Author Archives: Michael

Key Largo, Florida

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ORGANIZER: David Gitin and Gloria Avner

CONTACT: ddgitin@gmail.com

DESCRIPTION OF EVENT:

David and I volunteered to co-ordinate the gathering in Key Largo, and Maryann volunteered to host us at her Tarpon Basin dock.  We will sing our Navajo “oh-wah-nah-yah” song, say the Apache “beauty way” blessing, invite you to read a poem, sing a song, or play your instrument; and as the sun goes down, Maryann will blow her conch. We’d love to see you there. 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm. Musical instruments welcome.

Join Us

 

Gloria and David

Dear Michael and world-wide co-participants,

We loved joining with you.

There is a core group of friends in Key Largo who have celebrated Full Moons, New Moons, Equinoxes, and Solstices for years. A wonderful group answered the call to gather as part of the “Key Largo” portion of “100,000 Poets for Change.” They arrived at 6 pm with drums, rattles, conch shell trumpet, and loving excited intent at Tarpon Basin Dock, a peaceful wooden pier with a thatched-roof covered “cheekee” (Seminole building), extending into the Gulf of Mexico.

One hour before sunset, we began. A circle of women and one man (David Gitin, organizer of this event) gathered in a circle to sing a Navajo honoring song to the sun. With hand gestures and full voice we sang:

“Oh wah nah yah, ku wah nah yah, tsu wah nah yah, ooh wah nah yah.
Oh wah, ku wah, tsu wah, ooh wah; nah yah.”

Four times we raised our hands to the sun and lowered them to the sea; four times we swept our arms from East to West and in each of the cardinal directions and chanted our gratitude for the sun’s power to warm us, heal us, and make us and all life grow.

Then we recited the Apache “Beauty Way Blessing,” again using our arms and hands to indicate directions:

With Beauty before me, my future is bright and beautiful.
With Beauty behind me, my past is bright and beautiful; I forgive everyone and everyone forgives me.
With Beauty above me, I have all the guidance I need.
With Beauty below me, I have all the support I need.
May I walk in Beauty all the days of my life, and may every step I take this day be a blessing upon the earth, upon myself, and all I meet. Kadiishteh!

This was a group in touch with and grateful for the blessings of nature and the presence of Spirit. We talked about the gift and power of humility, about gratitude for the natural world. In myriad languages, in song and poetry, with instruments and without, we took turns around the circle. Two of the women are Sun Dancers. One is a Lakota pipe-carrier and Sweat-lodge Waterpourer. Three are singers of devotional songs. Several are artists as well as singers and poets. David, a nationally known poet, has just come out with his 10th book of poetry. All of us in that circle know that true, lasting, and meaningful change comes only from within, and that expressing gratitude is a powerful force.

David read from his new book of poems, “The Journey Home.” Gloria read a poem of Frank Parker’s, a friend who lives 2000 miles away in Tucson and is staying positive through poetry as he prepares to transition from this plane, still writing while adjusting to hospice care. The Sun Dancers sang their special thank you songs to Wakan Tonka, Great Spirit. Others both sang and recited their own poetry, including one spelling out the traits of her desired beloved: “I Want A Man to Call Me Babe.”

We laughed a lot. And trilled our primal ululation across the waters. Maryann blew her conch shell three times to mark the setting of the sun on this day of equal dark and light. In balance and beauty, we finished our event standing in circle, looking into each others eyes, singing a final song:

There is only one of us.
In your eyes it’s me I see.
There is only one of us.
You are my reflection.
There is only one.

Kadiishteh.

Thanks for making this up Michael. We had a wonderful time, enhanced of course by knowing that people all over the world were celebrating in their own ways with their own words. We are not technologically facile however. This description and the photos attached, as well as the previously submitted flier, make up our total documentation gift to you, which you of course may upload any time any way you wish.

Whether you had 10,000 participants or 100,000, I am sure you have broken all records for a spoken (and sung) word event. Congratulations. We enjoyed sharing it with you.

All our best,

Gloria Avner, David Gitin and friends

Minneapolis, Minnesota

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ORGANIZER: Kris Bigalk

CONTACT: kris.bigalk@normandale.edu

ORGANIZER: Paula Cisewski

CONTACT: paulacisewski@yahoo.com

Dear Twin Cities’ poet friends and compatriots,

My husband Jack & I would like to invite you to come on over to our humble home with a 3-4 minute poem to read and an idea you’d like to share about change so that we can film you, collect all the videos on a blog commemorating the day, and discuss how we’d like to celebrate this event more publically in future years. Please look below for a time slot that might suit you and let us know which, but feel free to come and visit! We have a moon labyrinth to walk and much good will.

