BEFORE the DAWN: the Alternative New Year’S Day Spoken Word / Performance Extravaganza - 2019 Anthology

BEFORE THE DAWN: The Alternative New Year’s Day Spoken Word / Performance Extravaganza - 2019 Anthology

- First Edition. - Volume VI in a series. - 144 pages. - Trade Paperback. - American contemporary poetry anthology.

Contact Information / Order Online: http://www.alternativenyd.org/

Rogue Scholars Press http://www.roguescholars.com

Design and Layout: C. D. Johnson Publishers: Rogue Scholars Press

Cover Art Figure: Marici, Buddhist Goddess Of The Dawn

ISBN-10: 0-9840982-8-3 ISBN-13: 978-0-9840982-8-6

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations for reviewing purposes, this book or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form or by any means, whether print or electronic, without permission in writing from the publisher and / or author(s).

Published by Rogue Scholars Press New York, NY - USA

The Alternative New Year’s Day Spoken Word / Performance Extravaganza!

2019 Anthology

http://alternativenyd.org

Before The Dawn

CONTENTS

V Acknoledgements

1 Austin Alexis — Time Travel 2 Joel Allegretti — The Man-Rat 3 Madeline Artenberg — At the Gorilla Forest, Bronx, NY 5 Dorothy Friedman August — Greetings 6 Yael Baron — The Viper Sonnets Part 1. 7 Jennifer Blowdryer — Manhattan Society 9 Ron Blum — Wake No More 11 Patricia Carragon — The End Of The World 13 YZ Chin — Reasons To Not Have Children 15 Lydia Cortes — The Uglier American Terrorist 17 Steve Dalachinsky — The Dance 18 Brana Dane — Surrender 19 Pete Dolack — Redwoods 20 Gabriel Don — Chill Like A Lizard 21 David Elsasser — At My Age 23 Bill Evans — Captains America 25 Bonny Finberg — Boy 26 Bryan C. Fox — Swordz 27 Dan Freeman — The Bully 29 Robert Gibbons — I Had My Own Sassafras (After Ntozake Shange) 31 K Hank — A Man & Festival 32 Jared Harél — Go So You Can Come Back 33 Bob Heman — Evening 34 Judith Lee Herbert — Seeking Enlightenment 35 Roxanne Hoffman — The Little Old Lady Who Lived In A Shoebox 37 David Huberman — Lonely Hearts (2007) 38 C. D. Johnson — Yoganidra - (Or) High, Passed-Out, And Dreaming At Temple 39 Icegayle Johnson — Pipe Bombs Shooting Massacre 41 Ted Jonathan — Dominion 42 Larry Jones — Prayer 43 Meg Kaizu — Drizzling Purple

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44 Hillary Keel — Tsunami Tango 45 Ron Kolm — Garbage Run 47 Ptr Kozlowski — [Untitled] 48 Sri Lal — Across Dark Water 49 Annie Rachele Lanzillotto — Zerega Blues 51 Jane LeCroy — Myo Genesis 52 Linda Lerner — Autumnal 53 Toni Mergentime Levi — Berlin Biennale 55 Phillip X Levine — Epitaphs, Orphans, And Oops 57 Piper Levine — Grimm Winter 59 Mindy Levokove — Reprisal (2018) 61 Tsaurah Litzky — Gratitude 62 Veronica Liu — Family Recipes 63 Ellen ‘Windy’ Aug Lytle — The Happy Life 65 Stan Marcus — Recovery Room 67 Peter Marra — Post-Operative Complications In A Honeymoon Motel 69 Nancy Mercado — 1st Curse 71 Yuko Otomo — Tempest 73 Eve Packer — vignette 74 Stella Padnos — Newcomer 75 Puma Perl — Fucking The Antichrist 77 Howard Pflanzer — In An Open Field 78 Su Polo — Secret Dream 79 Justin Reed — When It Rains 81 Marguerite Maria Rivas — Fear Itself 82 Robert Roth — Won’t Write A Great Poem Even If I Could 83 Thaddeus Rutkowski — The Bad Old Days 84 Sarah Sarai — What An Arroyo Can Do 85 Brian Sheffield — I Still Don’t Understand It 86 Danny Shot — Present 87 William Shunn — Tasting Notes 89 John L. Silver — Along The River II 91 Joanna Sit — Lilies 93 Miriam Stanley — The Twenty-Four Hour “Stomach Hurricane”

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94 JM Theisen de Gonzalez — Balthazar 95 Claire Van Winkle — Admitting 97 Bruce Weber — Callous Numbers 99 Francine Witte — Fish Story 100 Jeffrey Cyphers Wright — Later Than You Think 101 Allan Yashin — We Used To Live Dangerously APPENDIX

a-I Contributor Bios a-XV Alphabetical Index Of Poems a-XIX Colophon a-XXI Addendum Poster Graphics

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Before The Dawn

Acknowledgments

25 Years! Remarkable!

I remember the first Alternative at Cafe Nico on Janu- ary 1st, 1995. Out Cold. Knock Out Punch. Larry Jones. Grace Period. 100 Performers. A full house.

