A report from Irene Koronas about "Breaking Bagels With The Bards," a group of poets that meet in Harvard Square every Saturday at 9AM in the basement of Finagle-A- Bagel. Please join us!



carrying our stories in front pockets like baseballcards or marbles; we compare, exchange; the value ofeach exchange depends on the popularity of theplayers, their home runs and with marbles, the unusualmarkings that make a poet's life gleam. we flick ourmarbles into designated holes while clicking othersout of the way. team games played alone.on Saturday we exchange family (and other) influences.my life is not full of extraordinary stuff and i don'ttalk much about my early years. i figure if you readmy poetry it is not hard to come to an understandingof who i am, of my being a first and second generationAmerican. like so many other families who work theirtails off to help their children lean forward, we haveout faults. i prefer expressing my gratitude for beingborn here (yeah, i know it sounds corny and sometimesit is not politically correct) so i may keep my mouthshut when it comes to imperfections. i listen to thepoets exchange stories, their influences spread overthe table, offering us a chance to come to anunderstanding of each other. listening is likecollecting baseball cards or marbles. i keep a jarfull of those old round glass balls in the back of oneof my kitchen cabinets. once in awhile i hold one inthe light to marvel at the reflections. i figure itain't right to discus other people's personal storiesin public, so my childhood and yours are in jacketpockets with lucky stones and pressed flowerswords caught:chaos theory (poetry magazine)bathtub gin (another magazine) cool names)talking in-lawssome kind of fleasbohemian intimacyfinancing the American revolution (hyam soloman)family politics and pornographymiserable failuresbraggingyour as good as your weakest linkshe impressed herselfan exercise in scatology