The History of Spilled Ink
or
How on Some Nights I Stopped Talking and Wrote Something Down
YEAR 9
WRITERS: BLOOM WHERE YOU ARE!
1-13-23
Spilled Ink East was on Zoom only. Sandy O’Connor and Joy Martin listened.
Me – “Delirious”
Mary Rook – “Morning Sickness X1000”
Megan McDonald – “All Stars Sing,” “Eagles Soar,” “In the Night,” and “Blue and Green”
Lesley Tyson – “Dark Matter and Chaos,” “Approaching Storm,” “Exploring,” and “From the Junk
Drawer”
Kris Heaton – “A Blank Page”
Ruth Matthews – From her memoir, “The Bridge We Stood Upon” and “Muse”
Thomas “Dr. Love” Burson – “Search Party,” “Is Freedom a Conspiracy?” and “Lessons in Spring
Cleaning”
Alice Mergler – “New Year’s Sunday, A Lecture on Faith”
Paulette Garner – “Inner Monologue”
1-27-23
Jirani Coffeehouse
Alice Mergler hosted; I was at the Kennedy Center watching Shen Yu
Chanice Withers – “Who Am I?”
Cameron Stopak – “January ’23 Montage”
Morgan Hazelwood – “When Morning Comes”
Michael Sensale – “The Four Horseman”
Brian Donnell James – “Want,” “In the Loving,” and “Sister Patterson”
Gail Williams – “The Contraband”
Brittany Anderson – “Punchline” and “Rants from the Parking Lot”
Melanie Sussman – “A Soft Ending” and “My Dear”
Thomas “Dr. Love” Burson – “Love Never Dies,” “The House Where Time Begins,”
“The Antics of Ice,” and “Time was Our Harvest”
Maddie Mathers [Student Benton MS] – “Daydreams”
Jim Boucher – “Kindred Moments,” “Wonderful Engagements,” and “Blessed Angel”
Kathleen Kinsolving – “The Tooth”
Leigh Renfrow – “Burned” and “Letter to Grieving Partner”
Mary Rook – “Everyone’s Hero”
Paulette Garner – “Spreading Memories with Love” and “Unwavering for Justice”
Mike Higgins – “New Time,” “No Claim,” and “Next Time”
2-10-23
Spilled Ink East was on Zoom only. Andrew Smiley listened.
John Cowgill – “A Poem of Nature” and “The Voices of the Shenandoah Mountains”
Michael Crowley – “Insomnia,” and “I Keep Losing My Car”
Leigh Renfrow – “Razors Edge”
Megan McDonald – “Spell Bound,” “Come, Follow,” and “Ocean of Obscure Dreams”
Lesley Tyson – “Ghosts in the Overcast,” “Mystery,” and “Rusting Swing Sets”
Eloise Wallace – “Keep Running” and “Winter”
Michael Sensale – Parts 1 to 6 from his comic book, “Missing In Action”
Thomas “Dr. Love” Burson – “Stillness: The Invisible Art,” “A Moment of Worship,” and “Mastery”
Joy Martin – “Multiverse, Parallel Me”
Alice Mergler – “The Empty Chair”
2-11-23
Benton Middle School hosted ScribbleCon23, a community writing event! It was a huge success as sixty people showed up to write. I loved seeing parents writing alongside their child.
2-24-23
Jirani Coffeehouse
19 readers! What a great night!
