London Open Mic Poetry Archive
  • Home
  • Frank Davey Blog
  • Stan Burfield Blog
    • Fred Burfield's Homestead Memoirs
  • Our Events
  • News
  • PHOTOS & SUMMARIES
    • Season 5: 2016-2017 >
      • June 7th, 2017: Summary & Photos featuring Stan Burfield
      • May 3rd, 2017, Summary & Photos featuring Jason Dickson
      • April 5th, 2017 Summary & Photos, feeaturing James Deahl & Norma West Linder
      • Mar. 1st, 2017: Photos & Summary featuring Andy Verboom
      • Feb. 1st, 2017: Photos & Summary featuring Ron Stewart
      • Dec. 7th, 2016: Photos & Summary featuring David Stones
      • Nov. 2th, 2016: Photos and Summary featuring Don Gutteridge
      • Oct. 5th, 2016: Photos and Summary featuring David Huebert
    • Season 4: 2015-2016 >
      • June 1st, 2016: Photos and summaries: featuring Lynn Tait
      • May 4th, 2016 Photos and Summary: featuring indigenous poetry
      • April 6, 2016 Photos & Summary, featuring Steven McCabe
      • Mar. 2nd, 2016 photos, summary: featuring Andreas Gripp
      • Feb. 3rd, 2016 photos: 3 Western students.
      • Dec. 2, 2015 photos: featured reader Peggy Roffey
      • Nov. 7, 2015 photos: Our Words Fest open mic
      • Nov. 4, 2015 photos: featured reader Charles Mountford
      • Oct. 7th, 2015 photos: Madeline Bassnett featured
    • Season 3, 2014-15 >
      • Aug. 16, 2015 photos: The Ontario Poetry Society's "Sultry Summer Gathering"
      • June 3rd, 2015 photos: John B. Lee featured
      • May 6th, 2015 photos: Laurie D Graham featured
      • Apr. 1st, 2015 photos: John Nyman & Penn Kemp featured
      • Mar. 4th, 2015 photos: Patricia Black featured.
      • Feb. 4th, 2015 photos: feature Gary Barwin
      • Dec. 3rd, 2014 photos: Feature Debbie Okun Hill
      • Nov. 5th, 2014 photos: feature Julie Berry
      • Oct. 1st, 2014 photos: feature Roy MacDonald
    • Season 2, Sept. 2013 to June 2014. >
      • June 4th, 20114, featuring Monika Lee
      • May 7th 2014, featuring Susan McCaslin and Lee Johnson
      • Sept. 4th, 2013 featuring Frank Beltrano
      • April 16th, 2014, featuring Penn Kemp and Laurence Hutchman
      • March 5th, 2014, featuring Jacob Scheier
      • Feb. 5th, 2014: featuring four UWO students of poetry; music by Tim Woodcock
      • Jan. 2nd, 2014: featuring Carrie Lee Connel
      • Dec. 4th, 2013, featuring M. NourbeSe Philip
      • Nov. 6, 2013 , featuring Susan Downe
      • Oct. 2nd, 2013, featuring Jan Figurski
    • Season 1: Oct. 2012 to June 2013 >
      • June 4th, 2013 featuring David J. paul and the best-ever open mic
      • May 1st, 2013, featuring Sonia Halpern
      • Apr. 24, 2013 featuring Frank Davey & Tom Cull
      • Mar. 6th, 2013, featuring Christine Thorpe
      • Feb. 6th, 2013, featuring D'vorah Elias
      • Jan. 3rd. 2013: John Tyndall featured.
      • Dec. 5, 2012: RL Raymond featured
    • Dig These Hip Cats ... The Beats
  • Poet VIDEOS (open mic & featured readers)
    • 5th Season Videos (2016-2017)
    • 4th Season Videos (2015-16)
    • 3rd Season Videos (2014-2015)
    • 2nd Season (2013-2014) videos
  • BIOGRAPHIES - Featured poets & musicians
  • INTERVIEWS & POEMS (featured poets)
    • SEASON 6 - Interviews & Poems >
      • Kevin Shaw: Poem & Interview
      • David Janzen - Interview
    • SEASON 5 INTERVIEWS & POEMS
    • SEASON 4 INTERVIEWS AND POEMS
    • SEASON 3 INTERVIEWS AND POEMS
    • SEASON 2 INTERVIEWS & POEMS (only from Dec. 4th, 2013)
    • Season 1 INTERVIEWS & POEMS (& 1st half of Season 2) >
      • INTERVIEWS of Featured Poets
      • POEMS by Featured Poets (1st Season & to Nov. 2013)
  • Couplets: Poets in Dialogue
  • Future Events
  • Past Events
    • 5th Season: 2016-2017
    • Season 4: 2015-2016
    • Season 3: 2014-2015
    • Season Two: 2013-2014
    • Season One: 2012-2013
  • Who we Are
  • Testimonial
  • Our Mission
  • Links
  • Contact us

