Word Around Town 2012 In Review

August 29, 2012, by

In the earlier part of August Inprint friend and local arts blogger Dean Liscum made the rounds at the Word Around Town 2012 tour, a week full of poetry readings at different venues throughout the city, and shared some highlights with us. Now that he’s had some time to reflect on the tour, we touched base with Dean and get his final thoughts.

Inprint: Dean, we know you couldn’t go to all the evenings of the tour, but can you share two or three of your favorite moments with us?

Dean: The most remarkable aspect of WAT is the diversity of poets on the tour. Every city has a wide range of poets that represent a multitude of styles from personal and confessional to spoken-word/SLAM to lyrical to political to communal. Often they congregate in cliques. To hear their brand of poetry, you have to travel to a particular venue or event. Not at WAT, it is welcoming and all inclusive. This year’s tour even featured a performance artist, Boby Kallor, who would read a piece and then introduce another poet or performer, some who sang a Capella. In a hard core poetry scene (not as oxymoronic as it sounds) such as NYC’s Nuyorican Poets Cafe or D.C.’s Busboys and Poets that kind of stunt will get you thrown out on your iambic pentameter with bongos.  Continue reading

Notes from the WAT Tour midway through

August 16, 2012, by

As we said earlier this week, Inprint friend and local arts blogger Dean Liscum has been attending the Word Around Town 2012 week full of poetry happenings this week. We asked him to report on the tour for us and share his thoughts. Remember, the tour continues through Saturday, August 18th. Learn more about the W.A.T. by clicking here.

I made it through Wednesday, which is saying something if you have not been taking daily doses of live poetry. Here are some of my impressions.

Standing Room Only

The tour has made stops at Bohemeo’s, the Artery, BoomTown Heights, and EAT Gallery. They are each unique places with their own personality. Bohemeo’s has got a community center atmosphere with plenty of indoor and outdoor seating for groups and a permanent stage. The Artery is a secreted away performance paradise in the middle of Midtown. Boomtown Heights is a traditional arthouse coffee shop in a part of town that has badly needed one for a while. EAT Gallery has the feel of a sidewalk cafe with a motto that I wish I’d have used with my family at meal time, “Each item is a complete work of Culinary Art. NO MODIFICATIONS or substitutions”.

I’m not sure what the usual crowds are like for these venues. Seeing a bunch of poets and their entourages, I imagine that the regulars ran. Nevertheless, I’m pretty sure the proprietors made bank as the WAT events have all been standing room only. Continue reading

Houston’s Word Around Town 2012

August 14, 2012, by

Houston poets and spoken word artists are in a buzz this week with the Word Around Town happenings. Many of you may already know about this week of poetic fun and some of you may have already attended one of the nightly readings. We asked Inprint friend and local blogger Dean Liscum to give us more details about Word Around Town 2012 and report on some of these readings for us..

What Is It?
The Word Around Town (WAT?!) Poetry Tour is the ONLY 7-day poetry marathon in the country. (And no that’s not Fulshear, that’s the United States of America.) It’s in its 7th year. Lucky 7s. Seeing as life is all a crap shoot, this is the year for poetry in Houston. Organized by Blanca Alanis, Joe B, Stephen Gros, and Lupe Mendez, the tour aims to introduce poets to venues and expose audiences to poets.

What is the format?
The basic format showcases a featured poet, who reads for about 20 minutes. This performance is supported by 15 other local poets, who read 2 poems each. Generally, the featured poet starts the reading followed by 6 or 7 others, a brief break and the rest of the crew. Continue reading

On Writing Workshops

August 13, 2012, by

Tuesday, August 14th at noon Inprint begins online registration for its Fall 2012 Writers Workshops. All of our writing instructors have been students in a workshop in the past, either at the university level, or in another format. We thought it would be fun to hear what they have to say about writing workshops and why they can be meaningful. Here, Allyn West, who will be teaching a Personal Essay workshop this fall, shares his insights.

Do you want to know the secret to becoming a  writer? The one thing all writers everywhere want to know how to do?

You write.

But—then what? Unless you’re Zadie Smith or Junot Diaz, with major publishing houses clamoring even for your grocery lists, you will have all these pages and nothing to do with them, stumped by your questions about them. Are they any good? And how can I turn them into something—more? Continue reading