In September 2010 an idea was born to hold a poetry reading under a full moon at the Roof Garden of the historic Battery Park Hotel. Three weeks after that September afternoon, sixty people attended an invite-only poetry reading, book-signing and jazz show on Friday, October 22, 2010. The event was publicized almost exclusively through Twitter, Facebook and word-of-mouth and featured Asheville, North Carolina poets Barbara Gravelle, myself (Matthew Mulder) and Brian Sneeden with special musical performance by Vendetta Creme and Aaron Price. And thus, Rooftop Poets was born in Asheville under a full moon.
Since the Roof Garden reading, the Rooftop Poets have been invited to read at various venues and interviewed for newspaper and television. Brian’s poem “The Temple” (included in Rooftop Poets poetry book) went on to be the Mountain Xpress’s first place winner in their 2011 poetry contest.
If you missed the memorable evening last October, there are still a few copies of the limited-edition, 64-page book. You may purchase copies at Malaprop’s.
Rooftop Poets is a limited-edition, 64-page book of poems featuring the work of three Asheville, North Carolina poets.
Barbara Gravelle, author of several poetry books including, Keepsake, Dancing the Naked Dance of Love, and her latest collection of poems, Poet on the Roof of the World.
Matthew Mulder, one of the original members of the Traveling Bonfires, his poetry and prose have appeared or are forthcoming in Crab Creek Review, Small Press Review, The Indie, H_NGM_N, and other publications.
Brian Sneeden has produced, designed or written for more than a hundred theatrical performances. He is the current director and MC of Asheville Vaudeville.
Yesterday I enjoyed listening to great poets read their work at Grateful Steps Publishing House and Bookshop and Altamont Theater. There are some many wonderful poetry related events it’s a challenge to decide which events to attend. That being said, here’s today’s list of Asheville Wordfest events:
Saturday, May 7
10:00 a.m.
Children’s events at Spellbound Children’s Bookshop
10:00 a.m.
Youth Writing Scavenger Hunt at Thomas Wolfe House with Janet Hurley of True Ink
9:30-11:00 a.m.
Resilience Panel with Brian Turner, Paul Guest and Katja Esson Explore with poets and film-maker and each other how resilience “works,” what it is and how we develop it.
11:00 a.m.
WORDslam highlights at YMI Cultural Center
12:00 p.m.
Our Voice: Together We Are Strong reading This event is sponsored by Our Voice and celebrates the voice and writings of survivors of sexual assault, at YMI Cultural Center.
1:00 pm
THE DAY CARL SANDBURG DIED at Fine Arts Theatre
1-3 p.m.
IMAGINATURE w/ Hobey Ford, Melinda Tennison, Lisa Alcorn, Cindy Bowen, Hal Mahan, Janet Hurley, Heartworks, SisterJ Spiritvoice. A family event where families can move, make art, learn and discover. Convene at Splashville.
3:00 p.m.
Poetry Under the Magnolia Tree: Listen to the poems our children write!
The Magnolia Tree is between Pack Tavern and the City Building in the park.
4:00 p.m.
William Matthews Poetry Prize Winners YMI Cultural Center
7:00 p.m.
Justin Bigos, Rose McLarney, Kwame Dawes, Allison Adelle Hedge Coke, Linda Hogan YMI Cultural Center
10:00 p.m.
Mountain Xpress Poetry Bash w/ beer and music YMI Cultural Center
If you are using Twitter, please use the hashtags #avlpoetry and/or #wordfest so others may follow social media updates. Hope to see you at one of these fine poetry events!
4:00 p.m.
Britt Kaufman, Mendy Knott and Luke Hankins Grateful Steps Publishing House and Bookshop 159 Lexington Station.
7:00 p.m.
Landon Godfrey, Paul Guest, Holly Iglesias, Brian Turner, YMI Cultural Center
9:00 p.m .
