Here’s a Facebook message from poet M.A. Schaffner about a local reading that sounds incredibly interesting. I also like that his announcement, which shows that “shameless self-promotion” can come off nicely:
Dear Friends,
Back in the nineties Jim Henley, Sunil Freeman, and I got invited to read what we called "poems" at the Takoma Park library. Rather than stand up and do twenty minutes each, we decided to sit around and play off each other's work, sort of like musicians. Inspired (if you can call it that) by Robert Bly, we decided to call ourselves "Men Without Drums."
It all took off from there. Some of you may remember the sonnet "Smoke My Cicada" topping the poetry charts in mid-decade, or the packed houses at RFK stadium. Then came the world tours with Aerosmith and Sting, mansions, groupies, ten foot spliffs lit with Woodrow Wilson gold certificates, blizzards of cocaine.
It couldn't last, of course. We started repeating ourselves, first writing villanelles, then pantoums because they were only half the work. We went into rehab programs that forced us to concentrate on prose. I went to work in a budget office.
But now we're back -- Wednesday, April 20, 7:30-8:30 p.m. at the Tenly Library in DC (right by the Tenlytown Metro station). http://www.facebook.com/l/d0f1c-sVxm9SmDL1oVCPWzc9CGA/www.dclibrary.org/node/598
It's free and you're invited. Please come on by and pass this on to anyone else you think might be interested. Thanks!