We will have a constant flow of coffee and lemonade, as well as some light snacks. Feel free, too, to bring a dish or a beverage to pass.

Recording Schedule (I will keep this as up to date as I am able! Also, please know this isn’t a perfect system. Neither my personal email nor my facebook contacts is a perfect system. If I’ve omitted somebody, please let me know!)

12:00 Jeffrey Skemp

12:15 Paula Cisewski

12:30 Elisabeth Workman

12:45 Kris Bigalk

1:00 Lynette Reini-Grandell

1:15

1:30 Heid Erdrich

1:45 Robert Grunst

2:00 Matt Mauch

2:15 John Colburn

2:30 Sarah Fox

2:45 Dobby Gibson

3:00 Kelly Everding

3:15 Eric Lorberer

3:30 Wendy Brown-Baez

3:45 Anh-Hoa Nguyen

4:00 Steve Healey

4:15 Luke Pingel

4:30

4:45 Maria Damon

5:00 Tammy Wenberg

5:15 Haley Lache

5:30 Laura Brandenburg

5:45

All best,

Paula & Jack

Phoenix, Arizona

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ORGANIZER: Amy Ouzoonian

CONTACT: amy.ouzoonian@gmail.com

 

Time
Saturday, September 24 · 7:00pm – 11:30pm

Location
Conspire
901 N 5th St.
Phoenix, AZ

Created By
Amy Ouzoonian

More Info
Sept. 24th, I will be hosting a huge event that is part of the 100,000 poets for change event, happening worldwide, which is organized by Michael Rothenberg http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=106999432715571

This event will support poetry and poets and poems but, in the spirit of being an Anti-Slam, if you’d like to play a song, do an interpretive dance, tell a story, be a fabulous acrobat, or whatever you like, you are very welcome to do so.

What is an Anti-slam?

An anti-slam is an all inclusive art event that was created many years ago by artist and patron saint of the uncool Rev. Jen Miller in New York City’s Lower East Side. The Anti-slam welcomes all members of the artists community and supporters of artists. This is how it goes:
– You Sign up
– Three audience members volunteer to be judges (those judges give everyone who comes up to perform a 10)
-perform anything you like for 6 minutes or less (I will have a timer)
– You get three 10s from the judges and everyone has a great time!

Here’s some more info about anti-slam: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Slam

This event is BYOB. $5 suggested donation. So come on by and check it out, see what all the buzz is about, read a poem, do a dance, sing a song have a jammin time!

Sign up is at 7 pm, starts at 7:30 pm

See you there!

”Cvije Zuzoric”-Belgrade, Serbia

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ORGANIZER: Dobrica Kamperelic

CONTACT: dobrica.kamperelic@gmail.com

100.000 POETS FOR CHANGE
24.septembre 2011. at 11,30 a.m.
On the front & around ULUS house(pavilion”Cvije Zuzoric”),Belgrade,Mali Kalemegdan 1

BELGRADE(Serbia)POETRY MEETING & MULTIMEDIA-ART EVENT

P R O G R A M M:

1)Miroslav Cosovic/Music Master – “Horizonts”(Small electronic music concert)
2)Perfo-group KVART – “Destructio Unius-Generatio Alterius”(performance)
3)Poetry performance by Dragana Vucicevic
4)Boban Cvorovic & his perfo-group – “The Rising of Love”(performance”
5)Poetry performance by Danijela Cuzovic
6)Braca Joksimovic/Luka Barbot – Music variations
7)Dejan D. Markovic – Call for Action/Art Manifests/From A dream
8)Perfo-group GODO – “SU”(The Day/The Sun/The Emorace Time),haiku-poetry & performasnce
9)Poets with his poems:Brana Prelevic,Slavoljub Markovic,Zivko Nikolic,Srdjan Jarilo-Teofilovic,Vasa Radovanovic,Nebojsa Cosic,
Dobrica Kamperelic & many others
10)Mile Tasic – Hommage to Tatjana Cvejin,poet(performance)
11)Perfo-group i.j.u. D D B – “Circulus Vitiosus”(performance)