And now here we are at church. Through the kindness and generosity of the St. John’s Lutheran Church in the heart of the West Village. We come to you for the 25th time. So many performers through the years. So much support from Cafe Nico to the long gone CBGB’s. To the Knitting Factory. To the Bowery Poetry Club. To Dixon Place. To the Nuyorican Poets Cafe. To the here and now. To the now and here. To here and here and here. Thank you all.

A verry special thanks to:

Madeline Artenberg Lydia Cortes Pete Dolack C. D. Johnson Ptr Kozlowski Ellen Aug Lytle Su Polo Robert Roth Thad Rutkowski and Joanne Pagano Weber

- Bruce Weber

Before The Dawn

 Austin Alexis

Time Travel

Step into the past; trot into the future. Merry-go-round yourself and jump off where you will, when you want. Grab a few years by the hips, by the nape and trek to a time not meant for you. Defy fate by escaping, by zooming into decades earmarked for someone other than yourself, into intervals percolating with warmth you were denied. You’ve been hoodwinked, dealt a refrigerated life, somehow cheated by the stingy planets, by the stupidity of luck, by the stars.

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 Joel Allegretti

The Man-Rat

After Robert Mapplethorpe’s Self Portrait with Whip (1978)

I’m the spitting image of a king- Size Manhattan rat. Ever wonder

If there are queer rats? I mean little Bitch rats that like to take a bull rat’s

Hard rat dick in their pinprick rat ass. Rat-fucks on a West 14th St. loading

Dock, sharing the meatpacking hours With trash-blond Gansevoort queens

Hopping in and out of ‘75 Camaros With Jersey plates. Bottom rats rat-

Squeaking in unlubricated-anal-sex Agony/ecstasy when the pumping

Rat cocks spurt threads of hot rat Cum in the open-all-night rat holes.

Top and bottom rats in post-climax Collapse. The bitch rats running off

To pick up other bull rats, chattering In whatever passes for queer-rat code,

”Fuck my rat ass into jelly.” Now, That’s what I call giving a rat’s ass.

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 Madeline Artenberg

At the Gorilla Forest, Bronx, NY

Three times I wave my right hand at the female gorilla, standing before me separated by a few inches of impenetrable glass.

Each time I wave, she waits, as if deciding were I friend or foe, then picks up her left hand, palm open, folds it closed, brown eyes searching mine, as if she were someone’s grandmother come here from the Old Country, couldn’t speak the language, reaching out to her grandchild.

My name and that odd little word OK were all my grandmother could say in English. All along our walks to the live poultry market, neighbors interrupted us— I never knew if she were the mayor or the gossip of our Bensonhurst block. They hugged my grandmother’s lumpy body; she filled their palms with slices of her famous blueberry cheese Danish, saving some for me.

She would brush her leathery face across my cheek, kiss me on the forehead for being good, whisper sheine maidele. I didn’t understand, but the look in her eyes was sweet as her pastry.

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The female gorilla stands before me, gray hair on her hips, one arm wrapped tight around two young ones, the other hand returning my final wave. I feel her warm brown eyes pulling at me as I walk away leaving her pressed to glass.

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 Dorothy Friedman August

Greetings

Without pausing to explain the holocaust, what was brought and what was taken away

I send greetings from two positions, your brothers among the robins and wild geese, and from Daddy, for whom you are a constant good girl.

Greetings from the birds and the artillery,

The birds warbling outside my window.

The artillery in deep with nothing to say.

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 Yael Baron

The Viper Sonnets Part 1.

Lost alone. There’s no sun. The rain it cries. Unrooted love, a cherished treasure lost. Searching for answers believe me she tries. Belief Abandons, Pain too high a cost. Exposed flames of past hurt eat her inside. Spark’s reaction burn. All common sense dies. Cling to false hope. These chains must be untied. Held on too long illusions full of lies. Buried by the might of expectations. No way to escape this dead relation. Grew up in a house of confrontations. Trouble’s birthed by drama filled elation. Words doused in venom by Angry vipers. Hopes shattered by hurt and Heart’s own snipers.

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 Jennifer Blowdryer

Manhattan Society

Quentin Crisp said he took his riches in people. He perfected the art of going to a café or greasy spoon in the UK, as a youth, and lingering for hours, chatting it up. Each person you chat with has value, is value, across the board. There’s no ‘us’ and ‘them’. Though his morning mantra was ‘Other people are a mistake’, he believed that they also represented the opportunity to hone one’s own style and patter. Endurance was a given.

Crisperanto is a ‘good fit’ for me. Buddhism, not so much. One of my most painful experiences was when Tom Messmer took me to a Zen Temple in San Francisco. I thought he said it was a 15- minute meditation. How bad could it be? The rest might be an inspiring talk, or punchy verbal self- summations done round robin style. Instead, Nobody said a word. I waited an entire minute. Still nothing.

“Where’s the bathroom?” I transgressively stage whispered,

Silence. I bolted out the door, in a panic. The next time I talked to Tom, I expressed my confusion.

“I told you it was a 50 minute meditation at the Zen Temple – I thought it might be good for you. Did you read that Thich Nhat Hanh book I gave you, Being Peace?” Tom chided.