"STAN BURFIELD"--a poem by Martin Hayter

6/19/2017

1 Comment

 
Picture
When Martin read this poem at London Open Mic (June 7th, 2017), it was intended as a tribute to me for founding the open mic and keeping it going these five seasons. But during that time Martin has come to know me so well--and is such a good poet--that listening to him read it was an astonishing experience for me, a bit like looking in a mirror, but much deeper, because what was being reflected wasn't the superficial me (which we introverts hardly notice anyway) but the inner me that I actually think of as myself. And it was so accurate! Here it is. --- Stan

STAN BURFIELD

Dreaming in science, he watches the brainwaves of REM sleep lining
the royal road to the subconscious, brighter with the logic filters off,
but from the eleventh floor balcony, he farms the nature of existence
in gardens of language, plowing through pages, his eyes lifting from

there to the sky, to gauge the rainfall, hoping for a harvest of poetry.
He shuffles through leaves, among the five pillars of wisdom reading
the trees, when his eyes stray to the discovery channel, where human
settlements line the tunnels of Mars, in computer-generated imagery.

Since his solitary pilgrimmages across Canada, exploring the foreign
parts of himself, since camping out rough in closed parks, wintering
in his own worst fear, and waiting for that wilderness inside to thaw,

still finding himself just shy of man, the dreaming scientist had found
instead the perrenial seeds of poetry, fielding memories into a prairie
with radiant horizons rushing out, taking him far from the farmhouse
his father built blind, to a tent and a book of poems read by flashlight.

And poetry became a kind of crop circle: he gathers people inside
the mystery of its existence, spiralling in its language, translating
the alien brought to earth, through poems tunneling, like black holes

filling with light: reasons here, for the readings on the event horizon,
and gradually shedding the husk of fear, he climbs storeys of stairs
to wonder again at the night sky, touching down in the dream state,

more accepting now of being, his apparent solidity, despite knowing
we're all just centres of gravity, where atoms constellate, with so much
space between, we could think ourselves alien, even unto ourselves

if we thought too obviously. Despite this, he hears what he listens to,
sees what he looks at, absorbs more of life now, keeping the ink wet
he once left drying in the distance, out of hearing of others who called

from so far away, he didn’t believe, and feared to believe, that they
were calling to him, until he circled back to claim his calling among us,
standing at the microphone, on the patio behind Mikonos, right here

the first Wednesday each month, for London Open Mic Poetry night:
his brainchild spoken for here. The farmer calls on the seasons of life
in generations of voices he announces by name, to a room in the world
his heart's made room for, marking his place in the leaves of grass.

No longer foreign on this mutual pilgrimmage to the podium, he reads
with humans he now stands among, paging the unknown, and moving
inward through prairies of poetry. Where we plant our feet can seem
a barren and solitary place of silence, but entering together, we bloom.


                                                 @@@


To read the summary of the event and see the slideshow.
To read the interview with Stan & three poems.​

Picture
Stan Burfield
1 Comment

Do you have an April poetry event?

