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About sixty people came out to the Empty Bottle on Wednesday, November 30, for ChicagoPoetry.com's last big poetry bash of 2005. Many have said that it was the best show of the year. What a way to end our 2005 performance poetry season (and to begin our 7th year of publishing), with 25 of Chicago's top poets each doing about five minutes apiece. It was a busy night for me, so I didn't get the chance to take a whole lot of photos. Here are five that I did manage to take.
Al DeGenova of After Hours Magazine, Thom Roby of Poetry Theater, Charlie Rossiter of Poetry World Radio, and Michael H. Brownstein, who is one of the judges in this year's poetry contest.
Reverend Rod Reinhart.
Even though there were a lot of people in attendance, you could hear a pin drop as each poet read. Larry Janowski, Maureen Flannery, Charlie Rossiter, Jared Smith, and Bonnie T. Summers.
Mars in action at the mic.
Some Words From Poet Carol Anderson
Wednesday night, November 30th, 2005 and a poetry feast organized, of course, by C. J. Laity who heads up Chicagopoetry. com, and publishes Letter X. Who else could have brought together such a gathering of solid poetry? It was a great night, filled with laughter, with anger, with sorrow, with hope - and the greatest of these was hope, for last night one in one poet I heard truth expressed with such power that I wished the entire population of this country might have listened.
The poet was introduced simply as Mars, and she stood in the spotlight, a slight figure, and she began to speak. Hers were words that will forever describe the fear and the terror of Hurricane Katrina, the horrors of the aftermath, and the callousness of a political hierarchy which ignored the people, then hemmed them in, kept them from help, from food, from water while the old and the young suffered and died.
She did not swear. She had no need. The truth seared enough.
This is poetry at its best, poetry which speaks of the hell and the chaos of this world and some of its rulers,
and more, seeks to change it.
"Rise," she said. "Rise."
Mars, I pray that every citizen of this country will hear your words, that the specters of the dead may rise to haunt us. Haunt us until we rise up and say, "No more. You will not ignore our poor, our young, our old, ourselves."
Thank you, Mars.
--Carol Anderson
We exposed some new faces to poetry. And we raised some important funds to help ChicagoPoetry.com stay online.
Thank you for the awesome year, Chicago. We'll be back in 2006 with more exciting poetry programming. Meanwhile, ChicagoPoetry.com will be updated every day so that you can learn about what everyone else in Chicago's poetry scene is doing as well.
**We hope you found the information on this page useful. ChicagoPoetry.com needs your help. We are holding a fundraising drive in order to stay online. There are two ways that you can help: Click here to offer a financial gift or click here to order the new book by ChicagoPoetry.com Press.
Note: Here are some photos from ChicagoPoetry.com's big night at the Empty Bottle. UPDATED: Now includes a review by Carol Anderson.
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