Organiser & coordinator

Dobrica Kamperelic a.k.a.Dob Kamper

dobar dan, saljem vam linkove nekih mojih radova, ako imate vremena, da pogledate, vezano za 24. ti septembar,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GySjAykY0Q&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4xYq3U6z9o&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSTjAp8pzZM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDg3YoJu6mA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NER-owX8qDA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBAIZPxnbr8

 

 
OPSTECOVECANSKE POTREBE ZA SUSTINSKIM PROMENAMA SVETA

– obuzdati zderace planetarnih tvari i nezasite potrosace svake vrste
– srusiti mit o potrebi trosenja prirodnih resursa,vratiti se samoj prirodi s respektom u novoj kreativnoj zajednici ljudi i u novom suzivotu svekolikog nam ljudskog roda

– zaustaviti izumiranje biljnih i zivotinjskih vrsta odnosno onavljati ih,

– na svaki dopusteni nacin zaustaviti zagadjenje vazduha,vode,ljudskih stanista(i ne samo ljudskih!),vaspostaviti istinski eko-balans,

– preobraziti autoritativno–opsesivno-zgrtacki karakter srednjih klasa,kao dominantan u Svetu kakav danas poznajemo(o cemu je pisao Erih From u uvek aktuelnoj knjizi IMATI ILI BITI?),zasnovan na dozivljavanju sebe samih kao robe i kao razmenske vrednosti.A u Novu Eru novog senzibiliteta uneti vise uzajamnog razumevanja,saradnje i solidarnosti!

– umesto straha od mondijalizma,globalizma i univerzalizma osetiti potrebu za nuznom povezanoscu ljudi sirom Planete,

– suzbiti diskriminaciju svake vrste,posebno na nacionalnoj,verskoj i rasnoj osnovi,a preduslov za ostvarivanje ovog cilja je zalaganje za obuzdavanje dominacije jedne ili dve ili vise supersila,

– ravnomernija raspodela dobara od opsteg interesa i akcije solidarnosti radi suzbijanja gladi i siromastva,

– a u umetnosti preskakanje svetih misaonih i estetskih opkopa tradicionalne umetnosti;direktna i neposredna komunikacija izmedju umetnika bez posredovanja insitucija kulture,ali i direktna i otvorena komunikacija s publikom,

– prosireni umetnicki mediji,ukidanje vestackih granica izmedju umetnosti,ali i defetisizacija umetnosti,pa i samih umetnika.

Dobrica Kamperelic

P.S.Dva recita primera surovih nametanja volje Svetskih mocnika.Prvi je u vezi s Kosovom i aktuelnom getoizacijom tamosnjih Srba…A,primera radi,indijansko pleme Kreja dobilo je lokalnu samoupravu u Kanadi,500 kilometara zapadno od Montreala,na teritoriji od 2 km kvadratna i 45 miliona kanadskih dolara za zivot po indijanskim obicajima.Demokratski i vrlo prakticnoi resavanje problema.

A Andreas Bananski u jednom eseju kaze:”Ko za jednu veceru pozdere mesecnui budzet sestoclane familije Treceg sveta,taj salutira i pred najgorim seprtljama koje jedna drzava licentira.”NO COMMENT!

Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, Nigeria

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ORGANIZER: Ken Bena

CONTACT: ragingpoet2000@yahoo.com

The name of the Event is:

Restoring The Dignity Of Motherhood

TIME: It kicks off at 11:pm
LOCATION: Tombai Square,Yenagoa
2nd Location: Peace Park Yenagoa

DESCRIPTION: The 100 Thousand Poets For Change Crew will converge at Tombai Square, Yenagoa at 11am wearing the 100 Thousand Poets For Change t-shirts & placards.

Tumbai Square

From there we hit the Market & distribute copies of the Anti-Cultism Handbook to market women & passersby.

Ellis Ebakor from Warri, Nigeria, Ken Bena from Yenagoa, Bayelsa State and friends

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the Market Stint we then head for the Second Location, Peace Park,Yenagoa. This event kicks off at 2pm.

Peace Park

 

Here we will be joined by Secondary School Students. We will talk about the vision of the 100 TPC & the need for change. We also will distribute the anti cult book to students, then round it up with Peace Poems written by the students. Also we will feature two budding Poets & myself. The event comes to a close at 6pm.

