Tell readers a bit about yourself. 

In 2003, my family and I moved out of New York and relocated to St. Augustine. I was pretty shell shocked from being fourteen streets away when the Twin Towers were destroyed and I had pretty much destroyed my writing career with writer’s block and alcohol abuse. In 2008 I found recovery, and my wife Mary Beth encouraged me to go back to doing the things I used to love, like writing and hosting open mic poetry readings. We found a coffee shop that would host us on the last Sunday of the month. We named the series “Ancient City Poets” and this month we are celebrating thirteen years of continuous once a month gatherings in the Nation’s Oldest City. 

How did you get into poetry?

In 1993, I started working at a NY City Art School and all employees were encouraged to practice art. I chose writing, because ten years earlier, I had received a creative writing award in high school and an award for a one act play that I wrote. I took two free screenwriting classes at the college, but I got frustrated and started filling my notebook with short angst ridden poems, instead of my next great movie script. After a year of daily writing, I discovered sixty handwritten poems in my notebooks. I typed them up during my lunch break on a co-worker’s office computer and self published my first collection of poems. Soon after that, my brother opened up a coffee shop in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, and he asked me to host a Thursday night poetry open mic. That was in 1995.

Poetry is a special kind of storytelling. What do you and club members enjoy most about it? 

A poem is a snapshot. A document of a moment in time. It can be a feeling, an occasion, or a situation. There is a sense of worth and urgency in poetry because if it is not written about it will be gone forever. 

You have several events coming up this fall. What’s going on and who can participate? 

Ancient City Poets gather monthly to celebrate writing and reciting. 

Sunday August 28: Lucky 13 Year Anniversary Open Mic @ St. Augustine Beach Art Studio Mic on @ 3 p.m. (Sign up sheet out @ 2:30 p.m.)

Saturday September 24: 100 Thousand Poets for Change at Sing Out Loud Festival @ St. Augustine Beach Art Studio. 6 p.m. Doors open 7:00 p.m. Nine Featured Poets 8 p.m. Open mic (sign up sheet out at 6:00 p.m.)

Sunday October 30: Frightful Family Fun Fest at The Ghosts of St. Augustine’s Past Festival @ The Waterworks. 2:00 p.m. Family Friendly Storytelling with Tale Tellers of St. Augustine 3:00 p.m. Open Mic for teens 4:00 p.m. Open mic for college and adults.

April 14-15, 2023: 2nd Annual St. Augustine PoetFest featuring a Friday evening kickoff open mic followed by a day long Saturday of author talks, panel discussions, an open mic marathon, and an afternoon keynote speaker performance on the campus of Flagler College.

If people would like to get involved more frequently, do you meet or collaborate regularly? If so, please share, when, how, etc. 

Ancient City Poets have been gathering on the last Sunday of the month since August 2009 to celebrate writing and reciting. These gatherings are free and open to the public. Search Ancient City Poets on YouTube to subscribe the channel and watch footage of past readings. Follow on social media and go to their website: http://www.bodor.org