Yardmeter Fourteen, Friday, December 17, 7 p.m.

Come one, come all! There will be bubbly punch! There will be art, music, film, and poetry!




Yardmeter 14 presents:
poetry readings by
Julia Cohen,
Lily Brown,
and Cynthia Arrieu-King,
film by Dana Matthews,
music by Mark Delpriora,
and artwork by Johnny Mattei.

Come for the last Yardmeter of 2010,
Friday, December 17th, 7 p.m.,
at Shelton Walsmith's studio.
A champagne punch will be provided.
Please bring your own beer or wine.

About our presenters:

Julia Cohen is the author of 10 chapbooks and her first full-length book, Triggermoon Triggermoon, recently released from Black Lawrence Press. Her work has been published in 6x6, Columbia Poetry Review, Octopus, and 1913 amongst others. She is the poetry editor of Saltgrass and the Associate Editor of the Denver Quarterly.



Lily Brown
is from Massachusetts and currently lives in Athens, where she is a Ph.D. student at the University of Georgia. Her first book, Rust or Go Missing, is out from Cleveland State University Poetry Center, and recent poems have appeared in American Letters and Commentary and Colorado Review. A new chapbook, Being One, is forthcoming from Brave Men Press.


Cynthia Arrieu-King is an assistant professor of creative writing at Stockton College in New Jersey. Her work has or will appear this year in Boston Review, Witness, and Jacket. Her book People are Tiny in Paintings of China was released from Octopus Books this fall. She lives near some casinos and the sea.



Alabama-born, Brooklyn-based artist
Dana Matthews’s
work includes toned, hand-tinted or b/w silver gelatin portfolios of female nudes, mystical landscapes, an extensive study of baptismal fonts in the rural South, color portraits of hip young Catskill farm workers and many more fine art prints.



Mark Delpriora has performed throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Uruguay, and Italy. He has been the recipient of grants and awards including the Andres Segovia Award for Outstanding Performance (given by the Manhattan School of Music with Andres Segovia in attendance), the Beards Fund Award for a New York Debut , and many others. Currently co-chairman of the guitar department at the Manhattan School of Music, Delpriora has taught master classes throughout the U.S. and has been a guest teacher at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil. Delpriora has been on the juries of several international competitions. Delpriora's series of compositions under the umbrella title “Wunderkammer” regularly appears in Soundboard magazine. He was recently invited by Sharon Isbin to be Instructor of Guitar Literature and Fretboard Harmony in the Juilliard School’s newly established undergraduate guitar program. An active composer, Delpriora’s compositions are published by Berben Edizioni Musicali ( the 50 minute, Sonata 3 and Sonata 2), Editions Orphee (Tango Caffe Carciofo, 10 Short Studies in Kaleidoscope,Pocket Sonata), and Guitar Arts Publishing ( Four Images). In addition, his works have appeared in anthologies published by Mel Bay (Tambu) and Dover (Black is the Color...).


Johnny Mattei was born and raised in the Bronx and moved to Brooklyn in 2005 to attend Pratt Institute. He graduated from Pratt in 2008 with a B.F.A in photography. Since then, his art has evolved from photography to mix-media.He will display three of his Mental Journals, which are boxes that represent memories.



Yardmeter Thirteen, Saturday, November 13, 7 p.m.


This is exactly what you wanted and needed!

Yardmeter 13 presents:
readings by
Phill Provance
Natalie Lyalin
Ben Fama
and paintings by
Doug Campbell.

This all happens at
Shelton Walsmith's stuido,
7 p.m.,
November 13, 2010.
Please bring your own beverage.

About our presenters:

Doug Campbell is a visual artist and lives in New York City.

Phill Provance is the executive editor of MediaTier Ltd.'s AceHoyle.com and author and co-creator of the site's weekly webcomic. His journalistic, poetic and critical work has appeared in or is forthcoming from The Baltimore Sun, InQuest Gamer magazine, Orbis, Cha, The Axe Factory Review, Word Riot, decomP magazinE, Danse Macabre and Heartbreaker Magazine, and several of his poems have been nominated for the Pushcart and Best of the Web prizes. The Day the Sun Rolled Out of the Sky is his first chapbook and is available on Cy Gist Press's website, at several independent retailers and at select live readings. Alternatively, you can visit Phill's website or stop by his home near Pittsburgh where friends and curiosity seekers are always welcome.

Natalie Lyalin is the author of Pink and Hot Pink Habitat (Coconut Books 2009) and Try A Little Time Travel (Ugly Duckling Presse 2010). She is an editor for GlitterPony Magazine and Agnes Fox Press. She lives in Philadelphia.

Ben Fama is the author of the chapbook Aquarius Rising (Ugly Duckling Presse) and co-author of the chapbook Girl Boy Girl Boy (The Corresponding Society). He is the founding editor of Supermachine Poetry Journal. His work has been featured in GlitterPony, Notnostrums, Poor Claudia, and on the Best American Poetry Blog, among others.


