John Burroughs at the Slow Train Cafe in Oberlin, 14 March 2013

Video permalink: http://youtu.be/gJ5F0S0nYMs
This clip features John reading 10 of his own poems and one by Kevin Reid from Body Voices (2013, Crisis Chronicles Press) on 14 March 2013 at the Slow Train Cafe in Oberlin, Ohio.

1. John Cage Engaged and Uncaged
2. Penis [by Kevin Reid]
3. Top Less
4. Note to Self While Writing
5. Horror Scope
6. Bloodshot
7. You Shit
8. From Here to Inequity
9. Diarrhea of a Mad Mind
10. Bier
11. Lens

[Early versions of poems 1 & 6 appear in John’s 2008 chapbook Bloggerel (Crisis Chronicles Press).  Poems 3, 4 & 5 will appear in his 2013 Poet’s Haven chapbook It Takes More than Chance to Make Change.  Poem 10 appears in his 2012 chapbook Water Works (Recycled Karma Press). Poems 7, 8, 9 & 11 are from his 2012 book The Eater of the Absurd (NightBallet Press).]

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Open Mic, Part 1: Deep Cleveland Poetry Hour 3/8/2013

Video permalink: http://youtu.be/X2Xydi1NxyE
Part one of an open mic emceed by Joshua Gage on Friday 8 March 2013 (International Women’s Day) during the Deep Cleveland Poetry Hour at MugShotz in North Royalton, Ohio,  this clip includes readings by Patrick Clark, Azriel Johnson, Skylark Bruce, the poet formerly known as Andrew Line, John Burroughs, Shelley Chernin, Vertigo Xi’an Xavier, and Geoffrey Landis.

Roué Let (by John B. Burroughs)

self portrait by the author 

Roué Let
by John Burroughs, from The Eater of the Absurd [2012, NightBallet Press]

I’d sell my so
for a yes and no

I’d hold you to
the sale without
fail if you’d bail
me in once more

My in
you’re all
most out

You time
whore eye
lover more
lick like
chime

I’d slime you
for a bite at
your pear and
delight in your
stare for a dark
door ramble
with my avant
in your garden
and repeal the woe
boat go law mow
shatter glow forage

Jack pot

Spin my rainbow
wheel make
a deal lie back
love whip crack
squeal

I’d sell my hot
for your trot
rim shot plot
slot naughty
ex in oh
party casino 

My out
your in
win win


[written 12 November 2012]



* * * * *

John Burroughs is the author of many chapbooks including Electric Company [Writing Knights], Water Works [Recycled Karma Press], and The Eater of the Absurd [forthcoming, NightBallet Press]. For nearly a decade around the turn of the millennium, John served as a full-time playwright and occasional music director in residence for the Ministry of Theatre at Marion Correctional Institution. In 2007, his blog earned a number one ranking on MySpace.  He also co-founded the Lix and Kix Poetry Extravaganza and annual Snoetry: A Winter Wordfest. Since 2008, he has served as the editor and publisher of Crisis Chronicles Press.

Met a Mat, a Door I Didn’t Like (by John B. Burroughs)

Met a Mat, a Door I Didn’t Like
by John B.Burroughs
from 6/9: Improvisations in Dependence [2009, Crisis Chronicles Press]

Scribbling
Scrambling
Random ramblings
Run dumb and smart
Numb and smarting
Smarmy
Flush with art and artless
Like farting in calligraphy

Gas rhymes with ass
And no class
And yes
Class
Dismissed rhymes with pissed
And missed and nearly amiss and remiss
Even this

I’m rambling
Randomly scrambling
The few semi worthwhile thoughts I can
Muster with my ass on the toilet
Abdominal cramps
Faux leather journal resting on my write knee
Foster’s beer in one hand and
A wine blood red broken but
Functional mechanical pencil in the other

I’m a man
Who doesn’t feel like much of one
Not a woman
Though I suppose I feel like most of them

Trying to find myself in
Random scrambling
Rambling
Ambling through a know moon
New moan darkness
Though it’s nowhere near midnight yet
And this is one of the year’s longest days

Longest daze I’ve been in for a while
Or so it seems when I’m in it
Trying to bear it
Bare and grin it
Maybe even win it
Or feel like a winner
Instead of a wiener
A whiner or a ham burgher
Though I know I shouldn’t treat
This like a competition
Or a smorgasbord

