Actor/Playwright/HBO Def Poet Brian Dykstra Headlines + Special Guests + Open Mic - Thursday, July 28

Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word proudly features one of the most original performing artists on the planet - actor/poet/playwright Brian Dykstra.

Opening for Dykstra will be San Francisco writer/musician/filmmaker Jesús Ángel García and London spoken word artist Talia Randall.

There will also be a 15-slot open mic open to all types of artists.

BIOS:

Brian Dykstra is a poet, playwright, and actor. He is probably the only person (other than Mos Def) to have appeared on an episode of Chappelle's Show and HBO Def Poetry in the same season. Currently he's writing a Hip Hop play that is actually written using the language of Hip Hop about how easy it is to sell out, even when the topic is race. He's about to run off and play the artist Mark Rothko in the play "Red" for three months in Cincinnati and St. Louis. He is a two time star poet of the Spoken Word Almanac Project. He lives in New York City with his amazing wife. For more info, please visit http://www.briandykstra.net/.







Jesús Ángel García is a writer, musician and filmmaker based in San Francisco. His debut (transmedia) novel, badbadbad, is available as an old-school book on real live paper, a CD of songs derived from the narrative and a DVD documentary film based on the novel’s themes of fear, hypocrisy, sexual morality, intimacy in e-culture and self-destruction v. redemption. His fiction has appeared in Monkeybicycle, 3:AM Magazine, HTML Giant and other literary venues. His non-fiction has been published in The Faster Times, Vol. 1 Brooklyn and Electric Literature’s The Outlet, where he’s a regular contributor. His work has also been featured in podcasts at Inside Higher Ed (Radio Free AWP), Orange Alert and Dr. Dick’s Sex Wisdom. More info and lit-audio-video samples may be found at http://www.badbadbad.net/.



Talia Randall is a spoken word artist who writes about, cigarette buts, chicken bones, pigeons, estate agents, old school trainers, old school days, strangers on trains, drunken encounters, her dad's record collection and bus journeys. Born and bred in London, she works solo and with two collectives, Rubix (http://rubixcollective.blogspot.com/) based at the legendary Roundhouse (http://roundhouse.org.uk/) and Show Don’t Tell (http://timeplacestory.tumblr.com/) and independent storytelling collective. She has performed and shown work at some of London's leading venues such as Battersea Arts Centre, The Roundhouse and The Whitechapel Gallery. For more info, please visit http://www.taliarandall.com/.



*****

When: Thursday, July 28, 2011

Where: One and One Bar & Restaurant (downstairs Nexus Lounge)
76 East 1st Street (corner of 1st Avenue)
Manhattan, NYC
Phone: (917) 703-1512

Doors Open for open mic sign-up @ 6:30pm

Showtime @ 7:30pm

Cover Charge: $10

NO AGE LIMIT.

"The Inspired Word isn't just a series, it's a movement."

*****

And please join us for our Tuesday Night Open Mic Joint - same time, same place!

Coming Soon to an Inspired Word Near You!

The Travel Channel Hits The Inspired Word!

Last Thursday night @ The Inspired Word, we had the Travel Channel in the house!

How cool is that?

It felt like there were about 20 camera guys, though the accurate number was more like three or four.

They were there filming Chicago best-selling crime novelist Marcus Sakey, who's traveling around the country reading at various venues.

In New York City, that be US!

Sakey read for five minutes right after our amazing open mic, saying before he started, "Does ANYBODY suck?" LOL

The show is titled Hidden City and Sakey describes it as "sort of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations meets Castle." The episode featuring The Inspired Word - supposedly for five whole minutes! - will tentatively air in December.

Stay tuned.

All-Time Most Viewed Inspired Word Videos - Part 5

Poets Michael Cirelli & R. Erica Doyle @ Big Apple BAP: NYC's Best American Poetry Poets

Poets Michael Cirelli & R. Erica Doyle @ The Inspired Word's Big Apple BAP: NYC's Best American Poetry Poets, Thursday, June 16, 2011, @ One and One Bar/Restaurant, Nexus Lounge, Manhattan, NYC.

