Local Poets Read At Rust Belt Books

                A group of twelve poets, local as well as international,  gathered in the back room of Rust Belt Books Oct. 25 for a monthly open reading of poems and short stories.

                The group, organized by George Georgakis, London native, has been meeting for three years in the versatile back room. With moveable stages, constantly changing artwork, and endless chair arrangements the space is almost unrecognizable for every event, whether it be a play, a poetry reading or an art showing.   

Fellow poets listen as Bruce A. McCausland reads.

                The poems varied from good to trite, long to short, personal to political, but what brought the entire night together was a sense of community and comfort the poets had. The confidence they showed with their vulnerability and the ability to open up to friends, and some strangers, united them. Most of the poets knew each other and attended this monthly event regularly.

                Bruce A. McCausland, poet and sculptor, said they have difficulty bringing in new, younger poets willing to be confident enough to read, not just in this group, but as a poetry community as a whole.

                “The college crowd mostly keeps to themselves. Kids are ashamed of what they feel, and even worse, what they write, so they don’t want to come in and share. Put yourself out there, don’t be afraid to be vulnerable,” said McCausland.

                “When I was younger it was really hard to be vulnerable. I had to learn to open myself up to myself and others,” Rich Olsen, local poet, said.

                The exception to this seems to be poet Josh Smith. With his motorcycle helmet on the chair next to him and his pop-cultured laced poems, Smith was the younger generation’s only representative there. He was introduced by Georgakis as “the rock star of poetry,” which seemed to fit when he announced he had black, Josh Smith t-shirts for sale that night.  

                An ex-comedian, musician and 2012’s Artvoice Best Spoken Word Artist of the Year, Smith clearly captured his audience with edgy poems such as “No Strings Attached,” a reference to the 2011 film of the same name.

                “I want my sex with strings, with strings, and ribbon and ropes” Smith said. While musicians learn guitar to get the girls, Smith writes the poems to keep the girls, and that is the difference between rock stars and poets, according to him.

                Stan Malone with his rebel and road style poems was another stand out poet, the poems made even more unique by being read in cold, industrial Buffalo. Emphasized by his mustache, shy demeanor and t-shirt featuring a wolf, Malone’s poems were like if one’s divorced, biker father had a sensitive side.

                “Car to car, trunk to trunk, beneath the cold and far-flung stars we lay,” Malone said from his poem about his time hitch-hiking, “I Wish I Were Back Out West.”

Catholic Academy of West Buffalo reminds motorists and pedestrians on Delaware to pick up a book.

Russell Banks Kicks of 6th Season of Babel

Russell Banks, author of 13 novels, kicked off the sixth season of Babel at Kleinhans Music Hall Oct. 18, with a lecture advocating the separation of serious literature, social change and politics.

Banks, an author whose novels often focus on child abuse, neglect, incest and pornography, was feeling a little tired of discussing those topics. He had recently completed a seemingly endless, international book tour promoting his latest novel "Lost Memory of Skin," and spent a lot of time discussing those topics.

“I’m frankly sick of thinking of talking about sex abuse, sexual predators, pornography and the internet and all related subjects. So if you don’t mind, literature and politics” Banks said, to the laughs of the audience.

In his lecture he said he fears literature can no longer influence politics. It seems impossible for literary artists to influence those who rule us in such a democratic country, said Banks.

The most effective “protest fiction” relies too heavily on ready-made structural templates, stereotyped characters, cliché language, easy judgment and slapdash prose, Banks said. He made several references throughout the night to characters who either wear black hats or white hats in this type of literature.  

The bosses were portrayed as cruel and heartless machines in Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle", Banks said. The workers in that novel were portrayed as empowered heroes standing up for justice, there was no gray area or complexity in the characterization.

“A protest novel is an argument disguised as a story, propaganda for good or ill, that is wrapped in narrative. A true novelist, who inspires to create a work of art, is not aware of their audience,” said Banks.

The key difference between protest novel and serious fiction seems to be Banks assertation that a novelist begins with a mystery and ends with a further mystery, rather than an answer.

Barbara Cole, artistic director of Just Buffalo Literary Center, agreed with Banks' statement. 

 “This is the gift of great literature, offering us not answers but lasting enigmas that provoke us to speak when we have no words,” said Cole.

Kleinhans Music Hall celebrated the sixth Babel season opener by showing off some its recent renovations. Two free-standing speakers were added to each side of the of the stage and carpeting underneath the chairs was removed for a richer sound. Carpeting had previously run throughout the entire hall, dulling the sound.

“The space was designed for orchestral acoustics and we’ve had some trouble with vocal acoustics in the past,” said Laurie Dean Torrell, executive director of Just Buffalo Literary Center, Babel’s producer.

Paul Krehbiel Speaks About Underground Press at Burning Books

             About thirty people gathered in the small, square, humid storefront of Burning Books Oct. 16 to listen to Paul Krehbiel discuss the anti-war, labor and underground press movements of the late 1960's and early 1970's. 

Krehbiel, founder of the local underground publication “New Age,” spoke at Burning Books Oct. 16 to promote “Voices From the Underground”, a four volume anthology about Vietnam era underground press. Krehbiel contributed a chapter to the anthology, published by Michigan State University, about his time spent publishing “New Age” in 1970 and 1971.

Krehbiel and friends founded “New Age” during his time as a University at Buffalo student and Standard Mirror employee in South Buffalo. With a circulation of 10, 000 they founded the monthly paper in September 1970 to give a different side of the story.

Paul Krehbiel spoke at Burning Books about his
 experience as a member of the underground press

“The news media left out a lot about their reporting on the war. They left out key ideas and reasons for Vietnam,” he said.

“New Age” focused on the struggles of labor unions and minorities everywhere, not just locally.             

“In every issue we aimed to include one article about other cities or industries, one article about foreign workers, and one article that supported the black and women’s liberation movements that were going on then,” said Krehbiel.

He and his associates of “New Age” received harassment, violence and threats during the time of their publication. Krehbiel had his tires slashed and windshield shattered with a brick on numerous occasions. Once, he received an anonymous note card left on his door that only said “treason will be punished.” On another occasion he had his rear window shot at.


Krehbiel said underground publishers had to camouflage their publications as care packages or lunches when sneaking them into factories or onto the war front of Vietnam. Authors never signed their articles out of fear of losing their jobs or continued harassment.

Burning Books store co-owner Leslie James Pickering took to the front in the beginning to introduce Krehbiel as one of his biggest influences for the store he has today, which focuses on freedom struggles of different groups.

“There was such a difference between what the media reports and what the underground press reports. It’s important to have someone reporting from the other side” said Pickering.

Pickering and his associates try to carry on the legacy of the underground press through the new, alternative press. They carry self-published zine’, books and media on topics ranging from environmentalism, anarchy, civil rights, and history.

During the Q&A session after the lecture Krehbiel said learning to create an underground publication a lot more difficult when he did it, than it is now.

“We taught ourselves as we went along. we talked to some other people that worked on an underground paper some place else. We had writing skills from high school but we had to learn how to use layout sheets, and justify columns and use the correct typewriters and things like that. Things are a lot easier now with computers, but I still prefer to use layout sheets” Krehbiel said. 

Twenty-five authors contributed chapters to the "Voices of the Underground" anthology, ranging from 30 to 40 pages.