PhillySound: new poetry

The summer edition of XCP Streetnotes features Chris Marker, Ed Taylor, Jon Cotner & Andy Fitch, Jennifer Firestone, Rich Hamilton, Ami Sommariva, Leigh Herrick, Michael Caylo-Baradi, Christian Albertson, Janice B. Fornillier, Mike Rollin, along with an excerpt from Ready-To-Eat Individual.

Streetnotes Summer 2008 is here.

- Frank Sherlock

BRING YOUR FAVORITE Mina Loy poems to the URCHIN series!
--CAConrad

let's celebrate POET Jonathan Williams at Bartram's Garden with a reading from AN EAR IN BARTRAM'S TREE and other favorites!

To honor and celebrate Jonathan Williams EVERYONE is welcome to bring favorite poems by the great bard to Bartram's Garden in Philadelphia!

SUNDAY, August 3rd, at 1pm
and we'll meet next to the FRANKLINIA TREE, which should be in bloom, just as it is on the cover of his famous New Directions book

VERY EASY TO GET TO! Public transit:Take No. 36 Trolley from City Hall to 54th Street. Cross railroad bridge to Garden entrance on left. For driving, easy directions found HERE

bring POEMS to read
bring picnic lunch food
we'll have a FANTASTIC TIME in the garden celebrating this great American POET!

(posted by CAConrad)

David Buuck is not only a terrific poet, but a photographer/artist/BRAIN I admire for how he enters the world and takes responsibility for being part of our world.

He's been working on a huge project for the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in the Bay Area under his organization BARGE (Bay Area Research Group in Enviro-aesthetics) that you will want to check out! The project is called BURIED TREASURE ISLAND: a detour of the future.

When he was still working on the project he wrote to me, saying, "Doing a lot of 'tactical magic' at the site, and carrying around a baggie of soil from the hazardous waste zone as a kind of talisman (this is what i rubbed into my mouth and skin in NY, since i felt that if i was going to 'take' art away from this island while poor people had to live with the toxins everyday, then i had to take the poison into my own body as well)..."

Please click HERE, and be sure to check out the PDF links, as well as the FLICKER page at the bottom. This is an amazing project! MY UTMOST RESPECT FOR ONE OF MY FAVORITE POET/ARTISTS David Buuck!

CAConrad

Did Marsha P. Johnson start the Stonewall Riot to end oppression, or spread misery? "The Stonewall Diversity Champions" has listed as its 400th member the British Army for their open inclusion of gays and lesbians into the armed forces. WOW! I'm not even sure how to react with anything but anger.

The fight to NOT BE OPPRESSED does not mean to be included into the oppressor's world. WHY WOULD the oppressor think they're SO GREAT that we would even WANT to be them!? I would want to BE like the person who has kept me from my life?

It's more the problem of course of gays and lesbians who do not share my view here, who DO think that the ULTIMATE GOAL should be to meld and disappear into the machine with all of its sharp tools carving the world into one grand, obedient, nameless, worker-consumer, killing all who defy. The British Army is the 400th member of "The Stonewall Diversity Champions," I just need to WRITE THIS AGAIN, and SAY IT OUT LOUD AGAIN, because it's SO HARD TO BELIEVE!

The worst thing is NOT being able to stop this kind of ABUSE to the lives we lead, and how we want to lead, away from such brutality. The committee for this BOGUS award will represent who they want to represent. GAYS IN THE MILITARY IS NOT A CIVIL RIGHTS ISSUE!

To honor the war machine through Stonewall is so infuriating I feel like I blew a fuse. I mean, I can't even FEEL angry, but I know I'm SO ANGRY, and that's why I'm numb.

To honor war is to not honor the LOVE Marsha P. Johnson used to strike the police with, her need to be left to her life, and to protect her family who were other fringe, mistreated, neglected souls like herself.

I'm not even sure where I send my hate mail today. England or New York?

CAConrad

(posted by CAConrad)

I was bummed to hear that Molly’s Bookstore will be closing – but it’s not closing so much as it’s transforming. It will become the site of Project 360: Self-Directed Learning for Teens.

Celebrate what the store has been and what it will become – this Tuesday at 8 – and buy books – most of the books (and bookshelves) need to go. Everything’s 50-75% off.