“FIFty – I thought you said fifTEEN. I. Can’t. Do. That. I looked at the Thich Nhat Hanh book, he seems like a nice guy. Can’t disagree.”

Despite my mindfulness flop, Tom did bring me riches in the form of his person, I’m so glad I met him. He’d read my 80’s Maximum Rock’n’Roll column as a teenager, and had now met the older me, zonked out of pills.

“You’re not psychotic, Jennifer, you’re Counter Culture. Stop taking those pills, they’re making you a zombie.”

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I swatted slowly at the air in front of my drugged out face, perhaps at an invisible fly, or the lighting, or cognition. I realized that Tom was right, and weaned off the pills in order to get my cognitive powers back. It was tough, lots of nights sitting around with malcontents, stretching out a cup of coffee on MacDougal or Sixth Avenue, with fellow travelers, or fellow sitters, who knew all the lenient 24-hour spots. We talked in small monologues or complete obsessive sputters, waiting for the unjoinable daytime to catch some shuteye. I got better, and can now sit in the park way before sundown, if the weather’s favorable. Or meet with…. you

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 Claire Van Winkle

Admitting for Kat

The woman in Admitting sits in her reinforced fish tank all day, smacking her gum and scratching between her legs when she thinks the waiting room’s back is turned. The light flickers like a foot tapping or breath catch- ing how sickness catches in a scorched throat.

Only this lock-and-key sanctuary could hold such deviant light — its switchblade of fluorescence on bullet-proof glass, its warped waves and pockmarks. The desk-girl doesn’t know what we know. She hasn’t learned the art of knitting shadows, of fitting tight into the corners one conjures in this labyrinth of knock-kneed chairs. All she knows is hair spray and fingernails — not cut short, like ours, or bitten to the quick. No, from cuticle to curved edge hers are sharps, contraband. Her hands tell us that she is on the outside. Their thick nails will pick the ward’s lock at the end of her shift.

She’ll clock out before the snug chain of electricity is released from the overhead lights. She’ll go out, get a cab, get laid. We know she holds at least one skill we can’t grasp: We will still see

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her bruised-berry lips long after she’s punched out, and the smell of her hairspray won’t quit, but by six we’ll have vanished from her varnished world. We admit it’s not the glass or needles or men in white who hold us here for our own good. No, what keeps us guarded goes deeper: That bored girl at the desk is a mistress of the art of missing nothing she’s lost or left behind, while we are stuck here in this strip-searched light with our past lives laid out like tarnished cutlery. We roll up our sleeves, bare our hearts and teeth, and shock ourselves as we attempt to commit the theory of forgetting to memory.

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 Bruce Weber

Callous Numbers

For Jack Tricarico

How did I not notice you standing in the rain I wanted to apologize for loving you It was a stone thrown through a wall A daring point of juncture Divided by twigs And callous numbers I wanted to jump But you said: “Eat first” Those were long days Among the mushrooms and birds When they told me you jumped I wet my pants Some things are predictable But not much Especially among poodles and grandes dames Someday I will recognize you in a blur A sign that expands in memory But mostly sits there drooling I’m an optimist And these shoes are too tight Arrange yourself across this lumpy old bed Admire yourself in this long mirror When day ebbs I’ll telephone you collect It’s sudden — these pangs! They burst in my gut Like the Fourth of July I won’t ever apologize again These things hurdle across the city Like bruised tiger cubs Parched and itchy After midnight arrives I’ll buy you a new bicycle And the air will get as thick as the morning porridge We’ll dance in the rain and the fog

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Imagining simpler times When the guy down the block Introduced us to Dom Pérignon And we celebrated every hour Like Independence Day

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 Francine Witte

Fish Story

Pretend you don’t see the photo hung up in the hallway, the one of you and your father fishing where he dangles his catch from his scratchy hands. Later, he would tell the neighbors how the fish was so much bigger than it looked. The same way he would tell you the moon is hanging in the sky just for you, and when you grow up you can choose the nights it will shine. Pretend you weren’t angry when you did grow up and wished the moon away those final hospital nights where your father gasped like a dying fish, and the moon prying in the window which was framing the night like an unpeopled photograph where you could shout and shout about that time you stood knee deep in that long-ago lake, and your father promised you he would live forever.

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 Jeffrey Cyphers Wright Artwork: Later Than You Think - 14 x 17” Mixed media, 2018

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 Allan Yashin

We Used To Live Dangerously

We used to live dangerously caution never entered our minds We used to live extemporaneously in the fast lane all the time We used to live passionately fervent commitment or none at all We used to live spontaneously Excitement…our siren’s call But now we’re on to a different adventure Though no less courage demands the task We look back — where did the years go? That’s what we all seem to ask The future beckons but who knows just how long it will last? So pass your days quenching your yearnings Self — denial…make it a thing of the past No one knows when the finish line’s coming So don’t let that get in your way And try, if just for a little bit To live dangerously today

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APPENDIX

Before The Dawn

BIOGRAPHIES

Austin Alexis has recent work in Dash Literary Journal, A Gathering of the Tribes, Suitcase of Chrysanthemums (anthology), Brownstone Poets Anthology, Brevitas (anthology), Nassau County Poet Laureate Review, First Literary Review--East, Home Planet News Online. Residency: Dragon’s Egg Artist Colony (Connecticut).

