We Won!!!

Some of you may know that I have an avatar in the virtual reality game, Second Life (SL). Her name is Babu Writer, and here is a link to her blog, TheLemonPrincess. Babu and her creative partner, Flyw Jie, are working on a book bearing this title. Last weekend they (we) participated in SL's first-ever book fair. And guess what!

The Lemon Princess booth won $1000L for best booth display. For the next few weeks you can still visit it at The Book Publishing Village in Wallaby. During the fair there was real-life (RL) press coverage in some trade publications, and there was even a story on BBC4.

As a result of doing well at the Book Fair, on Sunday evening Babu Writer was invited to read some of her poetry at The Blue Angel, SL's hottest poetry venue, and she did. It was well received. Babu was tagged by a RL editor on the way out. Is something more real in the works? One hopes.

Thursday's Poetry Reading a Great Success

Wow, what a night. I have never seen a poetry audience so attentive. There were about 70 people at our event at the Creative Alliance Thursday night. The theater was set up like a club, tables set with votice candles up in front, and rows of seats in the back.

The poets had seats along the side of the stage. Chris introduced the first poet, each of us introduced the next one. Eleven of us read poems, Chris included. Everyone looked so hot, and every single one of us was terrific!

Upstairs in the gallery guests enjoyed our visual art pieces. They will be there until April 28, so come check them out!!

My visual piece is called "The Descent of Inanna, Goddess of Laundry." It's the tale of an Italian American "princess" who goes to her brother-in-law's funeral, runs into some gangsters, and winds up in jail. Of course it's all her husband's fault, so she sells him out. But she's a loyal member of the family, so she returns home after that to do her mother-in-law's laundry. Below the clothesline is an ironing board, sprayed gold, an old fashioned black iron, tied with a red satin ribbon, and a gold laundry basket, full of clothes. There are seven verses in the poem. I put each verse onto a tshirt transfer and ironed them onto white items of clothing. On the ironing board itself is a final shirt, explaining the original Sumerian myth. Hidden in the laundry basked is a small boom box, which plays Italian pop music.

Come to my Poetry Reading!

Some of you know I am in a poetry workshop with teacher Chris Stewart at the Creative Alliance (housed at the Patterson Theatre). We're having a visual poetry exhibit and reading on Thursday, April 12. (Don't panic, the readings are short, and all of the poems have been workshopped.) Please come! Bring friends!

Note: YOU MUST RSVP to the email addy or number below so that your name is on the attendee list. Also please let me know if you are coming. (You can post a comment below.)

OK, here's the official invite from Chris:

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Please join us for an evening of poetry to celebrate National Poetry Month with the Write Here, Write Now workshops at Creative Alliance. Christine Stewart, CA artist in residence, and WHWN members Leo Horrigan, Michael Kelly, Rachel Lucke, Cliff Lynn, Eugenie Nable, Lisa Orenstein, Aimee Pohl, Kathy Spath, Shara Terjung, and Nicole Walton, present Visual Poems at a reception upstairs in the Amalie Rothschild gallery, followed by a reading of their work in the Patterson Theatre.

The event is April 12th. Gallery show/reception begins at 6 pm; the reading is at 7 pm. Please RSVP as space is limited. The event is free, but a $5 donation to cover costs is suggested (and appreciated!). Please include all the names of those in your party for the guest list.

RSVP to info@creativealliance.org or call: 410-276-1651.