Litera
Sister Spit's Ramblin' Roadshow makes its way through Austin, featuring girl poets, performers, trapeze artists, and more. Thu, July 9 at Electric Lounge and Fri, July 10 at Ruta Maya.
PAST POETRY PROJECT begins its third season at the Windsor Village Branch Library, 5851 Berkman Drive. They open with a reading of Pablo Neruda (in Spanish with English translations). Free. Sat, Jun 27, 2 pm. 928-0333. gemartt@mail.utexas.eduLOUIS SACHAR AND TREVOR ROMAIN and many more Austin children's writers and illustrators will be at Toad Hall, 1206 W. 38th, for Austin Writers Day. Readings and activities. Free event and all ages are welcome. Sat, Jun 27, 1-2pm. 323-2665.
SISTER SPIT'S RAMBLIN' ROADSHOW pulls into Austin with two "vanloads of bitchin' bad-ass girl poets, performers, trapeze artists, and all-around show-offs." These rowdy dykes from San Francisco promise exciting antics and verbal terrorism. (But will there really be naked cello playing?) Amaze us. Please. Two shows. First one at the Electric Lounge. Second one features an all-girl open mike at Ruta Maya. No times were given so call ahead. Thu, Jul 9 (Electric Lounge, 476-FUSE); Fri, Jul 10 (Ruta, 472-9637).
THE HOMELESS ARTISTS GUILD is sponsoring an exhibition of photography and poetry by homeless people in Austin. The poems have been anthologized in Street Verse and will be on sale at this event. The exhibit will be in Pro-Jex Gallery, 1705 Guadalupe. Through July 18. 472-4934.
Lectures & SeminarsUTTER, A MONTHLY READING LAB for original works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, meets the first Wednesday of every month at the Austin History Center, 810 Guadalupe. They are a non-denominational group and seek writers who feel they have been sitting at their desks for too damned long. Wed, Jul 6, 7-9pm.
WRITER ROBERT FLYNN will host the inaugural event for Gemini Ink's 1998 Summer Festival with a short story workshop. Flynn is novelist-in-residence at Trinity University. The class is at the Dote Foundation, 121 W. Woodlawn, in San Antonio. Cost is $75 for Gemini Ink members, $85 for nonmembers. Mon, Jul 6-Fri, Jul 10, 6:30-9pm. 210/826-6559.
PAUL BURKA, executive editor of Texas Monthly, will lead a workshop on essays and articles as part of Gemini Ink's 1998 Summer Festival. The class is at the Dote Foundation, 121 W. Woodlawn, in San Antonio. Cost is $65 for Gemini Ink members, $70 for nonmembers. Sat, Jul 11, 9am-4pm. 210/826-6559.
AUSTIN POETS AT LARGE sponsors a free weekly poetry workshop at Quackenbush Coffee House, 2120 Guadalupe. Hosted by John Hawk. Bring 10 copies of your poem. Sun, 2pm. jhutton@mail.utexas.edu
Call for EntriesBAD NEWS BINGO's next theme is "Hope or Despair?" As we reach the year 2000, how are people feeling? Prose can't exceed two 8-1/2 x 11 pages. Deadline is Aug 27. Send entries to: PO Box 33388, Austin, TX 78764
LITERAL LATTE POETRY AWARDS Great lit mag. Won a Pushcart in '95. $1000 first prize, $200 second, $100 third and some honorable mentions with winning poems published in the Latté. Send up to six previously unpublished poems (no line limit) with name, address, and telephone number on cover page only with an SASE if you want the poems back along with $10 for a reader's fee or $15 if you also want a one year/six issue subscription. Postmark by July 13, 1998. Say you read about it in the Chron and you'll enter a raffle to win a boxed set of William Burroughs CDs courtesy of Polygram Records. Winners are notified by Sept 15, 1998. Send check or money order payable to Literal Latté to: Literal Latté Poetry Awards, 61 E. Eighth, Box 240, New York, NY 10003.
LOOKING FOR UTTER READERS: If you've ever read at Utter, they want to hear from you. They are publishing a new literary journal and the first issue is highlighting any and all past Utter readers. Send poetry, fiction, and nonfiction to: Utter, 3214 Funston St., Austin, TX 78703. 371-1910.
PITCHFORK is looking for poetry and extremely short fiction for a first issue. Send your offerings to the farm boy Satan with a SASE, kay? Pitchfork, c/o Christopher Gibson, 3000 Guadalupe #113, Austin, TX 78705.
THE JACKSBORO HIGHWAY REVIEW is accepting previously unpublished submissions for its first issue. Any style poetry, fiction 250-2500 words, reviews of Texas lit zines plus cover art and b&w photos related to Jacksboro Highway. Payment in contributor copy. SASE. Jacksboro Highway Review, PO Box 4361, Ft. Worth, TX 76164-0361.
Ongoing ReadingsBOOK PEOPLE, 603 N. Lamar, has many writers signing and/or reading this month, so go to Book People and check their schedule or get on their mailing list. They also have a reading group which meets every other Wednesday. Selections include: Le Divorce by Diane Johnson on July 8. All book discussions take place 7-8:30pm in the Community Room, third floor. By signing up at customer service participants receive a 10 percent discount on all featured titles. Rena Korb leads the book discussion group. 459-8081.