Joel Allegretti is the author of, most recently, Platypus (NYQ Books, 2017), a collection of poems, prose, and performance texts, and Our Dolphin (Thrice Publishing, 2016), a novella. In addition, he is the editor of Rabbit Ears: TV Poems (NYQ Books, 2015).

Madeline Artenberg’s poetry has appeared in many print and online publications, such as Vernacular and Rattle. She won Lyric Recovery and Poetry Forum prizes and was semi-finalist in the 2005 contest of Margie, The American Journal of Poetry. Her work often touches on Jewish and New York City themes. The Old In-and-Out, a play based on her poetry and that of Karen Hildebrand, directed by Kat Georges, garnered raves in June, 2013.

Dorothy Friedman August author of three books of poetry, two forthcoming from Poets Wear Prada and Autonomedia edits White Rabbit and has published in many anthologies most recently WORD. She’s won two NYFA grants and was poetry editor of Downtown 10 years. She is working on memoir The Bastard Heirs and teaches writing at Fordham university and empire state college.

Yael Baron is a performance artist, a mental health advocate, and an activist. She works to educate the public and illustrate the personal perspectives of those living with a mental illness. She is a host of “Show Me How To Smile”, an art performance series dedicated to mental health awareness.

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Jennifer Blowdryer has lived in the East Village for 31 years. She’s written columns for New York Press, Downtown, and Maximum R’n’R, fronted the band Blowdryer Punk Soul NYC, and published books as various as White Trash Debutante, Good Advice for Young Trendy People of all Ages, and The Laziest Secretary in the World. Her last album is Pinot Grigio. She’s pretty happy to still live here, and believes Manhattan still has many aspects of being a neighborhood - viva nyc.

Ron Blum writes pop culture pieces, fiction, and poetry. His work has been published in Gainsayer and he has performed at events around New York.

Patricia Carragon’s recent publications include A Gathering of the Tribes, The Caf Review, and Muddy River Poetry Review. Her latest books are The Cupcake Chronicles (Poets Wear Prada, 2017) and Innocence (Finishing Line Press, 2017). Patricia hosts the Brooklyn-based Brownstone Poets and is the editor-in-chief of its annual anthology. She is an executive editor for Home Planet News Online.

YZ Chin is the author of Though I Get Home (Feminist Press, 2018), winner of the Louise Meriwether First Book Prize. Born and raised in Taiping, she now lives in New York, where she also works as a software engineer.

Lydia Cortes: author: poetry collections Lust for Lust and Whose Place and also published in various anthologies including: Puerto Rican Women Poets in New York,1980’s to present and Puerto Rican Poets from Aboriginal Times to Now and journals including ones online. Recently, she was honored by PEN Puerto Rico to present in San Juan on a panel, Boricua Poets in New York.

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Steve Dalachinsky was born in Brooklyn in 1946 in Brooklyn. His poem Giverny was nominated for a 2018 Pushcart Prize. His latest books are “The Chicken Whisper” (Positive Magnets Press 2018) and “where night and day become one - the french poems 1983 - 2018.”

Brana Dane is a contemporary artist. Her mediums of choice are diverse. From fashion, to painting and of course writing, Dane always brings a fresh perspective. She is an accomplished interviewer, publishing in many current magazines including Bella and YRB. She spotlights the change makers in fashion and the arts. This is her first published work of poetry.

Pete Dolack is an activist, photographer, poet and writer who wishes he could keep all those balls in the air but, alas, keeps dropping some of them. He writes the Systemic Disorder blog and is the author of It’s Not Over: Learning From the Socialist Experiment, an analysis of the 20th century’s socialist experiments written with an eye toward doing it better in the 21st century.

Gabriel Don is a multidisciplinary artist or renaissance woman who works in a variety of mediums: a filmmaker, artist, photographer, musician and writer. Don currently teaches writing at BMCC. Her writing has appeared in numerous online and print publications. Her short stories are forthcoming in publications such as Gargoyle 70 and her poetry collection, Living Without Skin, is forthcoming with A Gathering of The Tribes, Fly By Night Press.

David Elsasser is the poetry chair of the West Side Arts Coalition, and curates readings at the 96th Street Broadway Mall, on the center island of Broadway. He also runs a weekly peer-poetry workshop, The Parkside Poets, on the Upper West Side.

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Bill Evans teaches high school in New York City. His 2014 opus Modern Adventures (Spuyten Duyvil) is available on Amazon.

Bonny Finberg’s fiction, poetry and photographs are published internationally in literary journals, anthologies, gallery exhibitions. Publications include a story collection, How the Discovery of Sugar Produced the Romantic Era (Sisyphus Press, 2006); D ja Vu, poetry and digital collages (Corrupt Press 2011); a novel, Kali’s Day (Autonomedia 2014); Sitting Book (Xanadu Press 2017). She received a 2014 Acker Award for fiction.