An Evening of Translation Altamont Theater at 18 Church St. featuring Thomas Rain Crowe, Emoke B’Racz, Nan Watkins, Luke Hankins, Caleb Beissert
Having been away on a spiritual retreat, I need to get back to the grind of work. But hopefully I’ll be able to attend these Friday events. Looking forward to seeing you there!
Update: If you’re using Twitter, please use the hashtag #avlpoetry and/or #wordfest to follow social media updates.
I plan to read poems from the anthology Rooftop Poets (2010) as well as selected published and unpublished material.
Also, I take requests. If you’ve seen something I’ve posted recently as part of the 30 poems in 30 days challenge that you would like me to read for Poetrio, please email me, DM me on Twitter (@mxmulder) or leave a comment and I’ll make sure to read your requests. Hope to see you on Sunday!
Diana Pinckney has published poetry and prose in such journals and magazines as Southern Poetry Review, Cream City Review, Tar River Poetry, Cave Wall, Sow’s Ear Poetry Review, Icarus International, Atlanta Review, Green Mountains Review, Main Street Rag, Kalliope, Iodine, Asheville Poetry Review, Calyx, RHINO, Charlotte Viewpoint… Magazine, The Pedestal Magazine.com, Creative Loafing and many others. Her chapbook, Fishing With Tall Women, won North Carolina’s 1996 Persephone Press Book Award and South Carolina’s Kinlock Rivers Memorial Chapbook Contest. Nightshade Press, Troy, Maine, published her second book of poems, White Linen, in 1998. Alchemy, the third collection was published by Main Street Rag Publishing Co. in 2004. The latest full-length book of poems concerns the many fascinations and mysteries of the sea, among other things. Green Daughters was released April 2011.
Barbara Gravelle, author of several poetry books including, Keepsake, Dancing the Naked Dance of Love, and her latest collection of poems, Poet on the Roof of the World. Barbara Gravelle began to publish poetry in the 1960s when she was in Detroit at Wayne State University. In 1970 she moved to Berkeley, California where her first book, Keepsake, was published by Two Windows Press. She worked with the San Francisco State NEA Poetry in the Schools program at Northern California schools. Concurrently she worked at Intersection Center for the Arts in North Beach directing the Women’ Reading Series and an experimental Feminist Writing Workshop. Dancing the Naked Dance of Love, her book of San Francisco poems was published during this time. In the mid 1980’s Barbara began to migrate to the island of Kythera in Southern Greece, while living there she wrote the poems for Poet on the Roof of the World.
Matthew Mulder has published poetry and prose in such journals and magazines as Crab Creek Review, H_NGM_N, The Indie, Rapid River Magazine, ISM Quarterly, Salamander, Wander, The Blotter, Southern Cross Review and others. He teaches poetry writing classes at Asheville bookstores and fine arts centers and is presently translating selected works of German poet Rolf Dieter Brinkmann. He is the author Late Night Writing (2004) and editor of A Body Turning (2010) and Tomorrow We Sweat Poetry (2009). His new poems are anthologized in Rooftop Poets (2010).
The Poetry Show featured in the Mountain Xpress Apr. 6-12, 2011 issue
Selected from ten finalists by Keith Flynn, founder and managing editor of Asheville Poetry Review, Brian Sneeden’s “The Temple” won the 2011 Mountain Xpress Poetry Prize. Congratulations Brian!
Brian shared double duty Friday night at the 2011 Mountain Xpress Poetry Show as he and I were invited as members of the Rooftop Poets to read at the event as part of “the next generation” of Asheville poets.
The Poetry Show provided an excellent environment to read and hear local poetry. Each one of the finalists read well-crafted verse; from laundry to bath tubs. Laura Hope-Gill kicked off the evening with a wonderful collection of poems. It was also a special delight for me to hear Matt Owens and Mesha Maren of the Juniper Bends reading series present their work. I’ll spare you an event review. But I will mention that Jaye Bartell was the evening’s host and I would like to thank the person whose cell phone rang incessantly during the reading of my poem “The Last Chestnut Tree.” Without you I wouldn’t have been able to pull off that performance.
