Poetry, Pages and Scribes
Music, Art, Community, and The World
News/Noticias
Here is the link for Poetry, Pages and Scribes in The Detroit Free Press!
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080309/CFP08/803090501/1112
Follow this link to see the Poetry, Pages, and Scribes article in the Southfield Sun!
Then, type in Poetry, Pages and Scribes in the archives box!
Sigue la cadena ariba y despues escriba: Poetry, Pages and Scribes en la caja de arquivos
Poet/Author/Facilitator M.F.A. Cheri L.R. Taylor Cheri L.R. Taylor for the Honors Series in Garden City will be our guest host for the evening. There will be a limited open mic, so come early. Your support over the years have meant a lot so please be here for this event. PPS is off to a great season. We love you and please be here for this very speacial Poetry, Pages and Scribes.
xoxo
B
In addition to our Salsa Band we have some of our Poetry,Pages, and Scribes features past coming to help out in our celebration of our Third Season!
The Cruz Brothers Salsa Band!
Vamos a bilar!
About Matvega: Poet, artist, writer, and producer Matvey ‘Matvega’ Troitsky was born in St. Petersburg, Russia and has resided in Michigan since April of 1981. Keeping in touch with local poets and creative events has always been a passion for Matvey. He enthusiastically shares his zeal with the world. He has volunteered locally for the past three years at Artist Village Detroit and has been a featured poet on local cable TV channel 15 in Southfield, Michigan and works tirelessly to inspire people through his writings.
About Rhonda Welsh: Rhonda Welsh is a poet, performer and educator. Her debut CD, I Saw Myself, is available at www.rhondawelsh.com. The only poet featured during the Detroit Institute of Arts reopening ceremonies, she has found her passion and her ministry in poetry.
About Bill Burkholder: W. B. Burkholder is a Poet, author, journalist and artist, He was called to the literary life at the age of 6 and has been writing ever since, William has published two collections of works, as well as a CD of spoken word poetry. His books include The Writer’s Sight, and his second title, The Sowers Tree, his CD; “Beyond The Gate” is available at the paperback outlet in warren Michigan, and also at the beat Café in Warren, his books can also be purchased at these locations as well. William also hosts the monthly Poetry event at the beat Café the third Saturday of every month, William also writes for, and is a contributing editor to Troubadour21.com a brand new literary website headquartered right here in Detroit Michigan, Williams’ writings can also be found on face book, MySpace, and various other online poetry forums and publications.
The Phoneraiser!
DONATE YOUR USED CELL PHONES AND INKJET CARTRIDGES
Please donate your used cell phones and inkjet cartridges to help raise much needed funds for Poetry, Pages and Scribes a monthly poetry event at the Southfield Public Library is collecting used cell phones and inkjet cartridges through the month of August for the purpose of raising awareness about poetry, art and culture throughout the metro area. Poetry, Pages and Scribes will receive money from Phoneraiser for each item
collected during this fundraiser. Phoneraiser is a company that specializes in recycling and refurbishing used technology.
Your donation will help protect the environment. Your unwanted cell phones and inkjet cartridges will be
recycled in accordance with EPA regulations or refurbished and reused. Phoneraiser makes your un-needed technology available to those who can use it, while keeping it out of the landfill. If improperly disposed of, the cell phone can pollute up to 132,000 liters of drinking water.
Donations may be tax deductible.
"We're very excited about this program,� says Ber-Henda, of Poetry, Pages, and Scribes. "This recycling program not only benefits our poetry series but assists in preserving the environment and
bringing communications to people who could not otherwise afford it."
All cell phones and inkjet cartridges are accepted. Please donate at the following locations:
Thicke Madam
(248) 298-2785
Caf� con Leche
(313) 554-1744
Nubian Essence
511 Beaubien,
Phone: 313-964-9960
The Beat Caf�
(586) 576-0317
15.00 in advance and 20.00 at the door!
