Come to Ft. Greene Park Poetry Festival every Saturday in April. It’s a celebration of Brooklyn’s wordsmiths and bards. Enjoy the poetry from featured readers, listen to the words from Brooklyn’s cherished poets and keynote speakers, participate in workshops, share your talents at the open mic, et al.
It’s a FREE event!
The dates are
April 2 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
April 9 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
April 16 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
April 23 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
April 30 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
I’m so happy to be part of this festival to be held every Saturday in April at the beautiful Ft. Greene Park in my borough of Brooklyn and to feature on April 16 with Robert Gibbons and Kim Brandon.
a BIG Shout Out to Monik Walters, Executive Director of the Fort Greene Park Conservancy, and Roxanne Hoffman for coordinating this event, and glad that I was able volunteer my services.
Every poetry event starts at 3pm and ends at 6pm (depending on how long the open mic lasts).
Layout: Eastern Wing Lawn and area across from the visitor’s center walkway
Microphone and Speaker
Some chairs and open Lawn Space but non-workshop attendees are encouraged to bring picnic blankets for seating
Another year of publications for the first quarter of 2022:
Un Bordado de Voces (An Embroidery of Voices) The Alternative New Year’s Day Spoken Word/Performance Extravaganza 2022 Anthology (Rogue Scholars Press 2022)
Happy to start the year off right with the publication of my poems “If I Could Write a Book” and “Caution”
Thank you Pete Dolack, Madeline Artenberg, Lydia Cortés, C.D. Johnson, Linda Kleinbub, Ptr Kozlowski, Tsaurah Litzky, Ellen Lytle, Su Polo, Robert Roth, Thad Rutkowski, Merissa Anderson. Congrats to the over 150 poets.
First Literary Review-East Winter 2022
Much appreciation to Cindy Hochman and Karen Neuberg for publishing my Winter haiku:
Congrats to George Northrup, Mona Bedi, Chuck Joy, Thomas Fucaloro, James Owens, John Tustin, Lynn White, Stephen Mead, D. Beveridge, Clarissa Jakobsons, Ivan de Monbrison, D.R. James, Joshua Martin, Alison Ross, Alex Caldiero, Ace Boggess, Michael Ruby, Sheila E. Murphy, Juan Pablo Mobili, Lorraine Caputo, Ken Gosse, Darrell Petska, Yuan Hongri
Bear Creek Haiku #179 February 2022
Thank you Ayaz Daryl Nielsen for accepting my Catku. Congrats to Mary Jo Balistreri, and more.
Bear Creek Haiku Blogspot Saturday, February 12, 2022
Thank you Ayaz Darryl Nielsen for publishing my Catku.
Congrats to Cathy Porter, Mary Jo Balistreri, Robert Ligerman, r. soos, John Parsons, Tsaurah Litzky, Minal Sarosh, Judith Nielsen, and Jack Kornfield!
Bear Creek Haiku Blogspot Sunday, February 27, 2022
Thanks Ayaz Daryl Nielsen for publishing my Catku
Congrats to Ram Chandran, Sarah Mahina Calvello, Dennis Rhodes, Anthony Ward, Joe Sebastian, Stephen Jarrell Williams, Mary Jo Balistreri, and, t. kilgore splake!..
Bear Creek Haiku Blogspot Saturday, March 12, 2022
Thanks again Ayaz Daryl Nielsen for publishing more Catku. Kudos to Pat St. Pierre, Dennis Rhodes, Nancy L. Dahl, Mary Jo Balistreri, t. kilgore splake, Thomas Merton, Senegal, John McDonald, and Judith Nielsen!
The Avocet, A Journal of Nature Poetry– Winter 2021-2022
Honored to have my haiku in this issue. Thank you Charles, Vivian, and Valerie Portolano, and Peter Leverich.
sparkling lights
dazzle Christmas tree
cat spins into action
Christmas tree
becomes the cat tree
timberrr!
