Sunday Nights
from 6:00 - 9:00 p.m. @ Jumpin' Juice and Java

Hosted by Dave Keali'i, Liz Heath and occasional others.

Beginning August 17, 2008 the Poets' Asylum will meet at Jumpin' Juice and Java, 335 Chandler Street in Worcester. Please help spread the word!

The Poets' Asylum reading is the weekly Sunday night open poetry reading, feature and slam event run by the Worcester Po8ry Project, a group of poets and lovers of poetry dedicated to advancing poetry in performance in Worcester. The reading is open to all poets and writers, all ability levels, all styles, all ages with no constraints on content or language.

The average Sunday night at the Asylum consists of an open reading, followed by a 30-40 minute reading by a spotlighted (also known as a featured) poet. About once a month there's an open slam - a friendly competition judged by randomly chosen audience members. More info on the Slam can be found by clicking the Slam button on the left.

The Asylum runs on a no cover, donation-bucket philosophy. The money collected in the bucket goes to pay the feature and support the reading. Please give generously when the bucket comes your way!

While it has had many homes over the years the Poets' Asylum current resides at the Jumpin' Juice and Java, 335 Chandler Street, Worcester. We appreciate the space & opportunity they have given us for the reading. We ask that you help support their business by enjoying the great coffee, fine sandwiches, and tasty snacks they offer. Please tip the servers as well, they work hard keeping us caffeinated and deserve to receive the rewards of their labor.

Click here for directions to Jumpin' Juice and Java.

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The Schedule

The Schedule - Sunday night features include internationally known poets, local talent and the ever popular slam.

August 31	The Poets' Asylum welcomes Jen Mahon as our feature. Jen Mahon is a poet, karateka, ceramist, yogini, nurse, artist, healer, and former somnambulist. After writing some atrocious poetry in Philly, she moved to Massachusetts and learned to write better poetry under the tutelage of professors and nationally renown slam poets. In 2005, she trekked to Austin with nothing more than her car and her cats. One year ago, she moved back to Massachusetts to fulfill her dream of becoming a veterinarian, and started school last week. Since the Poets' Asylum is where she got her start in performance poetry seven years ago, she is thrilled to be the feature here tonight. To date, she is the author of Tenuously Held Borders, Equal Firepower, and the CD, Lodestone, with Daniel Singer, and has appeared in several anthologies.
Sept. 7	This week Lea Deschenes and Victor Infante will be our features at the Poets' Asylum. Victor D. Infante is the editor-in-chief of The November 3rd Club, an online literary journal of political writing, and the author of the poetry collection City of Insomnia, from Write Bloody Publishing. His poems and prose have appeared in dozens of periodicals internationally, including The Los Angeles Review, Pearl, Ballard Street Poetry Journal and AntiMuse, and the anthologies Poetry Slam, Spoken Word Revolution Redux and The Last American Valentine. He's an Aquarius. Lea C. Deschenes is the author of the poetry collection The Constant Velocity of Trains from Write Bloody Publishing. She received her MFA in Poetry from New England College, and has been a recipient of Worcester's Jacob Knight Award and a Pushcart Prize nominee. She once found a five-leaf clover during a solar eclipse. She's a Gemini. Write Bloody Publishing, a small press run by poet Derrick Brown, publishes and promotes great books of fiction, poetry and art, including recent works by Buddy Wakefield, Andrea Gibson, Cold War Kids bassist Maust with writer Paul Maziar, Ryler Dustin and Brian Ellis.
Sept. 14	Adam Rubinstein founded Destructible Heart Press in 2002. A mild-mannered graphic designer by day and book artist after a quick stop in a phone booth, he's been feeding his life to a massive book of poems about history, erasure, and identity in the Northeast United States. His poems have appeared in numerous lit journals you've never heard of. He's toured his work internationally and designed for some big folks, too. He holds a BA in Performance Poetry and Visual Literature from Hampshire College and dreams of one day fondling an MFA. He is powered by Rose Perez's green chile.
Sept. 21	Tonight Roslindale poet Lisa Beatman will be our feature. Lisa Beatman manages adult literacy programs at the Harriet Tubman House in the South End. She won Honorable Mention for the 2004 Miriam Lindberg International Poetry Peace Prize, and was awarded a Massachusetts Cultural Council Grant, as well as a fellowship to Sacatar Institute in Brazil and other far-flung artist residency programs. Her second collection, "Manufacturing America: Poems from the Factory Floor" has just been released by Ibbetson Press. The collection moves through the 'life cycle' of manufacturing - from its roots in the Lowell, MA textile mills, through downsizing, to the 'artist lofts' mined from the old buildings as manufacturing moves overseas. It documents the swan song of a formerly vital sector that historically provided a leg up to many American workers. The book is true-to-life, based on her work at a print and paper manufacturing plant in Somerville, MA.

Looking further out here are some of the great features and events coming up...   Beth Sweeney (09/28).

Sou MacMillan handles the booking and schedule for the Poets' Asylum. If you're a touring poet who will be in the area please drop a note to booking@poetsasylum.org to see if we can work something out.

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Open Reading Guidelines

• Sign-up for the open reading starts around 6:00 p.m. The list can fill up quickly so get there early if you want to be assured a spot.

• The reading usually starts between 6 and 6:30 p.m. Remember though, the reading is run by poets and sometimes we have a very relaxed relationship with time.

• You can read 1-2 poems. Spots in the book are designated as either 1 or 2 poem slots. Please pay attention to which slot you sign-up in; don't put the host in a bad position by reading more than you sign-up for.

• There's a three minute limit per poem, or a five minute limit if you're doing two pieces.

• There's a microphone, although whether or not you use it is up to you. The space we're in eats sound so it's suggested that most folks make use of the mic.

• No musical instruments, please... although on RARE occasions the host might allow it for a change of pace. Best to ask ahead of time.

• Have fun!!! We do what we do because we love it... we hope you love it too... so don't be afraid to show that.

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Features and Slams

Features are 30 to 40 minute performances by (usually) a single poet. This is a chance to hear a voice in depth. The Asylum regularly hosts features by the best of the local, regional, national and even international performance poetry scene. This is a chance to see and hear some of this genre's finest artists up close.

Slams are the poetic equivalent of jousting. About once a month up to eight poets face off in a two round competition. Five randomly selected judges from the audience use Olympic style scoring to render their opinions on original work performed by the poets. The top two winners of each slam face off in a semi-final competition held twice a year. At the end of the season of slams, usually in May, a final slam is held pitting the top finishers from each of the semi-finals. The top scorers in the finals represent Worcester at the National Poetry Slam Championship held each year somewhere in the USA in August.

If you've never seen a slam c'mon down and check it out. They're a lot of fun. We don't take it too seriously, you'll be treated to poets giving you their all and YOU can be the judge of how well they gave what they had to give! More info on can be found on our Slam page.

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Miscellaneous

If you're a touring poet who'll be in the area drop a note to host@poetsasylum.org and let's see if we can work something out.

Got a question about the Poets' Asylum? Drop us a line at webmaster@poetsasylum.org.

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