Indiefeed Podcast up!

A couple of months ago, I was extremely honored to be asked by poets Ian Khadan and Taylor Mali to perform and agree to be interviewed for the Indiefeed: Performance Poetry podcast. I read a piece of mine, entitled "she slow and steadies", and stumbled my way through the interview afterwards.

Today, this performance and interview went up. Once again, I am so grateful to have been asked to read. Between this great news, the incredible honor I had of performing at the JujoMakti Tea Lounge (curated by  poet David Lawton) with Chris August on Sunday, and coming out with my very first chapbook: "Fight song." (which, coincidentally, includes the piece I performed on the podcast), this has been quite a week in the life of my poetry!

Below, you can find the links to both the Indiefeed podcast page, as well as a link directly to my performance. If you have any feedback, I'd love to hear it!

And, of course, if you're at all interested in purchasing "Fight song. A collection of poems by Karen Bowlby" (10 poems on the battle surrounding coming into one's identity) for $9 (which includes s/h) - let me know!

Tonight, make sure you tune in to the Bowery Poetry Club for Urbana's "Win and your IN" Team Slam, hosted by the feature of the evening, Chris August! You WANT to hear this guy's poetry! And, I may try and read another piece from "Fight song." in the open mic.
To watch the show live tonight, tune in at 6:30pm to

Bowery Poetry Live

Here are the links to the Indiefeed podcast! Enjoy, and have a great week!

IndieFeed: Performance Poetry homepage

My IndieFeed podcast.

Upcoming show with International World Poetry Slam Champ Chris August!

While I am still working on getting together a list of great places to submit one's poetry to, I thought I'd take a few minutes to plug an upcoming show I am privileged to be doing at the JujoMakti Tea Lounge (211 East 4th Street, b/t Aves. A & B) at 6pm this coming Sunday - January 29th!

The show, curated by David Lawton, is known for featuring two poets at a time who either compliment, or contrast each others' work based on their style, or content. This week, I will be sharing the lounge with one Chris August - the International World Poetry Slam Champion! We will be trading off poems, there will be an open mic, and I (as well as Chris, I am sure) will have at least one chapbook of poetry to sell (so bring your cash!!!).

$5 at the door gets you in, and can be applied towards the purchase of one of the Jujo's amazing teas, or coffee. So come on out - I would love to see you!

Urbana open slam 3.2 at The Bowery Poetry Club, NYC. Katie Wirsing feature,

When I first started going to The Bowery Poetry Club on Tuesday nights, I was not a poet.

I was a fan.

I knew nothing about poetry, other than what I'd learned in high school and undergrad, and I wasn't quite sure what to expect at The Bowery. If I were honest, I'd probably admit that I expected a lot of beatnik-hipsters who snapped instead of applauded (be prepared, the snapping part is accurate)... something reminiscent to that scene in one of those terrible rom-coms that my girlfriend hates, but I can not get enough of (for example):

.

Spoken word poetry seemed foreign to me. Slightly over the top, and uber-dramatic.

So you can imagine my surprise when I fell in love. Actually, if you're at all familiar with spoken word, you wouldn't be too surprised - just like any other art or sporting event, there are good spoken word poets, and bad spoken word poets. The first slam I ever attended happened to be riddled with the performances of some of the best poets (and, I'd find out later, people) that are out there:

can you say Jared Singer, Jeanann Verlee, Jon Sands, Adam Falkner, and Elliot D. Smith?

If you can't, you should. And if you can, but have no idea why - let me redirect your wandering attention to www.youtube.com.

No, really. This may be the only time I ever say this (no, it won't be - youtube is far too valuable in the spoken word scene) - give yourself an hour to explore, die a "small Dickinson death" (nope, can't have that line - already used it in a poem - ha! - copyrighted, suckahs!) and get back to me.

Perhaps this is a long, drawn-out way of saying that my attending the Urbana slam each week at The Bowery Poetry Club actually has less to do with my being a poet who enjoys both a) turning art into yet another sport (complete with scores that can hardly ever be replicated, and groupies) and b) the masochism that is offering up one's own words and most personal thoughts and experiences for a numerical judgement each week; and more to do with the ridiculous talent you find wandering in off of Bowery every week. You're never quite sure what kind of show it will be, whether the feature is one beautiful and charming Kate Wirsing, like last night:

or one amazing Rachel McKibbens, who featured a few weeks back

AND signed this poem to me : "Karen, let's run away! COME ON!"  (be jealous.)

With talent like that gracing the stage every Tuesday night, it's hard to keep yourself away - especially when you find yourself competing against the likes of incredibly talented friends like fellow-poets Amy Leigh Cutler,Thuli, and Catalina Ferro (who, incidentally, won last night's slam - her first big win at The Bowery, and no small feat!).

