The short and simple of my thought process was this; Wordslingers needs some new and different blood. Not that the previous blood wasn't and isn't good- far, far from it! It's just that in the proper hands change means revitalization, invigoration, a step back from enervation and plenty of room for innovation. Can I get an amen? Hallelujah!

Anyway over the next few months different movers and shakers in poetry will take over the hosting chores, bringing in guests of their choosing as well as their own spin to the interview format. I'll still be there, in the studio, in the background with the Peanut Gallery, either shaking my head in stunned dismay, nervously wringing my hands... or bound and gagged on the studio floor as a last ditch attempt to keep me from interferring too much.

Alright, all kidding aside everything Wordslingers is in the good hands of friends and most importantly people I trust to keep the poetry moving forward with all new voices.

So now is the best time to listen if for no other reason than to wonder who is going poetically say what about the who, when and how.


And so....

Buddha309 is guest hosting Wordslingers
Jan 4th, 8pm, WLUW- 88.7
SPECIAL GUESTS ARE TOM CURRY AND STEPHANIE LANE SUTTON

May 18th

May 4th

April 20th

Get your self ready to be catapulted into the stratospere! Hear archetypes get remixed, cross dressing femme fatales, bad cops gone bad, maniacal antiheroes, disco zombies, and conversations on how poets manage to stay alive in a society that fears and hates poets but still secretly desires to be tied up bondage style and ordered to kiss the boots of the misfortunate truth about our world by them. Love, pathology style. Go figure. Anyway,catch the creative manifestos of Chicago poets Bronmin Shumway and Margie Mack

Bronmin Shumway is a poet and writer based in Chicago, IL. Her poems have appeared in After Hours, VOX, X Magazine, LanguageandCulture.net, Illya's Honey, The Aurora Review, and various other literary magazines and journals. Bronmin is also Founder and Editor-in-Chief of HereThere Magazine, an online arts e-zine, and host of the online show, "Poet's Kitchen." She has lived all over the country, and also, in Mexico City and London. Recently, Bronmin was dubbed both a finalist and semi-finalist in The Black River Chapbook Competition. In her spare time, she plays bass guitar and co-writes music with her husband, Kirk Sonnenberg.

Check out these links to HereThere and "Poet's Kitchen," www.heretheremag.com and www.poetskitchen.com.

Margie Mack; Is both a friend and previous contributer to Wordslingers. She's published author of “The House That Jack Built”, winner of the “Sunset Scripts” screenwriting completion, Margie Mack is also an activist for health care reform and is currently working with the Office of Governor Blagojevich to help bring this much needed benefit to the underinsured. Margie has preformed her poetry at the Chicago Poetry feast and is also working on her current poetry book called “I Can See My Feet”. Her stories have been published in “Chicken Soup” series and also in the Dailey Herald. Margie is married and has four grown sons and 2 & ½ grandbabies. (Yep there's one on the way!)

Also. Are you Poetry Bombing? Thanks to Esteban Colon and Buddha 309 you will poetry bombed at some place near you at exactly 3:30 pm Sunday. I think I can hear it whistling on the way down.
Sun April 20: The Poetry Bomb will happen at 3:30 PM throughout the city, including spontaneous poetry sets on the city streets and in public places; if you are interested in participating, contact Esteban Colon. For more information click here.
Bomb Sites

Apr 20 2008 3:30P	Lakeview	Chicago, Illinois
Apr 20 2008 3:30P	Wicker Park	Chicago, Illinois
Apr 20 2008 3:30P	Matteson	Matteson, Illinois
Apr 20 2008 3:30P	"The Bean" Cloud Gate	Chicago, Illinois
Apr 20 2008 3:30P	Bridgeport	Chicago, Illinois
Apr 20 2008 3:30P	Oak Park	Oak Park, Illinois
Apr 20 2008 3:30P	Homewood	Homewood, Illinois
Apr 20 2008 3:30P	Humboldt Park	Chicago, Illinois
Apr 20 2008 3:30P	Noble Square	Chicago, Illinois

April 06

This Sunday, the big wheel keeps on turnin' and proud Mary keeps on...

Alright enough of that. Tom Roby and the gang take another spin on the wheel of meter while I sit back and play axel. It called the Poetry Wheel in which any number of poets almost seamlessly move and interweave from theme to theme. An alternative to the slam, the Poetry Wheel relies on cooperation instead of competition. This provides the poets an opportunity to see how parts of their body of work connects to other participating poets.

Here's the line up.

Sandy Goldsmith's poetry has appeared in numerous literary journals, including Skylark, Rockford Review, Rambunctious Review, and Rhino. She has performed her work at the major poetry venues in the Chicago area. She has won prizes from Poets & Patrons, Triton College, and the Pennsylvania Poetry Society. Sandy is a long-time member of Poets' Club of Chicago and a former editor of Oyez Review. She is retired from her teaching position at Purdue University Calumet, where she taught a variety of English courses including creative writing. Puddin’head Press has recently released her first book of poems, Imaging Center, which explores images of intimacy and loss, illness and recovery, journey and revelation as she connects her generations from grandchild to grandparent.

