Shelly Chernin
Blaire Miller Bommer
Steve Goldberg
Frank Prpic & Joker
Alex Nielsen
Nick Traenkner
John Dorsey
Cavana Faithwalker
Carmen Tracey
Latex Menagerie w/ Russ Vidrick, bree, and Adam Brodsky
Jack McGuane
Brian Fugett
Lynn Alexander
Dan Smith and the Deep Cleveland Trio (Morgan Ellington, Miles Budimir,Dan Wenninger)
Marilyn Oliveras de Ortiz

With a couple of open mic sessions for room for another 12 readers.

The evening ending up with a rocking good time from

Morticia's Chair.

Bring merch and books for artistic capitalism during the intermissions.
Click for directions to The center for Rock Research

Arriving into the Cleveland area is a talented writer and reader of poetry from the Upstate New York area. I had the pleasure of hearing and meeting Robert Milby last summer when I went on that adventure in poetics known as the Rusted Trim Poetry Tour with Dorsey and Bunsen. Robert impressed me incredibly and when I heard he wanted to come to Ohio I got right on it.

He will be at Mac's Backs Wednesday, July 20th at 7 P.M. Yes, that's right folks. This isn't the usual poetry reading night for Mac's. He will be joined by novelists, Grant Baillie (Cleveland), Peter Grandbois (Delaware, Ohio), Steve Himmer (Quincy, MA), and Jim Mason (Cleveland). Apparently, my opinion has a little weight for some as you can see from Suzanne's write-up for the event. (Yes, I'm humbled and a bit embarrassed, but I won't let it stop me from boasting).

I found out about Robert Milby when Steve Goldberg called and said he was one of the best poets he'd ever heard. Robert is the author of several poetry chapbooks including Crow Weather and has had his work published in lots of journals. He is an integral part of the Hudson Valley poetry community---he hosts a reading series at the Mudd Puddle Cafe and is the co-editor of the Wawayanda Review.

The short intro doesn't do Robert justice, so just come down to Mac's, catch a hippieburger at Tommy's, bring cash to buy Robert's stuff (cuz you're gonna want to after you...), listen to him versify like the you never heard versification before.

Please note that I was able to stop making this about me and shared the limelight with Robert Milby, even for just another paragraph.

The reading will be Wednesday, December 8 at 7 pm. Hope to see you there.

It starts at 8 PM on Thursday November 18 and the Daily Grind is located at 7723 Airport Highway Holland, OH. Hope to see you there.

If any of you missed my reading at Visible Voice Books a few weeks ago, well you missed a good one. I really liked the vibe and the audience was cool and I felt like my reading was reflected all that. Too bad you missed it. However, I have a few more readings coming up and my confidence is strong, so they should be just as much fun.

• This Friday, November 12 at 8:00pm, I will be the feature at the Deep Cleveland reading series at the Borders Bookstore in Strongsville. This will be my first Deep Cleveland reading and I am excited to see my good friends that are part of the DC tribe. Since it is at a Borders, I will be . Fortunately, my stuff doesn't usually contain much to worry about. I'll have copies of Tremont Crawl and Corner Drugstore Cafe and other poems with me to "not" sell (since Borders doesn't carry them.) See me after the read or wherever we may post read imbibe.
• A week later, I'll be in Toledo Thursday November 18. Originally scheduled to be at Common Grounds coffeeshop, but they closed down this week. I'm going over to Toledo anyway, cuz I like it there and the peeps are great. I'm supposed to partner with Lou Suarez whom I admire a great deal. I'll read anywhere and Mike Grover is working on an alternate. Hopefully, Lou is in the same headset. Stay tuned for an update.
• Finally, I will be reading with Kathy Smith at Mac Back's in Cleveland Heights Wednesday December 8 at 7pm. They ARE carrying Tremont Crawl there.

So to hear pieces from the chapbook plus a few new ones, there are a number of chances for you to heckle me. So come out and have a good time. I'd love to see you there.

And it’s a pleasure to read and re-read, seeing in it not only observations from a single Southside neighborhood but truths about our lives here in the post-industrial world of a once thriving Great Lakes city in the 21st century, with its contradictions of comfortable living and hard scrabble barely gettin’ by.

Wow, did I do that?
Thanks, Miles.

Even though I am a neuvo-tremonter of a mere six years, I have developed a love of the grit as well as the beauty that is infused in Tremont. You know I have been published in a number of small press issues and has read in venues across Ohio and the US.

But what you don't know is that I'll have as a guest reader, my old partner in poetic crime, Nick Traenkner. We have not read together since Lix and Kix back in February 2009. We're the duo that is the brain/brawn trust behind the crazily successful Literary Cafe Poetry Night for four years. Nick was one of the early contributors to the nascent hyperlink, on-line literature movement and has been active in the performing arts, music, and art scenes. Nick is the author of the chapbook, Accidental Thrust (2007 Little Scratch Pad).

Here are a few comments on the chapbook:

"It's a fine read, for sure."---Miles Budimir, Poet, Author of Rustbelt Romance and Missing Albertly

“Good stuff!” ---Russell Vidrick, Poet, Author of Love Poems of the New Order

“you did the neighborhood. i learned more than i knew before. congratulations.” ---Steven B. Smith, Poet, Artist,Publisher Art Crimes Magazine

“Tremont Crawl is like an archive...it’s straightforward no-frills good.” ---Bree Bodnar, Poet, Book Artist, Publisher Green Panda Press

Don't miss the fun that happens when we share the stage. Remember, Tuesday October 10 7:00pm at Visible Voice Books. VVB is located at 1023 Kenilworth Road in the fairly refined neighborhood of Tremont in Cleveland.

We are still working out a day for a reading, but the books will be available at VVB in about a week. I'm already on my second printing. If you want a pre-sale of the second printing, order via PayPal below.