A wonderful and full evening provided by the Mountain Xpress team and talented local poets!
Mountain Xpress Poetry Show ad, page 57 of April 6-12 issue
Quick note of correction about the Mountain X ad: members of the Rooftop Poets will be reading poems. Rooftop Poets is a creative collective or poetic triumvirate of Barbara Gravelle, Brian Sneeden and myself.
A quick story about the ethos of the Rooftop Poets. Barbara invited Brian and I to read at the historic Battery Park Hotel roof garden ballroom one evening. As the sun set in the west the shadows from the west window frames mirrored the frames of the east windows of the ballroom. It’s an amazing alignment of architecture and environment. As we read in round-robin fashion, one poem building upon previous poems read, the sky grew dark with night. Many poems were read in that space first before they were read publicly. While Barbara read a new poem, Brian exclaimed, ‘Barabara, look…’ We all looked out the east windows of the roof garden ballroom to see a full moon rise over the mountains. It seemed as if Barbara had called up the moon. One of the poems I hope to read tonight at the Mountain Xpress Poetry Show I hope will honor that moment and the poetic triumvirate of the Rooftop Poets.
The Poetry Show featured in the Mountain Xpress Apr. 6-12, 2011 issue
And the finalists are:
Randal Pride, “Coal Palace”
Jessie Shires, “Corpus unum”
Jesse S. Rice-Evans, “Taking A Bath In Frida Kahlo’s Tub”
James Cox, “By the Lake in Northern Michigan”
James Davis, “Sourwood”
Jessica Claire Newton, “Two Weeks Deep Into the Dirty Laundry”
Tamsen Turner, “Sestina”
Brian Sneeden, “The Temple”
John Eells, “Sleep And Dreams”
Andrew Procyk, “Life and Death”
Some good poets represented on this list. Should be great evening of poetry and music.
I am honored and humbled to be on the list of featured poets for event. There’s a nice write-up in the Mountain Xpress (Rhyme and reason) that mentions my involvement with the Rooftop Poets. Last time I was mentioned in the Xpress was when I was contributing to The Traveling Bonfires.
If you can make it to the big show tomorrow night, here’s some more details from the Mountain Xpress’sFacebook event page:
Featured poets include:
• Laura Hope-Gill, Director of Asheville Wordfest and Blue Ridge Parkway poet laureate.
• Matt Owens and Mesha Maren of the Juniper Bends reading series.
• Matthew Mulder and Brian Sneeden of the Rooftop Poets series.
• The top 10 finalists of the 2011 Mountain Xpress poetry prize will read their poems, and the overall winner of the contest will be announced. (The 10 finalists will also read their winning poems at the Saturday night YMI party during Wordfest in May.)
The evening concludes with a live performance by Keith Flynn & the Holy Men in celebration of the release of their album, “LIVE at the Diana Wortham Theatre.”
The even begins at 7 p.m. with a reception. Poetry readings begin at 8 p.m., and music begins at 9 p.m.
Friday, April 8th, 7PM, The Mountain XpressPoetry Show featuring Laura Hope-Gill, Director of Asheville Wordfest, Matt Owens, Mesha Maren, Matthew Mulder, Brian Sneeden and the top 10 finalists of the 2011 Mountain Xpress poetry prize. Plus a performance by Keith Flynn & the Holy Men.
Note: These poems are rough drafts and include typos, erroneous grammar and other literary warts. In this case, perfume is intentionally misspelled to represent a unique American accent.
As part of the Mountain Xpress Poetry Show, I have been invited as a guest poet to read alongside some of Asheville’s talented and notable poets. I’ll be the poet wearing the t-shirt that reads: “Haikus are easy/but sometimes they don’t make sense/refrigerator.”
Poem: What makes people so bulletproof in their automobiles?