Larry Janowski is a native Chicagoan, son of a South Side used car dealer, a teacher, short story writer, poet, and real-life Friar Lawrence. Of his first full-length book, BrotherKeeper (Puddin'head Press: 2007), Alex Kotlowitz says the poetry is "filled with the raw, pulsing power of his city," and poet Edward Hirsch says Larry has "a gritty Chicago eye and a strong religious sensibility. He is a brave, crafty, and unwavering truth teller." The city of Chicago is essential to his poetry, Janowski says, sometimes as the subject, but often as a presence. "It's always there, sometimes barging in, often kind of looking on, and always on the watch for baloney." With a background in journalism and a Masters in Fine Arts in fiction from Vermont College, Larry's work has won prizes at journals in New York and the Midwest, and his poetry appears regularly in After Hours: a Journal of Chicago Writing and Art and area journals such as Court Green, TriQuarterly, Rhino, and Spoon River Poetry Review. He currently teaches English at Dominican University,

Carol Kanter has had poems published by Ariel, Blue Unicorn, ByLine, Explorations, Hammers, Iowa Woman, The Chester Jones Foundation, Kaleidoscope Ink, The Madison Review, The Mid-America Poetry Review, Pudding Magazine, The People’s Press, Rambunctious Review, River Oak Review, Sendero, Sweet Annie Press, Thema, Universities West Press, and a number of anthologies. Korone named her the Illinois Winner of its 2001 writing project. Atlanta Review gave her an International Merit Award in poetry in 2003 and 2005. Finishing Line Press published her first chapbook, “Out of Southern Africa,” in 2005, and her second, “Chronicle of Dog,” in 2006. Carol is a psychotherapist in private practice. She has a B.A. in biology, an M.A. in clinical social work, and a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology. Her book And Baby Makes Three: Self Care for New Parents (Apocryphile Press, 2007) explores the emotional transition to parenthood. Carol has also done work in the area of Poetry Therapy.

Tom Roby publishes and performs his poetry in a variety of venues, while leading workshops, writing criticism, and winning various competitions. He has reinvented the Poetry Wheel and introduced it to a number of venues, such as Wordslingers, The Café and the Chicago Library Poetry Fest. This Wheel involves three or more poets who read in relation to one another as the next poet selects a poem and states a connection to the poem read by the previous poet.

Tom is also President and critique leader of the Poets' Club of Chicago, while chairing their annual sonnet contest. A member of the National Association for Poetry Therapy, He makes presentations based on his chapbook, Griever's Circuit (Fractal Edge Press, 2004), poems on the death of his wife, Mary. He and his multi-instrumentalist son, Lem, comprise Omniphonic, a duo that performs "The Sounds of Poems, the Poetry of Sound." Tracks from their forthcoming CD were featured on radio station WLUW and can be heard at the Vox Café archive of www.Wordslingers.org. Tom's next book of poems is in production at Puddin'head Press.

Wordslingers airs on the 1st and 3rd Sunday nights from 8pm to 9pm live from the campus of Loyola University on 88.7fm WLUW and streaming live on www.wluw.org Archives of past shows can be found in the Wordslingers' Vox Cafe.
Now approaching it's 8th year, Wordslingers is all about poetry; no hype, no hustle, just the word, the rhythm, the vibe and the vision of poetic perception in the pulse between the power and the page!

Nuff Said.

Michael Covenant Watson

host of Wordslingers Poetry On the Radio

founder of Wordslingers.org

Vision without action is a daydream
Action without vision is a nightmare.

Japanese proverb.

March 16th

The clocks have changed at the wrong time.

I finally finished a poem that had been lurking on the backburner of procrastination long enough.

I'm getting a real in depth look at how intimate the connection is between a person's body image, it's capabilities and wide spectrum of emotions ranging from exhilaration to humiliation. Geraldine Ferraro has enlightened me. I never, never realized that the easiest path to the White House was to be a Black man. What was I thinking?

It's my understanding that there's some hullabaloo over Small Press Month. As soon as I thought about jumping in with my two cents I got so caught up in writing my way out of a wet paper bag that I forgot about it.

Buddha 309 host of Jaks Tap reading series and Esteban Colon are hatching something widespread called the Poetry Bomb for April 20th. Deputy Barney Fife, Deputy Dawg, Duddly Do Right and other members of homeland security will be there as well.

I'm reading two books, Women by Charles Bukowski and GhettoNation by Cora Daniels.

Interpret of me what you will.

