Friday, December 5, 2008

great er cleveland poetry take two

if Cleveland
wants to pull together for an area-wide poetry festival (i am a fan of the name Dick Goddard suggested, “Lake Effect”), here is an unhoned vision of how it could go.

two days, probably a Saturday and Sunday, preferable when warm outside.

schedule readings all over the place: bookstores, parks, libraries, taverns. some of the readings would have bands behind the poets. some could be round robin, or as the Bukowski hosted by Suzanne of Mac’s this October went: a poet reads from where they are, when the poet before them finishes. essentially, we would need several people to volunteer to host or MC an event. that volunteer chooses a venue, and works out a time with that venue. Then, rather than choosing familiar poets, the bill for each venue can be chosen not so much at random, but with an eye to diversity.
i.e. so at CSU it would not be all CSU poets, but a couple CSUs and say, a Lit Cafe goer, with a Sandusky poet. this way poets meet poets they may not have brushed arms with, you get the gist.

these hosts would then give their time slot to me, and i would put it on the “official” schedule. as slots are filled, the remaining hosts would need to work around that schedule.

i propose having TOO MANY readings for anyone to feasibly attend all of them. and to have them in SEVERAL areas of town. imagine too much poesy! i think we can count on the likes of John Burroughs and Jim Lang to take candid shots and write up the events they make it to, so we all get a gist of what we missed.

i volunteer to coordinate with the hosts/MCs, create the weekend schedule, write a press release and get it to the appropriate people in the media. i can also craft a flyer and delegate folks to get a copy to various libraries, coffee shops and bookstores.

think about it---i can list several “schools” of poetry to feature, but cannot think of all of them. there is the Cleveland Poetry Scenes book to promote, along with the new Peace Poems book by Bottom Dog, in which are several local poets. Cleveland Black Poetics puts on a moving show. a haiku—a “true haiku” reading certainly is in order! there’s Deep Cleveland Poets, JCU poets, CSU poets. someone could have a walking reading through University Circle, stopping at the various Hart Crane memorials. i have my …uncouth and yet so full of sweet irony class clown poets in my ‘independent’ arena. there are hipsters, and old schools, natures and slammers and hip hops. but it would be up to each poet to get themselves and the poets they commune with on-board so this can be as all-inclusive as possible.

Ok, so, who doesn’t like Lake Effect? (i do i do i do)

8 comments:

michael salinger said...

the Lake Effect Litfest

has a ring to it.
mgs

Anonymous said...

I'm glad folks like the name. And I'd be happy to hit as many spots as possible and take lots of photos. This is an excellent idea, Bree - I love it!

pottygok said...

I have no problem hosting something Deep Cleveland wise. I also have no problem enlisting or forcing some of our regulars to be photographers/documentarists.

Geoffrey A. Landis said...

Sounds cool!!
I'd definitely be willing to put together a "science fiction/speculative poetry" track--

Dianne Borsenik said...

You can count Lix and Kix in on this! It sounds like a great idea... and the name is well, cooool!

Theresa Göttl Brightman said...

I love it! (I was at the Kent State Folk Fest last month, and it was very much like what you're describing--performances at every bar, restaurant, cafe, and store--too much for any one person to hit them all!)

Lake Effect Litfest...genius!

Pressin On said...

so, do we shoot for 2010? is this summer too soon? i almost think so...if we spend the whole yr planning, the first ever Lake Effect Litfest could hit Cleve like a storm...

i wonder if we could make a google group or yahoo group specifically for this, to shoot ideas and pin things down.

best to avoid boards or meetings.
but is the concensus 2009 is feasible or shall we start now for 2010?

(also we need to list ways to get word out besides the web, since some people aren't online...)

Anonymous said...

I'd be delighted to MC one of the events, especially if this all occurs on a Saturday.

Cited...

The poet doesn't invent. He listens. ~Jean Cocteau