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People started reciting poetry in the middle of Barney's Beanery last night

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It's not every day that a random old guy announces to a group of strangers that he likes tight pussy.

Actually, that happens all the time in Los Angeles. But this was different, because it wasn't an offer, but a performance. The man, actor Richard Large, was reciting poetry from the late Charles Bukowski: "What counts now is one more tight pussy before the light tilts out," goes the line from the famous Bukowski poem, "Crazy as I ever was."

Bukowski, who died in 1994, published thousands of poems and other creative works throughout his life. He is beloved by many for his focus on sex, alcohol and grimy Los Angeles life.

Legend is that Bukowski used to hang around Barney's Beanery in West Hollywood, getting wasted and writing his poetry on napkins. In keeping with that tradition, Barney's Beanery hosted a secret Charles Bukowski flash mob Thursday night.

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A.C. Thamer via LA Weekly Flickr Pool

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LA Weekly is now taking poetry submissions. Interested in having your work posted right here on our arts blog? Send previously unpublished poems along with an image to go with it to poetry@laweekly.com. Check out today's poem after the jump.

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Paul T. Bradley

Dr. Neil McLeod toasts Robbie Burns, kilt and all...

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One of the frustrating trials and tribulations of contemporary culture is, of course, the obligatory Facebook birthday wish. From the thought-free exchange of a computer reminding you that your fourth cousin thrice removed has again made it around the sun, to the process of cutting and pasting "Happy Birthday, bro!!!" from the previous wall post, but adding that extra exclamation for effect -- it all really takes automated well-wishing to a new low.

Thankfully, there's a birthday tradition that will undoubtedly never be so pedestrian, because, frankly, Facebook can't cut a haggis. We're speaking, obviously, about the Burns Supper, a two-centuries-old birthday bash for Scotland's favorite son and national poet, Robert Burns. And, yes, even thousands of miles from his homeland, expat Scottish Angelenos and Celtic culture vultures celebrate at least once on the week surrounding Burns' January 25 birthday.

The folks at Atwater Village's 90-year-old Tam O'Shanter restaurant and their appointed toastmaster, Dr. Neil McLeod, have been doing this event for more than three decades. On top of last night's event, Dr. McLeod will do this whole rigmarole dozens more times before Monday.

So, uh, what about that haggis?

We'll get to that in a second.

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polaroid-girl/LA Weekly Flickr pool

​LA Weekly is now taking poetry submissions. Interested in having your work posted right here on our arts blog? Send previously unpublished poems along with an image to go with it to poetry@laweekly.com. Check out today's poem after the jump.

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crawfish head/Flickr

​LA Weekly is now taking poetry submissions. Interested in having your work posted right here on our arts blog? Send previously unpublished poems along with an image to go with it to poetry@laweekly.com. Check out today's poem after the jump.

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Original art in progress by Leigh White, entitled The Last Tower Falls, made with acrylic and Sharpie on canvas

​LA Weekly is now taking poetry submissions. Interested in having your work posted right here on our arts blog? Send previously unpublished poems along with an image to go with it to poetry@laweekly.com. Check out today's poem after the jump.

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Paul T. Bradley

100.3's Mimi Chen reads some raunchy internet submissions

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"Ok, now here are some X-Rated ones," says a kindly, professorial elderly gentleman in a fishing cap before he belts out a few stanzas of offensive rhyming verse about a couple's sexual proclivities. A woman entering the bar is blindsided by a four-letter word out of context and gasps. This is a limerick festival, after all, and the gentleman, Prof. Leon Schwartz, is killing them softly with rhyme. Equally adept at matching tush and bush with witty, ditty, and tittie, Prof. Schwartz teaches at Cal State University-Los Angeles, and it is unlikely that his students ever heard him this raunchy.

Schwartz was the opening act Friday night at the 2nd Annual L.A. Limerick Fest, hosted by the Altadena Ale House, and he set the tone for an evening of quaint crass and refined raunch. In fact, given the locale, the patrons, and the bawdy poetry -- this event blows the faceplate off the quaintly-crass-o-meter.

The L.A. Limerick Fest is an unlikely event that, at least in theory, doesn't belong in the city of Angels; we're not known as a particularly Irish city, nor a particularly poetic one -- unless you count 140 characters at a time of Winning and Kardashian. So, what's the deal? Well, unfortunately for us, we've got to get a few beers in us to find out.

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Christina Edwards

Yeah, blindfolds.

​Last night at MOCA I was blindfolded and told to follow the sound of jangling keys to find my way out of the galleries. When the sound of the keys stop, I stop, not knowing where to turn, and inches from my nose comes, "In a minute there is time for decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse. For I have known them all already, known them all: Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons, I have measured out my life with coffee spoons," recited in a baritone voice.

This was Liz Glynn's work, Like A Patient Etherized Upon A Table (MOCA Goes Dark), the second in her series" Loving You Is Like Fucking The Dead," presented as part of MOCA's Engagement Party. The work offered museum visitors a sightless tour of the galleries at MOCA Grand Avenue. The opportunity to wander (or, rather, be led) blindly through MOCA's galleries seems to have been a coveted one, requiring a wait in line for over an hour. At a museum. While I'm not big on waiting I have to say I much prefer waiting in line for art than waiting in line for, say, coffee.

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Matt Wignall

Beau Sia performing at a previous installment of The Drums Inside Your Chest

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Poetry shouldn't cause flashbacks to snooze-inducing high school English class, a point well-noted by Amber Tamblyn, the poet and actress behind the poetry series The Drums Inside Your Chest and co-founder of Write Now Poetry Society. Using humor and musical performance (and sometimes magicians) to draw a diverse audience to poetry events, Tamblyn believes the poetry will speak for itself and prove that the the medium is not entirely boring. in past events, for instance, they've invited Marilyn Manson to do a reading at the Getty.

The Drums Inside Your Chest, a performance poetry concert series created by Tamblyn, will present its five year anniversary show on Nov. 6. The event will be hosted by poet Derrick Brown, a heavy hitter in the indie market, and comedian David Cross.

If you're into poetry, the lineup of participating poets -- Jack McCarthy, Rives, Corrina Bain, Matt Cook and Mayda Del Valle -- is recognizable for its big guns. If you're not into poetry, the show also boasts special musical guest Emily Wells and comedy from Cross.

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Poet Jamie Criss performing at one of Synchronicity LA's monthly "artistic salons."

​LA Weekly is now taking poetry submissions. Interested in having your work posted right here on our arts blog? Send previously unpublished poems along with an image to go with it to poetry@laweekly.com. Major bonus points if you send us a video of you performing your work, as today's poet, Jamie Criss, has done.

Criss' poem, "Westmoreland" refers to the location of Synchronicity L.A., an artist cooperative in Harvard Heights. She lives in an extension of it next door called "The Treehouse." Synchronicity houses creatives who share chores and financial obligations, work and play together, and host visitors. As their mission statement indicates, it's a place for "generating community through hospitality, intentionality, artistic action, and a dedication to the reduction of harm." This poem reflects Criss' experience there.

Check out the video and text of her poem after the jump.

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