Local poetry movement experiences re-awakening

Somewhere in the hidden recesses of Buffalo, N.Y., a movement is experiencing its awakening.

Outriders, a privately funded poetry project, began in 1969 and was founded by three men -- Max Wickert, Dan Murray and Doug Eichhorn. The original intent was to create an exchange program in the Northeast, but after a reading at Syracuse University, the focus shifted to almost exclusively within the Buffalo-Niagara region.

Wickert came to the University at Buffalo as an academic in 1966, at 28 years old. He was married, but after divorcing his wife and realizing his work was suffering from lack of interest, he began to go down a different path: poetry.

“I had come (to UB) as a Yale-trained Victorianist, specializing in William Morris, and though I dutifully... tried to cobble my Morris dissertation into a publishable book, and even taught a graduate seminar on the Pre-Raphaelites, my heart was no longer in it,” he wrote in his introduction to An Outriders Anthology: Poetry in Buffalo 1969-1979 and After, the project’s newest book. “I had by then met (poet and educator) John Logan and under his spell began to re-imagine myself as a poet.”

It was Logan who had brought Wickert, Murray and two other young poets to Syracuse for the initial reading. There, they met Eichhorn, and Outriders was born.

“Its original full title was ‘Outriders Inter-University Poetry Program’ ... (it functioned) as a reading-exchange between young and not-yet-established poets residing at various colleges,” Wickert wrote.

The name “Outriders” stemmed from a character called the Monk in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, who traveled as an “outridere” to far-away monasteries. That was the idea behind the project -- traveling to bring together “far-flung” poets across the Northeast region.

Poetry began to prove a worthwhile conduit. It helped raise funds for Wickert and others who were part of the Hayes Hall 45, a group of faculty at UB who protested the injunction against unauthorized assembly in the wake of student protests on campus during 1970. The group was subsequently arrested; bail funds were raised through readings on their behalf.

Meanwhile, Outriders modified its purposes, going smaller-scale and changing its name to the Outriders Poetry Program.

“Buffalo poets would still ‘ride out,’ but into the local community rather than to far-away colleges,” Wickert wrote. The program included weekly readings in bars across the area.

“There was nothing very original about all this; it was standard in Greenwich Village (Manhattan) and San Francisco,” he continued. “But this was Buffalo, and we had our doubts. In the end, it all worked out splendidly.”

Core poets included Logan, Robert Creeley, and Irving Feldman; others, like Allen Ginsberg and James Wright, were frequent contributors. The program also brought forth poets who would go on to high prestige, including Robert Hass, Poet Laureate of the United States from 1995-97. Outriders co-sponsored Summer Poetry Festivals with Artpark and UB and ran two “Third World Poetry Festivals” featuring Latino poets Felipe Luciano and Pedro Pietri, among others.

Outriders ended its readings in 1980 and fell out of sight until 2009, when Wickert revived it as a small press. Since then, at least seven chapbooks of poetry have been released, along with the aforementioned Anthology: 1969-1979. A small reception was held for its release on April 17 at the Western New York Book Arts Center, with free souvenir copies and a selection of live readings from the anthology.

Wickert stresses that the anthology follows no set style, meter or regional spirit -- only half a dozen were actually born in the Buffalo area. Nor is it exclusive to the literary crowd.

“Least of all is this book a collection by ‘professional’ writers,” he wrote. “The range of callings... is legion: actor, airmen, arborist... dance critic, disk jockey... journalist... museum staffer... sports writer, etc. It is such amateurs (in the best sense) that found or made a community in reading and listening to each other.”

A new printing of the anthology has been ordered, as the first contained several errors. It is available for purchase in area bookstores, through the publisher, or online at Amazon and Small Press Distribution (www.spdbooks.org).  