Anyway... This Sunday night on Wordslingers 8pm to 9pm on 88.7 fm WLUW and streaming live on www.wluw.org

Singer songwriter, painter & poet LaRaie Zimm currently works in an indy bookstore. She has a degree in poetry from Columbia College. You can find out more and here more by visiting myspace.com/laraiez

Janet Kuypers is a writer and photographer who runs Scars Publications, which hosts two literary magazines as well as publishes books and CDs. She has had 43 books published (including poetry, prose and art collection books), Janet’s writing have been published over 9,000 times, and her artwork has been published over 17,000 times.
She's performed in 3 acoustic bands, doing concerts in Chicago and Fairbanks Alaska.
She has worked with 7 music groups combining her poetry with music as performance art available at places like iTunes or Napster.
Speaking of performance art and broadcasting, she ran the (now on a temporary hiatus) Internet Radio show Chaotic Radio at BZoO.org, but she also runs Scars Internet Radio (there’s a direct link at http://scars.tv to listen).Her work has been featured on radio and television. A heads up on future performances as well as mp3 files of past works can be found on jkanetkuypers.com.

March 2nd

This Sunday night on Wordslingers 03/02/08 8 pm - 9 pm 88.7 fm WLUW and streaming live on www.wluw.org

Patricia McMillan will read and discuss poems from Knife Lake Anthology,a chapbook of 17 poems--which deals with the death penalty. Annnd, methinks there will be musical accompaniment!

Nicolette Bond is a breadbasket poet with a nose for trouble. She is currently working on earning her MRS degree from some handsome man who has not yet returned her calls. Her poems have appeared in the sparkle of a kid's eye (goat kid) and downwind from the Honey Dipper. When she isn't untanglin a square or blowin air across the top of a bottle, you can find her on a front porch yuckin it up with her brother Beaker.

Anyway I've been packing and dragging furniture for the last 12 hours and

more of the same tomorrow.I'm too tired,

to be creative or snarky Anything that requires firing up the wit engine just ain't happening til much later on this weekend.

Feb 17th

This Sunday night on Wordslingers...

And the reign of talent continues...
In the best of times one get's the chills comprehending just how much
talent, wisdom, poise and power
walk these city streets.
We walk by them, sit by them on crowded buses,
the relect us, reflect on us
their poems do what mad tricksters and shamans do
forge sword of verbs, put shine to the irony
and from the outside in
point straight to the heart of the matter
laughing at emperors
while giving grace to reavers
walking inside dreams
leaving footprints of verse.

This Sunday night on Wordslingers 88.7 FM WLUW and streaming live on
www.wluw.org
Toni Asanti Lightfoot & Erin Teegarten

Toni Asante Lightfoot is a writer, teacher, and youth
advocate who specializes in critical thinking
techniques. She is the author of several chapbooks
and co-editor of Dream of a Word: the Tia Chucha Press
anthology with Quryash Ali Lansana. Toni's work can
be seen on line and in numerous anthologies.

Erin Teegarden is an adjunct professor at Columbia
College and teaches on line. She earned her MFA from
University of Pittsburgh and has been running the
Reconstruction (Rec) Room every other Wednesday at
Black Rock on Damen.

Feb 3rd

This Sunday's Wordslingers has been nicknamed the Superbowl Widows & Widowers show. So while folks are stuffing their guts with hot wings, nachos and beer,cheering their team & losing who knows how much money on the point spread

You can listen to Wordslingers. At least you'll have something different to talk about a work Monday.

Our feature ,

Adam W. Hart is a poet, prose writer, musician, filmmaker and queer agitator originally hailing from Green, Ohio. While at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, studying magazine journalism, he came under the guidance of several poets and authors, among them Michael Bugeja (The Art & Craft of Poetry; current director of the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication at Iowa State University) and Alyce Miller (Flannery O’Connor Award-winner for The Nature of Longing; current professor of English at Indiana University). Through their mentoring – and the input of others – Hart has over the years adapted elements of prose to his poetry – and vice-versa. A transplant to the Chicago region in 1997, he went into self-imposed (read “job-related”) performance/poetry scene exile until the fall of 2006. Since then, Hart has immersed himself in various readings around Chicago, including: the Poetry Center’s Lip series; Molly Mallone’s series in Forest Park; UniVerse of Poetry’s One Poem reading (2007); and Scott Free’s long-running LGBT series Homolatte (January 2008, feature). 2008 is a year of concentrated effort by Hart for publishing his work, enjoying the poetry scene in Chicago and abroad, and releasing an album of original deep house/dub music under his Laguz recording name.

Jan 20th 08

The Iceman Cometh... Unfortunately, he brought Aunt Arctic, Grandma Gelid, Grandpa Glacier, Uncle Frost, Cousin Chilblain and that half rabid mutt, Frostbite along for the visit as well. Their Trailer's parked right outside. Oh damn! Looks like they come to stay awhile.

Since you really don't want to go outside Sunday night. You might as well throw a log in the furnance and listen to Wordslingers 8 - 9 pm 88.7 FM WLUW and streaming live on www.wluw.org featuring the carbonizing, cauterizing, scorifying, word frying poetic "'Ummph" of Joe Roarty accompanied by WLUW's DJ Wong.

