Stone Soup Issue #5

Editor

Chad Parenteau

Contributing Editor

Dale Meyer-Curley

Contributing Artists

James Conant
Marshall
David Marshall

Su Red
Janice Raynor

Beatriz Alba del Rio: Bilingual poet, lawyer, mediator, member of the New England Poetry Club. Beatriz’ awards: 1st Prize  2002 Octavio Paz International Poetry Contest, 3rd Prize 2003 Pablo Neruda International Poetry Contest, 2004 1ST Prize Cambridge Poetry Award (“Masks over masks” category “female erotic poem”) and finalist with poem “Black Crows” category “female love poem” and the 2007 3rd Prize New England Poetry Club Diana Der-Hovanessian Translation Award. Her poetry has appeared in several anthologies and literary magazines. Beatriz’ inspiring muses are Chejov, Borges, Paz, Neruda, Gelman, Jorie Graham, Franz Wright. Beatriz’ poetry guru is Ottone Riccio. Her contemporary poets ingnite Beatriz’ light and darkness to write.  She believes in the oneness of  us all.  Info: badelrio@comcast.net

A life time resident of Plymouth, Mike Amado was a performance poet, a percussionist and drummer. He was diagnosed at the age of 13 with kidney disease, passing away in January of 2009. The first of several posthumous collections is scheduled to be published in 2011.

A figure who encompasses decades of history in the Boston poetry scene, William J. Barnum was recently published in the decades spanning collection The Cantab Lounge Anthology.

Hailing from the seacoast town of Fairhaven, Massachusetts, Maggie Cleveland lives with cats, children, and a science fiction writer, and works developing courses for the National Elevator Industry. She's coordinated poetry readings and events in southeastern Massachusetts for more than 15 years.  Maggie's poems have been published in journals including The Offending Adam, qarrtsiluni, the Newport Review, Elephant, Flying Fish, BURP, Out of Our, Amerarcana: A Bird & Beckett Review, and others. Her work was recently translated into Albanian for publication in the anthology Tingujt e erës:Lirikë e re Amerikane (Sounds of Wind: New American Lyrics). A chapbook, ATOM FISH, is forthcoming from One Time Press in November 2012.  She received an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College in 2011. Visit her website at maggiecleveland.wordpress.com.

James Conant is a Cambridge artist who has recently added photography to his skills, which include clay sculpture, pen and ink, montages, and pencil art.  He is always available for work and collaboration.  

Nate Connors has been writing poetry for over 20 years. “Rain Drop” is Nate’s return to the published world. He earned his MFA from Emerson and studied under Bill Knott and Agha Shahid Ali. He currently works full time producing conferences that focus on the energy industry. He lives in Somerville, MA.

Elizabeth K. Doran is a poet living in Boston. She is published in Poesis and Ibbetson Street. She is currently a book seller and book buyer at The Grolier Poetry Book Shop in Cambridge, MA.

Ry Frazier is about to turn 30. He used to play banjo pretty well, but hasn't picked it up in three years. He's a big fan of sleepwalking, sunken ships, and bios in poetry books.

Timothy Gager is the author of eight books of poetry and fiction. He has hosted the Dire Literary Series for ten years and lives at www.timothygager.com

Michael F. Gill is a Boston-based poet and musician. He runs the Brighton Word Factory, a bi-weekly writing group in Boston, and helps organize the 365/365 challenge, an online group designed to stretch one's writing abilities in community with other poets. His website is http://www.bbtp.net. He is happy to speak with you about many things.

Marc Goldfinger has been published by the Ibbetson Street Press, the Aurorean, Liberation Poetry, an Anthology by The Pegasus, the Boston Poet, the Crooked River Press, EarthFirst!, Clamor, The New Renaissance, User’s News, Poiesis and many others. He is currently the poetry editor and a regular columnist for the Spare Change News, a paper put out for the benefit of homeless people. He is a counselor for people with Substance Use Disorders and some of his work has been used to augment courses at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. He is a member of the Highway Poets, a motorcycle club whose members have been published throughout the world.  Marc has 3 books for sale at www.Smashwords.com and can also be found at Road Scribes of America and at www.sparechangenews.net.  He has performed at Occupy Boston more than once.  He also has his own website at marcdgoldfinger.outlawpoetry.com.

Paul Hapenny is the writer of seven plays. The multi award winning "Vig," "Sacrament" and "Vignettes From a Masculine Tableau" have been produced both in the US and internationally. The author of 12 screenplays, including "Vig" and "DownCity," Paul has written for Paramount Pictures, Warner Brothers Pictures and LionsGate Films among others.  The poem in this issue of Spoonful appears in his collection from FootHills Publishing Kespukwitk: Land's End Poems.

Coleen T. Houlihan is a writer who studied at Wellesley College .  She has featured in a variety of Massachusetts poetry events such as: Poetry Month at Boston Public Library and Stone Soup.  Coleen has published poetry in Main Street Rag, Poesy, Bellowing Ark and Spare Change to name a few.  Please visit her website at: www.coleenthoulihan.com.

Laurel Lambert has been a regular open mic reader the Out of The Blue Art Gallery.  She has been published in Spoonful and has work forthcoming in Stone Soup Presents: Fresh Broth.

Valerie Loveland is the author of Reanimated, Somehow (Scrambler Books, 2009). To see more of her poems, visit valerieloveland.com. She works as an optician in Action, Massachusetts.

Marshall has his artwork available for viewing and sale at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery.

