“Chocolat” Conspiracies; Writers Guild Second Thursday Spoken Word
Starting a busy, busy day, it’s got to be one of the quickest story acceptances for me thus far! The story, a reprint originally published in IT’S COME TO OUR ATTENTION (Third Flatiron Publishing, Spring 2016): “Chocolat.” Submitted this time at about 10 p.m. last night, the e-word came only about two hours later judging by the time signatures, even if only read by me early this afternoon: I am happy to include your story in the anthology. . . . Attached is a preview with your work in it.
The call was for conspiracy themed fiction and poetry for consideration, from Alien Buddha Press, publishers also of my AVOID SEEING A MOUSE collection. The anthology is to be titled THEY’RE CONSPIRING AGAINST THE ALIEN BUDDHA TOO! — and, for those interested, continuing to read submissions until the end of June — with a hoped for launch date of Independence Day, July 4. (Yes, they do a fast job of not just deciding on which stories to use, but also bringing the book into print.)
And then tonight, along with going over the story proof, and okaying it with one minor correction, tonight was Bloomington Writers Guild “Second Thursday Spoken Word Series” night (see May 9, April 11, et al.), with three featured poets, Jason L. Ammerman, the Writers Guild’s own Tony Brewer, and Joseph Kerschbaum, who up until 2024 — after Ammerman’s December 2022 diagnosis of having come down with Stage IV Colon Cancer (though still on his feet, at least for now!) — had often performed readings together as “the Reservoir Dogwoods.” And also back in the MC spot, recovering from an accident that had had her out of action for Guild events for some time, was Spoken Word Series co-producer (with Tony Brewer) Joan Hawkins.
Ammerman, who had originally formed the Dogwoods group even if they were doing solo gigs this time, a poet since 1989 with three published books as well as leading innumerable poetry readings and slams in the Indianapolis area in the late 1990s and early 2000s, plus with the Dogwoods through their final March 2024 show, a charity performance for “Man Up to Cancer” — an organization for males who are fighting or have fought cancer — led off with what he called “small stuff,” but were actually three longish poems touching on such things as earthquakes, ghosts, and the meaning of motherhood, along with details of the stories behind them. He was followed by poet and audio artist as well as executive director of the Spoken Word Stage at Bloomington’s annual 4th Street Festival of the Arts and Crafts, and with twelve books and chapbooks under his belt, Brewer, with two “guest” poems, one by Beat poet Ruth Weiss and a second by a poet he’d recently worked with designing a chapbook for it and printing it on a vintage letterpress, followed by a flurry of shorter poems of his own on a number of subjects, as well as brief explanations. Then Kerschbaum, another Bloomington poet with his most recent publications including MIRROR BOX (Main Street Rag Press, 2020), DISTANT SHORES OF A SPLIT SECOND (Louisiana Literature Press, 2018), and MIDNIGHT SUNRISE just out from Main Street Rag Press, came third with about a dozen poems of varying length, some very short (notably the one he opened with, titled “My Sex Life”), including a small clutch toward the end as if by Mattel doll Barbie’s “Ken.”
Music both at the beginning and just before the break, as well as at the close, was by trumpeter Kyle Quass and percussionist Julian Douglas, who’ve worked together some twenty years, as well as performing in many different ensembles, co-led several bands, and worked on multiple recording projects, these latter including Quass’s FRACTURED and Douglas’s TALAFAWA. Then, after the break, it was time for the “open mic” portion of which I came fourth of nine walk-on readers. And for which, it being itself only some 500 words long, the story I chose to present was . . . “Chocolat.”
jamesdorrwriter 
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