d.a. levy, the Bookstore on W. 25th, and misc. updates
The Bookstore on W. 25th, a Cleveland landmark since I can remember, was due to go out of business at the end of last month. At the Brandt reading I blogged about yesterday, Jim Lang mentioned that they were still open on a temporary basis, packed with books, and selling 'em for 90% off. Wow....
Well since they'd been going out of business for about a month already, I didn't really expect to find much to interest me there - so I didn't go then. But yesterday, after Geri and I drove to Tremont's Visible Voice bookstore only to learn it is closed on Mondays, she suggested we see if the Bookstore on W. 25th was still open and had anything worthwhile.
I thought it was a futile trek, but went along - and boy, am I glad I did. The place is still packed!
For only ten dollars, I picked up a treasure trove of stuff including four full-sized books: The Journals of Andre Gide, Volume IV, E.L. Doctorow's Billy Bathgate, André Malraux's Anti-Memoirs, and a very arty edition of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Best of all, I acquired at least thirty rare poetry collections/chapbooks/journals (many of them signed and decades old). Here's one gem I was particularly happy to find....
the last work d.a. levy wrote for publication before his suicide in 1968
it showed up in Cleveland a week after his death
The small-press part of my grab also included early works by many of the poets mentioned in the Cleveland Poetry Scenes
"panorama and anthology" I've recently read and been pimping. They include Steven B. Smith (very first issue of Taproot), Daniel Thompson, Christopher Franke, Adam Brodsky, Kristen Ban Tepper, Amy Bracken Sparks, Bill Arthrell, Meredith Holmes, Diane Kendig, Christopher Franke, Cheryl Townsend, Ben Gulyas, Russell Salamon, Mark Kuhar, Daniel Kaminsky, Barbara Tanner Angell, Michael Waldecki, Cyril Dostal, Gina Tabasso, Barry Zuckor, Claire McMahon and Robert Wallace.The owner said these publications had been shelved in the store by mistake and weren't necessarily meant to be part of the sale. But then he let me have them anyway! I guess he must have gotten the right vibe from me.
Stay tuned... my next blog will be about meeting poets (and Cleveland Poetry Scenes
editors) Larry Smith and Mary Weems (and hearing them read) Sunday at an awesome venue on the Lake Erie shore. And a few more surprises are coming as well.Since the d.a. levy chapbook is not copyrighted, I will adding it to my online library in the near future (it's fantastic!) - as well as some work by good poets who've been known to visit my blog regularly (I'll leave you in suspense regarding who for now). Late last night, I added a poem called "Basil" by Deep Cleveland featured reader Danilee Eichhorn to the library. Please click HERE to check that out and give her a shout out. I will also be officially launching the Crisis Chronicles Press sometime soon and posting information on how to procure a copy of my new Bloggerel chapbook. I've still got a lot of catching up to do, but I'm getting there.
Upcoming poetry readings I plan to attend include:
July 30th at 8 pm: Madison Rose Bookstore in Lakewood (featuring Dan Smith & Ben Gulyas)
August 3rd at 2 pm: Joe Sundae's in Sandusky (featuring T.M. Göttl)
August 7th at 7 p.m.: Jim's Coffeehouse in Elyria (open mic)
And I've been invited to be a featured performer (and part of a podcast) in South Euclid on 23 August (I'll post more information on that as soon as possible).
Peace, love and poetry,
John
and eye QUOTH the CHARLAX
readeth mye Rubyyacht
http://poetrypoem.com/cgi-bin/index.pl?poemnumber=813385&sitename=charlax&password=&poemoffset=0&displaypoem=t&item=poetry
the link is to the HOME page most of mye classics is there ici
Reply to this
RUBAIYAT of CHARLAX
RUBAIYAT
Ode to the poem born of GOD born of them
Ode to the Man Born of GOD Born at hand
Ode to the GOD not born not bred
Ode to anyone who can
Ode to the able mind once read
Ode to the living not the dead
Ode to the one who can understand
Ode to the homeless one no bed
Ode to the food given in the game plan
Ode to the GOD of the living and the men
Ode to the poet who has said
Ode to the Jesus man Amen
this is for instant anaylisis some people do not open links also its short and eye am grateful that you said NON residents of Cleveland may be included
Reply to this
CharlaXTitles26
AllofusarenotfromClevelandOh.
Eye first met Jesus Crisis online in 2008 just recently eye bonded with this man and even when eye found out that he was married eye never got jealous of his wife. For my devotion is not sexual in nature but just professional. He is the underdog no doubt the fact that he was arrested made me feel this adoration. And the man is picture perfect as a JESUS freak there is no doubt of his religion. He saws adages apart and makes the poems into quarks a light is shining as he reads them in his dark familiar places in the Ohio area. LOLZX this is obviously too short adn not finished yet and unpublished but eye am writing the TITLE # 27 today and this is GONNA bee there soon
Reply to this
Awww.. John.. I'm sorely envious... what more can I say... LOL... I'm a book addict... I would have loved to check this place out.
