Herman Altman (by Edgar Lee Masters)

Herman Altman
by Edgar Lee Masters
[from Spoon River Anthology, 1 of 33 poems added to the 1916 edition]

Did I follow Truth wherever she led,
And stand against the whole world for a cause,
And uphold the weak against the strong?
If I did I would be remembered among men
As I was known in life among the people,
And as I was hated and loved on earth,
Therefore, build no monument to me,
And carve no bust for me,
Lest, though I become not a demi-god,
The reality of my soul be lost,
So that thieves and liars,
Who were my enemies and destroyed me,
And the children of thieves and liars,
May claim me and affirm before my bust
That they stood with me in the days of my defeat.
Build me no monument
Lest my memory be perverted to the uses
Of lying and oppression.
My lovers and their children must not be dispossessed of me;
I would be the untarnished possession forever
Of those for whom I lived.


[To read more Spoon River Anthology click here.]

So I Run (by Will “Da Real One” Bell) – video

Will “Da Real One” Bell, proprietor of the Literary Cafe and Poetry Lounge in North Miami, Florida, was gunned down in the early morning of  May 29th 2011.

Read about him here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/05/29/2241101/popular-north-miami-poet-cafe.html

Visit his fan page on Facebook to pay your respects: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Will-Da-Real-One/132753413468497.

The Delicacies (by William Carlos Williams)

The Delicacies
by William Carlos Williams
[from Sour Grapes (1921)]

The hostess, in pink satin and blond hair–dressed high–shone beautifully in her white slippers against the great silent bald head of her little-eyed husband! 

     Raising a glass of yellow Rhine wine in the narrow space just beyond the light-varnished woodwork and the decorative column between dining-room and hall, she smiled the smile of water tumbling from one ledge to another. 

     We began with a herring salad: delicately flavoured saltiness in scallops of lettuce-leaves. 

     The little owl-eyed and thick-set lady with masses of grey hair has smooth pink cheeks without a wrinkle. She cannot be the daughter of the little red-faced fellow dancing about inviting lion-headed Wolff the druggist to play the piano! But she is. Wolff is a terrinc smoker: if the telephone goes off at night–so his curled-haired wife whispers–he rises from bed but cannot answer till he has lighted a cigarette. 

     Sherry wine in little conical glasses, dull brownish yellow, and tomatoes stuffed with finely cut chicken and mayonnaise! 

     The tall Irishman in a Prince Albert and the usual striped trousers is going to sing for us. (The piano
is in a little alcove with dark curtains.) The hostess’s sister–ten years younger than she–in black net and velvet, has hair like some filmy haystack, cloudy about the eyes. She will play for her husband. 

     My wife is young, yes she is young and pretty when she cares to be–when she is interested in a discussion: it is the little dancing mayor’s wife telling her of the Day Nursery in East Rutherford, ‘cross the track, divided from us by the railroad–and disputes as to precedence. It is in this town the saloon flourishes, the saloon of my friend on the right whose wife has twice offended with chance words. Her English is atrocious! It is in this town that the saloon is situated, close to the railroad track, close as may be, this side being dry, dry, dry: two people listening on opposite sides of a wall!–The Day Nursery had sixty-five babies the week before last, so my wife’s eyes shine and her cheeks are pink and I cannot see a blemish. 

     Ice-cream in the shape of flowers and domestic objects: a pipe for me since I do not smoke, a doll for you. 

     The figure of some great bulk of a woman disappearing into the kitchen with a quick look over the shoulder. My friend on the left who has spent the whole day in a car the like of which some old fellow
would give to an actress: flower-holders, mirrors, curtains, plush seats–my friend on the left who is
chairman of the Streets committee of the town council–and who has spent the whole day studying automobile fire-engines in neighboring towns in view of purchase,–my friend, at the Elks last week at the
breaking-up hymn, signalled for them to let Bill–a familiar friend of the saloon-keeper–sing out all alone
to the organ–and he did sing! 

     Salz-rolls, exquisite! and Rhine wine ad libitum. A masterly caviar sandwich. 

     The children flitting about above stairs. The councilman has just bought a National eight–some car! 

     For heaven’s sake I mustn’t forget the halves of green peppers stuffed with cream cheese and whole walnuts! 

