The History of Spilled Ink
or
How on Some Nights I Stopped Talking and Wrote Something Down
YEAR 5
WRITERS: BLOOM WHERE YOU ARE!
January 2019
1-11-19, Our four-year anniversary!
Spilled Ink EAST [Our last night at Lakeside Grill and Café before they close]
7 readers – a very enjoyable, intimate night!
Nancy Kyme – “North Dakota”
Alice Mergler – “The Candle and the Mirror”
Michael Sensale – “Same Old New Year”
Steven Meehan – “The Noodle Trap, a Fairy Tale”
Dave Martin – “Tangerine Dawn,” “Whimsical Wordplay,” and “Eeka Iika Khan”
*Eeka Iika Khan was nonfiction memoir and he brought documentation on the event!
Paulette Garner – “All Night Long”
Me – “My Classroom Clock,” “My Lunchbox”, and “Big, Brown Dog”
1-25-19
Spilled Ink’s Fifth-Year Anniversary!
30 readers!
NEW RULE: If you are reading an excerpt from a novel, you only read the excerpt. Again, you only read one item!
Zach Tamer – “My Technological Dissonance,” “Baseball,” “Highway Wildflower,” and “Apocalypse”
Wills D. Uan – “Thankful,” “New York,” “Watts,” and “Self”
Stephen Meehan – “The Noodle Trap”
Lesley Tyson – “Almost,” “Braiding,” and “Do You Remember”
Megan McDonald – “Not Shiny,” “Let Poetry Be the Gate,” and “Holy Fighting Chopsticks and Fried Tofu”
Michael Sensale – “The Knight Shade Files: Head Hunt” [Chapter 28]
Ron Nearhood – “Communion” and “Star Cruisin”
Daniel Nearhood (Age 9) – “Purple,” “Orange,” and “Oh, Brother” [Ep. 1: Hair Appt.]
Alexis Glonninger [John Paul the Great HS] – “What Is Happiness”
Jim Boucher – “Monthly Pageant,” “Refresh My Soul,” and “Thankful for Thoughtful”
Judy Petruskie [Forgot her glasses] – Excerpt from “The Heart of It All”
Tom Basham – “Two Sonnets” [I’m Sorry, I’m Not Over You]
*A Two-Voice Poem done with Caitlin Rausch
Morgan Hazelwood – “Wake Up Call,” “Chop, Chop,” “Reality in Truth,” and “There Once Was A Woman Nerd” (Limerick)
Mary Rook and daughter – “Walking Our Dog, Chloe,” “The Screen Judge,” and a chapter from her YA novel, “The Meeting with the Man in Black”
Alice Mergler – “Happy New Year” and “The Candle and the Mirror”
Lovely Lall – “You and I,” “Everyone Loves a Butterfly,” “Compassion,” and “Heart”
Caitlin Rausch – “Souls are Hungry Things,” “I Saw You First,” “First Morning Cup of Coffee,” and “Frightened by the Impulse”
Brittany Santince [First Timer!] – “Be Your Own Hype Man” and “Lessons from the Heart”
Elisa Everts [First Timer!] – “Where I Buried You,” “The Sands of Time,” “Fighting a Full Day of Empty,” and “The Number of My Days”
Dave Martin – “The Quest of Elisheba,” “Frozen Train,” and “Catch the Dragon”
Shunka (Sh-oon-ka) [First Timer!] – “Nine-Hour Drive”
Artik – “Embracing Self” and “People Watching, People Listening”
Dan Leahy (Lay-he) – “America 2019”
Katherine Gotthardt – “Comma And,” “Shutting Down,” and “Resolution”
*“Resolution” was the first time she ever used her phone to read at an engagement!
Louis Mateus – “Declaration,” Lecturing,” “Story Short,” and “Into the Outside”
Gail Williams – “Sundays,” “Shores They’re Rowing To,” and “The Art of Living Alone”
Harminder Lall [First Timer!] – “Learning from Mistakes”
Linda Miller [AKA Savanah Price] – “Spoken” and “Jason’s Confrontation”
Nick Hale and his Pimp Hat – “If Andy Warhol Wrote Poetry” and “Riddling”
Me – “Blood Red” and “My Shadow”
February 2019
2-8-19
Spilled Ink EAST [At Clearbrook Center for the Arts]
6 readers and one spectator [Ken Hailey] – a very enjoyable, intimate night!
Michael Sensale – “Eternal Revolution” and “Seismic Terror”
Steven Meehan – “The Last Resort”
Alice Mergler – “Olivia’s Rowing at Sandy Run Park” and The Forward to the Rowing book
Cathy Hailey – “Sunshine” [A Haiku]
Laya Ashton – “Ram Child,” “Fishing Line,” “Genesis,” and “Don’t Ask the Psychic”
Me – “Baseball is Thicker than Water”
February 2019
2-22-19
Spilled Ink
21 readers!
Guest Host: Dave Martin – “The Lost Episode of Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood [featuring Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead]”
Rayon Baugh – “I Give You All the Praise”
Artik – “Sistah,” “A New Me,” and “It’s in There”
Wills D. Uan – “Idolize,” “Casino,” and “Pep Talk”
Jim Boucher – “I Won’t Miss Waiting,” “Song Lyric,” “Biblical Agendas,” and “Joyous”
Louis Mateus – “Road Scene,” “Red Fox,” “Sunny Day,” and “Some Home Visits Along the Way”
Keith Munroe – “Euphoric Are the Arrows of the Sun”
Megan McDonald – “Moonlight Sun Bright Come Chain”
Tom Basham – “A Surreal Serene Scene”
Morgan Hazelwood – “Looking for the Good in Humanity,” “A Tribute to the Mars Rover,” and “Opportunity”
Lesley Tyson – “The Answer,” “Conversation Under Anesthesia,” and “Space”
James Monticone – Excerpt from “Cash Chronicles: The Book of Samson”
Micael Sensale – “Snow”
Gail Williams – [I did not get her title]
These people read but left NO titles:
John Cowgill
Jennetta Barnes
Lovely Lall
Brita S
Wayne Kline
Andre Ducnos
Elisa Everts
March 2019
3-8-19
Spilled Ink EAST [At Clearbrook Center for the Arts]
John Cowgill – “Oh, Zinnia, Oh, So Sweet” and “Limericks for Gorgeous Ladies”
Mike Crowley – “Haunting Faces,” “Ten Titles of a Single Line,” and “Going Up”
John Donley – “Dreams of Death,” “All the King’s Horse [The Psychology Behind Humpty Dumpty], “Just Wandering,” and “A Fearful Calm as I Slept”
Laya Ashton – “A Clash of Battle Axes [A Viking Saga]”
Me – “Miss Hood’s Red Cape”
John Donley recommended a book, “Starring into the Fire” [Celtic Myths]
Spilled Ink
3-22-19
20 readers!
Doni Smoot – Excerpt from his book, “Elements of Apeirus”
Mila Leeson [First Timer! She’s a student of Kathy Smaltz] – “My Best Friend, Angel”
Dave Martin – “Terrapin Tango” [Dance, Mud Turtle, Dance] and “Piscean Thursday”
Mary Rook – “Not You” and “Too Late”
Morgan Hazelwood – “Ticking By,” “Sleep is for the Weak,” “Scorched,” and “Breakable”
Mike Crowley – “Haiku 14,” “I Cried the Fate of the World,” and “PARTY NAKED”
Ann-Marie Maloney [1st Timer] – “Operator, Are You Listening?”
John Cowgill – “Three Big Pigs” [Brutality by Bacon] and “The Adventures of Masked Man”
Ron Nearhood – “Jules Lent Me a Time machine,” To Fall Like a Leaf,” “Desperate,” and “Loss (Almost Persuaded)”
Kathy Smaltz – “Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus”
Dylan Knotts [1st Timer / Brother] – “Wistful Apathy,” “Early Arrival,” “Transportation,” and “But No One Really Knows”
Taylor Knotts [1st Timer / Sister] – “When It Rains,” “Entrance,” “Day Dreams on a Monday,” and “Brute Forest”
Lesley Tyson – “Obvious Plans,” “I Want,” and “Hearing with Closed Eyes”
Keith Monroe – “Be Careful the Carrot Doesn’t Eat the Turtle”
Gail Williams – “You Can Touch My Hair” [memoir]
Megan McDonald – “Not My Style,” “A Gorilla at the Bus Stop,” and “Steel Mirrors”
Wills D. Uan – “One Day,” “Clear,” and “The Reason Why I”
Jennetta Barnes – “Summertime,” “The Other Woman,” and “Working on This Body”
Laya Ashton [1st Timer] – “In Memoriam [Robert Bausch]”
Me – “Baseball is Thicker than Water”
Below is an article in Prince William Living magazine from March 2019.
Spilling Ink
By Amy Taylor
Well-known for its historic and cultural riches, the Prince William area inherently attracts musicians and artists. Among those artists are local writers who meet to share their work in public before an appreciative audience each month at Spilled Ink, a gathering of novelists, essayists, dramatists and poets who read their work in an open mic setting. Now in its fifth year, Spilled Ink, Virginia continues to prosper and support writers at every level.
The Launch of Spilled Ink, Virginia
Spilled Ink was formed after teacher and writer John Dutton attended a meeting of Write by the Rails, the Prince William Chapter of the Virginia Writers Club. “Having once again suggested there should be a central meeting place for writers to share their work, I heard a response of, ‘If you want it, you do it,’ so I did,” said Dutton. That’s how he became the host of Spilled Ink.
The group started reading at Grounds Central Station in Manassas, a coffee shop that has long supported local writers and artists. “On the first night, Jan. 16, 2015, I had a small amp and a microphone in front of a rattling Pepsi machine,” Dutton recalled. “A dozen people showed up to read that first night.”
However, Spilled Ink proved to be popular and quickly outgrew the venue, so it moved to Manassas-based Jirani Coffee House.
Spilled Ink, Virginia, Encourages Local Writers
It takes bravery to put pen to paper and even more to step up to a microphone and perform in front of a crowd. The participants, host and audience are all there to encourage writers, new and published, to bring their writing out into the world and keep moving forward in pursuit of the written word.
As the host of these events, it’s Dutton’s job to put participants at ease and make them feel welcome.
“After all, the object is to be brave while stepping up to the microphone to share your work,” he said.
Dutton recalled local teacher, author and former Prince William County Poet Laureate Robert Scott once told him, “You know, all that stuff you keep writing and storing away is meant to be read.”
“I wholeheartedly agree,” said Dutton. “Write it, share it and be proud of it.” With encouragement, the writers do just that. “Our new Prince William County Poet Laureate, Natalie Potell, told us she was inspired by Spilled Ink before she became a nominee,” Dutton said. But Spilled Ink welcome writers of all ages and levels of experience.
“Spilled Ink has had children the age of eight brave the microphone. High school students are some of our most delightful readers,” he continued. “Poets from Poets Anonymous in Fairfax are regular attendees. Robert Scott, and Kathy Smaltz, now former County Poets Laureate, often read to an entranced audience.”
Five Years of Reading is Reason to Celebrate
For Spilled Ink’s five-year anniversary reading, more than 30 writers shared their work. Owner of Jirani Coffee House, Ken Moorman, hired a photographer to document the festivities, and the evening was recorded.
There were quite a few memorable performances that evening. Michael Sensale invited crowd participation when he had audience members perform old-time radio shows with excerpts from his book.
Audience favorite Daniel Nearhood, a 9-year-old, read his color poems. He shared with the audience that he has nearly finished writing his series about primary colors.
“Mary Rook read, ‘Walking Our Dog, Chloe,’ ‘The Screen Judge,’ and a chapter from her YA novel, The Meeting with the Man in Black,” said Dutton. “I held Mary’s baby daughter while she read. Child care is just another of my many duties as host.”
Alice Mergler, a former teacher and current coordinator of the Prince William County Poet Laureate Circle, read her poems, “The Candle and the Mirror,” and “Happy New Year.”
Some performers read from their phones, while others memorized their pieces.
“Dave Martin often gives a poem completely from memory,” Dutton said. “He was inspired to read at Spilled Ink by his high school daughter. She is now in college, and he is still a regular at our Friday night readings.”
Poet Katherine Gotthardt, president of Write by the Rails, used her phone for the first time to read in public. She shared three poems: “Comma, and,” “Shutting Down” and “Resolution.”
Several first-time readers stepped up to the mic during the anniversary performance. Among them were Brittany Santince, Elisa Everts and Harminder Lall. Lall read, “Learning from Mistakes,” a humorous tale of trial and error about preparing a Thanksgiving turkey.
Gail Williams, a newspaper journalist who has discovered the art of memoir, read her pieces, “Sunday,” “Shores They’re Rowing To” and “The Art of Living Alone.”
Be a Part of Spilled Ink, Virginia
“If you would like to read at Spilled Ink, you are welcome,” Dutton said. Readers are asked to keep material to a PG-13 rating, as both presenters and audience members include a variety of ages and tastes. Readings should run 8 to 10 minutes maximum or 1,200 to 1,500 words. Novelists are asked to pick an excerpt rather than sharing an entire chapter.
If you can’t make it out to Manassas, there’s a second monthly event, Spilled Ink East, held in Woodbridge every second Friday at Tackett’s Mill’s Clearbrook Center for the Arts at 7 p.m. “Spilled Ink celebrates local authors, poets and scribblers as they read their work. All are welcome to listen or read,” Dutton tells the audience each time. “If you are inspired by what you hear, please sign up to read. Be brave.”
April 2019
4-12-19
Spilled Ink EAST [At Clearbrook Center for the Arts]
Michael Sensale – “Voodoo Frame” [Nightshade Stories]
Alice Mergler – “Taking Up the Challenge: 30 Poems in 30 Days” [April 1 to 12]
Laya Ashton – “If I Could Write a Cheesy Love poem,” “Iris,” “I Am the Feather,” and “The Cat and the Opossum”
Mike Crowley – “Say What,” “Could We Feed the Hungry,” and “I Saw the Black”
John Cowgill – “Three Big Pigs” and “Oh Xenia, Oh So Sweet”
Me – “Billy Pug Saves the Day”
Spilled Ink
4-26-19
25 Readers! [Six first timers! Two parent and child readers!]
Deirdre McSorley [First Timer!] – “Another Time,” “A Heart You Tame,” and “To Thee, A Rite”
Abby Koons [First Timer!] – “When I Could Finally Breathe” [Daughter]
Lucy Koons [First Timer!] – “Grassy” [Mother]
Doni Smoot – “Wonder” - An excerpt from his book, “Elements of Apeirus”
Denise Roosendaal [First Timer!] – “Hidden Things”
Chris Guerra [First Timer!] – “After Image”
Ann Marie Malorey – Part One of “Literary Justice”
John Cowgill – “The Hike” and “The Great Wil Walkie Jones”
Laya Ashton – “Night Flower”
Daniel Nearhood – “Wolves” (Acrostic poem), “Color,” and “Red” [Son]
Ron Nearhood – “Hope, Faith, and Love” [Father]
Graciela Hernandez – “Blue Sky, Green Earth”
Keith Munroe – “Sympathy” (Favorite line: You are so much until you don’t care at all)
Carol Covin – “Smoke is Pouring Out of my Engine”
Gail Williams – “Anger on Behalf of Others”
Jim Boucher – “Child of God,” “Paradoxicult,” and “Lofty Wishes”
Tina Nagy – “The Rose,” “Contradiction,” and “Austin, My Dog”
Artik – “The Legacy,” “A New Me,” and “Gaze”
Alice Mergler – “Spring Break” “My Sister, Zan,” and “The Easter I Remember the Most”
Dan Leahy – “The Braided Cord” [Memoir]
Morgan Hazelwood – “Ordinary Superpower, or Why I’d Make a Great Henchman”
Neal Sharma [First Timer] – “The Soldier,” “My Little Girl,” “Getting Old,” and “Luggage”
Katherine Gotthardt – “Scrub,” “Wine Making,” and “Monitor”
Morgan McDonald – “Reverse Thread,” “Cliché in Two-Quarter Time,” and “Curtain”
Me – “The Visit with Death”
May 2019
5-10-19
Spilled Ink EAST [At Clearbrook Center for the Arts]
Nancy Kyme – Short story
John Cowgill – Train story
Laya Ashton - Poetry
Michael Sensale – Knight Shade Fan Fiction “Missing Inaction”
