Nicky Rainey to Read on Monday, June 27, at Duff's in the C.W.E.

Nicky Rainey will be one of three featured readers at the next •chance operations• reading, at Duff's, 392 North Euclid, in the Central West End, on Monday, June 27.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m.; admission is $3.

Also appearing will be Phil Gounis and Will Kyle.

Musical guest will be jazz guitarist Tom Crammond.

Advance sign-up for the open-mic following the featured readers is encouraged. Click here to sign-up via e-mail.

Nicky Rainey makes a zine out of envelopes called "Let's talk about people," & will send you one if you email her by clicking here. She directs Saturday creative writing workshops for young writers ages 6-11 (through StudioSTL) and has represented St. Louis at the National Poetry Slam.

Watching TV & Playing World of Warcraft with Angelito88

On Day 57 of the BP spill, I watched MSNBC & traipsed
through dungeons with Angelito88, Christopher's cousin or maybe
               nephew,
studies petroleo engineering at University & needs breaks so we
               chase gryphons.

At 22 and 27, this game is our generation's golf, refined.
We're humans and dwarves, not fucking Orcs. We drink coffee,
type about family & politics across sea and shimmering flats --

I say:
               the dolphins are blowing oil out of their blowholes
               the dolphins are acting drunk

Angelito88's newspapers put the spill on page five next to the story about the drug cartels creating alliances with Hezbollah, can you imagine how those intermarriages will go over with the grandmothers. In his state, people have oil-wells in the backyard, owned by the government.
Angel's glad BP didn't bust a valve on an entire city.

We clear the iron forge & he changes the subject:

               you know, when they play Warcaft in China,
               there's flesh on the skeletons
               and the dead are in tidy graves

Inside my house, I see a waning crimson gryphon on one screen and blowout preventer valves on another. Two blocks away --on North and South-- sits an old Jewish cemetery where the graves look tidy, but are truly filled with swarms of little angels, myriad dungeons, our ancestors & friends wearing crowns of oil and water.

-- Nicky Rainey

Jazz Guitarist Tom Crammond to Provide Musical Interludes on Monday, June 27, at Duff's

Jazz guitarist Tom Crammond will be the musical guest at the next •chance operations• reading, at Duff's, 392 North Euclid, in the Central West End, on Monday, June 27.

Nicky Rainey, Phil Gounis, and Will Kyle will be the three featured readers.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m.; admission is $3.

Advance sign-up for the remaining open-mic slots following the featured readers is encouraged. Click here to sign-up via e-mail.

Tom Crammond is a retired school teacher, who has recently started playing guitar after having not played gigs for twenty years (since 1989). During the 60's, 70's, and 80's Crammond played with various rock, country, and commercial groups around the St. Louis area.

Tom says his "first influence was Les Paul in the early '50s, and following quickly behind him was Johnny Smith for his great ballads. Then in the late '50s, I became more jazz oriented and Barney Kessel, with his wonderful ballads, and his great trio sound found my ear. Soon after that in the early '60s, I discovered Howard Roberts, who had a wonderful West Coast Quartet sound that captivated me. In the '60s, I also discovered Hank Garland and Wes Montgomery, and, of course, the '60s were start of the Bossa Nova craze here in the U.S. Laurindo Almeida and Charlie Byrd caught my ear with their gorgeous nylon string guitar sounds. Towards the end of the '60s, I heard George Benson who had just an amazing sound and technique."

Tom Crammond, "Nuages" by Tony Renner

Will Kyle to Read at Duff's in the C.W.E. on Monday, June 27

Photo by Colin Michael Shaw

Will Kyle, veteran of several •chance operations• open-mics, will be one of three featured readers at the next •chance operations• reading, at Duff's, 392 North Euclid, in the Central West End, on Monday, June 27.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m.; admission is $3.

Also appearing with Will Kyle will be Nicky Rainey and Phil Gounis.

Musical guest will be jazz guitarist Tom Crammond.

Advance sign-up for the remaining open-mic slots following the featured readers is encouraged. Click here to sign-up via e-mail.

A native of St. Louis, Will Kyle earned his BA in English at the University of Iowa and is currently an MFA candidate in poetry at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Will also performs as a singer/songwriter at open microphones around town. His poetry has been published or is forthcoming in Barbaric Yawp, Great Lakes Review, Earthwords, Big Muddy and elsewhere.

In St. Louis Before A Concert

I walk down
Delmar past
Vintage Vinyl.
A man standing

on a wooden box
is a statue. I toss
him a quarter.
For early

March the day
is warm
and orange.
Students laugh

and smoke
perched on
planters outside
Blueberry Hill.