Michael Cirelli was born in Providence, RI in 1975. His newest collection, Everyone Loves The Situation (Penmanship Books, 2011), deconstructs MTV's hit reality show, Jersey Shore, flipping the cultural zeitgeist on its (gelled and sprayed) head. He is also the author of Vacations on the Black Star Line (Hanging Loose Press, 2010), which was named in About.com's Poetry Picks "Best Books of 2010," and Lobster with Ol' Dirty Bastard (Hanging Loose Press, 2008), which was a NY Times bestseller from an independent press and was featured in the "Debut Poets" issue of Poets & Writers Magazine. His work has appeared in The Best American Poetry, Hanging Loose, Texas Review, World Literature Today and King Magazine, among others. He is the Executive Director of one of the nation's largest youth literary arts organization, Urban Word NYC, and has authored two poetry curricula, Poetry Jam (Recorded Books, 2010) and Hip-Hop Poetry & the Classics (Milk Mug, 2004). He has also appeared on HBO's Def Poetry Jam and Brave New Voices. He appears in the 2011 Best American Poetry.

R. Erica Doyle was born in Brooklyn to Trinidadian immigrant parents, and has lived in Washington, DC, Farmington, Connecticut and La Marsa, Tunisia. Her poetry and fiction have appeared in Best American Poetry (2001), Our Caribbean: A Gathering of Lesbian and Gay Writing from the Antilles, Callaloo, Ploughshares, Best Black Women's Erotica, Bum Rush the Page, Bloom, and from the Fishouse, among others. She has received grants and awards from the Hurston/Wright Foundation and the Astraea Lesbian Writers Fund, and was a New York Foundation for the Arts Poetry Fellow. She is also a fellow of Cave Canem, and her manuscript, proxy, was a finalist for the 2007 Cave Cavem Poetry Prize, selected by Claudia Rankine. Excerpts from proxy were also published as a Belladonna* chapbook. She received her MFA in Poetry from the New School, and lives in New York City, where she teaches in the NYC public schools and facilitates Tongues Afire: A Creative Writing Workshop for queer women and trans and gender non-conforming people of color.

This inaugural Big Apple BAP: NYC's Best American Poetry Poets was a night celebrating New York City's finest poets, whose poems over the years have been honored with inclusion in the highly respected annual anthology, The Best American Poetry. http://www.bestamericanpoetry.com/

Hosted by The Best American Poetry's founding editor, David Lehman, the debut lineup included a dazzling array of accomplished poets: Mark Bibbins, Jennifer Michael Hecht, David Shapiro, R. Erica Doyle, Jerome Sala, Elaine Equi, Michael Cirelli, Stacey Harwood, George Green, Carly Sachs, Matthew Yeager, Amy Holman, and Vicki Hudspith.

It was a fabulous night of poetry.

Founded by award-winning journalist and former Village Voice columnist Mike Geffner, The Inspired Word is one of the hottest new poetry/spoken word series in the country, happening every Tuesday and Thursday night in Manhattan's East Village.

Venue: One and One Bar/Restaurant (downstairs Nexus Lounge)
76 East 1st Street (corner of 1st Avenue)
Manhattan, New York City

Filmed & Edited by: Laurence Wallace
http://www.laurencewallace.com/

Speakers of the House + Poet Amy Leigh Cutler + Actress/Poet Deborah Magdalena + Open Mic - Thursday, July 21

Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word features an eclectic mix of the spoken word band Speakers of the House and poet Amy Leigh Cutler, plus Special Guest actress/spoken word poet Deborah Magdalena and one of the most awesome open mics you'll ever find anywhere (15 slots open not only to poets and spoken word artists but fiction/nonfiction writers, comedians, monologists, singers, and musicians).

Hosted by 3-time Def Poetry star Gemineye.

*****

ARTIST BIOS:

Amy Leigh Cutler is the author of Orange Juice and Rooftops and the chapbooks “American Woman” and “You Gentle Thing.” In 2011, she received the Esther Unger Poetry Prize, the Goodman Fund Poetry Award, and the David Markowitz Poetry Award. She has toured the United States and in the UK, and was nominated for the Best Performance by an International Poet at the Farrago Poetry Slam in London. She works as a photojournalist for The Basics online magazine and will continue writing her words around the world until it stops turning. For more info, please visit http://www.amyleighcutler.​com/



Led by Mr. John and Naa Akua, providing the perfect blend of MCing and Spoken Word, the Speakers of the House create a fusion unlike any other - sounding like 90's hip hop and r&b mixed with the soul of jazz and the heartbeat of Africa's drums. Influenced by their strong faith in God as well as such legendary musicians as The Fugees, Marvin Gaye, Miles Davis, and Bob Marley, these are artists dedicated to righting the world with their words. They seek to build, not destroy; to unify, not divide; to provide the positive light of insight and meaning in such dark, negative times.



