MUSELETTER #19
2/19/2000
Hi everybody,
Our 12, count 'em 12!, Museletter correspondents are gathering poetry, news & gossip from all over North America & beyond -- and they want to hear from YOU. If you have something you think other Museletter readers should know about, send it to your nearest correspondent:
- MONTREAL/CANADA
Ian Ferrier - MIAMI/FLORIDA
Leonardo Della Rocca - LOS ANGELES
Larry Jaffe - BOSTON/NEW ENGLAND
Robyn Su Millerz - NEW YORK/NORTHEAST
Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz - AUSTIN/TEXAS
Stazja McFadyen - MIDWEST
Jason Pettus - ORANGE COUNTY/SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Victor Infante - VIRGINIA/DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Shann Palmer - SEATTLE/PACIFIC NORTHWEST
Bob Redmond - NEW MEXICO/SOUTHWEST
Gary Glazner - SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA
Jennifer Joseph
Margy Snyder & Bob Holman
Your About.com Poetry Guides
POETRY IS EVERYWHERE AT ABOUT.COM
If our recent series of features from the Against All Odds Conference on African Languages & Literatures into the 21st Century has sparked your interest in African poets & poetries, you'll want to visit About.com's African Cultures site for more information from Guide Vanissa James-Davis:
- African Oral Traditions -- an overview of the poetic & narrative traditions from south of the Saraha, including:
- African Praise Name Poetry
- Griot Storytelling
- Net links to pages on African writers like Chinua Achebe, Ken Saro-Wiwa & more
SAN FRANCISCO/BAY AREA
Juliette Torrez' Kapow!
Lots of coming and going as usual around the Bay Area, never a dull moment. . . recently, it's been never a dry moment because it's been raining for weeks, but that hasn't put a damper on anything. . . heh, heh. . . and here now is the news, shmooze, etc.
Indefatigable poetry enthusiast Juliette Torrez (recently rumored to be romantically linked with poet James Tracy) has launched a very fabulous publishing venture called Kapow!, which combines poetry with art by top-notch comix artists. The publications are the same size as mini-comics, but have extremely high production values. Order them from Last Gasp Mail Order (800-366-5121). So far, Juliette has produced two collections of her own work, and one of hilarious poems by Shappy. In the works are new releases by Kenn Rodriguez, Jon Longhi, and Matthew John Conley.
Lisa Martinovic back in San Francisco
Lisa Martinovic, former Arkansas slamgal, has returned to the Bay Area. She recently penned a moving tribute to an old surfing buddy, published on the San Francisco Chronicle's Op-Ed page. Rumor has it that she's working on a slam scene piece for the same major daily.
Phoenix Poetry Festival
Daphne Gottlieb and Bucky Sinister are headed down to Phoenix, Arizona for the nascent Poetry Festival there, which fills the February gap left by the missing-in-action Albuquerque P-Fest. Check out Bucky's dot.com dayjob -- Beth Lisick works there, too. Thank God somebody's employing these writers to write!
National Youth Poetry Slam
Meanwhile, things are gearing up for the first National Youth Poetry Slam Festival, which will be held here in SF this spring. James Kass of Youth Speaks is the organizer. Stay tuned.
Anne Carson at SF State
The Poetry Center at SF State is presenting one of Michael Ondaatje's (you know who that is, right? if you don't, go look him up at Borders.com) favorite poets, Anne Carson, on Thursday February 24, 7:30 pm, at The Unitarian Center, 1187 Franklin. She's a classics scholar as well as a hot poet, and she's teaching at UC Berkeley this spring, which is good because she usually lives in Montreal.
Manic D Press Anniversary Celebration
Manic D Press is celebrating its 15th year of publishing, and as Indie-Press-of-the-Month at Modern Times Bookstore, all Manic D books are 25 per cent off throughout February -- that includes books by Beth Lisick, Justin Chin, Tarin Towers, Jeffrey McDaniel, and dozens of other swell writers.
Bay Area Reading/Slam Venues
And if you're looking to read or slam in the Bay Area, here are a few places to visit. . .
- Paradise Lounge - Every Sunday - 8 pm. 11th and Folsom Sts. Ages 21+.
- Cafe International - Every Friday - 9 pm. Haight and Fillmore Sts. All ages.
- Oakland Slam - Every Thursday - Sign-up 7:30, slam 8 pm. Mambo Mambo - 1803 Webster Ave, near Lake Merritt. All ages.
- SF Slam - Second Sunday Monthly - Sign-up 7:30, show 8 pm. The Justice League - 628 Divisidero near Hayes. Ages 21+.
