Prose & Cons

On the last Thursday of every month, poets and poetry enthusiasts gather at Infuzion RVA for The Writer’s Den Poetry Slam. Poets include members of The Writer’s Den slam team, as well as walk-on performers. Slams provide a unique experience: during the course of three rounds, poets advance (or are eliminated) based on the combined scores of judges from the audience. The growing success of these events is due largely to the efforts of the founder of The Writer’s Den, Roscoe Burnems (one of our guests for our second-ever show, along with fellow TWD teammate Monica Edwards).

Last month, I attended my second Writer’s Den Slam. Upon arriving, I was asked to be a judge. I was given a small whiteboard and an unexpected dose of anxiety. How do you judge a poem? How do you compare one poet to another? Turns out, it’s as simple as it is stressful. I decided on a handful of basic criteria and tried to keep my cool when my score was met with pained yelps from the back of the room.

Each poem had its own distinctive style and tone. Some were bitter, cursing an ex-lover. Others downright hilarious. Two particularly charismatic performers were Michelle Dodd and Rob “Robalujah” Gibson.

“The Dodd is good…” “All the time.” “All the time…” “The Dodd is good.” Michelle Dodd is the only member of the Writer’s Den who receives her own battle cry before each performance. Michelle is a black woman who was adopted by a white family, and much of her poems revolve around feeling out of place and uncomfortable in her own skin. She is also a musician, often incorporating ground-shaking vocal performance into her poetry. Michelle Dodd is a powerhouse poet. She has published two books of poetry, which you can find on her website.

Robalution. Robalujah. Robalu. Rob Gibson is a poet, artist, musician, and coach. This man breathes verse. While we were recording this episode, I saw that Rob was writing or doodling on some scrap paper while we spoke. Afterward, we saw that he had sketched each of us in the room.

Writing this, I realize that I actually know very little about Rob. Maybe that’s part of his charm.

During our conversation, Michelle mentioned that another member of The Writer’s Den once said that all poets can be classified as of the elemental “benders” from Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra: water, earth, fire, and air. Michelle is a self-described water poet, Rob an air poet. This seems about right to me. Michelle’s poems will wash over you with total emotion. Rob is whimsical and daring with his poetry, like Aang riding the wind on his glider.

Prose & Cons is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://proseandconsdotorg.wordpress.com/

Sequelitis. After the success (and many, many hours of editing out my ums and ahs) of our pilot, the pressure was on to make a great follow-up episode. We were incredibly lucky to get two amazing poets from The Writer’s Den slam team.

Roscoe is the coach, the founder. Now the official emcee for TWD slams, Roscoe is the voice and the tone-setter. A teacher by day, poet by night, father and husband all the time, Roscoe is incredibly community-driven. In our recent episode featuring two other Writer’s Den team members, Michelle Dodd and Rob Gibson, Michelle speaks to Roscoe taking her under his wing, extending a sense of family and familiarity amongst this intimate team of performers.

Listening to this episode now, almost a year after we recorded, Monica’s performances still give me chills. She wields her rhythm, cadence and emphasis to imbue a lasting impact on everyone who has the great fortune to hear.

The Writer’s Den slams happen on the last Thursday of every month at Infuzion in Scott’s Addition. If you’ve never been, I highly recommend these events as a chance to see for yourself some of the best up-and-coming poets in Richmond.

Prose & Cons is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://proseandconsdotorg.wordpress.com/

Kris Spisak does it all: fiction, non-fiction, blog writing, editing, web design, even hosting of (probably) the first ever grammar gameshow! Kris sat down with us humble P&C hosts in the WRIR studio for a delightful chat about grammar, writing, and the surprising similarities between emojis and Egyptian hieroglyphs.

Spisak has been garnering her online following since creating her writing tips blog in 2012 (she recently posted her 337th tip: “‘Nick of Time’ vs. ‘Knick of Time'”). Last year, she gave in to the constant chorus of “When’s the book?” and published Get a Grip on Your Grammar: 250 Writing and Editing Reminders for the Curious or Confused. 

Though a passionate editor and grammarian, Kris didn’t set out to join the grammar police. Since deciding to become a writer at sixteen, she has written several novels, many drawing on her background as a Ukrainian American. Although Get a Grip is Spisak’s first published book, she currently has a manuscript out which she hopes will earn her a publishing deal soon.

