W4tB stuff we like in August

Molly Malone's Literary Open Mic and Reading Series featuring  Angela Narciso Torres    Monday, August 11 7:30-9:30  7:00 open mic sign-up  $5 if you can  $3 if you can't Molly Malone's 7652 W. Madison Forest Park, IL (five blocks north of the Blue Line / DesPlaines Ave) Molly's Reading second Monday of every month mark your calendars,  September 8. "Like" us  Molly's Facebook Page  Great Food & Drink! About This Month's Featured Reader: Angela Narciso Torres's first book of poetry, Blood Orange, won the 2013 Willow Books Literature Award for Poetry. Her most recent work is available or forthcoming in Pirene's Fountain, Cimarron Review, Colorado Review, and Cream City Review. A graduate of Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers and the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Angela has received fellowships from the Illinois Arts Council, Ragdale Foundation, and Midwest Writing Center. Born in Brooklyn and raised in Manila, she currently resides in Chicago, where she teaches poetry workshops and serves as a senior poetry editor for RHINO. Hosts Nina Corwin and Albert DeGenova invite you to theMolly Malone's Open Mic and Reading Series. Be part of one of the longest running and most highly respected open mics in the Chicago area. It also has the reputation for being one of the most welcoming venues in the city. The reading series was launched by River Oak Arts and Charlie Rossiter in 1998; Nina and Al have co-hosted since 2002. Each month's featured reader boasts a long list of publishing, editing, and/or teaching credits. And the "regulars" are all serious, accomplished writers as well. A night at Molly's Reading Series is to experience some of the best poetry being written in the Chicago area today.

Monday, August 18
at 7:30pm - 10:00pm

Wrapping up the Summer of Love at the Open Mic is our super special guest Kristin LaTour reading her cool ass poetry. Even cooler is that our guest host is none other than Este Stevie Colon


If you miss this show you are just plain foolish
Live from the rendezvous room at Jaks Tap 901 W Jackson
40 beers on tap
great food
free poetry*
sign up-7:30
showtime 8-10pm
*we request donations for the features

Omniphonic poetry music fusion fest at Bucktown Arts fest

Saturday, August 23

at 5:00pm - 7:00pm

W4tB presents the poetry and music fusion fest that sets the city on its ear. This year we are live from the Bucktown Arts Fest. 

This year we will continue to entertain and enlighten with the coolest acts in the city.

Primo Fine

Billy Tuggle

The Charlie Rossiter Experience

The Goods

The incredible Bob and Andy Bob Lawrence

and of course the founders of the feast...Omniphonic

Poetry Pentathlon 2014

This ain't your Daddy's Poetry War. This is how the ancient poets intended it. A battle of performance and writing skil

.

Friday, August 29
7:00pm - 9:00pm

Uncharted Books2620 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago, Illinois 6064

The rant--self explanatory (we hope)

the Reverse Sonnet--(Shakespearean)The meter and line breaks are the same, the rhyming words are at the beginning of the line

Pot Luck--each contestant will present a poem of their own creation to the judges. This poem will be in a sealed envelope. This poem will be given to an opposing contestant to perform.the scoring for this round is different 1-5 points will be awarded to the performer1-5 points will be awarded to the author

Letter Poem--each contestant will present a poem of their own creation to the judges. This poem will be in a sealed envelope. This poem will be given to an opposing contestant to perform.the scoring for this round is different 1-5 points will be awarded to the performer1-5 points will be awarded to the author

On the spot Prompt---all contestants will be presented with a poetry prompt upon arriving at the Pentathlon Arena . A poem will be written based upon the prompt during the course of the evening and will be presented to the judges as the final event of the evening

Our contestants are
Bill Tarlin
Clara Berman
Gary Ketchum
Dina Stuart
Nora Leon
Peyton Stewart
Suzanne Sosnowski

Omniphonic poetry music fusion fest at Bucktown Arts fest

Saturday, August 23

at 5:00pm - 7:00pm

Next Week

W4tB presents the poetry and music fusion fest that sets the city on its ear. This year we are live from the Bucktown Arts Fest. 

This year we will continue to entertain and enlighten with the coolest acts in the city.

Primo Fine

Billy Tuggle

The Charlie Rossiter Experience

The Goods

The incredible Bob and Andy Bob Lawrence

and of course the founders of the feast...Omniphonic

MEMORIES LIKE WALLPAPER

Poetry Pentathlon 2014

This ain't your Daddy's Poetry War. This is how the ancient poets intended it. A battle of performance and writing skil

.

