NEXT READING: OCTOBER 15TH AT 7:00 P.M.!

Skazat! kicked off its new season with an electrifying feature performance last month by Megan Levad, and we’re back strong in October with a special book release celebration for the incredible Sean Thomas Dougherty!  Sean’s new book, Scything Grace (Etruscan Press, 2013), evokes “smoke lit pool halls, back roads, rehab centers, truckstops and diners of the still industrial lands” to bring us the stories of “men and women barely working, just getting by, but every morning still going on, even if unsure.”

Whether you’re a page poet, slammer, performance artist or refuse a label, we want to hear your new stuff on our open mic. We look forward to sharing autumn (and great coffee) with you and invite you to join this free open mic and monthly reading series!

Sign up! 7:00 p.m.

7:15 p.m. – Open mic

8:00 p.m. – Featured Reader

Sean Thomas Dougherty is the author or editor of thirteen books across genre including the forthcoming All I Ask for Is Longing: Poems 1994- 2014 (2014 BOA Editions), Scything Grace (2013 Etruscan Press), Sasha Sings the Laundry on the Line (2010 BOA Editions) which was a finalist for Binghamton University Milton Kessler’s literary prize for the best book by a poet over 40, the prose-poem-novel The Blue City (2008 Marick Press/Wayne State University), and Broken Hallelujahs (2007 BOA Editions).  He is the recipient of two Pennsylvania Council for the Arts Fellowships in Poetry and a Fulbright Lectureship to the Balkans. Known for his electrifying performances he has performed at hundreds of venues, universities and festivals across North America and Europe including the Lollapalooza Music Festival, the Detroit Art Festival, the South Carolina Literary Festival, the Old Dominion University Literary Festival, Carnegie Mellon University,The University of Maine, Sarah Lawrence College, SUNY Binghamton, U of California Santa Cruz, the Rochester Symphony Orchestra, the Erie Jazz Festival, the London (UK) Poetry Cafe and the BardFest Series in Budapest Hungary, and across Albania and Macedonia where he appeared on national television, sponsored by the US State Department.  His work has been read on PBS radio in Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Rochester and Cleveland. He currently lives in Erie, PA where he works in a pool hall and writes his poems.

Next Reading: July 16th at 7:00 p.m.

Last chance to get your Skazat! on before we take a break in August! Whether you’re a page poet, slammer, performance artist or refuse a label, we want to hear your new stuff on our open mic. We look forward to sharing summer (and great coffee) with you and invite you to join this free open mic and monthly reading series!

This month we’re pleased to welcome feature reader Robert Fanning!

Sign up! 7:00 p.m.
7:15 p.m. – Open mic
8:00 p.m. – Featured Reader 

Robert Fanning is the author of American Prophet (Marick Press), The Seed Thieves (Marick Press) and Old Bright Wheel (Ledge Press Poetry Award). His poems have appeared in Poetry, Ploughshares, Shenandoah, The Atlanta Review, and other journals. A graduate of the University of Michigan and Sarah Lawrence College, he is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Central Michigan University. He is also the founder and facilitator of the Wellspring Literary Series in Mt. Pleasant, MI., where he lives with his wife, sculptor Denise Whitebread Fanning, and their two children.

To read more of his work, visit www.robertfanning.wordpress.com.

Next Reading: Tuesday, June 18th at 7:00 p.m.!

Whether you’re a page poet, slammer, performance artist or refuse a label, we want to hear your work on the open mic and we want to see you in the audience for our feature reader!

 

Sign up! 7:00 p.m.

 

7:15 p.m. – Open mic

 

8:00 p.m. – Featured Reader

 

This month join us for the awesome kim d. hunter!

kim d. hunter is life-long Detroiter employed in media relations for nonprofits. He has served as Poet-in-Residence in several Detroit public schools through the InsideOut Literary Arts Project.  He co-directs the Woodward Line Poetry Series. His work has appeared in Rainbow Darkness, Abandon Automobile, Triage, Hipology, Metro Times, Dispatch Detroit and  Graffiti Rag.  His has published two collections of poetry: borne on slow knives (Past Tents, 2001) and edge of the time zone (white print inc, 2009). He became a Kresge Literary Arts Fellow in 2012 with a collection of short fiction, The Official Report on Human Activity. His work can be seen and heard at www.kimhunterdetroit.com.

Next Month our featured reader will be Robert Fanning!

