Thursday, March 31, 2011

Lindsey Klees to Read at Duff's in the C.W.E. on Monday, April 4

Celebrate National Poetry Month by attending the •chance operations• reading at Duff's, 392 North Euclid, on Monday, April 4. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. Cover charge is $3.00.

Featured readers will be Lindsey Klees, Bob Reuter and the award winning Canadian poet Gary Geddes.

Musical guests will be Tim Greer, tenor saxophone, Ben Kramer, bass, and Kyle Shea, drums, playing a variety of jazz standards.

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

The first 10 folks to ask will receive a FREE copy of the April issue of Poetry magazine, courtesy of the Poetry Foundation. We hope that at least a few folks will read a poem from the magazine at the open-mic.

Everyone attending will receive a copy of the chapbook "Poems for Your Pocket 2011" by Tony Renner.

Lindsey Klees graduated from Webster University with a degree in creative writing. She continues to write and read throughout St. Louis. Her poetry has been described as "creepy, great, hillbilly poetry."

When I'm at the Urinal, I'm There for Jesus

Truly I am, wherever I am.
At the post office, picking up my mail
Or cutting into a fine piece of steak.
I'm there for him when I'm punchin' in my time card
And when I'm combing over my hair.
Hell, I'm there for him every time I remember to
Brush my teeth.
I'm doing it for Jesus when I'm doing my wife,
And I'm doing it for Jesus when I'm doing
Someone else's wife.
At the bar, putting on my boots,
Or when I'm swatting flys.

When I'm at the Urinal, I'm There for Jesus.
Truly I am, wherever I am,
From the moment I unzip my fly
Through the entire piss,
And even during the jiggle at the end.

-- Lindsey Klees

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Bob Reuter to Read at Duff's in the C.W.E. on Monday, April 4

Bob Reuter reading at the Bad Shoe #5 release party at the Archive, March 15, 2011. Photo by Ben Mudd.

Celebrate National Poetry Month by attending the •chance operations• reading at Duff's, 392 North Euclid, on Monday, April 4. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. Cover charge is $3.00.

Featured readers will be Bob Reuter, Linsey Klees, and award winning Canadian poet Gary Geddes.

Musical guests will be Tim Greer, tenor saxophone, Ben Kramer, bass, and Kyle Shea, drums, playing a variety of jazz standards.

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

Bob Reuter says that he "was born right at the end of the industrial revolution in north St. Louis. The inside of his head looks like the landscape from which he grew which is to say desolate. He began playing in rock and roll bands in 1966, began writing in earnest about 1976 and began shooting pictures in 1998. He lived his first eight years in a three room apartment with six women."

not a dram or a drop.

broken boned and waiting. on back streets in the dark. come over here baby and look at my face.

bring me that shard of glass would you please -- i cant bear this second guessing over what it is that you see. back over here darlin, just follow my voice. what? i'm alright, that shit just burns in my eyes. on a long dark night, such a long time ago -- it was a gasoline town back then. i was waiting near the brick yard and you leaned your cold nose into the base of my neck and kissed my chest. it was the second week of winter and the north side of everything was blown white was blown white with snow. and the wind stung my face and your breath warmed my skin.

now look here in my eyes, the frenzy of hell is raging inside and the horror that you feel when you hear me speak aint a dram or a drop compared to that sea where the god wind strikes, an armada goes down. can you hear the screams? not a dram or a drop compared to that sea. and everyone with me is now long since gone. and what you've been fed is pure mother's milk compared to that sea...

when you turn from my eyes without saying good bye like jennifer beals just forgetting her lines, i'll be feeling the cost of every last lie... broken boned and waiting... with burning eyes....

and dont life always hold just one more surprise.

the cops are on their way

-- Bob Reuter

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Award Winning Poet Gary Geddes to Read at Duff's on Monday, April 4


Celebrate National Poetry Month by attending the •chance operations• reading at Duff's, 392 North Euclid, on Monday, April 4. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. Cover charge is $3.00.

Featured readers will be the award winning Canadian poet Gary Geddes along with Lindsey Klees and Bob Reuter.

Musical guests will be Tim Greer, tenor saxophone, Ben Kramer, bass, and Kyle Shea, drums, playing a variety of jazz standards.

