For anyone who is familiar with him or his work, Vampyre Mike Kassel was found dead in his room on the morning of March 22.  Mike was a member of San Francisco's Cafe Babar (Babarian) scene in the eighties and early nineties.  He has several chapbooks out, including "Going For the Low Blow", "Graveyard Golf", and others.  A recent book (200 pages) ( Read more... )

does anyone know of any spoken word open mics in nyc? i know they got that one after the nuyorican slams and sometimes bar 13 has em, but anything else thats a little more low key? im still kinda shy...

hi, my name is buxton, and im addicted to rhyming. :D

i just joined this comm, i was never a big fan of posting in other journals,
but this seemed way too perfect.

i dont know if what i do is particularly considered slam poetry.
some call it rap.
id prefer 'flowetry'.

i journal on a daily basis,
but other than that i dont do much formal writing,
minus ( Read more... )

 

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Heart race ( Read more... )

This is for anyone who is a poet, runs a venue, or attends poetry slams semi-regularly: do you have any guidelines about maintaining the slam as a safe space?

In any open forum, there is the capacity for sexism, racism, homophobia; for oppression; for threats; etc. And while freedom of speech is paramount to the success of slam, it can also be a ( Read more... )

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Hello? May I join you?
ive seen reeeeeeaaaaly long poetry, i dont really wirte long stuff, but i still think they're good. here goes

Purple Butterflies

purple butterflies are floating through my head
*they're driving me insane*
can you hear them? i wonder what they said
*they're driving me insane*

i try to catch them as they tangle through my hair
*they're ( Read more... )

I feel like I need to visit the City/Philly/Montreal/Vancouver/Paris/Berlin/Shanghai/Accra/Dakar soon. There is so much going on there. I wish I were there right now. On Monday I could go to the Mambo Sauce show, on Tuesday to the Nuyo for a slam, on Wednesday I could go to Rue St. Laurent and just people watch, on Thursday I could ride a train ( Read more... )

I was a member here a few years ago, but then took a much needed break from poetry. After some success writing narrative essays, I've got the urge to go back to spoken word, especially after discovering a local open-mic night in my neighborhood. Hopefully I've improved a little bit since I left.

Anyway, this a poem called "To Alvin."

( Read more... )