10p.m.-2am 
News and Events
Check out up to the minute information about this event. Also check us out on channel 15 on Comcast in Southfield and www.myspace.com/poetrypagescribes
Verificar todo la informacion sobre este evento. Tambien canel 15 en Southfield y www.myspace.com/poetrypagescribes
Listen to my interview with Pamela Obsey from Chicago. Here is the link: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/literarypizzazz/blog/2008/04/30/HOT-POETIC-SHOTS-featuring-Ber-Henda/#comments
9/4/08 Cambeau or The Poet Formerly Known as Chris
10/2/08 Words and Images for the Cure! Special performances and Silent Art Auction to help raise funds for Cancer: A Celebration of the Feminine Form
Featured Artists:
Ameen Howrani:
Ameen Howrani attended Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, California. Upon graduating, he worked at Walt Disney Productions for a year, followed by freelancing assignments in New York City. He then arrived in Detroit where he proceeded to build his reputation as one of the areas foremost photographers running a successful commercial photography studio for the past 38 years.
Ameen’s presence in Detroit is felt not only in his work, but also in his commitment to the city itself. He has renovated two vacant buildings near the Downtown area that were in severe disrepair. One has become his studio. The other, near Eastern Market has become home to up and coming Detroit artists. In addition, Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer featured Ameen in his application to the federal government for funding of the Detroit Empowerment Zone.
With undeniable good nature, Ameen has subtly touched the lives of people of Detroit, sharing with them a unique generosity. He has befriended at-risk children who live near his studio, encouraging them to stay in school. He is also an enthusiastic mentor to aspiring artists. Ameen continues to keep the magic of the Detroit community alive through his work and kindness.
Natalie Jasmine Wrice
She was born on March 3rd. She is a recent graduate of Covenant High School
(Redford, MI) where she was very active inside and outside the classroom.
She was volunteered for any and everything that came her way. She was
heavily involved in sports. She was a Cheerleader, ran track, and played
basketball.
Natalie is currently a student at Wayne State University. She is also a
model for the Fashion Guru Agency. She loves modeling, shopping, drawing,
and spending time with family and friends.
Future aspirations: To be a forensic toxicologist and a fashion designer.
She loves forensics so much that she can tell you how long a person has been
dead just by bugs that come out of the body. And oh, CSI is her FAVORITE
show! She doesn't believe in limits. Look at Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, now
Diddy. (ha ha ha) She has a passion for fashion! Everywhere she goes, she
acts like she is on the catwalk! Just ask anyone that knows her!
Other Artists:
Sabrina Nelson
Faith Lancaster
Terry Johnson
11/6/08 – Feature Free
12/4/08 - Randal G. Thomas
1/8/09- Jeff Nelson
2/5/09 – Rhonda Welsh/Dancers TBA
3/5/09 - Feature Free
4/2/09- T.C. Nicole
5/7/09 - D Brown
6/4/09 - Zack Ashley
7/6/09-Dssense
This is for you Detroit
The City Has Moved Too Close to the Sun
A Detroit Cento Cut-Up poem
The city has moved too close to the sun. 1
In childish confusion I'd respond: 2
"There is no music." 3
At night and in dream 4
The moon is raw light. 5
I stand before it naked 6
Without warning 7
Beneath the dissipating fog 8
On the river front in downtown Detroit. 9
In a personal war of independence 10
In Motown at the Millennium, 11
A spasm in the search is 12
Thrown, barreling towards the future 13
Right past happiness. The sentence ends 14
By the river. 15
While birds stand by without applauding, 16
I stalk memories 17
Of Detroiters born in the Carolinas 18
On a grain of rice 19
Behind Plexiglas weeds 20
In the suffocating dusk, 21
While busses roar by like urban dinosaur rat-catchers. 22
We want our city back! 23
Detroit gave me my first America, 24
Which put me firmly and finally in the world 25
Like a hurricane backspin, 26
In the hard stares of mannequins 27
Where we had lost our voice in the suburbs,
In Conant Gardens 28
Only to meet the needs of civilization 29
In the center of a vacant lot 30
To choke in factories. 31
We danced endlessly 32
Towards the apocalypse. 33
Paradise Valley, this once was 34
Where the river slid like an eel 35
And billions of footsteps once chattered here/nipped snaggles of silence 36
Like rocket propelled glockenspiels — 37
Blessed sounds — 38
The rhythms of your dream 39
That bloomed in the night garden
Of the valley. 40
