Maxwell's Artist Refuge (Garden City)

I've been hearing a lot of great things about this open mic and place for artists, Maxwell's in Garden City. they often have an Open Mic. I think it would be a great place for those of us to make connections to other artists and mediums (you never know who/what will show up and how they will inspire your work). Take a look:

http://www.lawrencestreetgallery.com/

Newest Poetic Traveler comes from Westland

Contrats to John S., who has been asked to be a member of the Poetic Travelers, a group of performing poets out of Detroit. He had been asked to join the group after a stirring performance at the Scarab Club (Detroit) Open Mic last month. Way to go John! Here is a link to the Ferndale joint PT is based out of:

http://www.lawrencestreetgallery.com/

Apparently they read every 3rd Friday of the month. John said he might be reading in October.

September Meeting

We had another great turnout for our September meeting, including two newcomers, Don and ... (sorry, I'm blanking on his name as it's been a couple of weeks). We were treated to not only gritty, hard-earned lessons and metaphors, but also great stories of the past leading up to the present words they had for us. Don read one and then performed called "Centerpoint". This second one is a stirring story about, among other things, a tree. If you don't believe a tree can be stirring, then you should hear Don perform this beautiful, harrowing, and image-filled poem (with a larger room and a bigger audience, he did just that at last night's Open Mic). Our other newcomer gave us a real life rendition of a Johnny Cash- and transcended that. Stories of a rough life and rough lessons, all set to a great song-like rhythm. Thanks guys for the breath of fresh (though not in the "fresh" way most people think) air- and we hope they keep writing and keep coming back.

We had the rest of the usual suspects show up to give us a look/listen at their current work: John S. (new, rhythmically based works), John C. (a tightly wound mystery poem), Patrick (a plethora of madcap works), Diana (family ode), and Cheryl (our master haiku artist). Diana and Don even came to the library Open Mic last night to spread the wealth to others. Great job, everyone. Our next meeting is Wednesday, October 7th at 7 p.m.

See you then!