Westword Book Club

Westword Book Club: J.A. Kazimer on dyslexia, peeing in a bottle and writing what you know

By Byron Graham Fri., May 24 2013 at 9:00 AM
Categories: Arts and Culture, Books, Interviews, Poetry, Readings, Westword Book Club

juliekazimer.jpg
Cindy Miller
Reading is about more than following a narrative or learning facts; it can also be a profound shared experience that culminates in a better understanding of ourselves and each other. In that spirit, welcome to the Westword Book Club, a weekly feature that celebrates the books that inspire Denver artists.

J.A. Kazimer is a Denver-based writer with a fascinating, wide-ranging set of skills and interests. The author of books with such disparate titles as SHANK, Holy Socks and Dirtier Demons and Froggy Style: A Fucked-Up Fairy Tale,, Kazimer has been uniquely influenced by the books she's read -- when she was finally able to read. This week, Westword sat down with Kazimer to discuss those books, dyslexia and her interesting work history.

See also:
- Westword Book Club: donnie betts on reading from the bottom shelf of the library
- Westword Book Club: Comedian Adrian Mesa on searching for spirituality
- Noir @ the Bar celebrates red-meat fiction and remembers writer Cort McMeel


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Festivals

The Body Electric Poetry Film Festival celebrates the merging of two art forms

By Bree Davies Thu., May 2 2013 at 9:48 AM
Categories: Festivals, Film and TV, Poetry

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From The Mantis Shrimp, a 2013 Body Electric Poetry Film Festival selection.
The idea for The Body Electric Poetry Film Festival began when poet and filmmaker R.W. Perkins realized he was the guy who could make it happen. "I'm a video poet and had a lot of success with my stuff overseas -- I was noticing a lot of really talented filmmakers being showcased in Germany and the United Kingdom," Perkins explains. "I'd seen a few of these (festivals) pop up in the U.S., but not too many. I was thinking, it would be kind of cool if someone would do that here -- and one day it dawned on me, I'm somebody."

Perkins acted on this revelation, and the result is Saturday's Body Electric Poetry Film Festival, a single evening in Fort Collins that will showcase short, cinematically-expressed poems from around the globe.

See also:
- From the Archives: the prison poetry of Minoru Yasui
- Slideshows: 2013 Women of the World Poetry Slam
- Poet Ken Arkind on the purpose of poetry in a music-driven world


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festival, film, poetry, The Body Electric Poetry Film Festival
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Books

Westword Book Club: donnie betts on reading from the bottom shelf of the library

By Byron Graham Fri., Apr. 26 2013 at 7:32 AM
Categories: Books, Poetry, Westword Book Club

donnie betts_opt.jpg
Reading is about more than following a narrative or learning facts; it can also be a profound shared experience that culminates in a better understanding of ourselves and each other. In that spirit, welcome to the Westword Book Club, a weekly feature that celebrates the books that inspire Denver artists.

donnie betts (lowercase intentional) is the proprietor of No Credits Productions, founder of City State Ensemble and the Denver Black Arts Company, and a multiple award-winning filmmaker, performer and theater director. He also works at the History Colorado Center and can be heard on KGNU. As befits a man with so many titles and interests, betts has several key books that that inspired him to pursue his various callings.

See also:
- A whole new crop of problems is sprouting in a historic black farming settlement
- History Colorado could shutter its controversial Sand Creek Massacre exhibit
- Westword Book Club: Comedian Adrian Mesa on searching for spirituality in literature


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100 Colorado Creatives

100 Colorado Creatives: Poet Ken Arkind

By Susan Froyd Tue., Apr. 16 2013 at 6:00 AM
Categories: 100 Colorado Creatives, Poetry

Ken Arkind.2.jpg
#78: Ken Arkind
Ken Arkind embodies what's important in the slam and performance poetry world: A literary poet, dedicated slam coach and microphone virtuoso both here and abroad, he lives and breathes the poet's life with an educator's focus. As much as he lives it, he's also interested in passing on what he knows to younger versions of himself as the executive director of Minor Disturbance, Denver's youth-slam poetry organization. And though co-coach Mary McDonough is leading the national team this year, he'll be at Su Teatro at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 23, cheering on those kids as they compete in a final Grand Slam to determine who will represent Minor Disturbance this summer at the 2013 Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Festival in Chicago. In the meantime, Arkind and fellow poet/artist Charly Fasano have released a collaborative chapbook, Denver, and he promises more poetry-in-print on the way in the near future.

We asked Arkind to answer our 100CC questionnaire; read on to learn what he thinks about life and poetry.

See also:
- Minor Disturbance Grand Slam 2013
- Poet Ken Arkind on his new book and the purpose of poetry in a music-driven world
- Minor Disturbance: 2012 MasterMind award winners

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Tonight: Colorado Book Award finalist Seth Brady Tucker reads from "Mormon Boy"

By Alan Prendergast Mon., Apr. 15 2013 at 5:53 AM
Categories: Books, Free Stuff, Poetry

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When I first encountered poet Seth Brady Tucker a few months ago, it was in the course of writing about the Words Beyond Bars Project, a book club for lifers at the Limon state prison. Tucker had visited the group and shared with them how he'd learned to love poetry -- both reading and writing it -- while serving as a paratrooper in the Gulf War. Some of those harrowing poems, about body bags and oil fires and young lives detoured, eventually made it into Tucker's potent collection Mormon Boy.

