RL Raymond, who will be launching his third book, 'Half Myths and Quarter legends' at the Dec. 5th London Open Mic Poetry Night, has just been nominated for the prestigious 2013 Pushcart Prize.

The New York-based Pushcart Prize - Best of the Small Presses series, published every year since 1976, is, according to the prize's publishers, "the most honored literary project in America". Writers who were first noticed by the prize over the years include Raymond Carver, Tim O’Brien, Jayne Anne Phillips, Charles Baxter, Andre Dubus, Susan Minot, Mona Simpson, John Irving, Rick Moody, and many more.

RL Raymond, who has been nominated for the prestigious 2013 Pushcart Prize, will be launching his third book, ‘Half  Myths & Quarter Legends’, at the December 5th London Open Mic Poetry Night, held at Mykonos Restaurant, 572 Adelaide St. N. Music starting at 6:30, event at 7:00.

The interviewer is Stan Burfield, the organizer of
London Open Mic Poetry Night. 
　

Stan:   When did you begin writing poetry and what got you into it?

RLR:   I remember writing stories as a kid. Then for a while, I didn’t write a thing. It began in earnest during my university years; that’s when I started writing poetry. I was published in a few journals. I wrote, but not really seriously. Then I went dark for a few years when I graduated. It’s only the last 4 or 5 years that I’ve

Dawna Perry will host London Open Mic Poetry Night
beginning at the next event, December 5th. 

Originally from Strathroy, Dawna graduated from King’s
University College at UWO in 2011 with an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in English and French literature. She currently works as a senior tutor at The Write Place at King’s University College, where she tutors students in writing. She also works with the creative writing faculty to organize events such as authors’ visits, student readings, and poetry workshops for The Write Place creative writing and poetry groups. 

Ms Perry has been writing for as long as she can remember, but has focused almost exclusively on poetry for the last ten years. She has been published in The Western Gazette, The Bridge, and Propaganda. 

Elliot Sapp will be hosting the ‘table-reading’ segment of Poetry Night. He originated the idea prior to the first event and will introduce the segment and help it along. 

Elliot, 24, has a degree in Radio and TV Arts with a minor in English from Ryerson and currently works on the eMedia team at London Life. 

He has worked on a number of diverse projects, including assisting in marketting promotion for the indie movie, 'Exit Throught the Gift Shop,’ by the graffitti artist Banksy. 

Dawna Perry and Elliot Sapp are both members of Poetry Night’s organizing committee. 

Stan Burfield, who hosted the first two events of London Open Mic Poetry Night, will continue as organizer of the series and will introduce some of the featured readers.

(Stan: I only made a suggestion to Kevin, and a very light one at that, a couple times, that if he wrote a poetry-related personal essay for this page he would earn the right to have one of his poems posted with it. That’s all there was to it.)

ALRIGHT ALRIGHT ALRIGHT ALREADY by Kevin Andrew Heslop
 
The purpose of the following personal essay is to make it clear to Stan that I refuse to write a personal essay under any circumstances whatever.

A personal essay seems so much margarine to me. With poetry, or with a list, even, you got the bullets: bang bang bang. I got the idea across. I got the information across. Good. Have a nice day. I mean, there’s usually so much fluff and pomp that you get bored and if you haven’t done by now I’m sure you won’t see my point. 

 I went down to Organic Works yesterday evening, in our first snowfall, for the launch of the second season of Karen Schindler’s Baseline Press. 

The room was packed when I arrived, and by the time the readings started they had brought in more chairs and people were lining the walls in the back. I had scouted out the place before as a possible venue for Poetry Night, so I knew that there had to be more than sixty people there. And on the book table at the back were stacks of Karen’s amazingly beautiful handmade chapbooks, each one cut and stitched by her own labour, craft and art. 

I had read that Stewart Cole would be one of the guest readers. He had read at the last Poetry London reading and I really wanted to experience him reading his poems again. Not only had I been exhilerated, to some degree, the first time, but