- Berkeley Slam - Last Wednesday Monthly - 8:30-11:00 pm. Starry Plough - 3101 Shattuck.
NEW MEXICO/SOUTHWEST
A Retraction
Let me start with this retraction from my first Museletter. Correction: Laura Conway never edited Paul Polansky's Stray Dog, book of boxing poems. She edited his novel, Storm. She was paid a fee to edit the book and after reading the book contacted the publisher with concerns she had regarding the material. My apology to her for the inaccuracies in my original report.
Santa Fe Poetry Broadside
Congratulations to Miriam Bobkoff and Miriam Sagan on the one year birthday of their Web site, Santa Fe Poetry Broadside, which features, among others, Joan Logghe, Leo Romero, Mary McGinnis and John Brandi.
Dana Levin
Dana Levin reads at St. John's College 7 pm Tuesday, February 22nd. Her new book, In the Surgical Theater, is a must-read box office smash. She will be introduced by the dashing Michael Schofield.
Recursos de Santa Fe Discovery Readings
Recursos de Santa Fe has a call for submissions for its Discovery Reading Series. Submit the work you intend to read (5-10 minutes); it should be typed and double spaced on one side of 81/2 by 11 paper, and submitted in duplicate. Deadline is March 1st. Send submission, check or money order for $5 and a biographical note to:Discovery CompetitionBe the first kid on your block to send in poems for this great reading!
c/o Recursos de Santa Fe
826 Camino de Monte Rey A3
Santa Fe, NM 87505
Lannan Readings & Conversations: Mark Strand
The Lannan Foundation Readings and Conversations spring series kicked off with Mark Strand, reading mostly from his new book, Chicken, Shadow, Moon, and More. This was the first time the book was read in public. Strand, who describes himself as “a real spooky, eerie, funny guy,” is calling the material “lists,” as opposed to “poems,” although they sound a lot like poems to me. They reminded me of Neruda's Odes in the way they elevated the common to poetry. In each of Strand's lists he chooses a theme; for instance, one list was on “throat.” Strand returns to his theme word like a jazz musician returns to the melody, bringing new shades of meaning and emotion to each riff. His best line was deadpanning, “You might ask am I learning something,” regarding his lists. The series continues with Gish Jen on March 1st, Chet Raymo on April 26th, and Jamaica Kincaid on May 17th.
Your Scoop For the Day
Here is your scoop for the day: Bob Holman will challenge Sherman Alexie at this years' World Heavyweight Poetry Bout at the Taos Poetry Circus in June. To find out more and get on the mailing list for Taos events, write to the World Poetry Bout Association. Holman is reported to be eating a Shakespeare sonnet a day for training, in addition to working on a super top-secret poem combining Harry Potter and Pokemon.
(Pssst, don't tell Sherman. . .)
Fireside Reading Series at the Inn on the Alameda
Marc Smith will be the featured reader at the Fireside Readings series at the Inn on the Alameda on March 10th, 6 to 7pm, in Santa Fe. Your Southwest Museletter correspondent will host the event, with what has been described as my “easy going, goofy style.”
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA/ORANGE COUNTY
Equal Time For Equal Counties
It has come to my attention that I have been, dare I say it, negligent in some of my duties as a Southern California correspondent. . . have been. . . how do I say. . . biased towards my home of Orange County at the expense of all the other nifty counties that surround it. And yeah, OC boasts the Mighty Ducks, the Crystal Cathedral and other freak shows of humanity, but still, I should spare a minute in print for the other guys, the ones suffering without correspondents of their own.
San Diego
For example, I got a very nice note from Tomas Riley, of the Taco Shop poets, who wrote “I know San Diego often lives in the shadow of our vecinos to the norte, but it hasn't stopped us from trying to be productive. I'm a member of the San Diego based Chicano collective The Taco Shop Poets, and I'm just writing to invite you to check out our Web site for some information about the group. We've recently released a book and an accompanying CD (both going into their second printing, having sold about 500 of each) and have been making an effort to take Chicano poetry all across the nation. This is shameless self-promotion, I know, but what's a local colectiva such as ours supposed to do? Thanks for your time and attention. Keep up the good work 'mano!”