12 /30/ 07

I think it’s one of those sociobiological things, this tendency to look back on the year and reflect on what happened or didn’t happen. Of course doing this ignores the previous years that laid the rails for the last year and will of course maintain that course for years to come. Instead, year end reflections are written and spoken of as if the occurrences of that year took place in a vacuum. If nothing else, time is a study in continuity and progression. The seeds of yesterday’s events were laid months, years, perhaps generations in advance. The future is predicated on actions, trials, motives, impulses and proceedings- made all the more unpredictable by any one person’s inability to grasp the scope of the force of history. You see, time has no doors. There’s no pause, no sudden cosmic or earthly cessation that marks December 31^st from January 1^st. The light of exploded stars still reaches us. Immortality remains a mathematic equation, or an extraordinarily intricate riddle game performed between artistic consciousness and logic empiricists. The living speaks for the dead and the dead have yet to tell anyone whether they agree or disagree with the mythology.

It’s all kind of humbling and despite all claims of religious or spiritual piety mortals don’t particularly like being humbled. So we mark the passing of time with clocks and calendars. The next year is heralded by fireworks and descending disco balls. Therefore, because we are mortal, conscious of the moving of time in a way that no other creature is, it becomes our imperative that even infinity- mathematics, music, poetry, riddles and all- bears our signature. Resolutions are made to do some things differently if not better. And why not?

Again, the rails have been laid. What will be done in 2008, beneficial or injurious benevolent or acrimonious is based on quantifiable events known and unknown that lead up to this point. As time cannot truly be compartmentalized, what choices we accomplish will not occur in a vacuum.

This brings me back to time. For all intents and purposes the best earmarks of time lie in the people one interacts with each day whether it’s face to face, email, phone, television and radio Their lives, the utter manifestation of the force of history interweave with each of us, their memories entwine with ours and our in their turn find expression in the acts of others. Author, Stephen L. Carter notes in his book Civility, that we are like passengers sharing space on crowded train and as such we must be mindful that what we do impacts others. Civility calls upon us to sacrifice some things in order to make the ride tolerable for others.

Time is that train. Mortality shares it. We are not alone. Should we resolve to comprehend and affect this then our individual signatures upon infinity will look less like temporary impositions of self and more like a map weaving lines from life to life, from then to when to be viewed on the last train home.

Michael Covenant Watson

On Tues 12/18 a fixture in the Lincoln Square neighborhood was killed by careless driver near his home. Dubbed, The Pigeon Man, he would sit for hours feeding the pigeons that gathered not only around his feet, but his lap, shoulders, even his head. Theirs was a relationship built on trust and mistrust. The pigeons trusted him implicitly while he in turn grew to mistrust and distance himself from people. Ironically, he was struck down by the very affects he was attempting to distance himself from- the carelessness of man.

The following is a poem written by friend and fellow poet Buddha 309.

The lights are dim in Lincoln Square
the shops all clothed in black
pigeons on the wing
fly at half mast
flags don't pay attention to this kind of royalty
the King of Birds has passed

he sat motionless
providing comfort to his people
cooing and calling each by name
and the passerby found him quaint but crazy
we are lessened by his passing and his mockery of fame

Bird man
Pigeon King
tell me a story
tell me one you've heard on the wing
the ones on the winds of fate and feathers
tell you their secrets because
you like how they sing

The lord of oil slick neck ties
keeper of the promised land
all the pigeons hang their heads
the wires are barren today
The god of the pigeons is dead

Dec 16th 2007

I'm jus sayin'

You can only imagine my deep relief when I discovered that my name was not listed on Mitchell's steroid report. I had gone before the Poetry Commission many times to tell them that none of my poems contained any illegal performance enhancing drugs. The strength of my poems came naturally from years of practice, drinking, stretches of poverty, broken romances, shattered dreams, fighting, more drinking, righteous rage against the Man, pedantic self righteousness, observation, angst, mood swings, and organized catharsis. But no steroids.

Any way, the last of Wordslingers show of the year brings us to the Christmas season.

Stay tuned as Kristy Bowen and Somara Zwick poetically, roast the chestnuts, jingle the bells, kick the tires and light the fires of the USS Sleigh 2007 and bring it on home! Sunday 8-9 pm 88.7 fm WLUW and streaming live on www.wluw.org

Dec 2nd 2007

Meanwhile this Sunday night and while the weather outside is frightful,

and the politicians are dumb and spiteful

and there's no particular place to go

So catch the show, catch the show, catch the show...

Ok that's as witty as I can get. Dec 2nd from 8-9 pm 88.7 fm WLUW and streaming live from www.wluw.org

Wordslingers features the thoughts and artistry of Chris Green and Tony Trigilio

Tony Trigilio is the author of the book of poems, THE LAMA'S ENGLISH
LESSONS (Three Candles, 2006). His poems also have appeared recently
in CREAM CITY REVIEW, DIAGRAM, LA PETITE ZINE, MiPOESIAS, NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW, RATTLE, and the anthology THE CITY VISIBLE: CHICAGO POETRY FOR THE NEW CENTURY (Cracked Slab, 2007). He also is the author of the recently published book of criticism, ALLEN GINSBERG'S
BUDDHIST POETICS (Southern Illinois UP, 2007), and a forthcoming literature anthology, co-edited with Tim Prchal, titled VISIONS AND DIVISIONS: AMERICAN IMMIGRATION LITERATURE, 1870-1930 (Rutgers UP; due out in March 2008). He teaches at Columbia College Chicago, where he directs the program in Creative Writing - Poetry and co-edits the poetry journal COURT GREEN.

