tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50998452024-03-18T10:07:18.029-07:00Boston Area Small Press and Poetry SceneThis blog consists of reviews, interviews, news, etc...from the world of the Boston area small press/ poetry scene and beyond. Regular contributors are reviewers: Dennis Daly, Michael Todd Steffen, David Miller, Lee Varon, Timothy Gager,Lawrence Kessenich, Lo Galluccio, Zvi Sesling, Kirk Etherton, Tom Miller, Karen Klein, and others.
Founder Doug Holder: dougholder@post.harvard.edu.
* B A S P P S is listed in the New Pages Index of Alternative Literary Blogs.Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.comBlogger3649125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-79128347470209994802024-03-16T02:33:00.000-07:002024-03-18T10:06:44.956-07:00Red Letter Poem #198 Red Letter Poem #198 Three Short-form Poems ––Andrea Cohen Regarding My Delay I’ve been trying on coffins and can’t find one with a big enough dance floor. &Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-27163632660354485532024-03-15T03:38:00.000-07:002024-03-15T03:38:50.396-07:00Review of Cost of Living, a play by Martyna Majok Cost of LivingReview of Cost of Living, a play by Martyna MajokSpeak Easy Stage, at the Calderwood Pavilion through March 30, 2024By Andy HoffmanCost of Living, which won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and received a Tony nomination for Best Play in 2023, has its Boston premiere at Calderwood Pavilion in a production of the Speak Easy Stage. The play focuses on Eddie, an out-of-work Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-50994085281582633652024-03-14T08:29:00.000-07:002024-03-15T12:16:49.033-07:00This Verse Business: Playwright Andy Dolan discusses his one man play about Robert Frost Interview conducted by Doug Holder/Co-President of the New England Poetry ClubRecently --I had the chance to speak to playwright Andy Dolan, about a one man show he wrote concerning the late, great poet Robert Frost. According to the Boston Calderon Pavilion website, it will feature, ( April 23 to April 28):"Emmy-winner (NYPD Blue), IRNE-winner (Man in the Ring), and Tony-nominee, Gordon Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-65483524875819350032024-03-14T04:20:00.000-07:002024-03-14T04:35:40.772-07:00The Rape of Lucrece narrative poem by William Shakespeare: A Reading with Mike Steffen, Annie Pluto, and David Gullette The Rape of Lucrece narrative poem by William Shakespeare a reading to wish the Bard a happy 460th ! upon his birthday April 23rd Tuesday, at 7pm in the Auditorium of the Somerville Public Library 79 Highland Ave with READERS Annie Pluto David Gullette Michael Steffen Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-21355053654698669852024-03-13T05:15:00.000-07:002024-03-13T05:15:24.889-07:00 Blues, Prayers, & Pagan Chants Poems by Diane Sahms Blues, Prayers, & Pagan ChantsPoems by Diane SahmsAlien Buddha Press abuddhapress@yahoo.comISBN: 979887373458086 PagesReview by Dennis DalyAre there parallel universes that complete us, that deliver meaning where there seems to be only chaos-- a place, perhaps, for prayers to be delivered, petitions to be filed, unholy chants to be rhythmically sounded out, and sadnesses to be unfolded Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-43129265264354788302024-03-10T04:37:00.000-07:002024-03-10T04:54:22.363-07:00Ibbetson Street Literary Magazine (Issue 53/54) Reading--26 Years and still going strong (Somerville, Ma)Ibbetson Street Magazine founded in 1998 on Ibbetson Street in Somerville, MA. by Doug Holder, Richard Wilhelm and Dianne Robitaille, will be having a reading of poets from issues 53 and 54 of the publication at the East Branch of The Somerville Library ( May 16, 2024 6:30PM) Ibbetson Street is formally affiliated with Endicott College in Beverly, MA.http:Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-6419526166659244022024-03-08T04:00:00.000-08:002024-03-08T04:00:35.137-08:00Red Letter Poem #197 The Red Letters In ancient Rome, feast days were indicated on the calendar by red letters.To my mind, all poetry and art serves as a reminder that every day we wake together beneath the sun is a red-letter day. ––Steven Ratiner Red Letter Poem #197 Under the Overpass Off the 405 North After I’dDoug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-81290009655124635342024-03-03T09:42:00.000-08:002024-03-03T09:42:34.252-08:00Somerville Artist Bruce Myren: Explores History as a Living