See also:
-The lifers book club: Of mice and men, hopes and regrets at the Limon prison
- Russian list and combat tales make the reading list for the Limon prison book club
- Colorado Humanities might sell off the Ferril House. Throw the book at 'em.


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Poet Serena Chopra on contemporary loneliness and her first full-length book, This Human

By Robin Edwards Wed., Apr. 10 2013 at 6:58 AM
Categories: Poetry

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Jessica Hughes
A poet, dancer and visual artist, Serena Chopra is a powerful artistic force. Whether she's performing as part of the Evolving Doors Dance Company or working as RedLine's writer-in-residence, Chopra is constantly putting out fascinating work, like her recent This Human, a full-length poetry book that delves into the concept of loneliness and its relation to the creation of beauty. Out on Coconut Books, This Human will be released Thursday at a reception and reading from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at RedLine, with fellow poets Noah Eli Gordon, Michael Flatt and Dorothea Lasky. We caught up with the always-insightful Chopra to talk about her latest release and loneliness in the age of social networking.

See also:
- Serena Chopra's new poetry chapbook examines geology, language, and trust
- Photos: Artists make statements with materials at RedLine
- Tonight: Titmouse puts the focus on Colorado artists


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Poetry

Poet Ken Arkind on his new book, Denver, and the purpose of poetry in a music-driven world

By Laura Bond Thu., Mar. 28 2013 at 4:46 PM
Categories: Books, Poetry

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When they met a few years ago, Ken Arkind and Charly Fasano became fast friends. Like Arkind -- an American National Poetry Slam Champion who tours the world performing and teaching poetry as executive director of the award-winning Minor Disturbance Youth Slam Team -- Fasano liked to perform poetry at rock-and-roll shows. An artist and filmmaker, he also shared Arkind's compulsion to be creative. The two soon began showing up on bills at indie gigs, trading turns at the mic in between sets by up-and-coming bands like Achille Lauro and Hot Congress.

See also:
- Denver Book Release/Charly Fasano Art Show
- Interview: Ken Arkind, the "LeBron James of Denver Poetry
- Charly "The City Mouse" Fasano on his new book, Next Analog Broadcast

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Poetry

Poet Hoa Nguyen on Counterpath Press, tarot readings, and the poet as an oracle

By Robin Edwards Fri., Feb. 22 2013 at 8:55 AM
Categories: Poetry

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As a poet, Hoa Nguyen writes concise, lyrical poetry that mimics the quality of music, reflecting on grand themes of planetary grief and experiencing the numinous. Her other pursuit, as a reader of tarot cards, deals in many of the same archetypes and patterns. Nguyen will be in town Saturday for a reading of her poetry at Counterpath at 7:30 p.m., but also to give fifteen-minute tarot readings from 1 to 5:30 p.m. to people who buy two books from the local small press and event space. We caught up with the Ontario-based writer in advance of her trip to Denver about her most recent book, As Long As Trees Last, and the role of the poet as an oracle and pattern reader.

See also:
- Counterpath's Tim Roberts on the importance of small press publishing
- 100 Colorado Creatives: Artist and Westword Artopia participant Kym Bloom
- Writer Susan Cain on her New York Times bestseller and the quiet power of introverts


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Counterpath, Hoa Nguyen, poetry, tarot
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Poetry

Hip-hop 101: Preview the poetry of Jalon Martin, Adam Bradley's Montbello rap student

By Joel Warner Thu., Feb. 7 2013 at 9:08 AM
Categories: Poetry

jay vollmar rap illo.jpg
Anthony Camera
This week's cover story, "Hip-hop 101," describes a new venture by CU-Boulder English Professor and Anthology of Rap co-editor Adam Bradley: A "Hip-Hop in the Classroom" program based at Montbello High School, the far northeast Denver school in the midst of a drastic turnaround plan. The story focuses on one student in particular: Montbello junior Jalon Marin, a budding poet who English teacher Alison Corbett says could gain the most from Bradley's rap academics. So what has Martin learned? Read the 16-year-old's poems below.

See also:
- Hip-hop 101: Adam Bradley is revolutionizing education...one rap at a time
- "The Field": An ode to America's obsession with criminals, sports and commercials
- Jake Adam York: Rest in peace...and poetry


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Architecture

"The Field": An ode to America's obsession with criminals, sports and commercials

By Britt Chester Mon., Feb. 4 2013 at 11:27 AM
Categories: Architecture, Poetry, Popular Culture

Ray Lewis 55.jpg
My disdain for American football knows no bounds, and I don't believe in wasting my Sundays watching testosterone-addled meatheads run up and down a field with the hopes of placing a ball. In honor of yesterday's Super Bowl game -- as well as all the attendant hoopla -- I created a poem that follows the wonderful pentameter of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven," and emphasizes the importance of reading books over watching a game.

See also:
- GIFs: Mayor Michael Hancock does Ray Lewis dance to make good on Baltimore bet
- Michael Hancock bet-losing Ray Lewis dance delayed due to injury?
- Denver Broncos 2014 Super Bowl favorites: Wanna bet?


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Tags:

Edgar Allan Poe, football, pigskin, the field, the raven
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