3/23 Free Fucking Poems About Fucking @ Glitter Box Theater

7:30 SATURDAY

Welcome, fuckers, to the latest installation in FREE POEMS – FREE FUCKING POEMS ABOUT FUCKING. This time it’s about fucking.

Headlining Fuckers:
David Graham/ Requiem
Cherri Baum
Noel Pabillo Mariano
Chelsea Margaret Bodnar
John Thomas
Sundae Service
Kelly Boyker
Bebe Beretta
Michael Todd Schneider
Nikki Palmer

With face painting by Hanna Wilford! Get a dick or a vagina or some boobies or a butt plug or whatever painted on your face!

Also with poems/performances by: Ｍｉｓｓ　Ｍａｃｒｏｓｓ, Art Ettinger, Ed Pinto, Jeff Boyle, Kelly Lorraine Andrews, Nathan Moore, Olivia Devorah, Philip Kunkle, Sarah B Boyle, Shawn Maddey and a very very very (very) special performance from Peter Zumpano

And featuring like 20 other assholes we’ll have a list of eventually like fuck man this is a lot of work.

We’re changing up venues this time and will be fucking off at The Glitter Box Theater on Saturday, March 23rd for all the fucking you can handle, and a lot you probably can’t.

FREE FUCKING POEMS is an arts anarchy event themed around….wait for it…FUCKING, and vaguely around poetry.

If you have been solicited for a poem in the FREE FUCKING POEMS ABOUT FUCKING anthology, congratulations, you’re a performer! Let us know (here, via email, or via PM) if you plan to come out and share your fuck on stage so we can schedule a time slot for you to alienate all of your friends!

As always, there will be open stage time for anyone who writes and wants to read a (one, singular) fuck poem of their very own! We’ll let you know how we’re gonna deal with that closer to the event itself. Probably a sign up sheet. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it

JUST A HEADS UP YOU WILL SEE AT LEAST 1 DICK. LIKE, A REAL ONE NOT A PICTURE OF ONE AND PROBABLY LOTS OF OTHER GENITALS. SOMEONE GETS WEIRD ABOUT THIS AT EVERY FREE POEMS SO HERE IT IS IN CAPS RIGHT NOW. DICK DICK DICK DICK 8==D

FAQs

Q. How can I help/add to the FREE FUCKING experience?
A. We are so glad you asked! Oh my! How kind of you! We need help with everything from live-streaming the event to bringing beer and liquor, to bringing extra toilet paper (I cannot imagine Glitterbox is prepared for the amount of tp this event seems to go through), to bringing snacks! Closer to the event we will post a wish list, but if there is something you super duper want to bring my goodness, but we shall be chuffed!

Q. Can I sell/buy something/give you money/participate in late stage capitalism in any capacity at FREE POEMS?
A. No.

Q. What the fuck is FREE POEMS?
A. We don’t fucking know. FREE POEMS has happened 3 times now. It was born of a desire to giggle but also shed as much pretense and opportunism and FUCKING FASCISM from the experience of creative communion as possible and put a bunch of our genius but often overlooked friends all in a room at once and watch them be amazed by each other. First time was SNAKES, next was MONSTERS, then came JESUS. Now we’re here. We put together a book, too. We don’t fucking know.

Q. Can I read/perform at FREE POEMS?
A. I guess. Idk. Do you fuck? In all seriousness, yes there is open mic time integrated into FREE POEMS every year. You don’t need to let us know ahead of time if you will want to sign up, just show up and find the list. There is a time limit of one poem/2 minutes per person, though, so do keep that in mind.

Q. What is considered a poem at FREE POEMS?
A. Your question should probably be “what isn’t considered a poem?” because pretty much anything you want to read/perform/do on stage is a poem at FREE POEMS, provided it is on theme (fucking)

Q. I know a poet/band/trapeze artist/sex doll that would be perfect for your event! Can they perform?
A. If they can squeeze it into 2 minutes! Our lineup and the poems we put in the FREE POEMS book are all solicited, but the best way to get a featured spot/solicitation at a subsequent event, is to show up at FREE POEMS and do a thing on stage during open mic time. It is not by giving us beer or press or bj’s. That said, definitely give us beer. Maybe press. We can get our own bj’s tho, thanks. We’re not players we just crush a lot.