Whether she's hosting a spoken word event, music festival, or playing the role of a santera, or a vixen, Deborah Magdalena makes every emotion super real. The Puerto Rican actress/poet - who calls Miami home – was born into a very talented musical family. She is sister of Latin Grammy winner Nestor Torres and grandniece of legendary Puerto Rican singer Ruth Fernandez. Some of her TV and film credits include: Sesame Street (CTW), Apollo Comedy Hour (Tribune Entertainment), Safe Harbor (Warner Brothers), Striptease (Castle Rock), Holyman (Caravan), and For Love or Country (HBO). Poetically she has released CDs Spoken Soul: A Survival Kit of Poetry, Deborah Magdalena LIVE, has taught in after-school programs and has toured internationally. Currently promoting the release of the 2nd edition of her chapbook Heartbreak Haiku, Deborah's words and performance don’t just jump off the page they singe your skin right down to the core, right down to your soul.



*****

When: Thursday, July 21, 2011

Where: One and One Bar & Restaurant (downstairs Nexus Lounge)
76 East 1st Street (corner of 1st Avenue)
Manhattan, NYC
Phone: (917) 703-1512
Doors open for open mic sign-up @ 6:30pm
Showtime @ 7:30pm

Cover Charge: $10

NO AGE LIMIT!

The Brilliant Photography of Inspired Word Photographer Jay Franco - Part 4

Photos by NYC photographer/Inspired Word staff member Jay Franco
http://www.venti20vision.com/

All-Time Most Viewed Inspired Word Videos - Part 4

Poets George Green & Amy Holman @ Big Apple BAP: NYC's Best American Poetry Poets

Poets George Green & Amy Holman @ The Inspired Word's Big Apple BAP: NYC's Best American Poetry Poets, Thursday, June 16, 2011, @ One and One Bar/Restaurant, Nexus Lounge, Manhattan, NYC.

George Green received an MFA in poetry from The New School and currently teaches poetry courses at Lehman College, CUNY, in the Bronx. His poems have appeared in various journals and in the anthologies Poetry 180; 180 More Poems; The Best American Poetry 2005; The Best American Poetry 2006; Bright Wings: An Illustrated Anthology of Poems about Birds; and The Swallow Anthology of New American Poets. In 2011 a selection of his poems will be included in an anthology of six American poets published by the Anvil Press in Great Britain.

Amy Holman's poem "Man Script" was published on the cover of Literal Latte flanking a photo of a naked woman with henna tattooes and spotted by Robert Bly when he was lunching in The Noho Star. He added it to the 1999 Best American Poetry anthology. Jennifer Michael Hecht posted "1,500 Parakeets Rescued From 2-Room Apartment" ten years later on the Best American Poetry Blog. Other than that, she has a collection, Wrens Fly Through This Opened Window, published in 2010 with Somondoco Press, and a chapbook, Wait For Me, I'm Gone, which won the 2004 Dream Horse Press annual prize. Her poetry has been in Archaeoogy Magazine, American Letters & Commentary, Barrow Street, Failbetter, Gargoyle, The Potomac Review, and in the anthology Token Entry: NYC Subway Poems. She writes, fiction and nonfiction, and is a literary consultant.

This inaugural Big Apple BAP: NYC's Best American Poetry Poets was a night celebrating New York City's finest poets, whose poems over the years have been honored with inclusion in the highly respected annual anthology, The Best American Poetry. http://www.bestamericanpoetry.com/

Hosted by The Best American Poetry's founding editor, David Lehman, the debut lineup included a dazzling array of accomplished poets: Mark Bibbins, Jennifer Michael Hecht, David Shapiro, R. Erica Doyle, Jerome Sala, Elaine Equi, Michael Cirelli, Stacey Harwood, George Green, Carly Sachs, Matthew Yeager, Amy Holman, and Vicki Hudspith.

It was a fabulous night of poetry.

Founded by award-winning journalist and former Village Voice columnist Mike Geffner, The Inspired Word is one of the hottest new poetry/spoken word series in the country, happening every Tuesday and Thursday night in Manhattan's East Village.

Venue: One and One Bar/Restaurant (downstairs Nexus Lounge)
76 East 1st Street (corner of 1st Avenue)
Manhattan, New York City

Filmed & Edited by: Laurence Wallace
http://www.laurencewallace.com/

All-Time Most Viewed Inspired Word Videos - Part 3

Poets Jerome Sala & Stacey Harwood @ Big Apple BAP: NYC's Best American Poetry Poets

Poets Jerome Sala & Stacey Harwood @ The Inspired Word's Big Apple BAP: NYC's Best American Poetry Poets, Thursday, June 16, 2011, @ One and One Bar/Restaurant, Nexus Lounge, Manhattan, NYC.

