Harry Posner - Spoken Word Artist & Poet

I emailed Harry and congratulated him on his success at the Eden Mills Writers Festival.

Harry sent me this email back:

Yes, I was one of five people selected to present their poetry at 'The Cottage' stage on the Sunday.

It was a marvellous experience, with the Eramosa River flowing by at my back, beautiful, sunny day, and a receptive audience. It was perhaps the best performance of my short career as a spoken worder.

I did see Marilyn and the gang there. In fact they had a table opposite mine on the Publisher's Way.

Jeremy Grant (percussion) and I, known as The Rubber Brothers, performed at the Friday evening gala event, along with readings from Trevor Cole ('Practical Jean') Jazmine Aziz ('Sex and Samosas'), and the Mike Malone jazz band. Got lots of positive feedback on our performance.

Our next gig will be at the Rhythm and Hues festival at the Alton Mill this coming Sunday (Sept 30) in The Bartlett Gallery at 2 PM. Come one, come all!

After that I have a solo gig at the Elora Centre for the Arts on October 18th, followed by a workshop on spoken word at the centre on the 25th.

So I've been very busy these days, what with my second novel ('A Softness in the Eyes') in its first draft stage. It's all good!

My best to the gang and at some point I'll get a day off to get there!

Posted from: http://www.eloracentreforthearts.ca/index.cfm?page=2011_Wordfest

Wordfest returns this Fall on Thursday, October 18, 2012.

Wordfest welcomes writers and storytellers to an evening that celebrates the spoken word. Featured readers and open-mic participants bring poetry, prose and storytelling to the Elora Centre for the Arts. Sign up for a segment of the program or come out to listen and enjoy. * snap * snap

Please contact the ECFTA at: 519-846-9698 for more information

All Ages. Doors open at 7:00pm, readings begin at 7:30pm.

$6.00 (Kids and Youth Free)

Where:

The Harris Room, Elora Centre for the Arts

75 Melville Street, Elora, ON N0B 1S0

SENTENCE YOUR WORDS TO LIFE A One Night Spoken Word Workshop

Fall 2012: Thursday, October 25, 2012
  

at the Elora Arts Centre
75 Melville Street, Elora, ON NOB 1SO

7:30pm - 9:00pm

$20 Member / $25 Non-Members (+ HST)

From the page to the stage, learn to be more confident when reciting or performing your writings. You will be lead through exercises designed to free up your voice. Bring a pen, a pad and poems to share.

Facilitator: Spoken word performer Harry Posner


Harry sent me one of the poems that he performed:

Untitled

the sky is charged tonight

timorous stars, ears turned earthward

listen for their true voices, that

like blind gospel psalms

echoing upwards from upturned palms

rise out of the vocal sacs

of a sea of peeper frogs

who fill the wetland bogs with intense ululations

a sexuality of supernovic proportions



light years separate star and frog

yet are they not one being

as the hand is, at heart, no different

from the head in its seeing?



they sing, these tiny astral amphibians

to give cruciform voice to a longing

felt in the farthest reaches of inner space

to teach me something I cannot fully comprehend

like a dream I cannot quite place



the sky is charged tonight

it needs us to attend

it needs to birth universes

stir up cosmic dust dances

toss its connecting light like a seine net over us all

drag creature-Earth to shore

so that we finally find each other

the way a hand searches for and caresses

the furrowed field of a brow to share in its many sadnesses



my yes, my heart cups the hive of the world

whose shiver chatters bones

its heft-sensuous curves

braille-like textures intone

the warp and weft of Being in its becoming



and when I look at you

with my stars singing in your eyes

your frogs peeping in my ponds

I am made to ask

where do I end and you begin?


Congratulations Harry on your success and we hope to see you soon at our meetings.

Near Mrs. - August 26, 2012 - Theatre Orangeville

Okay Patricia, I got the hint. I've been editing for goodness sake. Next time, I'll take notes.

There’s something exhilarating for me to watch a play being read as opposed to looking at a play with props. Could it be that it feels like the words come alive during the reading. Don’t get me wrong the actors were sensational. They didn’t need props. Maybe the dialogue is everything when it’s read. As a reader and a writer, I love dialogue.

Whatever it is, I enjoyed the new play development of Near Mrs.

Brian McKay wrote Near Mrs. and Robert More directed it. It stared Jonathan Ellul, Lisa Horner, Iveal Lucas, Jamie Mac, Ashley Magwood, and David Nairn.

I noticed every facial muscle of each actor as they read their lines. They drew me in with each word that they spoke. The story came alive on the stage. And I noticed when the audience laughed and when they didn’t. More revisions. For the last two years, Brian McKay worked on this play and he’d already done major revisions before we saw it. I know about editing but this is different. Without a live audience, how could Brian gage the success of his words?

Personally, I hate editing or revisions but it’s part of a writer’s job. It's good to know that other writers have numerous revisions and I'm not the only one. Whenever I read my writing at our group, I can sense or feel what I need to revise.

During question time, Ron informed McKay that we were all writers sitting in the second row. Lucky for us, eh?