If you've never been on a Tuesday, or if you don't live in the area - don't forget you can watch:

www.bowerypoetrylive.com. Shows start Tuesday nights at 7pm.

And if you HAVE been lucky enough to watch and attend - let me know what you think! Comments welcome!

NEXT POST: Your neighborhood Deviant Poet tries to wrap her head around taking it from the Stage to the Page --> SUBMITTING!

New format coming soon...

With the New Year, I thought it'd be interesting to redesign my poetry blog to incorporate what I am able to witness - both as a participant and audience member - in the New York City spoken word and slam-poetry scene.

What this means for you:

1) more blog posts!
2) more excerpts from pieces I perform around the city
3) more descriptions of the amazing poets I run into in the NYC poetry-scene
4) and (if I'm lucky and play my cards right) actual interviews with afore-mentioned poets!

Here we go! :)

From my deviant notes blog: A statement on marriage equality from the 700+ New York clergy members that have signed off on the bill, addressing the counter-argument.

Couldn't have said it better myself - rather than repeat rhetoric, perhaps it would help if more people actually read the bill in question? The following statement is from the clergy in New York who have read it, and signed off on it:

“Our faith traditions teach us that all people are children of God, deserving of love, dignity and equal treatment, and we the undersigned therefore believe that gay and lesbian New Yorkers in committed, loving relationships should be able to protect each other with the critical safety-net provided by civil marriage. We recognize and respect that not all faiths support marriage equality, and agree that it is appropriate that the proposed marriage equality legislation provides broad protection for religious freedom. Sadly, however, there are some among us who are using religion as a smokescreen to hide their intolerance, choosing to misstate the plain language of the bill and falsely claiming that it fails to protect religious practice. Nothing could be further from the truth: the Governor's bill specifically provides that no clergy, house of worship or denomination would be forced to perform same-sex marriages or make their facilities available to same-sex couples for marriage ceremonies, receptions or other functions.”

In addition, according to the NYTimes:

"Mr. Cuomo told reporters he believed that religious concerns should be separated from a debate over civil marriage. “I happen to be a Catholic, and that’s my business, and that’s my religion,” he said. “This has nothing to do with my beliefs as a Catholic. This is marriage in a civil context — marriage as defined by government, not by a religion.”" 

This is exactly the point that those within faith-based organizations that are opposed to gay marriage are missing. We are talking about defining marriage in a CIVIL CONTEXT - AS DEFINED BY GOVERNMENT, NOT BY RELIGION. No one is forcing any religion to change their stance. 

A government that has long provided for civil liberties and equality for all people should do just that, now. 

And as for the concern that lawsuits will begin left and right as the gay community pours into faith-based organizations and begins to demand services: I don't know about anyone else, but I personally would not want to be married by or treated at a facility that I knew was opposed to my marriage - why would anyone in their right mind want to spend time, energy, and resources forcing someone to do so when there are plenty of organizations out there who are not opposed?

Calm down, people. This is not a conspiracy. This is simply a fight for equality.

Love is an Orientation

Thanks to my friend Andrew Marin, author of "Love is an Orientation" and founder of The Marin Foundation (a non-profit that serves to bridge the gap between the gay community and the Church), who will be posting some of my poetry over on his site... check it out here:

http://www.loveisanorientation.com/2011

Removed some poems from blog...

Learned tonight from a poet at the louderARTS slam that poetry found online is considered "previously published", and much harder to submit for publication. I removed some of the poems I've written that haven't been reposted on other sites, as I am planning on trying to submit some of them at some point for publication...


So much to learn :)

Jon Sands and "The New Clean"

Just got back from a book-release party down at The Bowery Poetry Club for poet Jon Sands' new book "The New Clean". What an incredible show tonight - a beautiful line up of poets that I've been privileged to watch over the past six months or so since I've began entering the New York City poetry scene.

Jon Sands is a talented, unique voice that can make you both cry and laugh in the space of a few lines... I bought his book tonight, and you should too.

Buy it here:
The New Clean, by Jon Sands

First "Poem of the Week" Feature

A big thanks to P.F. Mcllhone for the great feature he did on two of my pieces - "2 of April", and "Love Wildly" (which he termed "Poem of the Week"). Head on over there to read what he wrote when you get a chance - his site is full of good stuff :)

P.F. McIlhone


And I would be remiss if I did not thank Brandon, over at BrainofBMW for his posting of "Thirty Soon"!

Not quite sure what to do with all of this attention, but thank you both!

2 of April

My block is lined with trash

Bottles
Wrappers
Forgotten pages of newspaper

They are pieces of a community that thinks
They are forgotten
Bits of families who have immigrated
Who are trying to survive
Working fifteen
Sixteen hour days
Sometimes three or four different jobs