Open Mic: Paul Staples and Zach Heaton

Paul Staples

Zach Heaton

We were short on readers for the open mic so Paul Staples kindly fetched his guitar and he and Zach Heaton entertained us with song!

The next •Chance Operations• reading will be Monday, August 2, at Duff's in the Central West End.

Medicine Man by Colin Michael Shaw

Colin Michael Shaw made his debut public reading Monday, June 14.

Medicine Man

We rolled into Elephant Butte at Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, in the afternoon, wiped out from our stay with Ernie in Las Cruces, as Rudy’s nephew Cipriano has watered us down with great enthusiasm there. DogWolf appeared at a little food stand with a giant wooden Sasquatch holding a fish out front. He introduced us to the proprietor, Two Bulls, a small and quiet man who took us down the hill to show off the little nightclub he was having built. After touring the tiny construct, we all agreed that we’d best reconvene under cover from the glaring afternoon sun at the local inn for some refreshment.

Back at the inn, situated within a breathtaking view of the lake and surrounding mountains, Kevin and I secured a room around the corner from DogWolf’s and retired to the lounge. There, Rudy and DogWolf shouted back and forth, laughing at each other's expense, recollections of wilder days gone by, while DogWolf’s wife and Two Bulls bummed Marlboro Lights off me. DogWolf refused our money, calling round after round until we were good and drunk. Just as we were about to move the party up to our room for an impromptu jam session on guitar, Two Bulls, who had barely uttered a word the entire evening spoke up, "You guys want a little medicine?" Rudy lit up with a big grin, "Yes we do!"

Back at the room laughing and drinking continued, as Kevin, DogWolf, and Rudy played and sang. Two Bulls popped in the door then, opening his tobacco can to reveal the magic ingredient for an entirely different kind of evening. We all greedily took our rationed dose and partied on. It wasn’t long though before everything had suddenly changed for everyone, but for myself, a Missouri boy far away from home in that strange Southwestern land, like never before. After the initial laughing match with Rudy, I began to see colors and patterns in the setting sun, becoming one with everything around -- the mountains and sky outside our room, the ceiling and wallpaper, the faces of my friends. I must have been wide-eyed, as Two Bulls looked at me knowingly, "That’s some good medicine, huh?" He continued on, seeming to speak from inside my head, "People come here... They don’t know anything. They don’t know about this land, who was here before us... What’s going on...."

-- Colin Michael Shaw, 2002

Photos from •Chance Operations• #3

Stefene Russell

Gena Brady Allen

Eileen G'Sell
Many thanks to our featured readers, Stefene Russell, Gena Brady Allen, and Eileen G'Sell. Thanks to Colin Michael Shaw for making his public reading debut at our open mic. Thanks, also, to Paul Staples and Zach Heaton, who closed out the evening with song.

The next •Chance Operations• reading will be Monday, August 2, at Duff's in the Central West End.

Eileen G'Sell to Read on Monday, June 14, at Duff's in the CWE

The next •Chance Operations• reading will be Monday, June 14, at Duff's, 392 North Euclid Avenue, in the Central West End. Doors will open at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $3.

Featured readers for June 14 are Gena Brady Allen, Eileen G'Sell, and Stefene Russell. Interested readers may sign-up for the open mic first come-first serve at the reading.

Eileen G'Sell teaches English and film studies at Washington University in St. Louis, where she is also publications editor at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum. Recent and forthcoming work can be found in Ninth Letter, Zone 3, Interim, and the Boston Review.

Anniversary

I have not been charged for the closet that was
filled with birds,
silt, gloves, and the dullness of petals.

Yet my heart was clean from the very first.
My hands were ready
and opened like gifts.
In sleep, the sound of hours rushed
across the street to ravish me.

I have made light of many things
and that's why we can see in here.

-- Eileen G'Sell

[to be published in Zone 3, Fall 2010]

Gena Brady Allen to Read at Duff's in the CWE on Monday, June 14

The next •Chance Operations• reading will be Monday, June 14, at Duff's in the Central West End. Doors will open at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $3.

Featured readers for June 14 are Gena Brady Allen, Eileen G'Sell, and Stefene Russell. Interested readers may sign-up for the open mic first come-first serve at the reading.

Gena Brady Allen is a tongue-tied defender of the senses, usually found behind a camera. Born and raised in St. Louis near the airport, she is comforted by the sound of planes overhead and loud things in general. In 2009, her DIY nature led her to self-publish her first book, Transients Welcome, featuring her photography and words. This will be the debut reading of her poetry.

Sometimes drowning

Sometimes drowning
Staring at bones,
and dry things.
Dry and regal
Dignified bones
Stately even
Come from darkness
Come from wet
Leave dry
Black into black
My heart races
Things in common
Family of Woman
Family of Family
Unanswered questions
Black and blue
Ribbons and flesh
Surviving for awhile
Swimming in trash,
and entertainment.

Avoiding,
I look away.
Doesn’t bother some
But me
My stomach hurts
Don’t need no manufactured feelings
I feel my own shit

-- Gena Brady Allen