Near the Market
Pub, a drum
circle pounds
entranced by rhythm.

Two women
in flowing floral
skirts sit outside
Brandt’s and barter

the romantic
business of life
over matching
Mojitos.

They ignore
the waiter as he
serves a bowl
of penne

in white
wine sauce.
Further down
the street,

teens crowd
Iron Age. They
crave same day
tattoos. For

expedience,
the artists
crave an
on-sight notary,

their lips
snap off
beartrap fucks
debating the pros

and cons
of such a thing,
their guns
buzz over

flesh, a funky
sewer smell,
a browned
apple core

and a kissing
couple
on a scrap
of burlap

as I pass
Meshuggah.
Skinker is always
shit to cross.

I jump out before
the light
and almost
get popped

by the extended
mirror of a baby
blue, fifty-seven
Chevy with

a beige bed cap
and Yosemite
Sam mud flaps.
At six PM,

The Pin Up
Bowl seats
exactly six
douche bags.

When I arrive
at The Halo
Bar, I receive
the inevitable

pat down. No,
my Moleskine
notebook is
not a camera,

my ballpoint
not a Sharpie,
yes, that is my
prick. They

return my ID
and stamp
a black five
with a braided

circle around it
on the top
of my hand.
I grab a seven

dollar Bloody
Mary and wait
in the queue for
early entry

to secure
the best spot
to witness
rock music

slide through
St. Louis
like a serpent,
or a maybe a never

ending parade
of black
and white
tour buses.

-- Will Kyle

Phil Gounis to Read on Monday, June 27

Phil Gounis will be one of three featured readers at the next •chance operations• reading, at Duff's, 392 North Euclid, in the Central West End, on Monday, June 27.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m.; admission is $3.

Also appearing with Phil Gounis will be Nicky Rainey and Will Kyle.

Musical guest will be jazz guitarist Tom Crammond.

Advance sign-up for the open-mic following the featured readers is encouraged. Click here to sign-up via e-mail.

Phil Gounis is an American poet, literary journalist, archivist, filmmaker, publisher, and concert and book reviewer.

Phil first came into public awareness in the early 1970s when he and some colleagues filmed and presented a series of experimental films courtesy of the University of Missouri-St. Louis. At the same time he began to publish his poetry in many alternative press outlets. He also participated in poetry programs on KDNA FM radio. These readings later evolved into River Styx literary magazine.

In 2005, Intangible Studies released Form Matters, a recording of Phil's spoken word set to music by Rich Kruse.

Phil produced his first chapbook of poetry, Some of These Have Appeared, in spring 2007.

Upgrading the Allusion, his second chapbook, was published this year and is Phil's first collaboration with JKPublishing.

half circle

he wakes up remembering
how she spoke
it was the way that he thought
& he remembered too,how she looked
smooth & clean
even from a distance
& close up --
black, raven hair waved in springtime warm wind
revealing pearl like forehead filled with golden, girlie
notions of fun & frivolity
on late afternoon,urban sidewalk prance
all the while he studied her festive,dimpled smile
he squinted at her glimmering, child-like Snow Whiteness
silhouetted against the stark, grim Goliath cityscape
Purity is measured against our concepts of corruption
& she was so Pure
even now, he still builds mental shrines to her facial physiognomy
Rorschach Blots are in the mind of the beholder
he had tried so hard to make that all so evident
but she never could see the forest for the pulp (fiction)
What a punk she was!
they had been together when the decade was young
now they met again
in the interim
what had been blissed wonderment at just being alive
had become tortured bewilderment about existence
he groped for the middle ground between pain & numbness
when she asked,”How have you been?”
he said,”I could be doing better...”
across the street from their conversation
that same wind that had been warm
now was chilly
as it nudged an empty paper cup back & forth
in a constant semi-circle
the swaying cup never quite completed its intended cycle
--there’s a million of these cups blowing around

-- Phil Gounis

Allen Baumgartner at May Reading

Allen Baumgartner not only provided the musical interludes at the May reading but also participated in the open-mic.

The next reading, at Duff's, 392 North Euclid, in the Central West End, will be held on Monday, June 27, will feature Phil Gounis, Will Kyle, and Nicky Rainey.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m.; admission is $3.

Chris Parr at May Open-Mic

Chris Parr, co-founder of •chance operations•, was one of ten readers to step up to the •chance operations• open-mic at the May reading.

The next reading, at Duff's, 392 North Euclid, in the Central West End, will be held on Monday, June 27, will feature Phil Gounis, Will Kyle, and Nicky Rainey.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m.; admission is $3.

Byron Lee at May Open-Mic

Byron Lee was one of ten readers to step up to the •chance operations• open-mic at the May reading.

