Poetry of the People with Bentz Kirby

This week's Poet of the People is local arts activist and icon, Bentz Kirby. His poetry utilizes self-examination with a dose of grace and humility and we are better for it.  Unafraid to grow, he will soon add MFA to his long list of accomplishments.

Bio: Bentz Kirby lives in the Rosewood area of Columbia, South Carolina. Educated first as a social worker and later a lawyer, he has been writing poetry since around 1969.  A survivor of a Sudden Cardiac Arrest, he is a big fan of Automated External Defibrillators. Other than enjoying life with his wife, May, their children and a brood of pets, he writes and performs music with his friends.

Failures


Failures from the past should
hold no sway in the
arena where missteps accrue.
Imagining us seated on a pew
with worshipers at Mass
or in a strict teacher’s class.
Chalise contains toxic brew,
without a promised breakthrough.
Behavior clings, bound fast
to patterns and fate cast by trauma.
Days of queued rolling rocks.
Absurd hero, false faces,
ingrained strife, prevents
pursuit of life.
These failures slice like the dull knife, or
live birth without midwife.

Infrastructure


Trauma creates defensive strategies to
Escape pain, unwelcome memories.
Strategies create mechanisms to layer
Protection on the frightened child
By forgetting unwelcome memories.
Eventually, coping mechanisms construct
An infrastructure to protect this child,
And for a while,
It works.


Eventually the child matures, but not
Beyond the fear.
This infrastructure becomes a jail,
Protection becomes an impediment
To the adult.


Yesterday resides within internal infrastructure,
Prohibiting today’s garden from growing
Unless the child can dismantle coping devices
Creating space for all desires — to blossom.

Ritual for Submission


I submit the following,
this mechanical world consumes all to
ensure your capitulation.
 
Stop, pause, listen to the magic,
whether you believe or not. Give thanks — grass, flower,
bee, hummingbird observe your response.
 
Faeries dance among stones on hillsides while you
believe in Santa Claus, but disbelieve in faeries.
Mushrooms, birds, dogs, and cats who
 
speak in the forgotten language.
Pretending you are not blind and
accommodating the unholy
 
calling you to obscure this one true language
we should hear. Religion assimilates imprinted rituals,
leaving you forever forgetting all you know.
 
until we no longer listen to the trees and
mushrooms who speak the one true language.

Theia
 
Sounds welled above labyrinth, breaking glass
Startled us, awaiting in the womb
Secured by fairies, like us, once chained,
By stunted hollow disbelief, a construct
Of Gaia, Uranus, twelve Titians and magic --
Dawn, sun, moon, gold, shining glass reveal Theia.
 
Blue-sky, wide-shining, fails to dim Theia,
She who reigns over silver, gems and glass.
Giving sight to those who seek her magic.
Eos, Helios, Selene from her womb
Reveal Titans blueprints for their construct
Obscured by disbelief and those in chains,
 
Blinded from birth and accepting our chains
Denying the glowing face of Theia.
Men attempt to create their doomed construct,
Science built to shatter myths into glass.
Umbilical torn, scattered from the womb
Blasphemers scoffing, denying real magic.
 
We obscure life, magicians lack alchemical magic,
Crafting spells while the abyss creates our chains.
Expunging knowledge existing before the womb.
We forget the Titans and gifts born by Theia,
Appropriating mirror images, breaking glass
Allowing illusions to replace the construct.
 
Illusion births illusion, we create false constructs,
Deluded generations deny unerring magic
Creating sight through a murky glass.
Leaden mental deception, conceals our chains
Restraining our eyes from perceiving Theia’s
Previous prophecies embedded within her womb.
 
Dawn, Sun, moon, children sprung forth from womb,
Light beams reveal destiny and unavoidable constructs.
Radiant intrinsic value issues forth from Theia.
Mortal men observe such light as magic

Believing removes obstructions, we are unchained,
Heroes see face to face beyond dark glass.
 
From this womb proceeds what we call magic,
From beyond this construct we are in fact unchained,
From Goddess Theia all light illuminates through glass.


Don't Miss the Jasper Magazine Release Party Next Friday Night!

Jasper couldn’t be more excited about the release of the fall 2023 issue of Jasper Magazine and we’re celebrating the release  with a party at the Ernest A. Finney, Jr. Cultural Arts Center this Friday night – October 20th. The center is located at 1510 Laurens Street, just behind Railroad Barbeque.

The largest magazine we’ve ever published, this issue is 76 pages packed with pieces on Jordan Sheridan, Anthony Lewis, Malik Greene, Jean Lomasto, and Benji Hicks – most of whom will be showing their work on the night of the party.

The issue also features an article on the Finney Center itself, written by Nikky Finney, as well as a travelogue of Brandy and the Butcher’s time in the UK, a piece on Opus and the Frequencies, and an article on TiffanyJ, who will be performing for us.

Eezymoonstone, part of Black Nerd Mafia’s crew, whom we write about in this issue, will also be performing and Lang Owen will be opening up the music for the night.

We have an article on Darren Woodlief written by Kyle Petersen, a piece on Jason Kendal’s new film by Wade Sellers, an essay by Jenks Farmer, a piece on Ed Madden’s new book of poetry, and a piece on Jim Soni Sonefeld’s new album by Kevin Oliver.

There’s a review of George Singleton’s new book, poetry by Joyce Rose-Harris and Rhy Robidoux, a profile on Lonetta Thompson, winner of the 2023 Play Right Series, and interviews with theatre artists Marilyn Matheus and Ric Edwards.

We have a look at Marty Fort’s Columbia Arts Academy plus album reviews for SceneSC’s new release as well as albums by Decadence and Lowcountry.

And you know there’s always more!

Whew!

Please come out and join us from 6 – 9 pm. We’re working on making food available (let us know if you’d like to serve!)

Don't Miss New Theatre! Stilt Girl by Lou Clyde at Chapin Theatre Company

By Lou Clyde
Directed by: Jamie Carr Harrington
Produced by: Lou Clyde


Tickets: $18 Advance or $20 at the door ($19 for seniors & military; $18 for students)

Performed at
Chapin Theatre
830 Columbia Ave   |   Chapin, SC

Synopsis: Izzy's dream is to make it in New York, but ever since "the incident" at an unfortunate audition, her life has gone downhill. Her part-time job at a cleaning company barely pays the bills. When Izzy loses her spot on her friend's couch, she resorts to squatting in an Airbnb condo she just cleaned, rationalizing that she'll deep clean the place during her stay. Imagine Izzy's surprise when Tina and Debi arrive from Atlanta, ready to celebrate their five years cancer free. Stilt Girl is an uplifting farcical comedy balancing optimism, acceptance, and unlikely friendships.