Chris Green’s poems have appeared in numerous publications, including Poetry, Verse, Black Clock, North American Review, RATTLE, 5 AM, Poet Lore, and Poetry East. His book, The Sky Over Walgreens, was published in 2007 by Mayapple Press; his chapbook, Conceptual Animals, was published in 2006 by Sheltering Pines Press. He lives in Evanston, Illinois, where he teaches writing at Loyola University and DePaul University. He is also a Visiting Fellow at the DePaul University Humanities Center.

Nov 18th 2007

This Sunday night on Wordslingers 11/18/07

From the Heights! Chicago Heights that is, poetry's own lyrical incendiary device Esteban Colon will be interveiwed by Shelley J. Nation. Miss this on Sunday and you'll be a turkey on Monday!

Here's Esteban's bio as penned by Waiting For the Bus' own Buddha 309

American poet, Steven Columbus fought for Spain during the first world war. After the war, Steven, changed his name to Esteban Colon and became a famous underground political activist. Often called the Scourge of Rhetoric, Esteban indiscriminately attacked both liberals and conservatives alike. All that mattered were the rights of the people. Legend tells of Esteban knocking street corner evangelists from their soap boxes for espousing hatred in the name of God. In 1921 the great poet mysteriously disappeared, only to be found frozen in the arctic and completely preserved in natural suspended animation in the fall of 1995.
Currently, Esteban resides on the political poets commune in Southern Illinois. He spends his time filling the gaps in his memory and teaching the next generation how to write, both, beautiful and pointed

verse."

Nov 4th 2007

This Sunday's episode of Wordslingers 11/4/04 has more sizzle than a skillet full of bacon!

Would I lie? And if I am, the only way to know about it would be

to tune in or stream in or put your ear up close to the door from 8pm to 9pm 88.7 fm WLUW and streaming live from www.wluw.org

The Triple Treat features

Shelley Nation conductor, keyboard arrangements and flamethrower

Maureen Flannery on kettle drums, pea whistle and lyrical archery

Nina Corwin on cow bells, steel guitar and poetic poniard.

And me? I'm just a dude stayin' the hell outta the way!

Anyway if you like what you hear tell somebody!

Blog it Link it, pass it around to your friends and fellow poets like the common cold!

OCT 21st 07

This Sunday on Wordslingers 10/21/07 8-9pm 88.7 FM WLUW and streaming live on www.wluw.org Michael C. Watson, aka the adopted son of Godzilla and Mothra will interview Brent Mesick aka Man of a Thousand Faces Red Flagged by Homeland Security.

Brent Mesick, poet, activist, actor, writer and winner of the 2004 Newberry Library Bughouse Square Debates, has been active in the arts for years. Brent has read for the Arlington Poetry Project, Coffee Chicago, The Cafe, and Molly Malone's, among others. He is the only person, in Marc Smith's recollection, to be simultaneously booed and cheered at the Green Mill.

Brent read for "Poets Against the War", co-sponsored Poetrypoetry.com. His performance can be heard on PoetryPoetry's website or on the sold out CD from Lulu.com. He has read for "Poets for Peace and Justice", "Poets for Human Rights" and "Epiphany: Poets of Heart and Vision".

He has performed and written for "Democracy Burlesque", a monthly variety show described as a cross between Saturday Night Live and the Daily Show. Brent penned such sketches as "Don Cheney: The Godfather", "Star Trek, The Wrath of Condi", "The Osama Bin Reilly Factor" and "Da Mare Daley Charm and Deportment School".

He is a founding member of the street theater group UNSCUM, or the "United Neighbors Special Commission on Unconcealed Missiles". Not finding WMDs in the Mideast, UNSCUM instead searched the Midwest - usually in Chicago neighborhoods with minimal police presence.

On the USA Patriot Act's anniversary, Brent went to Federal Plaza during rush hour dressed as a Catholic Reverend and held a funeral for the Bill of Rights - complete with bagpipe dirge. For this effort, Brent was awarded a place in the Homeland Security database.

Wordslingers airs on the 1st and 3rd Sunday nights from 8pm to 9pm live from the campus of Loyola University on 88.7fm WLUW and streaming live on www.wluw.org Archives of past shows can be found in the Wordslingers' Vox Cafe.
Now approaching it's 8th year, Wordslingers is all about poetry; no hype, no hustle, just the word, the rhythm, the vibe and the vision of poetic perception in the pulse between the power and the page!

Nuff Said.

Michael Covenant Watson

host of Wordslingers Poetry On the Radio

founder of Wordslingers.org

Vision without action is a daydream
Action without vision is a nightmare.

Japanese proverb.

Oct 07 07

Dear Diary, Saw Santa clone in full regalia wearing a Cubs cap. Backwards of course. Looked for nice sized rock to throw, kinda like Ernest T Bass. And why does my protein drink smell like gin?

