by VINCENT TINGUELY

A blazing bouquet of word happenings awaits the discerning connoisseur. On Sept. 16 at Zeke's Gallery, the Invisible Cities writers' group presents Headcheeze, featuring Raquel Rivera, Mirror freelancer Noemi Lopinto and Jason Walters. At Casa del Popolo on Sept. 19, Words and Music at the Casa kicks off the new season with the Toronto performance poetry troupe Trash and Ready, "four slaughterhouse femmes on a manic mission," comprised of Lisa Foad (aka Muffy Galaxy), Zoe Whittall (aka Ruby Ruined), Hadassah Hill (aka Axon Panter) and Tara-Michelle Ziniuk (aka Lydia Lane).

The Yellow Door Prose and Poetry Reading series starts on Sept. 23 with Paul Serralheiro, Joanne Grant, Padraic Scanlan and others, while Coco Café is back at Jello Bar with a spirituality-themed show on Sept. 26. "We've never really had performers talk about what's sacred to them, and how they would interpret religion or spirituality through spoken word," says Coco MC Mahalia Verna. Coming up in October is Coco Café: Revolution!

Other word series include the Kalmunity Collective Jam at Sablo Café in Little Italy (50 St-Zotique E.), where musicians and vocal artists mix it up, and the Drop The Gloves Tuesdays open mic free-for-all downtown at Grumpy's Bar - both shows are weekly on Tuesday nights. There are two new series: the Atwater Poetry Project is starting up on Sept. 27 at Atwater Library (1200 Atwater) with a performance by Ian Ferrier and others, and The Vallum Society for Arts and Letters Education presents major Australian poet John Kinsella at Centaur Theatre, Oct. 25. Check the Mirror's spoken word listings for more details on all these shows.

Out to launch

Launch fever starts Sept. 23 at Casa del Popolo with the release of Norman Nawrocki's gleefully political solo spoken word CD, Duck Work. "It will be my 18th release in 18 years of releasing, performing, and writing," says a beaming Nawrocki. The Delirium Press Chapbook launch happens on the same day over at Zeke's at 7:30 p.m. Mega-talent Kaie Kellough puts out his new poetry book, Lettricity, on Oct. 9 at Casa, with a little help from superb Vancouver poet Wayde Compton.

Toronto's Coach House Books will launch a passel of its authors at Casa del Popolo on Oct. 24, including Rob Benvie, Geoff Brown, Mark Truscott, Heather Birrell and Montreal's own Jon Paul Fiorentino. It's co-sponsored by Matrix magazine, launching its fall issue at the same show. Other tomes to look for: Corey Frost unleashes his latest book of quirky tales, The Worthwhile Flux, in December, when he returns from a globe-girdling performance tour, and Todd Swift's new poetry collection, Rue du Regarde, will also be hitting the shelves this autumn.

Zine fans will be salivating over the super-sized 10th issue of Fish Piss and the second Lickety-Split smut anthology, both to be launched this fall; Fish Piss editor Louis Rastelli is keen to add a fifth Distroboto machine to the network of goodies-dispensers, which will feature a new line of francophone poets and ranters from Les Éditions Rodrigol, and new Wired on Words minis from Paula Belina, Erin May and Vince Tinguely(!). For a wide selection of zines, chapbooks and other lovingly hand-crafted work, check out The Streeteaters Artist Market at Zeke's Gallery on the last Sunday of every month, noon-6 p.m. And we can expect the third annual Expozine zine fair to take place in November; check www.expozine.ca for details and info on how to reserve a table.

Aspiring slam artists take note: there's a Spoken Word Olympics happening in Ottawa, Oct. 7-10, at the National Library of Canada. Montrealers Ferrier, Erik R. of Solo Vox, and Eve Langevin are on the slate. For more info: www.wordolympics.com.