EntityI recently caught up with Somerville photographer Bruce Myren to conduct an interview about his life and his accomplished work.From his website:Bruce earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in photography from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design and a Master of Fine Arts in studio art from the University of Connecticut, Storrs.Myren's photographs have been featured in various publications such as Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-13412389007287885752024-03-01T13:35:00.000-08:002024-03-01T13:35:45.964-08:00Red Letter Flashback Friday My Dear Readers, I’m on the road this week––but rather than leave you Letter-less, I decided to share an older piece that many newer Red Letter readers will have missed (and old subscribers will likely savor a second time.) Instead of ‘Throwback Thursday,’ this will be another Flashback Friday! Enjoy Jennifer Barber’s meditation on the magnificent Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-55588675194580510382024-03-01T06:59:00.000-08:002024-03-01T06:59:52.178-08:00EMMY WINNER GORDON CLAPP TO STAR IN ROBERT FROST: THIS VERSE BUSINESS BY A.M. DOLAN EMMY WINNER GORDON CLAPP TO STAR IN ROBERT FROST: THIS VERSE BUSINESS BY A.M. DOLANArticle by Joanne BarrettDirected by Gus KaikkonenOne Week Only: April 23 - 28, 2024,at Calderwood Pavilion BOSTON, MA (February 2024)--Emmy-winning actor Gordon Clapp (NYPD Blue) will bring his acclaimed portrayal of poet Robert Frost to Boston this Spring in the one-man show "Robert Frost: This Verse Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-71248406690198812542024-02-24T03:20:00.000-08:002024-02-24T03:20:20.052-08:00Red Letter Poem #196 The Red Letters In ancient Rome, feast days were indicated on the calendar by red letters.To my mind, all poetry and art serves as a reminder that every day we wake together beneath the sun is a red-letter day. ––Steven Ratiner Red Letter Poem #196 I Cannot Say When she Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-86564058027696326662024-02-23T10:33:00.000-08:002024-02-23T10:33:13.259-08:00John Proctor is the Villain: A play by Kimberly Belflower John
Proctor is the Villain
Review
of John Proctor is the Villain, a play by Kimberly Belflower
Huntington
Theatre, at the Calderwood Pavilion through March 10, 2024
Review By
Andy Hoffman
Setting
a show in a school brings up so many production problems. How do you maintain
the illusion of the adults playing kids and that the teacher/student power
dynamic has actual consequences? Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-36914637465241836732024-02-23T03:26:00.000-08:002024-02-23T03:26:25.595-08:00Poet Robbie Gamble: Much More than a 'Can of Pinto Beans' ***Interview by New England Poetry Club Co-President Doug Holder Recently, I was at a New England Poetry Club reading to hear poet Robbie Gamble and others read from their work. Gamble has a new chapbook out titled, " A Can of Pinto Beans." Gamble generously gave me a copy--and I decided to interview this accomplished bard.From his website:Robbie Gamble’s poems have appeared in the Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-36532917177877142852024-02-15T04:36:00.000-08:002024-02-15T04:36:45.700-08:00Red Letter Poem #195 The Red Letters In ancient Rome, feast days were indicated on the calendar by red letters.To my mind, all poetry and art serves as a reminder that every day we wake together beneath the sun is a red-letter day. ––Steven Ratiner Red Letter Poem #195 Shop Talk The door-shop manDoug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-17197661465819809252024-02-14T04:07:00.000-08:002024-02-14T04:08:58.720-08:00Somerville Printmaker Liv Cappello: Leaving an imprint on her audienceI recently caught up with printmaker Liv Cappello, who recently took up a space at the Vernon Street Studios. She went to college in the hinterlands of Vermont, and is now in the Paris of New England--Somerville, MA--perfecting her craft.How has it been for you as an artist working in Somerville, and being a resident of the Vernon St. Studios?I’m relatively new to Vernon Street (moved in Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-43600666568769682592024-02-13T10:51:00.000-08:002024-02-13T10:51:49.028-08:00Alan Kaufman speaks to Endicott College Creative Writing StudentsDoug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-59644694504404456112024-02-11T02:43:00.000-08:002024-02-11T02:43:40.779-08:00Review of Stand Up