Anyway

This Sunday's can't miss episode of Wordslingers will be as insightful as Meet the Press but as much fun as Rockem Sockem Robots. All the more reason for you to tell every poet in earshot or email-shot about Wordslingers Oct 7 on 88.7 FM WLUW and streaming live on www.wluw.org 8pm to 9pm.

New York Born and New Jersey raised,Chris Gallinari has since found his poetic vibe here in Chicago where he's lived since 93
He received a B.A. from Drew University in Madison NJ in 1987 and graduated from NYU Law School in 1990.
He began writing poetry in February 2006 and since that time has appeared frequently at open mikes and poetry readings about Chicago including a stint at the 2007 Chicago Printers Row Book Fair.
His regular open mike poetry home is Waiting 4 the Bus at Jaks Tap, first and third Mondays of every month. Chris first read there in the Spring of 2006 and has been a fixture at that show ever since.

And Speaking of Waiting 4 the Bus.

David Hargarten aka Buddha 309 started performing poetry in the basement of a Ravenswood Rib Joint in 1996, and has performed at many venues around the city. He is the co-founder of The Finite Machine Website, now defunct, and spent a brief period as the co-host of Nina Corwin's Word Gourmet, Now he's currently host of Waiting 4 the bus at Jaks tap 901 W. Jackson) on the first and third Mondays of the month. He's been shot at 3 times for various unsavory reasons that cannot be explained on the radio. He also comes in in a re-sealable bag for easy storage of his poetic leftevers.

Wordslingers airs on the 1st and 3rd Sunday nights from 8pm to 9pm live from the campus of Loyola University on 88.7fm WLUW and streaming live on www.wluw.org Archives of past shows can be found in the Wordslingers' Vox Cafe.
Now approaching it's 8th year, Wordslingers is all about poetry; no hype, no hustle, just the word, the rhythm, the vibe and the vision of poetic perception in the pulse between the power and the page!

Nuff Said.

Michael Covenant Watson

host of Wordslingers Poetry On the Radio

founder of Wordslingers.org

Vision without action is a daydream
Action without vision is a nightmare.

Sept 16th2007

This Sunday's episode of Wordslingers is gonna be good! So good that paparazzi will stake out our homes> Super models will take me up on my offer of a date at Harold's Chicken. Geo W. will bring all the troops home so they can hear the show. Osama will pop out of six year old Easter egg and surrender while reading S&M poems about Condoleezza. The Cubs' curse will be lifted, the Bears will get an actual quarterback and the next time you see Brittany Spears she'll have Wordslingers tattooed on her...

Alright! Pass on that last one, but please, don't pass on this Sunday!

"Wordslingers' guest for September 16th from 8pm- 9 pm will be Kurt Heintz... plus about ten other poets who are fresh features in the Book of Voices. (http://voices.e-poets.net) Some voices include Chris Gallinari, Mark Perlberg, Duriel Harris, and (no relation) Roberto Harris.

Heintz has curated and developed this online collection of poetry in audio
since 1999. It has been a subject of study in schools and universities since then, particularly as aural literacy has gained significance in contemporary lit' studies. Sunday's show will break it down for new listeners, and roll out the new verse for veteran web poetry fans. Be prepared for a tour de force of spoken word from Chicago and beyond, as two vets of the scene review what's new and coming soon in the Book of Voices."

Death Star Date 09 02 07

I’m jus’sayin…

It’s the Labor day weekend. Which means what? Once you get past the smell of barbeque, or manage not get smash mangled during an

alcohol juiced stock car road trip to ratsville or swallow copious amounts of aspirin and despair because your dream version of labor has little to do with what you actually do for a living, the September future resembles a long road of compromised hygiene and retrofitted reasons for self medication.

Any way this Sunday night on Wordslingers 9/2//07 8pm-9 pm 88.7 fm WLUW and streaming live on www.wluw.org

Chicagoan and Columbia College graduate Lee Kitzis is described as as a young poet that has done more than most poets have done in a lifetime. He’s been performing his work in Chicago for over ten
years, featuring at many venues in Chicago, including venues
such as The Café, Pontiac Produce, The Oak Park Library, The
Skokie Public Library, The DVA Gallery, and Big Horse. He produced a series of poet-band concerts at The Bop Shop and several suburban locations. His poetry has appeared in numerous publications, including: After Hours, Ink, U-Direct, and The Columbia Chronicle. He’s edited two editions of the "Anti-Mensch Anthology", and the short-lived magazine Big Pen. He has published two books with the Puddin'head Press "The Laundromat Girl" and "Eight Dollars An Hour".

Sandy Goldsmith has been writing poetry since college. In her poetry are experiences of handing down family traditions as granddaughter, daughter, mother, and grandmother. Her poems have appeared in numerous literary journals and
anthologies, including Skylark, Rockford Review, The Lucid Stone, Rambunctious Review, and Rhino. She has performed her work at all the major
poetry venues in the Chicago area. She has won prizes from Poets and Patrons, Triton College, and The Pennsylvania Poetry Society and is a recipient of the Joanne Hirschfield Memorial Prize for Poetry. She is a long time member of The Poets' Club of Chicago. Sandy Goldsmith's new book is called "Imaging Center".

