Oh yes. It’s our favorite time of the year, when the rest of the world wises up to all things poetry and we have so many more excuses to share the brilliance of our community with you. We hope you’ll take some time this month to check out our poets, poetry projects, publications, workshops, events, and recordings!
Logen reads at Spiderweb’s Cheers for Queers event in 2018. Photo by Saraphim Art
Happy Hour Poetry Workshop with Logen Cure!
Sunday, April 14 at 2pm, Dan’s Silverleaf, $10 suggested donation for non-spiderweb artists/patreons
We’re thrilled to present an all-ages, all-skill-levels workshop led by our talented poet-friend, educator, and co-creator Logen Cure! This workshop will focus on the power of imagery in our writing. If you’re just getting started with poetry, come learn a thing or two and hone your skills. If you’re an experienced poet, this workshop will challenge you to approach your work in new ways. We will look at example poems with well-done imagery and try out some strategies ourselves. Let’s learn and write together!
RADIO POETS LIVE! at Dan’s Silverleaf
On April 18 (doors at 6, show at 7) our KUZU-famous poets will be taking over the stage at this very special fundraiser event! There will be an action-packed poetry showcase, bake sale care of Wake & Bake, silent poetry auction, and music following the performance showcase by the amazing Megan Storie. The cover is donation-based (money or goods for the bake sale!) and all the proceeds for all the things go to the mental health project we’re working on launching with our friends at DMAC. More event info here.
Featured Radio Poets: Anjelica Fraga,Clent Wyatt, courtney marie, Ellie Gonzalez, Isabel Deniz, James Jackson, Jo Hargis, Katey Margolis, Kristina Smith, Lesly Gutierrez, Mateo Granados, Morgan Larson, Ryan Creery, Seth Malloy, and Tori Falcon! Hosted by courtney marie, Nina Chantanapumma, Rachel Weaver, Mateo Granados, and James Jackson.
In preparation for this exciting event, you can listen to the Radio Poets anytime at Spiderweb Salon On-the-Air OR our new music-soundscape-poetry fusion project The Ruby Sessions! Shoutout to Topher and Brains of Paradise on KUZU for always giving our poets some love!!
Follow the Reader: Choose Your Own Adventure Poetry Month!
Spiderweb’s bookclub Follow the Reader, led by our amazing Reading Advocacy Host Sarah Ruth, is celebrating all things poetry with a CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE challenge! It’s simple: read poems, attend one or all of our poetry swaps, and mark your calendar for our regular monthly meetup (which always happens the last Thursday of the month) where we will gather to read out loud the best poems we read throughout the month and discuss all the things! Be sure to join the Follow the Reader Facebook Page for A+ recommendations, poetic conversation, book-swap meetups, and location info/live-streams of our gatherings.
We’ve also selected an excellent supplementary read, Gathering Voices by Marty McConnell, for those who get extra excited about community workshops and poetry (like we do!).
Follow-the-Reader April Meetups!
April 9 + April 17, 7-9pm: Poetry Swap and Reading Time and Golden Boy Coffee. Bring your favorite poetry books to share and join us in a quiet evening of reading over nice cocktails, coffee, or tea.
April 25, 7pm, location announced in group: Follow the Reader Meetup!
Poetry Party Open Mic Feat. Mike Young
May 3, 6 pm: Golden Boy Coffee
Feeling inspired to poem yourself after all this April poem-ing? Join us for an open mic party with featured guest, poet Mike Young, founder and editor at Magic Helicopter Press and author of Sprezzatura. Sign-ups start at 6, show starts at 6:30! Spots are limited so come early!
Support Your Locally-Based Poets!
Just some Spiderbabes being all casual.
We HIGHLY recommend loving on some poets this month (and always!) by reading their work and telling them when they make you feel something. Also: buy their books, offer them drinks and snacks, read their journals and published poems, like and follow and support them on social media, and attend events like RADIO POETS LIVE! Your heart will thank you for it. If you aren’t sure where to start, here’s just a few of the things a few of our Spiderpoets have to share with you!
Alejandra Ramos Gomez has work published in three anthologies with the Writers’ Association in Juarez, Mexico, and Pasos en el Norte by Rotary International. She co-hosts Poetry in the Park in Dallas, recently delivered a TEDx talk, and contributed in a chapter book with Voces Writers.
Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam is the host of an awesome collaborative showcase in Fort Worth called Art & Words that features lots of poets, and she is a prolifically published fiction and poetry writer herself.
courtney marie and Fatima Ayan Malika Hirsi are the authors of the beautiful double-sided chapbook don’t get your hopes up + Moon Woman, published last year by Thoughtcrime Press.
Brittany Griffiths runs an independent publishing house in Dallas, TX called Spontaneous Afflatus which contains an excellent magazine and podcast called Wavelength, celebrating area poets and artists. She is also the author of a book of poetry, Ebb & Flow.
Darryl Ratcliff is a poet and social practice artist based in Dallas. We hope he’ll see this and come party with us again in Denton soon!
Ellie Gonzalez is the host of the lovely local poetry open mic and soiree, Lost Poets Lounge.
Isobel O’Hare is the genius behind a collection of erasure poems published by University of Hell Press, titled all this can be yours.
James Jackson has a website where you can read some of his work!
Leah Tieger is the author of We and She, You and Then, You Again published in 2017 by Finishing Line Press.
Logen Cure is hosting our awesome Happy Hour Workshop this month and is the author of Still and Letters to Petrarch. She recommends also checking out Gutter by Lauren Brazeal, Girldom by Megan Peak, and Sadness Workshop by Stevie Edwards.
Machele Johnson has three beautiful handmade chapbooks available, I'm Sorry, But it's Awfully Loud in Here, Savory Regurgitations of the Heart, and Wear Black: Bleed Purple. Machele is Spiderweb Salon’s workshop coordinator, and if you ask nicely she’ll probably bring some copies to Logen’s Happy Hour Workshop!
Nadia Wolnisty is the brains behind Thimble Literary Magazine, which is awesome and you should go read immediately, and the author of A Zoo (Finishing Line Press) and a brand-new book being released by Dancing Girl Press, entitled Signs Taken for Wonders.
Nate Logan is the founder and editor of the awesome Spooky Girlfriend Press, and recently published a book with Magic Helicopter Press called Inside the Golden Days of Missing You.
Paula Jane Mendoza is the author of poetry collection All Slither, published by Raw Paw out of Austin.
Sebastian Paramo is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Boiler, a journal that publishes amazing work in a quarterly collection. Sebastian has led many poetry workshops with Spiderweb Salon and is the host of The Burning Plain Reading Series, which hosts monthly poetry events at Armadillo Ale Works, and Pegasus Reading Series in Dallas, co-hosted with Mag Gabbert. You can find more of Sebastian’s work on his website!
Now, go forth and enjoy some poetry!! One last thing- if you want to support a WHOLE BUNCH of poets at the same time, consider supporting Spiderweb Salon on Patreon! A small monthly donation to our creative collective earns you sweet perks and our undying love and affection. We love you!