Gary Geddes has written and edited more than forty books of poetry, fiction, drama, non-fiction, criticism, translation and anthologies.

Gary has won a dozen national and international literary awards, including the Commonwealth Poetry Prize (Americas Region), the National Magazine Gold Award, the Lieutenant-Governor's Award for Literary Excellence, and the Gabriela Mistral Prizes from the government of Chile, awarded simultaneously to Octavio Paz, Vaclav Havel, Ernesto Cardenal, Rafaeil Alberti and Mario Benedetti.

He is the founding editor of Quadrant Editions and Cormorant Books, has been much in demand as a lecturer abroad, and his work has been translated into half French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Chinese and Italian. He is currently teaching at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

Sandra Lee Scheuer

(Killed at Kent State University, May 4, 1970
by the Ohio National Guard
)

You might have met her on a Saturday night,
cutting precise circles, clockwise, at the Moon-Glo
Roller Rink, or walking with quick step

between the campus and a green two-storey house,
where the room was always tidy, the bed made,
the books in confraternity on the shelves.

She did not throw stones, major in philosophy
or set fire to buildings, though acquaintances say
she hated war, had heard of Cambodia.

In truth she wore a modicum of make-up, a brassiere,
and could no doubt more easily have married a guardsman
than cursed or put a flower in his rifle barrel.

While the armouries burned, she studied,
bent low over notes, speech therapy books, pages
open at sections on impairment, physiology.

And while they milled and shouted on the commons,
she helped a boy named Billy with his lisp, saying
Hiss, Billy, like a snake. That’s it, SSSSSSSS,

tongue well up and back behind your teeth.
Now buzz, Billy, like a bee. Feel the air
vibrating in my windpipe as I breathe?

As she walked in sunlight through the parking-lot
at noon, feeling the world a passing lovely place,
a young guardsman, who had his sights on her,

was going down on one knee, as if he might propose.
His declaration, unmistakable, articulate,
flowered within her, passed through her neck,

severed her trachea, taking her breath away.
Now who will burn the midnight oil for Billy,
ensure the perilous freedom of his speech;

and who will see her skating at the Moon-Glo
Roller Rink, the eight small wooden wheels
making their countless revolutions on the floor?

-- Gary Geddes

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Laura DeVoto

Laura DeVoto stepped up to the open-mic on March 14 at Duff's.

The next reading will be Monday, April 4, at Duff's, 392 North Euclid.

Featured readers will be Gary Geddes, Lindsey Klees, and Bob Reuter.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m. Cover charge is $3.00.

Musical guests are Josh Weinstein and Charles "Bobo" Shaw.

Advance sign-up for the open-mic following the featured readers is encouraged.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Daniel McGrath

Daniel McGrath stepped up to the open-mic on March 14 at Duff's.

The next reading will be Monday, April 4, at Duff's, 392 North Euclid.

Featured readers will be Gary Geddes, Lindsey Klees, and Bob Reuter.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m. Cover charge is $3.00.

Advance sign-up for the open-mic following the featured readers is encouraged.

Daniel read an English translation of the then Archbishop of Glasgow's cursing of the reivers in 1525.

Good folks, (herewith) my Archbishop of Glasgow's letters, under his round seal, directed to me, or any other chaplain, making mention with great regret, how heavy he bears the pitious, lamentable, and dolorous complaint that passes over all realms and comes to his ears by open voice and fame, how our Sovereign Lord's true lieges, men, wives, and children, bought and redeemed by the precious blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and living in his laws, are innocently, some murdered, some slain, burned, hurt, despoiled and cut openly by daylight and under silence of night, and their farms and lands laid waste, and themselves banished therefrom, also church lands as well as others, to be common traitors, rapists and thieves, dwelling in the south part of this realm, namely, Tevidale, Esdale, Liddesdale, Ewisdale, Nedisdale, and Annandereaill; they have been, in diverse ways, pursued for punishment by the temporal sword of our Sovereign Lord's authority, and they fear not the same. (The church has condemned them in fear for their souls, and it has no prohibitory effect on their actions)

And therefore, my said Archbishop of Glasgow has thought it necessary to strike them with the terrible sword of Holy Church, that they may not long endure and resist; and has charged me, or any other chaplain, to denounce, declare and proclaim them openly and generally cursed, at this market crossroads, and all other plublic places.

