Interview with New England Poetry Club President: Diana Der -Hovanessian with Doug Holder.

Diana Der- Hovanessian is the president of the venerable literary organization: The New England Poetry Club. Based in Cambridge, Mass., it was founded by Amy Lowell, Robert Frost and Conrad Aiken almost ninety years ago. Lowell's vision was to bring well-known poets to large audiences. In the 1960's through the 1980's the club became insular and provincial, with meetings held at the Brahmin enclaves of Beacon Hill and the Harvard Faculty Club. Der-Hovanessian changed this by inviting Russian poets such as: Andrei Voznesenky and Yevtushenko to read at the club. And since then scores of South American and Latin American Poets have visited and read there, as well as prominent American poets such as: Robert Creeley, X.J. Kennedy, Robert Pinsky, and many others. I spoke to Diana Der- Hovanessian on my Somerville Community Access TV show: Poet To Poet/Writer To Writer.

Doug Holder: How did you become involved with the club?

Diana Der-Hovanessian: I joined it when Victor Howes was running things. He asked me to be secretary. I said " I don't do shorthand." (laughs) He said: " No...No. Not that kind of secretary." So for eight years he had me do programming. I became president in 1980. It's been a long time
we are due for another election!

DH: Amy Lowell started the club. She was quite an eccentric character, wasn't she?

DDH: When I first went into the club we had people who actually knew her. They had interesting stories about the early days. She started the club in 1915, when she came back from England. She was under the influence of Imagists, like Ezra Pound. But Robert Frost and a group of Formalist poets took it away from her. Frost, who was the second or third president , got into big fights with the Imagists, in those days.

DH: Lowell's goal was to reach a large audience through poetry and poetry readings. Has this been your goal?

DDH: This vision of expansion had stopped for awhile when I came around. I felt like we should expand. Now we bring in name poets to make it more exciting. We also have our own members read. We also have free workshops for members.

DH: What is the mission of the Club?

DDH: To expand poetry. To bring people into the art. To show off the best. To be a forum for an exchange of ideas.

DH: Can you talk a bit about the poets who have read for you over the years?

DDH: We had an Irish festival some years ago with the help of Seamus Heaney, who is on our board. He brought a lot of poets from Ireland, like: Evan Boland. Some of the Club's other readers over the years have been: Robert Lowell, Robert Creeley Stanley Kunitz, James Merrill, to name just a few.

DH: Did you have a relationship with the Beat poets?

DDH: We did sponsor a reading by Allen Ginsberg. Once I went to the airport to meet a visiting poet, and Ginsberg was there with him. Ginsberg was wearing a tie. He told me that he was dressed up for the Club. I told him that he didn't have to do it. He turned his tie over and said" Brooks Brothers. I got it at Good Will."

DH: What do you think of the Slam poets and the Hip-Hoppers?

DDH: We had a program for them at the Boston Globe Book Festival. There was someone on the Globe who wanted it: Patricia Smith. I thought it was fun. I love the fact that they memorize their poems. I envy them. I could do that when I was young.

DH: Your are a respected poet in your own right. I believe you are a Fulbright Scholar, and have written extensively about the Armenian Holocaust. Can you talk about your education, and early influences?

DDH: I've been a Fulbright Scholar twice. I went to Boston University as an undergraduate. I studied with Robert Lowell at Harvard. I took his last workshop. It was really great. They said he wouldn't show up. But he did. He was there every single week. It was one hour of teaching poetry, and one hour of going over student poems.

I completed nine volumes of translations from the Armenian. I have always been interested in the Armenian Holocaust. When the Turks started the genocide against the Armenians in 1915 they started by murdering the leaders. You wouldn't think that poets were the leaders. But they started out by killing two hundred poets.

DH: How did you start the Longfellow House readings in Cambridge?

DDH: Erica Mumford was a board member. She and I were walking down Brattle St.. We looked over at the Longfellow House and said" Wouldn't this be a perfect place for a reading." We walked in and said: " Don't you want poetry too?" ( they had concerts) And they replied:" Sure, if you want to do it." And that's how it started. It's been going on for almost twenty five years now.

DH: Any plans for the 90th anniversary?