I want to say
What do you know?
But come to think of it
What do I know?
Even my best attempt at avoiding any gimmick
Makes me feel like another dull mimic
Every stab I make at originality
Smells of another stale gimmick
And sometimes my every scribble
Seems to rhyme
With fibble
But in two words
Fib
Bull
And I’m losing any inclination
To play anything other than
Matador



John wrote and posted  “Met a Mat, a Door I Didn’t Like” on his Tao of Jesus Crisis blog June 22nd 2009.  Shortly thereafter, he selected his favorite blog ramblings from that month and published them on July 4th 2009 as a chapbook entitled 6/9: Improvisations in Dependence (CC#3).

To order a signed copy, please send five US dollars (shipping included) to John B. Burroughs c/o Crisis Chronicles Press, 420 Cleveland Street, Elyria, Ohio 44035 — or use the Buy Now button below to order online via PayPal.

Allen Ginsberg Wants You (by John B. Burroughs)

John Burroughs recites his poem “Allen Ginsberg Wants You” on 7 January 2011
at Pumpkin Hollow Antiques & Cafe in Bellville, Ohio (recorded by Dianne Borsenik)

John began writing “Allen Ginsberg Wants You” in May 1997 (despite what he says in the video), then dug it out of an old journal and finished it in May 2008.  It was published in his first chapbook, Bloggerel.

To order a signed copy, please send five US dollars (shipping included) to John B. Burroughs c/o Crisis Chronicles Press, 420 Cleveland Street, Elyria, Ohio 44035 — or use the Buy Now button below to order online via PayPal. 

John Burroughs reads 3 more at The Beat Cafe – 15 August 2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLzPYhE1oJo

John B. Burroughs reads Karma Souptra, Low Kay Shun and Tell a Vision
Recorded at the Beat Cafe, 29200 Hoover Rd. in Warren, Michigan
Event sponsored by Troubadour 21: Writers & Artists in the 21st Century
(photography & editing by John Burroughs, a.k.a. Jesus Crisis)

John Burroughs is the founder and editor of the Crisis Chronicles Online Library and co-founder of both the Lix & Kix Poetry Extravaganza and Snoetry: A Winter Wordfest.  Discover probably more than you’ll ever want to know about him at http://crisischronicles.com.

Borsenik & Burroughs pt. 6 at Feed the Gays 2 in Cleveland – 3/27/2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rA-sBdDfRfs

Part six (conclusion) of a joint featured reading by Borsenik & Burroughs
that was recorded on Saturday March 27th 2010 during Feed the Gays 2
an event benefitting the GLASA @ Cleveland State University scholarship fund
held at the Union Station Video Café, 2814 Detroit Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio
(photography & editing by John Burroughs, a.k.a. Jesus Crisis)

Dianne Borsenik, former flowerchild and current redhead, is active in the Cleveland poetry scene. Her poems have appeared in Slipstream, Rosebud, Ship of Fools, Nerve Cowboy, The Magnetic Poetry Book of Poetry, Haiku World: An International Poetry Almanac, Eviscerator Heaven, Deep Cleveland Junkmail Oracle, Voices of Cleveland, and Naturally magazine; her chapbook HardDrive/SoftWear was published in 2009 (Crisis Chronicles Press). Both the 2008 and 2009 Cleveland RTA poetry projects included her poems, and actor Jonathan Frid (“Barnabas” on Dark Shadows) used 3 of her poems on tour in “Genesis of Evil.” She has performed her poetry in venues throughout Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.

John Burroughs is a poet, playwright and musician in Elyria, Ohio, as well as the founder and editor of the Crisis Chronicles Online Library and co-founder (with Dianne Borsenik) of both the Lix & Kix Poetry Extravaganza and Snoetry: A Winter Wordfest.  Discover more than you’ll probably ever want to know about John at http://crisischronicles.com.

Stalk Lix and Kix on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/lixandkix.

