This Sunday I’ll be joining the lovely Erica Goss, Los Gatos Poet Laureate, for her Poetry Kitchen reading series. Come hear! And, come read — there will be an open mic following.
September 21, 2014 update: Here’s a photo of Erica and me, after the event. It was so much fun. I hope to attend the upcoming readings in the series. Photo by Amanda Williamson.
Wow, “Running of the Poets” was completely fun. I had a great time with a group of truly fine poets and one little boy: Keith Ekiss, Robin Ekiss, Maurine Killough, Kalamu Chaché and Santa Clara Poet Laureate David Perez. The audience was good, too, which I didn’t really expect at an event known for livestock and screamer rides. The quilts were stunning. David Perez and I had lime cake, which was divine, courtesy of some cute 4-H-ers. I hope I get asked back next year.
The featured photo here is of our hostess, Caroline Goodwin (San Mateo County PL), with David Perez and me. We were exhausted from running and having our picture taken, I think.
This is a shot of Poetess Kalamu Chaché — poetry spiritual leader and laureate of East Palo Alto.
This is the wall of poem entries. Dazzling.
Here’s one of me painting a “poem” on an art exhibit elsewhere at the fair. Photo credit by David Perez.
Here’s a great pig.
Here are some awesome jars of mango and lemon jam.
The rest of the photos can be seen on my Flickr album.
Almost a month later, I’m finally getting around to posting photos.
The second in my series of “Unsung Holiday” poetry readings, the Loving Day reading (June 12, 2014) was a lovely event — we had a great turnout and the venue was perfect. Here is a photo of me with my featured readers, (left to right) Michael Cross, (yours truly, Jennifer Swanton Brown), Erica Goss, and Bob Dickerson.
I opened the reading with Natasha Trethewey‘s poem about her parents interracial marriage, “Early Evening, Frankfurt Kentucky” — which of course has the important quality of not mentioning their races. When she was born in 1966 her parents’ marriage was illegal in Mississippi. Her birth certificate listed her mother’s race as “Colored” and her father’s as “Canadian.”
This photo is “of me in my element” taken by my friend Ellen.
The Euphrat Gallery at De Anza College is a great place for a poetry reading and the staff there were friendly, helpful, attentive and smart. Just what you need when you’re a nervous M.C.
Joining Erica (second from the left) in this photo are (left to right) Amanda Williamsen, Dave Denny, and Adrian Kolb. Amanda (who was a featured reader at the April Fool’s Day event) read a riotous poem during our open mic session. Dave Denny, is of course, my friend and Cupertino’s first PL, and Adrian is a member of the Cupertino Library Commission and the captain of my Poetry Posse — without whom most Cupertino PL events would be a mess or non-existent.
Behind us is a whirling sculpture of nails — a remarkable work of art. I wish I had jotted down the name of that De Anza student artist.
At the Literary Stage. Hosted by Caroline Goodwin, I’ll be there will David Perez — we’ll be representing Santa Clara County at our sister county’s fair.
I’ll be running with the poets tonight at the San Mateo County Fair! Should be fun. Come eat your corn dogs and hear you some poetry!
Photos from the event can be found at this July 19, 2014 post.
June 12 is “Loving Day” (every year) and this year I’ll be hosting the second poetry reading in my Unsung Holidays series. (Remember April Fool’s Day?)
“Loving Day” is an annual celebration held on June 12, the anniversary of the 1967 United States Supreme Court decision Loving v. Virginia which struck down all anti-miscegenation laws remaining in sixteen U.S. states citing “There can be no doubt that restricting the freedom to marry solely because of racial classifications violates the central meaning of the equal protection clause.” According to the official website, there are official celebrations all over the world every year. This year, in Cupertino, we’re having a poetry reading.
I will be hosting, but the poems will belong to my three featured readers:
The reading will be at the Euphrat Museum, on De Anza College campus. 7-9 pm, open mic to follow. We hope you will join us!
Cupertino Poet Laureate April Poetry Events
April 1 “Unsung Holidays: April Fool’s Day” Poetry Reading with Jennifer Swanton Brown and Guest poets: Stephanie Pressman & Amanda Williamsen, Peet’s Coffee & Tea, Stevens Creek Blvd, Cupertino 7-9 pm
April 4 Mary Avenue Dog Park Dedication, 5-6:30 pm
April 17 Art and Poetry: 5th Annual SJMA Poetry Invitational, San Jose Museum of Art “Initial Public Offering” poetry and art, 7 pm
April 19 Erica Goss & Friends Poetry Reading, Friends Bookstore, 110 East Main Street, Los Gatos, 2-4 pm
April 26/27 Cupertino Cherry Blossom Festival – Surprise poetry games and opportunities for the whole family! Memorial Park
Check out these local websites for all kinds of poetry month activities brought to you by my friends and colleagues.