Daniel Freeman is a painter, publisher, writer and video artist. He is the Publisher of DUMB Magazine and Plush Webmagazine, and his work in many Unbearables Anthologies, Tamarind magazine, and Radio Thin Air. Freeman’s artwork is in many public and private collections in the US and internationally.

Robert Gibbons is a 2018 graduate of the MFA program in Creative writing at City College. He has published extensively. Some of his credits include: Turtle Island Quarterly, Suisun Valley Review, Fruita Pulpa, Deep Literary, Paragram, Promethean, Brooklyn Poets, and Killer Whale. His first collection, Close to the Tree, was published by Three Rooms Press in 2012.

K Hank is a writer from the Magnolia Midlands of southern Georgia, currently based in New York City. If the void ever answers, K Hank wishes to ensure that we ve posed the proper questions.

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Jared Harél is the author of Go Because I Love You (Diode Editions, 2018). He’s been awarded the Stanley Kunitz Memorial Prize from American Poetry Review, as well as the William Matthews Poetry Prize from Asheville Poetry Review. His poems have also appeared in Tin House, The Threepenny Review, The Southern Review, and 32 Poems. Har l plays drums for the rock band Flyin J & The Ghostrobber and lives in Queens, NY with his family.

Bob Heman’s collages have appeared in many journals, including Calibanonline, Otoliths, Home Planet News online, and Clockwise Cat. His latest book is THE HOUSE OF GRAND FAREWELLS (Luna Bisonte Prods). His words have been translated into Spanish, Arabic, Italian, Farsi and Hungarian. Since 1972 he has edited CLWN WR (formerly Clown War).

Judith Lee Herbert’s chapbook Songbird, finalist in the Blue Light Poetry Prize and Chapbook Competition in 2017, is forthcoming by Kelsay Press. Her poems appear or are forthcoming in the Bards Annual, the Silver Tongue Devil Anthology, LI Quarterly, These Fragile Lilacs, First Literary Review East, The Ekphrastic Review, Nassau County Poet Laureate Society Review, and Mothering in the Middle.

Roxanne Hoffman runs the boutique literary press Poets Wear Prada with Jack Cooper. Her words traverse the universe spoken & sung into mics, launched into cyberspace, set to music, immortalized on the silver screen, and bound in print. Her YA book, “The Little Entomologist,” a poem illustrated by Edward Odwitt, was released 2018.

David Huberman, the famed Ranter and Raver, has been published in Evergreen Review, A Gathering of Tribes, The Jewish History of the Lower East Side, and is a member of the literary group The Unbearables.

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C. D. (Seedy) Johnson: The editor-in-chief and publisher of the ANYDSWPE annual anthology series through Rogue Scholars Press, New York. Former web developer, webmaster, and I.T. Director for CEO Clubs International, Inc. Currently, a freelance web, software, graphic design, and digital publishing consultant. Has taught adult literacy classes, introduction to philosophy and logic, Advaita Vedanta philosophy, and religious instruction in Sanatana Dharma and Shaktism. Seedy is also the founder of the Philosophy Φ discussion group on Facebook.

Icegayle Johnson Multi Media artist Published author and photographer The Key-2012 Rabbit Ears-True Blood-2015 Room 1408-2017 the COOK BOOK- forth coming 2018

Ted Jonathan is a poet and short story writer. Raised in the Bronx, he now lives in New Jersey. His collection of poems and short stories Bones & Jokes was published by NYQ Books (2009). His poetry collection RUN was published by NYQ Books (2016). He can be contacted at theodorejon@ yahoo.com.

Larry Jones was the co-producer along with Bruce Weber of the first five ANYDSWPE events at Café Nico, his loft apartment / performance venue one flight above the Pyramid Club on Avenue A. An Associate of the Academy of American Poets, his work has appeared in many literary magazines and anthologies. He teaches literature and creative writing to gifted and talented youth at Hofstra University.

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Meg Kaizu is a writer and painter. Her poetry, fiction, essays and artwork have appeared in anthologies and journals, including The Brooklyn Rail and Words Without Borders. She studied painting at the University of Oregon and the Art Students League of New York.

Hillary Keel is a poet, channel, hypnotist and translator, who teaches German and the German Fairy Tale at Hunter College. Recently she’s been working on a collection of poems, a type of memoir, which elaborates on her encounters with the painter, Johannes Vermeer.

Ron Kolm is a co-editor of From Somewhere to Nowhere: The End of the American Dream and a contributing editor of Sensitive Skin. He is the author of Night Shift and A Change in the Weather. He’s had work in The Caf Review, Maintenant, Local Knowledge and Live Mag!. Ron’s papers are archived at NYU.

Ptr Kozlowski is a singer, songwriter, poet and videographer. This poem, “The Evening At The Club” was first published in Stained Sheets #49 Winter 2008.

Sri Lal is the author of Atma Bodha (O Books, 2012), a collection of Indian hymns in English translation. Her creative writing has appeared in Fiction International, the New York Quarterly, Epiphany, Daedalus, Bangalore Review, Chicago Quarterly Review and others. She teaches literature and creative writing in the English Department at CUNY’s Borough of Manhattan Community College.