Detroit as the intimate secret of my love, 41
I understand that the current citizens have been employed 42
To materialize before the eye
Of memory — your Afro-Indian features — 43
Smell of salt and sea. 44
I listened for a long time. 45
I paint you some pictures to show people who you really are Senor Capitalist. 46
But I knew. How could I not know? 47
It was on TV. 48
Artists born from persistent gray. 49
Born on slow knives 50
Walking towards the river 51
Pushed through a crack in earth 52
Just blending in with the crowd 53
Against the jagged truth — 54
A memory in the sewers of time 55
Calling you to a Great Reawakening 56
In this earthly paradise
Of North America. 57
Money and wheels — the combination makes me shiver 58
And gaze intensely 59
At the deserted assembly plant, 60
Without limit in the bright and distant land, 61
In a culture of collective energies 62
Against the intrusion of thieves, 63
Grizzled and bleary-eyed as memories. 64
The headlines never say good morning any more. 65
Taste the blood in my mouth 66
Smooooth. In syncopation to dashboard jazz 67
Lightenin' up the blues 68
With no money — how do we 69
Fish off the dock
And never catch anything — 70
The color of significant waiting. 71
Stretched over the empty lot
Embedded in frozen
Grass felled by chain saws — 72
Be where real poets are: in the streets, in the shelters, in the ghetto 73
Where they see Malcolm walking down Woodward 74
Beyond the river that
Ran through the city like a leak. 75
Sooner or later a beauty will strike, 76
in the city spit: 77
Strait City
City of Straits
Detroit. 78
Alternative routes are advised —
It's midnight in the Motor City. 79
Oh — you gotta be a walkin' Bodhisattva! 80
I believe we exist to subvert what we believe 81
For hunger and sweetness. 82
I cried out, "I believe, I believe," 83
As Shadows from past ghosts soar among streetlights— 84
Across the heavenz —
Calling r ancestorz, 85
Prune black, with bloodshot eyes and one white tooth. 86
"Don't be afraid," 87
When summerstink crawls the street on its belly. 88
What would it take to have you come here —
To ... the other side of Eight Mile 89
Where time falls back 90
Shooting at no one to empty the thing 91
That seems to be petrified wings of butterflies 92
With the dull ends of abandonment. 93
I say the earth blows out its green 94
Bullets from the gun 95
Let us stop this madness! 96
Get me out of this idea 97
Of the waxing and waning of the moon 98
In old Coke bottles where 99
The world once again gets its industrial passion play 100
Foreigners banging at the gate 101
With lights behind closed eyes. 102
West of the Belle Isle Bridge 103
There are pinholes in the social fabric through which we see. 104
I am part of the landscape
That nobody told me about — 105
It wraps around me. 106
We stopped singing. 107
Even slave songs lost refrain. 108
I trip the hood, grope about blindly in the dark. 109
Some point to this house here and say, "This is where..." 110
Your money your heart your body
Where your mouth was. 111
Trust Jesus, I said to myself. This is Detroit. 112
Low yellow Renaissance Towers, 113
Gum in the ashtray, 114
Caught in the belly of denial — 115
"This is where your mother and I first held you brother and sister." 116
It's easy being young. 117
What happened? 118
As always, I was on my own. 119
Where did her love go? 120
She's moving on — 121
Her essence was extracted. 122
Waking in a dream 123
In a valley of rust 124
Cold from the sun. 125
The air smells different here. 126
Music like water 127
Rushing over the open wound 128
Dissolved by sunlight 129
In the space where my wife's wings must have been ... 130
Now, a blizzard of absurd low stars 131
Will sleep sound — 132
With a simple grin and a Sanders chocolate box. 133
After they close the casket, 134
I can still feel his heart is beating beneath
concrete 135
Into dump-yards, into graves,
Into glutted rivers of amber 136
As subtle as the scent of the neck rising. 137
This is our history.
This is the way it was. 138
I believe there is no freedom, 139
But slant the map to suit yourself; it is we who see the land. 140
Grab a shovel —
Dig!!! 141
This poem is written by M.L. Liebler through literary contributions from 123 Detroit poets. Line 135 is from my poem, In Him City. Here is the link from Metro Times. http://metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=13186
I am proud to be part of this. Many of the poets were either my professors or collegues.
M.L. Liebler is the author of Wide Awake in Someone Else's Dream (Wayne State University Press, 2008), available at mlliebler.com, and the forthcoming Working Words: Literature of Work, Class & Art (Coffee House Press).