Feedback from the first weekend —

"Fabulous show! Loved the hilarity and poignant moments throughout. Well done!"

"Go see it. Take Kleenexes, especially if you know anyone affected by breast cancer (and who doesn’t?) but even more than that, expect your jaws to be hurting from laughing so much."

"SO funny! I laughed and laughed and laughed! Totally made my day."

"Stilt Girl at Chapin theater was phenomenal!"

"I laughed, I cried I was inspired. Stilt Girl was wonderful."

For more info about this and upcoming shows check out Chapin Theatre Company!

Join Jasper, Luminal Theatre, and Emily Harrold Invite You to a Free Showing of In the BUBBLE with JAMIE

The Jasper Project is excited to be able to help spread the word about this important film, IN THE BUBBLE WITH JAIME, created by Emily Harrold, and thrilled to note that Charlemagne Tha God has come on board as executive producer. The story of Jamie Harrison’s quest to overtake the SC embarrassment that is Lindsay Graham is a story for the ages and an encouraging reminder that good people from South Carolina can make good things happen on the national stage. Congratulations to Emily Harrold and Seth Gadsden on this remarkable award-winning short!

Regarding our reviews ...

Regarding our reviews, given the intimacy of the South Carolina midlands theatre community, we issue our reviews anonymously and sometimes collaboratively.  We stand behind our reviewers because we trust the credentials that qualify these reviewers to do their jobs.

In order to fully grasp the intention of a review, we also encourage our readers to do just that – read the review rather than the social media comments about the review which may misrepresent the actual message of the review or the manner in which it is presented.   

-The Jasper Project

To that end, let us direct you to a particularly salient essay from OnStage Blog

We Should Review Community Theatre … Honestly

by Skip Maloney

There is, and as far as I have been able to determine, always has been a problem with reviews of community theater productions. While the quality of the productions under scrutiny can vary widely from very, very good to very, very bad, community theater reviews always seem to err on the side of caution, which, in general, tends to produce an essay that tries hard, often too hard, to be nice.

The fault lies in the nature of an often unspoken relationship between the media that publish such reviews and the community it serves. Appearing in a local newspaper, or sometimes as commentary on a local radio station, community theater reviews (not all, but many) proceed from the assumption that since the local performers and production staff are unpaid, it's unfair to measure the performance with the same yardstick used to assess a more professional offering, which is nonsense.

While local theater companies operate under obviously tighter budget constraints, there is no single aspect of a theatrical production that is defined by the amount of money that can be thrown at it. I've witnessed productions that were mounted with the aid of millions of dollars on Broadway that worked better in community theater productions with far less to spend.

Equus comes to mind as a prime example. I've seen professional productions of it on Broadway (most recently with Daniel Radcliffe in the role of Alan Strang), and a variety of regional, professional theater productions and none were as effective as a community theater production of it that I witnessed in a 50-seat, small-old-schoolhouse in Reading, Massachusetts.

In a way, local theater reviews are hampered by a mindset, which asks the question, "Well, what can you expect?"

It's community theater, right? Local, unpaid performers and staff can't be expected to create a product with anywhere near the level of professionalism exhibited by companies that do this sort of a thing for a living.

This is nonsense, too; a particularly insidious form of nonsense, because it can affect the local performers and staff who mount local productions and end up believing that there's no way they can do professional work, and after all (they think), it's really just about being involved.

No one is expecting professional work, so why bother trying to achieve it?

Enter your local theater reviewer, who, bearing all of this in mind, tries to be nice. Makes comments about a particularly good individual performance, or the good lighting, or whatever it takes to "accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative and (not) mess with Mr. In-Between."

God forbid that a reviewer should note that a particular performer appeared to have no idea what they were doing, or that a trumpet player in the band couldn't hit a lot of the notes they were expected to, or that the production, in general, failed, fundamentally, to deliver the promise of a given script.

Ignore the fact that a performer in a minor role appeared incapable of paying attention to what was going on around them unless, and until they had lines to deliver.  And above all, never say "bad," "awful," or "horrendous" because the fragile egos of the people on and backstage will be incapable of dealing with it: might even write a nasty Letter to the Editor saying "How dare you?"

This equation does far more disservice to a community than the mere fact of a bad production, because it has a way of lowering expectations, on both sides of the proscenium arch. A local theatre patron reads a "nice" review, goes to the see the show, and assumes because the reviewer knew what they w talking about, that what they're witnessing is a good production, even if, in truth, they end up bored out of their skulls, anxious to get back out on the street and check for messages on their cell phones.

While the performers get to bask in the glow of the nice things said, they move onto the next production, secure in the knowledge that they're doing good work, when, perhaps, they're not.

Recently, having witnessed a particularly bad, horrendous, and just awful production of a play,  I was surprised by a local writer's nice, even glowing review. It wasn't even a play. It was an evening of original material sketch comedy, with trivia questions (???!!) thrown into the middle of it, presumably to keep the audience engaged, because there was very little else going on with the ability to do that.

Opinions are, of course, like certain body parts. Everybody's got them, but I saw at least half a dozen people texting during the production. Oh, they courteously had the ringtones and alerts silenced, forgetting that the glowing screen reflected on their faces was just about as rude as any noise their phone could make. And my wife, who is generally much easier to please, called it the "worst production (she) had ever seen in (her) life."

Misguided attempts to be "nice" are only part of the problem. Another component of this issue is incompetence on the part of the reviewer. Locally-based reviewers are often pressed into service with little or no background in theater, or understanding of what makes a production work, or not work, as the case may be. Such inexperience manifests itself in a review that criticizes the ingredients of a theatrical 'meal,' without ever comprehending the important, central role of the 'cook,' known as the director.

It is a critical subtlety of the art form and any attempt to write about it; a production stands or falls on the merits of the person at the helm.