Cathy and Ken Hailey came to listen J
5-24-19
Spilled Ink
20 Readers! [Three first timers! Three parent and child readers!]
John Cowgill – “Flight of the Hawk”
Wills D. Uan – “Location,” “Luck,” and “I’m embracing this Experience”
Daniel Nearhood [Son] – “Mother’s Day”
Ron Nearhood [Father] – “I Would Go to Mars”
Katie Ingbretsen [Daughter] [First Timer!] – “I Have Never Done This Before” and a poem by Mohja Kahf, “Ishtar Awakens in Chicago”
Mark Ingbretsen [Father] [First Timer!] – “The Recipe,” “The Answer,” and “A Note to the Listener”
Abby Koons [Daughter] – “The Nightmare” (Inspired by the movie, “Titanic”)
Lucy Koons [Mother] – Excerpt from her novel, “Grassy” (Ox in Human Shoes)
Keith Munroe – “How Crass is the Goodwill of Evil Men”
Mary Ellen Stone [First Timer!] – Excerpt from her novel, “The Heir of Time”
Anant Dhavale – “On Understanding and Other Such Myths” and “Civilizations”
Lin Estrada [Formerly, Rausch] – “10 Seconds,” “Taste,” and “Truth is a Woman”
Ann Marie Malorey – Part Two of “Literary Justice”
Lesley Tyson – “Writer’s Block,” “With Wet Napkins as Paper,” and “At the Crest”
Dan Leahy – “New Lives” and “Memorial Day 2019”
Megan McDonald – “Fiesta,” “Carrousel,” and “Emergence”
Natalie Potell – “The Divide”
Artik – “Heart Beat” and “Your World”
Carol Covin – “Hollywood Lies to Us”
Me – “Social Studies” and “Sons of Lucifer (SOL)”
June 2019
6-14-19
Spilled Ink EAST [At Clearbrook Center for the Arts]
Special Guest Listener: Jim Gallagher, Art Council’s Pioneer Winner 2019!
Alice Mergler - “No Two Poems Are Alike in the Making”
Nancy Kyme – Excerpt from her novel, “Memory Lake” [Chapter 47, Mother Nature’s Theme Park]
Mike Crowley – “The Posse” [Part of a 100-page poem]
Michael Sensale – “Contemporary Writer, Revised”
Me – “The Keeper of the Keys”
6-28-19
Spilled Ink
24 Readers
Jim Boucher – “Onward Hearts,” “Always Present,” and “…and some get played in the rain”
Wills D. Uan – “Spending,” “Schedule,” and “Enhancer”
Olivia Loper [Daughter] – “Freshman Year at Longwood University”
Jim Loper [Father] – “Baseball at Atlanta Penitentiary”
Louis Mateus – “The Tomato Plants,” “Thief of Moments,” and “From My Sprints Up to the Present”
Andie Martin [Daughter] – “It Gets Better in College” and “First Year as a Teacher”
Dave Martin [Father] – “Stations of the Cross” and “Once I was a Poet”
Gail Williams – “The Living Beejeezus” and “How I Met the New Pastor”
Megan McDonald – “Broken Strings,” “Pawn,” and “Piecing Monet”
Dan Leahy – “A.I. or Not”
Mike Crowley – “The Down and Out Song,” “In Awe of a Rose,” and “Insomnia”
Anant Dhavale – “Not a Story But a Few Dots,” “You Lay Bricks One by One,” “Trace,” and “Days are Wasted in Contemplation”
Robbie “Spilled Spirit” Krieger [First Timer!] – “Virginia” (Excerpt of an epic poem on hiking the Appalachian Trail)
Tyrell Jordan – “Void of Darkness,” “Life of a Butterfly,” and “Snowflakes”
Ron Nearhood – “Eight Minutes to Sundown”
Keith Munroe – “The Four of Us”
Lesley Tyson – “It Happens at Night,” “What We Call Ourselves in the Dark,” and “Little Differences”
Laya Ashton – “Seaworthy,” “Newborn,” and “Together in the Garden”
John Cowgill – “The Phantom One” and “Trixie on the Line”
Morgan Hazelwood – “The Thin Mint Conspiracy”
Lucy Koons - Excerpt from her novel, “Grassy” (Papa’s Tallboy)
Jeannine Gibson [First Timer!] – “Coffee Cup,” “Beloved,” “Fully Whole,” and “Forgiveness”
Mike Sensale – Chapters 6 and 11 from his novel, “The Night Shade Files: Head Hunt”
Me – “Keeper of the Keys”
July 2019
7-12-19
Spilled Ink EAST [At Clearbrook Center for the Arts]
Michael Sensale – Chapters 6 and 11 from his novel, “The Night Shade Files: Head Hunt”
Robert H. Davidson – “Worn Out Shoes” [Read by John Dutton]
Alice Mergler – “My Mom Sang to Me”
Mike Crowley – “Remembrances of War: Pre-Military”
Joey Hickey – “My Love for You”, “Don’t Forget That Moment,” and “Serenity’s Voice After Death”
John Cowgill – “At This Very Time”
Me – “Where Tennis Balls Die”
7-26-19
Spilled Ink
32 Readers! [I think there was more, but it was a long night!]
Andrew Cummins [First Timer!] – ?
Kathy Smaltz – “Vultures Feeding,” “Sometimes I slip Away,” and “Frozen”
Lucy Koons – “Seasons” and “Ol’ Paw Paw”
John Cowgill – “A Meeting with Reggie” and “The Good Spilled Ink Man”
Carol Covin – “Men”
Gail Williams – “Ghosts I have Seen – Or Not” [memoir]
Cathy Hailey – #16 from Zan Hailey’s chapbook, “Interstate Lines”
Mary Rook – “Which One?” [Written when she was 12!]
Jeannine Gibson [First Timer!] – “Write, Don’t Fight,” “To Be Vulnerable,” “Ageless,” and “Love on a Plate”
Tonya Johnson [First Timer!] – “Empty Nester” and “Yesterday Was Rough”
Tina Nagy – “Sins of Omission” (She went home sick, so she goes first next month!)