Brittany Anderson – “The End of Things,” “Reality Check,” “Backspace,” and “Rants in a Parking Lot”
Alice Mergler – “Designing an Olivia,” “Dear Tamara,” and “To the Girls of W&L”
Paulette Garner – “Aroma” and “Gone Fishing”
Richard Caponetti [First Timer] – First chapter of his book, “Tiempo”
Sammi Sanclementi [First Timer] – Excerpt from her memoirs, “Then”
Chanice Whiters – “Hope,” “Vomiting Love,” “Find Myself,” and “Who Am I”
Gal Williams – “The Well Pump”
Morgan Hazelwood – “Old Friends, New Adventures,” “Spring Cleaning,” “Moments in
the Night,” and “Life and Near-Death”
Kim Dinya [First Timer] – First chapter of her novel, “Midnight Shard”
John Cowgill – “A Poem of Nature” and “Voices of the Shenandoah Mountains”
Lito Rios – “Birthday Wish” and part one of “Sad”
Mike Higgins – “Indigo Man,” “Every Lifetime,” and “Sally”
Brian Donnell James – “Kakuma” and “A Desolate Shore”
Michael Sensale – “The Four Horsemen” [All four riders: White, Black, Red, and Pale]
Thomas “Dr. Love” Burson – “Heart Exercise,” “Stillness: The Invisible Art,” and
“Pronoun Multiplication”
Lesley Tyson – “Coincidence,” “Reverse,” and “Destruction”
Leigh Renfrow – “Kinsugi” and “The She Monster”
Megan McDonald – “Old School,” “Open Mic,” and “The Support Group”
Me – “I know Where Baseballs Go to Die” and “Robert Scott Howard”
3-10-23
Spilled Ink East was on Zoom only. Alice Mergler – New Phone Issues
Megan McDonald – “Ocean of Obscure Dreams,” “Inside a Window,” and “Not Another Color Poem”
Lesley Tyson – “Shade-less Window/Blank Wall,” “Needing Something More,” and “Afterimage”
Michael Crowley – “Release the Centaur,” Tanka19,” and “Bravery”
Thomas “Dr. Love” Burson – “Hylas,” “A Moment in Worship,” and “The Fog Lifts”
Katherine Gotthardt – “Post Winter Mortem” and “Now Entering Ashby”
Joy Martin – “Folded Over Lines”
Me – “Winter Personified 2023”
Memoir Slam 2023
Benton Middle School
7th Grade
3-29-23
Mrs. Hilliard's group:
Andy Wu (Woo)
Jack Egee
Evan Wieczorek
Theo Gubser (Goob/ser)
Tyler Wieczorek
Brenden Jung
Zachary Caracciolo (Ca/rach/a/lo)
Mr. Dutton’s group:
Annette Dobson
Henry Gerhardt
Maddie Fisher
Tye Prangley
Jazzlynn Chavez
Teagan Cordle
Cooper Dawson
Evelynn Brown
3-24-23
Jirani Coffeehouse
POETRY BOOK LAUNCH - Sharing the Light
23 people presented tonight! We finished at 8:10!
Kimberly Ray – “Walking Down to the Lake,” “Meet Me by the Shore,” and “Let Me
Down”
Brittany Anderson – “Lunar,” “Soulmates,” “Rants in a Parking Lot,”
Brian Donnell James – “Guardian” and “Dear Brother John”
Paulette Garner – “A Generous Heart: A Tribute to Jeanie Dean” and “Provider and Way
Maker” (The second piece was inspired by Gail Williams)
Mike Higgins – “Obsidian Soul,” “Amber Snow,” and “Ande”
Alice Mergler – “Withering Not” [Being old Vs. Acting old]
Ron Goad “Loaded Words” (A Fresh Beat poem)
Jay McClendon – “For You Whom I Never Met” and “Saraland: Kool Aid To Your
Coffee”
Thomas “Dr. Love” Burson – “Diana, The Goddess,” “I Can’t Say,” and “Ulysses Tied
to the Mast”
Kimberly Dinga – “Connections: A Poem on Bonds and Coincidence” and “Reflections on
Silence”
Kathleen Kinsolving – “Carol’s Coma” and “A Question”
Leigh Renfrow – “Lost in the Dust: The Story of Burning Man”
Lito Rios – “The Thought of You,” “To Be in Love,” and part one of “Hey, Cinderella”
Wills D. Uan – “Lemon,” “Shy Guy,” and “The Sole Purpose”
Gail Williams – “Invisible” and “Shells and Cardinals” (The second piece was written at
ScribbleCon23 with Sharon Krasny
Michael Sensale – A Knight Shade Story, “Acharon” and “Me in a Nutshell”
Morgan Hazelwood – “Alone in a Crowd” and “Screaming on Mute”
Laila Ali [First Timer] – “Cures to Trouble”
Sammi San – “Café Au Lait” and “Monday Masque”
Eric and Joni Gallegos attended and sent three CMS students to read their Father’s Day
pieces:
Ishika Gupta [First Timer] – “My Intelligent Dad”
Danny Zemelman [First Timer] – “My Amazing Dad”
Aneira Banwar [First Timer] – “My Nice Dad”
Me – “Acrostic 2023” and “Winter Personified 2023”
4-14-23
Spilled Ink East was on Zoom only.