In film, as proposed by the French, this is known as the "auteur" theory, stating that a film's director is the "author" of the piece; that what makes it pleasurable or not is directly attributable to the director. The theory holds to theatrical work, as well, which is where the assumption that there's some essential difference, related to expectations, between professional and community theater work breaks down.

A good stage director has to do two essential things: cast well, and assure that the basic conventions of any staged production are met. In so doing, a good stage director can direct less-than-professional performers to understand that acting is not just about learning lines and navigating the stage without bumping into furniture.

A good stage director will be able to assess the production capabilities of the group with which they work and tailor the production design to those capabilities (this has to start with a company's awareness of what it can and can't do when it comes to selecting a play to produce). Given those essential tasks, there is no reason why a director, and through him/her, the performers and staff associated with a production, cannot produce a highly professional show.

An understanding of this clears the path to a journalist's keyboard, allowing him/her to assess the quality of a production without fear that a less-than-nice review will somehow damage the value of the effort that was put into it. If you're ever tempted or asked to write a theater review about a community theater production, you'll do both the theater folk and your community a great service if you're brutally honest.

Employ the above-mentioned triad of negative words if a given production has earned them. It'll have a way of improving the work that you see, and elevating your community's awareness of the best that theater has to offer.

Poetry of the People: Miho Kinnas

This week's Poet of the People is my friend, the poet, Miho Kinnas. Miho's poetry makes distant lands feel familiar… just around the corner, up the street and within reach.

Wildflowers

                        Northern Ireland

From the stone pier
young men jump
feet first
into the Irish Sea
white skin turning pink.
They weren’t around when 
the crescent moon rose in red.

Mackerels jump 
beyond the outer jetty.
The clouds
wispy and broken.
Wind directions shift.
Scales reflect the weak sun.
An old weather saying:
They make tall ships carry low sails.

Bouquets of wildflowers 
protect boundaries 
from evil fairies.
Bright yellow ones are marsh marigold.
Pale ones primrose.
However, says ancient folklore:
the night scent of buttercup
may cause madness.

Two girls on the pavement
along the shuttered shops
learn to roller-skate
and not to hate
but to ask, why.

Helsinki

The engine hummed all night
like a 3-D printer 
building the city.

In the darkest hour
of the white night
the ship jerked once.

Men in blue and yellow 
uniforms hooked 
the anchoring ropes.

On the pier a few workers 
dragged the covered cargo
on wheels slowly across.

The container trucks 
that had gone first 
in Stockholm filed out.

The ferry continues
the Baltic voyage 
the thick fog is lifting.

Seagulls reappear 
in the leftover sunrise
suddenly.

The maritime fortress
built in the eighteenth-century
Suomenlinna 

punctuates the history 
obscures the earlier times
and reminds of the present war.

Nearing the harbor
more gulls circle.
I approach Helsinki from the sea.

The Pitch

Five mornings in a row, my mother tells me about her dreams.
She keeps dreaming about her childhood in Manchuria.

Like the silhouette on the revolving lantern.
Kaleidoscopic.
The sun was stunning dipping into the horizon!
How thick the ice was on the lake in the forest!
Did I tell you about the stolen skates we found 
at the thieves’ market in the morning?

In one of the last dreams I heard
she was a thirteen-year-old entrepreneur.
She and her friends sold cigarettes to passersby
near the Harbin bridge.

Our sales pitch was in Chinese and Russian!
Choyan ma? Su-kirt?
Choyan ma? Su-kirt?

I may die soon.
If you leave now I won’t see you again. 

I didn’t believe her. 
I still hear her voice repeating the pitch
with a chuckle in between.

Yokohama

I am drawing a map  
to my parents’ house on the hill.
The scale is confused.
There are many inaccuracies.

A little corner fruit shop is now a pet store.
Time may be psychological.
My boyfriend was always late. 

Older taxi drivers know the tomb-stone cutter.
Young ones know it like a ghost story.
The road zips through the fire station.

The big chestnut tree
no longer there where all summer
cicadas spent their one week on earth.

They were so loud —we often gave up talking, listened 
to them rolling our eyes to each other and broke into a big laughter. 
That shut them up!  

One day coming home from school a concrete pole blocked 
our view of the hill. My mother complained to the electric company.
It is still there.

A boy threw a pebble at my window. I was on the phone 
with another boy. I draw a little heart.
All three hearts were broken.

My mother served bowls of ramen noodle for my friends
complete with pork, eggs, sesame seeds, scallions
seaweed and spinach.

My mother began taking rests
on the way up the hill
the way my father did in his late years. 

The day I saw my mother for the last time 
she staggered out of the house without a cane.
I am fine, I am fine, don’t worry, I ‘m fine. I draw a stick figure.

With her open sky smile she held onto the edge of the fence with her right 
hand, her left hand sparkled a little. I draw her waving hand.

She watched my brother drive me away.


The Difficulties of Open Water Swimming　

It was more turbulent 
than it appeared. But that 
was not the only difficulty.

Pelicans glide by
one after another
sometimes low.

She blends in, assimilates 
appears as an image
in someone else’s success.

Moon straight up.
Eastern horizon deep.
Red of a rose garden.
She discarded garlands.

Change of heart.
Nothing stays still.
The sky abandons every color.

Someone stepped
into the ocean as
she made up her mind.

It’s in the genes, we say 
as if she is a bag of tricks.
Did she think he was
a trick of light?

Twice nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Miho Kinnas is a poet, writer, and translator. Her poems, translations, essays and book reviews appeared in various journals and anthologies including Best American Poetry 2023. She leads creative writing workshops at various locations including writers.com, New York Writers Workshop, and local schools. Her third book of poetry Waiting for Sunset to Bury Red Camellias will be published by Free Verse Press this year. 

Are You Ready for David Sedaris at the Koger Center?

How are YOU getting ready for the latest news and insightful comedy from DAVID SEDARIS, one of contemporary culture’s most hilarious and erudite storytellers who will be reading, speaking, and splitting our ribs with comedy at our very own Koger Center for the Arts, Wednesday, October 11th at 7:30?

At Jasper, we’re reading the latest from David Sedaris, Happy-Go-Lucky and think you should be, too! Here’s a little preview from the Sedaris website:


David Sedaris, the “champion storyteller,” (Los Angeles Times) returns with his first new collection of personal essays since the bestselling Calypso.