Q&A With Local Author/Journalist Lyndsey D'Arcangelo

Lyndsey D’Arcangelo, a freelance journalist and author, recently celebrated the birth of a baby girl and is taking some time off to raise her. But the author of three YA novels -- The Trouble with Emily Dickinson, The Education of Queenie McBride and The Crabapple Tree -- was able to answer a few questions about her career, her life experiences and writing for a teenage audience, particularly the LGBT community. D’Arcangelo, in addition to writing for this audience, also gives classroom lectures, writing workshops, and attends LGBT and Gay-Straight Alliance group events. You can reach her on her website, lyndseydarcangelo.com.

- When exactly did you start writing? When did you realize it was something you wanted to do for a living?

I started writing when I was a little kid. I'd make up stories all of the time. By the time I got into high school, I realized that I had a unique talent and I wanted to make writing my career.

- You said on your Web site that you "remember fondly each and every writing camp" you've attended. Which was your favorite?

I went to a writing camp at Clemson University when I was 16 years old. I had to fill out an application and get recommendations from teachers just to attend. I learned so much during those two weeks and I think it made a huge difference in my confidence level. I also made some great friends while I was there and connected with other creative minds of the same age.

- How have you managed to juggle journalism and creative writing, since their styles are rather different?

I was lucky to have a variety of different writing jobs after I graduated from college, in which I gained certain skills that I didn't get while in school. Through real world experience, I learned how to write journalistic articles, columns and editorials, write for the web, write fiction, write blog posts and write copy for advertisements — all which require different creative approaches.

- You focus on LGBT youth in your YA novels, as well as in My Story Is Out. What was your own coming out process like?

My coming out process lasted 22 years. I knew I was gay when I was 8 years old but I also learned rather quickly that being gay was frowned upon. I kept it hidden all throughout high school because I didn't want to lose my friends or hurt my reputation. College offered me a chance to break free a little bit but I was still reserved and worried about what people would think if they ever found out. I lived in Boston, MA after graduation and immersed myself in their gay community. That's where I learned the most about myself, gained confidence in who I was and embraced my sexuality wholeheartedly. Once I was comfortable with myself, I began coming out to friends and family.

- How much of your experience has manifest(ed) itself into your writing? Do you believe that you can ever separate your own life from that of your work?

The best writing advice I ever received was to "write what you know." My first novel, which is unpublished, is a suspense thriller about a topic I knew nothing about. I had to do a wealth of research and you can tell in the writing that it's not authentic. It came across as stale and forced. So, I wrote The Trouble with Emily Dickinson after that and it was based on my personal experience and real people I had met. It was such a different result and I think it's the reason why the book won a literary award. It was authentic because I wrote what I knew. For me, I know I can't separate my life experiences from my writing because life experiences shape our stories. They go hand in hand. The best novels are written by those people who have firsthand knowledge with the topic, whether it's the law, history or even wizards (JK Rowling).

- I noticed that you've had some writing opportunities while also raising a baby girl. What has the work/life balance been like since she was born?

I wanted to try and continue writing while staying home with my daughter, but I quickly found out that it wasn't going to work. Maggie is my priority. So I had to scale back on a lot of things. My days are spent taking care of her first and foremost. In the little free time that I do have, I write a blog post for Curve Magazine's website called “Mr. Mom.” I'm also working on writing a screen play, which I've never done before.

- Can you talk a little bit about your newest project, My Story Is Out, and where the idea came from?

My Story Is Out is a work in progress. The idea came to me in 2011, because I thought a book like this would be great for kids who are balancing sexuality with high school and need to connect with other kids who are going through the same thing. When I pitched the idea to my publisher, they loved it and wanted to work on the project with me.

-What stories, either through this work or in your interactions with students, fans, and other members of the LGBT community, have left the greatest impact on you?

Whenever I talk to kids who have read my books and they tell me that they love them or the books made them feel normal or they are enamored with a certain character, I know in my heart that I was meant to write YA for LGBT kids.

- What is your next project?