Next Reading: Tuesday, June 18th at 7:00 p.m.

Whether you’re a page poet, slammer, performance artist or refuse a label, we want to hear your work on the open mic and we want to see you in the audience for our feature reader!

Sign up! 7:00 p.m.

7:15 p.m. – Open mic

8:00 p.m. – Featured Reader

This month join us for the awesome kim d. hunter!

kim d. hunter is life-long Detroiter employed in media relations for nonprofits. He has served as Poet-in-Residence in several Detroit public schools through the InsideOut Literary Arts Project.  He co-directs the Woodward Line Poetry Series. His work has appeared in Rainbow Darkness, Abandon Automobile, Triage, Hipology, Metro Times, Dispatch Detroit and  Graffiti Rag.  His has published two collections of poetry: borne on slow knives (Past Tents, 2001) and edge of the time zone (white print inc, 2009). He became a Kresge Literary Arts Fellow in 2012 with a collection of short fiction, The Official Report on Human Activity. His work can be seen and heard at www.kimhunterdetroit.com.

Next Month our featured reader will be Robert Fanning!

Next Reading: Tuesday, May 21st at 7:00 p.m. with A. Van Jordan

Whether you’re a page poet, slammer, performance artist or refuse a label, we want to hear your new stuff on our open mic. We look forward to sharing summer (and great coffee) with you and invite you to join this free open mic and monthly reading series!

To kick off our summer fantastic season, we welcome A. Van Jordan, author of The Cineaste, as our next feature reader at Skazat!

Sign up! 7:00 p.m.

7:15 p.m. – Open mic

8:00 p.m. – Featured Reader

A. Van Jordan is the author of four collections: Rise, which won the PEN/Oakland Josephine Miles Award (Tia Chucha Press, 2001); M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A, (2005), which was listed as one the Best Books of 2005 by The London Times; Quantum Lyrics, (2007); and The Cineaste, (2013), W.W. Norton & Co. Jordan has been awarded a Whiting Writers Award, an Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, and a Pushcart Prize. He is a recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, and a United States Artists Williams Fellowship. He is a Professor in the Dept. of English at the University of Michigan, and teaches in the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College.

Next Reading: April 16, 2013 Airea Dee Matthews at 7:00 p.m.

It’s National Poetry Month! Come celebrate with us, won’t you? Whether you’re a page poet, slammer, performance artist or refuse a label, we want to hear your work on the open mic and we want to see you in the audience for our feature reader!

 

Sign up! 7:00 p.m.

 

7:15 p.m. – Open mic

 

8:00 p.m. – Featured Reader

 

This month join us for the exceptional AIREA ‘DEE’ MATTHEWS!

 

Dee is a two-time Women of the World Poetry Slam finalist, a former Detroit Grand Slam Champion and a popular performance poet on the national touring scene. Named one of Detroit’s Best Poets by CBS, she is pursuing her MFA in Poetry at the University of Michigan where she was awarded a Helen Zell Fellowship and the Michael R. Gutterman Prize in Poetry. Her short fiction, which earned her a Pushcart Prize nomination, has appeared in SLAB literary magazine.

 

She has featured at the Bowery Poetry Club (NY), The Max Fischer Theatre, Music Hall, The Fillmore Theatre and other select international venues, wowing audiences with her deeply moving performance collections. Her work combines her abiding love for 17th century verse with a modern voice and keen eye on current events. Her style, by turns, has been described as aching, chilling and fierce.

 

Our May feature will be A. Van Jordan! 

Next Reading: February 19th at 7:00 p.m.!

Don’t forget that we’re Skazat!ing on the third Tuesday of the month now!

Whether you’re a page poet, slammer, performance artist or refuse a label, we want to hear your work on the open mic and we want to see you in the audience for our feature reader!

Sign up! 7:00 p.m.

7:15 p.m. – Open mic

8:00 p.m. – Featured Reader

This month join us for a talented double feature of HALEY PATAIL & CARLINA DUAN!

Carlina and Haley have a new joint collection out on Red Beard Press entitled Electric Bite Women.

Carlina Duan, born in 1993, was a fierce 8.9 pound, black-afro-headed baby. She was a member of the Ann Arbor Youth Slam Team in 2011, as well as one of the founding editors of the Neutral Zone’s Red Beard Press. Carlina is currently a sophomore studying English and Creative Writing at the University of Michigan, where she has won two Hopwood awards, fallen in love with the color of brick, and boogied in a wolverine onesie through the plum-dark hours of night. She has been published in the 2012Bear River Review, as well as Xylem Literary Magazine. She is a member of Ann Arbor Wordworks and the 2013 University of Michigan Poetry slam team.

