Poetry-reading fund-raiser for Japanese Relief

A grassroots poetry-reading fund-raiser
           for Japanese Relief

Thursday, March 24th 
7:30 until 9:30/10:00 PM

Java's

16 Gibbs Street

Rochester (between Main & East)

next to the Eastman School of Music,

near the Eastman Theatre

Sign-in for the event begins at 7 PM and each poet will be allotted approximately 5 minutes to read for which we suggest a $5.00 donation (more if you wish).  All funds raised will benefit Japanese relief efforts through the Red Cross.

In terms of poetry to be read, we would like to to avoid "me-based" poetry, and  rants about broken-hearted lovers or war.  Subject matter should be " appropriate for the time at hand,"  however it need not be specifically about the recent tragedies.

The reading will most likely be telethon like-in style, with commentary about the event and appeals for support between every three poets or so. If you're not a poet, but have visited Japan or have friends or relatives who have been affected by the earthquakes and flooding there, you may want to grab five minutes to chat about that.

Also as a special treat, Ying Quartet violinist Ayano Ninomya has also graciously agreed to play a violin solo and will probably  perform around 8:30 PM

Naturally, since this is a fund-raising event, we would also like to drum up some folks to be an "audience" -- even if only for a small part of the event.  So encourage your family and friends to stop by and throw in a couple of dollars or a pocket full of change into the "collection basket."  This is an attempt for poets to make a strong humanitarian stand.

We do know that there are a number of competing events that night, but if you could spare even a few minutes to drop by it would be much appreciated.

Donna M. Marbach (dmmarbach@gmail.com)
Paloma A.  Capanna (paloma@beyondthecliches.com)