DDH: Depends on the funding. We want to bring our Golden Rose prize winners together for a big celebration. We are the oldest reading series in the country.

Interview With Small Press Legend Hugh Fox with Doug Holder

For the last forty years or so, poet, scholar, and critic Hugh Fox, has played an integral role in the small press. Like Lifshin, Winans, and Len Fulton, Fox's name is an ubiquitous presence in the national small literary magazines scene. Fox was the first to write critical studies of Charles Bukowski and the prolific poet-queen Lyn Lifshin. He was a founding member of COSMEP, the seminal small press organization founded in the 1970's. He served on the board of directors for over twenty years.
Fox was also the publisher of his own little magazine "Ghost Dancer" that ran for twenty years and is now archived at Harvard University, Brown University and other institutions. Fox has reviewed countless books, chapbooks and magazines, and has published eighty of his own works. I had the pleasure to talk with him ( along with my friend and poet Harris Gardner), at the bustling Au Bon Pain cafe in the heart of Harvard Square.

Doug Holder: How did you meet Charles Bukowski?

Hugh Fox: Here I was out in L.A., and I go into this bookstore, "Pickwick Bookstore" I found a copy of a Bukowski book. Up until this time I read T.S. Eliot. I was all T.S. Eliot, and all this kind of stuff. I got Bukowski's book " Crucifixation and the Deadman" This was in 1967. When I read it I said: " Holy shit, this is a whole different way of approaching the language isn't, it?
I really enjoyed it, and I started writing like that. So I got all of his books. I read everything he wrote. I wrote to his publisher in New Orleans. I asked them if I could get Bukowski's phone number. They told me to look in the L.A. phone book. So I looked him up, and there he was. I said " Hello, Charles Bukowski, this is Hugh Fox, I'd like to meet you."
He said: " OK Fox, here's my address." I went over to his place. I said: "I want to do a book about you. I'm really impressed by your stuff."
He said" OK. I am going to give you everything I ever wrote in my life. " He goes into all of his bookcases, and all of his closets and everything else, and takes copies of everything. He said: "If you find any doubles, you keep it." He was living in a Hollywood motel. He was working at the post office at the time. So I had all of his stuff, and then he tried to make out with my wife, the Peruvian. He told me "How about you leave her with me tonight. You got all the books, at least you could leave me your wife for the night." She said "I don't think SO!' He wasn't joking. He would of done it--she was very attractive. I saw Bukowski quite a few times since then. I did a book on him, and it was the first critical book about him. That got reviewed every place.

Doug Holder: What was your opinion of his poetry?

Hugh Fox: Oh, I think he was great. A lot of people misunderstood him. They think he was a drunken bum that wrote scary stuff. He was very subtle. He was very literary--you'd be surprised. Some of his stuff is blah, but a lot isn't. The documentary that just came out, made A.D. Winans pissed- off! He wrote a book on Bukowski " The Holy Grail' ( Dustbooks). The movie didn't even mention me or him. They could of mentioned us, not a word--as if we didn't exist!

Doug Holder: Can you talk about your role with COSMEP, the seminal small press organization?

Hugh Fox: I got invited to the last big roundup of poets from the 60's. I was in L.A., and every poet that existed was there. It was exciting. I never read in public. I was all nervous, but they started clapping, and the whole place went crazy. It was the best experience I had in my life. Afterwards they put me on a panel. That panel became the first board of directors at COSMEP. So all of a sudden I found myself on the board of directors of a new organization. Isn't that crazy though?

Doug Holder: What was the mission of COSMEP?

Hugh Fox: It was to get small press and literary poets out everywhere, We use to have annual meetings; sometimes on the West Coast, Minnesota, NY. We made it accessible for everybody. I was on the board for twenty years. Richard Morris became the director of COSMEP.

Doug Holder: It fell apart eventually?

Hugh Fox; I don't remember the people. There was some asshole on the board of directors that decided he was going to bomb the whole thing out. There is always somebody. He started checking all the books, and it fell apart.

Doug Holder: How many book have you published?

Hugh Fox: About eighty. I put out a magazine "Ghost Dancer". I put it out for twenty years. It's at Harvard, The Library of Congress, Brown, everything. Everyone was in it.