Jerome Sala's books of poetry include Spaz Attack, I Am Not a Juvenile Delinquent, The Trip, Raw Deal and most recently Look Slimmer Instantly (Soft Skull Press). His poetry and criticism have appeared The Best American Poetry 2005, Pleiades, Conjunctions, Rolling Stone and many others. He has a Ph.D. in American Studies from New York University. His blog is: http://www.espressobongo.typepad.com/

Stacey Harwood's essays, poetry, and journalism have appeared or are forthcoming in Michigan Quarterly Review, Lit, Women's Studies Quarterly, Humor: International Journal of Humor Research, Saveur, Time Out New York, the Los Angeles Times, Poets.org and elsewhere. She is the managing editor of the Best American Poetry blog and appeared in the 2005 Best American Poetry.

This inaugural Big Apple BAP: NYC's Best American Poetry Poets was a night celebrating New York City's finest poets, whose poems over the years have been honored with inclusion in the highly respected annual anthology, The Best American Poetry. http://www.bestamericanpoetry.com/

Hosted by The Best American Poetry's founding editor, David Lehman, the debut lineup included a dazzling array of accomplished poets: Mark Bibbins, Jennifer Michael Hecht, David Shapiro, R. Erica Doyle, Jerome Sala, Elaine Equi, Michael Cirelli, Stacey Harwood, George Green, Carly Sachs, Matthew Yeager, Amy Holman, and Vicki Hudspith.

It was a fabulous night of poetry.

Founded by award-winning journalist and former Village Voice columnist Mike Geffner, The Inspired Word is one of the hottest new poetry/spoken word series in the country, happening every Tuesday and Thursday night in Manhattan's East Village.

Venue: One and One Bar/Restaurant (downstairs Nexus Lounge)
76 East 1st Street (corner of 1st Avenue)
Manhattan, New York City

Filmed & Edited by: Laurence Wallace
http://www.laurencewallace.com/

Nathan Pearson: Poem "The Inspired Word"

The Inspired Word

Death
No longer feels like
An intrusive houseguest
When the only thing more ravaged
Than your body
Is your psyche

Banished thoughts of doing things
Never done before
Due to being consumed
With thoughts of never doing
Things once easily done...... again.

World not just turned upside down
But exploded and imploded
A personal ground zero
With no construction plans
For rebuilding

Feeling left betrayed
By body and pockets.....
Lady luck
Morphed into Lady Lupus
No need for money anyway
Since dead blue finger tips couldn't
grip it.....so lost job's impact wasn't
Easily felt

Groundhog days never ending
Nowhere to go to
Nowhere to be
Couldn't get there if I wanted to
Even with a stylish piece of wood
Imported from the motherland

Feet you failed me now

Left feeling less than
All cool left the room
Supply depleted with none on reserve
Couldn't even scream out in despair
Swollen chest lining created a sound proof environment

Life ain't a bitch
Because even a bitch can be reasoned with

During that time
Of deepest despair

Never imagined
Descending into a pit
Could elevate the spirit

Not realizing I was walking into a matchmakers dream

She had me at hello
Although neither one of us
Realized I was ripe for picking

If love is blind
Then love at first sight can never occur
Yet love still blossomed
During that first meeting

She knew me without ever knowing me
Not knowing she possessed the perfect remedy
Her power of speech intoxicating

Embraced me with multiple arms
Hugged me from every direction
Screamed sweet somethings
Into ears that no longer heard my own voice

Kissed me flush upon the lips
Breathing new life
Into lungs that found a way to turn bass into treble....
Now rebalancing the equalizer
So bass emitted once again

How could I commit to one who was not monogamous
For she gave herself to all that crossed her path

Still she had me at hello
Although neither of us knew I was
Ripe for picking.

She didn't waste time introducing me to her friends
Instead
She reintroduced myself to me

She nurtured me
Excited me
Finally gave me a sense of peace
Even let me dance the lead
After prompting me
To stand on steadied feet
She fancied me
Gave me energy
Gave me hope for what could finally be

All this
The inspired word
Did for me

- Nathan Pearson (Nathan P.)

All-Time Most Viewed Inspired Word Videos - Part 2

All-Time Most Viewed Inspired Word Videos - Part 1

Poets Elaine Equi & David Lehman @ Big Apple BAP: NYC's Best American Poetry Poets

Poets Elaine Equi & David Lehman @ The Inspired Word's Big Apple BAP: NYC's Best American Poetry Poets, Thursday, June 16, 2011, @ One and One Bar/Restaurant, Nexus Lounge, Manhattan, NYC.

