Debora K. Marsh dmarsh@dexter.k12.mi.us Debora K. Marsh is a poet, a mother, a wife, a lover, a teacher and a lot of other things. Her poetry expresses a wholly feminine and insightful perspective whether she is writing about about the passing of her grandmother or the growing up of her daughters. She writes of a world which is equal parts love, empathy and wide-eyed awareness. She's soft when she can be but she knows how to be tough too. Pick up her book, Shoulder to Shoulder, and find out for yourself. Or, find out that she can be tough and critical to those who deserve it. Check out her cutting parody in Dubya Hears Who? View items for sale by this artist Listen to an MP3 audio clip of this artist
	Jack McCarthy standupoet@yahoo.com View items for sale by this artist Listen to an MP3 audio clip of this artist
	Maggie Craft Maggie Craft wrote The Shapes\' Ways when she was nine. She understood early the meaning of parable. She combined two of her favorite things, soccer and simple geometry to tell a story of inclusion and tolerance. If the rest of the world could only see so clearly... View items for sale by this artist
	Wolf Knight Wolf Knight has been a performance poet for years. He hails from Marlinton, WV and his poems feel like stories you heard or lived in a previous lifetime. Wolf's is a unique voice that deserves a place in your discriminating collection. He asked for this mp3 to be put up because it often gets him out of doing dishes. View items for sale by this artist Listen to an MP3 audio clip of this artist
	Dan Jacobs roeperdan@hotmail.com Dan Jacobs is intense. He packs more energy and truth and laughter and justice into a few lines of the English language than most poets of this or any age. His material runs the gamut of life from beginning as a premie to the injustice of losing a friend who is dying. Plenty of laughter and humor to mix with the pain, just like real life. Call The Wordsmith Press to arrange a personal appearance. View items for sale by this artist
	Steve Marsh stevedmarsh@charter.net Well, what can you say about the owner of the company, especially when he's a good client? (No this isn't a hair club.) He has been a performance poet for a long time. He puts on a great show. His poems are among the funniest you have ever read or heard and others are about the things that hurt us. He likes to tell people he's a grumpy old curmudgeon, but we know there's a tender spot somewhere deep inside there. Check out his personal webpage from our "Links" page. View items for sale by this artist Listen to an MP3 audio clip of this artist
	Taylor Mali tmali@mac.com Taylor Mali, Teacher turned poet For the better part of 10 years, Taylor Mali taught during the day, wrote poetry at night, and competed in poetry slams on the weekends. This formula produced two spoken word CDs, several books, and four national slam poetry championships (including the newest in 2002). Not to mention one professional performance poet. Check out Taylor's website from the links page. And see his newest CD release, CONVICTION, a co-production of The Wordsmtih Press and WordsWorth Ink on the products page. View items for sale by this artist
	Patricia Smith ps.wordwoman@verizon.net Not enough can be said in such a small space about the power and dynamics of this woman. Four time National Poetry Slam Individual Champion. Award winning writer and performer. Mentor to countless younger performance poets. We number ourselves among the blessed here at TWP to be able to offer you some of Patricia's finest work. Once you get to know Patricia, you won't be able to get enough. View items for sale by this artist Listen to an MP3 audio clip of this artist
	Marc Smith slampapi@slampapi.com This is the poet who started the Poetry Slam. In 1986, we doubt even he could see the global impact that this movement would spawn. Marc's work is powerful, truthful, lofty in size, perspective and intent, but very approachable by everyone. This is the powerful voice of a poetic Everyman. Check out the link to Marc's website to learn more about him and the Poetry Slam. View items for sale by this artist Listen to an MP3 audio clip of this artist
	Gary Glazner Poetmex@aol.com Gary Mex Glazner makes his living as a poet. He is a graduate of Sonoma State University\'s Expressive Arts program with an emphasis in poetry. His poetry has appeared in anthologies, periodicals, on CDs, radio, television and underwater on the Bay Area Rapid Transit system. Host of the first National Poetry Slam in 1990, editor of the first official Poetry Slam anthology and creator and organizer for SlamAmerica, a trans-continental poetic bus tour involving 32 cities, 37 shows, over 100 poets in 30 days, Gary\'s is one of the most creative minds on the planet. View items for sale by this artist
	Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz aptowicz@yahoo.com Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz is a poet and author who lives and writes in New York City. Founder and host of the three-time National Poetry Slam Championship Venue, Urbana (run out of the famed house of poetry, the Bowery Poetry Club), Cristin has currently authored four books of poetry as well as three screenplays. Cristin has performed around the world, with extended residencies in Australia and a commission for New York City's Chamber Dance ballet company. Her first book of nonfiction, Words In Your Face: A Guided Tour Through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam, will be published by Soft Skull Press this winter. And NOW! All three of Cristin's previous books have been re-released with new additional material and they are joined by an all-new volume. These four books are now the definitive COA! New nine part series at http://www.indiefeedpp.libsyn.com/ (photo by David Huang, poetricdream.com) View items for sale by this artist
	Ray McNiece Buddyraymc@aol.com Ray McNiece is a poet, teacher, and performer who has created several theater pieces. He is also the author of several books of poems. He has been on the championship stage of the National Poetry Slam. He has worked as a writer in the schools. He has been a vagabond poet travelling across America and Russia collecting material, displaying his craft. Ray McNiece is a uniquely American poetic voice. Try him on for size. View items for sale by this artist
	Scott Woods sewoods1@yahoo.com A few years ago, folks in the midwest began to notice a new poetic voice coming out of Columbus, Ohio. Fresh, intelligent, articulate, vibrant, FUNNY. All of these adjectives and more describe the work of Scott Woods. He can make you laugh at him, at others and at yourself and then, all of a sudden, you catch yourself actually THINKING. Don't miss a word of what he has to say. Now, nine books of poems later, and after editing three National Poetry Slam anthologies, he's a presence. View items for sale by this artist Listen to an MP3 audio clip of this artist
	Esther Hurwitz legba42@earthlink.net Esther L. Hurwitz has appeared on public radio with Garrison Keillor; she was the fifth wheel of the Ann Arbor, Michigan 2000 slam team and was voted “Ms. Under Appreciated” at the Dayton (Ohio) 2000 Rustbelt Slam. She has quietly been building up an impressive publications list of credits in the past couple of years, including a poem in the online version of Exquisite Corpse. Esther co-hosts the “Feed the Poets” monthly poetry series at the Del Rio, a bar in downtown Ann Arbor, Michigan. She is (as the bio on her chapbook says) her mother’s favorite poet, but her father favors Shakespeare. View items for sale by this artist Listen to an MP3 audio clip of this artist
	John Powers johnp263@hotmail.com John Powers is a national performing poet out of Providence, RI where he runs the Providence Poetry Slam. He is the founder of the CUPS performaing troop–a touring group of poets with an activist's point of view. He was also the source of a huge wave of energy needed to pull off the 2000 National Poetry Slam. His work reflects the craftsmanship and seasoning developed over years on the stage. View items for sale by this artist Listen to an MP3 audio clip of this artist
	Matt Ernst MCurtisErnst@aol.com Matt Ernst was born August 16, 1967, in Lansing, Michigan. His family later moved to Arlington, Virginia, then returned to Michigan, to settle in Grand Rapids, but they have since become unsettled and have scattered in various directions. Matt was raised a Christian Scientist, which may or may not explain a few things. He has since abandoned most of the precepts of the Mother Church, and enjoys French existentialism, Quantum theory, and non-filtered Camel cigarettes -- these three things being unavoidably intertwined. He once came dangerously close to obtaining a Master\'s degree in poetry, but has instead opted for a life of anonymous drudgery as an itinerant cook in seafood restaurants, where he succumbs to the curious pleasure of boiling lobsters alive. He currently resides in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he writes allegorical short fiction, although what his allegories actually represent is clearly open to debate. View items for sale by this artist Listen to an MP3 audio clip of this artist
	Brandi MacDonald seldomnocturne@aol.com Brandi brings a bright, new voice to The Wordsmith Press with poems that are delicately crafted, full of poetic devices and yet fresh. Her poems are careful constructions but universally approachable. She is embarking on her first tour and Electric, the Rain is her vehicle. Watch the events schedule to see when Brandi will be near you. View items for sale by this artist Listen to an MP3 audio clip of this artist