Annie Rachele Lanzillotto is the author of: “Hard Candy: Caregiving, Mourning and Stage Light” and “Pitch Roll Yaw” (Guernica Editions 2018), “L is for Lion: an Italian Bronx Butch Freedom Memoir” (SUNY Press), and “Schistsong” (Bordighera Press). Her albums include: “Never Argue With a Jackass” and “Swampjuice: Yankee With a Southern Peasant Soul.” www.annielanzillotto.com

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Jane LeCroy fronts The Icebergs (cello/voice/drums), hear Eldorado on cd, also, the spontaneous music project, Ω▼ Ohmslice, with Bradford Reed’s modular synth, hear Conduit on vinyl. Both from Imaginator Records, available streaming everywhere. Jane has toured with Sister Spit and is a character at The Poetry Brothel. Three Rooms Press published, Signature Play, a multimedia book of her lyrical poems.

Linda Lerner’s latest collection, A Dance Around the Cauldron, a prose work which consists of nine characters during the Salem witch trials brought into modern times. (Lummox Press, September, 2017). Recent publications / acceptances include Caf Review, Trailer Park Quarterly, Wilderness Literary Review, Maintenant, Cape Rock & Illumination Magazine. Taking the F Train is forthcoming by NYQ books in 2019.

Toni Mergentime Levi is a poet and prize-winning librettist. Her poetry collections include White Food and Watching Mother Disappear (both Mayapple Press) and For A Dancing Bear (Three Mile Harbor). Her poems have appeared in anthologies and dozens of journals; she has been a resident fellow at the MacDowell Colony and numerous other artist colonies in the US and abroad.

Phillip X Levine is Woodstock Poetry Society president and poetry editor of Chronogram magazine. His solo theatrical poetry performance piece “approximate poet falls in love & can’t get up” has appeared at Bowery Poetry Club, Cornelia Street Caf, Woodstock Fringe Festival, Omega Institute, Nassau Community College, Bridge Street Theatre and elsewhere.

Piper Levine is 14 years old. She writes poetry when she feels the need to. She likes doing art and listening to music.

Mindy Levokove. Danced onboard a ship, Baylander, for Resilient River Festival. Walked up Bowery, in my Red Cheongsam, with 1,000 other women, to dance in a too small park, with balloons. Hosted a Poetry Reading with Sahar Muradi, featured Ilsa Gilbert and Judith Ren-Lay. Passed Qigong tests for 3 more levels. Wrote lots of poems and #METOO. a-VIII Before The Dawn

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A longtime trendsetter in the margins, Tsaurah Litzky writes poetry, fiction, erotica, memoir, plays and commentary. Her most recent book, “Flasher: A Memoir” was published by Unbearables/Autonomedia (2018). Earlier books include poetry collections, “Baby On The Water” ( Long Shot Press-2003) and “Cleaning The Duck”(Bowery Books-2011) as well as 15 poetry chapbooks. She is now completing her new poetry book, “We Shake it”.

Veronica Santiago Liu is a writer, editor, publisher, and bookseller. She has been involved in community arts organizing for 24 years, most recently as founder and general coordinator of the 60-person collective that operates Word Up Community Bookshop/Librer a Comunitaria. Her writing, comics, and photography have been published in Broken Pencil, Quick Fiction, In/Context, and other journals and zines.

Ellen Lytle hopes for enough stamina to write a travelogue about her life while loving animals, family, friends and strangers and of course flowers, painting, baking, organizing anything, a game of thrones, and, oh yes, wine!

Peter Marra started in Coney Island, continued through the 80’s East Village and Times Square. His latest poetry collection is Random Crucifixions (Hammer & Anvil Books). A surreal/transgressive thriller, A Naked Kiss from a Broken Doll, taking the Italian giallo films of the 60s and 70s to the next level, is due out in 2019 from Hammer & Anvil Books.

Nancy Mercado is the recipient of the American Book Award for Lifetime Achievement presented by the Before Columbus Foundation. She was recently named one of 200 living individuals who best embody the work and spirit of Frederick Douglass by the Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives and the Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University. For more information: nancy-mercado.com.

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BIOGRAPHIES Continued...

Yuko Otomo. Japanese origin. A bilingual (Japanese & English) poet & a visual artist. She also writes haiku, art criticism & essays. She has read in St. Mark’s Poetry Project, Tribes, Bowery Poetry Club, ABC No Rio, La Mama, The Living Theatre, PS1, MoMA, The Queens Museum, etc & in Japan, France & Germany. Her publication includes “Garden: Selected Haiku” (Beehive Press), “A Sunday Afternoon on the Isle of Museum” (Propaganda Press), “PINK” (Sisyphus Press), “Small Poems” (Ugly Duckling Presse), “The Hand of The Poet” (UDP), “STUDY & Other Poems on Art” (UDP) & “Elements” (the Feral Press). She exhibited her artwork at Court House Gallery @ Anthology Film Archives, Tribes Gallery & Vision Festival, etc. She is a contributing writer for a collective art critical forum www.Arteidolia.com currently. Yuko is a 2017 Pushcart Prize nominee.

Eve Packer: Bronx-born, poet/performer, actress, appears solo, w/music, in dance & theatre. 3 books, 5 poetry-jazz CD’s, most recent chapbook, ‘foss park. ‘ teaches at WCC. lives downtown, swims daily.

