Mad Swirling Thanks to the Mad Ones of 01.02.08..

Were you there Auld Lang Syning it with us on 01.02.08? We went absolutely crazy on the mad mic as we brought in the double-aught-eight with a bang!

Mad Swirl props to all of the usual unusual mad ones swirling wonderfully with some brand-spanking new mad ones who came to Absinthe Lounge this past 1st Wednesday for Mad Swirl Open Mic Night...

(pics coming sooner then later)

Johnny O
Lisa Ohhh
Paul Sexton
Opalina Salas
Roderick Richardson
Michael Clay
Desmene Statum
Joey Cloudy
Jolee Cloudy
Max Earl Blair
D' Anson Brody
Alexie
Poet Echo
Debra
Audacious
Tarnished Penny
Delphi
Christopher
Rey Medrano
Duke McBoggin

Huge mad props to Swirve's amazing trumpeter Chris, anachronistic vocalist Tamitha and mad man Gerard on skins for keeping us movin', groovin' and swirlin' well past the midnight and up to closing time!

And, as always, thank you's to Absinthe Lounge owner Kevin, the fine Lounge staffers for creating us a mad swirling home and to all you mad participators and appreciators.

Come join in on the festivities on 02.06.08 and help us to turn the page and begin writing the next chapter as the whole Mad Swirl of everything to come continues. Visit MadSwirl.com for mo' information.

Mad Swirl and Auld Lang Syne

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne?

What the hell is an "auld lang syne" anyway?

While we do understand that the New Years bubblies will just be settling down in your tummlies on 01.02.08 and the obnoxious noisemakers will still be echoing in your head, we say f-it! That’s right, we said “f-it”.

Take a few aspirins and step right up to Mad Swirl Open Mic Night as we whirl thru Absinthe Lounge every 1st Wednesday. Come and get you some more hair from the dog that bit you on New Years Eve.

Mad Swirl is calling all you mad (and hung-over) poets, musicians, actors, singers, performers and any other miscellaneous mad ones in the Dallas/Fort Worth area to come and strut-yo-stuff.

Come one. Come all. Come to participate. Come to appreciate. Come to support your fellow mad ones.

Swirve opens the mad festivities 'round 8:00. Johnny and Lisa O will wake the mic up 'round 8:30-ish and the mic closes when there's no one left standing.

For more information about Mad Swirl go to www.MadSwirl.com

For more info about Absinthe Lounge go to www.AbsintheLounge.net

For more information on other DFW open mics go to www.DFWOpenMics.com

And please, by all means, please feel free to forward this to any and all mad ones you know.

By the way, “auld lang syne” means “the good old days”.

P.S. Whether you make it this time or not, mark your brand-new calendars now...

01.02.08 · 02.06.08 · 03.05.08 · 04.02.08 · 05.07.08 · 06.04.08 · 07.02.08 · 08.06.08 · 09.03.08 · 10.01.08 · 11.05.08 · 12.03.08

Mad Swirlin' Holiday Greetings to You

::: Winter 2007 :::



Ho Ho Ho-llo Mad,
...and all that other happily sappily sugary stuff to you and yours this holiday season!

And since t'is the swirling season for giving and sharing, for loving and caring, we here at Mad Swirl couldn't think of a better way to spend these chilly holy-day's then by caring to share the latest mad-happenings at MadSwirl.com with you and yours!

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On the 1st day of madness Mad Swirl gave to me...
...a brand new short story!

Welcome to Mad Swirl's Short Story library. We've all got a story to tell but some of us have an itch that we have to scratch and this is the place where the itchers go to scratch it. Here's a glimpse at our latest scratcher Joseph Goosey...

Someday I Will Be On the Lamb and Sorely Missed
I got out of my car. I sensed that it was about 82 degrees. Very unseasonable. I wished to just lay down on the sidewalk, perhaps an eagle would swoop down low and take me in as one of it's own. This was unlikely so I kept walking. I was out of the car now and on my feet so there really was not much else. I looked like an escapee from either some sort of work release program or a Northeastern writers conference because I was still wearing my cashmere sweater. Like I said, very unseasonable. In an attempt to minimize my visibility to passers-by I ducked into a coffee shop. The girl behind the counter looked as though she had the answers to some very important and philosophical questions...