Doug Holder: Can you talk about your literary relationship with poet Lyn Lifshin?

Hugh Fox: I did the first critical book about Lifshin. She was kind of like a female Bukowski. She told it like it was. She took the most everyday banal events and turned them into high poetry.

Doug Holder: How did you become such a prolific book reviewer?

Hugh Fox: I got to be good friends with Len Fulton of the "Small Press Review" I used to visit him at his home in Paradise, California. He just turned seventy.

Doug Holder http://authorsden.com/douglasholder

I am pleased to announce that my April 2004 interview with Lynn Lifshin at a busy North End ( Boston) restaurant is now archived at the Harvard Libraries. Also: My video and audio tapes of my interview with Louisa Solano, owner of the Grolier Poetry Bookshop has also been archived there.
Others poets slated to be archived: Marc Widershien, Jack Powers, Afaa Michael Weaver, Joe Torra, and more to come...

Harris Gardner and myself had coffee with visiting small press legend poet Hugh Fox at the Au Bon Pain in Harvard Square. I taped our conversation. Fox had some interesting things to say about Bukowski.

The Somerville News has received money to start its own lit mag Northeast Corridor stay tuned http://www.somervillenews.com

I conducted an interview with Louisa Solano the owner of The Grolier Poetry Bookshop. The bookshop is being sold, Louisa has been connected with it for over 40 years. She had a lot of interesting anecdotes about Kerouac, Ginsberg, Donald Hall, and more. If you want an audio tape send $3 to Doug Holder 25 School St. Somerville, Ma. 02143

Well I am pleased to have talked to Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Franz Wright, and secured him to read at the April 2005 Poetry Festival at the Newton Free Library Poetry Series. Joining him will be Steve Almond and Nancy Kassel.

Poet Robert K. Johnson will be the recipient of the next Ibbetson Street Press Life-Time Achievement award in Nov 2004. ( Jimmy Tingle Theatre-Davis sq)

The Somerville News Writers Festival is coming along well. Thanks to cofounder Timothy Gager, we have secured Tom Perrotta and Andre Dubus lll as featured readers.

Ibbetson Street 15 will be released June 12 at the celebratory reading at the Out of the Blue Art Gallery in Cambridge.

Louisa Solano, the owner of the Grolier Poetry Bookshop in Harvard square tells me she is near ready to sell. She will be my guest May 25 on Poet To Poet/ Writer To Writer.

Jennifer Matthews, a good friend of mine, a Rock vocalist, and poet is going to be hosting a poetry/music series at the Zeitgeist Gallery in Inman Sq. Cambridge. Two of her feature poets will be: Susie D, and Chad P. That's May 18 7:30PM contact: jmchickenbaby@aol.com
Word has it that Susie Davidson ( she did a chap with us Selected Poetry: Susie D) has a freelance gig writing for the Boston Globe...send her your pitches! Tim Gager has released a book Short Street, I'll be reading with him at the B.U. Bookstore Kenmore Square Boston 8PM.

Well... it was great to be manning the book table with poets Lisa Beatman and Harris Gardner at the Boston National Poetry Month Festival at the Boston Public Library on Saturday. ( April 3 2004) It was a lively crowd, and I got to talk to many of my fellow poets and friends like: Marc Goldfinger, Diana Saenz ( Boston Poet), Marc Widershien ( "The Life of All Worlds"), L. Schwartz ("Goodnight Gracie"), Michael Brown ( "Poetry Off Broadway"), Robert K. Johnson ( "The Latest News), Rhina Espillat ( Pow Wow River Poets) Barbara Helfgott Hyett ( Poem Works), Rosanna Warren, and many others. A lot of books were sold, as folks supported their favorite poets. Today we take the party to Northeastern--Dodge Hall 1PM--hope to see you there!

I just meet with Deborah Priestly and Lynne Sticklor about Deb's long awaited book The Woman Has A Voice. Lynne, who is designing and editing the book hopes to have it at the printers by Friday March 26. Deb is the cofounder of The Out of the Blue Art Gallery in Cambridge. This book is wonderfully illustrated L. Geharty and C. Fahey , and deals with women in all stages of their lives...