I think I need to move to Cleveland someday.... or at least closer... you make it sound too tempting with all the cool stuff going on, cool people, and places...
Drat... it's a 175 mile trek for me...
I'm also now curious about what else you have in store for your blog page.... you are an industrious son on a gun...!! That's all I can say.... you really have found your calling... haven't you???
Reply to this
Olé!!!
Reply to this
featured performer and part of a podcast? now we're cooking!
i can't wait to find out more, and will check out danilee's poem later today. my poet in arms is coming over shortly and i'm hoping she can help me strangle the word "brute" for will and come up with some people to invite to the reading i've scheduled here at our local borders in early september.
perhaps i'll have my copy of "bloggerel" by then and can read one of your poem
Reply to this
i think i meant to add an s to that last word.
Reply to this
Aren't you do for puppies pretty soon? Just kidding! I'm so happy you're not blogging about puppies. Rock on...
Reply to this
Or doggy do?...lol
Reply to this
Sorry Elena, I meant due...I'm only perfect MOST of the time...LOL
Reply to this
Besides, didn't you mean doo? LOL
Como se dice en Espanol?
Reply to this
Caca..
Reply to this
Wow, what a find! I want to go and check it out now, but I fear there's nothing left for me to buy, lol! Looking forward to your Crisis library posting of the Levy work, JC. And I loved Danilee's poem!
Reply to this
Wow, that bookstore sounds like a gem. You have a lot of independent bookstores in Cleveland. I envy you. I haven't found a single one in South Jersey. It used to be a nice, small community here, but over the years it has built up and gone corporate all over. I did find a used bookstore on South Street in Philly, but Dave only lets me buy as many books as I can carry!
Reply to this
I, and many others I'm sure, have always thought of you as an amazing teacher. You certainly are that on myspace and I am so happy for you that you are getting to do your work for a live audience. You have so much energy and I'm sure you and your audience feed off of that energy. I'm sure you're amazing live.
Reply to this
As a fellow book addict, I am terribly jealous of what you found there! That's another one of those, "Oh yeah, I'll get there eventually," and just never did....bah!
Reply to this
Thanks, everyone! I just noticed I mentioned Christopher Franke twice. Must like that guy...
Reply to this
Congrats on yr featured read!
We back from mushroom land.
Look forward to digging into more d.a.levy.
Reply to this
yea, da levy was hostile toward copyrights.
great collection you picked up - glad i was included. can't remember which poems i had in taproot.
Reply to this
Poems: you had "national debt," "junkie luv," and "the wholly Mother church" in it.
Collages: you had three of them, but I don't know the titles (a Nazi with "Crippled Children" in his eyes; a naked black baby in a forest with American flags and a dart board; and a collage of advertisement headlines including "I Feed You All" and "Guaranteed Worn-Out Husband Products")
I love that in one of the books (1974's Voices in Concert) Daniel Thompson signed his name with the appellation "BAAL-Bond Poet".... But I haven't had time to make my way through them all yet.
Reply to this
Went to Nepal and now am back. Read the poems of a Nepali poet, Bhuwan Thapaliya over there. Tried to meet him there but couldn't and hoping to meet him in future when I land there yet again to scale the Everest Summit. Here is the poem which made me his fan .
I feel like painting,“I love you,” all over you.
feel like traveling
in a train with you
and rove all over the city with you
eating finger chips.
I feel like watching
a romantic movie with you
and dance all around the trees
as they dance in a Hindi movie.
I feel like talking
on and on with you
without uttering a single word
on a Korean Air
caressing your heart
with my unspoken words.
I feel like feeling
your feelings all over me
without feeling
a pang of the separation
over the debris of the Berlin wall.
I feel like looking
at you on and on
without winking my eyes,
in Shanghai,
a new world within the old.
I feel like plucking
a beautiful pink lotus
from an immaculate lotus farm
in the Bangkok city
and present it to you
without clouding the heart of the pond.
I feel like writing a love theory,
a rational behavior of love
while holding you in my arms,
at the Princeton University
beneath the portrait
of John Forbes Nash.
I feel like feeding the seagulls
with Nepali breads and beaten rice flakes
in Durango, Colorado, with you on my side
and then go for a water walk with you
in Gulf Shores, Alabama, carrying you in my arms.
I feel like playing an acoustic guitar
and tune it with the rhythm of our life
and then gift it to Clapton
for him to sing the splendor
of our rendezvous with love.
I feel like painting,
“I love you,” all over you.
Come closer darling; let us build
the Taj Mahal of our love – kiss by kiss.
Reply to this
this is beautiful. thank you sharing it.
Reply to this
Wow, Jim! Welcome back and thank you for sharing this.
Makes me feel like painting "I love you" as well...
Reply to this
What dress to wear? Red or black?
Reply to this