FIVE   EVENTS:   Portsmouth, Jan 5, 1, 7pm – 9pm  Cafe Espresso, Portsmouth, PPLP Hoot Night   Dennis Camire  & Marita O'Neill features followed by an open mic. More info at PPLP.org.       January 5, , Henniker: Brian Henry, an MFA Program in Poetry professor at New England College, will read from his new poetry collection, Wings Without Birds, at 7:30 p.m., the Great Room, Simon Center, New England College (Click here).   January 5, 2011, Cambridge, MA: Poetry at the Cantab Lounge will feature the Individual World Poetry Slam (IWPS) Semi-Final Speed Slam. The following poets will compete in a two-round show: Chad Anderson, Black Angus, Anthony C., Kevin Devaney, Wil Gibson, McKendy, Michael Monroe, Krista Mosca, April Ranger, Matthew Richards, Patrick S., Adam Stone, Sam Teitel, and Megan Thoma. There will be a $5 cover charge to raise funds for the IWPS representative. There will be no open slam. At 8 p.m., Cantab Lounge (Click here; Click here). January 6, 2011, Henniker: Carol Frost, a New England College MFA Program in Poetry professor, will read from her new collection of poetry, Honeycomb. At 7:30 p.m., the Great Room, Simon Center, New England College (Click here).   January 6, – 6:30 p.m. – Mel Flanagan’s Irish Café and Pub, Rochester – Nute Young School Poets Feature (poets & musicians) followed by open mike. (Pat O’Brien, 332-6357)       January 6, 7:00pm – Adelle’s Coffeehouse, Dover – Primal Tongue - Features followed by open mike prose (Josiah Eikelboom, 205-6192, Click here)       Manchester , January 7, , 6pm – 10pm  Bridge Cafe on Elm, Manchester, NH  Every other Friday... event usually starts closer to 8pm, but you want to get there early to get a seat. Sometimes a slam, sometimes a featured reader, but always lots of open mic!   January 7– 7:00 pm – First Unitarian-Universalist Society, Exeter – First Friday Coffeehouse – Performance POETS Lindsey Coombs, & John-Michael Albert, Feature followed by open mike (Bob Moore, 642-4648 or Click here       BIRTHDAYS:   Jan 5   Click here (1620-1664), Hungarian poet   Click here   Giuseppe Galli-Bibiena, Italian architect/painter (Click here - 1757)   Click here   Dr. Benjamin Rush, 1745, Philadelphia;   Click here   Thomas Pringle,Scot traveler and poet, 1789-1834.   The Bushman        The Bushman sleeps within his black-browed den,          In the lone wilderness. Around him lie          His wife and little ones unfearingly --          For they are far away from 'Christian Men.'          No herds, loud lowing, call him down the glen:          He fears no foe but famine; and may try          To wear away the hot noon slumberingly;           Then rise to search for roots -- and dance again.           But he shall dance no more! His secret lair,           Surrounded, echoes to the thundering gun,           And the wild shriek of anguish and despair!           He dies -- yet, ere life's ebbing sands are run,           Leaves to his sons a curse, should they be friends           With the proud 'Christian-Men' -- for they are fiends!     Click here Andre H C van Hasselt, Click here  Belgian poet (La Belgium)   Click here   Click here 1846-1926 German philosopher, Nobel Prize literature  1908.   Click here   Click here   Click here (1848-1876), Bulgarian poet and revolutionary   Click here   Click here   Herbert Bayard Swope  (1882 – 06/20/1958)     US journalist   Click here   Click here   Elizabeth Cotten, American musician (1895 - 1987)   Click here   Click here   Yves Tanguy, 1900  French/US sailor/surrealistic painter   Click here   Dorothea "Stella" Gibbons, Click here -89  English author (Cold Comfort Farm)   Click here   Anton Ingolic, Click here  Slavic author (After Splavih, After Prelomu)   Click here   Wilhelm J Soukop, 1907   Austrian/British sculptor   Click here   Nicolas de Staël, French-Russian painter (1914 - 1955)   Click here   Click here (1921-1990), Swiss playwright and novelist   Click here   Click here   Click here   Sam Phillips, American music producer/musician/record founder (Sun) (1923 - 2003)   Click here   W.[illiam]D.[ewitt] Snodgrass(1926-2009), USA “confessional’ poet Pulitzer Prize in 1959   Click here   Alvin Ailey 1931. African-American dancer and choreographer, and founding director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.   Click here   Click here   Click here   Click here (1932) Italian novelist and critic   Click here   Click here   Click here   Click here  (1936 – )  US writer Click here=   Click here   Click here (1938) [James T. Ngugi] , Kenyan novelist, dramatist, and critic Click here   Click here  (1940 – Click here/1994)  US writer, actor   Click here   Click here   Click here       Click here       PASSED       Charles, Duke of Orléans, French poet 1394-Click here   Click here   Click here   James Merrick, 1720–1769) was an Click here poet and scholar;   Click here   John Howie, author of The Scots Worthies, 1793;   Click here   Click here   Isaac Reed, (1 January 1742 –1807) was an Click here Click here Click here.   Click here   Alexander Smith  (1830-67) Scottish poet,     Click here   Click here   Beauty   BEAUTY still walketh on the earth and air, Our present sunsets are as rich in gold As ere the Iliad’s music was out-roll’d; The roses of the Spring are ever fair, ’Mong branches green still ring-doves coo and pair, And the deep sea still foams its music old. So, if we are at all divinely soul’d, This beauty will unloose our bonds of care. ’T is pleasant, when blue skies are o’er us bending Within old starry-gated Poesy, To meet a soul set to no worldly tune, Like thine, sweet Friend! Oh, dearer this to me Than are the dewy trees, the sun, the moon, Or noble music with a golden ending.   Click here   Click here   Pierre J David, [David d'Angers], French sculptor, Click here   Click here   Charles Tompson, first Australian published poet 1806-Click here   Click here   Humbert Wolfe (1885-1940) Eng Writer   Click here   Click here   Andrei P Platonov,  Click here - Russian author (Prok, Kotlovan)   Click here   Franz T Csokor, Click here - Austria author (Gottes General)   Click here   Click here  (Click here/1922 –1979)  US bassist, composer   Click here   Click here   Click here   Click here  (Click here/1926 –1987)  Canadian writer Click here   Click here   George L George, Click here  , Russian/US journalist/director/producer   Click here   William Raynor, 1994 tv writer  Click here    Jean Kerr, American author 1923-2003   Click here   Chih Ree Sun, Chinese-American physicist and poet (b. 1923) 2007   Click here       SITES:       Click here   Click here   Click here   Click here   Click here   Click here   Click here   Click here   Click here           HISTORY:               Click here - Duke Ludovico Sforza's troops reconquer Milan    Click here   BONUS POEM: THE STRANGER The Stranger within my gate,   He may be true or kind. But he does not talk my talk—   I cannot feel his mind. I see the face and the eyes and the mouth,   But not the soul behind.   The men of my own stock   They may do ill or well, But they tell the lies I am wonted to,   They are used to the lies I tell. We do not need interpreters   When we go to buy and sell.   The Stranger within my gates,   He may be evil or good, But I cannot tell what powers control—   What reasons sway his mood; Nor when the Gods of his far-off land   May repossess his blood.   The men of my own stock,   Bitter bad they may be, But, at least, they hear the things I hear,   And see the things I see; And whatever I think of them and their likes   They think of the likes of me.   This was my father's belief   And this is also mine: Let the corn be all one sheaf—   And the grapes be all one vine, Ere our children's teeth are set on edge   By bitter bread and wine.                                                                                                           Rudyard Kipling   Click here