studio b's A•MUSE•D: readings by 14 local writers in the blur of february.

last sunday, studio b in boyertown celebrated its annual visual and literary arts exhibit in february with a prose and poetry reading to give attention to the language throwings which were received in a call for submissions a few months ago. these involved poetry as well as prose.

the event, A•MUSE•D: readings by local writers, involved 14 writers, mostly local, but a few drove from more of a distance to get here, including schuylkill county, the county north of ours, as well as new jersey.

• l. t. james
• theodore thomas
• pamela hodges
• craig bennett
• patty kline-capaldo
• robert wood
• jennifer hetrick
• jane stahl
• marilyn l. t. klimcho
• patrick mckinney
• burton stehly
• pat petrowicz
• philip repko
• patt pizzi

below are four videos of the reading by sam traten.

i will be uploading more videos of the actual readings by participants to add below, here and there as i can, and these are by laura kline.

&&& newly posted as of 27 february 2017 &&&

and here are some stilled eye-scenes from the afternoon of readings, with combined credits going to laura kline, sam traten, and jennifer hetrick since we shared the camera.

the humanized cat in the background, and the big white pair of underoos, are by pamela hodges to go with her recent released book called how to be a cat. copies are for sale at studio b as well as on amazon.com. we loved having her art in the background during the reading, as it tied in some great amusement as we read. the cool-cat paintings are also by pamela hodges.

dr. philip terman-- featured poet-- thursday, march 2 @ 6 p.m. @ goggleworks for berks bards' first thursday poetry open mic.

the featured poet for berks bards' first thursday poetry open mic this march is dr. philiip terman who teaches english and several different forms of creative writing at clarion university, which is a state school like kutztown university. clarion, which is between erie and pittsburgh but a smidge to the east, is in western pennsylvania.

event 1 info: via berks bards' first thursday poetry open mic, as the featured poet, thursday, march 2 @ 6 p.m. @ goggleworks @ 201 washington street, suite 240, reading, pa 19601

a secondary event, and a wonderfully unique and very-worth-it kind, will be a poetry workshop taught by dr. terman through the pagoda writers two days later.

event 2 info: via the pagoda writers' first saturday workshop, saturday, march 4 @ 1 p.m. (location pending...the website will be updated with location info once it is finalized-- please RSVP to l. t. james if you can attend, and she (she goes by linda) will update you as more info is available. she can be reached by phone at 610.413.0373.)

you can find several of dr. terman's books of poetry in the berks county library system through some of my past contemporary poetry donations to the boyertown community library. 

two of these are the torah garden and rabbis of the air.

and here is a poem by dr. terman which the writer's almanac shared last october. you can also listen to it read here. to help you out, it starts at 3 minutes and 30 seconds into the recording.

some days
by dr. philip terman

some days you have to turn off the news
and listen to the bird or truck
or the neighbor screaming out her life.
you have to close all the books and open
all the windows so that whatever swirls
inside can leave and whatever flutters
against the glass can enter. some days
you have to unplug the phone and step
out to the porch and rock all afternoon
and allow the sun to tell you what to do.
the whole day has to lie ahead of you
like railroad tracks that drift off into gravel.
some days you have to walk down the wooden
staircase through the evening fog to the river,
where the peach roses are closing,
sit on the grassy bank and wait for the two geese.

***

many gracious thanks go to mayor marianne deery of boyertown who is kindly hosting dr. terman at the twin turrets inn, as its innkeeper, to help support berks bards and the pagoda writers as nonprofits pushing poetry forward in berks county. much nommm-worthy food-geared gratitude goes to chris dietz who owns CD's place in boyertown and is making sure dr. terman will be well fed (besides his bed & breakfast meals as well as those which will be offered during his visit by members of berks bards and the pagoda writers) as he keeps poetry revolving while he ventures into berks county.

an open house at chesterbrook academy elementary school in oaks, montgomery county.

in the later part of january, chesterbrook academy elementary school in oaks, montgomery county, hosted a winter open house and used it as an opportunity to showcase its newly revamped library, which shares space with the students' computer lab.

on this particular rainy winter sunday, a few young students grabbed books from the shelves to read to me, and we talked about the poetry stitched into the sentences. so we used the brightness within the books to compensate around the dreary-weather persuasion of the afternoon. books are such a great and flexible gift, in that way, to help in stirring our moods into better places and curiosities. and then there's also the perk of learning, which is a big plus in that we're always going to keep growing within if we're close to education with how our hearts absorb information in this world.

dots and dinosaurs are what we delved into in enunciating the language across one page and the next. alliteration played a big part, as that's often a very involved poetic device in chidren's books, and it's fun for the ears, too.

credits for a portion of the photography go to ashley lambert who kindly helped with some eye-scenes for the day.

studio b's A•MUSE•D: readings by local writers-- sunday, february 19, 2017 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

studio b in boyertown is hosting an upcoming literary and art-hugging event this february.

what: a prose and poetry reading called A•MUSE•D: readings by local writers

the featured authors are those who submitted prose and poetry to a call for submissions to studio b for its visual and literary arts exhibit in february. an annual collaborative book of received creative writings will be available for sale as well, in line with this exhibit's theme, muse.

when: sunday, february 19, 2017 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. (the snow date is sunday, march 5, 2017 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.)

where: studio b @ 39 east philadelphia avenue, boyertown, pa 19512

cost: $5 donations are greatly appreciated from participants and audience-goers to help support studio b as a local nonprofit, since grant funding often only covers part of gallery operating costs; more is certainly welcome !

participants so far, and possibly more, are:

• l. t. james
• theodore thomas
• pamela hodges
• craig bennett
• patty kline-capaldo
• robert wood
• heather mcarthur
• jennifer hetrick
• jane stahl
• marilyn l. t. klimcho 
• patrick mckinney 
• burton stehly
• pat petrowicz 
• philip repko 
• patt pizzi

please feel free to pass this onward for those who may be interested in attending,  and especially if you know anyone who may like to find out more by potentially submitting creative writing next year, once the february 2018 exhibit's deadline for writing is announced.

studio b's normal gallery hours are fridays, saturdays, and sundays, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. it is also open by appointment.

GONE? by sandra williams-- a poem.

sandra williams of gilbertsville recently offered this poem to share about a very close friend of hers who passed away this winter.

since it is said that butterflies carry messages to the other side, i felt this local photograph below, from time spent with ron richael, a butterfly expert in pottstown, served fittingly with sandra's poem which is below. the idea of being able to voice what we want to say to those we've loved, in the depths of our grief, could very well live along the edge of a butterfly's wing.

GONE?
By Sandra Williams

I want to text you
Call you
Hear your voice
See your face
Be with you
If only to go with you to one more chemo treatment

Now you are gone
In a cold grave
That part of YOU—the earthly part

But the SPIRIT in YOU—the part that
Thought, felt and did
Taught, learned and cared
And GAVE as mother, wife, daughter and friend

Is that gone too—somewhere?

I do not know
Oh, me of little faith

I do know that what you left behind
And what you took with you
REMAINS—I believe that

Its name is LOVE