Yardmeter Twelve, Saturday, October 23, 7 p.m.




Yardmeter 12 presents:
film by Eric Jordan,
photography by Michael Elsden,
poetry by Ryan Murphy,
music by The Modern Airline,
and a performance
by Kristen Kosmas with Chris Speed.

All of this happens
October 23rd, 7 p.m.,
at Shelton's studio.
Autumn has never been so autumn!

About our presenters:

Eric Jordan is a musician and sound composer living in Portland, Ore. Public-space realizations range from traditional music combos to multi-channel random access experiments.




Michael Elsden will be showing work from his series of nudes titled, Men As Botanicals. Inspired by the work of Karl Blossfeldt, this series of nudes seeks to depict the male body as an organic plant-like form, twisting and furling, but isolated on a white field like a scientific specimen. As with nature, each of the models provided differing interpretations as their body shapes, decoration and gestures suggest delicate individuality.



Ryan Murphy is the author of The Redcoats (Krupskaya) and Down with the Ship (Seismicity Editions). He lives in the Hudson Valley.


The Modern Airline is a neo-new wave band formed in Brooklyn, late 2008. This co-ed pentagram dives into short, aggressive, stop and starts that borrow equally from ‘80s new wave and ‘70s punk and hard rock, while soaring out into new territories. Twin tube-soaked guitars are pierced by synth, cut by space, propelled by kick and driving bass. The band consists of frontman and guitarist Lee Chabowski, bassist Amy Brown, drummer Gary Langol, guitarist Seth Walter, and synth player Margaret Chabowski, performing songs of sex, outer space and the weirdness of runaway technology with spastic glee. TMA is releasing its first studio album, “This Will Probably Happen to You,” in early 2011.



Kristen Kosmas is an American playwright and performer. Her plays and solo performances have been produced in Seattle, Austin, Boston, Chicago, and in New York City at numerous venues including the Prelude festival, Performance Space 122, Dixon Place, Little Theater, Barbès, and the Ontological/Hysteric Downstairs Series. Her play Hello Failure was recently published by Ugly Duckling Presse, and her multi-voice performance text This From Cloudland appears in the latest issue of “PLAY A Journal of Plays.”


Yardmeter Eleven, Saturday, June 19, 6:30 p.m.

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Yardmeter Ten, Friday May 14th, 8 p.m.


Please join us for a night of birds!


Yardmeter 10 presents:

artwork by Jane Yeomans,
and poetry readings by
Christopher Salerno,
along with Birds, LLC authors
Elisa Gabbert
and Chris Tonelli.


All of this is happening
at Shelton Walsmith's studio
May 14, 2010, at 8 p.m.

About our presenters:

Jane Yeomans is a photographer who lives and works on the Lower East Side. In addition to photographing birds on her travels through bird markets and museums, she is working on a series of constructed landscapes.


Christopher Salerno is the author of "Whirligig" (2006), and a new book, “Minimum Heroic,” selected by Dara Wier for the 2009 Mississippi Review Poetry Award. A chapbook, “ATM” is forthcoming this summer from Horse Less Press. Some new poems can be found in journals such as:Denver Quarterly, Boston Review, American Letters and Commentary, Black Warrior Review, Tusculum Review, Sir, and elsewhere. He is co-curator of Raleigh’s So and So Series, and co-editor of So and So Magazine. Currently, he teaches Writing at North Carolina State University, and occasionally blogs here.


Elisa Gabbert is the poetry editor of Absent and the author of The French Exit (Birds LLC) and Thanks for Sending the Engine (Kitchen Press). With Kathleen Rooney, she has co-authored several collaborative poetry collections, including Don't ever stay the same; keep changing (Spooky Girlfriend Press) and That Tiny Insane Voluptuousness (Otoliths). Recent poems can be found in Denver Quarterly, The Laurel Review, Puerto del Sol, and Salt Hill. She currently lives in Boston, works at a software startup, and blogs at The French Exit.


Chris Tonelli is one of the founding editors at Birds, LLC. He founded and co-curates the So and So Series and co-edits the So and So Magazine. He is the author of four chapbooks, most recently No Theater (Brave Men Press) and For People Who Like Gravity and Other People (Rope-A-Dope Press). His first full-length collection is The Trees Around, and new work can be found in upcoming issues of The Laurel Review and Fou. He teaches at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, where he lives with his wife Allison and their son Miles.

Yardmeter Nine, Friday April 23rd, 7 p.m.

Join us for a night of photography, comics, dance, poetry, and music!


Yardmeter 9 presents:
visual art by Renata Marallo,
comics and a musical performance
by Sommer Browning,
poetry readings by Paige Taggart
and Dorothea Lasky,
and a poetic event
by Kirsten Kaschock.

It's all happening
at Shelton Walsmith's studio,
Friday, April 23rd, 7 p.m.