Elaine Equi is the author of many books including Ripple Effect: New & Selected Poems and most recently, Click and Clone, from Coffee House Press. Her work has appeared in The Nation, The New Yorker, Poetry, and several editions of Best American Poetry (1989, 1995, 2002, 2005, 2007, 2010) She teaches at New York University and in the MFA programs at The New School and City College.

David Lehman is a poet, writer, editor, and teacher. He launched The Best American Poetry in 1988 and continues as the series editor of the acclaimed annual anthology. His own books of poetry include When a Woman Loves a Man (2005) and Yeshiva Boys (2009). The most recent of his seven nonfiction books, A Fine Romance: Jewish Songwriters, American Songs, won the 2010 Deems Taylor Award from ASCAP. Lehman has edited The Oxford Book of American Poetry. He teaches in the graduate writing program at the New School in New York City.

This inaugural Big Apple BAP: NYC's Best American Poetry Poets was a night celebrating New York City's finest poets, whose poems over the years have been honored with inclusion in the highly respected annual anthology, The Best American Poetry. http://www.bestamericanpoetry.com/

Hosted by The Best American Poetry's founding editor, David Lehman, the debut lineup included a dazzling array of accomplished poets: Mark Bibbins, Jennifer Michael Hecht, David Shapiro, R. Erica Doyle, Jerome Sala, Elaine Equi, Michael Cirelli, Stacey Harwood, George Green, Carly Sachs, Matthew Yeager, Amy Holman, and Vicki Hudspith.

It was a fabulous night of poetry.

Founded by award-winning journalist and former Village Voice columnist Mike Geffner, The Inspired Word is one of the hottest new poetry/spoken word series in the country, happening every Tuesday and Thursday night in Manhattan's East Village.

Venue: One and One Bar/Restaurant (downstairs Nexus Lounge)
76 East 1st Street (corner of 1st Avenue)
Manhattan, New York City

Filmed & Edited by: Laurence Wallace
http://www.laurencewallace.com/

Poets Carly Sachs & Vicki Hudspith @ Big Apple BAP: NYC's Best American Poetry Poets

Poets Carly Sachs & Vicki Hudspith @ The Inspired Word's Big Apple BAP: NYC's Best American Poetry Poets, Thursday, June 16, 2011, @ One and One Bar/Restaurant, Nexus Lounge, Manhattan, NYC.

Carly Sachs is the author of the steam sequence, winner of the 2006 Washington Writers' Publishing House Book Prize, and The Why and Later (Deep Cleveland Press, 2007), an anthology of female authored poems about rape and assault. Sachs was awarded an Arts Fellowship at the Drisha Institute in 2007, and her poems have appeared in The Best American Poetry 2004, Alimentum, Another Chicago Magazine, PMS, Court Green, and on National Public Radio. She currently lives in New York City and teaches writing and yoga workshops to help victims of trauma. When not writing or teaching yoga, you can find her making everything from martinis to homemade granola.

Vicki Hudspith is the author of White and Nervous and Limousine Dreams. She is on the Board of Directors of The Bowery Poetry Club in New York City. Her work has appeared in, "Poetry After 9/11: An Anthology of New York Poets," published by Melville House Publishing and Crown Publishers anthology, Out Of This World, edited by Anne Waldman, with foreword by Allen Ginsberg, as well as numerous small press magazines and webzines. She has been a judge for both, Urban Word teen slams and Russell Simmon's Speak UP! teen slam auditions for HBO. She has written criticism for Poetz.com., Exquisite Corpse, Cover and The Poetry Project Newsletter. She has one spoken word cd, URBAN VOODOO and lives in New York City.

This inaugural Big Apple BAP: NYC's Best American Poetry Poets was a night celebrating New York City's finest poets, whose poems over the years have been honored with inclusion in the highly respected annual anthology, The Best American Poetry. http://www.bestamericanpoetry.com/

Hosted by The Best American Poetry's founding editor, David Lehman, the debut lineup included a dazzling array of accomplished poets: Mark Bibbins, Jennifer Michael Hecht, David Shapiro, R. Erica Doyle, Jerome Sala, Elaine Equi, Michael Cirelli, Stacey Harwood, George Green, Carly Sachs, Matthew Yeager, Amy Holman, and Vicki Hudspith.

It was a fabulous night of poetry.

Founded by award-winning journalist and former Village Voice columnist Mike Geffner, The Inspired Word is one of the hottest new poetry/spoken word series in the country, happening every Tuesday and Thursday night in Manhattan's East Village.