Herefore, through the authority of Almighty God, the Father of Heaven, His Son our Saviour, Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Ghost; through the authority of the Blessed Virgin, Saint Mary, Saint Michael, Saint Gabriel, and all the angels; Saint John the Baptist, and all the Holy patriarchs and prophets; Saint Peter, Saint Paul, Saint Andrew, and all holy apostles; Saint Stephen, Saint Lawrence, and all holy martyrs; Saint Giles, Saint Martin, and all holy confessors; Saint Anne, Saint Katherine, and all holy virgins and matrons; and of all the saints and holy company of Heaven; by the authority of our Holy Father the Pope and his cardinals, and of my said Lord, Archbishop of Glasgow, by the advice and assistance of my lords, archbishop, bishops, abbots, priors, and other prelates and ministers of Holy Church:

I denounce, proclaim and declare all the committers of the said senseless murders, slaughters, burning, torturing, plundering, raping and pillaging, openly by daylight and under silence of night, even on such peaceful ground as church lands; together with their families, henchmen, suppliers, and willing conspirators who give them refuge, their receivers of goods stolen by them, and any benefit or part thereof, and their counsellors and defenders of their evil deeds, generally CURSED, denounced, execrated, in sum total, with the GREAT CURSING.

I curse their head and all the hairs of their head; I curse their face, their brain (innermost thoughts), their mouth, their nose, their tongue, their teeth, their forehead, their shoulders, their breast, their heart, their stomach, their back, their womb, their arms, their leggs, their hands, their feet, and every part of their body, from the top of their head to the soles of their feet, before and behind, within and without.

I curse them going and I curse them riding; I curse them standing and I curse them sitting; I curse them eating and I curse them drinking; I curse them rising, and I curse them lying; I curse them at home, I curse them away from home; I curse them within the house, I curse them outside of the house; I curse their wives, their children, and their servants who participate in their deeds. I (bring ill wishes upon) their crops, their cattle, their wool, their sheep, their horses, their swine, their geese, their hens, and all their livestock. I (bring ill wishes upon) their halls, their chambers, their kitchens, their stanchions, their barns, their cowsheds, their barnyards, their cabbage patches, their plows, their harrows, and the goods and houses that are necessary for their sustenance and welfare.

May all the malevolent wishes and curses ever known, since the beginning of the world, to this hour, light on them. May the malediction of God, that fell upon Lucifer and all his fellows, that cast them from the high Heaven to the deep hell, light upon them.

May the fire and the sword that stopped Adam from the gates of Paradise, stop them from the glory of Heaven, until they forebear, and make amends.

May the evil that fell upon cursed Cain, when he slew his brother Abel, needlessly, fall on them for the needless slaughter that they commit daily.

May the malediction that fell upon all the world, man and beast, and all that ever took life, when all were drowned by the flood of Noah, except Noah and his ark, fall upon them and drown them, man and beast, and make this realm free of them, for their wicked sins.

May the thunder and lightning which rained down upon Sodom and Gomorra and all the lands surrounding them, and burned them for their vile sins, rain down upon them and burn them for their open sins. May the evil and confusion that fell on the Gigantis for their opression and pride in building the Tower of Babylon, confound them and all their works, for their open callous disregard and opression.

May all the plagues that fell upon Pharoah and his people of Egypt, their lands, crops and cattle, fall upon them, their equipment, their places, their lands, their crops and livestock.

May the waters of the Tweed and other waters which they use, drown them, as the Red Sea drowned King Pharoah and the people of Egypt, preserving God's people of Israel.

May the earth open, split and cleave, and swallow them straight to hell, as it swallowed cursed Dathan and Abiron, who disobeyed Moses and the command of God.

May the wild fire that reduced Thore and his followers to two-hundred-fifty in number, and others from 14,000 to 7,000 at anys, usurping against Moses and Aaron, servants of God, suddenly burn and consume them daily, for opposing the commands of God and Holy Church.