Click here for more EVEN if you've been bad!

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On the 2nd day of madness Mad Swirl gave to me...
...some wild and ca-razy poetry!

We tried to wrap up all these poetic samplings in bows and ribbons but we just couldn't get the tape to stick! So instead we offer this online collection of poetry from the maddest poets from the maddest corners of the world and have showcased them in the Poetry Forum just for you. The Forum is always in flux, living and breathing, evolving and changing, swirling constantly...so please come and come often to view the latest submissions.

Be sure to check this poetry stocking for the interactive holiday collaboration between Merlin the Magical One and Mad Swirl. Smoke 'em if you got 'em and be sure you turn up the volume and shoo away the kiddos before you open "Twas the Night Before Tomorrow"..

If it's been a few months since you came 'round the Forum, it has got lots of new wonderfully mad words from some of the mad ones that color our world. Here's who you may or may not have read since our last meeting...

Roderick Richardson · Ra! Gabriel · Justin Hyde · Joseph Goosey · David Kowalczyk · Shellie Lobis · Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal · Johnny Olson · Glen Still · Moctezuma Johnson · W Alt Burns · Michael Lee Johnson · Sean Bowen · Nicole Lilly · Joseph Veronneau

Santa says tear here to open the poetic presents here...

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On the 3rd day of madness Mad Swirl gave to me...
...new work in the Mad Gal-ler-y!

Welcome to the Mad Gallery...this place where we hang by the chimney with care the many sides of art and mad cheer!

From the furthest reaches of this mad mad world we have gathered together and featured just a few of the most maddest painters, sculptors, photographers & illustrators that we could and swirled them all together here. Come by and visit the gallery and watch as it continues revolving round and round...

Currently, in the Mad Gallery Showcase we have hung the latest additions from Andrew David King and Lia Mildwater.

Behold the artistic presense presents here...

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Every 1st Wednesday Mad Swirl Gives to Me...
...Open Mic Festivities!

As 2008 begins it's mad unraveling, Mad Swirl will continue to swirl collective creative chaos and madness and at Absinthe Lounge on 1st Wednesdays Open Mic.

Come go mad with host Johnny O and the monthly Mad Swirling showing of beat-utifully mad poets, musicians, actors, singers and miscellaneous mad ones as we try to make 2008 one to remember!

Make your list and mark your calendars now...


01.02.08 · 02.06.08 · 03.05.08 · 04.02.08 · 05.07.08 · 06.04.08 · 07.02.08 · 08.06.08 · 09.03.08 · 10.01.08 · 11.05.08 · 12.03.08


Interested in performing? If you are a poet, musician, actor, singer and/or performer and live in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area then come-n-preach-it!

Come one. Come all. Come to participate. Come to appreciate. Come to support your fellow mad ones.

And please, by all means, FEEL FREE TO SPREAD THE MAD WORD!

Absinthe Lounge · 1409 S Lamar St · Dallas, 75215

Santa says click here for more information...

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Thanks to Santa for sharing his mad gifts with us, even though he knew all about our naughities and nicities in 2007!

We hope that 2008 brings more and more swirling madness from the mad ones that color our world.

See you in the web, on the page and up on the stage in 2008! And a Happy New Mad Swirling Year!

Gone Crazy at Mad Swirl Open Mic Night • 12.05.07

Were you there on 12.05.07 as we went absolutely crazy on the Mad mic? Egads, the Swirling insanity was truly contagious!

Mad Swirl props to all of the usual unusual mad ones swirling wonderfully with some brand-spanking new mad ones who came to Absinthe Lounge this past 1st Wednesday for Mad Swirl Open Mic Night...