The Invitation from Molly:

We welcome the city’s writers, artists, crafters, actors, musicians, zinesters, filmmakers, puppeteers, DIYers and other brilliant and generous presences to help change the direction of the lives of young people by sharing what they know and love best.

Come listen to our ideas and talk about your own. We aim to connect the people who are working (or playing) in their fields with kids who are curious and interested and free to learn.

Eat, drink, buy books at ridiculously deep discounts and hear about Project 360.

Philadelphia public and private schools have become impossibly rigid and riddled with problems. Thousands of bright, creative kids are suffering because they just don’t fit the mold.

PROJECT 360 is a non-profit resource center for families of teens who would like to use homeschooling as an alternative to traditional schooling.

Project 360 is located at 1010 S. 9^th Street, at the site of the soon-to-be-old Molly’s Bookstore.

For more information email info@project360teens.org or call 215-923-3367.

Posted by Ryan Eckes.

A friend of mine told me that Condoleezza Rice was going to be on Good Morning America this morning to talk about rape as a weapon of war. It sounded hard to believe, so of course I HAD TO tune in! Africa, Bosnia, but, YOU GUESSED IT, no mention AND I MEAN NO MENTION AT ALL of Iraq!

She said some very important things, like how rape has never been considered a major issue of war because "the women don't die. But they do die," she says that part of the raped women dies forever. And while it's GREAT that she is making the case that rape is a weapon of war, to NOT mention Iraq even once is outrageous! Groups like STAAAMP (Survivors Take Action Against Abuse by Military Personnel) has reported THOUSANDS of cases of rape in Iraq against Iraqi women and American women in the military.

Rice said TWICE that rape is used as a weapon of war "in some parts of the world." Ever the cautious speaker, Rice artfully side stepped ANY guilt she has in BRINGING RAPE AS A WEAPON OF WAR into many MANY women's lives! She wants to leave her job as being an advocate for victims? THAT'S INSANE! THAT'S OUTRAGEOUS!

The Bush Administration CANNOT FIND THE SHAME THEY OWN,
CAConrad

It was good to be at the protest yesterday for Corey Glass MOSTLY because it's healthy to get a severe opposing perspective and take this right to the heart of THE PLACE where 90 percent of the people will NOT be supportive. All the corporate sky scrapers around us and thousands of people in suits marching off to lunch was quite a strange place to take the protest. But it gets you on your feet to talk about the war, talk about these young men and women who don't want to fight in Iraq AND WHY they don't.

At the same time it's strange to see hostility like this. The most hostile were these packs of young men in their twenties, in business suits, going to lunch together, sneering, making jokes, saying stupid things. Like the guys who said, "DRAFT DODGERS? BUT WHO'S GONNA PROTECT THE COUNTRY?" And I said, "Well, there's NO draft first of all...." The young men in their twenties who claim to be for the war, why are they here, working for stock brokers, working for the SCUM who benefit the most from this war? The ideas of cowardice and bravery were turned on their heads because CLEARLY we were seeing nothing but opposing views of both.

One woman came up to me and said, "I'M FOR THE WAR!" (Which by the way is shocking enough to hear, I mean REALLY, you are "FOR" the war?) I showed her the flyer I was handing out, with Corey Glass's statement at the top where he says he joined the National Guard to do humanitarian work, and that he should have been in New Orleans to help out, not in Iraq. She and I talked about that for a little, and it made an impact on her. She herself admitted that it was incredible how long it took the president to visit New Orleans after Katrina, and when I asked her if she saw the Spike Lee documentary she said, "I watched some of it, but it was too depressing." She took a flyer and promised to read it, and I think she meant it when she said she was going to think further about "all this."

Stephen Funk, Lt. Watada and others have been talking about their feelings for NOT going to Iraq since the war began. Watada in particular made the point that he feels it is HIS DUTY to not go to war in Iraq when it is more than clear that if he did he would be committing war crimes by doing so. Watada is a strong refusenik speaker who has lead the way for many others to SAY NO, and to not participate in an unjustifiable war which has already cost over a million lives, and destroyed countless families, schools, clean water systems, and all the museums and libraries, and roads, and, and it's just impossible to imagine when I start to think about it all. WE DID THIS and continue to do this, just by paying taxes we support this. And when these men and women refuse to go, or go and then leave, refusing to participate any further, I figure no one knows better than they do how wrong this is, and how it truly embodies the word Awful, like very little else can.

