June 27, 2017 (Carson, Edwards, Esaias, Robinson & Wurster)

Hemingway's Poetry Series

June 27, 2017

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Standing L-R: Jimmy Cvetic, Timons Esaias & Joan Bauer

Seated L-R: Ziggy Edwards, Judith Robinson, Jay Carson & Michael Wurster

Jay Carson earned his doctorate in English/Rhetoric from Carnegie Mellon University. A seventh generation Pittsburgher, he taught creative writing, literature, and rhetoric at Robert Morris University for many years, where Jay was a University Professor and a faculty advisor to the student literary journal, Rune. More than 70 of his poems have appeared in local and national literary journals, magazines, and anthologies. Jay authored a chapbook, Irish Coffee, with Coal Hill Review. A full-length book of his poems, The Cinnamon of Desire, was published by Main Street Rag. Jay considers his work Appalachian, Irish, accessible, the problem-solving spiritual survival of a raging youth - and just what you might need.

Jay Carson - Click to Play (Right-Click to Download

 Ziggy Edwards grew up in Pittsburgh and earned a BA in Fiction Writing from the University of Pittsburgh.  Her poems and short stories have appeared in publications including 5 AM, Paper Street, Nexus, Main Street Rag, The Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Pittsburgh City Paper, and Ship of Fools.  She has also been a guest on the radio program, Prosody.  Ziggy's first chapbook, Hope's White Shoes. was published in 2006.  With her son Jude Rosen, she co-edits the online journal, Uppagus.  

Ziggy Edwards - Click to Play (Right-Click to Download)

Timons Esaias is a poet, satirist, essayist, and writer of short fiction whose works have appeared in twenty languages. He has been a finalist for the British Science Fiction Award, and won the 2005 Asimov's Readers Award for poetry. Literary publications include 5 AM, New Orleans Review, Connecticut Review, and Barbaric Yawp. His Louis Award-winning full-length collection, Why Elephants No Longer Communicate in Greek, was released by Concrete Wolf earlier this year. For more, go to www.timonsesaias.com

Timons Esaias - Click to Play (Right-Click to Download) 

Judith R. Robinson is the author of Carousel: New and Selected Poems (Lummox Press, 2017 and three previous poetry collections: The Blue Heart  (Finishing Line Press), Orange Fire (Main Street Rag) and Dinner Date (Finishing Line Press). She is also the author of The Beautiful Wife and Other Stories (Aegina Press).  She is the poetry editor of Signatures (Osher, Carnegie Mellon), 2001, 2003, 2006, 2012 and The Poetry of Margaret Menamin, (Main Street Rag, three volumes) as well as Living Inland (Bennington Press).  She co-edited  Along These River: Poetry and Photography from Pittsburgh (Quadrant Publishing, 2008) and Only the Sea Keeps: Poetry of the Tsunami  (Rupa, Inc. and Bayeux Arts, 2005), and most recently, co-editor of The Brentwood Anthology (Lummox Press, 2014). She currently teaches poetry for Osher at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh.  For more, go to: www.judithrrobinson.com 

Judith R. Robinson - Click to Play (Right-Click to Download) 

Michael Wurster has lived in Pittsburgh since 1964 and is a founding member of Pittsburgh Poetry Exchange. For 17 years, 1993-2010, he taught at Pittsburgh Center for the Arts School. In 2009, his book, The British Detective, was published by Main Street Rag. His two previous poetry collections are The Cruelty of the Desert (Cottage Wordsmiths, 1989) and The Snake Charmer's Daughter (ELEMENOPE, 2000). He is co-editor, with Judith R. Robinson, of the anthology, Along These Rivers: Poetry & Photography from Pittsburgh (Quadrant Press, 2008), and The Brentwood Anthology (Lummox Press, 2014). In 1996, Wurster was an inaugural recipient of a Pittsburgh Magazine Harry Schwalb Excellence in the Arts Award for his contributions to poetry and the community.

Michael Wurster - Click to Play (Right-Click to Download)

Open Mic 

No recording of the Open Mic is available this week for reasons that remain obscure (although a technical glitch is suspected). A spokesperson for the event, speaking on condition of anonymity to allow for maximum candor and transparency, declined to comment. So, there you have it.

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June 20, 2017 (Battiste, Buccilli, Switzer, Mcilroy, Hirsch, Matcho & Cvetic)

Hemingway's Poetry Series

June 20, 2017

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Standing L-R: Jimmy Cvetic, Adam Matcho & Joan Bauer

Seated L-R: Silas Switzer, Leslie Anne Mcilroy, Michele Battiste & Daniela Buccilli

The daughter of a Hungarian refugee, Michele Battiste traveled to Budapest in 2006 on a grant from the Jerome Foundation to research the stories she heard at her grandmother's kitchen table. In 2007, she used that research to write the first draft of Uprising while a resident at the Blue Mountain Center. Uprising is Michele's second book of poems from Black Lawrence Press. She is also the author of four chapbooks, and her work has appeared in American Poetry Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, and Women's Studies Quarterly among other journals. 