Venue: One and One Bar/Restaurant (downstairs Nexus Lounge)
76 East 1st Street (corner of 1st Avenue)
Manhattan, New York City

Filmed & Edited by: Laurence Wallace
http://www.laurencewallace.com/

Poet David Shapiro @ Big Apple BAP: NYC's Best American Poetry Poets

Poet David Shapiro @ The Inspired Word's Big Apple BAP: NYC's Best American Poetry Poets, Thursday, June 16, 2011, @ One and One Bar/Restaurant, Nexus Lounge, Manhattan, NYC.

David Shapiro is an American poet, literary critic, and art historian. He has written some twenty volumes of poetry, literary, and art criticism. He was first published at the age of 13, his first book was published when he was just 18, and he was a finalist for the National Book Award at 24. Shapiro is one of the most prolific and important figures of the second generation of the New York School and has appeared in six editions of Best American Poetry.

This inaugural Big Apple BAP: NYC's Best American Poetry Poets was a night celebrating New York City's finest poets, whose poems over the years have been honored with inclusion in the highly respected annual anthology, The Best American Poetry. http://www.bestamericanpoetry.com/

Hosted by The Best American Poetry's founding editor, David Lehman, the debut lineup included a dazzling array of accomplished poets: Mark Bibbins, Jennifer Michael Hecht, David Shapiro, R. Erica Doyle, Jerome Sala, Elaine Equi, Michael Cirelli, Stacey Harwood, George Green, Carly Sachs, Matthew Yeager, Amy Holman, and Vicki Hudspith.

It was a fabulous night of poetry.

Founded by award-winning journalist and former Village Voice columnist Mike Geffner, The Inspired Word is one of the hottest new poetry/spoken word series in the country, happening every Tuesday and Thursday night in Manhattan's East Village.

Venue: One and One Bar/Restaurant (downstairs Nexus Lounge)
76 East 1st Street (corner of 1st Avenue)
Manhattan, New York City

Filmed & Edited by: Laurence Wallace
http://www.laurencewallace.com/

Poet Mark Bibbins @ Big Apple BAP: NYC's Best American Poetry Poets

Poet Mark Bibbins @ The Inspired Word's Big Apple BAP: NYC's Best American Poetry Poets, Thursday, June 16, 2011, @ One and One Bar/Restaurant, Nexus Lounge, Manhattan, NYC.

Mark Bibbins is the author of The Dance of No Hard Feelings and the Lambda Award-winning Sky Lounge. He teaches at The New School and Columbia University, and edits the poetry section of The Awl. His poems were included in the 2004, 2009, and 2010 editions of Best American Poetry.

This inaugural Big Apple BAP: NYC's Best American Poetry Poets was a night celebrating New York City's finest poets, whose poems over the years have been honored with inclusion in the highly respected annual anthology, The Best American Poetry. http://www.bestamericanpoetry.com/

Hosted by The Best American Poetry's founding editor, David Lehman, the debut lineup included a dazzling array of accomplished poets: Mark Bibbins, Jennifer Michael Hecht, David Shapiro, R. Erica Doyle, Jerome Sala, Elaine Equi, Michael Cirelli, Stacey Harwood, George Green, Carly Sachs, Matthew Yeager, Amy Holman, and Vicki Hudspith.

It was a fabulous night of poetry.

Founded by award-winning journalist and former Village Voice columnist Mike Geffner, The Inspired Word is one of the hottest new poetry/spoken word series in the country, happening every Tuesday and Thursday night in Manhattan's East Village.

Venue: One and One Bar/Restaurant (downstairs Nexus Lounge)
76 East 1st Street (corner of 1st Avenue)
Manhattan, New York City

Filmed & Edited by: Laurence Wallace
http://www.laurencewallace.com/

Poet Jennifer Michael Hecht @ Big Apple BAP: NYC's Best American Poetry Poets

Poet Jennifer Michael Hecht @ The Inspired Word's Big Apple BAP: NYC's Best American Poetry Poets, Thursday, June 16, 2011, @ One and One Bar/Restaurant, Nexus Lounge, Manhattan, NYC.

Jennifer Michael Hecht is the author of award-winning books of philosophy, history, and poetry. She has appeared in two editions of Best American Poetry, 1999 and 2005. Her Doubt: A History (HarperOne, 2003) demonstrates a long, strong history of religious doubt from the origins of written history to the present day, all over the world. Hecht's The End of the Soul: Scientific Modernity, Atheism and Anthropology (Columbia University, 2003), won the Phi Beta Kappa Society's 2004 prestigious Ralph Waldo Emerson Award "for scholarly studies that contribute significantly to interpretations of the intellectual and cultural condition of humanity." She earned her Ph.D. in the History of Science and European Cultural History from Columbia University in 1995 and now teaches at The New School University. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband John, and their two children.

