5-8pm / Brickhouse Brewery and Restaurant / 67 West Main St. Patchogue, Long Island
Aimee Herman, Trae Durica, Rorie Kelly, Terri Muuss, Maggie Burke, Nichole Acosta, LB Thompson, Travis Madison, Annie Manildoo and a talk by Luna Vasquez
I fell in love with a girl. Then a boy. Then a girl. Another girl. A girl who is a boy. Love has found me at my place of employment, at university, at the corner of a small town, at a bar where the queers gather, at a center for writing. None of it was easy. Some lasted longer than others. Learned new recipes and songs, picked up hobbies and habits, faced fears and fondled time.
Nowadays, love can be found on computer screens and fancy phones. We swipe and click our way toward the one, but I still hold out for magic.
Like that time, a few years back when I would have missed my flight for one more minute of conversation with the one who confessed his addiction to coffee and testosterone. Even in his hard angles, I noticed softness seeping out of the ridges of his smile.
Here, there are bodegas on every corner and whether I need okra or oranges or cold remedy or condoms, these things never run out. Some are even open twenty-four hours. But love….love is not shelved or stocked in places we can easily find. There are all those intentional spots to find someone, but this doesn’t mean it will last or be any easier, just because you answered some preliminary questions.
OK Cupid, I am ready. And also, I am not. But what I am open to is the unexpected gathering of stories and trust. Not all of us are easy to love and I can furnish a reference sheet of all those who (tried to) love me and called me difficult. But so is opening up jars that house the most amazing flavors of preserved food. Learning a language isn’t easy either, but the benefits often encourage travel and expansion of mind.
At this point, I feel gratitude that I have felt it. More than once. And each time was more magnificent and painful and stunning and tragic. But we go back. There is a reason for this.
For now, I’ll buy my own chocolates and write poetic love notes on my body. Until I can find the one who can sound out my skin without mispronouncing the jagged interruptions of scars. Then, I’ll head into the city and storm a stage.
Tonight, I ask cupid to remain in the air and tend to the ones in search of a stab wound. I’ll be on stage with Pancetta, my ukelele, some words, and (perhaps) a special appearance by some peanut butter.
Hear fantastic performances of poetry and music at The Inspired Word’s Stuck on Cupid at Tammany Hall / 152 Orchard St. NYC / Doors open at 6pm / Show begins at 6:30pm / $10 / Featuring Essence Revealed, Jherelle Benn, Nichole Acosta, among other thought-provoking artists.
Come to an evening of pop-up art, fashion, music and poetry. Sunday, 22 December. from 5pm-10pm at Greenwich Project 47 W. 8th St. NYC. $10
This will be a unique evening of live music, a range of poets and performance art, fashion, and art to peruse and purchase.
I will be performing a collaborative performance piece with poet, Nichole Acosta, called SKIN (graffiti poetics), which envisions the body as a construction site or building to be tagged and poeticized. Audience members are encouraged to write words on our bodies as a way of archiving language on skin. Poets will freestyle the sounds and syllables off of our bodies.
To RSVP, go to: Platform Pop Event
Tonight. See over fifteen poets. Two artists create art right in front of you. Music. Projected language. Collaboration. Remix’d Poetics.
Poetry Teachers NYC is excited to host a night where language and art comes alive.
Where? Pomegranate Gallery 137 Green St. NYC
When? What Time? Saturday, 16 November, 2013/ 7pm FREE!!!
Who will be performing? Travis Cebula, Sara Suzor, Peter Rugh, Thomas Fucaloro, Aimee Herman, Sara Nolan, Sam Jablon, Daniel Dissinger, Megan DiBello, Moira Williams, Todd Anderson, Nichole Acosta , Jane LeCroy , Selina Josephs (artist), Nikhil Melnechuk, Angelo Daniel, Ngoma Hill, and Oded Halah.
Aimee Herman 