You know that nightmare where you show up in school in your underwear and have to take a test you didn’t know about and didn’t study for? That is how I felt when Kris started an impromptu grammar quiz (though for the record I was wearing most of my clothes). Despite me making an utter fool of myself by using the non-word “funner” (and being called out on it by our lovely co-host Dom), we really had a great time chatting with Kris. She even got us pretty excited about grammar tips!

Prose & Cons is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://proseandconsdotorg.wordpress.com/

Kris Spisak does it all: fiction, non-fiction, blog writing, editing, web design, even hosting of (probably) the first ever grammar gameshow! Kris sat down with us humble P&C hosts in the WRIR studio for a delightful chat about grammar, writing, and the surprising similarities between emojis and Egyptian hieroglyphs.

Spisak has been garnering her online following since creating her writing tips blog in 2012 (she recently posted her 337th tip: “‘Nick of Time’ vs. ‘Knick of Time'”). Last year, she gave in to the constant chorus of “When’s the book?” and published Get a Grip on Your Grammar: 250 Writing and Editing Reminders for the Curious or Confused. 

Though a passionate editor and grammarian, Kris didn’t set out to join the grammar police. Since deciding to become a writer at sixteen, she has written several novels, many drawing on her background as a Ukrainian American. Although Get a Grip is Spisak’s first published book, she currently has a manuscript out which she hopes will earn her a publishing deal soon.

You know that nightmare where you show up in school in your underwear and have to take a test you didn’t know about and didn’t study for? That is how I felt when Kris started an impromptu grammar quiz (though for the record I was wearing most of my clothes). Despite me making an utter fool of myself by using the non-word “funner” (and being called out on it by our lovely co-host Dom), we really had a great time chatting with Kris. She even got us pretty excited about grammar tips!

Prose & Cons is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://proseandconsdotorg.wordpress.com/

For now, new episodes of Prose & Cons only air twice a month, so on those off-weeks we’ll be posting our back catalogue of goodies!

This episode is near and dear to our hearts… we not only lucked into two amazing guests, it’s also our pilot. Our firstborn. In the minutes leading up to our recording, Justin asked Aden to come in the shortest possible notice, Dom came up with the idea for our guests to bring in something written by someone who has influenced them, and we all tried to calm the butterflies in our stomachs.

We talk about gender, race, and all kinds of fun stuff! Big thanks to Aden and Oliver for coming on a show that didn’t exist yet. Big thanks to Justin and Dom for going along with my crazy idea. Big thanks to you for listening!

Prose & Cons is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://proseandconsdotorg.wordpress.com/

Patty and Cheryl, authors and organizers of the RVA Lit Crawl, joined the full Prose & Cons crew in the WRIR studio to chat about books, poetry, and life!

Patty Smith is a full-time Literature and Writing teacher at the Appomattox Regional Governor’s School in Petersburg and the author of The Year of Needy Girls, her debut novel set in Smith’s native Massachusetts. Many settings and themes from the book stem from Patty’s own life, such as the struggle of a working-class woman teaching at an elite school, the fear of being an openly gay teacher in a tight-knit community, and the tragedy of a local ten-year-old boy’s murder. The stage of this grisly tale is set with a immersive and ominous prologue describing the events leading up to this boy’s untimely death, and the story delivers a powerful and thoughtful examination of false accusations in a small town.

Author of twelve books, professor at the University of Richmond, dancer, spiritual healer, and cutting-edge researcher, Cheryl Pallant is truly a woman of many talents. During our conversation, we focused on her two most recent books: in Ginseng Tango, Cheryl tells the intimate true story of her year in Daegu, South Korea; Her Body Listening is Pallant’s newest collection of poetry, described by the author as “a poetic reflection of [her] final year in training as a Healing Touch practitioner”. Cheryl is also the author of Contact Improvisation: An Introduction to a Vitalizing Dance Form, drawing upon her decades of experience in freeform dance, and the upcoming Writing and the Body in Motion: Awakening Voice through Somatic Practice, based on her innovative and immensely popular and Writing from the Body workshops.

This is a killer episode, with anecdotes and nuggets of wisdom galord. Give it a listen!

Patty (left) and Cheryl (right) after their joint reading at Chop Suey Books on January 23, 2018.

Prose & Cons is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://proseandconsdotorg.wordpress.com/