We once again braved the cold to bring you some photos of our current installation, Laura Knickelbine’s poem, Lambent. As you can see, we are lucky to share the window with a fantastic selection of important books as well as an impressive list of upcoming events.
Even with this weather, you will be glad you took the time to go and read Lambent! February is a short month, so don’t wait… but don’t worry it is a Leap Year.
Today we installed a new poem, Lambent, by Laura Knickelbine, at Women and Children First. Lambent is a short poem – we didn’t even get cold as we programmed the display through the window from outside – but it’s beautiful and sure to stick with you! If you’re familiar with this amazing feminist bookstore, then you’ll know why Laura requested to have her work shown there, and you probably would have guessed that they would generously throw their support behind a community-based publishing project like ours. We are so grateful and excited to share their window space this month.
You can find our installation in Andersonville, at 5233 N Clark St, Chicago, IL 60640.
Of course, Laura’s piece will be scrolling on 24/7, but if you want to check out some other literature while you’re there, then make sure to show up during business hours:
M-T 11-7
W-F 11-9
Sat. 10-7
Sun. 11-6
Here’s a bit more about Women and Children First (from their website):
Women & Children First began in a modest storefront in 1979. Over the years we’ve moved twice and are now in a northside Chicago neighborhood known for its diversity, queer-friendliness, women-owned businesses and community spirit. Our staffers include teachers, graduate students, professional writers and storytellers, political activists, board members, and poets. Each of us is a reader, a feminist, and a bookseller. Our purpose in beginning the store 36 years ago was to promote the work of women writers and to create a place in which all women would find books reflecting their lives and interests. We strive to do this in an atmosphere in which all are respected, valued, and well-served. That is our purpose still, online as well as in the store.
As promised, here are a few more photos of our current installation at the Chicago Hostel. The work is Amanda Beekhuizen’s prose poem, “A Hug From a Large Man for a Long Time, part VI” and will be up and running for a few more days. If you’re in Chicago, make sure to check it out before we have to move to our next installation.
We particularly like the floating effect that the hostel’s curtains lend our LED display, as if the poetry simply emanates from the window. From a distance though, it is just one of many LED signs fighting for one’s attention – it takes a closer look to distinguish it from the landscape of commerce and transportation.
We certainly found a visible place for Amanda Beekhuizen’s piece. We had to keep our first round of documentation short because of the cold, but not too short to see plenty of passers by slow down on their daily commutes and make some time for literature.
The covered location makes this installation especially easy to read during the day, so we’ll be going back for more photographs soon. In the meantime, we are pleased to know that the phrase “I am a burrito” is streaming across that little screen hundreds of times each day (but you should really come read the rest of it to find out how that fits within a very beautiful poem).
Happy New Year to our readers! We are celebrating the end of 2015 and the start of 2016 with the writing of Amanda Beekhuizen. Her prose poem, A Hug From a Large Man for a Long Time, part VI, will be up and running on January 4th at the H.I. Chicago Hostel.
Amanda Beekhuizen is an artist, bookmaker, and educator based in Tucson, Arizona. She earned an MFA in Craft at the Oregon College of Art and Craft in Portland, Oregon, in 2015, and a BFA in Studio Art and a BA in English at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona, in 2010. She has taught at Yavapai College, the University of Arizona Poetry Center, and at the Tucson Community Print Shop.
While she primarily works in the form of the book, she is equally concerned with the content of the books and their physical form. The content is generated through writing (mostly short vignettes about everyday occurrences that gather meaning when grouped together), action and documentation of that action (engaging in repeated action or building sculpture and interacting with it to make photographs and videos that later turn up in books), and a craft-based creative practice (an example of this: How would I embed a rock into a book? What would it mean?). Ultimately, her process is one of creating meaning through making.
Congratulations, Amanda!
Uptown Bikes puts on a pretty good light show, and we’re happy to be a part of it! It’s always gratifying to see how many people stop to see what’s going on in the window.
On November 1st we will be installing Racquel Malone’s poem, FallopianOde, at Uptown Bikes.
We are so happy to have found a great partner in the neighborhood that Malone requested, and a location that is so easy to get to! We are also proud to partner with a women-owned business to present this particular poem.
Uptown Bikes is right across the street from the Wilson Red Line stop, and only a few blocks from the Lawrence stop.
Uptown Bike’s address is 4653 N Broadway St, Chicago, IL 60640.
Click here for a map.
No doubt many of you already know Uptown Bikes for their reliable repairs, good bikes, and loads of accessories. Now you can add poetry to that list!
Check back here soon for photos, but don’t miss your chance to see the real thing!
Uptown Bikes’ hours are:
Mon-Tues-Thur-Fri: 11AM-7PM
Sat-Sun: 11AM-5PM
Wed:Closed
We have selected our winning writer for November. Congratulations to Racquel Malone!
Racquel Malone is a Chicago native and writer of poetry, screen + stage plays and songs. She studied theatre and media at Northeastern Illinois University. She is currently working on a short film titled koko, at last and of course, more poetry. When not writing, Racquel works in various theatres across the city. She plans to start a media company in the very near future to give a much needed platform to writers everywhere.
Racquel’s poem, FallopianOde, will be up and running soon. Check back in a few days to find out where.
Documenting “Execution Points” by Emily Parenti at CMM Framing was especially fun. The area was bustling on Friday evening, and we got to explain the project to plenty of curious onlookers.
Plus, we couldn’t be happier with our spot in the window. The salvaged wood backdrop and surrounding plants and cacti make for a great vignette, not to mention the incredible art and design pieces all over the walls.
The windows reflect some of Chicago’s most iconic buildings, which make for some fantastic overlays and juxtapositions because of the poem’s Chicago setting.
Come by and see it for yourself anytime through Sunday, October 25th!
(Drumroll please…) Our October writer is Emily Parenti!
Emily Parenti is a writer and recent graduate of DePaul University’s English Literature and Professional Writing programs. During the 2013-2014 academic year, she served as Co- Editor-in-Chief of the university’s literary magazine, Crook & Folly, which publishes graduate and undergraduate creative work. She has since worked as an editor on various other projects, including a chapbook distributed by a new Chicago-based journal of creative nonfiction, Slag Glass City.
Emily’s poem, Execution Points, will be on view at CMM Framing for the first three weeks of October. Literature Emitting Diodes is proud to be included in Chicago Artists Month, and we are excited to feature Emily’s work as part of it.
Literature Emitting Diodes 