The Stone Soup Poetry Venue: Calling All Poets Local And Beyond

If anyone reading this is a poet who lives in the Boston area or is planning to be there on an unlikely day--particularly a Monday--please give this post a few minutes of your time.

Stone Soup is a regular weekly venue in Cambridge. It's been going on every week for over 30 years, despite several changes in venues. An offshoot of the Beats and Bukowski, it has attracted all kinds of writers and performers, from spoken word punks to the founders of the current Boston slam poetry scene.

Stone Soup's founder, Jack Powers, has been going through some difficult times, which I shall not detail here. The venue still goes on while Jack has been away, thanks to the tireless, selfless efforts of stand-in host and documenter Bill Perrault (who was nice enough to give me a couple of features there last year).

But hosting and documenting a weekly venue can drain people half Bill's age. It's been about two years, and Bill is finally asking for help. He approached people like me and Lynne, seeing if we can host once in a while. I've been flinching at the idea of being an emcee, but I am definitely into helping him assume some of the duties, such as booking.

If you're a poet in the area with nothing to do on Mondays between 8 and 10 in the evening, it would be great if you could come down and catch a reading. If you'd like to be a feature, well, that'd be even better.

Email me at freakmachinepress@yahoo.com with a bio and a sampling of your work. Something that would tell me you'd be able to hold down a 20-30 minute reading. I'll get back to you as soon as I can with details.

I'll be blunt. Stone Soup can give you exposure (and I will help by posting your reading date here). You might even be able to sell some books. They just can't pay you a fee. As it is, the donations at the door barely pay for the space.

That brings me to those of you who may have been involved with Stone Soup in the past and also are lucky enough to be web savvy. Some have told me there may not be many of you around, especially amongst the old school Stone Soupers, but I'm being optimistic.

If there's any of you out there who can't get to the venue, may I suggest giving the donation Stone Soup asks for at the door--a lousy four bucks--via the Paypal button below? Maybe I could make a move for any large piles of cash to be set aside for features.

Well, don't hold me to that last thought, since this is the first time I'm even mentioning it. Still, it's worth a shot, and I lose nothing by aiming high.

The Stone Soup Poetry Venue is currently at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery on 106 Prospect Street in Cambridge. Just a short walk from the Central Square T stop. For more info on the art gallery, you can go to the main site here.For specific info on the spoken word venues, it's quicker to go here.

Email me at freakmachinepress@yahoo.com with questions. And don't forget the option to donate below.