Joy Martin and Sandy O’Connor listened.
Thomas “Dr. Love” Burson – “A Beach Comber’s Lament,” “Penny Wise, Dollar Short,”
and “A Word to the Wise”
Michael Crowley – “Haiku 20,” “Music with Je Ne Sais Quoi,” and “Noodles”
Eloise Wallace – “Celebrate and Appreciate Small Victories”
Michael Sensale – “Call Me, Prometheus (POV from Frankenstein’s Monster)”
Me – “Ode to a Jabroni” and “Ode to a Book”
4-28-23
Jirani Coffeehouse
19 readers!
Susan Farmer was there to listen to her friend, Robin Hilliard.
Brittany Anderson – “The Required Introduction,” “Paper,” and “Crack”
Andrea Henry [First Timer] – “To God”
Paulette Garner – “Without Permission” (Henrietta Lacks) and “Life”
Alice Mergler – “My Mother’s Apron,” “Dear Jennie,” and “To Paulette”
Chanice Withers – “Who Am I?” “Find Myself” and “Underneath the Tress” (The
Devil’s Beating His Wife)
Melanie Sussman – “As Death Does,” “My Heart to You,” and “Windowsill Flowers”
*Windowsill Flowers was written at ScibbleCon23!
Morgan Hazelwood – “Mixed Metaphors,” “Echo Chambers,” “Regrets,” and “How Does
Your Garden Grow?”
Michael Sensale – “Angeline” [Radio play including Brittany Anderson, Morgan
Hazelwood, himself, and me]
Gail Williams – “What Jirani’s Coffeehouse Means to Me” and “Alone in the Dark”
Robin Hilliard [First Timer] “A Short Story Changed My Life”
Louis Mateus – “Opening Act,” “M&Ms in the Dark,” “The Egret” and “Over 95 South”
John Cowgill – “The Great Flight of the Tomahawk” and “The Great Feast of Valton”
Maddie Mathers [BTMS Student] – Chapter 6 of her novel, “Daydreams” (What Are the
Badgers?)
Wills D. Uan – “Taurus,” “Chapters,” “Come and Join,” and “Path of Optimism”
Raquel Estrada [First Timer] [BTMS Student] – A memoir, “Haircut”
Brian Donnell James – For his father-in-law, “Ben’s Poem” and “Love Purgatory”
Thomas “Dr. Love” Burson – “Like Magic,” “Yard Maintenance,” and “Kiss These Lips
with Magic”
Dottie Ward-Wimmer – “Rainy Saturday” and “Reading Poetry”
Me – “One Lake Road” and “Aaron’s Big Ego”
5-12-23
Spilled Ink East was on Zoom only.
Eloise Wallace just listened.
Katherine Gotthardt – “Expedition,” “Quantum,” and "Food Stamps and Underwear"
Lesley Tyson – “Solving for Pi,” “You’d Be Amazed,” and “This Poem”
Michael Crowley – “Staring Down the Stars,” “The Clock,” and “Traveling Through
Dimensions”
Brittany Sabatino - “Photographic Memories”
Joy Martin – “Bitter Fruit”
Michael Sensale – From his comic book, “Missing in Action” (Parts 7 through 10)
Me – Two Tankas, “Aaron” and “Winston,” One Haiku, “The Gingerbread Man,” and a
memoir, “Undefeated”
5-26-23
Jirani Coffeehouse
20 readers!
