The recent Puddin’head Press celebration at the Atlantic Bar and Grill in Chicago was a good reading and a good memorial for many poets. I was the host. My name is Dave Gecic.
I feel I was a little over ambitious on the program and I ran short on time during the reading. It could have been better organized time-wise. However the audience seemed to enjoy the reading and lots of poetry happened. There were over 50 poems performed. Read More
The Gallery Cabaret at 2020 N. Oakley in Chicago has been a long time and important Mecca for poetry and music in Chicago. It has seen many changes over the years and served as a venue for many different series of poetry event and some important special poetry events. Now there is a new poetry show there. Read More
I attended a memorial for poet Tom Roby at The Outdoor Cafe on Tuesday, May 17, 2023. The event was very well attended and was a good memorial for a influential poet. Read More
Recently we celebrated the 100th anniversary of the publication of The Waste Land. It is one of the most famous and influential poems of the 20th century. The literary journal The Criterion published the poem in October of 2022. The Dial in the United States published it a month later.
Some of its subject matter needs to be looked at through a 100 year old lens and it is a sometimes difficult poem using many voices. The poem, written at the end of World War I, between 1918 and 1921, provides images of the death and destruction – and upheaval, – caused by war. The “heap of broken images’ suggest the collapse of Western Civilization. The voices bring in individuals from different cultures and the reader must understand the cultures the voices speak from. That makes the poem perfect for a multi person performance. Read More
David Buddha-Hargarten has just announced the return of the Poetry Bomb! Since 2007 the Poetry Bomb has been terrorizing the streets of Chicago. The brainchild of two weirdos, David Buddha-Hartgarten and Esteban Colon. Esteban’s original concept was to blanket Chicago in poetry. He wanted to have a poet on every corner so you couldn’t escape it. David molded it into the event is is now.
It takes place on Sunday, April 26th at 3:30 PM. The concept of the bomb is to show people that poetry and poets are all around them. Show people that you are a poet or poetry fan and raise your voice at 3:30 on the last day of poetry month.
This year it’s a social media event. Post a poem on-line. Do a poetry live-stream. Post a recording of a poem. Do a Facebook live. Tweet, Facetime, LinkedIn, Instagram, just – everywhere anyone may look. We still have an audience. At 3:30 let’s fill up the internet with poetry.
Not much going on in Chicago poetry now-a-days, but I’m looking at this post as a kind of often edited running blog-thingie that I can talk about what is going on. Read More
From A Different Place is a thirty minute play by Jeff Helgeson that was recently performed at Chicago’s “Yippie Fest”. There will be a performance of the play at The Gallery Cabaret on September 24th and a brief discussion with the author. Read More
There will be an photographic exhibition of Heartland Cafe and No Exit Cafe photographs on September 29th. Read More
We will have another fun filled night at 2020 N. Oakley in Chicago. Our features on September 10th will be poets Michael Brown and Valerie Lawson. They are visiting Chicago for the first time in many years and I’m sure it will be an amazing night. Read More
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Chicago IL 60647
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The Puddin’head Press
PO Box 477889
Chicago IL 60647
phbooks@att.net
708-656-4900
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