David Gecic is the editor in chief of The Puddin'head Press, one of Chicago's longest running and most active presses. Puddin'head Press has been around since 1985 and has produced many books by Chicago's favorite poets. David Gecic has hosted poetry readings at many locations including The Oak Park Library, The Skokie Library, The Alsip Library, The Bartlett Library, The Worth Library, Estelles, The Gallery Caberet, The Bop Shop, The Waukegan Yacht Club, The Chesterton IN Book Fair, The Printer's Row Book Fair, and the Harold Washington Library, His work has appeared in several magazines and journals including Afterhours and Hammer Magazine. He’ currently a member of Neutral Turf, a not-for-profit organization that promotes teen poetry. He is one of
the founding members of the Red Path Theater Company.

Wordslingers airs on the 1st and 3rd Sunday nights from 8pm to 9pm live from the campus of Loyola University on 88.7fm WLUW and streaming live on www.wluw.org Archives of past shows can be found in the Wordslingers' Vox Cafe.
Now approaching it's 8th year, Wordslingers is all about poetry; no hype, no hustle, just the word, the rhythm, the vibe and the vision of poetic perception in the pulse between the power and the page!

Nuff Said.

Michael Covenant Watson

host of Wordslingers Poetry On the Radio

founder of Wordslingers.org

Acme Building

2418 W. Bloomingdale

Chicago, IL 60647

A new Venue+ A cool host+ Your Voice = a whole lotta ooohing and ahhhing and folks swooning as you do that poetic thang you do.

I'm jus' sayin' ...
with temperatures popping in the 90 plus range, Sunday 7/16/06 is gonna bGerald Lampert Award for the best first book of poetry published in Canada in 2005, and was named one of 2005's "Books of the Year" by The Globe and Mail. Her poems have appeared in various journals in the U.S. and Canada, including Poetry, Denver
Quarterly, The Colorado Review, and The Canary. She won the 1998 Canadian Literary Award for Poetry and has twice been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Born and raised in Canada, she received her M.F.A. from the Iowa Writers' Workshop and currently teaches at the University of Chicago.

Tell somebody!

I'm jus' sayin'...

A sure sign I'm getting soft in my old age.The air conditioner is already set on 'hibernate'
By the time summer is in full swing ading series of poetry that engages social issues, and is the founding editor of the literary journal Ink & Ashes :: a journal of the senses. Some of his work has appeared in Witness: Anthology of Poetry (Serengeti Press); Out of Line; Poets Against the War; Voices in Wartime; Snow Monkey; Poems Niederngasse; and After Hours. His awards include a poetry fellowship from the Vermont Studio Center.

http://www.francescolevato.com

Tell Somebody!

Wordslingers
The words we live are not for the meek!

This Sunday 7/02/06 Wordslingers promises you enough poetry to melt your brain right out of it’s straitjacket and into the ubiquity of syncopated inspiration.

Whoa!

Carolyn Aguila has written and worked with several art organizations, including the Gwendolyn brooks Literary Estate, the Chicago Depart of Cultural Affairs and the National Poetry Slam.
Carolyn’s work has been published in Roosevelt University’s Oyez Review and she is featured on the spoken word cd, She Laughs. She’s performed throughout the Chicago area in such venues as The Green Mill, Café Aloha, Harold Washington Library, the Evanston Ethnic Arts Council. Published by EM Press, Flirting With Rhyme and Reason is Carolyn’s first book.
Nick Twemlow is features editor for the newly-launched Web site, PoetryFoundation.org, based out of the Poetry Foundation in Chicago, also co-editor of a poetry-only journal, The Canary The Canary.org
He is from the Midwest, attended the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and has published poems and articles in a range of journals and magazines. He spent last year in New Zealand on a Fulbright fellowship.

Suzanne Buffam's first collection of poetry, Past Imperfect (House of Anansi), won the Gerald Lampert Award for the best first book of poetry published in Canada in 2005, and was named one of 2005's "Books of the Year" by The Globe and Mail. Her poems have appeared in various journals in the U.S. and Canada, including Poetry, Denver
Quarterly, The Colorado Review, and The Canary. She won the 1998 Canadian Literary Award for Poetry and has twice been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Born and raised in Canada, she received her M.F.A. from the Iowa Writers' Workshop and currently teaches at the University of Chicago.

Tell somebody!

I'm jus' sayin'...

A sure sign I'm getting soft in my old age.The air conditioner is already set on 'hibernate'
By the time summer is in full swing I'll have it set to 'cryogenic' I'm making up for all the years I stubbornly went without the thing- some macho contest of mind over temperature thing I'm sure.

Anyway... This Sunday, ( and yes I know it's father's day and no, there are no fiendish, crazy lookingweird acting duplicates of me running around either!) Wordslingers features the words and thoughts of Andrea Change and Steven Schroeder Tune in or streaming live to 88.7 fm WLUW 8pm -9pm.