Frosty the Snowman
body parts scatter on lawn
cat blames dog
The Weekly Avocet #486 Sunday March 27, 2022
Thank you Charles, Vivian, and Valerie Portolano for publishing my haiku and congrats to Gordon Gilbert:
daffodils emerge
yellow defiance competes
with tulip red
clouds cover city
trees wait for storm’s arrival
young leaves wind dance
passengers on train
don’t notice Gaia’s rebirth
or her sky at dusk
The Cupcake Chronicles on Youtube!
Thank you Jools Voice Over for reciting from my chapbook, The Cupcake Chronicles Poets Wear Prada#stories#narration A shout out to my publishers Roxanne Hoffman and Jack Cooper at Poets Wear Prada
Check out these amazing authors on BrownstonePoets on Zoom:
Eve Packer
Ngoma Hill
Ellen Pober Rittberg
Plus a limited open mic. Your $5 contribution keeps our annual anthology in print and pays our features. Hosted by Patricia Carragon, our Brooklyn girl and Editor-in-Chief.
Saturday, March 26, 2022
from 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. EST on Zoom
Please follow directions below, completing both steps at least two days before the reading to avoid delays entering the meeting room. Note the order of the open mic follows the order of signup. Sign up early to read early in the program. Last-minute signup means you will read at the end of the program.
Please follow these instructions: Step 1: Make your $5 contribution: https://bit.ly/3bkqFmO (Note that your contribution is not refundable.)
Step 3: After making your contribution and completing your registration, you will receive a confidential confirmation email containing your unique link to join the event.
Looking forward to seeing you at our March reading!
Eve Packer: Bronx-born, poet/performer/actress, appears solo, w/music, in dance and theater. Grants and awards include NYFA, Jerome Foundation, NEH, and NYSCA. She has published four poetry books, skulls head samba,, playland poems 1994-2004, new nails. (Fly By Night Press). Fall 2021 sees her new book no mask no talk corona poems 2020-2021 (w/photos) from Autonomedia Press. She has several poetry/jazz CDs w/ saxophonist Noah Howard and others. She’s honored to perform with Heidi Latsky Dance since 2010. Eve teaches at WCC, lives downtown, and swims daily. (evebpacker@aol.com). https://www.amazon.com/No-Mask-Talk-Eve-Packer/dp/1570273928/https://autonomedia.org/product/no-mask-no-talk/
Ngoma Hill
Ngoma is a performance poet, multi-instrumentalist,singer/songwriter, artivist and paradigm shifter, who for over 50 years, has used culture as a tool to raise socio-political and spiritual consciousness through work that encourages critical thought. Ngoma was selected as the Beat Poet Laureate of New York for 2017-18 by The National Beat Poetry Poetry Foundation. His newest CD, Conversation with Esu is available @CDBaby, iTunes, and Amazon. His new book, I Didn’t Come Here to Tap Dance, is available on Amazon.
Ellen Pober Rittberg
Ellen Pober Rittberg is the author of He is Walking Wider is (Kelsay Books, 2021) and two humorous self-help books about caregiving, Why is Grandma Naked? Caring for Your Aging Parent (Amazon) and parenting, 35 Things Your Teen Won’t Tell You, So I Will (Amazon, Turner Publishing). Ellen represented children, senior citizens, and people on psychiatric units for many years. An award-winning journalist (LI Press Club, LI Coalition for Fair Broadcasting FOLIO award Best Public Affairs Show), Ellen’s essays have appeared in the NY Times, HuffPost, Reader’s Digest, Newsday NY Daily News, and other large online platforms. Her political plays, Sci Fi and Sabbath Elevator about authoritarianism and “me too” have been performed on zoom recently and at festivals in NYC and LI. Her poetry has appeared in numerous anthologies and journals.
Since 2005, Brownstone Poets has been inspiring poetry in Brooklyn. We strive to be a unique and diverse community, welcoming various literary styles and forms. Our reading series is expanding via Zoom, reaching out to new voices across the U.S. and the world.