This inaugural Big Apple BAP: NYC's Best American Poetry Poets was a night celebrating New York City's finest poets, whose poems over the years have been honored with inclusion in the highly respected annual anthology, The Best American Poetry. http://www.bestamericanpoetry.com/

Hosted by The Best American Poetry's founding editor, David Lehman, the debut lineup included a dazzling array of accomplished poets: Mark Bibbins, Jennifer Michael Hecht, David Shapiro, R. Erica Doyle, Jerome Sala, Elaine Equi, Michael Cirelli, Stacey Harwood, George Green, Carly Sachs, Matthew Yeager, Amy Holman, and Vicki Hudspith.

It was a fabulous night of poetry.

Founded by award-winning journalist and former Village Voice columnist Mike Geffner, The Inspired Word is one of the hottest new poetry/spoken word series in the country, happening every Tuesday and Thursday night in Manhattan's East Village.

Venue: One and One Bar/Restaurant (downstairs Nexus Lounge)
76 East 1st Street (corner of 1st Avenue)
Manhattan, New York City

Filmed & Edited by: Laurence Wallace
http://www.laurencewallace.com/

Poets David Lehman & Matthew Yeagar @ Big Apple BAP: NYC's Best American Poetry Poets

Poets David Lehman & Matthew Yeagar @ The Inspired Word's Big Apple BAP: NYC's Best American Poetry Poets, Thursday, June 16, 2011, @ One and One Bar/Restaurant, Nexus Lounge, Manhattan, NYC.

David Lehman is a poet, writer, editor, and teacher. He launched The Best American Poetry in 1988 and continues as the series editor of the acclaimed annual anthology. His own books of poetry include When a Woman Loves a Man (2005) and Yeshiva Boys (2009). The most recent of his seven nonfiction books, A Fine Romance: Jewish Songwriters, American Songs, won the 2010 Deems Taylor Award from ASCAP. Lehman has edited The Oxford Book of American Poetry. He teaches in the graduate writing program at the New School in New York City.

Matthew Yeager's poems have appeared in Best American Poetry (2005 and 2010), Bat City Review, NY Quarterly, Gulf Coast, and others. His short film "A Big Ball of Foil in a Small NY Apartment," was an official selection at eleven film festivals in 2009-2010, picking up two awards. Other recent accolades include the Barthelme Prize in short prose. He is the co-founder of Chicken Truck Productions and lives in Brooklyn, NY.

This inaugural Big Apple BAP: NYC's Best American Poetry Poets was a night celebrating New York City's finest poets, whose poems over the years have been honored with inclusion in the highly respected annual anthology, The Best American Poetry. http://www.bestamericanpoetry.com/

Hosted by The Best American Poetry's founding editor, David Lehman, the debut lineup included a dazzling array of accomplished poets: Mark Bibbins, Jennifer Michael Hecht, David Shapiro, R. Erica Doyle, Jerome Sala, Elaine Equi, Michael Cirelli, Stacey Harwood, George Green, Carly Sachs, Matthew Yeager, Amy Holman, and Vicki Hudspith.

It was a fabulous night of poetry.

Founded by award-winning journalist and former Village Voice columnist Mike Geffner, The Inspired Word is one of the hottest new poetry/spoken word series in the country, happening every Tuesday and Thursday night in Manhattan's East Village.

Venue: One and One Bar/Restaurant (downstairs Nexus Lounge)
76 East 1st Street (corner of 1st Avenue)
Manhattan, New York City

Filmed & Edited by: Laurence Wallace
http://www.laurencewallace.com/

The Brilliant Photography of Inspired Word Photographer Jay Franco - Part 3

Photos by NYC photographer/Inspired Word staffer Jay Franco
http://www.venti20vision.com/

All pics taken @ The Inspired Word spoken word poetry event
Manhattan, New York City

5 Compelling Quotes about Poetry

"Poetry is the journal of the sea animal living on land, wanting to fly in the air. Poetry is a search for syllables to shoot at the barriers of the unknown and the unknowable. Poetry is a phantom script telling how rainbows are made and why they go away." - Carl Sandburg