 

 

 

*    *   *

TIS A WONDER WHY THEY LOVE ME

Tis a wonder why they love me
Want me, hug me, nudge, follow me
Where ever, be it winter or summer
Is it because I rose from slumber
Syllables suffering from hunger
Threatened with extinction
But like the rising sun
I loomed upon their horizon
Despelling the gloomy years of confusion
Never again speak with lips mute
But swagger with pride like a piper blowing on A flute

Tis a wonder why they love me
Pen in hand,throat gone sour
Still they refuse to heed your call
Feel your pulse, walk through your thoughts
while i plead for a little respect
For your cause
But how they rage and curse!
When ever I plead or force
I quote “I swear they would not know Christ
If he stood in sight
In rags we walked, like a bunch of old hags
Tramping along these horizontal lines.
So don’t point fingers, or think hope lingers
For with them he fled to these hills
Where words struggle for space
Jostling for space.

The four day conspiracy

Wrapped like an Egyptian mummy
I play dead
Buried in a Stygian tomb
Filled with darkest thoughts
Waiting,praying he comes
Before insanity places me
In a guarded fort of violent worms
That awaits my limbs to stiffen and rot
So all can feast on the remains
Of the one called Lazarus

Four days and night without a light
While I sweated and cursed the darkness
Scorned the silence
Or was it the silence that mocked me?
As i wait for him to call,to come
Before my patience gets impatient
And scream!!

Sh! listen, he calleth, he cometh
But answer I shall not
Even if history falls on his kneels
And plead
Four nights of hell
He would learn!
For this Lazarus remains dead
Giggling as his voice panics
Calling, Lazarus! Lazarus!! Lazarus!!!

Angels In Rage
.
As the destined hour slowly awakens from his timeless slumber
About to descend the darkest pit
And ascend with a multitude of checkered sins
Soon they will be coming
An endless surge of lies, murders, deceit
And a flood of awesome cunning
Coming to shatter this perfect harmony
Found only within the serene landscape of heavenly realms
Yet in casting lots, we came up with a plot
As the destined hour seem to beckon
Made him drunk like the biblical one named lot
While they wait,endless days scorched
By the heat of their expectations
Waiting till eyes grow blurry with frustration
While the flesh splutters
And expires into the sand storm of disintegration
Better you pack and fold those visions of eternity away
Or be counted among the fools
Wearing a mask of hope
Still seen on many faces today.

THE MISCONCEPTION
.
The storm was chained by slavery
Self expression is a song sang
In the softest whispers
Or watch it turn into brutal lashes
Each stroke, ripping dignity into tattered
Rags of humility

This is for those fleeing the slave ships
Run faster! Faster!
Better to die free
Than smell the stench of a thousand fear
Cowering in fright in the ships hold

This is for those with legs spread wide open
Like women in throes of labor
A mixture of rum and a ebony virgin wench
Perhaps can cure the baas syphilis?
Claw! Bite! Kick! Scream!!!
And exist with flesh clinging to nails

They stood as still as the night
Inseparable like twin peas in a pod
Silent, shivering
But to despair?never!
Rather wait for dawn hidden in between
The words of Malcolm
From the coalmines of Johannesburg
To the plantations of West Virginia
They left no legacy of defeat
Just hot embers of courage and perseverance
Still glowing in the cold ashes of history

They ask no apology
Nor seek compensation
Who can repay dignity his years of toil?
Or can replace the virginity of chastity?
But like Christ on the cross
They stooped to conquer

So keep lips sealed like an Egyptian tomb
If thou dare speak of racial discrimination
And compensation
Tonight we came to bury discord
Not to mourn about colors or gold
But mans inhumanity to man
From Bosnia to nine eleven
Through the bloated canal of January 27
From the anguish cries of Iraq
To the freezing hell of Siberia
From the horrors of Hiroshima we flee
But how far and fast?

THE POET SPEAKS

The fire burning Inside
An hurricane of words,shrieking with the force of a storm
Sweeping through the misty fog of my restless mind
Leaving words reeking of immortality
Scattered across every line
So be warned!each time you seek to hear me speak
Transform your minds into the wick
Of an hurricane lamp, safe and protected
Lest the whirlwind of my thoughts
Extinguish the feeble flame of your myopic minds

Listen!even in the coldest winter
When words travel incognito
These pages still scream for breath
Each time my thoughts tread across their flesh
But if words could take on the shape of men
My lineage would be traced to the oldest of royal realms
Pages I have traveled,
Poets have dream to tread
Where they faltered and trembled
I made them words rattled and humble
For lions do not make pacts with men!