We would like to thank this year’s 43 reader-contributors, as well as our loyal attendees. Without their love and commitment, our reading series and this anthology would not have been possible.
We’re honored to have the Himalayan poet Yuyutsu Sharma as our poet-in- residence and Yuko Otomo as this year’s guest poet.
This collection of poetry, infused with Brooklyn imagery, is our contribution to the vibrant spirit found in the Borough of Kings.
We are happy to announce the nomination of 6 poets from the Brownstone Poets 2021 Anthology for a Pushcart Prize. Winners will be announced next year and published in the next edition of the Pushcart Prize anthology, edited by Bill Henderson with the Pushcart Prize Editors.
Congratulations to:
Carrrie Magness Radna, Emira Mitre Kokomani, Ernest Woodley,Jeff Cottrill, Megha Sood, Ron Bremner
$15
Product details
ASIN : B09J7MJXX7
Publisher : Independently published (October 12, 2021)
Language : English
Paperback : 94 pages
ISBN-13 : 979-8548757890
Item Weight : 10.7 ounces
Dimensions : 8.5 x 0.23 x 11 inches
Waiting by Bob Heman
Brownstone Poets 2020 Anthology Paperback – August 19, 2020
$18 on Amazon.com
If you haven’t gotten your 2020 issue of the amazing Brownstone Poets Anthology, you can go to this link on Amazon:
Since 2005, Brownstone Poets has been inspiring poetry in Brooklyn. We strive to be a unique and diverse community, welcoming various literary styles and forms. We would like to thank this year’s sixty-nine reader-contributors, as well as our loyal attendees. Without their love and commitment, our reading series and this anthology would not have been possible. We’re honored to have the Himalayan poet Yuyutsu Sharma as our poet-in- residence and Cornelius Eady as this year’s guest poet. We mourn the passing of Rosalie Calabrese and Steve Dalachinsky and have dedicated a section in their memory.This collection of poetry, infused with Brooklyn imagery, is our contribution to the vibrant spirit found in the Borough of Kings.
ASIN : B08HB9JHXS
Language : English
Paperback : 126 pages
ISBN-13 : 979-8612355663
Item Weight : 12 ounces
Dimensions : 8 x 0.3 x 10 inches
The Egg collage by Bob Heman
Brownstone Poets 2019 Anthology Paperback – April 1, 2019
Since 2005, Brownstone Poets has been inspiring poetry in Brooklyn. We strive to be a unique and diverse community, welcoming various literary styles and forms. We would like to thank this year’s sixty-nine reader-contributors, as well as our loyal attendees. Without their love and commitment, our reading series and this anthology would not have been possible. We’re honored to have the Himalayan poet Yuyutsu Sharma as our poet-in- residence and David Austell as this year’s guest poet. We mourn the passing of Gil Fagiani,who was a translator, essayist, short-story writer, poet, and friend, and have dedicated a section in his memory.This collection of poetry, infused with Brooklyn imagery, is our contribution to the vibrant spirit found in the Borough of Kings.
Leaving the Sky by Bob Heman
Brownstone Poets 2018 Anthology Paperback – March 29, 2018
Brownstone Poets has been inspiring poetry in Brooklyn since 2005. We strive to be unique and diverse, and we welcome a multitude of styles and forms. We would like to thank this year’s sixty-eight reader-contributors listed below, as well as our loyal attendees. Without their love for, and dedication to, our reading series, this anthology would not have been possible. We are proud to have the Himalayan poet Yuyutsu RD Sharma as our poet-in- residence. We would also like to honor this year’s guest poet, JP Howard. This collection of poetry, infused with Brooklyn imagery, is our contribution to the vibrant creative spirit in the borough of Kings.