Back when restaurant menus were still printed on paper, and wearing a mask—or not—was a decision made mostly on Halloween, David Sedaris spent his time doing normal things. As Happy-Go-Lucky opens, he is learning to shoot guns with his sister, visiting muddy flea markets in Serbia, buying gummy worms to feed to ants, and telling his nonagenarian father wheelchair jokes.

But then the pandemic hits, and like so many others, he’s stuck in lockdown, unable to tour and read for audiences, the part of his work he loves most. To cope, he walks for miles through a nearly deserted city, smelling only his own breath. He vacuums his apartment twice a day, fails to hoard anything, and contemplates how sex workers and acupuncturists might be getting by during quarantine.

As the world gradually settles into a new reality, Sedaris too finds himself changed. His offer to fix a stranger’s teeth rebuffed, he straightens his own, and ventures into the world with new confidence. Newly orphaned, he considers what it means, in his seventh decade, no longer to be someone’s son. And back on the road, he discovers a battle-scarred America: people weary, storefronts empty or festooned with Help Wanted signs, walls painted with graffiti reflecting the contradictory messages of our time: Eat the Rich. Trump 2024. Black Lives Matter.

In Happy-Go-Lucky, David Sedaris once again captures what is most unexpected, hilarious, and poignant about these recent upheavals, personal and public, and expresses in precise language both the misanthropy and desire for connection that drive us all. If we must live in interesting times, there is no one better to chronicle them than the incomparable David Sedaris.

 

Poetry of the People: Elizabeth Robin

This week's Poet of the People is Elizabeth Robin. She speaks the past into the future with descriptive poems that engage the reader's memory and senses: there is a kindness that engages and you ask for more.

STEPHANIE ELLEN SILER MEMORIAL PRIZE

Omens

           The Alarm
The earth shakes me awake.
The fifth tremor in five days.

            Foul Warning
rain hastens the de-camp
and a knee-knock in the rush
replacement time

              lunch
coconut should feel exotic
aromatic and tropical, the grit-grain
slivers chew like shredded wood

              the commute
i follow the chicken truck
miles down I-26, baffled
jammed ten-high, box-huddled
feathers fly, shit sprinkles
behind the ride to slaughter
windshields grow snow-spots

              house call
cookie cutter cottages clutter
acres cleared for golfing clusters
club joiners locked into homogenized cells
white milk

               bland custard
down time
noodling a poem in the rain
a roofer’s nail-gun ruins the rhythm

               Tequila!
lick salt from the rim
slurp salsa from the chip
slam that shot

down

half moon dents riddle the bar

The Wedding Tree

after “Heaven and Earth” by Patricia Sabree

melding heaven and earth under
a Grandmother Tree, a family expands

in Sunday bests, not broom-jumping
but a rite recast with tree as witness, backlit

by spirits She captures in hanging blue
bottles among the moss: ghosts fire the sky
gold-orange to shock-pink, their dance
slow, save one livened ring-shouter, arms
raised in splayed finger joy, hands outstretched

wide hats shade the facelessness of their story
What do they mask? asks Mr. Dunbar. What
magnet draws them together, knotted
in a seedling branch, to a faceless love?

A Lesson in Sea Glass

tumbled in sea, salt, sand
random rubbish recycles

smoothed and pitted bits
transform noxema jars and skye
vodka, beer bottles, dead crystal
and french wines into shore search
and discovery, gleaning the beach
for the ocean’s spilled-out trophies

blue: slightly unique
well-worn, hard to find
and easy to treasure

everyday whites and greens and browns:
a rare vestige of print or rim or logo

proof some things, spent
old and odd-shaped
attract the discerning collector

The Nose Knows

On July 15, 2022 KRCC reports: Colorado Springs Man Becomes
Fourth Person to Push a Peanut up Pikes Peak with his Nose

if my quest seems silly, why, then, all the tourista
photo-ops? why the headlines: NPR, NBC

Colorado public radio, even? i did it, set a record
seven days up Barr Trail—thirteen miles, mind you—

don’t call me crazy. i planned it out, went through two
dozen peanuts and fought dehydration: life on the edge

how rugged pioneers and champions power-push
peanuts by the nose uphill, to fourteen-thousand one-

hundred fifteen feet: HA! ask me if i’m insane, or bored
or a cheater, pushing not really with my nose, but

a plastic spatula duct-taped to my face, used a CPAP
mask to affix—i am American ingenuity at work—no nut

here, just a man, Bob Salem, proving why i was born
not to solve a pandemic. or close ozone holes. not

to worry over fires floods famine
S U P E R B U G S

nitpick away, pass judgment, “the poster boy for human absurdity”
frivolous goals, you say? but i’m a headline now: who are you?

Elizabeth Robin, an award-winning poet, has three books: To My Dreamcatcher (2022), Where Green Meets Blue (2018),  Silk Purses and Lemonade (2017). In 2023 Robin established the 24-stop Hilton Head Poetry Trail and appeared at Piccolo Spoleto as a Sundown Poet. See her website.

Event Featuring Works by Five Artists at Rob Shaw Gallery

On Friday, October 6, from 6 to 9 p.m., Rob Shaw Framing and Gallery will host a reception for a month-long show featuring works by artists Rebecca Horne, Rob Shaw, George Stone, Tianova, and Cody Unkart. The gallery is at 324 State Street in West Columbia.

The show represents an array of styles, from highly representational to eclectic and abstract. At the opening reception, the artists will be on hand to discuss their artwork, which will be available in the gallery for viewing and for sale throughout October.

Ruby River by Rebecca Horne

Since 2018, Horne has focused on mixed media and fluid acrylics, rendering highly textured and multi-dimensional works. In addition to receiving numerous awards in juried shows, Horne was recognized in 2020 by Destig Magazine as one of the top 20 artists of the year. Her work has appeared in a juried Piccolo Spoleto exhibit and in the Vernum Ultimum Gallery international show as well as in other prestigious shows and galleries.

Shaw’s newest works feature large, bright, colorful paintings that represent a bold new direction defined by loose strokes and fresh colors. His art continues to be inspired by iconic South Carolina landscapes and city scenes: “My work has always been impressionistic and, thus, abstract to an extent. Lately I have been pushing the boundaries of the subject matter even further,” says Shaw.