	Chris Mooney Singh munisingh@yahoo.com Chris Mooney Singh was born in Canberra, Australia in 1956. He trained there as a journalist and became one of the first Australians to adopt the Sikh way of life in 1989. Since then, Chris has been living in different parts of Southeast Asia and Northern India. He has been the recipient of several literary grants from Australia and Singapore. Chris Mooney Singh is also well known for his contribution as musical heritage revivalist in India where he is the Founder and Chairman of the Rabab Research and Education Foundation (Regd), a charitable trust. He lives in Singapore with his wife Savinder. View items for sale by this artist
	Dan Stevens damncatfish@yahoo.com Dan Stevens is a four-time member of the Kalamazoo poetry Slam Team and has performed at five National Poetry Slams. He has authored three books of poetry and been the coach of the Kalamazoo Midwest Poetry Slam League for the year 2003. He has read his rapid-fire, passionate and sometimes painfully dramatic poetry in bars, libraries, schools, weddings and coffeehouses from Seattle to Paris and has no plans of stopping now. This is a collection of recordings taken from the stage of the Kraftbrau Brewery in Kalamazoo, Michigan over the last four years. View items for sale by this artist Listen to an MP3 audio clip of this artist
	Shappy shappyrulez@yahoo.com Shappy...one name, like Superman or Batman...or Cher. He doesn\'t need another name because there is no one else like Shappy. At once entertainer, sage and nurd supreme, you will be amazed at the sometimes brilliant, sometimes random convolutions in this man\'s brain. To know him is to love him, and if you don\'t know him, you want to remedy that situation. View items for sale by this artist Listen to an MP3 audio clip of this artist
	Karrie L. Waarala CoyoteGirl4@yahoo.com Karrie L. Waarala has performed, competed, hosted, and taught at spoken word events around the nation. She was a member of the 2000 and 2001 Kalamazoo National Poetry Slam Teams and alternate for the 2002 Ann Arbor team, but according to award-winning poet and essayist Thomas Lynch \"is not merely a slam poet, or a new poet, or a female poet, or a young poet... She is a poet full-stop, and one of the best of the best you will find anywhere.\" In addition to her two chapbooks and CD, her work has appeared in Poetry Motel, Slammin\', several local anthologies, and on a coffee shop floor in Arizona. When not writing and performing, she works as a librarian in Lansing, Michigan, where she and her husband live with and are vastly outnumbered by their books, pets, and musical instruments. View items for sale by this artist Listen to an MP3 audio clip of this artist
	Seth Jarvis funnylookingmonkey@hotmail.com A couple of years ago, a small group of young poets from Burlington, VT made their first appearances on the national performance poetry scene. Among that group was Seth Jarvis who quickly established himself as someone who wasn't singing the same tune as everyone else. His insight is fresh and poignant, strong and gentle, profound and profane (sometimes). This is a new poet who deserves some of your attention and time. View items for sale by this artist
	Michael Salinger salinger@ameritech.net Michael Salinger has offered his brand of creative writing workshops and performances from Land O Lakes, Florida to Homer, Alaska. He has presented at the IRA International Convention, NCTE, OCTELA, KSRA, University of Dayton Literary Festival and at colleges and schools across the United States. Michael Salinger brings twenty years of writing experience to his performances and workshops. A fun and imaginative way to present the concepts of creative writing along with pens to the paper exercises and digestible theory. Salinger's enthusiastic approach has been proven successful with a wide demographic. Middle school classes, university level graduate students and teachers alike have benefited from these lessons. The method employed rises to and prods forward the level of the participants. Plus, it is so much fun participants may not realize that they are learning until it is too late. View items for sale by this artist
	Paula Friedrich slamsister2001@yahoo.com Paula Friedrich has been on the Seattle poetry scene for several years. She has spent those years honing her craft, becoming a powerful and potent female voice both on the stage and on the page. She is a long-time worker for the arts, serving a variety of local, regional and national arts organizations. She is currently a trustee on the Executive Coucil of Poetry Slam, Inc. View items for sale by this artist
	Robb Ryan Q. Thibault thibaurr@oneonta.edu Robb Ryan Q. Thibault was born in 1965 in Battle Creek, Michigan. He has long been an advocate of poetry, spoken word and Poetry Slams. Among his many credits is hosting the first ever National Collegiate Poetry Slam Invitational Tournament at the University of Michigan in 2001. He has founded slams as far west at Fargo, ND and as far east as Oneonta, NY. View items for sale by this artist Listen to an MP3 audio clip of this artist