It's still too far away, Iraq, for some people it seems, and I got a strong dose of that yesterday in the heart of the corporate centers at 16th and Market. It's days like yesterday that make me realize how little I fit in, and how little I have in common with so many people. And it made me sad for the picture of Corey Glass being mocked by passersby, a young man I feel to be a true hero for refusing to kill for corporate greed.

On the 4th of July I went to West Philly with Thom Donovan and Dottie Lasky for some Ethiopian food, and we stumbled on a gathering of Iraq War Veterans Against the War. There were maybe 30 of these young men in black T-shirts, proudly displaying who they are, getting ready for a national tour FOR THIS protest for Corey Glass and others. We spoke to a couple of them, and they were eager to talk about going to Iraq and deciding how wrong it was, and refusing to go back. They were singing anti-war songs, some of them sounding like folk tunes from the Vietnam War with new words, and they were pumped up for the journey that they are on right now, somewhere in America. I'm glad we got to see them, meet them, experience their passion and THEIR OWN FORM of patriotism. And I hope they're changing minds everywhere they go, and setting even more people against this Awful American War.

CAConrad

"I signed up for the National Guard to do humanitarian work, filling sandbags if there was a hurricane ... I should have been in New Orleans, not Iraq."
--Corey Glass, Iraq veteran and war resister



War resisters in Canada and everywhere won a huge victory on June 3, when, due to international campaigning, the Canadian Parliament called on the government to "immediately implement a program to allow conscientious objectors and their immediate family members […] to apply for permanent resident status and remain in Canada; and … the government should immediately cease any removal or deportation actions … against such individuals."

Yet Corey Glass is under imminent threat of deportation. The Canadian and American governments want to set an example to the hundreds of US refuseniks who have taken refuge in Canada, and to prevent their refusal from spreading to Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan. They could face deployment to Iraq, long-term imprisonment, and punitive discharges, including the forfeit of medical benefits and income, and prejudicing future employment. If forced to serve, they would likely be involved in war crimes.

HOPE TO SEE YOU TOMORROW!

(information above was provided by PAYDAY)
posted by CAConrad

We had a TERRIFIC time today generating language for poems at the (Soma)tic Poetry Workshops! It didn't rain until we were finished, and it's been a long time since I've walked through the city in that kind of Noah's Ark downpour! I LOVED IT! But a couple of people have written asking if they can take 1 or 2 of the 4, wondering if they need to take all 4. And that's a big YES, take 1 or 2 if you want, there's still 3 more Sundays in July. Details are HERE.

--CAConrad
p.s. I'm considering having 1 extra workshop in August at night, because most of the magic of that fountain happens after the sun goes down. Actually it will probably be a sunset-to-dark workshop, since the sunsets at Logan Circle Fountain are SPECTACULAR!

"and remember to die" is from Jonathan Williams's MARVELOUS poem "POEM BEGINNING WITH FIVE WORDS BY GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS" for Jesse Helms.

OOOOO! I WISH JONATHAN WAS ALIVE to READ this poem in honor of Jesse's death yesterday! And I'm sure Jonathan would have hooted and hollered with us here in Philly over Jesse dying on the 4th of July! THAT INDEPENDENCE DAY DEATH IS POETRY!

For those unfamiliar with Jonathan's poem, CELEBRATE Jesse's DEATH with us in reading it OUT LOUD wherever you happen to be right now! Click HERE!

When I asked Jonathan for permission to reprint the poem in this issue of EOAGH (published by Tim Peterson), that I was co-editing with others (kari edwards, Paul Foster Johnson, Erica Kaufman, Jack Kimball, and Stacy Szymaszek), Jonathan said on the phone, "ONLY IF IT'S THE LEAD POEM!" And I said, "YOU BETCHA JONATHAN!" HEHEHE! That was a fun and sometimes disturbing phone conversation, Jonathan talking about Jesse's reign of terror against Southern queers, African Americans, and ANY OTHER minorities, as you can imagine. He would tell horror stories of Jesse's EXTREME bigotry, then pepper the conversation with talking about greasing his asshole for the corn poke, and such. "JUST KEEPING IT REAL, AS THEY SAY," he said!

DING DONG THE WITCH IS DEAD! I'm NOW LISTENING to the Klaus Nomi version of DING DONG THE WITCH IS DEAD, a fitting tribute!

Glad Jesse FINALLY remembered to die!
CAConrad