Watching the actors, I realized, like most stories, this play is character driven. I loved the characters, they reminded me of people that I love and hate. When I told this to McKay, he thanked me profusely. “As a writer,” he said, “you know how important the characters are.” I nodded.

This play, Near Mrs., reminds me of Norm Foster’s plays, and he’s the most produced Canadian playwright.

When Judy suggested that we move our August 25, 2012 meeting to Theatre Orangeville New Play Development Event, I was delighted. Judy and I’d been to a previous event. Five of us attended this.

I can’t wait to see the final Near Mrs. hopefully at Theatre Orangeville.

Imagine, unbeknownst to me, besides the reading, they had a complimentary wine and cheese reception. It doesn't get any better than this.

We mingled with the actors and some even remembered we were writers. Jamie Mac gave Judy his card in case we needed somebody to read for us.

You missed an awesome afternoon. Who knows, maybe one of us, might write a play.

My Novella now in Print!

It's been a crazy summer and I can't wait to get back to the HWG in October! Just in time for Halloween and Patricia's birthday.

For those who don't know, my e-novella, Murder on Manitou published by Wynterblue Publishing out of North Bay, is now in print! More details will follow!

Meeting Minutes September 9, 2012

After a wonderful summer the group is back in full swing. We had a great turn-out and shared lots of information.

Jayne reported that Ray Wiseman, writer & editor, is giving a workshop out west but could use a "practice session". He would like to use our group for a trial run. Writers other than members of our group are invited. Further details about the workshop will be posted at a later date. As reported to me after the meeting, Mr. Wiseman has chosen our meeting dates of October 14th and October 28th for this workshop. It will take place at our regular meeting time of 1:30pm at Tweedsmuir. More details will follow.

Jayne suggested that we might wish to consider renting tables at the Orangeville Farmer's Market and the Orangeville Fall Fair to sell our published works. Pricing would have to be looked into for next year and members would have to take shifts. Therefore full cooperation of our members would be required. You may not have a published work NOW, but you may at that time, and even if you don't our group is all about supporting one another. This is a great opportunity to sell our members' works and show the face of The Headwaters Writers' Guild to the community.

Eden Mills Writing Festival takes place next Sunday, September 16th from 12pm to 6pm.

Armchair, Authors & Art, part of the Headwaters Arts Festival, takes place Friday, October 28th at 6:30pm at the CGI Centre. Tickets are $25 each. Hors d'oeuvres and refreshments will be served after the presentation. You will be able to purchase books and meet the authors. Last year was a sell-out so get your tickets now! I bought mine today.

Marilyn passed around her newly published book Short Tales From a Tall Person which is currently available at Amazon.com.

Marilyn also shared a book she published for her client Love, Obey and Betray also available at Amazon.com.

Jayne shared her most recent publication Death of a Highland Heavyweight available at BookLore in Orangeville, Amazon.com, Amazon.ca and her website.

Nancy reported that she recently read a book, First 50 Pages by Jeff Gerke, claiming it is the best book on writing she has read. She contacted the author, a Sci-Fi writer, who responded to her. Nancy will do her own write-up about the book on this blog.

Last month's writing session was rescheduled as a field trip to the Orangeville Theatre where actors performed a reading of an as yet produced play. Five members of the group attended and all enjoyed it. Hopefully one of these members will write a report here on the blog. (Hint)

Danielled mentioned more websites where you can post writing and get feedback from other authors. She also warned of over-marketing or risk being labeled a spammer. She will post more details in a separate post.

Jayne read the opening line of her new novel Death of a Highland Heavyweight. I purchased the book today and can hardly wait to read it.

Joe read from his bio he is posting on his website and received valuable feedback regarding hooking the reader.

June joined us this week after a long absence. Her work schedule has been conflicting with our meetings. She read from a short story she wrote for an erotica short story contest.

Danielle read from a short story she is writing for a fantasy website short story contest wherein writers are to come up with the most creative magic system.

And now to the prompts:

A writing exercise for brave and adventurous authors:

Pick a partner for this exercise. Each partner will write a character in the story you are creating together. Your characters are having silent conversation using body language ONLY. Write that silent conversation with your partner.

Writing suggestions for those not feeling quite so adventurous today...

1. Rewrite a song as a short story.

2. What's the best thing that ever happened to you?

3. Write a book review for a book you recently read.

4. Rewrite the first few paragraphs of a famous novel.

5. Find something interesting about the most boring thing you can think of. Write about it.

6. Pick a controversial topic of importance to you and write a "letter to the editor" presenting your opinion on the topic. Be clear and concise in why you hold that opinion and defend it with evidence.

7. Write a piece of dialogue between two characters who are husband and wife.

8. What's the most frightening thing that ever happened to you?

Danielle and Sonja took the challenge of writing a story with no dialogue and did a great job. Dialogue between and husband and wife was a popular pick. As always, I encourage members to post their writing prompt results here. You can clean them up first. I know I promised to post something I wrote and never did get around to it. I will post this week's prompt and hopefully the one I promised from before.

Our next meeting is scheduled for Sunday, September 23rd. Nancy will be leading.