SCRIBES WORLD INTRODUCTION
WELCOME TO SCRIBES WORLD.
WELCOME TO SCRIBES WORLD.
SCRIBES WORLD is a newsletter in poems. Each poem is written by a feature at SCRIBES ON SOUTH or by an organizer of SCRIBES ON SOUTH.
EACH NEWSLETTER will include the information on the month’s SCRIBES event, & a link to photos from previous SCRIBES events.
THIS IS an introduction. I began the conceptualization of SCRIBES in Winter of 2022. The reading is a reading for the people. A place for first timers & experienced performers. A place for unhinged artists to explode their words. A charismatic space, as Abromovic once said, a space of shared needs, a dialogue in energy.
IT IS extremely important to me that the audience & participants of SCRIBES know that this is a queer space, a space for “outsider” artists, a place dedicated to poetry & poetry only.
IT IS always about the poem at SCRIBES.
THERE ARE three organizers in the SCRIBES fold at current: Noah David Roberts (who pens this message), Lindsay Hargrave, First Mate on board & current host, & cr hooker, Photographer. Please direct any booking questions to NDR.
THAT BEING said, poets booked for featured performances are most often solicited for performance & asked personally by NDR. It is, however, not unlikely that I can find a spot for you if I think your performance is the right fit.
LOOKING FORWARD there will be a simple, monthly newsletter, including only the fliers for the events & the poems solicited. Rarely will there ever be any other information included in this medium.
LOOK TO @SCRIBESONSOUTH on INSTAGRAM for constant updates, designs, information, memes, other readings etc.
The photos from the previous month’s SCRIBES event can be found here.
Information on this month’s SCRIBES event is at the bottom of this email.
OUR FIRST newsletter includes poems by Lindsay Hargrave, Cait Hooker, & me. Here they are.
CAITLIN HOOKER, also known as cr hooker, is a nonbinary poet and painter born and raised in the unforgiving heat of the southwest. They currently call Philadelphia home. cr graduated from the University of Arizona with a BA in Creative Writing and a BA in Film & Television studies. They can often be found playing with their cat or covered in paint.
A POEM:
“self portrait” by cr hooker
I am
hot pink pill planner left open to an empty "friday" slot
an attempt at
actually taking care of myself
because I can never remember my daily routine
or what day it even is
without the reminder
I am
memories of love
splintered in the palms of my
sweaty hands -
I always hold on too tight
I am
paintbrushes congealed and coated in shades of
red and blue
left sitting on the countertop for weeks on end
because I can accomplish any task
except the ones that would actually make my life easier so
I am
spending another $15 from my miserable paycheck
on paintbrushes,
again
I am
heart rotting on the nightstand
under rings of condensation left by
drinks forgotten
I am
music blaring to cover up
the sound of intrusive thoughts and
negative feedback loops
buzzing around my
soft skull like
bees pollinating the flowers outside my window
did I have anything to eat today?
I am
an echoing scream from the pit of my stomach
a reminder
to nourish the body that I am in
I am here, now,
and
I am
trying to take better care of myself.
LINDSAY HARGRAVE is a poet, first mate at Scribes on South, one third of House Poet, and a copywriter for Temple University. Proceeds from their debut chapbook ROT (2022) benefit the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund. The follow-up, Computer Baby, is available now from Bottlecap Press.
A POEM:
Our Lady of the Highway by Lindsay Hargrave
You are choosing to kneel before Chapel Perilous.
Logo heraldry held close,
the night is as long as you want it to be.
You forget that sometimes
when you want something endless.
The stars still move in their usual course,
the forest stretches no further,
the dawn refuses to break,
but you?
You are staying up all night.
Your table never closes.
The band never takes a break.
They don’t even need to vacuum the
carpets or wash the windows.
It’s just you,
fluorescent lighting,
and endless mirrors.
Do yourself a favor.
Sleep in.
Do us all a favor.
Creep into the day,
silent so no one notices.
It’s just you,
fluorescent lighting,
and the dog.
He knows what you did though.
He saw you slip past the bouncer.
Bug eyed, bobble head,
shake shake shake.
You run this far so no one will look at you.
NOAH DAVID ROBERTS is a non-binary poet based in Philadelphia, PA. NDR is the author of several collections, including Mutable Forests (Kith Books, 2023) & GUNK (Querencia Press, 2024). Since publication of their first book, NDR has been published in Tinderbox Poetry Journal, fifth wheel press, Anti-Heroin Chic, & more. They have been nominated for the Pushcart prize (2023) & the Elgin Award (2024) in Speculative Poetry, & in 2022 won the Judith Stark Poetry Contest.
A POEM:
excerpt from “Poem Called Nothing” by NDR
I knew the path & what was on it
a brightness draw nearby,
willow stranded behind lead paint
O do you hear the wind rustle canvas?
O do you hear ur heartbeat quicken
in the mess we’ve left to clean?
Dredge, ur name is agony postformed
electric & ungratifying in the haloed light
of blue streaming from sky, blinking & tragic,
O do you feel the grass below ur feet,
O do you have the heart to tell it,
O how I bludgeon this daisy, smash
the petal underhand. I muddle
together braided canvas & green pigment
to rise & blow in wind, releasing in
a bloodletting sense this stalking
I’ve felt from death, agony, illness,
O do you feel it too in the blue light
of dawn,
bringing ur pomegranate thru the forest?
HERE IS THE INFORMATION ON OCTOBER’S SCRIBES EVENT:
PETER WEBB IS A PHILADELPHIA POET. LEARN MORE @THEPETERPOEMS ON INSTAGRAM. A POEM, BY PETER WEBB: