Saturday Of The Word & Spaghetti Tour

Friday Of The Word & Spaghetti Tour

Thursday Of The Word & Spaghetti Tour

Monday Of The Word & Spaghetti Tour

Night two of the Word & Spaghetti Tour! Which was hosted by Dug of Dugland. My opening poets were Doug Gamble and Colin Ward (of Happy Tooth & Dug) (It's weird to talk about my own boyfriend by his first and last name). Unique to this night, we also had a comedian open up, which was David Gamble. Again, this was an absolutely awesome night. I even got into the old habit of throwing my poems on the ground when I was done reading them. The night was so good that God cried, and to us it was a wicked thunder storm. Performing in living rooms creates such a personal environment. I feel super loved by everyone. Like really really super loved and really really super grateful.

Sunday Of The Word And Spaghetti Tour

 Tonight was the first night of the Word & Spaghetti Tour!It was a really great way to open the week! The hosts of the evening went above and beyond to provide a great environment and also way awesome food. Tonight was also the first night with my new chapbook Spooky Ghosts being out. It is thirteen poems that I put together. For each of the covers I hand drew a unique ghost. My opening poets for the evening were Louise Robertson and Javier Cintax. One of the seriously awesome parts of this week is getting to read along side Columbus poets that I adore.
I feel like there is a lot to be learned during my week of performing. We will see what the rest of the week has in store.

Word & Spaghetti Tour

art work by Sarah Schmidt

 sarahmaeschmidt.com

As most of you know, I will be doing the Word & Spaghetti Tour the week of October 5th - 11th. It is a seven day tour through Columbus living rooms where I will be performing, and the host will be feeding me spaghetti. An idea that came from a half joking Facebook status I posted. With the lovely assistance of Scott Woods, it has now become a reality.

After only a matter of days we booked seven straight evenings of pasta madness. Some of the events are private and some of them are public events. Here is a run down on the public venues.

Monday 10/6 Dugland 8pm

Tuesday 10/7 at Dinotopia 10pm

Wednesday 10/8 Dru's Poetry Revue And Pasta Werks 11pm

The coolest thing about this tour is the very idea that fueled my Facebook post, my love of intimate artistic settings. I have previously read in basements and in living rooms for audiences. The relationship between the reader, the work, and the audience always feels most at harmony when there is no wall between any one of them. This is a fantastic opportunity to put art in the most intimate space of all, the space that we live in. The even better part is the people I get to experience with. Here is a list of all of the poets who will be sharing space with me during this tour.

Louise Robertson
Javier CIntax
Doug Gamble
Colin Ward
Zach Hannah
Ryan Javery
Ryan Eilbeck
Ara Hawkins
Brandon Crittendon
Izetta
Aaron Al

Paula Lambert
Alexis Mitchell-Tremain
Calla Thomas
Scott Woods

Comedy by
David Gamble

Pretty much the best list of people ever. It is incredible how much of a positive response my endeavor has received. To make this tour a true talent I will be attempting to not repeat any poems in my set. My goal is to read 70 different poems in 7 nights. I will also have a new chap book of poems for sale. Details about that to come.

On this blog I will be updating about each evening's experience!

How I Survived My First National Slam

     I made it back from the 2014 Women Of The World Poetry Slam. It was the biggest and eye opening event I have ever been to. To see a collection of 72 (and more) poets come together under the name of honest good poetry made every hard part of it worth it.

     I did in fact collect two chap books. Not as many as I was intending. If I discovered anything about myself at this event, it is I can be a real ball of stress when surrounded by a lot of people. To the point where I just wanted to go home and sleep. I felt like I knew no one, and everybody knew everybody. The first day it felt nearly impossible to fit in. What I really HAD TO learn is when I can break out of that shell, I am more powerful and make some pretty cool friends.

    Due to a missed bus, one heading in the wrong direction, and a taxi driver stuck in Austin traffic. I missed orientation. Written rule says this takes you out of the slam. By the time that I had come to terms with crying a lot and not being able to compete, the body of poets picked me up, handed me a bag of goodies*, and reminded me that we are community. Community helps each other out. That moment of high stress being relieved by caring faces reminded me I was here to grow, not be a selfish brat.

*which included sunglasses, tampons, and also lube.

    I in fact, got on a stage, in front of a lot of poets, I have never seen before in my life. Also, some non poets who just were trying to get drunk at the bar. This taught me that drunk judges of slams are either your best friend or the guy you plan to punch in the face in the alley way. I did perform four poems from memory. I did share my message with people who otherwise would have never heard it. This alone was an accomplishment. The 80 year old man judging me decided it was only worth a 6.5, but who cares. The moment one woman came to me and told me that my work moved her in a very important way, ranking 64 out of 72 didn't matter any more. I made it to Austin, Texas. I shared my art. I didn't throw up. I didn't fart in the mic. I did what I needed to do.