A Stroll Among the Oaks by George Stone

Stone is a representational oil painter focusing primarily on landscapes and still life subjects. Presenting a clear concept, accurate drawing, expressive values and colors, and a well-designed composition, Stone evokes moods in his landscapes by capturing the quality of light present at different times of day, different seasons, and different locations.

The Sun by Tianova

Tianova’s preferred media are oil, acrylics, and watercolor. Using negative spaces to transport the viewer through emotions ranging from nostalgia to present-moment awareness, her work captures the intimacy of solitude and silence and the tension between realism and dreamscape.

Gervais Bridge at Noon by Cody Unkart

Unkart’s paintings depict intimate spaces that he visits daily, including views near his home in the New Brookland Mill Village, the Congaree River, and the Vista. Inspired by colors, shapes, and forms that change with the seasons, he enjoys painting from observation, slowing down and being present to the fleeting beauty and liveliness of ordinary surroundings.

Rob Shaw Framing and Gallery is a full-service frame shop and fine art gallery. Since opening his gallery in April of 2019, Shaw has showcased the work of many South Carolina artists. For the remainder of 2023, the gallery will host First Friday at Rob Shaw Gallery receptions every month.

Two More Authors Featured Under the Jasper Literary Arts Tent at Rosewood Art & Music Festival 2023 -- Susan Craig and Evelyn Berry

We’re excited to invite you to join Jasper and 16 of SC’s finest working writers under the Jasper Literary Arts Tent at this year’s Rosewood Art & Music Festival on Saturday, October 7th from noon - 5 pm. Over the next few weeks we will be spotlighting each of these literary artists here at Jasper Online. Come back to this site often to learn more about these local literary treasures!

SUSAN CRAIG

Susan Craig spent more than thirty-five years as a graphic artist and owner of a design/marketing studio in Columbia.  Throughout her career, the interplay of image, syntax and lyricism influenced both her poetry and prose writing.  

Author of the chapbook “Hush” (2022, Seven Kitchens Press), her work has been published locally, regionally and nationally in journals including Fall Lines, Jasper, Twelve Mile Review, Poetry Society of SC, Kakalak, Poetry South, Quiet Diamonds and Mom Egg Review.  Her poems were featured multiple times as part of Columbia's Poet Laureate projects, including Poetry on the Comet and others.  Her work has also been published online in What Rough Beast.

While her primary focus has been poetry, she is also a past winner of the SC Fiction Project for her short story "Beyond the New Moon.”  Another short story, “Sam Macklin Says Grace” won first place in Kentucky's Green River Writers contest.

She finds greatest inspiration in the natural world, and life’s daily curiosities.


EVELYN BERRY

Evelyn Berry is a trans, Southern writer, editor, and educator. She's the author of the forthcoming debut poetry collection Grief Slut (Sundress Publications, 2024) and the poetry chapbook Buggery, winner of the BOOM Chapbook Prize (Bateau Press, 2020). She's a recipient of a 2023 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, 2022 Dr. Linda Veldheer Memorial Prize, 2019 Broad River Prize for Prose, and 2018 Emrys Poetry Prize, among other honors. Her recent work has appeared in South Carolina Review, Drunk Monkeys, Day Job Journal, Gasher, Horns, and elsewhere.

PHOTOSC TO HOLDS CYANOTYPE WORKSHOP ON WORLD CYANOTYPE DAY

From our friends at PhotoSC —

PhotoSC will hold a Cyanotype workshop on World Cyanotype Day on Saturday, September 30, 2023 at 918 Lady Street in the Vista from 12 – 3 p.m.

Since 2015 the cyanotype is celebrated on the last Saturday in September in the yearly event World Cyanotype Day. According to Alternate Photography, this year’s theme is Inheritance, but PhotoSC’s focus is to have fun with alternative photography and any theme or design is welcome.

The cyanotype was discovered by Sir John Herschel who in 1842 published his investigation of light on iron compounds. The process is still in use today and many know it as the blueprint.

Young and old, families and fellow photographers are encouraged to experience the magic of cyanotype, one of photography’s camera-less processes on World Cyanotype Day. Join PhotoSC as it presents the fascinating alternative photographic process, cyanotype, in a unique workshop that combines a brief history with a fun, hands-on project making a beautiful, cyan-blue and white print.

The workshop is appropriate for both photographers of all experience levels as well as non-photographers (to include the youngest photo enthusiasts) interested in gaining an understanding of one of the first photographic processes. All materials are supplied.

The folks at PhotoSC will guide participants through the fun and straightforward process of creating beautiful blue and white prints while presenting a brief history about the cyanotype and its history. All materials are supplied.

PhotoSC encourages attendees to bring their favorite small objects that address the theme of Inheritance, create a print of your hand, or use the botanicals to place on their pre-coated sheets to create a Prussian blue print to cherish always!

Photo Workshop: Saturday, September 30 at 918 Lady Street, Columbia, SC from 12:00 to 3:00 p.m.

Sign-up for Fun: www.photosc.org/Cyanotype or thru Eventbrite.

For more information, contact PhotoSC at photo.society.sc@gmail.com

Announcing Call for Original New Plays for PLAY RIGHT SERIES 2024!

Play Right Series: 2024 Call for Submissions

The Jasper Project announces the fourth cycle of its Play Right Series, a collaboration between area theatre artists and Jasper Community Producers—or theater aficionados, supporters and even newcomers. The project will culminate in summer 2024 with the staged reading of a brand-new South Carolina play. 

Submitting A Play

The play submission window is now open. 

  • Playwrights must be natives or residents of South Carolina.

  • The winning playwright must be present for development sessions with Community Producers in Columbia during the summer, 2024 (specific dates to be determined later), and must agree to offer program credit to The Jasper Project at any subsequent productions or publications.

  • Plays may address any topic, using language appropriate to the subject matter; we are not, however, considering musicals or children’s plays. 

  • Submissions must be one-act plays, 45-75 minutes in length, typed according to industry-standard format (see our Sample Format). Collections of shorter revue sketches on a common theme will be considered.

  • Please include, as a cover sheet, a one-page bio of the playwright and description of the play, including cast size and any unusual technical demands, bearing in mind that smaller and fewer are usually preferable.