Michael Sensale – Excerpt from, “The Entity” (Night Shade’s Antagonist)
Chanice Withers – “Who Am I,” “Mountains,” “Hope,” and “Finding Myself”’
Brittany Anderson – “Hurricane,” “Idol Worship,” “Poet Crush,” and “Bliss”
Alice Mergler – “A Pollination Conversation”
Paulette Garner – “Pollinator’s Delight”
Beth E. C. Kinzer – “Broken,” “I’ll See You Again,” and “Game It All Away”
Dottie Ward-Wimmer – “Decision” and “For You My Love”
Megan McDonald – “The Dance Between Us,” “Saguaro,” and “Misheard”
Clement Rivera [First Timer] – “My Cosmic Love,” “The Change Machine,” and
“Hunched Over in Love”
Sammi San – “Cured Heart”
Maddie Mathers [Student/Benton] – “Bastard Child of Pleading and Sorrow”
John Cowgill – “The Watcher on the Hill” and “The Great Climb”
Louis Mateus – “The Dream Fiends,” “Ritual,” and “Sunny Day”
Lesley Tyson – “Opposite,” “Another Time of Day,” and “What Closes the Day”
Brian Donnell James – “Billow Billow,” “The Lesson,” and “Shy One”
Thomas “Dr. Love” Burson – “Sand in the Shoe,” “Fallow,” and
“Adam Discovers Eden Too”
Jeff Mayhugh – “Eden,” “I Rub Her Feet,” and “The American Corporation”
Anant Dhavale – “Pictures,” “Sleep, A Non-motion Corridor,” and (Haiku) “Gallop,”
“These Woods,” “Emptiness,” and “Short Straw”
Gail Williams – “Why I Don’t Ride Motorcycles or Sit on Bar Stools”
Me – “Headwaters of the Hawksbill” and “Home”
6-2-23
PoetryCon23 was attempted, but it was not a great success. We need to move it to April.
6-9-23
Spilled Ink East was on Zoom only.
9:00 PM start because Jack had a baseball game.
Joy Martin – Ocean’s Reflections
Wisdom and Zest by Eloise Wallace
Me – Inner Simmering (Written at PoetryCon23)
6-14-23
I hosted Wednesday Night Writes for the Northern Virginia Writing Project.
I led a group of five writers through a Fairy Tale adventure.
Emma Harris
Kathy Smaltz
Eloise Wallace
Dottie Ward
Thoams Burson
6-23-23
Jirani Coffeehouse
20 readers!
Alice Mergler hosted because I was on a ten-day World War 2 trip to Europe.
Alice Mergler – “Bonded by Words”
Leigh Renfrow – “Razor’s Edge”
Mike Higgins – “Listen,” “Look Away,” “Living,” and “Chains”
Ricky Ginsburg [First Timer] – “Falling”
Michael Sensale – “Me in a Nutshell” and “The Seven Deadly Sins” (Pride, Greed, and
Wrath)
John Cowgill – “Stone Wall” and “Great Knight”
Wills D. Uan – “Dragon Fruit,” “I Found You,” and “Take One Step”
Thomas “Dr. Love” Burson – “The Way to the Sea,” “Old,” “The Last Forest,”
“After the Fog Lifted and I have cleared My Head,” and “The Poet: Gulliver”
Kathleen Kinsolving – “The Plea”
Anant Dhavale – a chapter from his book, “Nobody’s War”
Lito Rios – “Spilled Ink,” “Ocean of Possibilities,” and “The Sun and the Moon”
Louis Mateus – “Red Fox,” One More Time,” and “Young Lover’s Trail”
Kimberly Ray – “Take Down the Decorations” and “It’s Too Soon”
David Martinez [First Timer] (inspired by Lito Rios) – “Art is Life, But Life is Short” and
“Selfish”
Paulette Garner – “At the Bee Festival” and “Highly Gifted”
Brittany Anderson – “Straight Edge,” “Victory Face,” “The Second Planet,” and “Ribbon”
Morgan Hazelwood – “A Phone Call Once a Week” and “Who is Morgan”
Cameron Stopak – “You Can Build a Bear, But It May Bite Your Head Off”
7-8-23 and 7-9-23
I was the guest author at Jenkins Elementary School.
7-14-23
Spilled Ink East was on Zoom only.
Joy Martin and Andrew Smiley [Listening]
Thomas “Dr. Love” Burson – “Ere We Begin,” “Spring Breeze,” “Fall Hurricane,” and
“I Am Sure I Remember”
Katherine Gotthardt – “Catharsis,” “Visionless,” and “Firefly”
Lesley Tyson – “Implication,” “Pushed Out,” and “Face in the Photograph”
Michael Crowley – “Why I Fear Patriotism,” “Here's What I Think,” and “Hiding in a
Dream”
Megan McDonald – “Y = 2x 20,” “Ocean of Obscure Dreams,” and “Come Follow”
Anant Dhavale – “Indie Love” and “Stirrings”
Michael Sensale – “The Seven Deadly Sins: Pride/ Greed/ Wrath” and “Night Shade’s
Missing Inaction, Parts 11-15”
Me – “Do Not Bury Me in the Ground”
7-28-23
Jirani Coffeehouse
19 readers!