I'm in between projects right now because I am focused on raising my daughter. But, as I said before, I am working on a screenplay and I'm hoping to do something with it when it's finished.

-What compelled you to start writing a screenplay? What are the differences you've found between that and writing for journalism/creatively?

I just wanted to try something new. I had dabbled in it before, right after college but kind of set it aside. Now that I am in between books and taking a break from freelancing, any free time I have is dedicated to working on the screenplay. There's no deadline for it, so there's no pressure. It's just a fun thing. A screenplay is made up of mostly dialogue, while novels are full of lengthy descriptions. The dialogue of the characters drives the screenplay. I really enjoy writing dialogue between characters, so I'm having fun with this.

-How important is the city of Buffalo in your writing? Why or why not?

It's important when I write certain articles [to] highlight the city in a positive light. I love Buffalo and any time I can share the city with the world, I will. In fiction, I haven't really used Buffalo in any of my books. It just didn't fit. But I am using it as the location of my screenplay.

-How important have you found representation of LGBT youth in media (in a nuanced manner) when it comes to their feelings of being accepted as a part of society?

I think that social media has actually done more of a service for LGBT youth. There are so many clubs, organizations and media outlets that post positive things on Facebook and Twitter in regards to social justice and LGBT rights. There are also so many television shows and gay characters in mainstream media that kids today can relate to. It's wonderful to see.

-Do you think seeing better representations of it while growing up and coming out would have helped you?

Yes! I say this all the time to kids. When I was in high school, Melissa Etheridge had just come out. That's it! Ellen had yet to make an announcement about it. Now, kids see her on television every day. It makes a huge difference. But our society moves generation by generation. The generation before me had it that much harder. Each generation paves the way for the next.

English professor details Mark Twain's "scribblin's" in Buffalo in latest book

Buffalo State English professor emeritus and Mark Twain scholar Thomas J. Reigstad held a signing recently in the campus bookstore for the release of his book “Scribblin’ for a Livin’: Mark Twain’s Pivotal Period in Buffalo," at the campus bookstore April 15.

The book, published in March, covers the classic American author’s life in the area, as an editor for the Buffalo Morning Express.

Reigstad first learned of Twain’s connection to Buffalo in graduate school at the University of Missouri. Intrigued, he followed it up throughout the course and longer, over a 30-year period, and found an interesting trend among the scholastic works he used in his research. It was enough for him to write several articles and, eventually, his book, which he finished in the summer of 2012.

“I found that most of the literature about Twain in Buffalo-- biographies and whatnot -- had dismissed that period of one and a half years as ‘insignificant,’” he said. “And as I poked around reading material on microfilm, and interviewing relatives of Twain’s friends in Buffalo, I found there was a totally different story.”

In fact, Twain’s time in the area was, as the title suggests, a period of change for him. Not only was his work for the Express “very lively,” as Reigstad put it, Twain also compiled a tremendous social network -- and in the centuries before there was anything like the Internet or social media.

“He made many friends over [at the Express] that became lifelong friends, long after he moved from Buffalo -- and he also made a lot of social friends, from going to the Presbyterian church, and people in his neighborhood (the Delaware District), and he kept in touch with Buffalonians all his life,” Reigstad said.

More importantly, Twain began to gravitate away from journalism, toward writing literature. He finished his travel book “The Innocents Abroad” and also began work on its prequel, “Roughing It,” in Buffalo, and realized quickly that he preferred a leisurely life of letters to the grueling full-time life of a reporter and editor. The choice was made easier when he started receiving book royalties and his wife received an inheritance from her father after his death.

“He made the decision in Buffalo to step away from journalism forever,” Reigstad said. “There was a realization that he didn’t want that 9-to-5 grind (as co-editor of the Express).”

Twain also inherited waterfront property by what is now Erie Canal Harbor from his wife after her passing, paying taxes and collecting rent on it for the last six years of his life.