  • One submission per playwright, please.

  • Please submit your play no later than January 31, 2024,  to playrightseries@jasperproject.org

 

Play Selection

When the submission window closes on January 31, 2024, the Play Right Series committee will read and select a play for development through the spring and summer.  “Development,” in this case, means round-table readings with paid actors and directors and attended by Community Producers and Professional Others, followed in the summer by rehearsals and presentation at Trustus Theatre’s Side Door stage. 

The process will be facilitated by Jasper Community Producers—audience members invested in the development process and supportive of the state’s literary talent. In exchange for a modest financial contribution Jasper Community Producers will be offered insider views of the steps and processes inherent in creating theatrical art by attending readings and rehearsals, and informative talks and presentations including conversations with the actors, director, playwright, stage manager, costumer, and sound and lighting designer. The result: Community Producers learn about the extensive process of producing a play and become invested personally in the production and success of the play and its cast and crew, thereby becoming diplomats of theatre arts.

 

Two More of the Sixteen Writers Featured Under the Jasper Literary Arts Tent at This Year's Rosewood Art & Music Festival - Jo Angela Edwins and Randy Spencer!

We’re excited to invite you to join Jasper and 16 of SC’s finest working writers under the Jasper Literary Arts Tent at this year’s Rosewood Art & Music Festival on Saturday, October 7th from noon - 5 pm. Over the next few weeks we will be spotlighting each of these literary artists here at Jasper Online. Come back to this site often to learn more about these local literary treasures!

Jo Angela Edwins has published poems in over 100 journals and anthologies, recently or forthcoming in The Hollins Critic, Sho Poetry Journal, ONE ART, and Delta Poetry Review. Her collection A Dangerous Heaven was published this year by Gnashing Teeth Publishing, and her chapbook Play was published in 2016 by Finishing Line Press. She has received awards from Winning Writers, Poetry Super Highway, The Jasper Project's Fall Lines, and the South Carolina Academy of Authors. She is a Pushcart Prize, Forward Prize, Best of the Net, and Bettering American Poetry nominee. She teaches at Francis Marion University in Florence, SC, where she serves as the first poet laureate of the Pee Dee region of South Carolina.

Randy Spencer is a retired child psychiatrist living in Chapin. He has a B.A. from William and Mary, his medical degree from Emory University, and an M.F.A. in poetry from South Carolina. He has published two chapbooks of poetry, The Failure of Magic and What the body Knows, and one full-length collection, The Color After Green, a volume of environmentally-inspired poems. His poems have appeared in regional and national journals and anthologies, and in 2022 he was nominated for a Pushcart Prize for a poem on the war in Ukraine. His stories and poems have been in Jasper's Fall Lines a literary convergence. His next book, Andersonville, will be out this winter from Muddy Ford Press and is a long sequence of poems telling the story of a prisoner in Andersonville Military Prison in 1864.

Poetry of the People Featuring Yvette R. Murray

My eighth Poet of the People is Yvette R. Murray. Yvette writes without fear in the language of her people. Her poetry is both jarring and refreshing at the same time. She is truly a poet of the people. 

I am also excited to host Murray on Saturday, 09/30/23, at 2 pm at Richland Library Southeast, 7421 Garners Ferry Road, Columbia, SC at my quarterly poetry series, Words, Words Words.

  

          My Nostalgia Ain’t Like Yours

It’s wearing a brand new pair of feet,

The old ones got worn out,

My nostalgia has been against the law,

Still is in several of these united states,

My nostalgia has water added to dilute it,

My nostalgia has been lied on, lied on, lied on,

My nostalgia has a shot of espresso,

My nostalgia is brick,

My nostalgia is wool,

My nostalgia flows like the Nile,

My nostalgia ain’t blue,

My nostalgia lives in the inner city,

My nostalgia also lives behind God’s back,

My nostalgia is the singularity that you drool.

  

~~~
 

The Poem in Which I Finally Say Their Names

(An Unending Verse) 

It is with sorrow, no wait. Sandra Bland Start over. Rayshard Brooks I am here today to. Eleanor Bumpurs *shakes head* Michael Brown Wrong. Michelle Cusseaux The skeleton of a poet sits wearily by a boiling river. Philando Castile She watches words flow instead of blood. Deborah Danner He etches the stone tablets on his knees. Jordan Davis No more tears. Janisha Fonville Yes, more.  George Floyd There are more tears than I can cry. Darnesha Harris Fresh death weekly. Eric Garner And the echoes grow louder. For concrete pillows. Kathryn Johnston For Skittles and ice tea and cell phones in pockets. Trayvon Martin So what if my music is loud? For feeding hungry people. Cynthia Graham Hurd, Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor, Rev. Dr. Daniel Simmons, Sr., Ethel Lee Lance, Rev. Sharonda Ann Coleman-Singleton, Susie J. Jackson, Tywanza Sanders, Myra Thompson, Rev. Clementa C. Pinckney My wallet is in my pocket. Do not take me into custody.  I am already in custody. Aiyana Jones The created glitch is in the system.  I am not who you think I am.  Am not.  Charleena Lyles I have been on the ground for four hours. Me? Twelve. Dreasjon Reed Minding my own business is not enough. Jogging in the morning is not enough. Breathing is too much. Gynnya McMillen Wish I could jump overboard into a sea of forgetfulness and still be alive. Tamir Rice I was playing with a toy gun.  But I’m just trying to go to work. Tyre Nichols Blown out like a candle. I was sleeping in my own bed. Breonna Taylor Sleeping with my grandmother on our couch. I was selling loose cigarettes. James Scurlock Have a bachelor party.  Get a cup of joe.  Alesia Thomas What was his name again? Walter Scott I must remember her.  Can’t forget him. Don’t forget.  Remember. Remember. Remember. Please forgive me for not knowing all of your names! How. Can. I. Ever. Fly. Again?

 

“Poem in Which I Finally Say Their Names” Emrys Journal

 

~~~

 Line Street

 

 corner stores, candy ladies, and dirt,

grandmothers with eyes all over their bodies,

a yad man*, fush man** and Barbara, the woman who

did hair in her kitchen.

 

In this kingdom, lived

magnificent energies of one purpose.