"Do you know how poetry started? I always think that it started when a cave boy came running back to the cave, through the tall grass, shouting as he ran, 'Wolf, wolf,' and there was no wolf. His baboon-like parents, great sticklers for the truth, gave him a hiding, no doubt, but poetry had been born - the tall story had been born in the tall grass." - Vladimir Nabokov

"You can tear a poem apart to see what makes it tick...You're back with the mystery of having been moved by words. The best craftsmanship always leaves holes and gaps...so that something that is not in the poem can creep, crawl, flash or thunder in." - Dylan Thomas

"The poem...is a little myth of man's capacity of making life meaningful. And in the end, the poem is not a thing we see—it is, rather, a light by which we may see—and what we see is life." - Robert Penn Warren

"Prose—it might be speculated—is discourse; poetry ellipsis. Prose is spoken aloud; poetry overheard. The one is presumably articulate and social, a shared language, the voice of 'communication'; the other is private, allusive, teasing, sly, idiosyncratic as the spider’s delicate web, a kind of witchcraft unfathomable to ordinary minds." - Joyce Carol Oates

Video - Spoken Word Poet Esoteric Structure @ NYC's Inspired Word

Spoken Word Poet Esoteric Structure @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word, Thursday, May 26, 2011 @ One and One Bar/Restaurant, Nexus Lounge, Manhattan, NYC. Hosted by HBO Def Poetry star Gemineye.

Esoteric Structure is a spoken word poet and the winner of the 2nd Inspired Word "American Idol" contest. He's also a clothing designer, illustrator and filmmaker. He recently completed a short film called "Dom & Magdalena."

The Inspired Word is New York City's hottest new spoken word poetry open mic series happening every Tuesday and Thursday night in downtown Manhattan, produced by longtime journalist and former Village Voice columnist Mike Geffner.

Venue: One and One, downstairs Nexus Lounge, 76 East 1st Street (corner of 1st Avenue), Manhattan, New York City.

Videographer: Amanda Hiciano

David Lehman - Poem "On Purpose"

On Purpose

“What is the purpose of your poems?”

I’m glad you asked me that

as I stand here in Mr. Ferry’s eleventh-grade English class

at Lake Forest High School

I have given a lot of thought to “purpose”

Walking with a purposeful air in New York City

has obvious benefits in the chill of the night with wind

and it’s even better when it’s no bluff

you do know where you’re going

from day to day

and you know when it’s over

so it’s like a story with a beginning middle and end

yet you could not tell me the purpose

of high school humiliation and I could not tell you

the purpose of this dream where you get up from these desks

and go to college and become lawyers or failures or soccer moms

and when you wake up you will have no recollection

of this encounter in the dark but it will linger nevertheless

and bring refreshment to your soul


- David Lehman

from YESHIVA BOYS by David Lehman. Scribner, 2009. Used by permission.

Mr. Lehman, an accomplished New York City poet who has featured at The Inspired Word, is the author of several collections of poetry and the founding editor of The Best American Poetry anthology series.

The Brilliant Photography of Inspired Word Photographer Jay Franco - Part 2

Photos by NYC photographer Jay Franco
http://www.venti20vision.com/

Video - Poet/Actress Lillian Rodriguez @ The Inspired Word

Poet/Actress Lillian Rodriguez @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word, Thursday, May 26, 2011 @ One and One Bar/Restaurant, Nexus Lounge, Manhattan, NYC. Hosted by HBO Def Poetry star Gemineye.

Rodriguez was raised in the Bronx. She is an actor and a spoken word poet. First working with International WOW Theatre Company in the summer of 2009, she has since, had her Fringe Festival, NYC debut in "Survival of the Fittest," was 'Helen of Troy' in "The Trojan Women" at Looking Glass Theatre, and acted in "Men Die and They Aren't Happy," a film touring the world (from Miami to Haifa, Israel). She works as an Associate Correspondent on Diplomatically Incorrect at the United Nations, where she interviews women active in art and diplomacy; exploring the notion of the "Diplomat Artist." Lillian just finished shooting the second webisode of "Red Notice," she plays a lead in this webseries based off Dante's Inferno. For more info, please check out http://www.lillianrodriguez.com/.

The Inspired Word is New York City's hottest new spoken word poetry open mic series happening every Tuesday and Thursday night in downtown Manhattan, produced by longtime journalist and former Village Voice columnist Mike Geffner.

Venue: One and One, downstairs Nexus Lounge, 76 East 1st Street (corner of 1st Avenue), Manhattan, New York City.

Videographer: Amanda Hiciano

The Brilliant Photography of Inspired Word Photographer Jay Franco - Part 1

Photos by NYC Photographer Jay Franco
http://www.venti20vision.com/