restaurant, Nexus Lounge, Manhattan, NYC. Host: Erica Bradshaw.
Long-Moton is an ambitious and talented writer/performance poet and activist. Born in Harlem, New York, and now residing in the Bronx, he has quickly become a force to be reckoned with on the spoken word slam scene. He has performed and competed in world renowed venues across the country, including the Apollo Theater, and such local places as New Amsterdam Theater on Broadway and Saban Theater, just to name a few. He's one of the six members of the 2010 Urban Word NYC Slam Team that took top honors at the Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam this past summer in Los Angeles, the 2010 Knicks Poetry Slam Champion, and currently serving as New York City's Youth Poet Laureate. Now a 17 year old senior in high school, he finds himself searching for what it really means to be a man -- believing all life has a purpose. He prides himself for his courage and inability to bow down to life's obstacles. Next fall Justin intends on pursuing a degree in both journalism and English education.
The Inspired Word is New York City's hottest new spoken word poetry series happening every Thursday night in downtown Manhattan, produced by longtime writer/journalist and former Village Voice columnist Mike Geffner.
Spoken Word Legend Taalam Acey @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word, Thursday, Feb. 3, 2011 @ One and One Bar/Restaurant, Nexus Lounge, Manhattan, NYC.
Acey, a child of the Newark Rebellion, was raised by a single mother who was a member of the famed writer and activist Amiri Baraka's community organization. Acey is an independent artist whose work has been featured frequently on TV One and was selected as the original "number one thing you need to know about" on BET's countdown show, "The 5ive."
Over the years, BET has featured and aired roughly a half dozen segments featuring Acey. He ranks among the vanguard of artists who use the internet to connect with listeners. Likewise, his YouTube videos have been seen by more than a half million viewers and he has tens of thousands of social network contacts.
The Newark, NJ native's poetry has appeared in Essence Magazine and Susan Taylor, the magazine's Editor Emeritus, personally invited Acey to perform for an audience of six thousand at The Essence Music Festival in New Orleans. Acey was honored to be a guest of Congresswoman Maxine Waters for the Congressional Black Caucus' 2007 & 2008 "Young Gifted and Black" panels.
He has shared his work in several countries and approximately one hundred schools of higher education; including the prestigious Graduate School of Education at UC Berkeley, where he delivered a lecture on contemporary Spoken Word.
He has recorded more than a dozen CDs and authored four books. Additionally, films that include his work have garnered an Audience Award (2002) and a Special Jury Prize (2006) at the Sundance Film Festival. He was featured in an acclaimed Radio-One London slam poetry documentary and Marc Smith, the founder of slam poetry, used Acey's work in his definitive book. He currently resides in Baltimore, Maryland.
"You have so, so much inspired me with your Spoken Word," said the legendary Stevie Wonder, while interviewing Taalam Acey, during Wonder's own birthday celebration in May 2008.
The Inspired Word is New York City's hottest new spoken word poetry series happening every Thursday night in downtown Manhattan, produced by longtime writer/journalist and former Village Voice columnist Mike Geffner.
Poet/Musician Tai Allen @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word, Thursday, 2011 @ One and One Bar/Restaurant, Nexus Lounge, Manhattan, NYC.
Allen is a poet, singer, musician, designer and multi-talented artist. His influences range from Bob Marley and Aretha Franklin to Norman Connor and Gil Scot-Heron to the Beatles and Post-Modernism. His writing and essays have appeared in Bomb Magazine, Uptown Magazine Online, the NYC Underground (France) and the Daily Challenge. Tai's chapbook, Easy Readin, and companion CD, For Easy Readin, have been featured on BET/CentricTV, Soultracks and Nu-Soul Magazine. He is the National Poetry Awards 2010 Winner for best album and was a nominee for best single.
The Inspired Word is New York City's hottest new spoken word poetry series happening every Thursday night in downtown Manhattan, produced by longtime writer/journalist and former Village Voice columnist Mike Geffner.
Legendary performance poet jessica Care moore @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word, Thursday, Jan. 27, 2011 @ One and One Bar/Restaurant, Nexus Lounge, Manhattan, NYC.
jessica Care moore is an internationally renowned poet, playwright, actor, activist, producer and CEO of Moore Black Press. She is the author of The Words Don't Fit in My Mouth, The Alphabet Verses The Ghetto, God is Not an American, and a forthcoming book of essays, Literary Apartheid. She has performed her poems and solo theater shows all over the United States, in South Africa, and across Europe. From her Broadway performances at Carnegie Hall, or Harlem's Apollo Theater, London's Institute of Contemporary Arts, to New York's Jazz at Lincoln Center, moore believes poems belong everywhere and to everyone.
