Women's Voices at the Bank Street Coffeehouse

Four differing voices made an interesting evening for poetry in New Milford last night. The reading, called "Women's Voices" was organized by reporter and poet Susan Tuz, who made the poster on the right.  I snapped the picture as it hung in the coffeehouse window and you can see a faint reflection of the buildings on Bank Street.

The four poets were Susan Tuz, Joan Kantor, Robin Sampon & me. (Mad Mar Walker - no pic of me):

Question the glib backslapper

If anyone claims me as a friend, expresses a vague acquaintance with my story (or even details as they are right here on this blog) don't assume it's true, ask me.

Con men use other people's name's like skeleton keys to unlock the door of opportunity. They climb them like stairs, and from each step leverage access to the next, maneuvering cleverly, to get close to key people who can vet them to others, to get assess to opportunity and funding. We more readily believe a big lie widely told, with ready grins and easy conversation.

If someone comes out of nowhere consider how they appeared and from where...

Bucket & Brush Painting did a nice and speedy job

We a had a good experience with Bucket & Brush recently. Maisy's bedroom and hallway including the cealing needed work to cover insulation plugs in part of her ceiling. They came in at 8am, did the work and were gone by three pm. No hassel at all. It's a nice job too.

This video talks about their services. (Okay - it's an ad, but they did a great job.)

Pop Up Art - fabulous works right in Bethel

Pop Up Art, curated by local artist and poet Mike Seri, had a depth to it, of style and nuance. It had some amazing intricate engaging works, lots of whimsy, and plenty of opportunities to look into the human alter ego as well - in many different media.  I missed the opening, but enjoyed everything so much when I finally got to see it. The video above was produced by Take Notice Productions which has its own Youtube channel.

Artists in the show include: Erin Nazzaro, Frank Foster Post, Tarol Samuelson, Katie Bassett, Juan Andreu, David Teti, Eric Camiel, Leslie Pelino, Bibiana Matheis, Nicole Cudzilo, Juan Andreu, Michael Morris, Joseph Farris, Tara Burgess, Ival Stratford-Kovner, Judith Wyer, Suzanne Ross, Tanya Kukucka, Kathleen Benton, Keith Dube, FranK Kara, Chris Durante, Kenny Hess, Justin Buto, F. Henry-Meehan, Jim Felice

The gallery is opposite the Bethel cinema.

Video no long up I guess.

Watch "Pop Up Art Bethel - Contemporary Pop Up Art Gallery Reception" on YouTube

Piercy's Woman on the Edge of Time

Although I've always thought of Marge Piercy, the author of Woman on the Edge of Time,  as a poet -  she is also a novelist.  This particular book is an odd and interesting novel which came out in 1976, one of a half dozen novels she wrote. According to Wikipedia it's "considered a classic of utopian "speculative" science fiction as well as a feminist classic."  (I picked this up this classic at Newtown's annual blow-out used book sale. It's a great sale!)

Woman on the Edge of Time is sort of a sci-fi tapestry woven with intricate anthropological/futurist twists, inner-landscape psychological-chatmeup, environmental philosophy and humanity.  It's not a quick read but I liked the heroine Consuelo, and felt compelled to keep reading.

Much of the plot occurs in some bleak present time in an insane asylum where regard for human rights is not in evidence and the abuse of the powerless by those with sometimes only a crumb more power, is rampant.  The other half  unfolds in fits and starts in a egalitarian argraian New England village in the far future where men and women are equals and balance in all things is important.

And it is a book that requires thinking as some aspects of the plot are not particularly obvious until you ponder them in retrospect. It's ending was not was I supposed.

And in the end it's hard to tell what really happened.  Did Consuelo save the future with her violent eposode in the present?  Was she railroaded by the power structure of patriarchy or was she really crazy?  I was also left wondering if Piercy meant to say that the end justifies the means.  Was it the 60s declaring war on what came before and perhaps what came after?

 Each reader must decide for themselves.
Woman on the Edige of Time at Google Books
Woman on the Edge of Time - Wikipedia
Woman on the Edge of Time - Amazon

Fibers in Fine Art - unexpected intricacies

When I hear the word fiber I used to think digestion.  But not this week. Two different shows - one local, one vicarious - have pointed me toward its capacity for beauty.

The local show is at Art and Frame in Danbury (Rte 6 near Camomile).  These pics don't do it justice as each has so many subtleties and such understated nuance. The artist name is Paula Renee and she combines weaving and knotting, applied color and collaged papers (I am guessing here) with wonderful sense of color. She's won two awards: One from the Society for Creative Arts of Newtown for best in show (a silk "stiching" called Red Trees Lakeside, and another from The New Canaan Society for the Arts for a mixed media work called Brain Storming.. The photos here are not very good.

Her stuff is only up until tomorrow so get out this weekend and see this free exhibit. You might take one home even - as there are many small sized, matted items with good prices!

The vicarious show - well that is an online article about artist Lauren DiCioccio's gorgeous  hand embriodered issues of the New York Times. This is not your momma's embroidery. It is MOMA's kind of embroidery though. Check out Katie Hosner's great article at http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/lauren-dicioccio-sewnnews

Supposedly enlightened closet chauvinist

Last week I had very unfortunate series of electronic exchanges with a senior citizen who runs some sort of poetry/jazz/improv open mic over in Westchester County, New York.

This man was berating a friend of mine on her Facebook page for her involvement with slam poetry and with her boy friend who is also involved in it. She asked me to look at the posts which she thought were a bit creepy. And wow, he'd said some pretty gross things on her pages. Later - he more or less excused it all, saying enlightened people are never wrong. ( How 'bout that! )

He had taken the position that slam is "evil." He said he knew two women with tragic lives he was trying to "help" who left off consulting or consorting with him and turned to male slam poets instead, and they had come to no good ends. he said. Now, one of those people was someone I knew who'd had a whole constellation of problems not one of which stemmed from slam. The things he said about her were just wrong. Yet he thought he knew better, than anyone else, as a paternalistic "enlightened" male guru just trying to guide a few poor confused women.... (grrr)

Essentially he was saying that because some men involved in slam hurt some women who were involved - we should ban slam. This seems pretty self-serving for someone who runs a series that competes with local slams for venues, funding and community involvement and of course, women poets.... And by this logic we should ban men because sometimes they hurt women. And the opposite could be said as well. It's all pretty silly. And the self-declared "enlightened" seem to be an catastrophically unreliable source for life guidance. More like a fount of bad advice.