	Charles Zwinak Zwinak@provide.net Charles Zwinak\'s first book of poems, Paper Hats, is long overdue. Those of us who have known him for years have been asking for this volume for what seems like a very long time. But it is finally here. Charles\' eye for detail is true and his ear for the American idiom is uncanny. Add those innate abilities to his full life experience and you begin to see the complete artist. Charles lives and performs (too infrequently for our tastes) in the Ann Arbor, Michigan area and promises to continue to do so for a long time. View items for sale by this artist
	Buddy Wakefield buddy@buddywakefield.com Born in Shreveport, LA, mostly raised in Baytown, TX, now claiming Seattle, WA as home, Wakefield has been a busker in Amsterdam, a lumberjack in Norway, a street vendor in Spain, a camp team leader in five states and Singapore, a re-delivery boy, a candy maker, a street sweeper, a bartender, a maid, a construction worker, a CD store manager, a fast food fella, a bull rider and a booking agent. In the spring of 2001 Wakefield left his position as the executive assistant at a biomedical firm in Gig Harbor, WA, sold or gave away all he owned and moved into the small, mobile town of Honda Civic to tour every major poetry venue in America and Canada through August of 2003. He is currently landed in Seattle as the manager and co-founder of The Bullhorn Collective. In February 2004, Buddy Wakefield became the first Individual World Poetry Slam Champion. View items for sale by this artist Listen to an MP3 audio clip of this artist
	Terry Wooten stonecir@aol.com Terry Wooten calls himself a "folk poet." He has worked in the bardic tradition from the beginning of his career. His creative resources include everything in his life and everthing in the history of humankind. He has made his living exclusively as a poet since 1984. He has hundreds of poems (both his original poetry and the poems of others, famous and not-so-famous) committed to memory, which if performed without pause might last eight hours or more. Terry built and runs Stone Circle, the longest continually operating outdoor poetry event known, every Friday and Saturday night in Northern Michigan throughout the summer. Check out his newest release, Child of War (Oorlogskind) Based on the oral history of Hannie Kuieck View items for sale by this artist
	Maureen O\'Keefe Aptowicz maureen@aptowicz.com Maureen O’Keefe Aptowicz was born in Philadelphia in 1950. A graduate of Little Flower High School and Drexel University, she served as editor and frequent contributor at her high school and college’s literary magazine and newspapers, Maureen continued writing after graduating, doing freelance work and Op-Ed for the Philadelphia Inquirer, among others. She also put her language skills to use writing skits and plays for the Philadelphia Women’s Club semi-Annual events. Maureen’s freelance writing saw a decline when her children’s teen years came on with a vengeance. Now, with her kids happy on their own, she has found the time to return to writing. Her Zeitgeist columns, which she has been penning for over a year now, are one of the most popular features on her daughter Cristin’s website. New columns can be found weekly at: http://www.aptowicz.com/zeitgeist.htm View items for sale by this artist
	Tiffani Smith Tiffani.Smith@ourclub.com Tiffani Smith was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan but makes her home in Columbus, Ohio now. After a long illness, her mother died and Tiffani began a difficult period of moving from relative to relative. But these experiences of loss and the trials of constant new living arrangements sparked something within her. That spark became poetry. At age 27, the once-shy introvert has now become the newest member of the Columbus Poetry Slam's Midwest Poetry Slam Team and she is thoroughly enjoying travelling the Midwest, sharing her latest creations to enthusiastic audiences. View items for sale by this artist
	Dawn Saylor Aurorabell@mac.com Dawn Saylor\'s life path has taken a few twists and turns along the way. She first emerged onto the Poetry Slam scene in Kalamazoo, MI. Then it was off to New York City for time spent in the Bowery Poetry Club and now on to Austin, TX. She worked a couple of major cross-country tours in there and has become an object of affection by many in the slam community. Dawn has appeared on many National Poetry Slam stages, as a featured reader all over the country and on HBO\'s Def Poetry Jam. The Wordsmith Press is righteously pleased and proud to be able to offer her work to you here. View items for sale by this artist
	Tazuo Yamaguchi wordgroove@yahoo.com For years you've been watching Tazuo Yamaguchi's work and might not have even known it. He is the brilliant video editor for all the PSI video products like the World's Greatest Poetry Slam series. But what you also might not know is that Tazuo is the National Poetry Slam Head to Head Haiku Champion of 1996, the Individual World Poetry Slam Head to Head Haiku Champion of 2004, and the honored host of the Individual World Poetry Slam Head to Head Haiku Death Match of 2005. View items for sale by this artist Listen to an MP3 audio clip of this artist