“It was property that his ex-father-in-law had bought for his Elmira coal company,” Reigstad said. “The coal would be shipped up the Erie Canal or by train westward, and they dumped the coal at that property and shipped it to customers across the Great Lakes.” 

Although this information is important to Twain’s success as a writer and evolution as a person, the greater academic world has neglected it, to Reigstad’s benefit.

“I think Buffalo has suffered from an inferiority complex since 1901, when McKinley was shot here, that I don’t feel is deserved,” he said, citing people’s perceptions of the weather and Anderson Cooper’s snubbing of Dyngus Day last year as some examples of the rest of the country dismissing the area as second-rate.

“It’s so typical that pop culture’s dismissal of Buffalo has carried over into scholarly dismissal,” he explained. “Decades of scholars who have written about Twain have only treated (Twain’s connection to Buffalo) superficially... so, to my great fortune, nobody ever seriously probed or explored that time. So I was able to jump into that hole and pull out some pretty illuminating stories.”

“Scribblin’ for a Livin’” is available in the campus bookstore for purchase.

Used bookstores thrive within city limits

This is a rough draft of my second beat story for the class. It's missing one interview, but I am in the process of polishing/finishing. 

*****

Buffalo prides itself on promoting local business. Whether it be restaurants, boutiques or entertainment venues, the city is flush with activity.

The same is true with bookstores, particularly used bookstores around the area. Four of them -- The Second Reader on Hertel Avenue, Westside Stories on Grant Street, Rust Belt Books on Allen Street, and Old Editions at Oak and Huron streets downtown -- lie within the city limits. Each has its own unique identity and atmosphere.

Westside Stories lies one mile south of Buffalo State, in a developing Grant Street neighborhood. At first glance, it looks tiny and unassuming; step inside, however, and it stretches for quite a few yards, curling around the back of the old greenhouse next door and packed with books of all genres -- literary fiction, mystery, romance, sports, travel, even feminism and the LGBT community.

“Its outside deceives you,” said Joe Petri, a Buff State alum and co-owner with his wife Jeanenne.

Petri grew up in West Seneca, but left the area after graduating, living in Florida, [place], and Brooklyn before making his way back home. He started selling books online, but when the time came to settle back in Buffalo, he felt that having a brick-and-mortar shop would be more conducive to reaching out to the community. Westside Stories was the brainchild of that desire, and has been in business for the past eighteen months.

“We knew we wanted to be in the city, and we love this neighborhood,” Petri said.

The Petris aren’t the only ones who enjoy the area. Kristi Neal, proprietor of Rust Belt Books (though she made it clear that “there are no sterile hierarchy procedures” in the store), is moving the shop just a block or so north of Westside Stories in 2014, after what will be 14 years on Allen Street.

“A couple of friends bought this building and worked on it,” she said. “We all knew we wanted to be in Allentown. [Eventually], they sold.

“Allentown [is slowly becoming] more gentrified,” she added. “There’s a lot of money coming in. It’s changing the scene a little bit.”

With that comes higher rents and property values, pushing some of the existing community out. It seems as though Rust Belt is one of the victims of that circumstance; however, Neal sees it as a good opportunity.

“Grant Street is a great neighborhood,” she said.

Where Westside Stories and Rust Belt differ is in the selection of books. As is usually the case with small business, owners usually take a keen interest in their merchandise, selling what appeals to them as well as the rest of the community. Petri said he and his wife find books at estate sales, garage sales and other places, with a few different genres in mind.

“I like reading a lot about history, so we do have a large history section,” he said. "We also have two small children, so we really wanted to build up a good children’s and young adult section.”

Meanwhile, Neal said she’s picky about the type of books she selects, relying more on word of mouth to bring books to her shop. She also seems to respond to the tastes of the community.

“We don’t have crime fiction or mystery books; we don’t have romance,” she said. “They don’t do well here.”