May the malediction that suddenly fell upon fair Absolom, riding through the wood against his father, King David, when the branches of a tree knocked him from his horse and hanged him by the hair, fall upon these untrue Scotsmen and hang them the same way, that all the world may see.

May the malediction that fell upon Nebuchadnezzar's lieutenant, Olifernus, making war and savagery upon true christian men; the malediction that fell upon Judas, Pilate, Herod, and the Jews that crucified Our Lord; and all the plagues and troubles that fell on the city of Jerusalem therefore, and upon Simon Magus for his treachery, bloody Nero, Ditius Magcensius, Olibrius, Julianus Apostita and the rest of the cruel tyrants who slew and murdered Christ's holy servants, fall upon them for their cruel tyranny and murder of Christian people.

And may all the vengeance that ever was taken since the world began, for open sins, and all the plagues and pestilence that ever fell on man or beast, fall on them for their openly evil ways, senseless slaughter and shedding of innocent blood.

I sever and part them from the church of God, and deliver them immediately to the devil of hell, as the Apostle Paul delivered Corinth. I bar the entrance of all places they come to, for divine service and ministration of the sacraments of holy church, except the sacrament of infant baptism, only; and I forbid all churchmen to hear their confession or to absolve them of their sins, until they are first humbled / subjugated by this curse.

I forbid all christian men or women to have any company with them, eating, drinking, speaking, praying, lying, going, standing, or in any other deed-doing, under the pain of deadly sin.

I discharge all bonds, acts, contracts, oaths, made to them by any persons, out of loyalty, kindness, or personal duty, so long as they sustain this cursing, by which no man will be bound to them, and this will be binding on all men.

I take from them, and cast down all the good deeds that ever they did, or shall do, until they rise from this cursing.

I declare them excluded from all matins, masses, evening prayers, funerals or other prayers, on book or bead (rosary); of all pigrimages and alms deeds done, or to be done in holy church or be christian people, while this curse is in effect.

And, finally, I condemn them perpetually to the deep pit of hell, there to remain with Lucifer and all his fellows, and their bodies to the gallows of Burrow moor, first to be hanged, then ripped and torn by dogs, swine, and other wild beasts, abominable to all the world. And their candle (light of their life) goes from your sight, as may their souls go from the face of God, and their good reputation from the world, until they forebear their open sins, aforesaid, and rise from this terrible cursing and make satisfaction and penance.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Our Mascot


Ben Spector made this nifty sculpture at the reading at Duff's on March 14. Thanks, Ben!

The next reading will be Monday, April 4, at Duff's, 392 North Euclid.

Featured readers will be Gary Geddes, Lindsey Klees, and Bob Reuter.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m. Cover charge is $3.00.

Advance sign-up for the open-mic following the featured readers is encouraged.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Kristina Marie Darling


Kristina Marie Darling was one of the featured readers at the •chance operations• reading on March 14.

The next reading will be Monday, April 4, at Duff's, 392 North Euclid.

Featured readers will be Gary Geddes, Lindsey Klees, and Bob Reuter.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m. Cover charge is $3.00.

Advance sign-up for the open-mic following the featured readers is encouraged.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

"Luft" by Chris Parr


Chris Parr was one of the featured readers at the •chance operations• reading on March 14.

The next reading will be Monday, April 4, at Duff's, 392 North Euclid.

Featured readers will be Gary Geddes, Lindsey Klees, and Bob Reuter.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m. Cover charge is $3.00.

Advance sign-up for the open-mic following the featured readers is encouraged.

Luft

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

"lithe napkin" by Buzz Spector

Buzz Spector was one of the featured readers at the •chance operations• reading on March 14.

The next reading will be Monday, April 4, at Duff's, 392 North Euclid.

Featured readers will be Gary Geddes, Bob Reuter, and Lindsey Klees.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m. Cover charge is $3.00.

Advance sign-up for the open-mic following the featured readers is encouraged.

lithe napkin

[PMX:# mutatis mutandis]

I.

