Bagel Bards

 20th Anniversary this Jan 2004!

Bagel Bard 10th Anniv. Reading at the Cambridge, Mass. Public Library Oct 22, 2014

The Bagel Bard Anthologies are now housed in the Cambridge, and Somerville Public Library  historical collections...

The Bagel Bards, a literary group founded by Doug Holder and Harris Gardner in 2004 is celebrating its 10th Anniversary. It meets every Saturday morning at the Au Bon Pain in Davis Square.  Here is the introduction to our 9th Bagel Bard anthology due out in June 2014.

— Picture by Bridget Galway

The Bagel Bards.

The scene.
7:45 a.m.
Au Bon Pain.
Davis Square.
Somerville.
The lone figure
of Dennis Daly,
at a table
seemingly praying
over a poetry book.

8 a.m.
Doug Holder
shoulder bag
flush with The Somerville Times
and books
begging for a review
an audience,
a pat
on their
entitled spines.

8:30 a.m.
Michael Todd Steffen
wanders in
deep in thought
propped on
the meaning
of meaning
talks of his
French translations
and the day job
his endless pitches
for funds
his hands
tensed on the phone
his mouth
to some distant
ear.

9 a.m.
Steve Glines
resplendent bald head
Hemmingway white beard
laughing like
a jovial
mayor of the town.
A newly published
edition of a man,
more news
from his daughter
in South Korea.

9:15 a.m.
Irene Koronas
rides in
on the morning breeze
a Greek gypsy
carrying handcrafted books,
a well-earned
mane of
“don’t fuck with me”
white hair.


9:30a.m.
Gloria Mindock
A savior of Eastern European Poets
a girlish
high-pitched laugh
outrage at “a-holes”
and the atrocities
that we inflict
on each other.

This is how Saturday morning breaks for the Bagel Bards. By 10 AM there is a cacophony. 90-something Joe Cohen, on his wheelchair, bites into his cheese danish, drinks his black coffee, and shows us his latest photographs. Krikor arrives, tall and regal, looking for all the world like a refugee from a Russian novel. And Harris Gardner, a shock of white hair, an Einstein with a bag of books from Salvation Army bins–offers all of us a share of his pastry. And so it goes with Luke and Zvi and Lawrence and Paul–and all the others. We are regulars. We are kibitzers-old, middle-aged, rarely young. Stumblebums, friends, writers , poets. We cross our stage-give our soliloquies, our Sermon on the Mount, the stunningly bad jokes, the salient points. Then…we call it a day… and drift away….

Ibbetson Street Press Artist Bridget Galway to have an Exhibit at the Somerville Public Library

                  

                 

                                    

  Time  Colors

                 Painting Exhibition

                                  By

             Artist/Poet Bridget Galway

                   February 1^st-28^th

                    Somerville Library

                          79 Highland Ave

                               Somerville Ma.

                                617.623.5000

                         Opening Reception

February 8th 12:30-2:30pm

 Poetry Reading

 

                              1:20-2:30pm

                         Featuring

                        Bridget Galway

                        Harris Gardner

                        Dennis Daley

                        Alice Weiss

                        Chris Warner

                        Heather Cambell

                        David Miller

                        Debra Wiess

                        Rosie Rosenzweig

                        Molly Watt

                        Ruth Smullin

                        Joe Cohen

                        Tomas O’Leary

                      

                      

" a piece of the morning " by Bridget Galway

Bridget Galway's Portrait of the Bagel Bards  " a fine piece of the morning" Click on picture to enlarge.

Bridget writes:

It is Krikor, and Dennis has the cup in his hand. Later in the morning I ended up in a long discussion with the man in the drawing who is in profile behind Krikor. 

He usually wears a canvas brimmed hat, and carries a colorful woven bag.

Our discussion was inspired by Baudelaire. I am blanking on his name. He sometimes comes in with his wife, her name is Rachael. It was good to get to know him, names often times come secondary.

The figure behind Dennis is Harris's blazer, The man with the glasses at the table in the background, and the peak of the face of a woman, is the couple that just recently moved from New York City to Boston, and I think are new Bard members.

This inclination to capture my social milieu while in it, is few and far between, and it comes unexpected, rendered by intuition, and therefore full of life.  

Bridget

Bagel Bards in Poets and Writers Online

A literary guide for Boston was penned by Ifeanyi Menkiti, the owner of the Grolier Poetry Bookshop and a well- respected poet. It is on the Poet and Writers Website. The Bagel Bards got a nice section of the piece. To see the full article go to:

http://www.pw.org/content/boston




7/18/2011

Boston

by Ifeanyi Menkiti

City Guides

7/18/2011

Literary Groups

Bagel Bards, a seven-year-old group cofounded by Douglas Holder of Ibbetson Street Press and Harris Gardner, is not a writing workshop—though those who come can, if they wish, bring work to share and receive feedback from other members—but rather a dedicated group of area poets and writers who meet every Saturday morning for company and support in Somerville’s Davis Square at the Au Bon Pain (18-48 Holland Street). (They even have a permanent symbolic home at the coffee shop, as management has allowed members to have a plaque in the corner where they meet behind the muffin case.) Important parts of the meetings are recorded for future reference by a designated member with the title of “Word Catcher.” There is no fee to belong or join the Bagel Bards. All that is needed is a willingness to bring oneself to Davis Square on Saturday mornings, maybe purchase a bagel or two, or a steaming cup of coffee, so as to keep the management happy. Last year poet Clayton Eshleman paid a surprise visit to the Bards while he was in town and had warm things to say about the group and its spirit. Other prize-winning authors such as Kathleen Spivack, Afaa Michael Weaver, and Gloria Mindock can be found holding court there. A Bagel Bards anthology is also published annually.

Bagel Bard Anthology 6

To order Bagel Bard Anthology 6 and others go to: http://www.wildernesshousepress.com/p/bagels-with-bards.html




*****From the Introduction – Kathleen Spivack


The Bagel Bards are a loose group of local writers, many of them
poets, who meet once a week at the welcoming coffee shop Au Bon Pain in Davis Square, Somerville, Massachusetts to share coffee and bagels.But most importantly, they share information about the writing trade. They are a networking group for writers in the area.

The brain child of at least four superb and conscientious writers,
Doug Holder, Harris Gardner, Steve Glines and Irene Koronos, the
Bagel Bards have been meeting weekly for years, providing a haven
for local writers and publishers engaged in the solitary practice of the
wordsmith profession. Writing and reading are the shared passions.
Bagel Bards range in age from 19 to 94-plus...



************ Kathleen Spivack has been a visiting professor of American Literature/Creative Writing (one semester annually) in France since 1990. She has held posts at the University of Paris VII-VIII, the University of Francoise Rabelais, Tours, the University of Versailles, and at the Ecole Superieure (Polytechnique). She was a Fulbright Senior Artist/Professor in Creative Writing in France (1993-95). Her poetry has been featured at festivals in France and in the U.S. She reads and performs in theatres, and she also works with composers. Her song cycles and longer pieces have been performed worldwide.