Downtown, Old Editions Bookshop and Cafe is a bigger space, with plenty of rooms to spare. While Westside Stories and Rust Belt Books are smaller, with plenty of piles on the floor and on top of bookshelves, Old Editions is less cluttered and more put-together.

“We were closer to UB South Campus before moving over here; we’ve been at this location since 2002,” said manager Eric Lowery, who has served in that capacity for the past three years.

Like the first two stores, Old Editions relies on estates for their inventory. They also buy, often, entire libraries in the case of deceased or elderly owners.

“Most of the books here come from maybe four or five collections,” Lowery said, indicating the first floor. Much of the literature there contains poetry, fiction, literary criticism, sports books, history and government, and biographies. There’s also an entire wall filled with paperbacks -- some dime novels, some classics, other more modern pocket books. Many books are out of print.

“We try to use as much as we can,” he said, adding that he and owner Ronald Cozzi price based on availability and comparison to website prices.

The fact that a bibliophile can find rare books at reasonable prices is one of the positives of coming to a used bookstore.

“You can find books here that you can’t find anywhere else, and our prices are low,” Neal said.

Her store features many books priced at $10 or under; Westside Stories offers much of the same, as well as 50-cent and $1 paperbacks.

Another major draw is the atmosphere and personal interaction that comes with shopping at a brick-and-mortar shop.

“For me, the ability to shop and talk to people about the books is huge. It’s something you don’t get with online vendors like Amazon or eBay,” Lowery said, adding that he sometimes puts jokes into the descriptions on Old Editions’ eBay listings to make a connection with the shopper.

“I know what people respond to and what they appreciate, so to try and put a little more effort into [the sale] is important,” he said.

Used bookstores have their quirks and flaws, but overall they add a personality that is overall different from the antiseptic big-box stores and the instant gratification of shopping online.

Buffalo's small presses take center stage at "event of the year"

Porter Avenue hummed with the sounds and smells of local food trucks parked outside the Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum. People filed in and out with pamphlets, books, and art, blinking in the sunshine poking through the rain clouds.

Inside the vast space of the museum itself were lines of tables set up in a maze, each with a different vendor -- local bookstores like Westside Stories and Talking Leaves, graphic designers like Youth + Culture, authors, local literary projects, and small presses.

The Buffalo Small Press Book Fair has been in existence for the past six years. Organizer Chris Fritton began the project as an independent venture between him and Kevin Thurston, another literary entrepreneur.

“I'd been making my own books and traveling to other books fairs around the country, especially those in Toronto and New York City,” Fritton said.

“After I returned home from Maine in 2005, I began laying the groundwork for what would become the [Fair] with Kevin.”

The overall purpose, in his words, is “to give marginalized and small-scale authors and artists a chance to share their work with the public and with each other.”

In the fair’s first year, about 65 vendors and 800 participants took part. 2013’s saw almost double the number of vendors -- 125 -- and 4,500 participants.

“Initially, many of the vendors were just from the Buffalo and Great Lakes region, but as the Fair’s grown, it’s drawn participants from all over the Northeast, Midwest, and Southern Ontario,” Fritton said.

“This year, the Fair boasted participants from Baltimore, Providence, Detroit, Milwaukee, Toronto, NYC, Boston, Pittsburgh - almost all the major metropolitan areas within a day's drive.”

The Fair stretched from Saturday, April 6, to Sunday, April 7, marking the first time that the Fair had ever been held over an entire weekend.

“At first we [had some trepidation] about the turnout on the second day - but all went well, the Fair filled in, and the vendors and participants were really happy,” Fritton said. “Many people remarked that they liked Sunday better!”

Aside from the bookstores, authors tried to get their name out to the public, from married couple Jennifer and Sarah Diemer and their books featuring lesbian heroines, to the out-of-the-ordinary collection Strange Attractors (about extraterrestrial sexuality), to Susan Boger, who wrote a “sort of funny” cautionary tale about genetically modified organisms.