    

On the Feast of Snow and Shadow (by T.M. Göttl) – video

T.M. Göttl reads her poem “On the Feast of Snow and Shadow”
2011 Hessler Street Fair Poetry Competition honorable mention winner
at Mac’s Backs in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, on 11 May 2011
(photography & editing by John Burroughs, a.k.a. Jesus Crisis)

T.M. Göttl of Brunswick is Vice President of the Ohio Poetry Association and a member of the Buffalo ZEF creative community. Her work is online, in publications such as Pudding Magazine and Verse Wisconsin and has been heard on 91.3 WAPS Akron and 89.7 WOSU Columbus. She is the author of the full-length collection Stretching the Window and the chapbook Angels and Copper.

The Truth About That Accident (by Katie Cutshaw) – video

Katie Cutshaw reads her poem “The Truth About That Accident”
during the 2011 Hessler Street Fair Poetry Competition
at Mac’s Backs in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, on 11 May 2011
(photography & editing by John Burroughs, a.k.a. Jesus Crisis)

Find more Katie Cutshaw at http://travelingpoets.blogspot.com.

what it does (by Michael Bernstein) – video

Michael Bernstein reads his honorable mention winning poem “what it does”
during the 2011 Hessler Street Fair Poetry Competition
at Mac’s Backs in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, on 11 May 2011
(photography & editing by John Burroughs, a.k.a. Jesus Crisis)

Michael Bernstein is the author of the chapbooks cinderbook (Gold Wake Press, 2009), the rot to light (Gold Wake Press, 2010), 8s (Scantily Clad Press, 2010), imaginary grace (Recycled Karma Press, 2010), from “a heap of swords and mirrors” (Bedouin Books, 2010), the transit illuminate (mud luscious press, 2010), nanostars (greying ghost press, 2010), the Fire District (Differentia Press, 2010), Well (Splitleaves Press, 2010), and death ray (Minutes Books, forthcoming). His poems have appeared in magazines such as New American Writing, Puppy Flowers, milk, Moria, BlazeVOX, Columbia Poetry Review, Conundrum, Ink Node, swap/concessions, 13myna birds, Unscroll, Cannot Exist, A Trunk of Delirium, The Bathroom, The Balloon, Monkey Puzzle, Phraseology, and Pinstripe Fedora. He currently co-edits the online literary arts magazine Pinstripe Fedora, has appeared as a featured reader in numerous U.S. cities, has had his work featured on NPR’s “Chicago Amplified” program, and has written book reviews for Gently Read Literature and Tarpaulin Sky. Michael lives and writes in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

The Language of Corn (by Christina Books) – video

Christina M. Brooks readsher poem “The Language of Corn”
during the 2011 Hessler Street Fair Poetry Competition
at Mac’s Backs in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, on 11 May 2011
(photography & editing by John Burroughs, a.k.a. Jesus Crisis)

Christina M. Brooks is a poet, writer, runeworker, card artist, Taoist, Buddhist, vegetarian. She is a native of Detroit, Michigan, who enjoys swordfighting, tennis and gardening and is a traveling poet. She can often be found at readings somewhere in Southeast Michigan and Northern Ohio. She has served as co-editor of the Mnemosyne online literary journal and recently founded Brooding Crow Press. You can find her work published at her Rune Warrior MySpace and in the City Poetry zine, the Deep Cleveland Junk Mail Oracle, Crisis Chronicles’ Fuck Poetry, Common Threads, the 2009 through 2011 Hessler Street Fair poetry anthologies and elsewhere.

Vladimir Swirynsky at the Elyria Public Library, part 1 – April 2011

Part 1 of Vladimir Swirynsky‘s reading on 4/12/2011 at the
Elyria Public Library, 1194 West River Rd. North, Elyria, Ohio
 (photography & editing by John Burroughs, a.k.a. Jesus Crisis)

Swirynsky won 1st place in the 2011 Hessler Street Fair Poetry Competition

   

Vladimir Swirynsky at the Elyria Public Library, part 2 – April 2011

Part 2 of Vladimir Swirynsky‘s reading on 4/12/2011 at the
Elyria Public Library, 1194 West River Rd. North, Elyria, Ohio
 (photography & editing by John Burroughs, a.k.a. Jesus Crisis)

Swirynsky won 1st place in the 2011 Hessler Street Fair Poetry Competition

   

Vladimir Swirynsky at the Elyria Public Library, part 3 – April 2011

Part 3 of Vladimir Swirynsky‘s reading on 4/12/2011 at the
Elyria Public Library, 1194 West River Rd. North, Elyria, Ohio
 (photography & editing by John Burroughs, a.k.a. Jesus Crisis)

Swirynsky won 1st place in the 2011 Hessler Street Fair Poetry Competition