   As said above I, in fact, read all of my poems from memory. Which is an idea involved in slam that weighed heavy on me. I didn't want to feel obligated by others to present my work any certain way. I did feel more powerful. I did feel like I had hands to use. I did butcher one of my poems, but no one would know. I didn't stumble. They went home believing those dropped lines never even existed. Two women on the last round of finals stage read from iPads. Did they perform awesome? Yes. Did it make them less cool? No. Did one of them win? Yes. That was powerful as hell.

  Other cool element, my mom came with me. Being able to have her see my read my work for the first time felt pretty good. Also crazy it happened at a national event. It felt good to have her there to hear so many powerful messages about being a woman. So many shared words of encouragement and strength in our gender. She sat through over 100 poems with me. Also the best workshop of all time about performance by Gypsy Yo. Hearing such a strong poet say you don't need to be loud, or write for slam, and that she had a 6 minute time penalty before changed my attitude the whole rest of the trip. A little less "I have failed my venue," and a little more "I am hear to collect all this love and experience,".

  Being in a different city inspired me to write so many new poems. Austin brags that it is weird, and it is weird. All capital letters WEIRD. The kind of weird that makes you never want to leave. I saw 20 bands play in a brass instrument festival. I ate dinner with the world's fattest pigeon. I hung out with drifters. Drifters were on every street corner. I had a deep fried steak burger with gravy.

  There will be Texas inspired poems coming soon. As Women's History Month comes to a close, we are opening National Poetry Month. To celebrate I am doing a 30/30. I will write and edit a poem every single day for 30 days, all being posted here!

Upcoming Places My Face Can Be Seen

April 6th Performance Salon Cincinnati Moeller High School 6:30 pm
April 18th Writer's Block All Night - 3:15 - 3:45 am at Kafe Kerouac
June 7th Columbus Art's Festival Word Is Art Stage 7:00 pm
 

 

 

              Things I Want To Accomplish At The 2014 Women Of The World Poetry Slam

1. I want to collect chap books. In a way bigger than I already do. I want to obtain chap books of people who live in states that don't start with the letter "O". I want people in states that don't start with the letter "O" to have my chap book. I want my work to be neglected on book shelves of houses I have never driven by.
2. I want to finally connect with the poetry scene on a level  large enough that it makes me feel insignificant, but also thoroughly supported. I really just want to see a lot of poets and poetry supporters in one place. 
3. I want to get on a stage in front of people I have never seen and just totally be myself.
4. I want to see people READ FROM PAPER, even if it is just one people. I also want to see them totally kill it while reading from paper. I will then high five them.
   * This one can just say, "High five someone who reads from paper,". #teampaperreader
5.  I want to absorb so much poetry that I feel soggy and bogged down with other peoples' feelings.
6. Not throw up on stage, or freeze up, or fall on my face, or cry so hard I die.
7. If I do any of the thing mentions in number 6, I want to totally be cool with that. Maybe get a cool nick name like "that one girl that unnecessarily threw up,".
8. Develop a deeper understanding of why I exist in the poetry scene, how I can improve, and how I can encourage others' growth.

the moon that hung

                                  (the moon that hung like a paper plate over most everything)

I have completed and now sold almost every copy of my first chap book, titled "The Moon That Hung Like A Paper Plate Over Most Everything". I will be printing and selling more soon. It has been a very successful round. I am selling it in an attempt to raise money to go to Austin, Texas this coming March. I am representing my venue, Writers' Block, in the 2014 Woman Of The World Poetry Slam. This will be my first national competition. Making it both overwhelming, and way too exciting. I have spent this past month just trying to write as much as possible. Today was dedicated to writing pantoums, a form that uses reoccurring lines.

Two weeks ago I had my first feature. It was at First Draft Poetry. Reading for twenty minutes solid proved to be very exhilarating. Reading for a long period of time gives me the chance to be very comfortable in my skin. Here are a list of places I will be popping up before my big slam in Austin!

Feb. 7th 
https://www.facebook.com/events/584847514942094/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming
This is an event at a fellow poet's house featuring some live poetry and some live acoustic music. The night starts about 8:00 pm. View Facebook event for more details! I will be reading three poems.

Feb. 20th
Betsy Clark and Jordan Mac featured at Pen and Palette Poetry
Starts at 8:00 pm located at Short North Coffee House, Columbus, Ohio

March 13th
Betsy Clark Featuring at Queen City Poetry Slam
Night will start around 6:30 I will be teaching a workshop
then open mic and my feature to follow
Located in Cincinnati, Oh