Coming Next Week to Stone Soup Poetry

This simple photo is all the rave since I posted it this morning on my Facebook page.  For nearly a decade, I have been struggling to control the open mic time limits at Stone Soup Poetry. 

The idea of a sand timer has been rolling around in my head for a while, ever since I saw Tony Toledo use it a tthe Speak UP: Spoken Word venue in Lynnfield Massachusetts.  After some particularly long nights over the last few months with Stone Soup's increasing audience, I decided to throw down the fifty-odd bucks and got one three-minute timer and one five-minute timer.

The three-minute timer will be used for keeping the open mic manageable when there's a lot of people signed up to read.  The five-minute timer will help to give open mic readers some leeway during quieter nights or the usually less-attended second half of the open mic.

Let's see how this works.

August 28th: See Me at Speak UP: Spoken Word

I love reading for the poetry scene in the town of Lynn, Massachusetts. Up until now, that's been limited to open mic slots at the various venues. This August, I have not only my first feature in a north shore venue, it's also my first full feature since the publication of my book. Hosted by Tony Toledo, Speak UP: Spoken Word is a long-running venue that is well worth the trip to Lynn. I'll have a full 20 or so minutes and promise some favorites as well as a few new pieces. Now we all have a reason to be excited about the end of summer.

Tonight: The First of Three Nights of CA Conrad Starts at Stone Soup

June 24th: CA Conrad Visits Massachusetts, Checks In at Stone Soup First

I'm glad this is finally coming together. Stone Soup worked with two other venues to bring the amazing and prolific CA Conrad up from Philadelphia for a mini-tour of Massachusetts. Thanks to the Zig Zag Poetry Open Mic and Speak UP: Spoken Word for doing the lion's share of the work. If you're ambituous, you can follow this link to CA's site and find out his entire schedule from the 24th to the 26th. If you want to see at least CA Conrad kick this tour off, come to Stone Soup this Monday!