Borsenik & Burroughs pt. 5 at Feed the Gays 2 in Cleveland – 3/27/2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wdo7O08BoU

Part five of a joint featured reading by Dianne Borsenik & John Burroughs
recorded on Saturday March 27th 2010 during Feed the Gays 2
an event benefitting the GLASA @ Cleveland State University scholarship fund
held at the Union Station Video Café, 2814 Detroit Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio
(photography & editing by John Burroughs, a.k.a. Jesus Crisis)

Dianne Borsenik, former flowerchild and current redhead, is active in the Cleveland poetry scene. Her poems have appeared in Slipstream, Rosebud, Ship of Fools, Nerve Cowboy, The Magnetic Poetry Book of Poetry, Haiku World: An International Poetry Almanac, Eviscerator Heaven, Deep Cleveland Junkmail Oracle, Voices of Cleveland, and Naturally magazine; her chapbook HardDrive/SoftWear was published in 2009 (Crisis Chronicles Press). Both the 2008 and 2009 Cleveland RTA poetry projects included her poems, and actor Jonathan Frid (“Barnabas” on Dark Shadows) used 3 of her poems on tour in “Genesis of Evil.” She has performed her poetry in venues throughout Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.

John Burroughs is a poet, playwright and musician in Elyria, Ohio, as well as the founder and editor of the Crisis Chronicles Online Library and co-founder (with Dianne Borsenik) of both the Lix & Kix Poetry Extravaganza and Snoetry: A Winter Wordfest.  Discover more than you’ll probably ever want to know about John at http://crisischronicles.com.

Stalk Lix and Kix on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/lixandkix.

Borsenik & Burroughs pt. 4 at Feed the Gays 2 in Cleveland – 3/27/2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaglfe8hBEE

Part four of a joint featured reading by Dianne Borsenik & John Burroughs
recorded on Saturday March 27th 2010 during Feed the Gays 2
an event benefitting the GLASA @ Cleveland State University scholarship fund
held at the Union Station Video Café, 2814 Detroit Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio
(photography & editing by John Burroughs, a.k.a. Jesus Crisis)

Dianne Borsenik, former flowerchild and current redhead, is active in the Cleveland poetry scene. Her poems have appeared in Slipstream, Rosebud, Ship of Fools, Nerve Cowboy, The Magnetic Poetry Book of Poetry, Haiku World: An International Poetry Almanac, Eviscerator Heaven, Deep Cleveland Junkmail Oracle, Voices of Cleveland, and Naturally magazine; her chapbook HardDrive/SoftWear was published in 2009 (Crisis Chronicles Press). Both the 2008 and 2009 Cleveland RTA poetry projects included her poems, and actor Jonathan Frid (“Barnabas” on Dark Shadows) used 3 of her poems on tour in “Genesis of Evil.” She has performed her poetry in venues throughout Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.

John Burroughs is a poet, playwright and musician in Elyria, Ohio, as well as the founder and editor of the Crisis Chronicles Online Library and co-founder (with Dianne Borsenik) of both the Lix & Kix Poetry Extravaganza and Snoetry: A Winter Wordfest.  Discover more than you’ll probably ever want to know about John at http://crisischronicles.com.

Stalk Lix and Kix on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/lixandkix.

Borsenik & Burroughs pt. 3 at Feed the Gays 2 in Cleveland – 3/27/2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=938JikSoQOc

Part three of a joint featured reading by Dianne Borsenik & John Burroughs
recorded on Saturday March 27th 2010 during Feed the Gays 2
an event benefitting the GLASA @ Cleveland State University scholarship fund
held at the Union Station Video Café, 2814 Detroit Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio
(photography & editing by John Burroughs, a.k.a. Jesus Crisis)

Dianne Borsenik, former flowerchild and current redhead, is active in the Cleveland poetry scene. Her poems have appeared in Slipstream, Rosebud, Ship of Fools, Nerve Cowboy, The Magnetic Poetry Book of Poetry, Haiku World: An International Poetry Almanac, Eviscerator Heaven, Deep Cleveland Junkmail Oracle, Voices of Cleveland, and Naturally magazine; her chapbook HardDrive/SoftWear was published in 2009 (Crisis Chronicles Press). Both the 2008 and 2009 Cleveland RTA poetry projects included her poems, and actor Jonathan Frid (“Barnabas” on Dark Shadows) used 3 of her poems on tour in “Genesis of Evil.” She has performed her poetry in venues throughout Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.

John Burroughs is a poet, playwright and musician in Elyria, Ohio, as well as the founder and editor of the Crisis Chronicles Online Library and co-founder (with Dianne Borsenik) of both the Lix & Kix Poetry Extravaganza and Snoetry: A Winter Wordfest.  Discover more than you’ll probably ever want to know about John at http://crisischronicles.com.

Stalk Lix and Kix on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/lixandkix.