Puma Perl is the author four poetry collections; a fifth will be published by Beyond Baroque Press. Since 2012, she’s presented Puma Perl’s Pandemonium, which merges spoken word with rock and roll and she performs regularly her band. She’s received three awards from the New York Press Association in recognition of her journalism as well as the 2016 Acker Award in the category of writing.

Howard Pflanzer is a poet and playwright. Dead Birds or Avian Blues (Fly By Night Press, 2011). Publications: And Then, Downtown Brooklyn, Tribes, LES Festival of the Arts, An Unnatural Election, Word: An Anthology by A Gathering of the Tribes. Hybrid performance piece, Walt Whitman Opera, adapted from Whitman’s poetry, music by Constance Cooper, presented at undergroundzero festival, New York.

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BIOGRAPHIES Continued...

Su Polo is a poet, writer of vignette stories and singer songwriter playing guitar and mountain dulcimer. She is curator and host of the Saturn Series Poetry Reading and Open Mike for 24 years in NYC. Su is also a painter and sculptor and for a period of 10 years built the stage sets for the alternate New Year’s Day Poetry Extravaganza. She works as Print Production Designer at KIND.

Justin Reed has never publicly shared his poetry before. While pursuing a Doctorate of Pharmacy degree at the University of Rhode Island, Justin is always looking for ways the keep the arts a central part of his life. He is honored to be included in this publication and is excited to see what the future holds.

A native New Yorker, Marguerite Mar a Rivas’ writing has been widely published. An Associate Professor at BMCC/CUNY, she teaches women’s literature and creative writing. Her second book of poetry is forthcoming in 2019.

Thaddeus Rutkowski is the author of six books, most recently Border Crossings, a poetry collection. His novel Haywire won the Asian American Writers Workshop’s members choice award, and his book Guess and Check won the Electronic Literature bronze award for multicultural fiction. He received a fiction writing fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts.

Sarah Sarai’s poems are in LIVE!, Barrow Street, Zocalo Public Square (“What an Arroyo Can Do”) and other journals; Like a Fat Gold Watch: Meditations on Sylvia Plath, Composing Poetry: A Guide to Writing Poems and Thinking Lyrically, Say It Loud: Poems on James Brown, and other anthologies; and Geographies of Soul and Taffeta and The Future Is Happy.

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BIOGRAPHIES Continued...

Brian Sheffield is co-founder and Editor-in-chief of Mad Gleam Press, which publishes POST(blank), a French-American Word-Art Journal. He’s had a smattering of work published online and in print; has been a featured reader in several bars and lounges; and has been included in a few anthologies here and there.

Danny Shot’s short play ROLL THE DICE premiered this September at the New York Summerfest Theater Festival and his book of poems WORKS was published by CavanKerry Press in March 2018.

William Shunn is the author of The Accidental Terrorist: Confessions of a Reluctant Missionary. His short fiction is widely published, and has garnered nominations for the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, and the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award. His poetry has appeared in Sunstone, Analog, Asimov’s, and Newtown Literary. He edits The Piltdown Review.

John Silver grew up Cold Spring Harbor, L. I. Does covers, poems for Tamarind a coalition magazine. Hosted Tamarind Collation for 10 years. Moved to Westbeth. Published in AND THEN, and other anthologies. Hosted Westbeth readings. Curator of The Image and The Word Exhibition at the Westbeth Gallery. Two Books of poetry (UNDERFIELD PRESS). Contributed covers and poems to White Rabbit and other anthological constructions. Joanna Sit is the author of three books of poetry. She is working on an oral history about Chinese immigrants and Cantonese Opera called “The Reincarnation of Red” and a new book of poetry called “Fantastic Voyage.”

Miriam Stanley has a new collection of poems published by Rogue Scholars Press. Its title is Driving The Celexa. She has three previous collections of poems published. Ms. Stanley also has work published in numerous anthologies.

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BIOGRAPHIES Continued...

JM Theisen de Gonzalez is a Los Angeles-born Manhattan-based artist and writer, and has participated in the New Year’s Day reading for years. As a volunteer at Manhattan Animal Care Center, JM is a member of the photo and bio team that generates words and images to help get dogs and cats adopted or rescued. #AdoptDontShop

Claire Van Winkle writes poetry and prose and translates French literature. She teaches college writing, grammar, and literature. She is the founder of the Rockaway Writers Workshop, where she aims to make high-quality writing classes accessible to all income groups. Claire also works as a Recreational Therapist, applying btheories of linguistics and poetics to the treatment of mental illness.

Bruce Weber is the founder and organizer of the Alternative New Year’s Day Spoken Word/Performance Extravaganza.

Francine Witte is the author of four poetry chapbooks and two flash fiction chapbooks. Her full-length poetry collection, Caf Crazy, was published by (Kelsay Books). Her play, Love is a Bad Neighborhood, was produced in NYC this December. She is a former English teacher. She lives in NYC.