Michele Battiste - Click to Play (Right-Click to Download)  

Daniela Buccilli’s poetry has appeared or is upcoming in Paterson Literary Review, Free State Review, Concho River Review, uppagus, Italian Americana: Cultural and Historical Review, Rune, Voices from the Attic, Main Street Rag, and The Fourth River. She has studied with the Madwomen for nearly ten years. Her MFA is from University of Pittsburgh (2001). Her book-length manuscript Hippie Teachers was a semi-finalist for the 2015 Perugia Press. 

Daniela Buccilli - Click to Play (Right-Click to Download) 

Leslie Anne Mcilroy introduces her daughter, Silas Switzer.  

Silas Switzer Introduction - Click to Play (Right-Click to Download) 

Silas Switzer - Click to Play (Right-Click to Download) 

Leslie Anne Mcilroy won the 2000 Word Press Poetry Prize for her full-length collection Rare Space. She also won the 1997 Slipstream Poetry Chapbook Prize for her chapbook Gravel, and first place in the 1997 Chicago Literary Awards judged by Gerald Stern. Leslie's poems are published in numerous journals and anthologies including American Poetry: The Next Generation, Connotation Press, Dogwood, Jubilat, The Mississippi Review, New Ohio Review, Nimrod International Journal of Prose & Poetry, Poetry Magazine, PANK and Pearl Magazine. Leslie serves as Managing & Poetry Editor of  (Human Equity through Art) Online. She works as a copywriter in Pittsburgh, PA, where she lives with her daughter, Silas. Her second full-length book, Liquid Like This, was published by Word Tech in July 2008. Her third collection, SLAG was runner up for the 2014 Main Street Rag Publishing Company Book Prize and was released in December, 2014. 

Leslie Anne Mcilroy - Click to Play (Right-Click to Download) 

Gene Hirsch is a retired academic and activist who has taught human values and the emotional care of sick and dying people, to doctors and medical students for many years, and conducted poetry workshops widely for health professionals.  He volunteered (20 years) at Cleveland Medical Free Clinic and founded the Cleveland chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility.  He initiated a writing program at the John C. Campbell Folk School, Brasstown, NC where he has taught for 22 years. His poetry has appeared in journals such as Pharos (Medical Honor Society), Hiram Poetry Review, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Journal of the American Medical Association and in the anthologies Kenyon Review Workshop Anthology, Tyranny of the Normal and Crossing Limits (African Americans and American Jews), among others. He produced Freeing Jonah, poets of western North Carolina (5 volumes) and has written two books. 

Gene Hirsch - Click to Play (Right-Click to Download) 

Adam Matcho is an obituary writer and contributor to The New Yinzer. He is a former technical writer, novelty shop clerk, basketball coach and gas station attendant. His chapbook, Six Dollars an Hour: Confessions of a Gemini Writer, was published by Liquid Paper Press and his essay collection, The Novelty Essays, was published by WPA Press. When not writing death notices, Adam tries to write about life. He lives in a former craft shop with his wife, two sons and too many animals. As Dave Newman has said, "Adam Matcho has more talent than most corporations have profits, and his vision of America is tragic and brilliant and hilarious.” 

Adam Matcho - Click to Play (Right-Click to Download) 

Jimmy Cvetic has been writing and performing poetry all his life. A retired county police officer and often described as 'Bukowski with a badge,' Jimmy served for many years as director of the Pittsburgh Police Athletic League. He is founder and director of the Hemingway's Summer Poetry Series. His poems have appeared in the Pittsburgh-Post Gazette, City Paper and other publications.  He appears in the film, Warrior, and in 2012, he read his poetry at Beyond Baroque in Venice, CA with his actor-friend and poet, Nick Nolte.  In 2010, Jimmy's book of poetry, The Secret Society of Dog was published by Awesome Books/Lascaux Editions, and a second volume, Dog Unleashed, was also published by Awesome Books in 2012.  Jimmy, his boxing gym and trainers were recently featured in the Esquire cable TV show, “White Collar Brawlers.”  In 2016, Jimmy published a third volume, Beware of the Dog. His new book of poetry, Dog Is a Love from Hell, was just released by Lascaux Editions (2017).  

Jimmy Cvetic - Click to Play (Right-Click to Download) 

Open Mic 

Open Mic - Click to Play (Right-Click to Download) 

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