Good Towns for Poetry

[Eager]

Chicago has a pretty good poetry scene. If the management likes your stuff, you can get paid $45 (a lot more than that in tips and zine sales by yuppies, and free drinks if the right bartender is working) to read on poetry night at the Heartland Cafe in Rogers Park. New Wave in Logan Square pays too, I think, but not as much . Hipster bars in Wicker Park have some poetry nights that don't pay, but you can sell your shit afterwards. Put your poetry in a zine with an octopus riding a bicycle or something equally as stupid on the cover and hipsters will eat that shit up, and consider you the greatest poet of this generation. The Wicker Park Art Center, Rumble Arts Center and Multi-Kulti, all have poetry events sometimes you could make a buck at. You could probably get booked to do readings (or at least table poetry zines) at some of the house shows in Bridgeport if you know bands or residents. Theres also the Poetry Foundation that they just built downtown, which is the only place of its kind in the states. Its got one of the largest poetry libraries in the world, a stage space you can sign up to give free readings, workshops, ect, ect. You can't make money there, but that place is like a castle of poetry.

 

[kriminalmisfit]

The other night in Houston Texas me and my road dog went to a really awesome slam poetry contest. It was located at 411 westheimer road at "avant garden". Really awesome place, 5 dollar cover for their weekly poetry slams on Wednesday nights at 7:30. Highly recommended, you will meet some cool peeps there. We got housed up by a Houston firefighter that night.

 

[VanScribed Goat]

I've always loved hanging around Puroslam in San Antonio. It is best when they do it in the basement of their venue The Korova in downtown SA. Nice and dark with couches and shit. It's a fairly small crowd sometimes but damn the poetry is incredible often. Plus it's only $1. It goes through phases though. If you dig Jazz and authentic experience Jazz poets of SA was a warm time. It was best when they met at southwest workers union with the nice lights in the community garden out back and what not but I think they relocated? That one has no cover.