Her new show, The Missing Project:Pieces of the D is an international storytelling live art music show that features an experimental jazz orchestra and the work of graffiti artist Antonio "Shades" Agee.Her debut rock album, Black Tea will be out when it's finished! moore continues to push the boundaries of genre, with her first conceptual art installation, NANOC: I Sing The Body Electric, opening at Dell Pryor Gallery in 2011. She lives in Detroit, where she is completing her memoir, Love is Not the Enemy, and raising the 4-year old love of her life, King Thomas.
This event was funded in part by Poets & Writers, Inc. with public funds from New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.
The Inspired Word is New York City's hottest new spoken word poetry series happening every Thursday night in downtown Manhattan, produced by longtime writer/journalist and former Village Voice columnist Mike Geffner.
Dismembered (Persona of veteran Lashawn Linton, who assaulted an air force recruiter at the 125th St recruiting office)
“Air force recruiter leaving work was brutally stabbed by a crazed woman in Harlem yesterday.”
Field reporters never tell the whole story
when its complicated, like how blown off
arms and legs of bodies
spray wings of
blood and fly
away
from them.
No ceremoniously folded flag
or factory made purple heart
will make the families of the ones
who didn’t make it back
in even partial living pieces
see honor sitting in their dinner table’s empty chair.
“Lashawn Linton the 28 year old suspect - served in the Air Force, according to her father.”
No reporters asked me what happened.
Why an air force veteran turned on her own,
just mention my weekly therapy appointment,
like half this damn city
don’t rely on therapy
to get by.
These fuckin’ low budget veteran therapy appointments
can’t begin to sop up the dead bodies flooding tsunami-like
in my sleep, or while idle on the subway,
or at the sight of my father cheffing my favorite home-cooked
meal, my face turning some camouflage color of green,
the woman who slept on the bunk below me
comes apart at the stomach, the skin of her torso
splays all open in a smile full of worms,
skin curling back, peeling until there are lips…
“Staff Sgt. Sara Charles, 27, of The Bronx, was walking from the recruiting center on 125th Street
at 1 p.m. when she was approached by Lashawn.”
for a second, all I can hear
is not the bullet curling up in the blanket
of my left thigh’s flesh,
not even her voice’s hoarse dying,
the dulling of it rising over her terror like quicksand
as we realize she will not be
sewn back together in time
to be bunk buddies
another night,
just the slithering sound of moist innards
moving snake-like to escape her body
pierces the thick film of shock
clogging my synaptic passageways,
as I watch her.
“Sources said Linton, who had just left her therapist's office,
apparently didn't like the way Charles looked at her and…”
When I saw her with 2 teenage boys outside that recruiting office,
my gut gurgled at her lips curling outward
sweet talking GI Jo patchwork personas
for those boys to paper doll themselves into,
they could have been
my cousins, my brother,
high school boyfriend
or best friend.
I know what a family is like when the child they
gifted to the war - teaming with life -
comes back a lemon of a body and mind,
the piercing look of devastation that eclipses
a parent’s face when first met
with their veteran son or daughter
“…the two began to exchange words, the suspect then whipped out a knife.
An eye witness said Lashawn then plunged it into the eight-year veteran's chest, stomach and leg.”
they entrusted the love of their lives with,
returning to them only
jalopied remains,
no explanation
will ever be
good enough.
When I saw that recruiter’s finger-nailed grin,
smooth with the talk of patriotism
tongue slithering out intestine-like
exposed for all its grotesqueness,
my belly started kicking out at her as if
wanting to rip itself open,
show her what she will be
responsible for when another
doesn’t come home.
My hand gliding through the air with the
rhythm of post-traumatic hysteria
for all the mothers and fathers who wake up
every morning from nightmares so vividly repulsive,
visions of the constellation of wounds their children became
under the middle eastern sky,
the wind working to make them
a new skin, patching wounds
with sand to stop
the bleeding,
mother nature the
only attendant before
their body’s nightfall.
no matter how pretty this government packages
cheap metal poorly painted purple,
no manufactured honor can fill
the chairs at kitchen tables
for families of the dead.
“Linton was charged with attempted murder.”
*****
Below are pictures from Charan's dazzling featured performance @ The Inspired Word.
Poet/Educator/Performer Charan P. Morris @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word
Thursday, Feb. 3 (along with spoken word legend Taalam Acey)
One and One, Nexus Lounge
Manhattan, New York City