Also Ibbetson has a book by blind poet Joanna Nealon, that we hope to have out some time in April 2004 LIVING IT

Susie Davidson also has a book due out, so Ibbetson Street is quite busy.

Tim Gager is organizing a reading for poets and writers at the Boston University Bookstore on the evening of May 4. Such poets as: Jack Powers, Deborah Priestly and Yours Truly will be reading...

I will be heading for NYC for a literary dinner for the new renaissance magazine. We hope to raise funds for this fine literary journal. I have an interview with street poet Marc Goldfinger in the issue coming up. Also included is the poetry of Stephen Todd Booker, and the artwork of Arthur Polonsky.

The Spare Change Annual All Poetry Issue will be out April 1. There will be an interview with Afaa Michael Weaver, and one with poet/mime James Van Looy, not to mention selections of the best poetry of the year to appear on SPN's pages.

Well...Harris Gardner of Tapestry of Voices is gearing up for the Boston National Poetry Festival April 3 and 4 at the Boston Public Library and Northeastern Univeristy, respectively. Over 50 poets, open mics and more...it's free too!

Joanna Nealon is working with Ibbetson Street to get out her new, perfect-bound poetry collection LIVING IT. Joanna is an accomplished blind poet and a presence in the area poetry community.

Jennifer Matthews, poet/vocalist, tells me she will be hosting a poetry and music venue at the Zeitgeist Gallery in Inman Square Cambridge, contact: jmchickenbaby@aol.com for more info.

Gearing up for the Cambridge Poetry Award this Sunday at Lesley University...

Well The Cambridge Poetry Awards will be announced at Lesley University Sunday March 7 2Pm A lot of my friens were nominated like: Tim Gagaer, Susie Davidson,
Mary Bodwell, Susan Landon, Jennifer Matthews, irene Koronas and others... www.cambridgepoetryawards.org

Glad that David Kirschenbaum, bookdealer and editor of Boog Lit Magazine, put my piece about my late uncle Dave Kirschenbaum on his blog. Both he and my uncle are and were bookdealers in NYC, ah sweet mystery of life!

Well, the editorship of Spare Change News has changed hands. Holly Hand resigned and was replaced by Susan Horton. The poetry editorship is still not filled. Don DiVecchio had resigned not too long ago.

Poets Deborah Priestly and Joanna Nealon are slated to have poetry collections released by Somerville's Ibbetson Street Press.

Sophia Lintz, a poet for the magazine and Arts Organization 96Inc will be reading at the Newton Free Library Poetry Series March 9 2004 330 Homer St. Newton Free Library 7PM Also reading: Jennifer Matthews and Elizabeth Doran.

Michael Brown's Poetry-Off-Broadway continues to play at the Jimmy Tingle Theatre in Davis Square Somerville...

Next month March 7 at Lesley University the Cambridge Poetry Awards will be presented. Jeff Robinson is passing off the leadership to poet regie Gibson.

Gibson tells me he's studying at Simmons College with poet Afaa Michael Weaver.

I am pleased to announce that singer/songwriter, not to mention poet Jennifer Matthews was nominated for a spoken word award by the Cambridge Poetry Award Committee....

On Feb 7-8 at the Cambridge Adult Education Center, Harvard Square,
many of the nominnees will perform.

Jack Powers, founder of the Stone Soup Poets, was profiled in an article by Linda Lerner, on poetry.about.com, a major site for poetry...

Deborah Priestly, of the Out of the Blue Gallery in Cambridge, is planning to release a poetry collection through the Ibbetson Press...it's due out this month.

Harris Gardner, of Tapestry of Voices ( Boston) is feverishly planning the Boston Poetry Festival, to be held at the Boston Public Library ( Copley) and Northeastern University.

Poet Marc Goldfinger, former editor of Spare Change News, will be profiled, in the next issue of the New Renaissance Magazine due out
in April.

