Locations

Its raining in Baltimore 'Counting Crows'

Baltimore by Randy Newman Beat-up little seagull On a marble stair Tryin' to find the ocean Lookin' everywhere Hard times in the city In a hard town by the sea Ain't nowhere to run to There ain't nothin' here for free Hooker on the corner Waitin' for a train Drunk lyin' on the sidewalk Sleepin' in the rain And they hide their faces And they hide their eyes 'Cause the city's dyin' And they don't know why Oh Baltimore Man it's hard just to live Oh, Baltimore Man, it's hard just to life, just to live Get my sister Sandy And my little brother Ray Buy a big old wagon To haul us all away Live out in the country Where the mountain's high Never comin' back here 'Til the day I die Oh, Baltimore Man, it's hard just to live Oh, Baltimore Man, it's hard just to live, just to live

This circus is falling down on its knees The big top is crumbling down.....

At the risk of actually responding to the question, I'm originally from Ohio, lived many years in Connecticut, left the U.S. in 1995, moving to Warsaw Poland. Moved to London in Sept 1999. In London there are lots of places to attend readings of various kinds, including those put on by abctales itself from time to time. I'm curious about the scene in the U.S., though. I'd read someplace that poetry readings and I guess what I would call "verse offs" (a kind of rhyming competiton) are fairly common in some major cities. I have hours of spoken word recordings of Bukowski and Burroughs. It really helps to hear the author read his own work. How common is this kind of thing in the States now?

Led, I live in Amsterdam, which overflows with (mostly free)poetry readings, workshops, performances, gatherings etc - none of which I go to for reasons which will become clear when you get matey with...er...other ABC oldies (sorry guys!). So I just hide behind my PC and knock out the occasional tale. Once a month (on average) I tart meself up and attend a writer's circle meeting hosted, more often than not, by that delightful duo Manylifeboats and Looli. During the course of the evening we swig beer an' wine, scoff grub (if anyone's remembered to make any) and discuss our latest artistic efforts, becoming more and more inarticulate as crates empty and bottle levels recede. Some members even smoke naughty stuff, which makes the event even more hilarious... I'm sure there a loads more but, at my advanced age, one a month is all I can cope with - it takes me two weeks to recover from one and the next two weeks to prepare for the next.

He's very strict that Justyn. I grew up in west London and lived there (apart from a short spell in Torquay) until I was 39 year old. I now live in rural Oxfordshire. The village is small and very boring, which is just how I like it. I attend no writers' meetings. I sometimes (in summer) cut the lawn. I've been known to drink a pint or two of beer.

*adhering to justin's strict rules* i live in hackney but am originally from bath, no writers groups apart from abc. I don't cut any lawns, the "village" of clapton is not very boring....gunshot can sometimes be heard..which is not the way i like it....will drink the odd pint or two, large G&T if the fish is being generous.....

i am located in the midlands ... uk ... there are plenty of writing groups around and the regional arts board funds an infrastructure (i think that is the artspeak term for it) of literature development officers and also regularly funds annual literature bursaries (which they have never given to me *bitter hollow laugh*) and small press magazines ... in the midlands there is also a healthy number of lit performance (mainly performance poetry) events and a huge number of writers groups and courses for adult ed ... i don't go to any of them ... i never mow my lawn ... tho i do have a flymo in the shed ... in fact my lawn is more of a lush meadow ... my kids suggest we write to that programme and a nice irishman will come round and put egg shaped concrete structures in it lit with neon ... but i don't think the neighbours would like it ... i drink large gins but only if martin is buying ... isn't baltimore where anne tyler sets all her books?

I get the sprog to mow my lawn, but wouldn't be averse to a nice young Irishman doing it if he so desired... It is NOT a lush meadow.

Fort Worth, Texas. Cow town. Home of the unpoetic roach and the highly illiterate bowlegged waitress. Stuck, if you must know and mired amidst mindless morons which is why I seek other forums. There are those here who seek self pity, those who achieve a pitiable state without assistance and whole gobs of cowboys that flourish whilst delving the depths of destiny's dungheap.

Nice bitta alliteration, Pen...

germany & scotland seriously, are there writers outside abctales?