Jay McClendon – “Before All the Noise” and “How Not to Die”
John Donley – “Reserve My Space” and “A Grain of Sand in My Eye”
Megan McDonald – “Malfunction” and “Full Rose Moon”
Keith Munroe – “Faith” and “Free Will”
Caitlin Estrada – “The Fear Is,” In Case of Fire, Break Glass,” and she read Ray Bradbury’s “Go Panther-Pawed…”
Michael Sensale – Chapter 13 from his novel, “The Night Shade Files: Head Hunt”
Morgan Hazelwood – Chapter 1 of “Gom and Midgie”
Jim Boucher – “Rustic Rhythms,” “Traverse” and “Vital Message”
Thomas Burson [First Timer!] – “Peachy,” “Old Wives’ Tale,” “Rip Tripping” and “Confessions”
Brian D. James [First Timer!] – “Hidden Talks,” “Entitled Wife,” “How Can I Walk in Dreams,” and “Blind”
Caitlin Fang [First Timer!] – “His Girl” and “Great Lakes Spotting”
Denise Roosendaal – “Boomerang and the Fearless Girl”
Mike Croghan [First Timer!] – “Body and Soul,” “Posture,” “I Can’t Believe I Ate the Whole Thing,” and “God is Love is”
Judy Petruskie – “As I was Resting” and “Autumn”
Natalie Potell – “The Darkest Pines” and she read Val Kilmer’s “We’ve Just Met, But Marry Me Please”
Elisa Everts – “Two Peas in a Grand Pod,” “The Name of this Urge,” and “I am a Tree”
Robert Scott – Introduction of his new novel, “God’s Rough Drafts”
Andie Martin – “Too Fat to be Beautiful”
Dave Martin – “If Ever There was a Happiness” and “Sister Jean”
Mike Crowley – “Prepare to Meet Your Maker,” “Be a Man,” and “Let Me be the Blight on Your Tree”
Me – “Where Tennis Balls Die” and “Middle School Boys”
August 2019
8-9-19
Spilled Ink EAST [At Clearbrook Center for the Arts]
Ron Nearhood - "Jules Lent Me a Time Machine" and "I Would go to Mars"
Thomas Burson - "Take the Pot Down, Please," "Crewel Points," “Warrior Chiefs," and "Self-Taught"
Mike Crowley - "Broken," "Haiku 13," and "Just Another Love Story"
Nancy Kyme - "The Aftermath"
Michael Sensale - "Nine Levels of Publishing Hell = Concept" and "Head Hunt, Chapter 12"
David Holloway - "Face," "Lonely Moon," and "Daily"
John Cowgill -"The Big Nasty Sea Monster" and "Gretel in Peril"
Anant Dhavale- "How We Work," "That Moon Lingers," and "On a Lone Leaf"
*I was a Deep Creek Lake on vacation.
8-23-19
Spilled Ink
22 Readers! [We had several listeners!]
Buto Moorman [First Timer!] – “Red” (A love poem) and “Bound to Freedom”
Nick Hale – “Fish Island,” “And Me,” “President for an Afternoon”
Robbie Krieger – “New England: White Mountains of New Hampshire” (Excerpt from his Epic Poem on walking Appalachian Trail)
Anant Dhavale – “It’s Not Autumn Yet,” “Our Unkempt Beings,” and “Selfie in a Gloomy Bar”
Wills D. Uan – “Gold,” “Meaningful Summer,” and “Cry Out”
Alice Mergler – “Peripeteia” and “Searching for Green”
Laya Ashton – “The Wound”
Lesley Tyson – “Voice in Dreams,” “The Person I Am,” and “Scenes Change”
Paulette Garner – “Climbing Back from the Abyss” and “Food Memories”
David Holloway [First Timer!] – “Piney Woods, FL. 1964” (The Skunk Ape)
Tom Burson – “The End of the Drunk,” Nation Builder,” “Half-Finished,” and “Birds Like Eyebrows”
Brian D. James – “The Lesson” and “Sweet Tones, Somber Tones”
Megan McDonald – “Spelling Bees and Sheep” (A short story)
Jim Boucher – “Hypotenusing,” “So Long,” and Nora Naranjo-Morse’s “Child-like Enthusiasm”
Lucy Koons – “The Allysoon: A Love Relic from Lebanon’s Civil War,” “The Change,” and “She Broke”
Michael Sensale – “Chapter 12 from his novel, “The Night Shade Files: Head Hunt” and “Literary Liquor Cabinet”
Artik – “Just Shy of 365 Days” and “We, Your Children”
John Cowgill – “A Meeting with Reggie” and “The Good Spilled Ink Man”
Daniel Nearhood [Starting 5th grade this year!] - “Time”
Ron Nearhood – Excerpt from “The Will of Gaia”
Dan Leahy – “Darkness” and “Virus”
Me – “The Bag” and “Stinky Socks” (Stories I found in an old writing folder found cleaning my classroom)
September 2019
9-13-19
Spilled Ink EAST [At Clearbrook Center for the Arts]
Steven Meehan – “Birthday Blowout”
Alice Mergler – “Cooper’s Birthday Poem” and “Out of Town with a Friend”
David Holloway – Lunch War [Dented Cans]
Mike Crowley – “More Rays,” “The Sound of One Hand Clapping,” and “Dizzy [Gillespie] at Blue”
Emily Brown – Chapter 1 of her novel, “Crystal City”
Mara Mahan – “Death Trap”
Michael Sensale – The first three levels of “The Nine Levels of Publishing Hell” [1. Concept, 2. Draft, and 3. Edit]
Laya Ashton – “Kindled Fires,” “Crystalline in Blue,” and “She Was”
Me – “Community Pool” [Dudefluencer Edition]
ARTS ALIVE 2019 at the Hylton Performing Arts Center
9-15-19
23 readers! [Great crowd!]