Lithe napkin single warlike declamatory unit calibrate
meridional canteen locomotor sandwich dichondra elephant
shortstop Aleph crewman extraditable capstone genealogy
sculptor balmy courthouse Erasmus emboss guzzle sequin
mound strobe burgundian tensile distaff illicit antiquated bug
decennial sledgehammer warranty lore moldboard plasma
bedpost warren amber bicker canyon spleen effectual
Benedictine contagion biddy crystallographic lacunae
penultimate relinquish tetrafluouride trespass gallantry.

Gladden fiscal coaxial serum sedimentary east amplitude
concede civilian affair economist dogtrot icosahedral nectary
parabolic siamese winters artery bob compulsory libidinous
embossure bullhead adhesion boredom pietism uttermost
automotive bass cantabrigian insincere energy Casanova afar
deed sierra profundity shred placeable witch handicraft
greenhouse scrupulous sportsman sowbelly godwit Dada
contrary citric byte allegory julep gerundive supranational
parsimony peltry rancid liquefaction Bruegel vinyl gerundial.

Tombstone sport altar camel instantaneous philosophy forty
newt basket addle bandy dignity convenient caribou sixtieth
illimitable attempt cogitate godson frolic addressograph
metamorphic productivity catechism clientele despondent
divisive bean game honorific perchance hostler bourbon
tournament Rwanda very cholinesterase pitiable centipede
Neanderthal hierarchic squeal injurious beholden horrible
flash Midas shearer attribution bit deterred serve spindle tense
nutritious sheath amaze diatomaceous soapstone infield.

Amplitude coarse placental temperature chlorophyll zesty
apprentice kitten greasy convivial Churchillian ingather base
deforestation vehement circumscription bobble trinket
orchestra imprecision bingle blip agouti encumbrance ruffled
trance tilth bog sleet sulk cetus chargeable warrior
mainstream tip sphinx cliffhanging befogged old neoclassic
booth terrace antigorite cadence malice capstone wear more
hepatica nitrate paternoster Horatian groundsel whizzing
concomitant accent sectarian trot fume mastic mullah.

© 2011 by Buzz Spector

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Learn, Artist! Musical Guest at Duff's on Monday, March 14

Robin Allen and Gena Brady Allen of Learn, Artist! performing at the October 25 •chance operations• reading.

Learn, Artist! will provide the musical interludes at the Monday, March 14, reading at Duff's, 392 North Euclid.

Featured readers will be Kristina Marie Darling, •chance operations• co-founder Chris Parr, and Buzz Spector.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m. Cover charge is $3.00.

Advance sign-up for the open-mic following the featured readers is encouraged.

Now playing: Learn, Artist! recorded live at Duff's on October 25, 2010:

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Buzz Spector to Read at Duff's in the CWE on Monday, March 14


Buzz Spector will be one of the featured readers at the next reading at Duff's, 392 North Euclid, on Monday, March 14.

Other readers will be •chance operations• co-founder Chris Parr and Kristina Marie Darling.

Musical guest will be Learn, Artist!; doors open at 7:30 p.m. Cover charge is $3.00.

Advance sign-up for the open-mic following the featured readers is encouraged.

Buzz Spector’s artwork has been the focus of exhibitions in such museums and galleries as the Art Institute of Chicago, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and the Luigi Pecci Centre for Contemporary Art, Prato, Italy.

His art makes frequent use of the book, both as subject and object, and is concerned with relationships between public history, individual memory, and perception.

Spector’s poetry and experimental writing has been published in various journals and reviews since the 1970s, including Benzene, Café Solo, and River Styx. He is the author of The Book Maker's Desire, critical essays on topics in contemporary art and artists' books (Umbrella Editions, 1995), and numerous exhibition catalogue essays. A volume of selected interviews of Spector plus new page art, Buzzwords, is scheduled for publication in 2011 by Sara Ranchouse, Chicago.

Spector is Dean of the College and Graduate School of Art in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis.

active voice

bistro
orbits

café
face

coffeehouse
echo of use

premises
mere sips

tenet
tenet

sparrow
raw prose

gesture
urge set

aperitivo
trivial ope

murmur
rum rum

syntax
textyng

voice
voice

-- Buzz Spector

Below: Word works by Buzz Spector.


Chris Parr to Read at Duff's in the CWE on Monday, March 14


Chris Parr, co-founder of •chance operations•, will be one of the featured readers at the next reading at Duff's, 392 North Euclid, on Monday, March 14.