4/1/2017

2 Comments

 
I'm making a list of National Poetry Month events in the London area (out as far as Sarnia and Stratford). Yes, it's starting today. If you have something you would like on it, send it to me ASAP at burfield@live.com
2 Comments

Deciding about the future of the open mic.

3/15/2017

0 Comments

 
As organizer, I have a big decision to make before the end of April. 

I want this to be my last season, and, if that turns out to be the case, there are three events left that I'm responsible for. But what comes after that? Well, at least we now know there will be a next season because we have a new volunteer who will be doing most of my duties, consisting of all the internet work (website, facebook, tweeting, newsletters, constant communication with people). Mary Dowds, whom I'm training now, is our new Internet Manager. Nobody else in our group either has the time or the ability to do this essential work. So, with Mary, the open mic will definitely be able to continue. 

The big question in my mind is what form the administration of the open mic will take. The ideal would be a group of equals, with each member taking responsibility for a share of the work, and each excitedly trying to make the open mic work. Sounds good, and it's my #1 hope, but having researched it a bit, it seems committee-run organizations tend to get bogged down in rancour and conflict, often resulting in some members leaving, and even, occasionally, the demise of the organization.

I have till the end of April to feel out the volunteers who are actively working on the open mic now. If I decide by then that a committee-run system wouldn't work then I have two choices: to appoint someone to take over my position, or to stay on as organizer for another season to try to work out some lasting solution more gradually. 
0 Comments

Streamlining the Open Mic

1/15/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
Linda and Stan Burfield on Maui, in slower times.
When I launched London Open Mic Poetry Night in October, 2012, I had no idea how much time it would take out of my life. I found out very quickly, but plugged on, amid a flurry of second thoughts. 

So how did I solve the problem? I didn’t. I just made it worse, continuously, by hatching up a series of ideas that each added more work. 

Okay, if I were paid for all this, that would be one thing, but money is an incentive that simply doesn’t exist in the world of poetry. Sheer stubbornness has to make up for it. And lately I’ve been wondering how far stubbornness will take me. 

There are only two actions I can think of that might help ensure the open mic’s longevity. Most burdened organizers would take the first: Simply hire staff to do all the detail work. But in a volunteer organization with virtually no income, that’s not possible. Okay, then how about volunteers doing it just because it makes them smile? No way. Their own lives are already too full. 

That leaves streamlining. Streamlining has become my big thing. I`m on the lookout. My bright ideas now are not concerned with growth, but with pruning, hacking, ripping out by the roots. 

For instance, from now on, instead of posting a batch of poems by the featured poet, and then a while later an interview, I’m going to post the interview and the poems together. 

That doesn’t sound like much? Okay, look at it this way: That one extra posting has to be put on the website, on both its interview-&-poems page and its home page, also on our Facebook page, also on several other group Facebook pages, also on our email list. It also has to be written, revised and revised again and again, edited, combined with a photograph, and these posted together properly in both the website and the Facebook page, differently in each. Then there are all the keystrokes involved, the copying, pasting, entering, making mistakes and correcting them and on and on. And half a day has gone by. So you get the idea. One less batch of all this stuff is an extra year added to my life. 

But a much more blessed, happy-making, life-saving act of streamlining would be simply to shorten the season. So far, we’ve been taking a two-month break in the summer, which really isn’t more than a couple weeks considering the time it takes to do followups to the last event and preparation for the next. So here’s the big change: Now I’m cutting two more months, September and January. The first Wednesday of September is still really holiday time for many, and so is the first Wednesday of January, which this year was New Year’s Day itself, and so had to be moved. Moved twice, it turned out, losing many people in its wake. 

Now Linda and I can seriously relax in the summer, and maybe even head for warmer climes in mid-winter! She will bask in the sun, and I in her smile.
0 Comments

Videos coming

9/16/2013

0 Comments

 
Our videographer, Erik Martinez Richards, has found that preparing the videos of the poets at our first event, like any first attempt at anything, is much more time-consuming and difficult than expected. 