The daffodil blooms shudder in the breeze. The phlox shows signs of pregnant blooms. It’s a prefect day for a Spring walk. I guess that’s what makes the moment captured in the poem so poignant.
But alas, I think I broke a rule regarding poetry: never explain your poem.
A Body Turning was published as the culmination of a creative writing workshop I directed more than a year ago. Poems by Samara Scheckler and Susan Ryonen Keene are featured in this book as well as an introductory essay written by myself.
When I studied art at the university the goal of each student was the senior art exhibit. From a student’s body of work the best art objects were selected for the show. That’s how the poetry writing workshops I direct are planned. Students work on poems for several weeks and then we select, edit and publish their best work in a collection of poems.
If you’re interested in an upcoming poetry writing workshop, please leave a comment or email me at coffeehousejunkie [at] gmail [dot] com.
Order A Body Turning (paperback, 48 pgs, 8.5″x5.5″ $10 + s/h) today!
Tomorrow We Sweat Poetry (paperback, 20 pgs, 8″x5″ $8 + s/h) is officially out of print.
Tomorrow We Sweat Poetry is the result of the workshop I directed called “Write and do not waste time” and features poems by Susan Ryonen Keene. A digital sample is available here. Each poetry writing workshop I direct invites students to contribute their best poems for publication in a poetry book. If you’re interested in an upcoming poetry writing workshop, please leave a comment or email me at coffeehousejunkie [at] gmail [dot] com.
Maybe ‘review’ is a bit of an erudite word to use in this blog title regarding Sunday’s poetry reading at Malaprop’s Bookstore/Café. But Sunday’s poetry reading may be one of the best Poetrio readings I’ve attended in a long time. After the snow flurries ceased the poetry began. Several local literary luminaries were in attendance including Pat Riviere-Seel, Gary Hawkins, Sebastian Matthews, Keith Flynn among others.
I Was Afraid of Vowels, Their Paleness by Luke Hankins
The first poet who read was Luke Hankins, Associate Editor of Asheville Poetry Review. I first learned about Luke from an article he wrote for the The Writer’s Chronicle and then I had the privelege to met him at one of the Poetry at The Pulp events last year.
He read from his recently published bilingual chapbook of translations, I WAS AFRAID OF VOWELS / THEIR PALENESS, of French poems by Stella Vinitchi Radulescu. Poems read include: ‘landscape in three movements,’ ‘children of the fog,’ ‘a cry in the snow,’ and the poem where the title of the chapbook originates — ‘adagio.’ Radulescu’s poems tend to be spare and short and afforded Luke opportunity to read some of his own poems. The difference between Luke and Stella’s styles offered a stimulating contrast to his portion of the Poetrio reading. Luke read another translation he had made of a different French poet. I didn’t catch the name of the poem or poet, but the poems essence was atmospheric (and reminded me of the poet Jean Orizet) and provided a beautiful centerpiece to his portion of Sunday’s reading.
Belonging by Britt Kaufmann
Britt Kaufmann read next from her recently published chapbook BELONGING. Her chapbook was named a semi-finalist in the most recent competition for the New Women’s Voices Series at Finishing Line Press.
My introduction to Britt and her work was at a Flood Reading Series in February 2007. Poems read include: ‘Oak Leaf,’ Hand-Me-Down Gift,’ ‘Under Grandma’s Quilt, ‘Tobacco Barns,’ and others. Interestingly, the title poem to the chapbook is not included in the collection of poems. But Britt read it as her last poem of her portion of the event.
Britt’s poetry evokes a celebration of everyday moments too often overlooked. A lyrical ache subtly emerges from each poem the way daffodils quietly appear in late February here in the mountains. There’s a longing for meaning in each poem and a sense of contentment to just be.
If you missed Poetrio, Britt is scheduled to read on Friday May 6, 2011 at 4 p.m. at Wordfest at Grateful Steps Publishing House and Bookshop.
