The History of the Acoustic Poets Network™
In the late 1990’s Poets Paula Curci, Zoe Jade Austin, and Carol Carroll hosted the Underground Poetry Party open mic. They created theatrical poetry events including a staged reading of Love is Like That, a collection of their poems about relationships. They also sponsored Paula’s One Woman poetry play called Letter’s Never Sent-One Woman’s Cathartic Release in Poetry. The three of them were also interviewed as the ‘Acoustic Poets’ on the late Robert Dunn’s Poet to Poet show on Manhattan Cable. (A blog post about that can be seen on this this site, and the interviews can be seen on YouTube, thanks to Leigh Harrison!)
By 1999, both Paula and Zoe formed The Acoustic Poets Network ™. With the great guitar work of Tullio Vacchio, they played together at various spots and continued hosting open mic nights using Paula’s Posics™ brand. “Posics” is Paula’s unique poetic and aesthetic style of singing and recitation and it is prominent in her poetry and in all The Acoustic Poets Network ™ poetry performances. APN blended the prolific work created by Zoe and Paula, and it was enhanced by Tullio Vacchio’s rich guitar work. The stellar Mike Sapone, of Sapone Studies in Bethpage NY, engineered both Emissary: A Journey in Spoken Word and Music, and Bittersweet.
Bittersweet, APN’s second CD, was dropped in 2004. Other contributors to this project included guitarist Vinne Dean Del Basso, of the Broward Rockers. You will also hear The Peters Family, bassist Glen Roberts and sax player Jim Halpern. Although the original Acoustic Poets Network ™ is no longer a band, as Poet Laureate Emerita of Nassau County, NY, Paula Curci is transforming the network once again.
Paula continues working with poets to develop community-based programs that encourage appreciation for the spoken and written word. Theresa Rosario- Berzner and Peter V. Dugan are now part of the ‘network’ of poets working with Paula to create community engagement projects, like the 2023 Word Festival, in Oceanside NY, and the Poetry: It’s a Shore Thing! open mic its 2024 Poetry Festival, in Long Beach, NY. Under the Acoustic Poets Network™ brand Paula also visits schools, libraries and other community-based organizations, facilitating open mics, poetry workshops and emceeing events.
Paula reads her poetry at open mic events, recording new poems and perfecting her Posics™ brand of performance poetry. Paula’s most recent CD entitled, Done That: Poetry and Posics™, by Paula Curci and the Acoustic Poets Network™ was released in 2022, that coincided with the release of a book of poetry by the same name.
The album and book cover features the artwork of Kiki Calafell, whose work has graced both the Emissary and Bittersweet CD covers as well. It also highlights Zoe Jade Austin’s voice introducing Spaghetti Western, Christopher Carroll (of Mantra Studios in Island Park, NY) on Tabla drums, and Peyton Pleninger on saxophone.
The History of Posics™
POSICS™ is a trademarked word designed from a portmanteau of the words, poetry (or poetics) and music. It is a form of folk poetry and/or a form of modern American ethnopoetics, if you will, that focuses not only the written words of a poet, but also how their oral performance is animated (spoken, sung, or chanted and/or accompanied by music or sound effects.)
In 2001, the Valley Stream Herald, printed an article about an Acoustic Poets Network™ Posics™ event at the Touch Bar, in Island Park New York. The owner of the Touch Bar, Adam West, who hoped to bring something new to his community, said, Posics was a ‘free spirited poetry beat’.
This organic performance aesthetic was developed in the late 90’s by Paula Curci, performance poet and Nassau County Poet Laureate Emerita (2022-2024). She developed this word to describe her style performance and the aesthetic at the Acoustic Poets Networks™ curated open mic venues. Posics™ can be heard on all their albums: Emissary, A Journey in Poetry and Music, Bittersweet, and Done That: Poetry and Posics™ – the Audio Version.
The article highlighted Zoe Jade Austin, co-founder of the Acoustic Poets Network band, and Paula Curci as the hosts of the event, but this wasn’t the first public community engagement presentation of Posics™. Paula first featured her Posics™ as an individual reader at the Peacesmiths’ Coffee House in Amityville, NY, and in her one woman show at the Crescent City Coffee House, in Floral Park, NY.
Some of the Acoustic Poets Network’s memorable house gigs included: the Orange Bear in NYC, the Vault Artists Community House in Queens, NY, the C Note Café, the Liquid Lounge, where the successful The Underground Poetry Party had its run, in Oceanside NY, and at The Touch Bar in Island Park, NY.
Paula’s Posic™ can still be heard at any of her features. Currently, when time permits, Paula also performs her Posics™ at the Acoustic Poets Network™ – Poetry: It’s a ‘Shore” Thing! Open Mic at the Long Beach, NY, Public Library, or at the Hicksville Open Mic at the Hicksville, NY, Public Library.
Here is the article advertising Posics™ at the Touch Bar, back in 2001!
