Lenin Poems Ch(e)apbook - A Public Pouring
Just another Independence Day in Fremont
Comrades! At 10AM on Saturday 4 July 2009, armfuls of the freshly published Lenin Poems Chapbooks (tiny, accordion-folded booklets with potato-printed covers) were poured over the Lenin Statue in Fremont. I repeat, there were witnesses! Chapbooks were assumed by the public! Poems were read and poets celebrated! People marched about aimlessly, shouting, "It's hollow! It's hollow!"
Congratulations
To the Lenin Poets and those whose work was selected for these tiny throwables! Chapbook poets include: Roxanne Baechler-Gill, Patrick Bentley, Lou Contreras, Rebecca Elliott, Thomas Hubbard, Christopher J. Jarmick, Joseph Kelly, Carlos Martinez, Jed Myers, Peter A. Nelson, John Persak, Cindy Peyser Safronoff, Charles Potts, David Sandberg, Michael Schein, Judith Skillman, Nick Williamson, Chris S. Witwer and two students from Hamilton International Middle School, Anita and Ethan. Congratulations to these poets and a big thank you to all poets who submitted work and supported the project.
The Official Lenin Poem
One special poem was chosen to be bronzed and put with the statue in Fremont. This Is Not V.I. Lenin by Rebecca Elliott was chosen by the Lenin Poem judges after a blind reading through the 59 poems received. Rebecca Elliott's 5-line poem (shown below), will be bronzed and placed with the Lenin Statue sometime later this Fall. We are now just starting to collect funds to cover the cost of bronzing. If you wish to donate, send $5 or more (in cash or check) to: A. K. Allin/600 N 36th St #210/Seattle, WA 98103. Estimated cost of a bronze plaque is $275. Thanks for your help.
This Is Not V.I. Lenin
This statue is hollow. Inside are six inches
of water in a ditch along a country road
just outside the small village of Russia,
Ohio, a boy in a threadbare sweater,
his palms in the mud.
-Rebecca Elliott
Rebecca reading her poem.
THE JUDGES
Gregory Crosby
Born in Michigan, Gregory Crosby spent his formative years in Las Vegas, where for more than a decade he was an art critic, columnist and cultural commentator. His poems have appeared in several journals, including Court Green, Jacket, Rattle, Poem, [sic], Pearl, BigCityLit, The South Carolina Review, The Red Rock Review, Stirring and others. He is the author of three chapbooks: Twenty Poems (1996), Revenge of a Mortal Hand (1998) and Satan’s Skull Glows White Hot (2000). He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the City College of New York, where he won the 2006 Marie Ponsot Poetry Prize. Most recently, he was a finalist for the 2006 Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize.
Vanessa DeWolf
Vanessa DeWolf creates interdisciplinary poetic works of text-based performance. Her work often combines narrative and poetic language with visual and movement processes. Her training: figure skating, M.A. in playwriting at Boston University under Nobel prize winner Derek Walcott, somatic practices, alternative dance, improvisation, printmaking, and more. She runs an artist residency program at Studio-Current on Capitol Hill, is a facilitator of Field sessions and has been the director of The Field Seattle. Her work has been seen in various venues throughout Seattle including: Untitled [Intersection], Ten Tiny Dances, Fisher Ensemble, Velocity Dance Center, and Freehold Studio Lab Theater.
A. K. Allin
A. K. “Mimi” Allin produces poetry on the page and off, by way of public installation, instigations and collaborative and solo performance. “AKA” has whispered poetry through a 300-pound block of ice, painted it on umbrellas and put it in the middle of a labyrinth cut into a lawn with hand shears. All of this to get poetry to the people! On Thursday 11 June, Allin installed 100 poets in SAM Downtown for “An Impasse of Poets.” Her next SAM event, "Sight/Seeing," happens in the galleries at SAM Downtown on Thursday 16 July. Allin earned her MA in Writing from City College of New York in 2006.
