Halfway into its second season, the Artsmith Salon Series continues to introduce new elements to the monthly event.

“I’ve been inspired by radio shows like NPR’s Snap Judgment and Seattle’s Rain City Tales and Tunes to combine storytelling with musical performance, and record it for distribution. This next salon is a poet who’s a fantastic performer, and he’ll be backed by locals Alfred Bentley on sax and Andrew Moore on drums,” organizer Jennifer Brennock said. “Totally unrehearsed, but recorded. That’s the fun.”

The next salon is Monday, Feb. 7 at 7 p.m. at FIRE Smokehouse and Grill. The event is free and writers of all levels are encouraged to read during the open mic. The salon features a different off-island writer each month. Accomplished poet Dan Raphael performs Feb. 7.

“We’ve had requests for Dan after his reading at Doe Bay last year,” Brennock said.

A Portland resident, Raphael’s book, “Impulse and Warp: The Selected 20th Century Poems,” contains work from his first 13 books and represents over 26 years of publication. His poems have appeared in over 300 magazines, anthologies and web sites, including Caliban, Central Park, Heaven Bone, Portland Review, Knock Journal, Bellingham Review, and Radioactive Moat. He has performed at over 200 venues including Bumbershoot, Powell’s Books, Eastern Oregon University, Portland Jazz Festival, and Wordstock. His CD “Children of the Blue Supermarket” with two recordings with jazz sax and drums was released this month.

New York’s online magazine Rattapallax Press called Raphael’s work energetic and original, and their blog includes him among the most innovative Northwest poets who are “not afraid to let a little weirdness into their work.”

An audio recording of Raphael performing “Slammin Down” can be heard here.

“This is a local shoestring project, and somehow we pull it off with help from the community, including local artists and musicians, the Outlook Inn, FIRE, and local writer Ed Wilson,” Brennock said. “Someday I hope to be in Seattle and overhear, ‘You know that Orcas writers’ thing? Yeah, those writers up there are very weird. You need to check them out.’”

More info about the nonprofit Artsmith is available at orcasartsmith.org or 376-2025.