Little Machines Fill Their Sky by Bob Heman
Brownstone Poets 2017 Anthology Paperback – March 14, 2017
Brownstone Poets has been inspiring poetry in Brooklyn since 2005. We strive to be unique and diverse, and we welcome a multitude of styles and forms. We would like to thank this year’s sixty-four reader-contributors listed below, as well as our loyal attendees. Without their love for, and dedication to, our reading series, this anthology would not have been possible. We are proud to have the Himalayan poet Yuyutsu RD Sharma as our poet in residence. We would also like to honor this year’s guest poet, Bruce Weber, and pay tribute to our fellow poets Bill Pyles and Frank Simone, who recently passed away. This collection of poetry, infused with Brooklyn imagery, is our contribution to the vibrant creative spirit in the borough of Kings.
Cat Collage by Bob Heman
Brownstone Poets 2016 Anthology Paperback – March 21, 2016
Since 2005, Brownstone Poets has been inspiring poetry in Brooklyn. We strive to be a unique and diverse community, welcoming various literary styles and forms. We would like to thank this year’s sixty-nine reader-contributors, as well as our loyal attendees. our contribution to the vibrant spirit found in the Borough of Kings.
Check out these amazing authors on BrownstonePoets on Zoom:
Eve Packer
Ngoma Hill
Ellen Pober Rittberg
Plus a limited open mic. Your $5 contribution keeps our annual anthology in print and pays our features. Hosted by Patricia Carragon, our Brooklyn girl and Editor-in-Chief.
Saturday, March 26, 2022
from 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. EST on Zoom
Please follow directions below, completing both steps at least two days before the reading to avoid delays entering the meeting room. Note the order of the open mic follows the order of signup. Sign up early to read early in the program. Last-minute signup means you will read at the end of the program.
Please follow these instructions: Step 1: Make your $5 contribution: https://bit.ly/3bkqFmO (Note that your contribution is not refundable.)
Step 3: After making your contribution and completing your registration, you will receive a confidential confirmation email containing your unique link to join the event.
Looking forward to seeing you at our March reading!
Eve Packer: Bronx-born, poet/performer/actress, appears solo, w/music, in dance and theater. Grants and awards include NYFA, Jerome Foundation, NEH, and NYSCA. She has published four poetry books, skulls head samba,, playland poems 1994-2004, new nails. (Fly By Night Press). Fall 2021 sees her new book no mask no talk corona poems 2020-2021 (w/photos) from Autonomedia Press. She has several poetry/jazz CDs w/ saxophonist Noah Howard and others. She’s honored to perform with Heidi Latsky Dance since 2010. Eve teaches at WCC, lives downtown, and swims daily. (evebpacker@aol.com). https://www.amazon.com/No-Mask-Talk-Eve-Packer/dp/1570273928/https://autonomedia.org/product/no-mask-no-talk/
Ngoma Hill
Ngoma is a performance poet, multi-instrumentalist,singer/songwriter, artivist and paradigm shifter, who for over 50 years, has used culture as a tool to raise socio-political and spiritual consciousness through work that encourages critical thought. Ngoma was selected as the Beat Poet Laureate of New York for 2017-18 by The National Beat Poetry Poetry Foundation. His newest CD, Conversation with Esu is available @CDBaby, iTunes, and Amazon. His new book, I Didn’t Come Here to Tap Dance, is available on Amazon.
Ellen Pober Rittberg
Ellen Pober Rittberg is the author of He is Walking Wider is (Kelsay Books, 2021) and two humorous self-help books about caregiving, Why is Grandma Naked? Caring for Your Aging Parent (Amazon) and parenting, 35 Things Your Teen Won’t Tell You, So I Will (Amazon, Turner Publishing). Ellen represented children, senior citizens, and people on psychiatric units for many years. An award-winning journalist (LI Press Club, LI Coalition for Fair Broadcasting FOLIO award Best Public Affairs Show), Ellen’s essays have appeared in the NY Times, HuffPost, Reader’s Digest, Newsday NY Daily News, and other large online platforms. Her political plays, Sci Fi and Sabbath Elevator about authoritarianism and “me too” have been performed on zoom recently and at festivals in NYC and LI. Her poetry has appeared in numerous anthologies and journals.