Grandchildren of bondage

watering little sprouts with love,

and scolding as if the two were one.

 

Some with less; some with more.

Enough was always enough there.

Working men eating lunch on a stoop

cashiers struttin’ to the second shift at Edward’s

and the flow of Friday five o’clock laughter

over a plate of hot, fried fush*** and a cold one!

 

I etch stone tablets

because those at the bottom of the mountain

bask in a lovely unknown.

Hush now.  I must tell it right.

Ghosts are listening

in the silence of rusty locks.

  

Gullah Dictionary:

 * yad man [yad man]-Noun; yard man or gardener

 **fush man [fush man]-Noun; fish man; man who sells fish

 ***fush [fush]-Noun; fish

 

 “Line Street,” Catfish Stew

 

~~~ 

Old Photos

 

 . . . Brionna Taylor, George Floyd, Jordan Davis, Eric Garner, Cynthia Graham Hurd, Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor, Rev. Dr. Daniel Simmons, Sr., Ethel Lee Lance, Rev. Sharonda Ann Coleman-Singleton, Susie J. Jackson, Tywanza Sanders, Myra Thompson, Rev. Clementa C. Pinckney, Gynnya McMillen, Walter Scott, Donovan Lewis, Amir Locke, Fanta Bility, Tyre Nichols   Ahmaud Arbery. . .

 

A fresh death no matter what I do.

Chased up, then a cold Georgia shootdown.

There will be no new photos of you.

 

Men and bullets split our time in two:

Before and after your run in that town.

A fresh death no matter what I do

 

In good ole Georgia, these cowardly two

called you outta your name; followed you ‘round.

There will be no new photos of you.

 

Again. Again. Stillness governs our view.

One mother now wears a mourner’s crown.

A fresh death no matter what I do.

 

Ceremonies go long; life’s now a different hue.

A still smile flashes in skin deep brown.

There will be no new photos of you.

 

There will be no new photos of you.

Not your voice; not nary a sound.

A fresh death no matter what I do.

There will be no new photos of you.

 

“Old Photos,” Chestnut Review

 ~~~

 Ode to the Creases in My Pants

You, meticulous detail of mine, garner admiring looks; sit with me at the head of any table. You open doors for me like a Southern gentleman. Your power never ending. You put my fear in its place and lock it there.  I feel particularly powerful when the creases in my pants are so sharp they cut the palms of my hands. Mountain ridges created by heat and spray starch on my blue linen slacks. That’s that casket sharp. That conquering-a-world-that don’t-want-you-sharp. I get this from my Mama. Although I, in sheer defiance, rebelled like the Russian citizenry in 1917. It was actually 1975 and that teen thing told me I didn’t need no creases in my pants to make it. I could raise my fist and do anything I wanted . . . Except plow through that wall in universities or bank offices trying to get mortgages if I looked liked yesterday’s newspaper left on a park bench. She insisted. And like all good rebellions mine came to an end or I came to my senses. Or I went back to my future. Generations have been wired in violence, tuned for this moment right here. She was one of the first to raise her fist by plowing through walls with creases and the magnificent intelligence, talent and wit that are in our genome. Who am I to argue with that? 

 “Ode to the Creases in My Pants,” The Petigru Review

 

Yvette R. Murray is an award-winning poet and the author of Hush Puppy (Finishing Line Press 2023). She has been published in Chestnut Review, Emrys Journal, Litmosphere, A Gathering Together, and others. She is the 2022 Susan Laughter Meyers Weymouth Fellow, a 2021 Best New Poet selection, a Watering Hole Fellow, and a Pushcart Prize nominee. Find her at missyvettewrites@gmail.com or on Twitter at @MissYvettewrites.   

USC Theatre Presents Show for Young Audiences with Sideways Stories from Wayside School Adaptation

From our Friends at USC Department of Theatre and Dance:

 

There’s an early October treat in store for Columbia’s young audiences, as the USC Theatre Program will present a live stage version of Louis Sachar’s beloved book series, Sideways Stories from Wayside School, October 6-14 at Drayton Hall Theatre.  

Special show times are 7pm Thursdays and Fridays, 11am and 3pm on Saturdays and 3pm on the first Sunday.  Admission is $15 for students, $20 for USC faculty/staff, military, and seniors 60+, and $22 for the public. Tickets may be purchased online at sc.universitytickets.com. Drayton Hall Theatre is located at 1214 College St.  

Things are always a bit wonky at the 30-story Wayside Elementary – the building’s only one classroom wide, for starters, and its 19th floor has mysteriously ceased to exist. It’s in mean Mrs. Gorf’s top-floor class, however, where things have gone completely sideways. Known for punishing students by magically turning them into apples, she finds herself the victim of her own spell and soon becomes lunch for a hungry, passing teacher!  Adapted by John Olive and incorporating stories from the best-selling children’s books, Sideways Stories from Wayside School is a wild, wacky adventure full of fun and surprises, with some valuable lessons to share along the way. 

Guest artist Ilene Fins is directing the production.  A veteran director, actor, and teacher, Fins has a long history of work in the children’s theatre realm, with many years of experience teaching and directing at Seattle Children’s Theatre and Harrison School for the Arts, a performing arts high school in Florida. Fins is currently a Professor of Theatre at Midlands Technical College. 

“It's this absurd look at life in an elementary school,” Fins says about the show’s zany plot. But ultimately, she adds, the story contains messages about inclusion and embracing diversity. “All the child characters in the play have special traits, divergent ways of thinking or behaving, that can make them feel like outsiders. But at Wayside School, it's all part of the magic and the love. If you're a little wonky here, you belong.” 

The USC Theatre Program has a decades-long history of producing plays in a variety of genres and styles, from the heightened language plays of Shakespeare to contemporary stories from modern playwrights. Professor Peter Duffy, who heads the M.A.T. in Teaching Theatre degree track at the university, says offering a show specifically for young audiences fits perfectly with the theatre program’s mission. 

“A lot of young actors get their start working in theatre for youth, so this is great opportunity to get them on-the-job training,” he says. “The worlds that you get to create and live in [in children’s theatre] are so imaginative and otherworldly. It’s an incredible chance to dig into their craft – for designers to create elaborate worlds and for actors to inhabit big characters, yet still convey truth in these imaginary circumstances.” 

