Stone Soup Croutons, 5-8-24: Quiet First, Then Peace

Stone Soup Croutons is a weekly poem I write using lines and impressions selected from Stone Soup Poetry's open mic readers and features. I figure out a title (and sometimes the rest of the poem) later. You can read the other ones I've done since 2015 here.

 

I also have a book collecting the best of my first year of poems. Click here to purchase it.

Mark Lipman killed it at Stone Soup this past Wednesday. 

Watch the video if you don't believe me.

You really should listen to it. Mark's opening piece and James Van Looy reading Nancy Dodson's final poem made the themes of this poem inevitable. I'm glad about it.

Thanks for reading. 

Quiet First, Then Peace

 

Broken down, roadside

mechanic only able 

to diagnosis engine by

listing your many sins.

Stone Soup Croutons, 2-21-24: Nancy Says

Stone Soup Croutons is a weekly poem I write using lines and impressions selected from Stone Soup Poetry's open mic readers and features. I figure out a title (and sometimes the rest of the poem) later. You can read the other ones I've done since 2015 here.

 

I also have a book collecting the best of my first year of poems. Click here to purchase it.

 

This week's open mic had a bit of remembrance for Nancy Dodson, who passed away in the beginning of February. I think I know which poems and songs she would have liked (no cat poems, sadly).  

Having published Nancy recently, and having heard her poems over Zoom since 2020,  I tried to figure out how to write a poem in Nancy's style. 

 

I'll miss having her around. She was a stalwart soldier in this phase of Stone Soup's existence. I hope you like the poem.

 

Thanks for reading.

Nancy Says

Life, if you want, can be 

light. On lilacs, on bike
paths to a city's poetry

reliquary, a park to meet

Goodbye and Farewell, Nancy

 

 

Thanks to everyone who showed up to take part in or just listen to last night's open mic and give a nod to the late Nancy Dodson. Stay tuned for more news. 

Nancy

Nancy Dodson sent me this poem a while back. I think it was for the mass shootings zine I was working on, but I wanted this, one of her final pieces, to reach a wider audience. Such is my right to abuse my position as Editor when I see fit. Glad I could match this with one of my photos as well. Read her today at Oddball Magazine. Thanks for the dedication to your work and Stone Soup, Nancy.

Nancy Dodson (1933-2004)

Nancy Dodson with former BCAE receptionist Taryn Valpey

I received the news from Tom Daley this morning that Nancy Dodson passed away on February 5. A longtime friend of Stone Soup and a co-feature with Carol Weston for Stone Soup Poetry's thirty-fifth anniversary in 2006, she was a constant regular on our remote sessions via telephone for the last three years. My thoughts go out to Nancy's family. I will share more words from and about Nancy when I have permission to.

Stone Soup Croutons, 12-14-22: Bad Samaritan Advice

Stone Soup Croutons is a weekly poem I write using lines and impressions picked from Stone Soup Poetry's open mic readers and features. I figure out a title (and sometimes the rest of the poem) later. You can read the other ones I've done since 2015 here.

 

I also have a book collecting the best of my first year of poems. Click here to purchase it.

 

On Wednesday, Deborah Priestly read to a packed audience at the Assemblage Gallery. This was our last live show of 2022, with more to come in the new year. I am grateful to Duane Lucia for giving Stone Soup the space after being away for over two years.

Hopefully, next  year, we'll have a better way to film our live shows with something besides my iPad. 

 

Today's poem is quick. I need time to recover after every live show, and then I need to catch up on everything. I hate that I keep producing poetry that's almost like a dark side to the positivity on display, but that might be how I roll until the holidays are over.

 

Thanks for reading.

Bad Samaritan Advice

Don't pass by the street vagrant

without tossing a counselor card

into their cup.

Sleeping in a pile of acorns 

instead of outdoor concrete

will work wonders.

SAFE DISTANCE EDITION - Stone Soup Croutons, 5-18-22: Lost in 2022

Stone Soup Croutons is a weekly poem I write using lines and impressions picked from Stone Soup Poetry's open mic readers and features. I figure out a title (and sometimes the rest of the poem) later. You can read the other ones I've done since 2015 here.

 

I also have a book collecting the best of my first year of poems. Click here to purchase it.

Stone Soup had another online open mic. I was lucky to show up. It's been a long week. I'm ready to close it out. I feel so bad that I was running so late and had so much on my mind, it took me watching the video again to realize I forgot to contact Carol Weston and Nancy Dodson. 

I was also thrilled to see Jan Roe and James Van Looy again after being away traveling for six weeks. That probably distracted me too. I'll do better next week.

Surprisingly, this poem came out pretty quickly and was short. Probably a sign I need to shut up. Thanks for reading.

 

Lost in 2022

Monsters can be so needy,

picking scabs the way

humans pick politicians 

or republicans deem

every conception

as immaculate. 

Applause (and Jazz Fingers)

Thanks to everyone who came to last night's open mic, including phone-ins from Carol Weston and Nancy Dodson. Not to mention the Ethan Mackler in the moon. Hope to see you all again next week!