Johnny O (host)
Roderick Richardson (co-host)
Christian Zim
Paul Sexton
Opalina Salas
Carlos Salas
Josh Weir
Max Earl Blair
Mister Natural
Christopher
Chris Curiel
Lexie
Debra
Audacious
Clint
Peach
D'Anson
Poet Echo
Felix
Natasha Sweet
Kevin
Jennifer
Suzanne
Will

Huge mad props to Swirve's amazing trumpeter Chris, anachronistic vocalist Tamitha and mad man Gerard on skins for keeping us movin', groovin' and swirlin' all night long.

And, as always, thank you's to Absinthe Lounge owner Kevin, and the fine Lounge staffers for creating a swirling home for all of the mad participators and appreciators.

If you missed out on 12.05.07, don't fret. Join us in 2008 as the whole Mad Swirl of everything to come continues to swirl at Absinthe Lounge starting on 01.02.08.

For more information about Mad Swirl visit MadSwirl.com

What's Going on in Mad Swirl’s Poetry Forum? (11.21.07)

More then you can shake a stick at, that's what..!

We have collected poetry from the maddest poets from the maddest corners of this mad mad world and have showcased the latest Mad Ones in the Poetry Forum just for you. Currently the forum's gots lots of words from: David Kowalczyk, Ra! Gabriel, Joseph Goosey, Michael Lee Johnson, Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal & Ryan Dilbert...

My Dream Is Turquoise Marzipan

I am living at the San Diego Zoo
in a cage filled with crack vials,
banana peels, and expired bus passes.

I alternate covering my eyes,
my mouth, my ears,
while geriatric Republicans from
Tucson toss peanuts at me.

They are wise.
They feel the magic.
They know that I know
what I know, that I am
who I am because
I understand the serpent.

- david kowalczyk

Subway goes

he runs to catch the train
that doesn't stop
time is internal, spiraling now
a girl he's been practicing imagining
waits for him at some improbable stop
still unbuilt: a mere proposal on a drawing
board in some workroom
will blast through cheap restaurants and
Laundromats; will attract new
buildings and they will dine on Tofu
soup and cold, chewy noodles

- ra! gabriel

I TAKE A SEAT NEXT TO YOU

Are you hungry?
Do you want some lunch?
Will you be hungry on Saturday
around 7pm?
How was Corpus Cristi?
How is the aquarium?
Do you enjoy trumpets?
Trombones?
French horns?
French poetry?
French fiction?
Tennis? Bowling?
Do you savor dishes of fish
and rice?

Write the answer
to the aforementioned down
on a post-it, in H10 pencil,
and leave it for me
on the windshield of my
dirty dirty car.

- joseph goosey

Poem From My Grave

Don't bring the rosary beads
it's too damn late for doing repetitions.
Eucharist, I can handle the crackers and wine;
I love the Lord just like you.
Catholicism circles itself with rituals--
ground hogs and squirrels dancing with rosary beads,
naked in the sun and the night, eating the pearls
and feeling comfortable about it.
Rituals and rosary beads are indigestible
even the butterflies go coughing in the farmer's cornfields..
Cardinal George, Chicago, would choke on the damn things;
some of his priest would have thought it a gay orgasm or piece
remote found in scripture from Sodam & Gamora.
But my bones in ginger dust lie near a farm in DeKalb, Illinois
where sunset meshes corn with a yellow gold glow like rich teeth.
My tent is with friends there we said prayers privately like silent
moonlight. Farmers touch the face of God each morning after just
one cup of Folgers coffee Columbian blend,
or pancakes made with water and batter, sparse on the sugar.
Sometimes I would urinate on the yellow edge of flowers,
near the tent, late at night, before the hayride, speak
to the earth and birds like gods.
Never did I pull the rosary beads from my pocket.
It's too late, damn it, for rosary beads and repetitions.

- michael lee johnson

GIVE ME A CHANCE

It’s a mistake.
I’m not supposed
to be in here.

I didn’t do
anything wrong.
I forgot to

take my mind pills.
Without them I
get so confused.

I’m better now.
You can see that.
Why can’t I be

let go? I could
be more careful.
Give me a chance.