Book launch for Didi Champagne’s debut poetry/art book at KGB’s Red Room Speakeasy Salon.
85 E. 4th Street
3rd Floor
NYC 10003
Monday, March 10 at 7 p.m. EST
Come celebrate Didi’s launch in person with the poets:
Jeffrey Cyphers Wright Dorothy Friedman August Linda Kleinbub Patricia Carragon
2 drink minimum 21 or older ID and proof of vaccination required
Hosted by Patricia Carragon
About Didi Champagne
Brooklyn girl, Didi Champagne, is a self-taught poet, artist, electric bass guitarist, and singer/songwriter with a classical background in vocals. Since the mid ’80s, she has graced the New York stages, including CBGB’S, the Bitter End, Webster Hall, and the Limelight, and played at numerous outdoor festivals and radio interviews. Didi shared her words at various downtown venues, including one reading with Punk Rock Queen, JD Rage, at ABC NoRio. As a vocalist, she has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Rockefeller Center Christmas Show, and the United Nations for a benefit to save children.
Didi Champagne has a few CDs with her original music, lyrics, and poetry. Please check out her Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/DidiChampagne for a few of her music livestreams, as well as her art poetry series, which has developed into her first art/poetry collection
Angel Fire, Carragon’s Debut Novel from Alien Buddha Press,
art by Su Polo
After years in the making, Angel Fire is now a reality. Thank you Alien Buddha Press and my copy editor, Cindy Hochman of “100 Proof” Copyediting Services, for believing in my debut novel’s value.
Angel Fire is a novel, inspired by personal experiences and nightmares, that delves into the lives of three women protagonists, Sarah Kahn, Kate Robbins, and Dana Chu, living and working in New York City during the ’90s through the post- 9/11 world and the Obama election. The book is comprised of over 57,000 words, broken down into twenty-one chapters and an epilogue. The narrative contains elements of magic realism/ urban fantasy, and beyond the wry humor, there are bizarre twists involving erotic dreams, curses, cats, and paranormal visitations from a precocious ten-year-old girl named Allie, turning this story into a psychological thriller.
Patricia Carragon. author of Urban Haiku and More, returns with more Haiku, this time inspired by her favorite muse, our sphinx-like companion, the CAT.
Aaron Fisher, author of Black Stars of Blood: The Weegee Poems (Main Street Rag Press), says,“Patricia Carragon has done something notable, writing and assembling some 30 pages of haiku about cats (hence, meowku) that are neither cute nor cloying. What they are is smart, funny, and satisfyingly complex — quite an accomplishment in seventeen syllables.”
David Dephy, a Georgian/American award-winning poet, novelist, and performer, sums it up: “These poems themselves are warm and mystical like kittens. They crawl from page to page with catlike grace as you caress them with your eyes and breath, as you stare them in the eye you become cautious like them and don’t want your silence to be disturbed by anyone while reading.”
Judy Kamilhor, author of Before the Big Bang and Cat Dreams, notes, “Enjoy a delightful romp of word play through a New York filled with mischievous cats and kittens. Accompanied by lovely photos, Patricia Carragon’s poems capture moments of city life with feline friends and sometimes foes. Who knew that this ancient Japanese forms fit modern New York life with cats so purrfectly?”
And lastly, Ayaz Daryl Nielsen, Editor of Bear Creek Haiku, says, “Patricia Carragon is known throughout our creative and feline worlds as “that Brooklyn girl.” The humor, noblesse, and yes, loveliness of her nationwide nurturing presence are aptly, beautifully encapsulated within these thirty-five pages of photos, haiku, and micro (yet mighty) poems. Meowku is nurturing “cattitude” we all need.
About Poets Wear Prada:
Publishing beautifully designed volumes of well-crafted poetry — and now fiction — you want to read, since October 2006 from Hoboken, New Jersey, birthplace of Frank Sinatra and professional baseball.
