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There are depths inside you too infinite to explain. When you need a reminder.. Look up. @audreyleopard on Instagram

Hello, hello out there! A little update from the road thus far..

I’ve added some new work to the site including performance videos and poems published, and everything is now organized into two categories: Poetry & Performance for poetry, prose, singing, creative projects and the like, and Articles & Media for journalism, blog posts, photos, and etc.

And away we go!

* I’m now part of the co-hosting team for Astoria’s Boundless Tales Reading Series! We just sent out an open call for writers with some interesting themes for each month – if you’re a writer/performer please check it out and submit your work! The next reading, which is also the last one of the season, is on June 20th at Waltz-Astoria and I’ll be hosting.

* Queens’ own Newtown Literary Journal is launching issue #2 at Odradeks in Kew Gardens (home of the rebooted REZ Reading Series) on June 6th. My prose piece “requiem (soon to be),” a written moment of silence for an LIC building on the chopping block, is published in it – thanks so much! Come on out and support QUEENS LIT! More info on their FB.

* I was really excited to be a part of some amazing events over the past few months..

** The second edition of my Nature of the Muse reading and live writing event was truly wonderful – I couldn’t be happier with the way it turned out and was FLOORED yet again with the talent of the featured artists! THANK YOU all so much. And thanks to my lovely pal Paul I also got to sing for the finale ;)

** Reading at Oh, Bernice! was a huge highlight – I got to perform some new work including a piece crafted with some classic tunes, which meant a lot to me. My parents were also there, and I remembered the last time I performed at Cafe Marlene – it was the second reading I did back in 2011, and the first time they saw me read after getting back into performing. Coming full circle and finally getting to read and sing a hybrid piece – I was absolutely floating that night..

** After reconnecting with her at Nature of the Muse, I was so excited to be invited by the incredible M. Leona Godin to perform at her new WITH SPECIAL GUEST series at The Delancey. She really thinks outside the box and is a ridiculously entertaining host – at the beginning of this month I read my work for her show accompanied by fantastic singer/cellist (and total sweetheart) Calum Ingram, who played to my words, totally improv! LOVED IT.

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Yoga warriors on the beach in Coney Island with instructor Dina Ivas

** Later on in the month, the weather wasn’t exactly on our side, but it was a testament to good vibes and good friends that Lola Star and I’s Coney Island Oasis still went on – we did misty yoga on the beach with teacher Dina Ivas, heard some music and poetry, and shared snacks. SO grateful for all the attendees who didn’t let the chill spoil their fun!

** And – last week.. I got to faux-officiate a wedding! Ever-lovely Sammy Davis referred me to the folks at The Not Wedding, which is a bridal show alternative in the form of a big, fake wedding with vendors, food, music, dancing, and more. This was the very first NYC Not Wedding and I had such a blast performing spoken word for this real couple’s ceremony. They were just shy of their actual one year wedding anniversary and used it as a kind of vow renewal – all beautiful, kick-ass people I am so glad to have met!

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Faux officiating, REAL LOVE at The Not Wedding – Instagram by @dolcedreamsevents

Currently – plotting out my next course.. I cannot wait to experiment with more forms of performing and collaborate with my beautiful friends. And hey, if you have a project you’d like to work on, if you want some poetry at your event or a fun MC – let me know!!

Stay tuned for the next Nature of the Muse later this summer, and updates on my next book. :) Just in case you’d like to check out my first book, Decisions We Make While We Dream, it’s still on sale right HERE! Earlier this month we passed the one year anniversary since I released it, in memory of my beloved Nana. Time sure does fly..

But – here we go. Flying right along with it..

Crawling out of the dark into an infinite summer –

XO

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V-Day

This necklace is my Valentine’s Day present to myself.

While seeking solace in the always beautiful NY Public Library in the city, I wandered into the gift shop and found this.

‘What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.’

The scribe? Emerson.. My favorite.

We so often get in our own way, unable to forgive ourselves for our pasts or rid ourselves of anxiety for the future. This is my reminder to give thanks and stay present – to forgive, accept, find peace, and keep walking.

All the power of the universe is right here, in our own heart.

Hoping always for happy, healthy hearts for you and yours.

XO

Nature of the Muse – exciting, inspiring, just the beginning


Fireside with booker/musician/curator Gus Rodriguez & musical guest Ace Elijah

it is true that because of my doubts and anxieties i only believe in fire. […] life. fire. being myself on fire i set others on fire. never death. fire and life. –anaïs nin

Well, ladies and gents – we did it. I am so thrilled with the debut of “Nature of the Muse”!

THANK YOU to my wonderful and talented writers, Gus for encouraging me and giving the event a home, Ace for playing your gorgeous tunes, everyone who supported me and promoted the event, and of course the fantastic audience who wrote prompts, soaked in the atmosphere, laughed a lot, and packed the house (!!!) that night.