If You’re Here Tonight, a play by John Kolvenbach Stand Up If You’re Here TonightReview of Stand Up If You’re Here Tonight, a play by John KolvenbachHuntington Theatre, at the Maso Stage at the Huntington through March 23, 2024By Andy HoffmanStand Up If You’re Here Tonight put the play back in the theater experience. Though it has no plot to speak of, Stand Up runs for a very engaging hour of meta-theater. Directed and written by John Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-38020058275209535862024-02-09T02:49:00.000-08:002024-02-09T02:49:03.073-08:00Red Letter Poem #194 The Red Letters In ancient Rome, feast days were indicated on the calendar by red letters.To my mind, all poetry and art serves as a reminder that every day we wake together beneath the sun is a red-letter day. ––Steven Ratiner Red Letter Poem #194 At Mt. Auburn Cemetery Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-78419129278762309242024-02-08T01:39:00.000-08:002024-02-08T01:39:08.025-08:00The Book of Shores by Mary Buchinger The Book of Shores by Mary Buchinger Lily Poetry Review Press, 2024, 102 pp.reviewed by Thomas DeFreitasThe late American poet Donald Justice once offered his opinion that American poets fall into one of two “camps”: the Walt Whitman camp and the Emily Dickinson camp. Whitman-poets are marked by their rambunctious, capacious inclusivity, their embracing acceptance of everything from Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-15381378052760089782024-02-03T03:29:00.000-08:002024-02-03T03:29:41.517-08:00Red Letter Poem #193 The Red Letters In ancient Rome, feast days were indicated on the calendar by red letters.To my mind, all poetry and art serves as a reminder that every day we wake together beneath the sun is a red-letter day. ––Steven Ratiner Red Letter Poem #193 Unveiling in Snow &Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-17989641419456507792024-01-30T01:44:00.000-08:002024-01-30T01:44:22.266-08:00Review of A Case for the Existence of God, a play by Samuel D. Hunter A Case For the Existence of GodReview of A Case for the Existence of God, a play by Samuel D. HunterCalderwood Pavilion through February 17, 2024By Andy HoffmanIf you can, catch A Case for the Existence of God at Calderwood Pavilion, a production of the Speakeasy Stage. The two-person play by MacArthur Award winner Samuel D. Hunter hardly ever mentions God or God’s possible existence, but Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-85438241368511251452024-01-26T04:22:00.000-08:002024-01-26T04:28:24.425-08:00Red Letter Poem #192 The Red Letters In ancient Rome, feast days were indicated on the calendar by red letters.To my mind, all poetry and art serves as a reminder that every day we wake together beneath the sun is a red-letter day. ––Steven Ratiner Red Letter Poem #192 Career Some days, I want to withdraw my submissionDoug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-75214478074483055132024-01-22T10:42:00.000-08:002024-01-22T11:18:28.933-08:00Uyghur Poems, ed.Aziz Isa Elkun, trans.Aziz Isa Elkun & Others Uyghur Poems, ed.Aziz Isa Elkun, trans.Aziz Isa Elkun & Others,
Everyman Library
Pocket
Poets, Alfred A. Knopf: New York, London, Toronto, 2023
Reviewed
by Karen Klein
This
publication is significant as it is not only the first English
language anthology of
Uyghur
poetry, but also an overview of the history, culture, and poetics of
the Uyghur people, which is admirably provided inDoug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-2182887557622956822024-01-19T04:39:00.000-08:002024-01-19T04:39:09.599-08:00Longfellow Audio Book Project From Doug Holder--Co-President of the New England Poetry Club “As a member of the Board of Directors of our partner organization, Friends of the Longfellow House, I am engaged in a project, with fellow board member Mike Bavaro, to create an audio book of Longfellow’s poetry. We plan to emphasize his Revolutionary War and Civil War poems. We are looking for suggestions of poems that Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-63747442189146765392024-01-19T03:55:00.000-08:002024-01-19T03:55:53.448-08:00Red Letter Poem #191 The Red Letters In ancient Rome, feast days were indicated on the calendar by red letters.To my mind, all poetry and art serves as a reminder that every day we wake together beneath the sun is a red-letter day. ––Steven Ratiner Red Letter Poem #191 Practicing the 12-Bar Blues to my Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0