“We look for innovated works of fiction and poetry, and also accept book reviews. Straylight prides itself for being on the edge of literary innovation and we greatly value new and upcoming writers.”
little places where we caution little secrets not to wander
by Matt Specht
and the rain
on the water
hear it hiss
hear it hiss
as it falls upon the autumn
like the silent static kiss
of my TV
watching me
as i sleep
as i weep
for the bill unpaid on monday
for the bill you laid last week
and i wake
i am late
it is make or
it is break here
i could tell you all about it
but it’s not my job as savior
go ahead
shake your head
it’s been said
i remember
how your words fell out upon you
and then bled onto december
don’t you see
we all bleed
from the knees
from the tender
little places where we caution
little secrets not to wander
like a kid
in the rain
popping corn
on his slicker
tried to make a paper sailboat
but the water, it was quicker
thicker still
than my blood
than the clouds
than the sound
of the water as it hisses
wishes it could soak the ground
fertile soil
without seed
all in vain
all of this
i won’t see another autumn
rain drop silently like this
Click the Arrow to listen to a reading of “little places where we caution little secrets not to wander,”
Matt Specht is a student at UW-Parkside. His work has been published in Word Riot and BlazeVox. Last summer, he built a sailboat by hand. Click here for Matt’s website.
“. . .The missus and I attended our very first Bonk! performance last Saturday at Racine Arts Council. Like BeExposed!, Bonk! proved to not only be tremendously entertaining but also educational, i.e., educational in a chocolate and not a brussels sprout kind of way.
From 12-string guitarist Worth Hawes, who walks the string…s like Leo Kottke, I learned of Philip Simmons, who, at age 35, was dealt the news he had ALS, Lou Gehrig’s disease. Simmons wrote “Learning To Fall: The Blessings of an Imperfect Life”, of which Publishers Weekly said “offers no easy solutions to dealing with suffering and sorrow, but it does chronicle how the experience of living at the edge can become an extraordinary connection to the eternal.” From Hawes, I also learned that John Stropes is from Racine. Stropes created the world’s only college-level program in fingerstyle guitar. www.stropes.com Bows and salutations to Nick Demske and the whole Bonk! experience...”
There for a minute last night I thought I had been transported to a red state; that is until I realized this elegant setting actually was the foyer of our Rhode. Boy, those people really know how to party. What a reception.
The Rhode Center for the Arts
3-27-10
If there was a box score for the entire thing it would have to be :
Musicianship A++
Vocals A++
Staff A++
Not to sure about the intrusive omnipresent Photographer. One would think that the audience and musicians were actually being taken advantage of and that they were there for some purpose other than entertainers and audience. Anyway my guess is that there is a website someplace with a lot of pics from this event. A member of the staff guessed the house to be about 200 to 250. I think it was more.
To put a fine point on some of it the musicians played way better, I believe, than the audience was able to appreciate. Yes, there was much applause but the musicians were in a groove. A multicolored, ring-dang, not seen by this reviewer for a long time, G R R R O O V E E. At one point the combo leader, Kal, even asked the audience to loosen up and be heard. The chick who did the nice down tempo version of Singing in the Rain was quite good. Very good. And my hat is off to Serena Cheeks for her licks.
Great care was shown by the staff. They could have not been more accommodating. I looked and looked but found very few of my KADs. But, as it turned out they were not needed to make this benefit a success for the Living Light School of Worship.
Nice going guys and congratulations for the great showing. Hard work pays off.
The Kenosha Writers’ Guild will be hosting a writing workshop with an emphasis on dialogue on Thursday, April 8th at 6:30 p.m. at Carolyn’s Coffee Connection. The workshop will be conducted by Chris DeGuire, and will be very similar to the workshops he teaches at Columbia College Chicago.
Come prepared to write. If you have material you’re already working on, feel free to bring it along, but if you have no idea what you want to write about, that’s okay, too. You may be surprised by the material you discover in the workshop.
No registration is necessary, but if you have any questions, please e-mail Chris at darthdeguire@yahoo.com. More information about the Guild can be found at www.kenoshawritersguild.com.
The workshop is free to the public, and everyone is welcome.
In his latest song, “Tell Me”, local musician Kal Bergendahl, of the Kal Bergendahl Project (KBP), addresses issues of racism, discrimination and other hard-hitting topics. In a press release from the Living Light School of Worship, the song was described as, “filled with the vivid imagery of events that have marked history, this song uncovers the certainty that these concepts have not completely fled, but looks rather to the hope that only love in the purest form can produce.”
“Tell Me” will debut at the upcoming Sophisticated Saturday concert on Saturday, March 27th, along with a full jazz concert by the Kal Bergendahl Project. The evening will begin at 7 p.m. at the Rhode Center for the Arts in Kenosha (514 56th Street), with a dessert reception and live classical music in the Rhode foyer, followed by the jazz concert at 8 p.m.
All concert proceeds go to benefit the Living Light School of Worship, a nine-month music and discipleship program in Kenosha that attracts students from all over the world.. For more information or to purchase tickets, call (262) 652-5212, or e-mail schoolofworship@livinglightchurch.com. Tickets are available in advance or at the door for $10 each.
As we continue our mission of promoting arts, cultural events, creative Kenosha residents, as well as the creativity of the business owners in Downtown Kenosha and the surrounding area, ExposeKenosha.com is proud to partner with the Kenosha Lakeshore Business Improvement District (BID).
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