Well, Tomas, we will be delinquent no more! Let North and South embrace like brothers! They have a few events coming up and are working on others including:We also received word from Calaca Press, about the “Palabradas” series at the Centro Cultural de la Raza, Sunday February 20th. “The Centro Cultural de la Raza in San Diego is going to have its first Palabradas monthly reading/performance series from 3-5pm. We still have some time slots for performers, poetry, dance, canto, and theater skits. Available time slots are from 5 mins to 45 mins. Those that would like to present should email Jerry Calderon of the Centro, or fill out a form at the Centro. We will need a brief summary of the performance and duration time. Deadline for submissions for the first reading/performance is Feb 13. (Okay, a little too late now to sign up, but you can still catch the show if you’re in the neighborhood.) Palabradas is a monthly artistic series that will provide a venue for new and professional artists and artistic groups to demonstrate expressions of Chicana/o, Indigenous, Latina/o, and Mexican arts and culture.”
- Workshop at Cal State San Marcos Feb 21
- Sushi Gallery, San Diego Feb 24
- La Pena, Berkeley in March, date/time TBA
- Espresso Mi Cultura, Hollywood, March, date/time TBA
- April 12-16 Boston University (15th) with a swing through NY
- April 27, Quincy Troupe's “Artists on the Cutting Edge,” San Diego, Museum of Contemporary Art
Riverside
And, from OC’s dusty inland neighbor, we received this little note from writer/actor/wacky professor Mike Cluff:
“I am happy to reannounce correctly that the first Mega Read of 2000 will occur on the Riverside Community College Norco Campus at 8 pm, Saturday February 19th. The reading is free and will be held in the Little Theater. Reading on that date will be Second Shadow with new member Brandy Burrows, Damien Rowe, Chris Tannahill, Beth McIlvaine and Ben Porter Lewis. Join us for some jammin' good stuff.”
The four names we actually know on that list are amongst our favorites, so how could we not share the love on this one. Sure, it’s inland, and most of us coastal types don’t drive East, but hey! Good poetry’s worth the two hours on the 91 Freeway!
Los Angeles
LA’s big enough for two or three people to cover it, so here’s a note that came along from that county’s distant Northern tip:
“I just discovered your Southern California Poetry Currents page on the About site (bravo!) and wanted to let you know about the upcoming San Gabriel Valley poetry festival being held at multiple venues during the month of April. There will be readings, workshops, discussions and contests. I hope you can attend. We're not exactly Orange county, but we have some exciting things going on in our local poetry scene.”
Of course, the Valley, aside from being like, totally grody to the max, is the stomping grounds of my close personal friends, the Valley Contemporary Poets, who sent along this note:
“Our second reading at our new venue brings us Los Angeles local poet Lee Rossi and Liz Waldner from Mt. Vernon, Iowa. Lee Rossi is the author of Beyond Rescue (Bombshelter Press, 1992). His work has appeared in the anthologies Grand Passion, Truth & Lies That Press for Life, & New Los Angeles Poets as well as in journals such as The Sun, Poetry East, Chelsea, The Wormwood Review, Poetry/LA, & the Los Angeles Times. He has also served as editor of the early 90's poetry magazine Tsunami and on the Organizing Committee of the Los Angeles Poetry Festival. Currently, he is fine tuning two unpublished manuscripts and assembling a third.
“Liz Waldner is a defiant strategist, a 'Mapper of (Possible) Fact,' a femme fatale of the spoken (as written) word. A serious, silly shilly-shallier bent on demonstrating language as the 'future's suture's revenue -- the shining hour improved,' she is that rare poet in any era -- the daring (darling) smarty-pants we giddily follow into the water (as well as to all other wheres).” --Mary Jo Bang. Liz is a new Assistant Professor of English at Cornell College. She is the author of the well-received book, Homing Devices (San Francisco: O Press, 1999), and the winner of the 2000 Iowa poetry prize for her forthcoming book, A Point is That Which Has No Part. Bring something to read in the open reading.”
You can also pick up copies of their new anthology Beyond The Valley of the Contemporary Poets 1999 Anthology (Valley Contemporary Press) at $10 a copy at their reading.Sunday February 20, 3:00 pm
North Hollywood Library
5211 Tujunga Avenue, North Hollywood
(Corner of Magnolia in the shadow of the Amelia Earhart statue)
$3.00 suggested donation
Finally, our good friend Mifanwy Kaiser, editor of Spillway Literary Journal, sent this along:
“Spoons, Relationships, and Stray Dogs. . . and other Millennium Issues” -- We all survived the millennium. But what of it? ONTHEBUS Poets Series is looking for the best poems, essays, or stories for publication in Fall 2000. Deadline April 30. Send typed submissions, brief bio to Bombshelter Press/Kalimat Press, 1600 Sawtelle Blvd., Suite 310, Los Angeles, CA 90025. 310-479-5668. KalimatP@aol.com.”For now, just drop me an email if you want more info on this, or if you just want to say “hello!” Goodbye!