Second-Skin Rhinestone Spangled Nude Souffle Chiffon Gown by Landon Godfrey
The final poet to read at Sunday’s Poetrio event was Landon Godfrey. She read from her recently published book, SECOND-SKIN RHINESTONE-SPANGLED NUDE SOUFFLE CHIFFON GOWN. David St. John chose her manuscript as the winner of the 2009 Cider Press Review Book Award.
A book title like this is hard to forget, and equally difficult to remember. I first heard Landon read the title poem at a Flood Reading Series in March 2009 [listen to the audio] and later at May 2009 Poetrio event. Other poems read at those 2009 readings included ‘Chanel No. 5,’ ‘Labor in Vain,’ ‘There Are Thousands of Stones in the Sky,’ and ‘On Black Cloth with White Chalk I Drew the Stars.’ Landon read some of those poems at Sunday’s Poetrio reading as well as others: ‘Landscape with Dialectical Materialism and Milk,’ ‘Hotel Beds,’ and ‘Compositions in Grey and Grey.’
Landon’s poems provide a rich, lush tapestry of memorable moments that haunt you long after you’ve heard or read them. There’s tense, delicious balance between smooth sensuous lines and jarring acrimony in her poems.
Again if you missed Sunday’s Poetrio, Landon is scheduled for a reading and book signing at Warren Wilson College’s Sage Cafe with March 24, 2011 at 7 p.m. She is also scheduled for a reading and book signing at Wordfest, on May 7, 2011 at 7 p.m.
On Sunday afternoon, March 6 at 3:00 p.m., Malaprop’s Bookstore/Café will welcome poets Landon Godfrey (SECOND-SKIN RHINESTONE-SPANGLED NUDE SOUFFLE CHIFFON GOWN), Luke Hankins (I WAS AFRAID OF VOWELS / THEIR PALENESS), and Britt Kaufmann (BELONGING). The reading and booksigning event is free and open to the public, and we hope that you will join us at this monthly poetry event.
Poet, artist, and actress Landon Godfrey read her poetry at the Malaprop’s Poetrio event in May 2009, and some of you may remember that this versatile practitioner of many arts has had work published in the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center chapbook, Voicing BMC: The Women; in Best New Poets 2008, selected by Mark Strand; and in Orbis, The Missouri Review, The Southwest Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, and many other literary journals. You may also have seen her on the stage of the BeBe Theatre in Asheville, and she’ll be appearing in Labyrinth at the Magnetic Theatre in April. For the manuscript of her just-published poetry book, SECOND-SKIN RHINESTONE-SPANGLED NUDE SOUFFLE CHIFFON GOWN, she won the 2009 Cider Press Review Book Award. Writes poet David St. John, who judged the 2009 award competition, “Never has the sumptuous materiality of language felt more seductive than in Landon Godfrey’s remarkable debut collection, SECOND-SKIN RHINESTONE-SPANGLED NUDE SOUFFLE CHIFFON GOWN. These exquisite poems are both sensually compelling and intellectually rigorous — a rare feat indeed. The iridescence of this marvelous volume continues to glow long after one has turned out the lights. . . .”
Luke Hankins has served as an Associate Editor of Asheville Poetry Review since 2006. His poetry, prose, and translation have appeared in numerous publications, including The Cortland Review, New England Review, Poetry East, Southern Poetry Review, and The Writer’s Chronicle, as well as on the blog of the NPR program “Being.” He graduated from the Indiana University M.F.A. program in 2009, where he held the Yusef Komunyakaa Fellowship in Poetry, the program’s highest poetry fellowship. At Malaprop’s, Luke Hankins will be reading from I WAS AFRAID OF VOWELS / THEIR PALENESS, his recent bilingual chapbook of translations from the French poems of Stella Vinitchi Radulescu. Radulescu was born in Romania but left in 1983, first seeking political asylum in Rome and then immigrating to the United States. A scholar and teacher as well as a poet, she has written and published books of poetry in Romanian, French, and English but does not translate her own work. In his Translator’s Note, however, Luke Hankins acknowledges “her partnership in finalizing the translations” for I WAS AFRAID OF VOWELS / THEIR PALENESS — selected poems from Radulescu’s book UN CRI DANS LA NEIGE (A CRY IN THE SNOW). Writer and translator Hoyt Rogers admires both the original poetry and Luke Hankins’ translations: “Like seashells with light shining through, these poems by Stella Vinitchi Radulescu express the tough fragility of being; in his lucid translation, Luke Hankins mirrors perfectly their deftness and their strength.”