Alice Mergler – “Old” [Haiku]
Ricky Ginsburg – “In Search of the Grizzly Frog”
Natalie Potell – “In the Canyon” and “Animal”
Thomas “Dr. Love” Burson – “Mash,” “Night’s Gate” and “Craftsman’s Tool”
Dave Martin – “She” and “Sermon”
CL Bledsoe [First Timer] – “The Bespoke Apocalypse,” “Male Epidemic,” “Banana
for Scale,” and B Sides and Rarities”
Maddie Mathers [Colgan HS] – “Her” and “How Do You Fall in Love with a Horse?”
Andy Fadely (Fade-lee) [First Timer] – “Izzy” and “Young Man”
Dottie Ward-Wimmer – “Letting It,” “Roller,” and “Steam”
Mike Higgins – “Sinhala Wane” and “Broken but Together”
Jim Key [First Timer] – “Goddess, Consumed” and “A Failed Plan”
Tad Bailey [First Timer] – “The Beach,” “Grocery Store,” “Invisible Man Dead”
Lito Rios – “Serenade from the Moon,” “Little One” and “Ocean of Possibilities”
Clemente Rivera – “Letter to My Future Wife,” “2002 Machine,” and “Eternity Speaks”
Gail Williams – “Close Encounters of the Bottom Kind”
David Martinez – “Social Thoughts,” “Time,” and “Selfish”
Brian Donnell James – “Pool Player,” “A Divorce,” “Sacred Boundaries”
Morgan Hazelwood – “Skill, Persistence, and Luck,” “Bleeding Dreams,” and
“Who am I?”
Me – “Do Not Bury Me in the Ground”
8-11-23
NO Spilled Ink East on Zoom.
Brooke had a softball tournament in Charleston, SC. Game time was 7:45 PM.
8-16-23
I presented a Breakout Session for PWCS during LA Secondary Day.
8-25-23
Jirani Coffeehouse
29 readers! Wow!
Ricky Ginsburg – “Loaded Banana”
Brittany Anderson – “The Reason I’ll Buy a Boat,” “What Your Love Is Made Of,” and
“Hurricane”
Anant Dhavale – “Indie Love” and “Us, Not Us Anymore”
Louis Mateus – “Cement Statute of a Lady with a Head Band,” “A Book of Anna
Akhmatova’s Poetry,” “Where Are You From?” and “Attitude”
Thomas “Dr. Love” Burson – “Too Thin,” “A Peek Over Her Shoulder,” and “Binary
Logic”
Alice Mergler – “A Simple Observation”
Kimberly Ray – “I Swear I Won’t Mourn You”
Paulette Garner – “All Night Long”
Eloise Wallace – “What If…”
Dottie Ward-Wimmer – “Morning on the Porch” and “Saucer’s Lip”
Lito Rios – “The Thought of You,” “The Caged Bird’s Song,” and “The Greatest Untold
Story”
Ron Nearhood – “The Flight Home” and “All Those Needless Things”
Jasmine Bridgett [First Timer] – “My Teacher Saved My Life” (Ms. Eloise Wallace)
Wills D. Uan – “Primary,” “There’s Hope,” “Shy Guy,” and “It’s in Nature”
Susan Bennett [First Timer] – “The Coat Rack Reflects” and “Obit: My Last Egg”
Lilah Wray [First Timer] – “The Blade”
Jeannine Donato [First Timer] – “Luminality,” “Colors,” Falling,” and “The Stillness”
Michael Sensale – “Envy,” “Lust,” “Glutton,” and “Sloth” (The Seven Deadly Sins)
Kathleen Kinsolving – “Sacrifice” and “The Knock at the Door”
Sammi Son – “Winning Ever After” and “Without the Try”
Jim Key – “Pulled Together”
Maddie Mather – “Cat Poem” and “Eternity”
Megan McDonald – “Cliches in Two-Quarter Time,” “Summer of Fireflies,” and “Plus”
Lesley Tyson – “You Will Not Be Blamed,” “Sorting Memories,” and “Motivated”
Artic – “Not Too Soon” and “A New Me”
CL Bledsoe – “It’s Snowing in My Daughter’s Eyes,” “Dream Cather,” and “The Bees and
the Bears”
Art Shuhart – “My Lady Shiva,” “She Drew Me to Ruin,” and “Once I loved So Well”
Morgan Hazelwood – “Echoes of Silence,” “As the Night,” and “The Good Daughter”
Me – “My Name” and “Watermelon Acrostic 2023”
9-7-23
Spilled Ink East on ZOOM
10 Readers
Thomas “Dr. Love” Burson – “Take the Pot Down Please,” “Chocolate and Tangerine,” and
“Grammar”
Anant Dhavale – “End of Days” (Flash Fiction)
CL Bledsoe – “Roaches,” “Feeding the Fish,” and “Riceland”
Michael Crowley – “The Fortune Cookie,” “The Guru,” and “A Shadow of Her Former Self”
Eloise Wallace – “The Heat Is On!”
