TalkWithME

Tim Burns, Actor

Timothy Burns moved to Lawrence, KS two years ago after earning a bachelor’s degree from Kansas Wesleyan University in both Theatre and Communications. Tim quickly became very active in the area arts community, including several productions at Theatre Lawrence, most recently Rocky Horror. He spends most of his time in the performance space of The Guild Theatre doing Improv and parody scripted readings. He was also a part of Michael Dieker’s play RUN which premiered in July 2017 and has acted in several KU student film projects. He is currently endeavoring to bring shows in the style of old time radio drama to the Lawrence community. Follow Tim at The Guild Theater – Lawrence, KS www.facebook.com/LawrenceGuildTheater/ and LFK Radio Hour https://www.facebook.com/LFK-Radio-Hour-1077050472397608/

J.J. Campbell, Poet

J.J. (1976 – ?) has given up the farm life and is currently trapped in the suburbia of Brookville, Ohio. He’s been widely published over the last 22 years, most recently at The Commonline Journal, Misfit Magazine, Horror Sleaze Trash, In Between Hangovers and The Beatnik Cowboy. J.J.’s first full length collection of his poems, Sofisticated White Trash, was published by Interior Noise Press and is available wherever people buy books anymore. You can find J.J. most days on his highly entertaining blog, evil delights at http://evildelights.blogspot.com

Megan Burns, Poet

Megan is the publisher at Trembling Pillow Press (tremblingpillowpress.com). She also hosts the Blood Jet Poetry Reading Series in New Orleans and is the co-founder of the New Orleans Poetry Festival (nolapoetry.com). She has been most recently published in Jacket Magazine, Callaloo, New Laurel Review, Trickhouse, and the Big Bridge New Orleans Anthology. Her poetry and prose reviews have been published in Tarpaulin Sky, Gently Read Lit, Big Bridge, and Rain Taxi. She has three books: Memorial + Sight Lines (2008), Sound and Basin (2013) and Commitment (2015) published by Lavender Ink. She has two recent chapbooks: Dollbaby (Horseless Press, 2013) and i always wanted to start over (Nous-Zot Press, 2014). Horse Less Press released her Twin Peaks chap, Sleepwalk With Me, in 2016. Her fourth collection, BASIC PROGRAMMING, will be released by Lavender Ink in 2018.

Joan Koromante, Poet

Joan lives in Topeka, KS where she works as a social worker. She has been a featured poet for the monthly Speak Easy Open Mic in Topeka and at readings at the Raven Book Store in Lawrence. She has appeared as an open mic participant at Prospero’s Books in Kansas City and has been a featured poet at the annual Kansas City Poetry Throwdown since its inception. Joan is the author of two chapbooks “This Must Be Jazz” and “Musings in Feminine Blue.” Her poetry collection “Murmurs from Beneath the Merry-Go-Round,” was just released by Spartan Press, book #34 in the Prospero’s POP POETRY Series. Currently, she is working on a manuscript for Asinimali Publications to be released in December 2017.

Jim McCrary, Poet-Connector-Curator

Jim is a national Poetic-Treasure. He is a writer, a veteran, and a community-activist, based in Lawrence, Kansas since the 1960’s. His friends, colleagues, and influencers include Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs, as well as poets across the USA through the decades. Jim is the author of many poetry books & chapbooks including the recent: A Yearbook 1941-2016 (Shirt Pocket Press, 2016); This Here (theenk Books, 2015); and All That: The Collected Chapbooks (ManyPenny Press, 2008). His poetry has also been published in so many print and online journals based in the USA and beyond. Jim has been contributing editor to several journals over the years including Grist, Loose Gravel, Avec, and First Intensity. He edited and published a zine called Smelt Money thru thirteen issues in the 1990’s. He has curated or co-hosted several reading series in Lawrence starting at the Mass St. Co-op, circa 1968; the first poetry open mic-slam’s in Lawrence, KS at The Flamingo (strip club) in the early 1990’s; and the on-going Taproom Poetry Series. Jim is currently helping KU’s Spencer Research Library build their collection on the history of poetry in this region. Follow Jim McCrary wherever you can!

The Transformational Jennie Washburn V.2017.11

Each month, Jennie joins Talk With ME host, Marcia Epstein, for real life conversation. Our 11/3 conversation included: Art, Firsts, Vulnerability, Suicide, Grief, Self Care, FINE. Jennie is a Licensed Esthetician & hosts The Goddess Within (women’s circle in Lawrence, KS www.facebook.com/The-Goddess-Within-252751568549725/ Jennie also enjoys being onstage, including as a two-time contestant in Transformations, a charity gala. Find Jennie on Facebook & at https://skincarebyjennie.net

Will Staple, Poet

Will lives in a kerosene-lit cabin, miles off any paved road, in the northern California foothills. He grew up in Oakland under the shadow of the Beats and attended UC Berkeley during the Free Speech Movement. From 1970 to 1995 Will published over 200 poems infused with the Grand Canyon and mountain forests on the sassy, sexy side of spirituality, filled with a sly humor, condensed form, depth of content, detailing the culture that left the cities in the 1970’s for a more archaic path with a heart. His books include: Passes for Human, Coyote Run, I Hate the Men You Sleep With, The Only Way to Reduce Crime Is to Make Fewer Acts Illegal, Dr. Montoya’s Medicine and The One That Got Away (Six Ft. Swells Press, 2008). He also performs regularly in Europe, where his work is published by http://Engstler-Verlat.de/ His latest collection (in English) is Arrows Go Thru Hearts: Selected Poems: 1970-1995 (Six Ft. Swells Press, 2017).