Whatever I
did to that poor
homeless woman

I won’t ever
do again? I
only took her

cart. She fell all
by herself. At
least she didn’t

break her hip. I
never laid a
hand on her. I’m

going back to
the place she lives
and apologize.

I will bring her
coffee, donuts,
and some spare change.

- luis cuauhtemoc berriozabal

Two-faced motherfucker

I first saw her in Starbucks black,
slim, maroon boxes around her squinty eyes.
Her face was bared to me in installments
all the grains of sugar and dust
placed into the lines of my palm

I am a two-faced motherfucker
and there is no way she could have known that
The first face I showed her
was the sweet and loyal boyfriend
the babysitter
who stockpiled friends

The next face I gave her
in the bedroom
the door closed
the girlfriend forgotten
for a few sultry moments
I left without saying goodbye

When I returned I was older, more mature, more jaded
The first face I showed her was passionate,
one she could hold in her clammy hands
that she could use to wipe up spilled soda
that called her
that tried to prove that the past wasn't a fluke

The other face was turned away
turned inward
uncaring like I thought she was
she saw that one fading off into the distance
becoming a dot
I left without leaving
and no good-bye

We met again and kept our friendship a clothesless one
The face I showed her in the dark
was erect and dripped into her cupped hands
it was a face of fire
kept warm inside a blanket

The second face I didn't show
it was indifferent,
unsure of if it was smiling or cringing
it was a icy face, rotting from the inside
full of insensitive maggots
it is one that I hate
that I try to cut off at night
with sharpened tears
I don't want to leave
I don't want to say goodbye

But she's seen the second face
and recoiled
She doesn't love the first face
But wouldn't mind being warmed by its flickering light
The other one bites into her back
and is only sorry
when it is too late

- ryan dilbert

Remember, this page is in flux, living and breathing, evolving and changing constantly...so please come and come often for the latest submissions.

Click here to visit the Mad Swirl's Poetry Forum. If you would like to submit poetry for the forum please see our submissions page located here.

war, what is it good for?

absolutely nothing. mad swirl's johnny o and merlin the magical one have been keeping track of the casualties in iraq and have updated their flash piece "fighting", in honor of our all war veterans. semper fidelis.

view "fighting" here

Celebrate MadSwirlOpenMicNight's 3rd Birthday on 11/07.07!

One and a Two...
Happy Birthday to MadSwirlOpenMicNight...
Happy Birthday to MadSwirlOpenMicNight...
Happy 3rd Birthday dear MadSwirlOpenMicNight...

Wow, three whole years. We remember it like it was just yesterday. The SpongeBob SquarePants movie was beating Polar Express at the box office that year. Also that year Usher, Norah Jones and Kenny Chesney were topping the crap charts. President-wanna-be Bush had just stole another election from under our noses and Mad Swirl was invited to host an open mic at the brand new Absinthe Lounge. Our first ad was posted in Mad Swirl's Issue IV:

"We heard there was going to be an OPEN MIC night at Absinthe Lounge, located in the South Side on Lamar Lofts.

They asked us here at Mad Swirl if we'd like to participate. Participate? OPEN MIC?! We don't know anything about electronics, let alone microphones!

So we're calling all poets, musicians, actors, singers, performers and any other folks (circus freaks & Tenacious D rip-offs always welcome) in the local Dallas-Ft. Worth area to help us open this mic up. Come to perform, come to appreciate, come to support your local artists.

For more information go to www.madswirl.com
Learn more about Absinthe Lounge at www.absinthelounge.net

Come by and help us figure out this whole open mic business."

And you did.

Come by on November 7 to celebrate our creative love-child's special day!

Our beloved Swirve will open up this poetic birthday bash 'round 8:00. Johnny O (celebrating his 37th anniversary on Earth) and guest hosts Lisa Ohhh and Chris Zimmerly will be waking the mic up 'round 8:30-ish. The mic closes when the last candle flickers out.

And please, by all means, FEEL FREE TO SPREAD THE MAD WORD! Forward this to any and all Mad Ones you know.

Happy 3rd Birthday to yooouuu! (and many mooore!)