Lesley Tyson “New Gourmet,” “Word List,” and “Redaction”
Megan McDonald – “Creativity is a Canyon,” “Closets,” and “Stealing lines”
Michael Sensale – “Night Shade - Missing Inaction” (Parts 15-20)
Eric Kellum – “A Good Day” and “Black Woman”
Joy Martin (Boston) – “The American Dream” and “Broken Windows”
Me – “The Swing,” “Elk Brave Park in Tulare County, CA,” and “Same Stain, Different Dirt”
9-10-23
ARTS ALIVE at The Hylton Performing Arts Center
20 Readers
Morgan Hazelwood – “Changing a Lightbulb Shouldn’t Be That Hard”
Michael Sensale – “Back to School” and “Publishing Hell - Levels 1, 2, & 3”
Brian Donnell James – “Sacred Boundaries” and “Men of the South”
Thomas “Dr. Love” Burson – “Nation Builders,” “Carpenter,” “Can You Hear the Ice Cry Against
Spring’s Arrival?” and “My Lady, The Shore”
Katherine Gotthardt – Micro poems from her book, “We All Might Be Witches”
Dottie Ward-Wimmer – “Alice’s House,” “Chair Backs,” and “I Still Love to Iron”
Alice Mergler – “Rose”
Dave Martin – “The Son I Never Had” and “My Addiction”
Paulette Garner – “Missing,” “Day Interrupted,” and “Band Wagon”
Maryel Stone – “Ode to Her Furry Assistants” and “Strong Female Characters”
Brittany Anderson – “Hurricane,” “Lunar,” and “What Your Love Is Made Of”
Syed Hye [First Timer] – “Six Minutes and Twenty Seconds”
Gail Williams – “The Purse” and “Hay Preguntas”
Wills D. Uan – “Idolize,” “Morning Life” and “Rest in Power”
Louis Mateus – “Quai D’Orleans” by Elizabeth Bishop, “The Pond,” “The Old Castle,” “Matter,” and
“Too Much Son”
Anant Dhavale – “Entangled,” “Restitution,” “Life’s More Like a Gas Station,” and “Pizza on a Rainy
Night”
Kimberly Ray – “Pink Moon Rising,” “Train to Nowhere,” “Have You Noticed,” and “In Your City”
Art Shuhart – “I Am a Servant of my Faceless Lord” and “I Have Been Devoured by a Dragon”
Aaron Rich [First Timer] [WBHS student] – TED Talk on “Cannibalism, Communism, and Christmas”
Me – “The Gatekeeper,” “The Swing”, and “Same Stain, Different Dirt”
9-22-23
NO SPILLED INK TONIGHT
Jirani Coffeehouse closed early
Inkers,
I have been scrambling for the last two days and am looking forward to going to bed, but I wanted to get an update out to you.
I left football practice (I coach) and went to my daughter's pitching lesson. I was sitting on a softball bucket in full catcher's equipment when I received the call from Ken. I sent out something from the field on Facebook. I came home and learned I was taking my son to baseball practice since I was now free. I sent out a quick e-mail. I was amazed at all the concern over Jirani’s Coffeehouse. We do love our home away from home.
UPDATE: Barista became sick, needed to leave, so he closed the store. Barista will be fine. Building is fine. Equipment is fine. Ken knew it was easier to close because finding someone on a Friday night within an hour would be impossible. Good call! Spilled Inkers: Breathe easier. All is fine with Jirani Coffeehouse! It was just a bump in the road.