Some delicious stories about cupcakes that come to life:
cover by Roxanne Hoffman
From Alison Ross, publisher and editor of “Clockwise Cat:”It is a testament to her vivacious spirit that Patricia Carragon would think to personify cupcakes as a device to chronicle quotidian activities and as a mode to assuage the anxieties of her daily jaunts. Tasty diary entries mingle humor and contemplative musings in a way that not only tantalizes the tongue but stimulates all of the sensory receptors, as her imagery erupts from the page to entice one’s very soul.”
Linda Lerner, author of Yes, The Ducks Were Real, says, “What begins as a normal work day changes for Carragon when she sees “cupcakes — the size of hobbits — parading the halls” of her office. From that point on, humanoid confections take over her life — and ours — in this allegorical tale depicting the underlying madness of our ordinary lives. No reader will be able to forget holding a kitchen knife to a devil’s food cupcake topped with “pink buttercream clouds” and hearing a scream, or the sight of a “badly bitten banana nut” asking for spare change on the train.”
Maria Lisella, Queens Poet Laureate 2015-2018, writes, “A funny thing happened on activist/writer Patricia Carragon’s way to her favorite sweet shop: a swirling journey peopled with cupcake commuters who are wise and witty, inside a world that sometimes banishes humans in favor of those savvy cupcakes. Carragon writes with humor, deft language, and an energy that sweeps us into buttercream icing. Both participant and spectator, she’s sometimes pressed against glass looking in; other times, the cupcakes lean in and confide in her. Pay close attention to the wisdom her cupcakes impart: “We are her to look delicious and to please the sweet tooth of the human race.”: “Humans are better off as desserts.”
And Susan H. Maurer, author of Josephine Butler exclaims,”A collection of Poetry.Carragon’s cupcake capers? Read this and weep. It is a delight, and a double delight when you get to hear her read it. The fine playfulness of this book is worth three times the cover cost. Own it and get such sweetness, calorie free. “
About Poets Wear Prada:
Publishing beautifully designed volumes of well-crafted poetry — and now fiction — you want to read, since October 2006 from Hoboken, New Jersey, birthplace of Frank Sinatra and professional baseball.
Distinguished by subtle story-telling and a deft use of words and metaphor, the poems in PatriciaCarragon’s new collection, Innocence, speak to the heart and soul. Vivid backdrops include a Parisian café, the circus, a windswept city day, Coney Island, and a bar full of bird-like characters. Color and nature star in many of the poignant poems that draw on elusive love and the setback of time. The poems’ heroine rarely frets, but accepts conflict and missed connections with grace. Readers will delight in Patricia Carragon’s poems brimming with irony, imagination, and ordinary life gone amok.
–Amy Barone, Author and poet of “Kamikaze Dance”(Finishing Line Press)
With a palette full of confessional colors, and the urgency of Lady Macbeth wailing ‘Out, damned spot,’ Patricia Carragon speaks truth to childhood in a voice that is at once shocking and resonant. While the title of her book is Innocence, these lines are anything but benign. There is, however, a vital remnant of a happy fairytale that survives in Carragon’s poems: the M-A-G-I-C she sprinkles into each and every one of them, reminding us to hold fast to those treasures that give us permission to live happily ever after.
–Cindy Hochman, Editor-in-chief, First Literary Review-East
Patricia Carragon writes with acute sensibility, grace, and pith. She juggles scenes from her life and makes visible what the ‘wind has erased’. Made to feel unworthy and outcast as a child, her self-expression was admonished, and she was forced to keep within the lines. This is a beautiful book of poems about the power of imagination and a resilient spirit that has risen like a phoenix from the ashes of innocence to gift us all with her creative magic.
–Karen Neuberg, Author, “Myself Taking Stage“ (Finishing Line Press) and “Detailed Still” (Poets Wear Prada)
Patricia Carragon's Blog: Words Give Me the Will to Write 