The benefits are just as rewarding for the community, he says. “There are a lot of interesting studies that have shown that exposure to theatre helps kids’ connection to creativity and imagination, and there is even some work around emerging literacy skills that are connected to theatre. It’s also an incredible thing for families to be able to enjoy together.” 

“Doing a play for young audiences is a brilliant way to remind us what the value of theater is, but also open the door to youngsters to be able to see what's possible and what storytelling can look like in lots of ways,” Duffy adds. “So much storytelling now is two-dimensional through a handheld device or on a screen. To be able to be in a three-dimensional space, to share a story with a family, is a pretty unique thing to do. And there aren't a lot of opportunities to do that.” 

Fins concurs.  “Theatre for young audiences is, to me, the most important theatre because this is what builds the audiences of tomorrow.”  

Cast in the production are undergraduate students Eliza Dojan, Cameron Eubanks, Lavender Grant, Sunni Greene, Paul Hommel, Vaibhav Kishore, Rowland Marshall, Phillip Parker, Asher Thompson, Olivia Wamai and Kennedy Williams.  Designers for the show are graduate students Ruihan Liu (scenic), Andrew Burns (costume) and Lorna Young (lighting), with guest artist Danielle Wilson creating the sound design. Guest artist Joseph Boyd, an alum of the USC dance program, is choreographer for the production. 

It all adds up to a special offering that will provide audiences of multiple generations a chance to share the pure fun and magic of theatre together, Fins says. “You'll have a blast. It’s an unexpected story that will take you into a world that is flipped on its head. You've got to experience it to believe it.” 

For more information on Sideways Stories from Wayside School or the theatre program at the University of South Carolina, contact Kevin Bush by phone at 803-777-9353 or via email at bushk@mailbox.sc.edu. 

 

Presenting the Featured Authors Under the Jasper Literary Arts Tent at Rosewood Art & Music Festival -- Sandra E. Johnson and Cassie Premo Steele

We’re excited to invite you to join Jasper and 16 of SC’s finest working writers under the Jasper Literary Arts Tent at this year’s Rosewood Art & Music Festival on Saturday, October 7th from noon - 5 pm. Over the next few weeks we will be spotlighting each of these literary artists here at Jasper Online. Come back to this site often to learn more about these local literary treasures!

SANDRA JOHNSON will read from noon - 1 pm

Sandra E. Johnson is the author of The Resilience Journal:  365 Days to Balance and Peace of Mind (Clarkson Potter), a 365-day journal designed to strengthen skills to not just survive adversity but thrive from it.  Praised by bestselling authors Sharon Salzberg and Karen Casey, as well as mindfulness leaders Richard Miller, PhD, Stacey Milner-Collins, and Shivani Hawkins, The Resilience Journal offers inspirational quotes by great thinkers followed by interactive writing prompts to serve as guides towards greater wellness and resiliency.  It is preceded by The Mind-Body Peace Journal:  366 Mindful Prompts for Serenity & Peace (Sterling Publishing), which has sold widely around the world and been highlighted in Psychology Today.  Sandra’s first book is Standing on Holy Ground:  A Triumph over Hate Crime in the Deep South, the true story of how a courageous African American woman and her white friend risked their lives to help rebuild an African American church in Lexington County after it was destroyed by racially motivated hate crime.  Standing on Holy Ground earned rave reviews from O:  The Oprah Magazine, Southern Living, and USA Today. 

CASSIE PREMO STEELE will read from 4 - 5 pm

Cassie Premo Steele, PhD, is a lesbian ecofeminist poet and novelist and the author of 18 books including Swimming in Gilead, her seventh book of poetry, out later this month, and Beaver Girl, her third novel coming in November. Her poetry has won numerous awards, including the Archibald Rutledge Prize named after the first Poet Laureate of South Carolina, where she lives with her wife.

Jasper Presents Acclaimed Artist Stephen Chesley for Third Thursday Art Night at The Nook - September 21st

Please join the Jasper Project as we welcome acclaimed visual artist Stephen Chesley to Jasper’s little corner of the Koger Center — The Nook — a rotating 2nd floor gallery space for featuring some of the best of the Midlands visual artists.

According to Chesley, “This exhibition is the result of ghost prints from direct painting in a variant style of Sumi Japanese ink drawings. The inclusion of an Asian aesthetic in the manner of Zen brush drills is to obtain emotional content through understanding abstraction of tone and form. The sheer thousands in volume of process has the intent of teaching one's understanding of autography and brushstroke. The yin-yang of black and white references balance of nature embellished with concepts of summary outline and simultaneous contrast set forth by Ogden Rood's 1879 color treatise notably embraced by George Seurat.”

Sumi-e, which means back ink painting, is typically described as art created in monochrome with the use of sumi ink and handmade paper.

Chesley goes on to say that, “Images in this exhibition are a unique hybrid of direct painting and printmaking. Elements of mysticism in these works emanate from ideas of forerunners Morris Graves, Paul Gauguin, Walter Anderson, and George Inness, who all sought to reveal the spirit world always before us.”

Chesley continues, “These figure ground pieces present and lyrical and poetic rendering of the gift of the sublime ordinary found in life and nature. All life, both animate and inanimate, is in consideration of treatises of physics including: Big Bang, singularity, and concepts of deep time. It is apparent that we share atoms with all things and that there is unfathomable structure and connection that is universal, timeless, and infinite. Human sentience is not the only sentience. As we look at landscapes, trees, animals, plants, waves, clouds, and stars, we look at ourselves.”

Stephen Chesley was born in Schenectady, New York in 1952. He exhibited a natural proclivity for drawing and art almost as soon as he could hold pastels and pencils, which were often Christmas gifts from his family. Growing up in Virginia Beach in the late 1950s, he was exposed to the Beat Generation of musicians, artists, and writers when it was still a seasonal seaside resort. Self-motivated, he continued with his drawing and small paintings along with exposure to local artists. Recognized in 1981 by the Columbia Museum of Art as an emerging talent, he went on to win top 100 in the first National Parks competition of 1987. He continues his creative journey with an art spirit in Columbia, SC.

We are delighted to welcome Stephen Chesley to The Nook and invite you to view his work throughout September and October, and to join us for a small reception Thursday, September 21st from 5:30 - 7 pm.