Jeffrey Cyphers Wright is the author of 15 books of verse, including most recently Blue Lyre from Dos Madres Press, Radio Poems from The Operating System and Party Everywhere from Xanadu. New work is included in New American Writing, 2017. Wright edits Live Mag! www. livemag.org / www.jeffreycypherswright.com

Allan Yashin has had dozens of his plays performed in venues throughout New York. His musical collaboration with Norman Zamcheck, “The Legend of Zippersky” will be opening shortly. Allan authored the novel Protected and co-authored with Milton Polsky the play collection Cry A Little, Laugh A lot His plays have been heard on What A Story on WPKN 89. 5.

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ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF POEMS

1st Curse — Nancy Mercado 69 Across Dark Water — Sri Lal 48 Admitting — Claire Van Winkle 95 Along The River II — John L. Silver 89 At My Age — David Elsasser 21 At the Gorilla Forest, Bronx, NY — Madeline Artenberg 3 Autumnal — Linda Lerner 52 The Bad Old Days — Thaddeus Rutkowski 83 Balthazar — JM Theisen de Gonzalez 94 Berlin Biennale — Toni Mergentime Levi 53 Boy — Bonny Finberg 25 The Bully — Dan Freeman 27 Callous Numbers — Bruce Weber 97 Captains America — Bill Evans 23 Chill Like A Lizard — Gabriel Don 20 The Dance — Steve Dalachinsky 17 Dominion — Ted Jonathan 41 Drizzling Purple — Meg Kaizu 43 The End Of The World — Patricia Carragon 11 Epitaphs, Orphans, And Oops — Phillip X Levine 55 Evening — Bob Heman 33 Family Recipes — Veronica Liu 62 Fear Itself — Marguerite Maria Rivas 81

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ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF POEMS Continued...

Fish Story — Francine Witte 99 Fucking The Antichrist — Puma Perl 75 Garbage Run — Ron Kolm 45 Go So You Can Come Back — Jared Harél 32 Gratitude — Tsaurah Litzky 61 Greetings — Dorothy Friedman August 5 Grimm Winter — Piper Levine 57 The Happy Life — Ellen ‘Windy’ Aug Lytle 63 I Had My Own Sassafras (After Ntozake Shange) — Robert 29 Gibbons I Still Don’t Understand It — Brian Sheffield 85 In An Open Field — Howard Pflanzer 77 Later Than You Think — Jeffrey Cyphers Wright 100 Lilies — Joanna Sit 91 The Little Old Lady Who Lived In A Shoebox — Roxanne 35 Hoffman Lonely Hearts (2007) — David Huberman 37 A Man & Festival — K Hank 31 The Man-Rat — Joel Allegretti 2 Manhattan Society — Jennifer Blowdryer 7 Myo Genesis — Jane LeCroy 51 Newcomer — Stella Padnos 74 Pipe Bombs Shooting Massacre — Icegayle Johnson 39 Post-Operative Complications In A Honeymoon Motel — Peter 67 Marra a-XVI Before The Dawn

ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF POEMS Continued...

Prayer — Larry Jones 42 Present — Danny Shot 86 Reasons To Not Have Children — YZ Chin 13 Recovery Room — Stan Marcus 65 Redwoods — Pete Dolack 19 Reprisal (2018) — Mindy Levokove 59 Secret Dream — Su Polo 78 Seeking Enlightenment — Judith Lee Herbert 34 Surrender — Brana Dane 18 Swordz — Bryan C. Fox 26 Tasting Notes — William Shunn 87 Tempest — Yuko Otomo 71 Time Travel — Austin Alexis 1 Tsunami Tango — Hillary Keel 44 The Twenty-Four Hour “Stomach Hurricane” — Miriam Stanley 93 The Uglier American Terrorist — Lydia Cortes 15 [Untitled] — Ptr Kozlowski 47 vignette — Eve Packer 73 The Viper Sonnets Part 1. — Yael Baron 6 Wake No More — Ron Blum 9 We Used To Live Dangerously — Allan Yashin 101 What An Arroyo Can Do — Sarah Sarai 84 When It Rains — Justin Reed 79

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ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF POEMS Continued...

Won’t Write A Great Poem Even If I Could — Robert Roth 82 Yoganidra - (Or) High, Passed-Out, And Dreaming At Temple — 38 C. D. Johnson Zerega Blues — Annie Rachele Lanzillotto 49

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ROGUE SCHOLARS Press

For General Information, go to:

http://www.alternativenyd.org

For more information or a price quote for our book design and editing services, contact:

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Other ANYDSWPE Volumes:

Pa’lante A La Luz (Charge Into The Light) - 2018 Rogue Scholars Press ISBN-13: 978-0-9840982-5-5

Forever Night (Siempre Noche) - 2017 Rogue Scholars Press ISBN-13: 978-0-9840982-4-8

Palabras Luminosas (Luminous Words) - 2016 Rogue Scholars Press ISBN-13: 978-0-9840982-3-1

Shadow Of The Geode (Sombra Del Geode) - 2015 Bonsai Publishers ISBN-13: 978-1-9424630-0-9 (1st Edition)

Estrellas En El Fuego (Stars In The Fire) - 2014 Rogue Scholars Press ISBN-13: 978-0-9840982-9-3

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