Erik had to install and learn how to use new editing software, just for starters, and then discovered that all the videos had to be put in a different format for YouTube, which takes forever, and then there`s all the detailed hassle of creating website pages, posting everything on them, writing blurbs and on and on it goes. 

It makes me smile. 

Now at least one other person is beginning to get a small taste of what it takes to keep this boat sailing. 

Anyway, have patience. The videos are well worth waiting for. And in future events, Erik will have it all down and be as quick as...as....as Erik.

This will be a wonderful addition to the open mic. In future anyone who liked a poem someone read, but maybe it was read too fast for them or they got distracted and missed a couple lines, will get to see it all over again, assuming the poet allowed it to be taped.
0 Comments

SUCCESS AT THE MYKONOS, AND THE WAY FORWARD

3/10/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
Out of our first six events, four have seen between 45 and 50 attendees each, including the last three. 

The mix of music, poetry, food, drinks, the Greek atmosphere and good conversation makes for a great evening, and people look forward to returning. 

We have a place for established poets to read, and another, the open mic, for everyone, both the established poets and the amateurs like myself. 

There is a third group in London, some of whom also come to the open mic. They are the poets who are too young to be established, but who are also far too serious about their poetry to be seen as dabblers. These days they are finding the paths forward very difficult to negotiate, partly due to their numbers and the very long waits at the doors to the few serious journals that accept works by new poets. 

We would like to become useful in some way to these poets, in hopes we can help prevent them from completely giving up like so many have before them. We're actively thinking about this, and any suggestions from anyone would be welcome. A possible route for us might be workshops, one of which we have just begun. Workshops are a form of community, and nothing provides motivation as well as being part of a community. 

More on this later.

0 Comments

MORE ABOUT OUR ONLINE BOOK LAUNCHES

2/12/2013

0 Comments

 
(For those who skipped the previous post, we are planning to do an online launch of every book of poetry (or chapbook) released in the London area by all poets who have been previously published in two discriminating journals. The launches will include a batch of their previously-published poems, an interview, a bio and a photo,all posted here on our website  as well as 'promoted' on our Facebook page.

One thing I didn't specify in the main post about the launches was what I meant by local poets. I may as well define that here. Since the whole effort will depend on the time and energy of one person, yours truly, then for the first few months I will limit the area served to London and the immediate surrounding towns, as far out as St. Thomas and Ingersoll. If it turns out that not too many books are being turned out in that area (I think I can handle about one a month on average without going into cardiac arrest), then I will probably expand the area to include Sarnia, Stratford and Woodstock. 

Our very first launch, at least that I know of right now, will be for Penn Kemp, who is launching her next book, From Dream Sequins, at London Open Mic Poetry Night's special National Poetry Month Reading on April 24th at Landon Library. We will precede the event with our online book launch. 

If you, or anyone you know, will be releasing a poetry book or chapbook, definitely get ahold of me. Poets only have to fulfill one requirement, that they have previously been published in two discriminating literary journals. If they are unknown to me they will have to provide evidence that that requirement has been fulfilled. Otherwise, there are no requirements in terms of the book itself. It can be self-published or commercial, online-only or made out of paper. Because, let's face it, not even the best Canadian poets can walk into a big publishing house and expect to be greeted with a big smile. 

My email: burfield@live.com

Stan Burfield, organizer

0 Comments

What an Assortment of People We Poets Are

1/24/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
Those of you who have come to London Open Mic Poetry Night events at the Mykonos will be familiar with the incredible variety of people who write poems and read them at the open mic. By the time each person's five minutes are up you've just started to get used to that individual; you've deeply thought about and felt and watched, inside and out, that one of the zillions of forms that us human beings take. Then, with a clap and a few footsteps, someone entirely different is standing there. 

This is a big part of the enjoyment of our events.