I wasn't thinking when I said next month. I am driving back from Wisconsin on Monday (10-9-23), and I will be needing that second Friday (10-13-23) to recover after a long week. Ken and I have decided on the 2nd and 4th Friday in November.
Keep scribbling,
JD
10-7-23 and 10-8-23
In the Company of Laureates
Woodbridge High School
Day One
I led it, so I read the first one and then we did three more rounds.
~Tom
Tom “Dr. Love” Burson - “The Devil is,” “Peachy,” and “Moon Wine, Part 1”
John Berry – “Gravity Has a Serious Talk with Water” and “Aunt Sigh”
Edward Wright Haile – “The Universe of Sorrow,” “Lost Glasses,” and “I tried to play a flute in the
woods”
Dotty – “Nightmare Waiting,” “What Is Prayer?” and “Can Openers”
Heather – “Conversation with the Moon”
Paulette – “Spilled Inkers” and “On Assignment”
Josue – “The Sun and The Moon,” “Hey, Cinderella,” and “The World is a Stage”
Day Two
Ed Haile and John Berry read a two-person poem together; written by Ed Haile — “Aristotle Meets His
Match”
Paulette — “For Goodness Sake” (Haiku) and “All Night Long”
Josue — “Death on the Battlefield,” and “The Greatest Untold Story”
Sister Joy — “Reflections” and “This Time”
Christian Elias — “The Flag,” “Rage,” and “Willpower”
Ed Haile — “The Rhyme of the Ancient Microwave” and “Man and Bug”
Tom Burson – “Atlas Tries to Understand Metaphysics,” “Open Mic,” and “There Just Can’t Be”
10-13-23
Spilled Ink East on ZOOM
7 Readers
Lesley Tyson – “Singular Corsage,” “Unfinished,” and “The Interrupted”
Megan McDonald – “The Cursed Costume,” “One of You,” and “Hush Hush”
James Cribbs [First Timer] [Benton MS Student] – “Nature's Embrace”
Thomas Burson – “All the Usual Suspects,” “When Things End,” and “Morning Glory”
Eloise Wallace – “The Talking Old Chair”
Juliana Schifferes [First Timer] – “Autumn”
Me – “Thursday, the 12th”
10-27-23
Jirani Coffeehouse
28 readers!
Dottie Ward-Wimmer – “After Spilled Ink”
Morgan Hazelwood – “They Lie” and “A Dream of Nature’s Magic”
Leigh Renfrow – “Transformation,” “Reborn,” and “Heartfull”
Mike Higgins – “Binary,” “Three Pillars,” “Chains of Expectations,” and “Famine of My Soul”
Michael Sensale – (SLAM Poetry) “Peace” and (two Night Shade stories) “You Bet Your Bounty” and
“Major Massacre”
Lito Rios – “Incredible Things,” “The Man on the Moon,” and “The Monkey and the Panda”
Tom “Dr. Love” Burson – “The Cat is Dead” and “Fall”
CL Bledsoe – (From his book, Grief Bacon) “A Kind of Spring,” “13 Years,” and “The Color Blue is
Never Mentioned by Homer”
Maryel Stone – “SFC: Strong Female Character”
Anant Dhavale – “Seekers of Timbuktu,” “A Girl You Can Fall For,” and “Halcyon”
Maddie Mathers (Colgan HS) – “Soul” and “Mourn”
Zachary Hartung [First Timer] – “Sunset on the Battlefield,” “Dreaming of Whitman,” and “Inspired by
George Harrison”
Kathleen Kinsolving – (Opening of her play) “Rosaleen” {Mother of Bobby Sans}
Maggie Saunders [First Timer] (Colgan HS) – “Hopelessly Hopeless,” “Rainbow Girl,” and
“Unbroken”
Jennifer Dorrer [First Timer] – “Spilled Ink Loves First Timers”
Whitney Pipkin [First Timer] – (Excerpt from her book) “We Shall All Be Changed”
Clemente Rivera – “Hunched Over in Love” and “Found”
Eric Kellum – “I Only” and (Haiku) “Insignificant”
Louis Mateus – “Death that is of the Living,” “Elfin Woods,” “Your Room Again” and “Lotus Eater”
Gail Williams – “Tomatoes”
Alice Mergler – “I Miss You – Twice”
Brian Donnell James – “Glance,” “Drive Down Country,” and “Want”
Tad Bailey (Drama Teacher) – “The Road” and “The Hitchhiker”
Amy Nicole Morris [First Timer] (Teacher/Willard Elementary) – “When I Think of You” Part 1 and 2
Jillian Sorrell [First Timer] – “Down the Rabbit Hole,” “Asteroid Boy,” and “Seasons”
Antonia Kilday – “Mended,” “Mercy,” “Night Stalker,” “The Fall,” “We Told You So,” and
“What Am I?”
