BWW Previews: POETRY MARATHON at RUST BELT BOOKS - PART ONE

The Buffalo, N.Y. area is rich with art and artist, actors, writers, painters, ... the list goes on.

Buffalo also has an amazing amount of highly talented Poets and Poetry Events.

On February 17, 2018 one of those events with show off over twenty of those highly talented Poets.

It will be a three hour marathon of Poets doing the art they Love.

Poets of all ages!

Poets of all styles!

Poets supporting Poets!

Poets coming together to have a three hour blast!

This is PART ONE of my TWO PART preview

How about we get to know a little about each of these Poets.

RANDY RUMLEY

A writing teacher at Niagara County Community College, writer, poet, actor, and director Randy Rumley celebrates The Word in all its myriad formations. Randy is host and founder of the Raiders of Niagara Reading Series. Since 1989 Randy has been involved with MURDER BY REQUEST, creating hundreds of customized Murder Mysteries.

JEFFREY CHARLES NAISH

Jeffrey is a free-thinking man, spawned in the outskirts of Buffalo, New York in the year 1976. To date he's published several books of his own brand of streetwise poetry.

SCOTT W. WILLIAMS

Scott's poems have appeared in The Sunday Review, Night & Day, Peach Mag, Ground & Sky, The Buffalo News, Juniper Poetry and anthologized in Coffeehouse Writings From The Web. Author of the anthology, A Flash of Dark, his 2017 chapbooks are I Am Many Am I? and Bonvibre Haiku. Williams annually hosts workshops in the form of the Ghazal and he monthly co-curates the series Second Stage Writers for poets. Poetry page: https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=bonvibre%20poetry

MS. IDA GOECKEL

Ms. Ida has been a poet most of her life. Starting as early as middle school, her written word has appeared in school poetry anthologies and yearbooks. Once the musician in her emerged in her teens, however, most of her poetry became her muse for songwriting. Then life happened, as it does, and her pen lay dormant for many, many years. Only within the last decade or so, has her writing bug been rejuvenated; First, with the Bflo. Writes Meet Up group in 2005-2008, and then with the hosting of her internet radio program on ThinkTwiceRadio.com called The Mighty Pen (a program which she conceived as a forum for writers from all walks of life to come share their personal stories and read their works on the air) from 2012-2014. That brings us to these last few years. She has since become immersed in the poetry scene and endeavored to expand her level of expression by including spoken word into her repertoire. Besides open mic and featured public readings at various poetry series, between 2013 and 2017, she has participated as a group and featured poet at the Buffalo Infringement Festival.

MARIELLE SMITH

Marielle is a Buffalo native and mother of two, who enjoys writing poetry that is reflective of her experiences as a queer black woman. Marielle has dedicated the past year to organizing with Just Resisting, a people of color community organization as well as working to preserve the histories and stories of the local queer communities with the Buffalo Niagara LGBTQ+ History Project. She believes one of the greatest acts of resistance and resilience is finding healing through artistic expression.

HERB KAUDERER

Herb is a retired factory worker/truck driver who somehow grew up to be an associate professor of English at Hilbert College. He has written film, drama, and short fiction, but is most know for his award winning poetry which has filled two books and thirteen chapbooks to date.

CELESTE LAWSON

Celeste came to the world of poetry by way of her passion for dance and music that contributes greatly to the texture and tone of her writing. She self-published a poetry collection entitled I Was Born This Way, a reflection on her encounters with women from around the world, when she traveled to Beijing, China to the United Nations/NGO 4th World Conference on Women. In 1997 the Urban Li­braries Foundation, the American Aca­demy of Poets and the Buffalo & Erie County Public Li­brary, recog­nized Celeste as Erie County's poet of the month in honor of National Poetry Month and National Libraries Week; an occasion she celebrated with a reading at Buffalo's downtown Public Library accompanied by the late, legendary jazz pianist, Al Tinny, with musicians Rodney Appleby and Abdul Rachman - a highlight of her artistic life.

Celeste has a long list of featured readings, poetry workshop presentations, literature panels, review writing, and publishing credits. She is very grateful to the editors and publishers who have looked with favor upon her work. Her passion for dance and music has grown stronger over the years and continues to inspire her work. She has a really bad sweet tooth, loves a good glass of wine, enjoys spiced rum with coke, and almost anything with vodka in it. Her fascination for creating erotic short stories and poems has evolved into a pursuit of writing erotica for professional publication. Celeste loves living here in Buffalo with her family, enjoying wonderful friends, an outstanding writing culture, and our amazing community of the cultural arts.

BOBBY C. NEIS

Born and raised in Western N.Y. and growing up with six siblings Bobby C. Neis developed a love for passionate and cunning writing, sharing his thoughts through prose. The past couple of years Neis has had 3 poems published in Where the Mind Dwells, Best Poets of 2016, and Who's who in American Poetry. With a background in different facets of middle class living, his lifes experiences has molded Neis into an enriched writer eager to progress his knowledge and career further.

LAKICIA HUGHES

I am a thirty-five year old mother of three, who takes this thing called life by its neck and throttles the fuck out of it, everyday. In turn, it likes to fuck me over real good. In the ass without lube. I take it cause I'm tough. It's all good though. We're about even at the moment. At the end of the day, though, it makes for good poetry. So does weed. Hmmm. Anyhoo, I'll treat this like Tinder. I don't do Scorpios or Libras, and I have a love-hate thing for Tauruses. I'm a college drop-out--only because I don't have the money to pay my tuition from last spring so if you want to make a donation, my person number is 29126123. English and Black Studies joint major. Yeah. The next voice for Black America. Yeah. No. My mission is personal. So personal it hasn't even revealed itself to me yet.

I like chicken and hot sauce, but not watermelon. Jalapenos and cheese are my favorite snack. IPAs are my favorite beer. Tito's is my favorite Vodka. I don't eat cow or seafood and I'm hood-separated from my pending-ex-husband (that means I'm single.)

I am a jack of all trades and a master of none. But that's still hella better than being just a master of one.

Oh yeah, I'm a Navy veteran too. Hoorah Seabees!

What else is there to know? Just ask. Facebook.com/KiciaColdspring.

TARA HEAVERN

Tara Heavern is a grateful mother and English teacher in the Buffalo Public Schools. She has had her writing published in Queen City Flash, Earth's Daughters and Steel Bellow, and her first piece of work in print was a Destitute Press microbHEAVERNook entitled "Sewing Lessons". She has been blessed by the supportive and encouraging members of Buffalo's poetry community who never fail to inspire her.

DOMINIQUE VENZELLA WOODS

Dominique Venzella Woods. Writer. Artist scribbler. Mostly human creator of morbid truths. Started at Michael Mulley's Queen City Gallery in Allentown. Drinking encourage unless you don't.

MZ. ICE

Hi, my name is Cherie but everyone calls me Icices (pronounced Isis) or Mz.Ice which is my stage name. I am a Buffaloian who enjoys theater, singing, dancing and anything that involves laughter and a sense of humor. I am finally trying my hand at writing poetry, something I always wanted to do.

JOEL DAVID LESSES

Joel David Lesses has lived experience with mental health as a spiritual opportunity. Joel is a poet, counselor, and educator whose spiritual investigations both verbal and written are found in poetry and on the podcast entitled Unraveling Religion. Other passions include the intersection of poetry, spirituality, science and phenomenology shared and disparate in the human experience, and transformative power of self inquiry and introspection through contemplative and meditative practices. Joel was also voted by 2014 Buffalo's Artvoice, Best Poet and loves existential exploration of our human condition.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2018

PART TWO later this week ...

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