02 Mar 12

"...does this fanny pack make me look fat?" ~ Nick Demske

"...dancing is pure / dancing is a disease..." Christine K

Hey, blogspot readers, SouthSide's joining her rock gig for a book! Tonight, she joined other literary club members at Wicker Park's hippest rock venue for poetry and more that featured live readings from a selected group of authors. Get Lit!, a celebration of the importance of exclamation points, is a joint collaboration between the curators of Brookyln's Mental Marginalia reading series and editors of lit and dewclaw. Throughout this free event, authors such as Darren Angle, Christian Ochoa, Mark Bibbins entertained the audience with their dramatic pieces of words while trying to stay sober.

Upon arriving, SouthSide found the works by Evelyn H very thought-provoking and full of vivid imagery especially while reading one titled, Transitions. Her collection personified inaminate objects amidst real life situations as well as being a bit philosophical too. Meanwhile Christine K and her time on stage featured a poetic floetry in which she wrapped the audience inside a steady vibe of descriptive imagery, blogspot readers. For instance, during the reading of The Denial (a terrible title according to the author), this reviewer got the sense of listening to the lyrics of Pink Floyd's Time from the way she used and described it. Despite this particular piece being a tad confusing, the author did captivate SouthSide's interest. Then, Mark G immediately took the stage with his Verse in 29 Seconds grabbing everyone's attention as the lyrical flow of words popped to life. This author had a dramatic way of stressing the intensity of his voice whenever they flowed out of his mouth. The highlight of his time on stage was when a broadcasted message from his Resistance Is Futile (a series) had encaptured our minds with thoughts of alien abduction.

Jaclyn (from WI) offered a morbid slice of life through realistic descriptions of death within her hunting poems, blogspot readers, especially during one long piece in which a young boy imagines gutting and dismembering his own family. She did assure the audience between breaks that no one really dies despite the heavy descriptors used to personify the buck and doe as his father and mother. It was truly deep and poetically "bloody" for this reviewer's taste. However the author did read one piece that was less scary yet morbidly disturbing on the subject of death in A Boy in the Land of Squashed Kittens. Meanwhile politically dangerous Nick Demske asked the eternal question that's been alluding man for decades - what are hot dogs really made from during his presentation of Hot Dog. What SouthSide liked about this author was the passion he had through his words ...sometimes interjecting whimsical humor as well as himself into the words too. His time on stage concluded with a poem from his Starfucker (about media/celebrity culture) series in which the author absolutely lit up the venue with his sexual heat, energy and fervor of experiencing the best from a starfucker - a high octane lover.

Darren Angle delighted his fanbase with readings off dewclaw.com site - Two Crickets which this reviewer instantly felt the anger of finding a cricket's leg in a cup of coffee. Yet on the flipside, Darren offered a cricket's point of view about the human world in a piece titled 2 that emphatically stated "...if you only have a minute to live ...it's better to be a cricket than a human..." This particular piece had a certain clam, zen-like tone and attitude compared to the first one. The author also entertained the audience with his Meteor Heading to a Town Obeys The Laws of Psychics. SouthSide highly recommdends snagging the mini chatbook by Darren featuring Two Crickets while supplies last. Meanwhile Matt not only popped the stage with the passion of words espeically during his opening piece Poision In My Body Fat but the many f-bombs dropping everywhere. Effectively his poetic style held the audience captive as well as spellbound throughout his time on stage with Shakespearean anologies (Titus Andronicus and Hamlet, Prince of Denmark) before entertaining us with the piece titled Ending With Geranium (dedicated to his friendly heckler Nate). He ended his time with the final piece - Power Is Wrong which was inspired by a message received on his Facebook page from a Christian teen.

After a brief intermission, Christie-Anne delightfully entertained the audience with a reading of actual text messages from her worrisome mother who's determined to have grandkids now. These unedited messages were funny as we listened to her mother's thoughts about her sister and father as well as wanting to meet Christie's boyfriends to disapproving her of keeping chickens as pets. Then Andrew's piece titled Mapquest presented the listening audience an expressive flow of vivid imagery amidst a peak into ordinary life. His other two - Lip Service and Infinity were thought-provoking while speaking calmly to allow our imaginations soar ...get lost amongst his words. Before leaving, Former Lit editor Jackie Clark read to the audience works from her latest chatbook. SouthSide immediately felt the lucid movement of her words flowing like water while reading her pieces in a soothing docile tone. Her usage of imagery on the subjects of love to chemistry equations as well as geometric figures and shapes was wonderfully beautiful to behold, blogspot readers.

SouthSide higly recommends snagging the latest copy of Lit magazine - available now. For more information visit http://www.litmagazine.org or http://www.dewclawjournal.com.

Until next time, support your local literary scene,

SouthSide