Morgan Hazelwood – “Twas the Week Before NaNo”
Me – “Brick Walls”
FYI: JILLIAN SORRELL WAS OUR BARISTA!
11-10-23
Jirani Coffeehouse
15 readers! Sammi San listened.
Thomas “Dr. Love” Burson – “Open Mic,” “A Word of Wisdom,” and “Fall”
Rudy Morlaes [First Timer] “A Holiday Party to Die For”
Lucy Koons – “The Widow, Mrs. P” and “I Found a Box”
Morgan Hazelwood – “Sleep is for the Weak”
Alice Mergler – “Last Monday”
Maggie Saunders [Colgan HS] – Excerpt from a short story, “Blue”
Maddie Mathers [Colgan HS] – “A Skeleton of My Own Soul”
Desdemona Rose [First Timer] – Excerpt from a short story, “A Blight in the Maze”
Paulette Garner – “Spilled Inkers” and “The Grapefruit”
Lito Rios – “Stay Gold,” “Fluent in Pain,” and “To My Unborn Child Remix”
Stephanie Reyes Espana [First Timer] [Parkside MS] – A short story, “The Enchanted Forest”
Louis Mateus – “The Rockwall Collapsing Under Me,” “Some Home Visits Along the Way,”
“The Absence I Mean” and “Columns”
Mary Rook – Chapter one of her book, “Almost Human”
Michael Sensale – Some Night Shade blotters, “You Bet Your Bounty,” “Major Massacre,” and
“Triple Death”
Me – “Outside My Classroom,” “The Road Taken,” and “Closets”
11-24-23
Jirani Coffeehouse
10 readers!
I was struck down with Covid, so Alice Mergler hosted! She is my hero!
Jim Brown [First Timer] – Three Poems (No Titles)
Paulette Garner – “Memories” and “As the Years Go By”
Lesley Tyson – “So Little out of 1,000 Minutes,” “Weightless,” and “Buttercream Frosting”
Lito Rios – “Absence of You,” “Gifted Liar,” and “Special People”
Kathleen Kinsolving – “Rosaleen”
John Cowgill – Two short stories, “The Good Spilled Ink Man” and “Adventures of Captain Joe”
Megan McDonald – “Noctilucent,” “The Problem with Cloud,” and “Home for the Holidays”
Devan Swan [First Timer] – “Butterfly Drive,” “Steppingstone Bridge,” and “Arbor Arches”
Thomas “Dr. Love” Burson – “A Blessing,” “Thanksgiving Production,” “Gifts Well-Wrapped,” and
“Do Not Open Before Christmas”
Dan Wanamaker – A memoir, “Kennedy’s Funeral Trip”
12-8-23
Spilled Ink Christmas hosted by Antonia Kilday
12 readers [five on Zoom and seven in person]
Two guests: Brooke Dutton and Christiana Kilday
I read a Dan Verner Cat poem, “The Cats Are Going to Chuck E. Cheese”
Joy Martin - “Twas the Night Before Christmas parody”
Megan McDonald – “Shape of Clouds”
Lesley Tyson – “In Preparation,” “Measurements,” and “His Hands”
Michael Sensale - "Christmas Chaos" and “Seven Deadly Sins”
Eloise Wallace – “A Christmas Wish to Santa”
Antonia Kilday – “Dirty Dishes”
Mike Higgins – “Sentinel,” “Snow drifting,” and “So Much More”
Leigh Renfrow – “Patagonia”
Whitney Pipkin – “The Kids”
Alice Mergler – “Thank you, December 22nd”
Andrea Yarbourgh – She read her Golden Nib Nonfiction Winner 2023, “On a Sunday Morning”
Me – “A Visit from St. Verner” and “Another Visit from that Prick”
No Spilled Ink at Jirani Coffeehouse for December 22nd was too close to Christmas.
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