Q. Can I bring my kid?
A. LOL no not this time. We are legit going to show porn probably. Leave the kid at home for fuck’s sake. Even if they are 17. When they turn 18 take them to get their nipples pierced and bring them to FREE POEMS.

Q. Are there rules about content at FREE POEMS?
A. Your poem or performance must, in some way, be about/contain/depict FUCKING. Otherwise, we eschew censorship, so also keep that in mind as an audience member – people are probably going to say shit that makes you feel weird (good weird and bad weird). It’s ok to step outside if you get the vapors. And if you’re still mad at us after you get some air, it’s ok to go home and leave us the fuck alone, we’ll never get along.

DISCLAIMER: We shouldn’t have to say this, but alas. I don’t give a fuck what the content of someone’s performance is – don’t touch anyone without express consent to do so and don’t be a mean gross creeper. Also don’t fuck shame anyone for what they share. We have a bouncer named Rocco (seriously) and we are not afraid to use him.

DISCLAIMER #2: it occurred to Margaret when she was taking a shower yesterday that we should probably mention that this is not a play party or a swinger thing, it’s really honestly actually an art event. I mean, I hope someone goes home with someone else’s wife or something, and while you CAN spank someone at FREE POEMS (with consent, see disclaimer #1), we’re kind of here for art, too.

9/20 Rewind Reading Series @ Brillobox

8PM THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20….

The debut of the REWIND Reading Series.

REWIND is what happens when people share their angsty adolescent selves on a stage to a room full of adults. These are real people sharing their real, unedited journals, poems, songs, etc. for laughter, tears and unabashed in their own nostalgia. In other words, it takes guts, yo.

The brave readers this round:

Kelly Andrews
Lori Jakiela
Andrea Laurion
Brian Nuckols
Bob Walicki
Meghan Tutolo (host)

Do you have an idea for REWIND? Message Meghan Tutolo, but either way, be sure to join the REWIND Reading Series group for news on events and calls for readers.

We’re hoping to make REWIND a seasonal thing, but it’s dependent on its turnout. SO TELL YOUR FRENZ!

12/30 Kelly Andrews, Don Wentworth, & M. Scott Douglas @ Staghorn Garden Cafe

SATURDAY…

Don Wentworth says,

The reading is at 4 pm, Saturday Dec. 30th, and I will be debuting a number of brand new ghazals from a manuscript currently in the works from Low Ghost Press. There will be some haiku in between ghazals to give the reading some balance.

If you are free, please come out and support the Staghorn Poetry Series and fellow readers, Kelly Andrews and M. Scott Douglas. Hope to see you there.

12/10 Grieshober, Andrews, Silsbe, & Gwin @ Nine Stories

SUNDAY…

Welcome a visiting Taylor Grieshober back to town as she reads some short fiction alongside her literary pals Kelly, Scott, & Ben. FREE! Note: 4pm matinee reading!

7/15 The Trouble With Poets @ Filmmakers; 7/16 With a Deepening Presence Launch Party @ Irma Freeman Center + BE Quarterly Zine Release & Artist Round-Up @ Percolate

THIS WEEKEND…

you have plenty of poetry options, including two chances to catch the great Don Wentworth & grab a copy of his new book With a Deepening Presence. On Friday,

Tom Weber’s film “The Trouble With Poets” comes to Pittsburgh Documentary Salon. Tom is an Erie-based filmmaker and former faculty member at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. Featuring live performances by poets Bigg Wash, Kim Noyes, Don Wentworth and Bob Ziller. Program starts at 7 pm sharp and admission is FREE (please bring a snack or bottle of wine to share).

Then,

This Saturday, July 16th, at the Irma Freeman Center for Imagination, from 7:30 to 9:30, is the launch of With a Deepening Presence. Books will be available for purchase and signing. Presence will be sold at the special reading price of $8.