 

 

 

Haley Patail was born on an unseasonably warm April day in 1992. She was a member of the 2010 Ann Arbor Youth Slam Team, the 2011 University of Michigan Slam Team, and is now a member of Ann Arbor Wordworks. She is a junior studying Linguistics and Poetry at the University of Michigan. She was published in the Ann Arbor News, as well as in the new collection Electric Bite Women with Carlina Duan, and in the upcoming Spring 2013 issue of Xylem Literary Magazine.

Next Reading is TONIGHT: Tuesday, February 19th, 2012 @ 7:00 p.m.

Hey Skazat Folks! Join us this evening on our brand new day of the week as we welcome open mic’ers from all over, everywhere and bring you, as always, a great feature poet for your amazement.

The only thing that’s changed is the day of the week. Other than that, come to Sweetwaters at 123 W. Washington at 7:00 and get your name on the open mic list!

The Schedule:

Sign up! 7:00 p.m.

7:15 p.m. – Open mic

8:00 p.m. – Featured Reader

This month join us for Chace “Mic Write” Morris!

Chace “Mic Write” Morris is an accomplished poet/emcee/songwriter hailing from Detroit, MI.  In 2010, Chace became both the Detroit Grand Slam Champion & Rustbelt Individual Slam Champion, as well leading that Rustbelt team to collective victory.

Chace has been featured in the Metro Times’ list of Top 5 Poets in Detroit, has opened for such acts as Talib Kweli, The Last Poets, & RZA from the Wu Tang Clan, & is a member of the acclaimed Detroit Hip-Hop group Cold Men Young.

Currently a writer-in-residence with the InsideOut program, Chace teaches poetry workshops in local schools. He is also neck-deep in finishing his first written collection of poetry “The Robocop Prologue” as well as his first solo musical project “Morris Code”. When not writing, Chace likes to drink absurd amounts of tea, argue which Faygo pop flavor is the best & dominate in Rock, Paper, Scissors.

Next Reading: Fiona Chamness – Monday, January 21, 2013 at 7p.m.

We’re kicking the new year off with a poetry/musical feature that you don’t want to miss!

Whether you’re a page poet, slammer, performance artist or refuse a label, we want to hear your work on the open mic and we want to see you in the audience for our feature reader!

Sign up! 7:00 p.m.

7:15 p.m. – Open mic

8:00 p.m. – Featured Reader

This month join us for poet/musician/all-around awesome person Fiona Chamness!

Fiona Chamness is a writer, poet and performer from Ann Arbor, MI. She was part of the 2008 Ann Arbor Youth Poetry Slam team featured on HBO’s Brave New Voices and is coauthor (with Aimée Lê) of the poetry collection Feral Citizens, published in 2011 by Red Beard Press. She has performed and taught workshops at Dartmouth College, the University of Michigan, Washington University, and in poetry slams and reading series around the country. She has poems published in PANK, Blood Lotus Journal, Muzzle Magazine and Radius Lit. Her first full-length music album, Dispatches From the Well, was released in October 2012. She is currently in her fourth year at Oberlin College.

Next month’s feature: Chace “Mic Write” Morris

Next Reading: December 17th at 7:00 p.m.

Hey, want to take a poetry break from all the holiday hullabaloo? Of course you do. Join us at Skazat! to read on the open mic, or just kick back wiith a mug of something warm from Sweetwaters and enjoy.

Whether you’re a page poet, slammer, performance artist or refuse a label, we want to hear your work on the open mic and we want to see you in the audience for our feature reader!

Sign up! 7:00 p.m.

7:15 p.m. – Open mic

8:00 p.m. – Featured Reader

This month join us for Chicago-turned-Michigan writer Nate Marshall!

Nate Marshall is from the South Side of Chicago. He is the star of the award winning full-length documentary “Louder Than A Bomb” and has been featured on HBO’s “Brave New Voices. He received his BA in English and African American Studies at Vanderbilt University. His work has appeared in The Spoken Word Revolution: Redux, Vinyl Poetry, The Vanderbilt Review, on Chicago Public Radio and in many other publications. He is also a rapper.