Other readers will be Buzz Spector and Kristina Marie Darling.

Musical guest will be Learn, Artist!; doors open at 7:30 p.m. Cover charge is $3.00.

Advance sign-up for the open-mic following the featured readers is encouraged.

Chris Parr is a performance poet who has read his work at art spaces, music venues, and poetry events, in his native New Zealand, as well as in Boston, New York and St. Louis.

Word Block


-- Chris Parr

Original handwritten •chance operations• "peoplefesto:"

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Kristina Marie Darling To Read at Duff's in the CWE on Monday, March 14


Kristina Marie Darling will be one of the featured readers at the next reading at Duff's, 392 North Euclid, on Monday, March 14. Other readers will be •chance operations• co-founder Chris Parr and Buzz Spector. Musical guest will be Learn, Artist!; doors open at 7:30 p.m. Advance sign-up for the open-mic following the featured readers is encouraged. Cover charge is $3.00.

Kristina Marie Darling is the author of two full-length collections of poetry: Night Songs (Gold Wake Press, 2010) and Compendium (Cow Heavy Books, 2011). She has been awarded fellowships and grants from the Vermont Studio Center, the Ragdale Foundation, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the Elizabeth George Foundation. Her editorial projects include an anthology, narrative (dis)continuities: prose experiments by younger American writers (VOX Press, 2011), and a volume of critical essays forthcoming from Cambridge Scholars Press.

The New Conductor

The old opera house had been turned into a discotheque, but no one bothered to remove the red velvet curtains, the gilt cornices, or the great plaster cherubs above each doorway. When the musicians arrived, dressed in sleek tuxedos and red bow-ties, only the building's smallest embellishments seemed familiar. Apparently a new conductor has taken the podium, one of the violinists mused. Then as the dancing began, and a cold white light shone above them, they all sensed a coup d'etat had taken effect since they'd last performed. And that only the concierge, with her long white hair, knew when the old conductor would return.

-- Kristina Marie Darling

Monday, March 7, 2011

Scott Miller

Scott Miller was one of several open-mic readers at the February •chance operations• reading at Duff's.

The next reading at Duff's, 392 North Euclid, will be Monday, March 14. Featured readers will be Kristina Marie Darling, •chance operations• co-founder Chris Parr, and Buzz Spector. Musical guest will be Learn, Artist!; doors open at 7:30 p.m. Advance sign-up for the open-mic following the featured readers is encouraged. Cover charge is $3.00.

Sam Davis

Sam Davis was one of several open-mic readers at the February •chance operations• reading at Duff's.

The next reading at Duff's, 392 North Euclid, will be Monday, March 14. Featured readers will be Kristina Marie Darling, •chance operations• co-founder Chris Parr, and Buzz Spector. Musical guest will be Learn, Artist!; doors open at 7:30 p.m. Advance sign-up for the open-mic following the featured readers is encouraged. Cover charge is $3.00.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

"Copperhead" by Ryan Smith

Ryan Smith was one of several open-mic readers at the February •chance operations• reading at Duff's.

The next reading at Duff's, 392 North Euclid, will be Monday, March 14. Featured readers will be Kristina Marie Darling, •chance operations• co-founder Chris Parr, and Buzz Spector. Musical guest will be Learn, Artist!; doors open at 7:30 p.m. Advance sign-up for the open-mic following the featured readers is encouraged. Cover charge is $3.00.

Copperhead

At night you tune the radio between stations
and return your arms to the light bones of her sides
like shells you return imperfectly to the sea.
You need the solvent of the wrong tuning,
reminding you of the whales that pod in the waters
between two harbors, nesting pavilions of squid,
the comforting wax of ambergris in their bellies.
Half-songs interrupt either side of this tuning
like children’s bodies do the shallows, the branches,
the mud,
                              until you can will them away. Until
at once, there is only a hiss, the rustle of dry skin
sliding over stones. And you recall the skin you found
sloughed off entirely, once, still pieced with a pattern
of earthen jars, dark as still-wet driftwood.
Its tail pinched between your fingers, its architecture
spilled like a staircase.
                                                            Your arms return then
from her sides, and in their passing your palms brush
over a rib, as though to catch their rough patterns
on the weight of it, unravel them. They of course remain,
as does she, and that is the tenderness of you both.
When you come apart, you will not do it whole.