Comrades! At 10AM on Saturday 4 July 2009, armfuls of the freshly published Lenin Poems Chapbooks (tiny, accordion-folded booklets with potato-printed covers) were poured over the Lenin Statue in Fremont. I repeat, there were witnesses! Chapbooks were assumed by the public! Poems were read and poets celebrated! People marched about aimlessly, shouting, "It's hollow! It's hollow!"
Congratulations
To the Lenin Poets and those whose work was selected for these tiny throwables! Chapbook poets include: Roxanne Baechler-Gill, Patrick Bentley, Lou Contreras, Rebecca Elliott, Thomas Hubbard, Christopher J. Jarmick, Joseph Kelly, Carlos Martinez, Jed Myers, Peter A. Nelson, John Persak, Cindy Peyser Safronoff, Charles Potts, David Sandberg, Michael Schein, Judith Skillman, Nick Williamson, Chris S. Witwer and two students from Hamilton International Middle School, Anita and Ethan. Congratulations to these poets and a big thank you to all poets who submitted work and supported the project.
The Official Lenin Poem
One special poem was chosen to be bronzed and put with the statue in Fremont. This Is Not V.I. Lenin by Rebecca Elliott was chosen by the Lenin Poem judges after a blind reading through the 59 poems received. Rebecca Elliott's 5-line poem (shown below), will be bronzed and placed with the Lenin Statue sometime later this Fall. We are now just starting to collect funds to cover the cost of bronzing. If you wish to donate, send $5 or more (in cash or check) to: A. K. Allin/600 N 36th St #210/Seattle, WA 98103. Estimated cost of a bronze plaque is $275. Thanks for your help.
This Is Not V.I. Lenin
This statue is hollow. Inside are six inches
of water in a ditch along a country road
just outside the small village of Russia,
Ohio, a boy in a threadbare sweater,
his palms in the mud.
-Rebecca Elliott
Rebecca reading her poem.
THE JUDGES
Gregory Crosby
Born in Michigan, Gregory Crosby spent his formative years in Las Vegas, where for more than a decade he was an art critic, columnist and cultural commentator. His poems have appeared in several journals, including Court Green, Jacket, Rattle, Poem, [sic], Pearl, BigCityLit, The South Carolina Review, The Red Rock Review, Stirring and others. He is the author of three chapbooks: Twenty Poems (1996), Revenge of a Mortal Hand (1998) and Satan’s Skull Glows White Hot (2000). He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the City College of New York, where he won the 2006 Marie Ponsot Poetry Prize. Most recently, he was a finalist for the 2006 Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize.
Vanessa DeWolf
Vanessa DeWolf creates interdisciplinary poetic works of text-based performance. Her work often combines narrative and poetic language with visual and movement processes. Her training: figure skating, M.A. in playwriting at Boston University under Nobel prize winner Derek Walcott, somatic practices, alternative dance, improvisation, printmaking, and more. She runs an artist residency program at Studio-Current on Capitol Hill, is a facilitator of Field sessions and has been the director of The Field Seattle. Her work has been seen in various venues throughout Seattle including: Untitled [Intersection], Ten Tiny Dances, Fisher Ensemble, Velocity Dance Center, and Freehold Studio Lab Theater.
A. K. Allin
A. K. “Mimi” Allin produces poetry on the page and off, by way of public installation, instigations and collaborative and solo performance. “AKA” has whispered poetry through a 300-pound block of ice, painted it on umbrellas and put it in the middle of a labyrinth cut into a lawn with hand shears. All of this to get poetry to the people! On Thursday 11 June, Allin installed 100 poets in SAM Downtown for “An Impasse of Poets.” Her next SAM event, "Sight/Seeing," happens in the galleries at SAM Downtown on Thursday 16 July. Allin earned her MA in Writing from City College of New York in 2006.
posted by A K Mimi Allin at 9:50 AM
1 Comments:
Rebecca's poem is terrific. I'd like to see the rest of the entries sometime!
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