ANDREA CHANGE has been a part of the Chicago Poetry scene for more than 17 years. Her work as been published in a number of poetry mags, journals and has been included in the poetry antholgies, Powerlines and Stray Bullets. Her poetry was also included in the
Steppenwolf Theatre production, Words On Fire.

STEVEN SCHROEDER received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1982. He grew up in the Texas Panhandle, and his poetry continues to be rooted in the experience of the Plains, which teaches attention to "nothing that is not there" but more especially to "the nothing that is." His poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in the Cresset, Georgetown Review, Halcyon, Karamu, Mid-America Poetry Review, Petroglyph, Poetry East, Rhino, the Texas Poetry Calendar, Texas Review, and other literary journals. Translations of his poetry have appeared in two Chinese journals and in the annual publication of the Druskininkai Poetic Fall festival in Lithuania. He was just named first prize winner in Rambunctious Review's 2005 poetry contest. His most recent collection is Fallen Prose , published by Virtual Artists Collective in 2006.

Wordslingers airs on the first and third Sunday nights from 8pm to 9pm.
Also please check out Wordslingers.org for over 45 hours of poetic archives of past shows. Submissions of poetry and essays are welcome.

So come Sunday night kick back, get you something to drink, something to smoke, or whatever is you do to vibrate with the Infinite ... and listen.

Tell people!
Tell people!
Tell people!
Check out the poems on the Wordslingers site
Check out the audio archives in the Vox Cafe.
Check out the fact that new poets, new voices are always welcome.

Wordslingers is all about poetry. Period

nuff said.

Thanks in advance!

WHAT'S HAPPENING? For the writers and the real deal poets out there it's all about ideas, big ideas and small ideas and different ways at looking at some of the not so good ideas of what could be our last night on earth. Practice good mental hygiene- break the hate, refine the paradigm and watch out for mood twisters, narcissists and right wingers poetically posing as left leaning lyricists.

What's happening on the first and third Sunday nights for the rest of the year?

MARCH 5th Erika Mikkalo & Kathy Kubic
MARCH 19th Esteban Colon & Oz Devilhorse

April 2nd Aurora Danai & Yvonne Orr Richardson
April 16th J.J. Tindall & Dan Godston

May 7th Charlie Newman & Joel Brussell
May 21st Bob Raskow & Cathleen Schandelmeier

June 4th Margie Mack & Kimberly McMahon
June 18th Steven Schroeder & Andrea Change

July 2nd Carolyn Aguila & Kay Barrett
July 16th Lauren and Francesco Levato

August 6th Gregorio Gomez & Todd Heldt
August 20th Gordon Laio & Lawrence Sawyer

Sept 3rd Katherinne Bardales
Sept 17th Nina Corwin and Kurt Heintz

Oct 1st Carol Anderson & Francois LeRoux
Oct 15 Nissa Holtkamp & Larry O Dean

Nov 5th Valerie Wallace & Joseph Woods
Nov 19th Mark Eleveld

Dec 3rd Jared Smith & Tom Roby
Dec 17th Kristy Bowen & Somara Zwick

What's more...

WORDSLINGERS IS ON THE LOOK OUT for hard hitting, chest poundin', muckrakin', page burnin', stage rockin' poets to feature in 2006. If you're an acrobat of irony, a swashbuckler of syntax and you're hacked off about the world, the country, the city, political skullduggery, gentrification, the war, hunger, AIDS, discrimination... Be heard! Drop me a line, submit a poem, be featured online and on the radio 2006!

In the meantime...

Welcome to WORDSLINGERS, where the words we live are not for the meek! This site has been a long time coming as many listeners and poets around Chicago can attest to. It took me this long to spring this basically because I tend to over think even the simplest things. But once I get moving… game on!

WORDSLINGERS is where you’ll find audio files of past episodes of the radio show featuring the poetry and thoughts of any number of Chicago area poets, as well as dynamic written works by poets that take their passion for words seriously. In addition I’m opening up a page for commentary and essays that hopefully will touch on a variety of thought snatching subjects. Please view Wordslingers as a kind of salon, where ideas are tossed around. And who knows, inspiration, like lightning may strike you!

THE BULLPEN is the place to let you know who’s doing what, reading what and where they’re doing it. I’ll update this weekly, so please keep me in the loop as to what’s going on and we’ll let everybody in on it!

THE WORDS WE LIVE is where poetry rises up to seduce the lingo.

SUBMIT A POEM To be considered just copy/paste your work in the box. Same goes for essays too!

THE VOX CAFE is growing archive of past Wordslingers shows from some of Chicago greatest poetic talents!

RELENTLESS THOUGHTS is where essays and commentary play speedbag with the status quo.

RESOURCES are links to people, places and services. Network at will!

REACH ME at mwatson@questinternet.net or wordshamanmcw@hotmail.com

So by all means submit poetry, essays, events, letters, etc. I’m turning WORDSLINGERS.ORG over to the poets of Chicago.

Abrazos all around.

Nuff said.