St. Lawrence Area Poets

Breaking story!!!  There's a reading at the Partridge Cafe in downtown Canton next Saturday, March 21st, @ 4:00 in the afternoon.  Everyone is invited to make use of the glittering hi-tech imaginary mike & to listen to featured reader Janice Brabaw who is driving up from Brooklyn for this brief poetry barnstorming tour of the North Country.  Janice's latest book Universe, Disturbed has sold quite well & has received good reviews.  I know that she's been writing a lot lately so maybe we'll be treated to a spate of new poetry.  I wish I had some new material to share, but the old pen's gone dry for now.  And that's the day after the opening of Spring so maybe we'll get to hear lyrical vernal equinox verse.  Bring some poems & bring a friend. 

Urgent plea for poetry for our SLAP Poetry Newsletter!  I'm working on the April issue & would like some work from anyone w/ a North Country connection.  That would include students.  E-mail queries or poems to me at ataraxia1114@aim.com for consideration.  These newsletters are distributed liberally throughout the Canton-Potsdam area so your poems will reach a fairly wide audience.  There are space restrictions so try to send shorter work.  Hope to hear from you soon.

I also need to mention the death of local poet Max Coots.  Coots died on March 3rd at the age of 81 at his home in Canton.  Coots was a long-time minister at the Canton Unitarian-Universalist Church & since retiring back in the early 90's had concentrated on poetry & sculpture.  His crazy clay & twisted iron figures could be found at many local shops & galleries.  Coots was a gentle, reflective man who will be missed.

Other poetry events are coming up in the next few weeks so don't forget to check this blog every week or two.  Until next time, don't be lazy like me--write some amazing poems.  Throw the rulebook out the window--defenestrate it (but don't hit anyone on the head), & let those subterranean deities emerge.    

Music listened to while writing this blog: The New Radicals.