Michael Sensale – The first three levels of “The Nine Levels of Publishing Hell”
[1. Concept, 2. Draft, and 3. Edit]
Wills D. Uan – “Schedule,” “Gold,” and “The Beauty of Space”
Anant Dhavale – “Insomnia,” “Panacea,” and “Our Unkempt Beings”
Jim Boucher – “Fervent Encounters,” “Onward Hearts,” and “Traverse”
Alice Mergler – “At Dawn on Luncheon Day” and “Peripeteia”
Gail Williams – “Angel Story” [Condensed version]
Megan McDonald – “Fall Revisited,” “Song of the Honeybee,” and “Fighting Chopsticks and Fried Tofu”
John Cowgill – “Lilly of the Valley” and “Lady on the Train”
Naomi Ayala – “Earth is a Disco Ball”
Susan Beth Hurst – “Neon Snow” and “Road to Utopia”
Joseph Hickey – “!0,000 Books Inside of Me”
Katherine Gotthardt – “Meeting the Regiment” and “Bury Me Under a Lilac”
Morgan Hazelwood – “When Creative’s Dream” and “Independent Woman”
Robert Scott – “Wedding Dress” and “50”
Brian Donnell James – “Sweet Tones and Somber Tones,” “Ballerina,” “Hidden Tongues,” and “Wife”
Kimberly Ray – “Words,” “Elephant Moms,” and “Pilgrimage to the Mother Land”
Mike Crowley – “The Sound of Heaven Clapping,” “Shadow of My Former Self,” and “Party Naked”
Paulette Garner – “All Night Long” and “Climbing Back from the Abyss”
Barbara Nassar [First Timer!] – “A Band of Faeries”
Henry Wallace Monroe [First Timer!] – Excerpt from his novel, “Mr. Raspberry”
Louis Mateus – “My Sprints Up Towards the Present,” “Tomato Plants,” and “Please Do Not Touch”
Thomas Burson – “Neighbors,” “Berries for Breakfast,” and “Sunday Morning Waffles”
Me – “God’s Cathedral” and “Fatherhood”
9-27-19
Spilled Ink
27 Readers! [We had several listeners!]
Mark Kerlin [First Timer] – “Shakespeare’s Sonnet 29”
Alice Mergler – “Writer’s Madness”
Alice Mergler and Me – “A Twilight Zone Christmas” read to Natalie Potell
Laya Ashton – “Kindled Fires”
Natalie Potell – “Poppies in October” by Sylvia Plath
Kimberly Ray – “Quitting is Easy” and “Seeking Wisdom”
Paulette Garner – “Web Designer” and “If Fate Finds Favor in You”
Morgan Hazelwood – “Mother,” “He Wants me,” “Independent Woman” and “The Dust”
Mara Mahan – “Kelpies” and “Clockwork Hearts”
Mike Briscoe [First Timer] – “Us”
Emily Brown – Excerpt from her novel, “Necrocosm”
Artik – Poems from “Sounds of Yourself” by Theta Burke
[#11 Loving / #21 Hell / #35 That Talent / #48 Stay in Touch / #62 It’s Sad]
John Donley – “All the King’s Horses, An Egghead Concussed”
Mike Crowley – “A Muse Met Parks,” “If You Could Read My Mind,” and “The Danger of Red”
Gail Williams – “A Close Call” [Memoir]
Thomas Burson – “Buy Out,” “Love Never Dies,” “A Rake,” and “Mud Dance”
Lucy Koons – “Waiting: A Bomb in Beirut” [Nonfiction] and “Creatures”
Jim Boucher – “Orangery,” “Traverse,” and “Fervent Encounters [Joan of Arc]”
Nick Hale – “Boardwalk Synesthesia,” “Brothers,” and “Enough! Or Too Much!”
Ken Moorman – Excerpts from his novel, “On the Other Side of my Dream”
Wills D. Uan – “The Beauty of Space,” “Independence,” and “Mission”
Lesley Tyson – “Remembering How to Hunt [Joke Jobs],” “It Happens at Night,” and “A Day with Nothing to Remember”
Robbie “Rise” Krieger – “Springer Mountain, Georgia” [The beginning of his epic journey poem]
David Holloway – “Why the Caudell’s Don’t Eat Pie”
John Cowgill – “Lily of the Valley” and “The Hike”
Michael Sensale – Epilogue of his novel, “Head Hunt” [How the Night Shade obtained his moniker]
Brian Donnell James – “Grandma,” “Day Break,” and “Believing” [“Believing” written at age 12]
Louis Mateus – “The Egret,” “Beware of the Dog,” and “Sex in Public”
Me - “A Twilight Zone Christmas” [Solo read]
October 2019
10-11-19
Spilled Ink EAST [At Clearbrook Center for the Arts]
David Holloway – “How I Became the Cheeseburger Kid”
Antonia Kilday – “Monster,” “At the Lake,” “Scream,” “The Whale,” and “Hello at Last”
Alice Mergler – “Proclamation,” “Before the Blizzard,” “To Rod,” “Out of Town with a Friend,” and “My Dad Whistled”
Michael Sensale – “Summer’s Gone,” “Back to School,” and “Grammar”
John Cowgill – “Chasing the 611 [Historic Steam Locomotive]
Steven Meehan – “Letters” [Historical Fiction]
Christiana Kilday, Janaye Hepburn, Meron Fikru, and Chelsea Cruz – “The Infirmary”
[These four girls attend South County HS and wrote this poem - together - on the way over tonight!]
Me – Excerpt from my mystery, “Little Happy Trees”
10-12-19
Children’s Authors Panel
Today, at the workshop held by Write by the Rails, I was on the Children’s Authors Panel with Carylee Carrington, John Dutton, Rebecca L Sosa, and Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt. Thanks for having me! It was fun!