The next reading, at Duff's, 392 North Euclid, in the Central West End, will be held on Monday, June 27, will feature Phil Gounis, Will Kyle, and Nicky Rainey.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m.; admission is $3.

Laura DeVoto at May Open-Mic

Laura DeVoto was one of ten readers to step up to the •chance operations• open-mic at the May reading.

The next reading, at Duff's, 392 North Euclid, in the Central West End, will be held on Monday, June 27, will feature Phil Gounis, Will Kyle, and Nicky Rainey.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m.; admission is $3.

Christy Callahan at May Open-Mic

Christy Callahan was one of ten readers to step up to the •chance operations• open-mic at the May reading. Christy will be a featured reading at the Monday, July 25, reading.

The next reading, at Duff's, 392 North Euclid, in the Central West End, will be held on Monday, June 27, will feature Phil Gounis, Will Kyle, and Nicky Rainey.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m.; admission is $3.

Will Kyle at May Open-Mic

Will Kyle was one of ten readers to step up to the •chance operations• open-mic at the May reading.

Will Kyle will also be a featured reader at our next reading at Duff's, 392 North Euclid, in the Central West End, on Monday, June 27, along with Phil Gounis and Nicky Rainey.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m.; admission is $3.

Rae Cailliach at May Open-Mic

Rae Cailliach was one of ten readers to step up to the •chance operations• open-mic at the May reading.

The next reading, at Duff's, 392 North Euclid, in the Central West End, will be held on Monday, June 27, will feature Phil Gounis, Will Kyle, and Nicky Rainey.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m.; admission is $3.

Julia Gordon Bramer at May Open-Mic

Julia Gordon Bramer was one of ten readers to step up to the •chance operations• open-mic at the May reading.

The next reading, at Duff's, 392 North Euclid, in the Central West End, will be held on Monday, June 27, will feature Phil Gounis, Will Kyle, and Nicky Rainey.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m.; admission is $3.

Shane Signorino at May Open-Mic

Shane Signorino was one of ten readers to step up to the •chance operations• open-mic at the May reading.

The next reading, at Duff's, 392 North Euclid, in the Central West End, will be held on Monday, June 27, will feature Phil Gounis, Will Kyle, and Nicky Rainey.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m.; admission is $3.

* * * *

Sometime Home Sweet St. Louis

Anyone who has struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor. --James Baldwin


Madame Candice Cane of the barrio night working Cherokee and Jefferson for too little greenbacks loose change sidewalk tic-tacs and pall malls comes to/to me

waiting on my bus chock-filled with wiser time African brothers/grandmas/grandpas/sisters
and maybe just maybe one gone slummin’ yuppie posin’ as one gone runnin' honky

Madame with her paradise lost serpent sibilant sss looking me over like potted rump roast
studying me like a bargain bin dolly with one eye three swivel limbs and soiled pinky toes

jagging about stripping Candice could tell me some stories but the black eye/shiner track marks and screaming pimp have all done a mighty fine job my beloved sad Madame

speaking of job, i sure could use me a stimulus package cackles the Eddie Murphy meets Red Foxx taxicab comedian after spilling he knows who killed Kennedy

and it wasn't no damn whatever Harvey Oswald but butt-ugly lipless grizzled white dudes in hand-me-down justice gowns

claiming their falling domino war machine can and always shall be the only game in town
and Eddie Foxx just don't understand no bailout coin for the average EveryMan/Woman

laughing aloud through his bughouse bound economic turnaround tactic . . . take
the muthafuckin money back from the crooked as shit banks we bailed out . . .

give every blue collar and below muthafucka one hundred godamn dollars an hour
then we sho gonna buy some shit

I am down/lowdown/way-down with Eddie's grandmaster plan while thinking & blinking outta dirty palm-oil-smeared window at Big Time Birdman

strutting with some dip in his hip some little glide in his stride some bit of roll in his stroll sportin' bermuda shorts & black dress socks pulled knee-high in penny loafers

pigeon feather and burnt crisp Old Glory stapled to his Vietnam Veteran baseball cap digging for filet mignon and french fries in Operation Brightside garbage cans

outside one colossal catholic church that would not allow this poor beautiful
bastard
to genuflect hard & pray simply because

he smells like fried chicken and gasoline The smart money says Jesus stunk to high heaven ain't that right Birdman ain't that wrong Birdman

closing the sacristy doors on you love starving you back sliding you in this St. Louis thicker than butter milk summer heat

on foot now here comes Old John the homeless graveyard caretaker headphones blaring what sounds like one wild hair mixology of popeye/billy graham/pink floyd/radio snow