Reading will be Kristofer Collins, Christine Starkey, Che Elias, Scott Pyle, Rosaly Roffman, Bart Solarczyk, Bob Ziller and myself [the great Don Wentworth]. Food and drinks (water, beer) will be provided. 

Don says,

The Filmmakers reading will be a general overview of my work. The launch reading will focus on the new book and a raft of all new poems never performed before. So, two nights, two very different readings.

UPDATE: Short List rectangle!

Saturday afternoon, more troublesome poets, including master of mischief Scott Silsbe, will perform at this BE Quarterly event. Via Joan Bauer & Kelly Andrews…

BE Quarterly Zine Release and Artist Round-Up

featuring Gopalakrishnan, Grieshober, McDermott, Silsbe, Tutolo & Williams!

Percolate Art Gallery

317 S. Trenton, Pittsburgh, PA 15221

Dream City Art Walk

Saturday, July 16, 2016

1:30-4:00PM

In celebration of BE Quarterly’s recent release of “Issue 3… Finally!”, we’ll be rounding up Wilkinsburg-local contributors from the zine’s first three issues to perform at Percolate Art Gallery from 1:30 to 4pm as part of Wilkinsburg’s annual Dream City Art Walk on Saturday, July 16th! Bobbi Williams’ Dream Theater will perform at 1:30, and the readers’ performances will start a bit after 2:00.

Kamala Gopalakrishnan is a queer poet who has called this city her home since 2013. In April of this year, she received her MFA in Poetry from the University of Pittsburgh, where for three years she studied under acclaimed poets Yona Harvey, Terrance Hayes, and Dawn Lundy Martin, among others. She is among the poetry finalists for Best of the Net 2015. This reading will feature poems from her first collection, Public Fruit, in which she explores themes of vulnerability, assimilation, and hindu mythology.

Taylor Grieshober writes from her lovely home in Wilkinsburg. Her latest story can be found in Burrow Press Review.

Sharon Fagan McDermott is a poet and musician who teaches literature at a private high school in Pittsburgh. She has published three chapbooks, including Alley Scatting (Parallel Press, University of Wisconsin) and Bitter Acoustic, winner of the 2011 Jacar Press chapbook competition, chosen by poet Betty Adcock. Fagan McDermott was a 2001 recipient of a Pittsburgh artist award and a 2002 love” published by Jacar Press (NC).recipient of a PA Council on the Arts award. In 2005, she was awarded the Bellet Excellence in Teaching in the Arts and Science award from the University of Pittsburgh. Her work has been published in many anthologies and literary journals including Prairie Schooner, Poet Lore, and Eclectica Magazine (online.)

Scott Silsbe was born in Detroit and now lives in Pittsburgh. His poems and prose have appeared in numerous periodicals including Nerve Cowboy, Chiron Review and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He is the author of two poetry collections: Unattended Fire and The River Underneath the City. He was also a finalist for the Cultural Weekly’s 2014 Jack Grapes Poetry Prize.

Meghan Tutolo is an artist with some writing degrees and two cats with smooshy faces. She romances olives and pasta for a living. Otherwise, she can be found sleepless, painting, writing, doodling, grading, playing music (horribly), and coffee drinking. Meghan’s publications include everything from product labels to ads to poems. Her first chapbook Little As Living (2014) was published by Dancing Girl Press.

Bobbi Williams is an interdisciplinary artist, educator, activist and visionary. Williams holds a Master’s degree in Fine Arts in Playwriting and Acting from Carnegie Mellon University and Moscow Art Theater School. Williams has received a BFA in directing from Point Park College and has attended the National Theater Institute and the Academy of Natural Healing NYC. Ms. Williams is an international artist, healer, shaman and performer. Some of her directing work has taken her to the United Nations, the Apollo Theater and the Joseph Papp Public Theater, to name a few. On July 16, she will be leading “Improvisation Lab Presents: Dream Theater,” a fun session of astral travel as she and her talented students build solidarity and connection by exploring dreams through improv.