Erica Goss: Los Gatos Poet Laureate
Starting with Book Launch Party for Vibrant Words: Ideas and Inspirations for Poets, Come and meet Erica and the members of PushPen Press for a reading and book-signing, CB Hannegan’s Restaurant, 208 Bachman Ave., Los Gatos CA 95030, Wednesday, April 2 at 6:00 pm
David Perez, Santa Clara County Poet Laureate
“National Poetry Month is upon us, and here are my upcoming events! Also, as many have requested, here is the video of the speech I gave at my reception. If you have questions, email me at info@thedavidperez.com. If you want reminders as events get closer, follow my Twitter @dperezer. Enjoy your poetry month!”
San Mateo County Poet Laureate Caroline Goodwin
Including Tuesday, April 22 – 9:00 a.m., Poetry Reading at the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors Meeting, Board Chambers, 400 County Center, Redwood City
This coming Tuesday, April 1, will be the first of a series of poetry readings I’m hosting in Cupertino. Join the event on Facebook. Or just show up and have a cuppa with us at Peet’s. Guest poets will be Stephanie Pressman and Amanda Williamsen.
You may remember Stephanie and Amanda, as they were the first and second place winners in last year’s Cupertino Poetry Contest, sponsored by Dave Denny, the first CupPL. Read about that event and remember here.
Stephanie is third from the left. Amanda is third from the right. I’m the tall one in the green scarf. We had fun that evening. That’s Dave in the middle with the glasses and handsome beard.
Saratoga Blossom Festival Reading
Join me, Dave Denny, the first Cupertino Poet Laureate, and other local poets at a reading this Saturday in a Saratoga orchard. Spring poems will be blooming!
This poem, the genesis of which I described in an earlier post, is an example of how to embellish your poetry with “junk and stuff” you can easily find on the internet. Hyperlinks are easy, and while they might take your reader away from your poem temporarily, they might also provide context or audience to a poem that might enjoy a little of both.
Ode to an Oddball Winter
A giant runaway snowball
crashed into a college dorm.
Nothing about this winter
fits the norm.
Floodwaters rise in England
taking lives and homes –
Eliot’s strong brown god
groans.
Drought in California!
Farmers and ranchers fear,
gardeners, fishermen, skiers
stow their gear.
Brutal ice in Georgia
cancels Valentine’s Day.
Power’s out, trees are lost,
skies are gray.
Winter comes to all;
none are spared its pain.
Some will find its beauty
and love again.
Darkness threatens the spirit,
but shivering warms the blood.
Daily the light shines longer on
first bud.
Let’s write a poem for pleasure,
tell a story to coax a smile,
sing a song to offer solace,
survive in style.
If you’re writing a poem to enter in the Cupertino Library’s Silicon Valley Reads Poetry Contest, this is one way to get your poem to speak both on the page and in the techno-sphere.
Another place to explore, if you want ideas for how to combine poetry and other media, I suggest you visit The Poetry Storehouse. They have a host of videos that use poetry and I encourage browsing there. A “remix” I did of Erica Goss’s poem “Afternoon in the Shape of a Pear” is another type of poem + technology fun. I am still drawn more to collage than to video, but the field is wide open. Go for it!
Even though there is so much to watch on TV these days, what with the Olympics and Downtown Abby, I am hoping you might have a moment to watch this segment of local Los Gatos (CA) TV. My friend Erica Goss, the current Los Gatos Poet Laureate, has a local show called “Word to Word” about poetry. For her first segment this year, she invited me to be her guest. I was nervous and in need of a better stylist (I had to borrow her lipstick, not having any of my own) but she was gentle and we had a good chat.
I’m on the first 14 minutes, and if you want to skip around you can find me discussing my work with California Poets in the Schools (from about 1:00) or mentioning my awesome Mom (4:39) or my plans for being Cupertino Poet Laureate (5:40). I read three of my poems, starting at around 9:06.
I hope you enjoy whatever portion of this you might watch — I find it very hard to watch myself, but my daughter says I have to get used to it if I’m going to be famous. Argh. Personally, I’d rather watch my 9-month old nephew waddle around the kitchen.
Please feel free to share the link in the interests of spreading poetry all over the place.
Cupertino Poet Laureate 