Poets Among Us calendar

"Eating Verse: a Beginning Course of Food and Poetry"
Govinda Restaurant
1408 South St.
6:30-8:30PM

Independence Branch library
Open Reading
6:30-8PM

"Gathering of Poets and Peacemakers"
Unitarian Universalist Church of Mt. Airy Stenton Avenue and Gorgas Lane
7:30PM

"Hyperverse"
featuring Maralyn Lois Polak
with stevenallenmay
Last Word Bookshop
with an open reading
8-10PM

alternative to SLAM
Great International Tea
1724 Sansom St.
6:30-8PM

Italian-American Poetry reading
hosted by Rosemary Cappello
Robin's Bookstore
2-5PM

Magdalena Zurawski
reads from her first book,The Bruise
Molly's Cafe & Bookstore
7PM

Women's Writing & Spoken Word Series featuring
Crystal Bacon & Kelli Dunham
7:30-9PM
Robin's Bookstore

the Eternal NOW! presents
Michele Belloumini & Kelley White
followed by an open reading 7-9PM

Daniel Nester & Kate Northrup
Kelly Writers House
Locust Walk
UPENN
7-9PM

Club Dos upstairs @ Pizzeria Uno
509 S. 2nd St.
Featuring Brett Axel & Dominique Donnarumma
9PM

Sina Queyras + REPO
Robin's Bookstore
7:30-9PM

Charles Cantalupo & more!
Robin's Bookstore
2-4:30PM

Poets for Peace
Germantown Friends Meetinghouse
31 West Coulter Street
7-9:30PM

Keith Waldrop & Jessica Lowenthal
La Tazza
108 Chestnut St.
7:30-9PM

"April is the Cruelist Month: Satire and Humor Open Reading"
$4.00 donation
Manayunk Arts Center
319 Green Lane (rear)
Manayunk
3-5PM

A (space) reading
with Frank Walsh + OPEN READING
A-Space
4722 Baltimore Ave.
7:30PM

Open Reading
featuring Temple University student
hosted by Diane Richards
Barnes & Noble
North Broad Street
6-8PM

Speakeasy
Kelly Writer House
Locust Walk
UPENN
8-10PM

"Hyperverse"
featuring Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore
presenting "The Ecstatic Exchange"
with an open reading
Last Word Bookshop
8-10PM

Giovanni's Room
Jim Cory, Lamont Steptoe, Janet Mason, Jim Mancinelli
7:30-9:00PM

OFF SEASON CABARET at the Sedgwick Cultural Center
with poetry by Stephanie Durann, Michael Steffans, and Maralyn Lois Polak
8PM

Readings In Parks
Rittenhouse & Washington Parks
12-3PM

Women's Writing & Spoken Word Series
featuring Ann Kaier & Janine Van Patten
open reading to follow
7:30-9PM

Uni-verse-all Voices
The 5 Spot
8PM

the Eternal NOW presents Michael Grover and Rayn Roberts followed by an open reading 7-9PM

Independence Branch library
Chinese-English reading of William Shakespeare
6:30-8PM

Lord Whimsey
Molly's Cafe & Bookstore
8PM

Painted Bride Quarterly
30 year Reunion Reading
hosted by Daniel Nester
Seis Community Center
2111 Sansom St.
7:30-11:00

Philadelphia Poets Reunion Reading
Presented by Rosemary Cappello, editor of Philadelphia Poets Journal
1980-88
featuring Michele Belluomini, Peter Krok, Lou McKee, and Lamont Steptoe
2-5PM
William Penn Community Room

100 Poets Reading
Robin's Bookstore
1-7PM

Calling the Circle: A reading and conversation with four Northwest Philly Poets
Allen’s Lane Art Center (Allen Lane & McCallum)
3-5PM

Teen Poetry Reading
hosted by
Natalie Felix
Molly's Cafe & Bookstore
7-9PM

Open Reading
Skyline Room
Central Library
1901 Vine St.
6:30-8:15PM

Lamont Steptoe & Trapeta Mason
North 3rd 801
North 3rd Street on the corner of 3rd and Brown
8:30PM

the Eternal NOW presents stevenallenmay
reading from his new collection
Plastic Sunrise
7-9PM

Philadelphia Poets Reunion Reading
presented & hosted by Rosemary Cappello
featuring Aschak, Shulamith Caine, Bob Small, Kenneth Pobo, and Molly Russakoff
PCI branch library
6-8PM

GRAND FINALE
& Benefit Reading
$5.00 donation
Plastic Club
8-10PM

April 2003

Poets Among US grew out of my experience at the 2002 Geraldine Dodge Poetry Festival in Waterloo, NJ. On the morning after Amiri Baraka's "infamous" reading of 'Somebody Blew Up America?', I was walking to the festival with a friend of Baraka's and we were discussing the stratification of poets that was occurring at the festival. There were the big name, well respected New York poets who were getting all the attention (and video footage) while the majority of the poets were ushered off to the fringes of the village and not paid attention to. There was a sense of "oh, you can go play over there but don't make too much noise, we are recording the serious poets in the big tent".

Teddy Harris and I were walking across a field toward the festival and talking about this and he commented that everyone was there because they loved poetry, and I said "Yes, we are all poets among us". At the Dodge festival there was a 2nd tier of poets who were part of the festival participating in a program called "Poets Among US". Once I said that to Teddy the words looped through my brain for the rest of Saturday and into Sunday. On the ride back to Philadelphia, I said in the back of the van and thought about those comments. We ARE all poets among us. We are poets in society, poets struggling and living within society and that was much better than be members of societies of poets.

I already knew that in 2003 I would be working to reproduce the magic that had been Bardfest99-2002, a 30 day poetry festival occurring in Berks County, PA. I already knew that I would be celebrating the city full of poets that is Philadelphia, the first literary capital of the United States.

I now had a name for the festival. Poets Among US.
and the planning has begun.

Working with the "Grandmother" of Philadelphia poetry, Rosemary Cappello, as well as Lamont Steptoe, Jim Cory and others; a team of poets are hammering out the details to present this poetry happening in Philadelphia. Across the city, throughout the city, living up to the motto "Spreading Poetry Readings EVERYWHERE", we are stirring the kettle. Making poetry matter. Filling the air with song.

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