Old Johnny gets free smokes and coffee on the richies' side of the tracks in Central West High End stocks and bonds wonderland

with egg biscuits and bagel crumbs falling from his beard to his toes sauntering down
the sidewalk asking me in his huff-puff slack jaw mumble if I got good dope to smoke

remarking You look the part of the 70s cop show street dealer boy but my answer being one fat tragic no I wonder who's gonna cry when Old John's dead & gone hopin' someone

maybe the bus stop ghetto blasting beatbox boy doing his bass drum and high hat crash
born-in-Brooklyn record scratch with only cottonmouth tongue dry spittle lips and silver

shine teeth making music to earn one solitary cigarette from me rather I give him three
one for the melody and two for the road

to east coast/west coast hip-hop-king-of-the-hill madman stardom where the suicide bomber's seventy-two virgins ain't nothin'

where pure disco shit ten-grams-in-one coke snorts ain't no thang where poor mama gets outta the ghetto cause she's oh so tired of luggin' groceries bent down

by castaways on Friends & Luvers brokeback corner of Grand & Gravois where prostitutes leave polaroids for passersby goose stepping over junkpiles days old

used jimmy hats sippy cup baby bottles bone dry skag needles 7 Come 11 Cash Blowout Gold Rush scratch-offs half-eaten White Castle belly bombers popsicle sticks

three well thumped bibles where this gotta have more more more American dream burst forth from the pulpit to the parent to the playground to the schoolhouse to the bedroom

tricklin' down like good ole fashioned Reaganomics tricklin' down New Orleans bound
streamin' down to the dregs

riff-raff/have-nots/throwaway/rabble rousers too sick & tired of bein' too sick & tired
and we soul/eye-ball deep here in St. Louis

-- Shane Signorino

Erin Goss at May Open-Mic

Erin Goss was one of ten readers to step up to the •chance operations• open-mic at the May reading. Erin will be a featured reader at Duff's on Monday, July 25.

The next reading, at Duff's, 392 North Euclid, in the Central West End, will be held on Monday, June 27, will feature Phil Gounis, Will Kyle, and Nicky Rainey.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m.; admission is $3.

Two Haikus by Susan Spit-Fire Lively

Susan Spit-Fire Lively was one of three featured readers at the Monday, May 23, reading.

The next reading, at Duff's, 392 North Euclid, in the Central West End, will be held on Monday, June 27, will feature Phil Gounis, Will Kyle, and Nicky Rainey.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m.; admission is $3.

Advance sign-up for the open-mic following the featured readers is encouraged. Click here to sign-up via e-mail.

Sustenance

It took ten years to sow crops
that will feed us with
many decades of murder.

* * *

The Agenda

These losses aren't winnable-
if goals weren't measured
in just pure dollars per hour.

-- Susan Spit-Fire Lively

"I Love You Like a Good Game of Skee-Ball" by Eileen G'Sell

Eileen G'Sell was one of three featured readers at the Monday, May 23, reading.

The next reading, at Duff's, 392 North Euclid, in the Central West End, will be held on Monday, June 27, will feature Phil Gounis, Will Kyle, and Nicky Rainey.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m.; admission is $3.

Advance sign-up for the open-mic following the featured readers is encouraged. Click here to sign-up via e-mail.

I Love You Like a Good Game of Skee-Ball

First of all, I never said that.
Second, if I drove a stick
I sure didn’t do it for Jesus.

The manuscripts are warm and the salary
depressing. Behind the stars are blue
and bold, hearts we steer toward bluer skies.

No one knows the speed of joy, and no one
speaks of sinking. I lived the way
a sailor lives, and I’ve seen swallows

starve. For I smell of love
and Suavitel, for I love the way
the sailor loves. For every second

past, a silver captain listens. If this
is the gift, and this, the giver,
then this is the sea you were meant

to receive. This is the rain
you were meant to forget,
this, the star that will not forsake you.

My handmade hypotheses are legions
on, yet no one speaks of drowning.
If I have drowned, then let it be

with you, for you, and fallen birds.
First of all, I never said
that it wasn’t something worth saying.

You were the game
I was meant to lose. But the game
was sweet, and soft, my friend,

and my hand still warm from the weight of it.

-- Eileen G'Sell

Thanks to Ink Node.

Robert Nazarene at May Reading

Robert Nazarene was one of three featured readers at the Monday, May 23, reading.

The next reading, at Duff's, 392 North Euclid, in the Central West End, will be held on Monday, June 27, will feature Phil Gounis, Will Kyle, and Nicky Rainey.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m.; admission is $3.

Advance sign-up for the open-mic following the featured readers is encouraged. Click here to sign-up via e-mail.