About our presenters:

Renata Marallo is a photographer/visual artist who lives and works in Brooklyn. Her work plays with appropriation, fragmenting and reforming pre-existing images to create abstract portraits.

Sommer Browning writes poems, draws comics & sings songs in Brooklyn. Her latest book, THE BOWLING, co-written with Brandon Shimoda is out with Greying Ghost Press--put that in your pipe and smoke it.


Paige Taggart is a 2009 Poetry Fellowship recipient of the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA). Friday's presentation is co-sponsored by Artists & Audience Exchange, a NYFA public program. Her chapbook Polaroid Parade is forthcoming with Greying Ghost Press. Check out her blog, where you can purchase her jewelry and find a list of her publication credits.


Kirsten Kaschock’s first book of poetry, Unfathoms, is available from Slope Editions. a beautiful name/for a girl is upcoming from Ahsahta Press. She is now at work on a prosepoetic beast entitled The Dottery. Currently a Ph.D. fellow in dance at Temple University, Kirsten lives with her family in Philadelphia, where she novels, poems, and dissertates.


Dorothea Lasky is the author of Black Life (Wave Books 2010) and Awe (Wave Books 2007), an educational text, Poetry is not a Project (Ugly Duckling Presse 2010), as well as numerous chapbooks. Currently, she lives in New York City.


Yardmeter VIII: Saturday, March 20, 6-8 p.m.


Please join us for a night of photography, poetry, and klezmer!

I have always been inspired with random, low quality, distorted pictures. I became interested in the pictures that other people would discard. I love to find a picture someone has lost, and is trashed on the street. I can't help picking it and making up a story about the person. Recently I started to radically crop and destroy my pictures until I hit the point where its no longer a picture.
--Sebastian Vikkelsoe-Pedersen

Yardmeter 8 presents:

Photography by
Sebastian Vikkelsoe-Pedersen,
poetry readings by
Matthew Henriksen,
Leah Souffrant,
and klezmer by Jeff Perlman,
Patrick Farrell
& others from Romashka.

The wine will flow freely
Saturday, March 20, 6-8 p.m.




Sebastian Vikkelsoe-Pederson was born in Denmark and grew up on a commune. As a child he was sent to Rudolf Steiner school that emphasized artistic expression. In 1998 he traveled to London to study Photography at the Kent institute of art and design and studied for a BA. After college he started working as a photo assistant. His experience was mostly with fashion photographers, which still shines through in his pictures.


Matthew Henriksen is the author of the chapbooks Is Holy (horse less press, 2006) and Another Word (DoubleCross Press, 2009). Some recent poems appear in Realpoetik, Raleigh Quarterly, Front Porch, The Cultural Society, Handsome Journal and The Concher. He co-edits Typo, an online poetry journal, and publishes Cannibal Books, a book arts poetry press. From 2005 to 2008 he curated The Burning Chair Readings in Brooklyn and now hosts irregular readings throughout the country. A special feature of Frank Stanford’s unpublished poems and fiction, selected by Henriksen, will appear in the upcoming issue of Fulcrum. He lives and teaches in the Ozark Mountains.

Leah Souffrant is founding co-chair of the Poetics Group at the Graduate Center (CUNY), where she is a doctoral candidate. In 2007 she was awarded a fellowship in poetry from the New York Foundation for the Arts. Most recently, her artist book Essay for Elsa was featured in an exhibition at the AIR Gallery in Dumbo. You can read her work here, here, and here.

Jeff Perlman (on clarinet, alto saxophone) has been charming audiences with klezmer music since starting his first band in 1995, while still a high school student. He was an integral part of the Yale Klezmer Band for four years (1997-2001) as well as a founding member of the Wandering Jews Traveling Klezmer Band with whom he toured across North America on the Big Schlepp tour in the Summer of 2001. Lately, Perlman has been focusing his attention on the living musical traditions of Eastern Europe, particularly from Moldova, Romania and Ukraine. He has traveled extensively throughout Eastern Europe (and the Eastern European parts of NYC) collecting and recording traditional music in its native context, and he twice participated in Klezfest Ukraine. Perlman lives in Brooklyn and can be seen performing regularly with the Village Klezmer Quintet, Romashka Gypsy Collective, Klez Que C'est?, KlezSka, and others.

Patrick Farrell is a Brooklyn, NY based accordionist, brass fanatic, composer and bandleader. He leads his own band, the circus/new-music/comedy group Stagger Back Brass Band, and is also a member of the chamber/folk group Ljova and the Kontraband and Michael Winograd’s Klezmer Ensemble. Other current groups include Russian/Romanian Roma-music ensemble Romashka, Serbian-inspired brass band Veveritse, and various improvisational and new music settings. Patrick plays a 120-bass “Superior 2 President Oro” converter piano accordion made by Guerrini & Figli Accordion Makers of Castelfidardo, Italy.

Romashka is the Russian word for "daisy."