The fair also features more than just books. Handmade art and journals, detailed stationery, and even the popular “Fridge Phrases” word magnets were for sale. Vendors peddled their wares with friendly smiles and tips as to the nature of the work.

One vendor, who sells hand-stitched patterns on cards and pins, said her work takes about an hour or two depending on the size. Another vendor sold intricate book art that fits into the palm of a hand.

The fair filled up both floors of the museum and also featured lectures and readings throughout the weekend.

“Next year I'm looking forward to growing the Fair a little more, and drawing even better cultural work to the region,” Fritton said. He hopes to do that in the time between fairs, when he works as the studio director at the Western New York Book Arts Center downtown.

“I continue to make and author my own small press books and artist's books - when I find the time -

and I do currently visit many local Universities and Colleges to present about typography, book arts, printing, and other book-related media,” he said.

“I've spent years nowbuilding up a culture of book and print enthusiasts here in the region, and I like to think that my role at WNYBAC supportsmy other ventures, like the [Fair].”

Profile: Burning Books

The unmarked storefront lay just a 10-minute walk southwest of Elmwood Avenue, on the corner of at Connecticut and 15th streets. It’s nestled within a quiet, shabby corner of Buffalo’s West Side, but open its door and its messages ring clear.  

Burning Books, a bookstore and learning space dedicated to radical activism, has been on the scene for about a year and a half, according to Nate Buckley, one of its founders. It offers literature, movies and artwork, as well as clothing and other accessories, on what they classify as "freedom struggle."    

“We were already sort of entrenched (in the activist scene) when we started,” Buckley says from his perch, a small staircase leading to an unseen room of the small bookstore. “We were part of a group named Arissa, which focused on kind of the same thing -- film screenings, discussions, reading groups, things like that.”      

By “we,” Buckley meant himself, Leslie Pickering, and Pickering’s wife, Theresa Baker. All three have deep roots in activism, according to Artvoice; Buckley is active in the Stop the Violence Coalition, along with two other groups focused on prisoners’ rights.

Pickering was a spokesman for the Earth Liberation Front, an organization dedicated to ending environmental destruction, and has written about his experiences. Baker, to whom Pickering is married, is involved with numerous groups which dedicate themselves to talking about politics through art, and hosted a show about social justice called SpeakEasy Radio.

Together, they worked on Burning Books for three years before opening on Sept. 9, 2011, on the 40th anniversary of the uprising at Attica. The store commemorated the date with a screening of the documentary “Attica” on Sept. 8, 2011, as well as having American Indian Movement veteran and Attica participant John Boncore, a.k.a. John Hill, a.k.a. Dacajeweiah, speak at Burning Books on Sept. 13.

“It was incredible,” Buckley said of the experience. “He was probably my favorite speaker we’ve had.”

Fast forward to 2013. Burning Books is an established part of the literary, educational and activist scenes. Community and reading groups of all types use the space for education and discussion about topics including racism, sexism, labor conditions, and homophobia. There are tables full of merchandise -- books, flyers, pamphlets. The wood-paneled walls are covered with everything imaginable -- posters, clothing racks, bookcases, and, over the counter, a giant whiteboard announcing Burning Books’ events throughout the next month.

The bookstore has been featured on multiple Web sites, from GOBike Buffalo to Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative, as well as in Artvoice. These sites laud the store’s contributions to the Buffalo community, but Buckley says their work is far from finished.

“‘Radical’ means getting to the root, so we focus on getting to the root of a problem, not just focusing on the issues that are just symptoms of that problem,” he said. “We focus on actions -- not just thinking about an issue, but acting against it.”

These actions and events include a screening of the film William Kunstler and the American Indian Movement on March 20 at 7 p.m., another screen of a new documentary, Visions of Abolition, on March 28 at 7 p.m., and a discussion called Organizing for Power (focusing on labor conditions and issues) on April 14 at 6 p.m.


Burning Books is open 11 a.m.- 7 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.

All photos by Angelica Rodriguez