WRITING FROM THE HEART meets every other Saturday at the North Loop Library, 2210 Hancock. Free. Sat, Jun 27, 10am-noon. 474-4399.
* Weekly *MOJO'S DAILY GRIND, 2714 Guadalupe, has an APAL open mike with host Marie Fleischmann. Fri, Jun 19, sign-up 8pm.
BORDERS, 10225 Research, hosts literary discussion groups every Wednesday. Wed, 7:30pm. 795-8410. Borders-on-the-Word is the free poetry reading held the fourth Wednesday of each month. Hosted by Barbara Carr. A round robin open mike follows the featured poet. The next featured poet is Ken Fontenot, a longtime Austin poet who is widely published and a must-see. 795-9553 (Borders) or 343-7940 (Carr).
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE POETRY in the afternoon at Quackenbush's Coffee House, 2120 Guadalupe. APAL open mike. Hosted by Diane Fleming. Sat, Jun 27, sign up at 3 pm. buddydog@email.msn.com
BLAST YOUR OWN BREATH is a BYOB Spoken Word Session held every Wednesday at Movements Gallery, 211 E. Sixth (across from Babe's). Host Tammy Gomez says to "bring your own expressive exhalations. Yeah, breathe." Next event is HOT HOT HOT. Be there, y'all. Wed, Jul 1, 9-10:30pm. 441-POET.
TEXAS NAFAS, the poetry show produced by Farid Mohammadi, Christine Gilbert, and Laura Baker, continues running strong on Cable Channel 10. Two shows airing to August 21 will feature Poesia y Sur, with Sue Littleton, Thom the World Poet, and Miriam Balboa de Echeverria reading at Mexic-Arte. The first show presents the Argentine folk and children's poet Maria Elena Walsh. The second show presents works of famed Mexican scholar and poet Octavio Paz, who died this spring. Also watch for a Texas Nafas one-hour special that will be aired at odd times on Cable Channel 10 featuring a venue at Waterloo Ice House during the 1998 Austin International Poetry Festival, with performance poet Clebo Rainey from Dallas hosting an energetic evening of entertainment, including one of Austin's favorite poets, Albert Huffstickler. Don't miss this show! Sun, 9 pm.
RUTA MAYA, 218 W. Fourth (the corner of Fourth and Lavaca), voted best place to hear poetry in the Chronicle's "Best of Austin" readers poll, presents APAL open readings with new hosts Mark Maslow and Sara Sutterfield Winn. Jun 30 , Tue, 6:30-8pm.
* Monthly **AN EVENING OF GANGSTA POETRY and Urban Prose will be presented at Mojos Daily Grind, 2714 Guadalupe. This series continues the first Saturday of every month. Sat, July 4; sign-up 8:45, 9-11pm. 477-MOJO.
*BARNES & NOBLE at the Arboretum sponsors poetry with host Herman Nelson. Guests: Opie Houston, C.A. Wiles, and Dorothy Saxe. A round-robin open mike follows. Thu, July 9, 7:30-10pm. 837-8693 or 928-0619. A weekly Poetry Workshop is led by Jill Timmons. Bring 10 or more copies of any one page original poem. Thursdays, 7:30-10pm. 335-7078.
Other events: Rosetta Wills, daughter of Bob Wills, will discuss and sign copies of her The King of Western Swing: Bob Wills Remembered on Sat, Jun 27, 7pm. The Fiction Book Discussion Group meets the last Monday of the month at 7:30pm. The June 29 selection is All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy. 918-9656. The Women's Book Discussion Group meets the fourth Wednesday of the month at 7pm. 218-8199. The Film Discussion Group meets the last Thursday of the month at 7:30pm. The June 25 selection is Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. 418-8985. The Spiritual Life Reading Group meets the fourth Tuesday of the month at 7pm. 338-0185.
*Barnes & Noble at Westlake children's story times are Wed, 11am; Fri, 7pm; and Sat 11am. 328-3155.
*BARNES & NOBLE Guadalupe children's story times are Wed, 11am and Sat, 11am. For more info on and to confirm dates and times of events at the Westlake or Guadalupe locations call Diane Everman. 328-3155.
More Poetry! Are you really unique? Are you special, different than everybody else? Is it true no one understands you? Certainly if you compare your family upbringing, your life experiences, your fears, desires, and gifts, you will find your life to be by and large remarkably non-special, non-unique. There are literally millions who understand you, who have repeated the words, "No one understands me," for the exact same reasons you thrash about in existential pain. But, what can be absolutely unique is what you do with these same experiential tools everyone else has. Your interactions with people, with the landscape, with the imaginative, these are yours and no one else can duplicate them when you come to know that it is your first job to understand, not to be understood. We are all star stuff and star stuff is a mystery. Use your imagination to create that understanding of your relationship with the mystery and then the world will be truly different. Vaya con Dios.
Poem of the WeekLet us now curse famous men
who knowledged from us the chasms
and dragons and monstrous savages of
the old charts, replacing them with
science and calculation, so that now
the stars are just for navigation,
their names mere metaphors.
Let us now curse famous men.
-- Ross Clark, "A Lamentation for the Loss of Ignorance" (an excerpt) from DiVerseCityToo, an AIPF Anthology edited by Scott Wiggerman
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