Friday, August 29
7:00pm - 9:00pm

Uncharted Books2620 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago, Illinois 6064

The rant--self explanatory (we hope)

the Reverse Sonnet--(Shakespearean)The meter and line breaks are the same, the rhyming words are at the beginning of the line
Pot Luck--each contestant will present a poem of their own creation to the judges. This poem will be in a sealed envelope. This poem will be given to an opposing contestant to perform.the scoring for this round is different 1-5 points will be awarded to the performer1-5 points will be awarded to the author
Letter Poem--each contestant will present a poem of their own creation to the judges. This poem will be in a sealed envelope. This poem will be given to an opposing contestant to perform.the scoring for this round is different 1-5 points will be awarded to the performer1-5 points will be awarded to the author
On the spot Prompt---all contestants will be presented with a poetry prompt upon arriving at the Pentathlon Arena . A poem will be written based upon the prompt during the course of the evening and will be presented to the judges as the final event of the evening

Our contestants are

Bill Tarlin

Clara Berman

Gary Ketchum

Dina Stuart

Nora Leon

Peyton Stewart

Suzanne Sosnowski

link to Facebook event  https://www.facebook.com/events/323175671184381/?context=create&source=49

Kristin LaTour is Waiting 4 the Bus and Esteban Colón is Totally Driving

Monday, August 18
at 7:30pm - 10:00pm


Wrapping up the Summer of Love at the Open Mic is our super special guest Kristin LaTour reading her cool ass poetry. Even cooler is that our guest host is none other than Este Stevie Colon
If you miss this show you are just plain foolish

Live from the rendezvous room at Jaks Tap 901 W Jackson
40 beers on tap
great food
free poetry*
sign up-7:30
showtime 8-10pm
*we request donations for the features

John Goode and Bill Yarrow are W4tB and Al DeGenova is Driving

Aug4Mon

Poetry Reading: John Goode and Bill Y... When Mon Aug 4, 2014 7:30pm – 10pm  Where Jaks Tap Restaurant Bar

Agenda Mon Aug 4, 2014

Live from the rendezvous room at Jaks Tap 901 W Jackson

40 beers on tap

great food

free poetry*

sign up-7:30

showtime 8-10pm

*we request donations for the features 

the last few days in untitled poetry

hey
do you have the keys to the kingdom
the brick that can tumble the fourth wall
the light at the end of the tunnel
stop staring
put all the pennies in the old milk bottle
on the windowsill
next to the wind up alarm clock
and that drinking bird
that bobs it's head in unison
with the beating of a drunken heart
tap your foot
tap your spine
tap your mind
for another imaginary friend
and I am sooooo tired
what does it mean anyway?
I found a quarter in a broken payphone
made a collect call to god
we had a silent conversation
became immobile
and doubted our personal realities




tomorrow
I will peel the snake skin off the world
bleed like an angry orange
close my eyes and count to 100,000
speaking ever 3rd number aloud
I know it's against the rules
I realize I'm driving
with my eyes closed
I said so
I'm breathing rays of light
I'm making no apologies
If I reach my hand unto the dark
I can tell you the textures of space
the temperature of passing time
but it doesn't matter
not according to the laws of physics
and the beasts that govern the fine art of surfing procrastination
I will open my eyes and watch the stars
vanish like a thousand silver doves
I may smile or laugh
but it only matters
tomorrow
and it never arrives




This broom ain't no substitute for a beat up guitar, this lake is not the ocean, this neon, a poor substitute for sunlight. I am awake or will be, in a moment when this song is finished. I'm remembering that lost look in your eyes, the smell of your disillusion, and I want to scoop you up in these arms, I want to make it all better, but I'm a poor substitute for a guardian angel, my wings are all but broken, and you are a sad substitute for flying.




Sometimes we dance for bad musical interludes and gratuities, to travel from scene to scene. I'm counting interactions, I'm drinking old wine, I'm stopping to smell this blue rose. Have you forgotten your favorite song, are you choking on a barbed wire lifestyle, are you too broken to raise the semaphore flags, to shine a light ? Call, and I will answer, dance and I will hold your hand. If you close your eyes, we can jump together, into the silence between the songs.




You ever have one of those days when one particular band seems to performing the soundtrack of your life. There are songs for looking in the mirror, songs for falling in and out of love. Musical backgrounds for lighting a match, smoking a cigarette. A first awkward kiss in the moonlight. None of it is planned, unless fate intervenes, and coincidence drives the bus. Maybe it's my imagination, maybe I'm just another dreamer, but does it matter, if the conspiracy is true




Sometimes
I wish I had a disciplined mind
Talented fingers
A touch that makes beauty from
Nothing
I am too restless
Too angry
In possession of a scattered logic process
In the world where imagination kisses
Science
I am an idiot screaming in the wind
A student
Wanting to be the master of
An incomprehensible language
My ears a broken
But my soul is constantly dancing














In the morning, I can smell the stale remnants of sex and imagination, clock on the wall makes me feel a hundred feet older and I can't stand this Ken Kesey afternoon. All the superman accolades, I'm a faded golden boy and my eyes are a little numb. It's so easy to be stupid, so easy not to care