10-13-19
In the Company of Laureates [At Northern Virginia Community College – Woodbridge]
E’loise [E-loyce] Wallace – “Retirement”
Emily Brown – Excerpt from her novel, “Necrocosm”
Mara Mahan – “Come On In”
Jesse Alexander – “We Are Made to Persist”
Robbie “Rise” Krieger – “Enlightened” [Portland, Oregon]
John Cowgill – “Chasing the 611”
Thomas Burson – “Love Never Dies”
John Donley – “Just Wandering”
Brenda Bunting – “The Red Tide”
Paulette Garner – “Food Memory”
Diane Wilbon Parks – “Reclamation” [A response to A Visit at the Woodlawn Plantation]
Brian Donnell James – “Sweet Tones, Somber Tones”
Jon Welsh – “Immortal Words”
Linda Niewiadomski – “Flower Power”
Clay Harrison – “Americana”
Sylvia Diane Beverly [Lady Di] – “Bricks Calling My Name”
Will Huberdeau – “The Job Trilogy”
Traeva [Tray-va] C. Boone – “The Dream”
Nick Hale – “Brother”
Me – “The Poetry Schmuck,” “The Poet Not Chosen,” and “God’s Cathedral”
10-21-19
Bel Air Woman's Club hosts Appetizers and Authors event
Bel Air Woman's Club hosted its third annual Appetizers and Authors event at Clearbrook Center for the Arts in Tacketts Mill on Oct. 21. The six local authors who participated in the event included, from left, Adria Wilkins, Katherine Gotthardt, Nancy Kyme, John Dutton, Natalina Reis and PM Hernandez. They shared sources of information, resources, encouragement and inspiration.
Bel Air Woman's Club meets the fourth Monday of each month at the First United Presbyterian Church of Dale City at 7 pm for food, fun and fellowship, as well as to become better informed with speakers on relevant issues and to engage in community service projects.
10-25-19
Spilled Ink
On Friday, October 25, 2019, Ink was spilled!
Thank you to everyone who braved the D.C. traffic, Nationals’ World Series baseball, and substitute spiller for coming out. [Nick Hale was the host due to Brooke having a softball game.]
We had 16 readers!
Sara Elizabeth - Two untitled poems
Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt - "Hashtag Lazarus" "Ogni Pensiero Vola" "Declaration" "Prayer"
Dan Leahy - "Lions Tigers & Bears, Oh My!" (memoir)
Brian Donnell James - "Aurora" "Blind" "Alive"
Megan Mcdonald - "Book Review..." "Sometimes an Apple is Just an Apple" "Hold my Heart"
Lesley Tyson - "Buttercream Frosting" "Remember the Fields of Swords" "Burden of Answers"
Rambling Rise - Part of his epic poem about his adventure on the Appalacian Trail
Katherine Hawkins - "Smile"
Gail Williams - "Snake Story" (By special request of Alice Mergler)
John Cowgill - "The Great Vampire of Oles"(Short Story) "Chasing the 611"
Morgan Hazelwood - "'Twas the Week Before NaNo"
Elizabeth Jewell Knight - "Song of the Morning Dove" "The Magic of Dreams" "Twilight Concert"
Jim Boucher - "Cascade" "Well Meaning" "Quandryvolution"
Louis Mateus - "Black Umbrella" "Death that is of the Living" "Ritual"
Nick Hale - "Everyday Alchemy"(By James p. Wagner) "Noshoes" "The Treachery of Memories" "Brother"
Mark Randolph Kerlin - "Anyone Lived in a Pretty How Town" (By ee cummings)
November 2019
11-8-19
Spilled Ink EAST [At Clearbrook Center for the Arts]
Alice Mergler – “My First War”
Mara Mahan – Chapter One from “Resurrected”
Emily Brown – “Max’s Favor” and “Coronation Speech”
Mike Crowley – “An Open Mike of the Spoken Word,” “Inner Voices,” and “What I did Yesterday”
Steven Meehan – “Pending Prohibition”
Michael Sensale – Chapter 20 of his novel, “Head Hunt” and “Call Me Prometheus”
Robbie “Rise” Krieger – “The Neighborhood” and “Witch Doctor”
Me – Part Two of “Little Happy Trees”
11-16-19
The Write Turns Writing Conference
Beville Students:
Nadelyn Bozeman
Aleena Hoque
Sabreena Fahmy
Kennard Young
London Badie
Kimberly Mejia
Kelly Nguyen
11-25-19
Spilled Ink
26 Readers! [We had several listeners!]
PWCS Student Night
[PWCS did an article on Spilled Ink. Susan Howell was the journalist, and she will return as a reader!]