You can view the full program HERE.

There are so many moments frozen in my memory – all the laughter, my parents in the front row, making a toast to “fire and life” right before we began, on and on.. I am so grateful. And we are doing it AGAIN!

SAVE THE DATE! The next Nature of the Muse will be Thursday, April 4th @ 7:30pm, same place by the fire at LIC Bar! Squeezing one more toasty reading in before the Spring – more details to come! But first…

Lovely NZ/UK blogger and LIC transplant Eric Hathaway interviewed me and then wrote a great review of the show, complete with sound clips of all performers – please check it out HERE on his blog, Sometime in Long Island City! Here again is also the great piece Jeanmarie Evelly did for DNAinfo.com right before the event. Thank you both!

And – HERE ARE THE PROMPT POEMS!

Everyone in the audience wrote a random writing prompt on a slip of paper and I tossed them all into a bag. Then while one writer got up to read their previously written work, another writer took a random prompt and went downstairs to write. Each writer ended up having 10 mins or less to write, and then had to present their work to the audience at the end of the event, no matter what it was or what it sounded like. Quite a fun and sometimes unnerving experiment – thank you all for being so brave! ;)

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Let’s hear it for energy

Photo & writing by me (Instagram @audreyleopard), words paraphrased from one of my favorite Anne Frank quotes, rock from the woods in the Catskills, Upstate New York

And you would accept the seasons of your heart, even as you have always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields. And you would watch with serenity through the winters of your grief. – Kahlil Gibran

Unbelievably, it’s fall again. I’m thankful for everything this past year has taught me, both the beauty and the ache.. Thankful as well for wonderful experiences, new friends, arts of all sorts, and of course words, words, words!

– My mom’s energy healing event
– “world as notebook” photo series
– First BK reading at Renegade Reading Series
– Fun at PARACHUTE: the Coney Island Performance Festival
– In Bloom Collective’s Astoria Art Fest coming up
– My unforgettable Emerson encounter

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Gratitude


Photo by my mom, from my Instagram! @audreyleopard

My 26th birthday is a little over a week away! And so much has happened…

– Boundless Tales – reading & hosting!
– 1st printing of my book sold out!
– Compass Project phase two!
– My poem in Creations Magazine!
– My article in Missfits Magazine!
– Our Acey Slade & The Dark Party music video is soon to premiere!
– I’m in love with my typewriter…

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Poetry Month ends, May begins..

Facade of Long Island City library, April 2012

It’s been quite a National Poetry Month for me and I’m so grateful for the experiences I’ve had. I finished up my 30 haiku in 30 days (albeit a bit late ;))… Uploaded a poem to the A Poem From Us project…

And went to see my poem at Queens Borough Hall in the Queens Poets & Poems exhibition! Thanks so much again to Queens Poet Laureate Paolo Javier for including me – we need more visibility for Queens poets! :)

Here’s me with “validation” up on the wall – and rocking my dad’s denim jacket from the 70s ;)

I was also so very, very lucky to be a part of a stunning multi-disciplinary performance piece called “Some Kind of Nature,” directed by my longtime friend, the AMAZING Patrice Miller, at 571 Projects in NYC.

An interdisciplinary exploration of the figure through performance text and sculpture using classical texts and new material from contemporary authors written in response to the process and work of artist Julie Tremblay. Featuring work from Marcus Bowers, Edward Einhorn, Audrey Dimola, Justin Maxwell and others, Some Kind of Nature focuses on the intersection between the real and surreal, the body and the idea of the body, drawing inspiration from classic surrealists and writers like Jorge Luis Borges.

It was indescribable watching my poem “voyage” be performed before my eyes in such a context, by such talented actors and alongside the work of incredible contemporary poets and legends like Poe, Carroll, and of course one of my all-time favorites, Rilke.. An experience I will literally NEVER forget!

And while it’s unrelated to poetry, this is absolutely worth mentioning.. For the past few months I’ve been working like mad as producer on my best friend Nick (NJ) Calder‘s music video for rock band Acey Slade and the Dark Party, “Grave of the Fireflies.” The shoot wrapped a few days ago and I’m still flying. What an amazing, challenging, fun, and inspiring experience – and just the first of many with this team of NEON REBELS we forged. Cannot WAIT for more..

A few production shots from the video, shot at Saint Vitus Bar in Brooklyn!

Tomorrow will bring one of my most important updates EVER.. More soon!

Spotlight on HerHattan NYC!

I was thrilled to have HerHattan NYC do a great spotlight piece on my Compass Project!

HerHattan NYC covers emerging female talent and entrepreneurs in NYC. In their words, it “exists to share the stories of talented women who, everyday, work to make their dreams a reality and watch their passions unfold, in the city where you have to make it to live it.” So glad to be a part of it – thanks so much to Stephanie and Irma!

Check it out HERE!

And find HerHattan online on Facebook and Tumblr.