-- Ryan Smith

"Stick shifts and Steep Cliffs" by Christy Callahan

Christy Callahan was one of several participants in the open-mic at the February 28 reading at Duff's.

The next reading at Duff's, 392 North Euclid, will be Monday, March 14. Featured readers will be Kristina Marie Darling, •chance operations• co-founder Chris Parr, and Buzz Spector. Musical guest will be Learn, Artist!; doors open at 7:30 p.m. Advance sign-up for the open-mic following the featured readers is encouraged. Cover charge is $3.00.

Stick shifts and Steep Cliffs

My first observation of County Clare: it stinks.
The man to cow ratio appears to be a toss-up.
I scribble in my journal not only to document
every sight, every feeling, every, well, smell,
but to distract myself from the urge to advise
you on your driving skills and reckless speed
in our tiny Irish rental car on tiny Irish roads.

We arrive at the Cliffs of Moher, jerking
into a parking spot, too close for your comfort.
Still high on your Jason Statham-esque joyride
through Connemara, you lower your voice,
say, Let me just back this baby up a bit and lurch
our Polo into the car in front of us.

You claim to be a victim of culture shock.

A harpist charms as we climb stairs in the June
breeze; birds holler and flap, playing tag
as turquoise water crashes against jagged rocks.
Atop the Cliffs, we pose for pictures in matching
windbreakers, stare at etched limestone
and struggle to find descriptors besides Indescribable.

On the way to the bed and breakfast, we stop
at the store to restock on candy and Corn Nuts.
In the lot, the man in front of our car unloads groceries
into his trunk: orange juice, tea, and brown bread.
As you prepare to reverse out of our spot, I throw my hands
over my mouth as the car jumps forward again.

He steps toward you, calmly taps on the window, and says
A few weeks in the hospital would have been a holiday.


-- Christy Callahan

"In St. Louis Before A Concert" by Will Kyle

Will Kyle was not only our musical guest at the February 28 reading at Duff's he was also one of several participants in the open-mic.

The next reading at Duff's, 392 North Euclid, will be Monday, March 14. Featured readers will be Kristina Marie Darling, •chance operations• co-founder Chris Parr, and Buzz Spector. Musical guest will be Learn, Artist!; doors open at 7:30 p.m. Advance sign-up for the open-mic following the featured readers is encouraged. Cover charge is $3.00.

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

Saturday, March 5, 2011

"For She" by Byron Lee


Byron Lee was one of several open-mic readers at the February •chance operations• reading at Duff's.

The next reading at Duff's, 392 North Euclid, will be Monday, March 14. Featured readers will be Kristina Marie Darling, •chance operations• co-founder Chris Parr, and Buzz Spector. Musical guest will be Learn, Artist!; doors open at 7:30 p.m. Advance sign-up for the open-mic following the featured readers is encouraged. Cover charge is $3.00.

For She

Night turns into midnight in our
Waning time together. We speak in
Disguise. Big goodbye encased in
Small talk.

I wanted more from you than
You could give me, and
I asked for it in the
Worst way.

You use to
Burn me to a
Crisp.

I miss the
Singe.

-- Byron Lee

"silhouette" by Chris Parr

Chris Parr, co-founder of •chance operations•, took the opportunity presented by the February open-mic at Duff's to read a couple of new poems.

The next reading at Duff's, 392 North Euclid, will be Monday, March 14. Featured readers will be Kristina Marie Darling, and Buzz Spector. Musical guest will be Learn, Artist!; doors open at 7:30 p.m. Advance sign-up for the open-mic following the featured readers is encouraged. Cover charge is $3.00.

silhouette

(for Tino: at Laumeier Sculpture Park, 30.1.2011)

Beside Ernest Trova’s "Two
Poets Standing" I became
one poet slipping, the mud
& gravel beside the sculpture’s
concrete base softer than it
looked, from days of snow, rain.
My boots left deep divots,
gouged footprints. Color -–
lighter browns than the Cor-Ten
steel silhouettes, plus gravel grays.
Surface texture scumbled
where this poet stumbled, but
stayed on his feet, a third form
upright (just!)
& silhouette
in chill winter sun …

Friday, March 4, 2011

"Trouble There on the Frontier" by Steven D. Schroeder


Steven D. Schroeder was one of three featured readers at Duff's on February 28.