BE Quarterly is a hand-bound, multi-genre periodical arts and literature zine that gathers the work of talented Pittsburgh artists and is run out of Biddle’s Escape Coffee Shop in Wilkinsburg, PA.

If you still like poetry after all that, you may be eligible to apply for an unpaid internship here at Six Gallery. Beef up your resume &/or criminal record! The exciting world of small press publishing awaits…

6/25 Staghorn Poetry Series: Kelly Andrews, Kristofer Collins, & Bob Walicki @ Staghorn Garden Cafe

THIS SATURDAY…

Join Staghorn Poetry Series for another dynamite reading at Staghorn Garden Cafe (517 Greenfield Ave, 15207) featuring poets Bob Walicki, Kelly Lorraine Andrews and Kristofer Collins on Saturday, June 25th at 4pm.

Bios:

Kristofer Collins is the Books Editor at Pittsburgh Magazine, as well as being a frequent contributor to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He is the publisher of Low Ghost Press and Coleridge Street Books. He also manages Caliban Book Shop in Oakland (and owns Desolation Row Records located inside). He lives in Stanton Heights, a hidden gem in Pittsburgh’s East End with his wife Dr. Anna Johnson and their three cats.

Kelly Andrews’ poems have appeared or are forthcoming in PANK, Prick of the Spindle, SELFISH, and Love Me, Love My Belly, among others. She is the author of the chapbooks “I Want To Eat So Many Kinds of Cake With You” (forthcoming, Dancing Girl Press) and “Mule Skinner.” She also coedits the online journal Pretty Owl Poetry.

10/27 After Happy Hour Review launch @ ModernFormations

NEXT TUESDAY…

9/12 A Writer Rodeo @ ModernFormations; 9/13 I Don’t Know What I Would Do If I Couldn’t Speak My Mind @ City of Asylum Pittsburgh

THIS WEEKEND…

11:00 AM-11:10 AM Aubrey Baker

11:10 AM- 11:20 AM Joshua Bellin

11:20 AM-11:30 AM Wendy Scott

11:30 AM-11:40 AM Judith Dorian

11:40 AM-11:50 AM Julie Cecchini

11:50 AM-12:00 PM Sarah Williams-Devereux

12:00 PM- 12:10 PM Angele Ellis

12:10 PM-12:20 PM Bonita Lee Penn

12:20 PM-12:30 PM Malcolm Friend

12:30 PM-12:40 PM Sheila Kelly

12:40 PM-12:50 PM Jay Carson

12:50 PM-1:00 PM Arlene Weiner

1:00 PM-1:10 PM Barbara Dahlberg

1:10 PM- 1:20 PM Michael Albright

1:20 PM- 1:30 PM Kris Collins

1:30 PM- 1:40 PM Ann Curran

1:40 PM-1:50 PM E.B. Bortz

1:50- 2:00 PM Patricia Jabbeh Wesley

2:00 PM- 2:10 PM Kath Donnelly

2:10 PM-2:20 PM Pittsburgh CAPA 6-12 Literary Artists

2:20 PM- 2:30 PM Pittsburgh CAPA 6-12 Literary Artists

2:30 PM- 2:40 PM Pittsburgh CAPA 6-12 Literary Artists

2:40 PM-2:50 PM Pittsburgh CAPA 6-12 Literary Artists

2:50 PM-3:00 PM Jessica Server

3:00 PM-3:10 PM Joanne Samreny

3:10 PM- 3:20 PM Dakota Garilli

3:20 PM-3:30 PM R.J. Gibson

3:30 PM-3:40 PM Kelly Andrews

3:40 PM-3:50 PM Don Wentworth

3:50 PM-4:00 PM Stephen Pusateri

4:00 PM-4:10 PM Jean Croyle

4:10 PM-4:20 PM Jen Ashburn

4:20 PM-4:30 PM Jason Irwin

4:30 PM-4:40 PM City of Asylum

4:40 PM-4:50 PM City of Asylum

4:50 PM-5:00 PM City of Asylum