	Phil West pinata@texas.net Phil West is a graduate of the James A. Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas at Austin, and has had poems published in numerous journals and anthologies. He has also had journalistic work published by the Los Angeles Times, the Seattle Times, the Austin Chronicle, and the San Antonio Express-News. He has performed poetry throughout the United States, was a featured poet in the documentary film SlamNation, and currently serves on the Executive Council of Poetry Slam, Inc., the governing body for poetry slam worldwide. He co-directed the 1998 Poetry Slam in Austin, will co-direct the 2006 and 2007 editions of the event, also in Austin. He co-curated the puro ¡SLAM! Poetry Slam series in San Antonio, the best-attended weekly poetry event in Texas before he moved back to Austin. Now he curates a new reading series at Ruta Maya's. He is currently an adjunct professor on the English faculties of Our Lady of the Lake University, San Antonio College, and St. Philip’s College, all in San Antonio. He lives in San Antonio with his wife and son. View items for sale by this artist
	Star Ryan starwrite@juno.com Star Ryan was raised in a small town in Northern Michigan but currently lives on an island in Southwestern Florida (between hurricanes). She tries to keep her eyes open to whatever the universe brings to her. One of the greatest gifts the universe ever presented was the life of her son, Levi. This book has been a labor of love in celebration of that life. View items for sale by this artist
	Eric Darby hidomino19@hotmail.com Eric Darby has been around for a while, longer than his "newly discovered" status on the National Poetry Slam circuit would indicate. He started out as a poet-performer and organizer in Detroit, spent a couple of years in Ann Arbor and now he hangs around at multiple venues in the Boston area. Those varied influences can't help but make a well-rounded talent. Eric traces his roots to Maine and his education to Detroit. His work has been called a little bit country, a little bit urban, and far more insightful than he's ever given himself credit for. He has participated in four National Poetry Slams and an Individual World Poetry Slam, representing venues in Ann Arbor, MI, and Boston, MA. He was one of seven Individual Finalists at the 2005 NPS in Albuquerque, NM. When poetry starts to feel like a job, he finds solace under the hoods of cars much older than himself. View items for sale by this artist Listen to an MP3 audio clip of this artist
	Ernie Cline ernie@ernestcline.com Ernie Cline is a writer, performer, movie geek, computer nerd, and soldier of fortune. He claims to have a large cult following in Canada, Japan, the Midwest, and on the Internet(s). He is also the writer of the movie Fanboys, which is coming soon to a theater near you. His spoken word recordings have been featured on NPR, About.com, FARK, BoingBoing.net, CBC Radio One, and in countless forwarded emails. For more info, please visit www.ernestcline.com View items for sale by this artist Listen to an MP3 audio clip of this artist
	Bill Abbott slamguy@woh.rr.com Born in Nashville and living the first 29 years of his life (and 3 years more, later) in Tennessee or Virginia, Bill Abbott was an active participant, either as competitor or organizer, for the Southern Fried Regional Poetry Slam Festival from 1993 until 1999. Slam organizer for Johnson City, TN for several years, he hosted the 1997 Southern Fried there, and created and hosted the Rust Belt Regional Poetry Festival in 2000 and 2001 in Dayton, OH. He has self-published seven books of poetry. Mr. Abbott lives with his wife and daughter in Dayton, OH. http://www.southernfriedhistory.com View items for sale by this artist
	Bill Campana willycam@yahoo.com Bill Campana is the atom bomb that levels ivory towers. He got people in the Phoenix area excited enough about poetry back in the 90s to come back for more, and to see what would happen next. Soon, the audience was too big for the coffeehouse, a feat unprecedented since Socrates dared the baristas to make him a Hemlock Frappuchino. Now, after 10 years and hundreds of poems large and small, you can experience Bill Campana in your own living room, automobile, or iPod at a comfortable volume level, with all the mind blowing imagery still intact. View items for sale by this artist
	Mike Henry mike@austinslam.com One of the orginal Slam personalities out of the high-energy Austin scene. Three time National Poetry Slam host. Past President of Poetry Slam, Inc. This guy has been around the Poetry Slam Block and back again. View items for sale by this artist