FORGIVE ME IF THESE WORDS

Forgive me if these words don’t put on the garment of my culture
For i was born into a time
When poverty, murders, arson and corruption
Fell like rain drops of torture
And our code of conduct?
A mere reflection of western horrors
Pardon me if I choose not to borrow
From What i despise
For like a fish brought ashore
I would die if I dare imitate the evil ways of today

I was born a Nigerian expected to live as an african
But there no Africans in Nigeria
They all fled in streams
Cleanse from the skin by some lotion
That causes cancer in slow motion
And prostitution?
I don’t recall to have met that shameless woman
In the good old days
When we all walked proud and naked all day
Yet here she is, walking around with a proud smile
Of wantonness
While dignity covers his head in shame
At such un holy business
Wait!dont flee if these words snap at the heels
Of your conscience
For if you think HIV a concept full of nonsense
Than wait till your bones become thin
And your flesh shrinks
While the lawyers are busy asking for your next of kin

This is not Africa but Nigeria
Here we are awaken
Not by the crow of the cock
But the alarming cry of a bomb
The bark of a gun
And the harsh glare of the sun
Maybe now you understand the reason
Why i don’t speak of corruption,hunger and unemployment
Who would listen?
Maybe the innocent laying sick in indifferent prisons
Or the homeless shivering under the baleful gaze
Of haggard bridges
Could be the pregnant mothers
Staring into the cold eyes of an empty kitchen
Parhaps the unnamed baby’s left to rot in rubish dumps
For no reason
Would they forgive and maybe some day listen?
I think not
For life in this country just aint easy.

***

As we walk towards keeping a date with History… We come not to flunt our Poetic Prowess. We come not to take Inspiration Hostage,naaw… We come to fatten up the Skinny frame of Poverty. We come to seal the lips of Racial Descrimination. We come to put behind Steel Bars, the Bloated body of Corruption. We come to transform that Lava of Hate into the ever cooling Fountain of Love. We come to restore the Dignity of Motherhood, to uphold the Sacredness of Human Lives. We come not with Drums of War but a oneness of Body, Soul & Mind… We come Singing Songs of Peace,because we rather be Free than be Alive in Prison..

Marseille, France

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ORGANIZER: Sool Famin’

CONTACT: lakorpo@live.fr

GROUP LINK: facebook: http://fr-fr.facebook.com/people/La-Korpo-Spoken-Word/1749030275myspace:http://www.myspace.com/lakorpo/

***

ORGANIZER: Guillaume Péquin ( Solid’Art’Cité le forum social, solidaire, citoyen ” La Paix déménage en Méditerranée ” )

Merci à Michael Rothenberg d’avoir initié ce projet 100 MILLE POETES POUR LE CHANGEMENT, Merci Lionel Goelen ,l’Association Goelen et son équipe de bénévoles,la Fabrik 57 son équipe et les performeurs (Artistes Peintres,Graffeurs…) aux slameurs Rosso Sikhmadman,Emy Louena d’avoir répondu présent à cette invitation, La Lakorpo Spokenword : Darel Ju pour ses multiples explications, sa patience, son temps et son investissement Platano Ygwanabana pour sa Good vibes et ses instruments Gabriela Navarro pour les photos et son premier slam, Merci à Provence Democratie,Claire Ferrari,indignés de Marseille et d’Aix,les Ami(e)s,la Famille… Merci à toutes celles et à tous ceux qui ont participé et qui nous ont soutenu!
— Sool Famin’

Tokyo, Japan

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ORGANIZER: Tokyo Poets Group

CONTACT: taymig@gmail.com

In response to the 100 Thousand Poets for Change around-the-world poetry slam-bang, Tokyo poets are invited to the 2nd floor of the Dickens from 5 pm on Sat. 24 Sept. This is short notice so we’ll just do the basics, and that will be our event: no stage, no mike, no hoopla, just beer and poems. The 2nd floor of the Dickens should provide us space and privacy if we’re in place (i.e., take it over) by 5.

“Malt does more than Milton can,” says the cynic but why not have both?

For the Tokyo Poets Group–