Heather Osial – “Expected”
Wills D. Uan – “Uan’s Limerick,” “Primary,” and “Thankful”
John Donley – “Us and Them” and “Just Wandering”
Kimberly Ray – “Inspirations” and a poem by her friend, Tom X, “Letters to Old Lovers”
Mike Crowley – “I Saw the Black,” “Red, White, and Blue Flags,” and “Going Up”
Paulette Garner – “In Habited” and “Duality”
Elisa Everts – “You Sent It Back,” “Singing into the Chaos,” and “Ghost Story”
Mike Vanderpool [First Timer] – “The Runner” and “Before I Cross Over”
Andre Ducros – “The Ferris Wheel” and “Oh, Savannah”
Mary Rook – Chapter 6 from her novel, “Nebula: The Threshold”
Nick Hale – “To the Eternal Optimist,” Confessions on a Couch,” and “Leaving England 2005”
Gail Williams – “Close Encounters of the Bottom Kind” [Memoir]
Michael Sensale - Chapter 32 of his novel, “Head Hunt”
Artik – “I Choose Wisely,” “Just for Eating,” and “The Beauty of the Color Red”
Lucy Koons – “Solitaire” and “Bodies in Heaven”
Amelia Hanneman [First Timer & PWCS Student] – Five acrostic poems: “Halie,” “Sarah,” “Albert,” “Hanneman” and “Maggie” [Halie was about her dog]
Mike Maggio [First Timer] – “Iris of Spring” and “Staten Island Ferry”
John Cowgill – “Tom the Turkey” and “Story of Tammy on this Thanksgiving”
Robbie “Rise” Krieger – Excerpt from his epic Hiking of Appalachian Trail poem, “Russell Field Center, between NC and Tennessee”
Graciela Hernandez [PWCS Student] – “The Last 10 Things”
Lesley Tyson – “Shawl,” “Destination,” and “Edges”
Brian Donnell James – “Daughter,” “Tin Windmill,” and “Activist”
Katherine Gotthardt – “The Fall,” “Monday Morning Revival,” and “Ostrich”
Megan McDonald – “For Cats and Cat Lovers,” “Flowing Words,” and “Time of Magic”
Alice Mergler – “A Letter to John Cowgill,” “A Bridal Poem,” “Good Advice, Twice”
Alice’s advice to me: PEOPLE ARE FINISHED; CAKES ARE DONE.
Me – “Grateful”
Nick Hale hosted “Bards for Hunger” and raised $150.00 worth of food for the homeless shelter!
Below is an article on Spilled Ink by Prince William County Schools:
Students and community gather for monthly Spilled Ink Open Mic Nights
Posted on 12/20/2019
For a creative outlet, or simply an enjoyable evening of local entertainment, swing by the Jirani Coffeehouse in Olde Town Manassas on the fourth Friday of the month for a Spilled Ink open mic night, where students and teachers alike share their art with the Spilled Ink crowd.
Spilled Ink was started by Beville Middle School Teacher John Dutton to draw both writers and listeners of poetry together. The idea for the literature-based open mic nights came to Dutton after attending a writers’ and poets’ night in Haymarket. “My problem was that Haymarket was a two-hour round trip for me, so I could not attend the event on a regular schedule. I wished for something more centrally located so that more people in Prince William County could attend on a regular basis, myself included. I felt the people on the east side were missing out on a great opportunity,” Dutton said.
On a recent night, Spilled Ink veteran Graciela Hernandez, a 10th-grader at Colgan High School, shared a piece about a person waking up from a 10-day coma, only remembering 10 things.
Graciela said that it was her mother who found the event online and introduced it to her three years ago. “I was a bit nervous at my first reading but the people and the environment are very welcoming and comfortable, so I felt better,” said Graciela.
A second student, Amelia Hanneman, an eighth-grader at Marsteller Middle School, shared a series of acrostic poems about the members of her family.
Before the night was through, the readers were joined by Marsteller Middle School Language Arts Teacher Heather Osial, who shared a futuristic fiction piece.
The November Spilled Ink event progressed with sets of four readers sharing their pieces, with announcements about other writing events peppering the evenings schedule. Photos were taken by local photographer, John Cowgil.
At the end of the evening, and on the website, Dutton concludes, “If Spilled Ink interests anyone, he or she can come to Jirani Coffeehouse on the fourth Friday of every month. The Poet Laureate Circle meets at 6 p.m., followed by the open mic from 7–10:00 p.m.”
Dutton and the other Spilled Ink regulars hope to see more PWCS students joining their future events.
December 2019
Spilled Ink EAST [At Clearbrook Center for the Arts]
John Cowgill – “Happy Holly Days” and “The Angel Train”
Mike Crowley – “Adam Through the Looking Glass,” “The Poet Must Sail,” and “I live in a Box”
Joseph Leo Hickey – “A World Followed Her,” “Resume Game,” and “Tune In, Tune Out,”
Mike Price [First Timer] – “The Fallout Shelter” [Play]
Nancy Kyme – “Query Letter for her trilogy, Bin Ral” and excerpt from Book One, “The Watcher”
Fiona Meehan [First Timer] [Age 10] – “Unicorns Can Play Volleyball Too.”
Steven Meehan – “Landing on Morven”
Sarah Holloway – “The Kiss”
David Holloway – Excerpt from his novel, “Battle of the Bands” [Band is Raging Pandas]
Ehsan Sherdin [First Timer] – Excerpt from his memoir, “History of My Life: Sitting Between Two Tigers”
Me – “I am Patient and Strict”
12-27-19
Spilled Ink
15 Readers! [We had several listeners! Dan Leahy and Laya Ashton]
Author Jack Du Brul spoke. Thank you, Dan Leahy, for setting this up!
Jack Du Brul - “How I Became a Writer” and “Ghostwriting for Cussler”
Kimberly Ray - “The Infinity” by Tom Alexander and “Weekly Session”
Lesley Tyson – “Double Edged,” “Regret,” and “Between Foundation and Revelation”
Megan McDonald – “Unseen Autumn,” “Flying Apart,” and “Crystal Rainbows”
Gail Williams – “The Obituary” [A really bizarre story!]
Anant Dhavale – “Our Unkempt Beings” and excerpt for his novel, “Evenings by the Elm”
Robbie “Rise” Krieger - Excerpt from his epic Hiking of Appalachian Trail poem, “In the Smoky Mountains”
Amy Whetstone [First Timer & Brentsville student] – “Monster” and “The Empire”
Connie Meade [First Timer] – “Take Another Step”
Nick Hale – “I Gave a Woman a Flower Today”
John Cowgill – “Golden Moment” and “The Great Dragon”
Artik – “I Pray” and “Life”
Andie Martin – “Dear Grandpa Joe”
Dave Martin – “Carcinoma” and “Astroturf”
Me – “Fatherhood”
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