NonStop PoetryNY! Last night, Elaine Equi/Jerome Sala at Vincent Katz’s DIA series — love and sass and life in a spreadsheet. Then Great Party out at Phong Bui’s BROOKLYN RAIL pad. Night before, Cecilia Vicuna had a sophisticated populist salon at her and Jim’s, introducing two Chilean conceptual sound poets, Martín Gubbins and Felipe Cussen. I love their work, and this photo, it works too! for their reading tomorrow night. Tonight: dining with Urbana Slammaster Jeanann Verlee and Ian Khadan — will be excoriated for the changes at Bowery Poetry Club. Awesomest! Hey, this is NYC! Poetry!
NIGHT
Night put on its enormous hat
And began to imitate me behind my back
I whirled around so quickly
I walked right out of there and kept on walking
Night set out after me, calling
But I was so cool
I just kept on walking and walking
To this very day, walking
Bob Holman
Dear Friends — I want everybody to know how difficult it was to call off the recent Kickstarter campaign for the Bowery Poetry Club…
…but I’m going to start with the “official” statement that was crafted by Ann Enzminger with input from a whole lot of people who worked so hard on this effort. More to come — but if this is news to you, if you had made a contribution, know it was not in vain. It was, in fact, essential in informing a new direction for the Club’s survival. Here’s the Statement:
The Bowery Poetry Club has long championed the statement “Everything is Subject to Change” with gleeful revelry in the grand chaos that inspires us to write and sing and make art as well as with a somber understanding that the world around us does not always operate as poetically as we would like. It is from this place deep in our hearts and with this knowledge of the great dualities facing arts organizations in the current economy that we address the recent launch and sudden retraction of our Kickstarter Campaign.
To those who donated and helped us spread the word, thank you for your belief in our community and your dedication to the traditional arts of the Bowery. It was with great faith in your desire to help the club that we were feverishly inspired to move forward with our plea to raise $50,000 to solidify the future health and well-being of the Bowery Poetry Club. However, the initial response to our Kickstarter Campaign raised something imminently more powerful than the funds necessary to compete with our inherent architectural challenges:
You gave us hope.
We are happy to report that the energy circulated around this campaign has provided us with some very exciting opportunities that will allow us to continue nurturing the community that we cherish. The nature of these opportunities required us to let go of the potential funding that Kickstarter may have provided and turn towards the light of more certain and immediate possibilities. We encourage all of you to keep your eyes open to what’s to come at the BPC and pledge to continue cultivating a space that inspires creativity and community on the Bowery.
The Bowery Poetry Club has long championed the statement “Everything is Subject to Change” with gleeful revelry in the grand chaos that inspires us to write and sing and make art as well as with a somber understanding that the world around us does not always operate as poetically as we would like. It is from this place deep in our hearts and with this knowledge of the great dualities facing arts organizations in the current economy that we address the recent launch and sudden retraction of our Kickstarter Campaign.
To those who donated and helped us spread the word, thank you for your belief in our community and your dedication to the traditional arts of the Bowery. It was with great faith in your desire to help the club that we were feverishly inspired to move forward with our plea to raise $50,000 to solidify the future health and well-being of the Bowery Poetry Club. However, the initial response to our Kickstarter Campaign raised something imminently more powerful than the funds necessary to compete with our inherent architectural challenges:
You gave us hope.
We are happy to report that the energy circulated around this campaign has provided us with some very exciting opportunities that will allow us to continue nurturing the community that we cherish. The nature of these opportunities required us to let go of the potential funding that Kickstarter may have provided and turn towards the light of more certain and immediate possibilities. We encourage all of you to keep your eyes open to what’s to come at the BPC and pledge to continue cultivating a space that inspires creativity and community on the Bowery.
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