This Thursday, April 21, nine Bay Area poets will take part in a special evening of ekphrastic poetry at the San Jose Museum of Art.  Ekphrasis, you may know, is an artistic comment on another work of art.   Thursday at the SJMA, visitors can travel through the exhibits in the company of poets who will read their poems about the artwork.  I’m going to be reading a poem about a video installation by Japanese artist Tabaima called yudangami.  

Other participating poets are Arlene Biala, Lorenz Dumuk, Asha Sudra Finkel, Mike McGee, David Perez, Nils Peterson, Janice Sapigao, and Ann Sherman.

The show starts at 7:00.  Tickets are $5.00 after 5:00.  For members, the event is free.  Come join us!

Hi, young poets,

Our Cupertino Rotary Club’s Poetry Contest is open to middle schoolers in the CUSD and high schoolers in the FUHSD.  HOWEVER, we forgot to say that it is also open to students who RESIDE in those districts but attend a private school or are home schooled.  If that’s you, then please send us your poems!  Each student may submit up to three poems.

Remember, the deadline is April 15.  Entries must address the theme, “Be a Gift to the World.”  See the previous CPL blog post about that.  Send entries to Irmgard Lafrentz, member of the Rotary Youth Commission at irmgard@globalpresspr.com.

–Amanda

Hello, Poetry Lovers!

Two of Cupertino’s Poets Laureate will read at Florey’s Book Company in Pacifica on Saturday, March 26, from 7:30-9:30 p.m.  The bookstore is located at 2021 Palmetto Avenue, Pacifica, CA 94044.

Jennifer Swanton Brown, Cupertino’s second Poet Laureate, and I, our third and current Poet Laureate, are excited to read together.  I’ll be sharing poems from my poetry memoir project about growing up in rural Ohio.  Many of these poems are hot off the press (of my computer printer under a table in my living room) and you may be the first listeners to hear them!

There will be time for open mic readers as well, so bring your poetry to share.  I hope to see you there.  Hey, that rhymes….  Hmm….  I know!  Don’t be square.  Let down your hair.  Dance yourselves on down there.  If you can’t get a partner, use a wooden chair.

I’ll stop now.  You’re welcome.

In conjunction with Cupertino’s Rotary Club, I’m excited to announce that organization’s first poetry contest.

Please help us spread the word and encourage students to enter.  This is an exciting opportunity.  In each age group, three prizes will be awarded.  First prize is $100.  Second prize is $50.  Third prize is $25.

I am offering what I hope will be a cornerstone of my term as Cupertino’s third Poet Laureate:  a Poetry Memoir Class!

Memoirs can be tricky.   Have you ever thought of writing a memoir, but you aren’t sure how to go about it?  Maybe you’ve started and become stuck.  Maybe you haven’t started because the task seems too enormous.   Or maybe (hopefully!) you are really enjoying the memoir writing process, and you’d like to find a creative way to complement your work.  Yes?  Well, this class is for you.  A poetry memoir is an approachable, definitely doable project!

The class will help writers create a collection of interrelated poems.  In a fun and affirming atmosphere, beginning and experienced poets will discover ways to write about the “cast of characters” and the “settings” of their lives.  There will be plenty of examples and exercises to give poets concrete, meaningful, and productive writing experiences.  Poets can also learn about other writers who work with poetry and memoir, discovering a broader, deeper world of reading to enjoy.

The main goal, of course, is to HAVE FUN while preserving our memories in this beautiful, powerful art form.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a small book of poems for your life?  Yes!  We will write together, and each class session will send participants home with two or more poems for their memoirs.

Attend the whole course or drop in for a day.  Each session will be a stand-alone class, so you won’t be lost in Class 3, for example, if you could not come to Class 1 or 2.

Meetings will be in the Cupertino Library Story Room from 10:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. on February 26, March 11, March 25, April 8, and April 22.  There is no fee.  Please bring a notebook.

An RSVP is helpful but not necessary.  Show up spontaneously if you like!  Thanks, everyone.  I hope to see you there.  Oh, and bring your friends.

Please join us for Amanda’s first Poetry Party workshop, “Resolute Creativity,” in the Cupertino Library’s Story Room on Thursday, January 14, 2016 at 7:00 p.m.

Resolve to enjoy more creativity in your life in 2016.  Writers will share strategies for keeping active as we read and write poems.  We’ll also explore the link between scent and memory as we check out some interesting (pleasant!) scents and create a sensory portrait.  We’ll also enjoy a visual art activity.

As one of the co-founders* of Media Poetry Studio it was my huge pleasure to attend the celebratory viewing of the students’ video poems. The event was held August 1, 2015, at the Milpitas Library. Not having ever been to that really really interesting venue, I enjoyed the historic building almost as much as the poetry.

If you head over to the MPS website, you can see the videos of the poems, created by the students. You can follow MPS on Facebook and see more photos.

*It was a “Three Poets Laureate” project, but I was never one of the directors — all kudos and huzzahs for the fabulous outcome of MPS goes to Erica Goss and David Perez. Here we are, three poets laureate: Erica, me and David.