David Marshall's comic books were published by Fantagraphics Books, SpiderBaby Graphix, FantaCo Enterprises, The Boston Comics Roundtable and Riverbird Studios. His web comics, blogs and detailed bio are available for free on www.inkystories.com. Marshall also teaches "Art of the Comic Book - Learn to Draw Comics," a college-level studio workshop for making comics with traditional ink-on-paper media.

Dale Meyer-Curley has been a lover of words since her first episode of Sesame Street.  If there was an equivalent of "Foodie," for poetry appreciation, she'd be that.  When she's not working in IT, spending time with her family, knitting, organizing scifi conventions, or editing poetry journals, she's writing blogs and stories.

Samantha Milowsky is the founder and managing editor of Amethyst Arsenic. She has led poetry groups, workshops, and the Small Press Fair for MassPoetry, as well as sponsored The National Poetry Slam, MassLEAP, and creative projects for musicians, poets, and artists. She served on the Advisory Board for the Cambridge Writers Workshop and works as a technology consultant. Her poems have appeared in 2River View, Revolution House, White Whale Review, and Lyre Lyre.

Bridget Murphy is a singer/songwriter/musician. She lives in Allston MA with "PEACE & LOVE" along side of "Understanding."

Joanna Nealon has five published books: The Lie And I, Poems Of The Zodiac, Said The Sage, The Fourth Kingdom, and Living It. Her poems have appeared in Stone Soup Gazette, Poiesis, The Aurorean, Medaphors, Ibbetson Street, and the anthology We Speak for Peace.

R. Wayne Nickerson is a regular contributor to open mics in the Boston and north shore areas.  

Chad Parenteau is the current main host and organizer of Stone Soup Poetry

April Penn is a Boston-area poet who frequents the Cantab Poetry Lounge and has been involved in Occupy Boston protests. She is a member of the Boston Feminists for Liberation and considers herself a poetry blogging fiend with plans to write 365 poems a year for the rest of her life. She originally hails from Hammond, Louisiana and Baltimore, Maryland but loves Boston best of all! She has been published in Amethyst Arsenic, Snake Oil Cure, and Spoonful.

Dan Provost's poetry has appeared throughout the small press for a number of years.  His ninth book, On the Wagon...On a Binge will be published by Crisis Chronicles Press soon.

Janice Raynor, a native New Englander and York, Maine resident, has been pursuing amateur photography as a hobby her whole life.  She only recently began making her work available to the public when illness forced her from the teaching career she loved.  Her photographs depict the rural charm of living and working in New England, in an eclectic range of styles and subjects.  Her work embraces traditional icons of rural lifestyles, such as architecture, seascapes, nature scenes, animals and flowers. However, her portfolio also includes images in a stunning contemporary style depicting the artistic patterns of nature and unique perspectives on everyday objects. 

Su Red is a photographer/writer/artist currently residing in the boston area. She designed and maintains her own website at www.wellredcreations.com

Patrick S. is a co-host of the Mill City Slam in Lowell, Massachusetts, a frequent attendee of the Brighton Word Factory, and a semi-lapsed regular of both Stone Soup and Boston Poetry Slam. He has self-published several chapbooks and has been published in the Cantab Lounge 20th anniversary anthology.

Zvi A. Sesling has published poetry in numerous magazines both in print and online in the, United States U.S., U.K., France, New Zealand, Canada and Israel. Among the publications are: Ibbetson St., Midstream, Poetica, The Deronda Review, Voices Israel, Saranac Review, New Delta Review, Istanbul Literary Review, The Chaffin Journal, Ship of Fools, Chiron Review, Poetry Monthly International, Levure Litteraire and Main Street Rag. He was awarded Third Place (2004), First Prize (2007) and Honorable Mention 2011 in the Reuben Rose International Poetry Competition and was a finalist in the 2009 Cervena Barva Press Chapbook Contest. He was a featured reader in the 2010 Jewish Poetry Festival in Brookline, MA. He is a reviewer for the Boston Small Press and Poetry Scene and is Editor of Muddy River Poetry Review. Sesling has featured as reader in various venues in the Boston area, San Diego, the Massachusetts Poetry and Boston Poetry Festivals. He is author of King of the Jungle, (Ibbetson St., 2010), and a chapbook Across Stones of Bad Dream (Cervena Barva, 2011) and a second full length poetry book, Fire Tongue, to be published by Cervena Barva Press in 2013. He lives in Brookline MA with his wife Susan Dechter.

Luis Lazaro Tijerina has published two works 23 Jazz Poems and Other Works and The Famous Nada, a prose work on the meditation of fame and its consequences. The books are published by RA PRESS/RA FILMS, a small publishing house in Burlington, VT.  His military hiistory essay Lee at Gettysburg, a critical essay on Lee's tactal flaws at Gettyburg, was accepted by the West Virginia Archives and History Library for its Lee Files in their historical collection, 2012. Mr. Tijerina's second published poetry book Paris on The Rooftops, is forthcoming by RA PRESS/RA FILMS.

James Van Looy is a fixture in Stone Soup's open mic and a founding member of Cosmic Spelunker Theater along with Ian Thal and Bill Barnum.

Rafael Woolf served as Bill Barnum's editor from 1985 to 1987.  He self-published a book of poetry, Land of The Fee, Home of The Paid.  His other collection, I Wish That My Room Had a Floor, went through three editions.  Twice through Stone Soup Press, and most recently through Boston Poet Press.