Says Green Line Café owner Douglas Witmer: “Leonard Gontarek has lived on 42nd/Osage like forever. He has a respected reputation as a poet. He has also quietly built the Green Line’s monthly poetry series into a destination poetry happening for the entire Philadelphia region.”
On Saturday, May 18, at the Green Line Café at 45th and Locust, Leonard launches his new book He Looked Beyond My Faults and Saw My Needs, published by Hanging Loose Press.
You know Leonard’s a cool cat not only because he gives some of the best poetry workshops in town, but also because he is finishing up his book party with a dance party with DJ Afrodjiak. She spins for many an APIARY event and is responsible for your wild funtimes at our last launch party.
Gontarek is the author of four books of poems: St. Genevieve Watching Over Paris, Van Morrison Can’t Find His Feet, Zen For Beginners, and Déjà Vu Diner (Autumn House Press, 2006). His poems have appeared in American Poetry Review, Fence, Field, Pool, Volt, The Quarterly, Exquisite Corpse, Hanging Loose, Poetry Northwest, Blackbird and The Best American Poetry (Paul Muldoon, editor). His poems also appear in the anthologies Joyful Noise! American Spiritual Poetry and The Working Poet. He has been nominated five times for the Pushcart Prize, and has twice received poetry fellowships from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.
He conducts poetry workshops at The University City Arts League, Moonstone Art Center, The Kelly Writers House and in the Philadelphia Arts in Education Partnership.
There are moments
when the sky overhead appears painted and the grass is only so burnt
when I forget the disappointment of not being loved and can take a full breath. (more…)
Keith Vosseller is a Philadelphia writer/artist. He creates videos using his own photography and poetry, that when set to music become collages that play to your eyes and ears. He calls his work “poagraphy.” See his piece “infant introductions” below.
Also check out this “urban apiary” he snapped on 15th St. last summer.
Slowly, quietly, controlled, and bold.
A shirt inflates like a balloon but it covers my chest
filled with cool breath.
Heighten every sense of perception;
right now.
To the bank and remove clothes—
lay back onto the river and it will take you.
It will take you where rivers go.
I paddle controlled to the bank, dress,
and go on living. (more…)
Take me, for example. I keep my curtains drawn during the daytime to stop the sun from heating the room. I keep the curtains drawn until sunset, when I pull them back and watch pink and orange clouds form and fade in the chemical (more…)
Until last September, I had never participated in Philadelphia’s local slam scene. My performances were exclusively with The Excelano Project, the premier spoken word collective at the University of Pennsylvania. However, my impending graduation made me realize that I could not perform with Excelano forever.
After a slam, the featured poet said that he would like to book me at his home venue, and that I could sell my merchandise. All I could think was that I did not have any merchandise. That needed to change.
Looking back, it should have been obvious. I had dozens of poems, and had previously published books for other authors. Through Blurb Publishing, I had compiled a chapbook to commemorate the tenth anniversary of The Excelano Project (Van Gogh’s Ear for Music) and a chapbook of Excelano alumnus Joshua Bennett’s poems (Laid Bare). I simply downloaded the software from Blurb’s website, pasted the work into a blank template, designed cover art, and submitted the document for publication. (more…)
Says Green Line Café owner Douglas Witmer: “Leonard Gontarek has lived on 42nd/Osage like forever. He has a respected reputation as a poet. He has also quietly built the Green Line’s monthly poetry series into a destination poetry happening for the entire Philadelphia region.”