The next reading at Duff's, 392 North Euclid, will be Monday, March 14. Featured readers will be Kristina Marie Darling, •chance operations• co-founder Chris Parr, and Buzz Spector. Musical guest will be Learn, Artist!; doors open at 7:30 p.m. Advance sign-up for the open-mic following the featured readers is encouraged. Cover charge is $3.00.

Trouble There on the Frontier

When water and government and children disappear
We take apocalyptic scripture seriouser and seriouser.

Coyotes mentor hens in history of the West they alter,
Chant chicken neck chicken foot then put them on the altar.

Legs of rumor running down this cowtown spread
Plagues and fantail sprays colored chorus girl red.

Hot shotgun hut admits no sunlight so we burn it.
Horse of course can’t recanter its curses so we burn it.

We draw Colt Peacemakers and X’s all over our maps
Traveled in covered wagons circling back to traps.

Autocracy and automobile and automatic buffalo
Sheriff’s deputies and dentists moved from Buffalo.
Trainhorn don't you know there’s no return to buffalo?

-- Steven D. Schroeder


Note: Originally published in Pleiades.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

"The Beggars and Poor" by Stephen Iles


Stephen Iles was one of three featured readers at Duff's on February 28. Stephen was a last-minute replacement for Bob Reuter.

The next reading at Duff's, 392 North Euclid, will be Monday, March 14. Featured readers will be Kristina Marie Darling, •chance operations• co-founder Chris Parr, and Buzz Spector. Musical guest will be Learn, Artist!; doors open at 7:30 p.m. Advance sign-up for the open-mic following the featured readers is encouraged. Cover charge is $3.00.

The Beggars and Poor

II.
You know,
“When you give, you’ll receive.
               And threefold.
Especially when you give
with an open heart.”

I’m hoping.

“You will... the Bible says that.”
My last dollar later
and he likes Coltrane (too),
“the good stuff.”

III.
Sorry man, I just gave
my last dollar to the man down there collecting
for the shelter. I think it was
Saint...
“Ah, I understand.”
Good luck though.

I dislike blind left turns in start the night traffic.

I.
I turned away
               wholly or just my eyes,
I changed their position,
our unsettling my eased motion
amid the multitude of strangers

how did you notice me?
I turned away.

I knew you were there, I felt
you more than the passers-by,
more because it took effort
disregarding you.

-- Stephen Iles

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

"No More Room for English Professors" by Catherine Rankovic

Catherine Rankovic was one of three featured readers at Duff's on February 28.

The next reading at Duff's, 392 North Euclid, will be Monday, March 14. Featured readers will be Kristina Marie Darling, •chance operations• co-founder Chris Parr, and Buzz Spector. Musical guest will be Learn, Artist!; doors open at 7:30 p.m. Advance sign-up for the open-mic following the featured readers is encouraged. Cover charge is $3.00.

No More Room for English Professors

The world has no more room for English professors.
I saw the last of them: Men of little flesh, they faded like pages
and at last became paper,
and one or two were painted in oils
and hung among their books.
Those who taught the use of The Readers Guide to Periodical Literature,
who taught The Canterbury Tales using thirty-year-old notes,
and sent students to read manuscripts on microfiche,
and took sabbaticals,
who mumbled, “Be that as it may...” and “so to speak,”
who sobered up on Antabuse or electroshock,
men wearing cordovan wing-tips,
or socks and sandals, with tenure, I saw the very last one
from a mullioned window: with a mustache now gray,
crossing the campus, as dashing as a minnow,
while forty-five part-time instructors,
barbarians in lumberjack shirts,
replace his books and journals
with materials easier to throw away.
The world has no more room for English professors,
their offices divided, remodeled, their departments
now run by Visigoths and flashy scholars.
I witnessed their filing away
underground, in reverse alphabetical order.

--Catherine Rankovic