Jennifer Matthews will be reading at the Dire Reader Series from her poetry book Fairytales and Misdemeanors ( Ibbetson 2003) Matthews
is a Boston singer/songwriter, who just finished a residency at the legendary Kendall Cafe. Out of the Blue Gallery 106 Prospect St. Cambridge 8Pm Jan. 2 Friday

A lot of exciting stuff around the small press scene here in the HUB. This month the Out of the Blue Gallery poetry and prose anthology will be released, go to www.timothygager.com for more info. I am told that the next issue of Poesy magazine is delayed, but should be out shortly after the first of the year...the website will be up before Christmas. www.poesy.org PLOUGHSHARES
the lit. mag has an emerging writers issue released, that is a showcase for new poetic and fiction talent. I will be writing an article about some of the local contributors for the SOMERVILLE NEWS. By-the-way, the NEWS will feature two poets who work in local eateries, stay tuned for more...around Dec. 18!

The Somerville News Writers Festival was a success. We had a good audience, and the performers were top rate. The Out of the Blue Gallery Writers anthology is about ready to come out go to: www.timothygager.com for mor info. Jack Powers got a Life Time Achievement award from the Ibbetson Street Press. This is well-deserved award for this founder of Stone Soup Poets.
Ibbetson 14 will be released ...Jan 11 2004 at McIntyre and Moore Books will be the reading davis sq. Somerville 5PM... My good friend Don DiVecchio has resigned as poetry editor for Spare Change News, to work on a new book: PEACE WORKS. This will be an anthology of poetry and prose from writers on WAR/PEACE.

Well two unsung heroes of the small press are Erin Gumbel and Lynne Sticklor. Lynne has designed a number of books for the Ibbetson Street Press and is now working on the Out of the Blue Gallery Poetry Anthology. She will also be working on a new poetry chap by Cambridge poet Deborah Priestly, due to be released by Ibbetson in the Winter of 2004.

Erin Gumble, a co-founder of Boston University's lit. mag CLARION, is now working on editing and designing her second issue of the Ibbetson Street Press. The first Issue she did (no. 13 ) was a pick of the month in the Small Press Review. http://www.dustbooks.com What a fine addition to our staff!

Well-- CHRONICLE the channel five news show filmed Stone Soup Poets at the Out of the Blue Gallery last monday 11/2003 Heard there was a full house....

The last issue of Ibbetson was a pick for the month in the Small Press Review....

Brickbottom gallery Poetry Series in Somerville will restart on Dec 18 with Doug Holder, Marc Goldfinger, Jennifer Matthews and Tim gager reading from their work. 7:30PM

Newton Free Library presents poets, Michael Brown, Jean Trounstine and Pam Bernard at 7:00 PM Nov. 18

Well...Tim Gager with the help of Jimmy Tingle, secured Michael McDonald, the author of ALL SOULS, as our guest speaker for the Somerville News Writers Festival. MacDonald's book concerns growing up on the means street of South Boston...

Newton Free Library Poetry Reading Series will host Michael Brown, Pam Bernard and Jean Trounstine, Nov. 18 at 7PM 330 Homer St. Newton, Ma.

I was pleased to get a Lucid Moon Poetry Award for hardest working editor in the small press, from founder of http://www.lucidmoonpoetry.com Ralph Haselmann, Jr.

I am excited that Deborah Priestly co-founder of the Out of the Blue Gallery in Cambridge will be releasing a poetry collection with Ibbetson Street in the Winter...

Well, I remember calling Louise Gluck, the soon-to-become new Poet Laureate, to ask for an interview and poetry spread for Spare Change Newspaper. She agreed to the spread and its in the Oct 16 issue...

Spare Change, thanks to Holly Hand, got Robert Pinsky to do a spread awhile back. Both are local poets.

I went to the Boston Globe Book Festival at the Boston Public Library to listen to the publishing panel. Frank Bidart, Diana-Der-Hovanessian, Helen Rees, Tony Rose and Alice Quinn spoke. Bidart had some good tips about putting together a poetry manuscript for publication. I jotted down a few of his points: Make sure you have a coherent theme to the collection, keep in mind what you are doing, isn't different from what other poets are doing?, put your best poems at the begining and end,
there should be a calculated order to the poems, you must have the experience of reading the manuscript fromcover to cover, the TITLE is crucial, but it does not have to be the same as a tiltled poem in the collection.

There will be other events throughout the month...