It applies equally to the featured poets. So far I`ve read a book of poems by each of the four we`ve featured, as well as one by the next. And I've interviewed them and gotten to know them to some extent. And I`m amazed at how different they are from each other, in both their person and their poetry. I keep thinking the next one will compare to one of the others. Be similar. But no. How many wildly different kinds of poets can we possibly have? There are only so many directions on the compass. 

I'm really getting into this. Each book I read is a whole new world. 

0 Comments

SO FAR SO GOOD.... 

1/19/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
Canadian poetry legend Frank Davey
The first four months of London Open Mic Poetry Night's first season have been a success, with the last event, on Jan. 3rd, featuring John Tyndall, drawing a crowd of fifty to the terrace at the Mykonos Restaurant, even more than attended the series' launch. We're optimistic that the remaining five months of the season will be just as upbeat.

We've made good use of the first four events to test out and then toss out ideas that sounded much better in an excited discussion than they actually worked on the floor. In the process we ended up with a leaner, simpler event, composed  


Read More
0 Comments

REMINDER: 2 HRS. OF OPEN MIC ON THURSDAY

1/2/2013

1 Comment

 
Picture
In the beautiful Greek terrace at Mykonos restaurant, there will be lots of open mic, harp music like you’ve never heard before Celtic with song, and London’s own John Tyndall reading from his latest book of
poems. 

At 6:30, JENNIFER WHITE will open the evening with her incredibly lovely Celtic harp and vocals, performing her own work, accompanied   by percussionist Robert McMaster. You can hear a sample of  their music here: http://www.knockgrafton.com/contents.html

At 7:00 long-time Londoner JOHN TYNDALL comes on, reading from his latest book, ‘The Fee for Exaltation’. Tyndall’s spare, image-rich poetry reflects an interest in family, love, religion and traditions.  There will be a Q&A. Our interview with him:  http://www.londonpoetryopenmic.com/1/post/2012/12/john-tyndall-interview.html

We have doubled the length of our OPEN MIC this time to two hours. At five minutes per reader (which is roughly two big pages of poetry - but time yourself at home), that’s 24 readers. In case there aren’t that many, we will have A SECOND ROUND, so bring two five-minute batches if you would like to. If so, just write ‘yes’ in the appropriate space on your ballot when you enter.

There will be an intermission during the open mic, after which we will pick the winners of our three RAFFLE PRIZES. These will include Tyndall books and broadsheets. Everyone who donates to London Open Mic Poetry Night will receive a raffle ticket. 

WHERE: Mykonos Restaurant terrace, 572 Adelaide St. N., London. Wheelchair accessible; cover is by donation. Overflow parking available across the side street and in the large lot one block north, in front of Trad’s Furniture.

The terrace is enclosed and well-heated from above, but in cold weather there can be cool air at floor level so WEAR WARM FOOTWEAR.


1 Comment

A LOT OF PEOPLE READ OUR INTERVIEWS

12/31/2012

0 Comments

 
Picture
Poetry Night’s interviews with its featured poets are finding quite a few readers, considering the modest size of London. 
  
For instance in the roughly 4 days since I posted the interview with John Tyndall on our Facebook page and our website, 121 have read it directly on the Facebook page, and another 223 have found it elsewhere virally. I’m not so sure about the website because I can’t afford to upgrade to see the stats on individual posts, but an average of 70 people have been coming to the site daily. 
 
So now that all these poetry people have had their curiosity satisfied and they are definitely interested, there’s only one way to find that final satisfaction. They have to actually read some of Tyndall’s poems themselves. Or better still listen to him read them out loud. There’s only one place that will happen: at the Mykonos Restaurant on Thursday. Need I say more? Okay. At 6:30.Jennifer White and Robert McMaster are playing Celtic harp with song and percussion before the reading and it is being followed by raffled Tyndall giveaways, raffle tickets being given to everyone who donates to London Open Mic Poetry Night. After Tyndall, comes all the rest of us, roughly 24 open mic readers, reading for five minutes each. If there aren’t enough readers to fill the two hours, we will have a second round for those who brought a second five-minute batch of poems.

