Sunday, March 04, 2018

Spare Change News Poems: An Anthology by Homeless People and those Touched by Homelessness


I am really honored that our Ibbetson Street Press is publishing Spare Change News Poems: An Anthology by Homeless People and those Touched by Homelessness. Years ago I assisted the then poetry editor Don DiVecchio with his poetry column in Spare Change News and wrote a few features for the all-poetry issues. I learned a lot working with the former editor of the paper Linda Larson, and the assistant editor Cindy Baron. Now noted poets Lee Varon and the current poetry editor Marc Goldfinger  are putting out an anthology of verse through us.  

The paper was started in Boston in 1992 and was the brainchild of Tim Hobson, who enlisted the aid of twelve other homeless people 
"When people think of helping the poor and homeless, they usually think of food and shelter," Harris said. "Those things are necessary, but it's more than that. It's the spiritual. The homeless need to express themselves and be a part of the community. It's important that they have human dignity".
— Tim Harris, one of the founders of Spare Change News
The first issue of Spare Change News was published on Friday, May 8, 1992.
The newspaper's first managing editor, Tim Hobson, said at its founding that it would be "heavy on politics as well as discussion of homeless empowerment". He also said an important goal was to "put a face on the homeless to show that we're human beings".
MIT Professor Noam Chomsky, together with his friend, the historian Howard Zinn, were some of the first major supporters of Spare Change News.


Contents
Preface iii
Ayat al-Ghormezi 3
Susan J. Allspaw 5
Rusty Barnes 6
Douglas Bishop 7
Zachary Bos 9
Martha Boss 10
K. Peddlar Bridges 11
Jeff Brunner 13
Bob “Bikerwolf” Bryant 14
S.E. Casey 15
Mia Champion 16
K. Chapman 17
K. Chapman 18
Mary P. Chatfield 19
Dave Church 20
Joseph A. Cohen 21
Janet Cormier 22
Gayle Danley 23
Kathy Engel 25
Martin Espada 26
Kirk Etherton 27
Brian C. Felder 28
Ed Galing 29
Ed Galing 31
Steven J. Gallo 33
Harris Gardner 35
Andrea S. Gereighty 36
Bruce Goldberg 38
Marc D. Goldfinger 39
Joe Gouveia 41
Carolyn Gregory 42
Emmanuel Guerrir 43
Emmanuel Guerrir 44
Sarah Hannah (1967 – 2007, R.I.P.) 45
Jim Haygood 48
Everett Hoagland 49
Everett Hoagland 50
Burton R. Hoffmann 51
Doug Holder’s Furnished Room Newbury Street, Boston 1978-2003
Doug Holder 52
Doug Holder 53
Alexis Ivy 54
Mephistoles Johnson 55
Chopper Kate 56
Aminata Keita 57
Alexander Levering Kern 59
Alexander Levering Kern 60
Linda Larson 61
Linda Larson 62
Linda Larson 63
Linda Lerner 65
Daniel E. Levenson 67
Bill Lord 68
Kathleen M. 70
Valerie Macon 71
Jennifer Martelli 72
Matthew Martinez 73
M.S.W. Migneault 74
Gloria Mindock 76
Imogen Nelson 77
B.Z. Niditch 78
normal 79
Lin A. Nulman 80
Siobhan O’Connor 81
By Chad Parenteau 82
Marge Piercy 84
Eddie “Sorez” Pliska 85
Bill Roberts 86
Mary Esther Rohman 87
Julie Scanga 89
Julie Kate Scanga 90
L.P. Scerri 91
Lainie Senechal 92
Eddie Sorez 94
Jake St. John 95
Fred Steele 96
Paul Steven Stone 97
David R. Surette 99
Maria Termini 100
Meg Turner 101
Lee Varon 102
Andrew Warburton 103
Molly Lynn Watt 104
Richard Wilhelm 105
MarySusan Williams-Migneault 106
A. D. Winans 107
A.D. Winans 108

3 comments:

  1. Look forward to reading Spare Change poems on this blog too.
    Bridget

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  2. This is a thrilling anthology, thanks to Mark for his editorship of poetry in spare change and Doug for his publishing, two local heroes we are lucky to have working fir all that is right and good. Molly

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  3. This is a thrilling anthology of poems, thank you to mark, longtime poetry editor of spare change and Doug, founder and keeping it going editor of Ibbetson, two local heroes who keep on doing the right thing fir the world. Let’s support their work by purchasing it. Thank you guys for the honor of including my poem, on Cambridge common.

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