Britt Kaufmann’s poetry has been published in The Mennonite, Western North Carolina Woman, Now & Then: The Appalachian Magazine, Main Street Rag, LiteraryMama.com, and elsewhere. Her chapbook BELONGING was named a semi-finalist in the most recent competition for the New Women’s Voices Series at Finishing Line Press. The poetry in her new collection loosely chronicles Britt Kaufmann’s upbringing in Mennonite Goshen and her move to the mountains of Western North Carolina. Her hometown of Burnsville, North Carolina, hosts the Carolina Mountains Literary Festival, for which she serves on the planning committee. Among others, Fred Chappell and Kathryn Stripling Byer, former Poets Laureate of North Carolina, admire Britt Kaufmann’s new collection of poetry. Fred Chappell has written, “‘Belonging,’ that word is the best possible title for Britt Kaufmann’s earnest, engaging, affectionate, and wonderfully enjoyable collection of poems. ‘Be,’ says the land and the nature that enfolds it. ‘Longing’ is what we feel when we gaze upon the land and try to search its meaning.” Kathryn Stripling Byer adds, “[Britt Kaufmann’s] words call up the things of everyday life and make them last. This poet belongs unapologetically to that moment when joy pushes its way to the surface, like a crocus through snow, never hesitating to praise it and its many gifts, opening her arms wide to welcome its arrival.”
Hope to see you at Malaprop’s on Sunday!
UPDATE: Due to the scheduled the Asheville Mardi Gras parade for 3:00 p.m. Sunday, March 6, Malaprop’s staff recommends arriving early (the parade line-up begins at 2:00 p.m.). The city of Asheville has several parking solutions. Here’s a link to parking garages in near Malaprop’s Bookstore: Link.
You are invited to a literary salon at the Roof Garden of the historic Battery Park Hotel. Whether you dabble in poetry or prose or you’re a published poet or writer or maybe you just love art and books; join the Rooftop Poets for a stimulating evening of literature, music and conversation.
Come prepared to participate in engaging dialogue about art, books, literature and life. Discussions will be lead by Barbara Gravelle, Matt Mulder and Brian Sneeden. Please bring work by someone you admire or something you’ve written to share at the salon.
Snacks and hors d’oeuvres will be provided, along with music by Mattick Frick and the Bloodroot Orkaestarr.
$10.00 admission includes all food and beverages.
Join us Friday, February 18, 8:00pm – 11:00pm at the historic Battery Park Hotel, 1 Battle Square, Asheville, NC (located north of the Grove Arcade building).
Friday, February 18th, the Rooftop Poets host a literary salon at the Roof Garden of the historic Battery Park Hotel.
Whether you dabble in poetry or prose or you’re are a published poet or writer or maybe you just love art and books prepare for a stimulating evening of literature, music and conversation.
Tonight at 7 PM, Poetry at The Pulp features Pat Riviere-Seel. The reading is followed by an open-mic. So, if you can not make the trip to Warren Wilson College, hangout at the Orange Peel’s members-only club, The Pulp, and enjoy an evening of poetry.
This morning Kevin McIlvoy and Alan Shapiro presented lectures as part of the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. [1] Tonight, Dean Bakopoulos, Martha Rhodes, Alix Ohlin, and Ellen Bryant Voigt read their work at 8:15 PM at the Fellowship Hall behind the Chapel. [2]