The Mykonos is at 752 Adelaide St. N., London, with parking, also overflow parking across the side street, plus one block N. in front of Trad’s Furniture. Cover by donation.

The terrace is enclosed and well-heated from above, but in cold weather there can be cool air at floor level so wear warm footwear.

0 Comments

TWICE AS MANY OPEN MIC READERS!!!

12/28/2012

0 Comments

 
Beginning at the Jan. 3rd open mic, we are increasing our open mic time from one hour to two hours.

At five minutes per reader, that means roughly 24 poets will be able to read. 
  
In the case that there aren't enough readers, we will have a second round of readings. So poets should bring enough poems for two five-minute readings. (On average it takes about five minutes to read two good pages of poetry, but you should time it at home before you come.)

The names of those who bring a second batch (excepting those who exceed their five minutes the first time) will be put back in the bowl for the second go-round, which will end when the two hours are up.

As usual, all readers will be selected randomly from the ballot bowl just before they read.
0 Comments

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012


    Categories

    All
    Administration
    Alan Leangvan
    Allen Cook
    Allen Ginsgerg
    Andreas Gripp
    Andy Verboom
    Anthology
    Basic Poetics Study Group
    Bernie Koenig
    Bill Paul
    Blog
    Book Launch
    Brighton Mckinnon
    Brittany Renaud
    Carl Lapp
    Carolyn Smart
    Carrie Lee Connel
    Chapters
    Chapters Reading Series
    Charmaine E. Elijah
    Cheryl Cashman
    Children's Poetry Workshop
    Christine Thorpe
    Coming Events
    Couplets: Poets In Dialogue
    David Heubert
    David Hickey
    David Stones
    Dawna Perry
    Debbie Okun Hill
    Dennis Siren
    Don Gutteridge
    Dorothy Nielsen
    E-journal
    Elliot Sapp
    Erik Mandawe
    Erik Martinez Richards
    Essay
    Featured Poet
    Founder
    Frank Beltrano
    Frank Davey
    Future
    Gabe Foreman
    Gary Barwin
    Gloria Alvernaz Mulcahy
    Guerrilla Poetry
    High-school English Students
    Indigenous
    Internet Manager
    Interview
    Jacob Scheier
    Jaime R. Brenes Reyes
    Jan Figurski
    Janice McDonald
    Jan Stewart
    Joan Clayton
    John B. Lee
    John Nyman
    John Tyndall
    Josef Kaplan
    Journals
    Julie Berry
    Karen Solie
    Kathryn Mockler
    Ken Babstock
    Kenny Khoo
    Kevin Heslop
    Laurence Hutchman
    Laurie D. Graham
    Lemon Hound
    Leonard Cohen
    Light Of East
    Linda Burfield
    Lineup
    London
    London Arts Council
    London Open Mic Poetry Night
    London Yodeller
    Louisa Howerow
    Marlene Laplante
    Martin Hayter
    Mary Dowds
    Media
    Monika Lee
    Music
    Mykonos Restaurant
    National Poetry Month
    Ola Nowosad
    Open Mic
    Organizer
    Patricia Black
    Peggy Roffey
    Penn Kemp
    Penn Kemp
    Photography
    Poem
    Poet Laureate
    Poetry
    Poetry London
    Poetry Night Essay
    Poetry Reading
    Poetry Study Group
    Poetry Workshop
    Press Coverage
    Prison Poetry
    Projects
    Rl Raymond
    Ron Stewart
    Roy MacDonald
    Sebastian Rydzewski
    Sharon Bee
    Sheila Deane
    Shelly Harder
    Sidewalk Poetry
    Slam
    Social Media
    Stan Burfield
    Students
    Summary
    Table Reading
    The Ontario Poetry Society
    Tom Cull
    TOPS
    Tribute
    Videos
    Volunteers
    Workshop

Proudly powered by Weebly