Readings

I had a great time reading at The Village Jester Restaurant & Pub tonight. We live all of three blocks away, so I grabbed a music stand and a handful of poems, and Val and I walked there through a balmy May night. In addition to being a great hangout and gathering place, The Jester also pours a strong Rose’s Lime and soda.

The open mic was remarkable for the raw, authentic nature of each piece. And, special bonus, my father read a poem as well — something he hadn’t done since he was nineteen, and read at an open mic prior to the feature of a different Robert — Robert Frost.

Many thanks to Tree Bernstein and The Jester for bringing good people to a good spot to share some poems. I can’t think of a better way to start the week.

I happened to be in the Los Angeles area this weekend, so I made my way over to Tarzana to hear Jamie O’Halloran, Richard Modiano, Rick Lupert, Elizabeth Iannaci, Amélie Frank and Brendan Constantine - all former directors of the Valley Contemporary Poets - read a few poems each.

The afternoon opened up with two songs from the Gospel and close-harmony Soul duet Sandbloom. Normally I’m fairly averse to musical acts at a reading since I feel they sort of unfairly alter the attenuation of the audience’s ear with the inherently more aurally rich experience of music. Sort of a similar reason for not opening a classical music concert with a heavy metal act. That said, this band actually seemed to warm the audience up in an effective way with their gentle, compelling and sonorous songs.

Jamie O’Halloran read lyrical verse that seemed to have been carefully attended-to and crafted. Richard Modiano read more politically charged work that seemed a kind of observational humor, with the humor knob turned down. Rick Lupert, by contrast, is widely known as a funny poet, dry as a Santa Ana wind. But his is a talent equally suited to any subject in poetry - unique observation born of an unusual turn of mind.

After the break, and another song, Elizabeth Iannaci read poem after poem that can only be described as solid. Her work draws strength from compelling imagery and compression, the real fundamentals of most poetry that one can never learn too well. Amélie Frank arrived late after what she called “an industrial cat hair disaster” and read a variety of somewhat conversational, confessional poems. Brendan Constantine rounded the afternoon out with a few history lessons about the “good old days” of the VCP (as it’s known) and a blend of poetics positioned somewhere between Lupert’s leaps of wit, Iannaci’s strong spare imagery and O’Halloran’s careful craft. Unfortunately, he kept wringing his hands and twisting his fingers whenever he read a poem (though he appeared remarkably more composed while simply talking between poems) - giving a certain kind of energy to the reading itself but also, unfortunately, making him look a bit like a conniving mad scientist.

It is great to see the VCP alive and well, with a lovely home base in the Tarzana Cultural Center, a long line of supportive past directors, and a crew of new directors who seem eager to carry the torch. Poetry happens in the darndest of places - and “the valley” of all valleys (as it’s known to popular culture) - is clearly no exception.

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“If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.”

Despite a tough week at work following our moving house, I felt compelled to finally make it out to Bart’s Outlaw Poets series to hear Phil Taggart read. I’m glad I did. I have been looking for ways to relate to deeply personal subject matter in my own work, and was moved by Phil’s commitment to the same. He read from a number of his “Rick Poems” - poems about his severely schizophrenic brother - which ranged from language poetry to a spare, conversational style. It is hard for me to say in concrete terms what I took away tonight, but suffice it to say I have a deepened and renewed respect for what Rilke might call “the difficult” - and the need to bring it forth with dignity and restraint.

The 2007 Ojai Poetry Festival has come and gone. Whew! We started deep planning back in 2006 - and the day-and-a-half of readings and discussions, as well as all the between-the-lines schmoozing and feasting - absolutely flew by. It was great to have Sandra Alcosser in town. She teaches at Pacific, and I was really impressed, during the January residency, with her generosity and keen interest in each student’s development. She gave up her lunch hours to meet with us individually and discuss the larger project of our work as a whole. A truly delightful woman, and a force to be reckoned with in the intersection between environmentalism and art.

She gave a dynamite reading alongside Sherman Alexie on Friday night. Alexie is a natural entertainer and wry comedian. He interspersed observational humor into poems of deep pathos about growing up on the reservation. He rarely missed an opportunity to quip about the insular attitudes of white liberals or to denounce himself as a “bad indian” for his modern urban lifestyle. He is no doubt a complex person grappling with many issues both personal and universal, articulating through the funny and poignant, glib and sincere.

María Meléndez read from what can only be called the most experimental body of work in the group - involving song, audience participation, word fragments and pictograms (such as a hand with upraised middle finger) printed in the middle of her poems. Alongside Alcosser and Gary Snyder, she spoke about the intersection of art and science during the Saturday morning panel. This is a topic squarely in Alcosser’s domain as well, who is fresh from a project of choosing nature poems to display in Central Park - a project which is reputed to have raised environmental awareness by 48% among the park’s four million visitors per year.

A host of outstanding regional poets read on Saturday afternoon - equally eclectic and engaging. The festival closed on Sunday night with Gary Snyder reading at length from Danger on Peaks and discussing the environmental implications of poetry and Buddhist philosophy - including how hope and compassion can reign even in the face of death. Both evenings all four poets were joined by a chorus of spring peepers, crickets and birds. Sunday night we were also treated to Venus in almost perfect conjunction with a crescent moon - like a great question mark blazing in the night sky.

I am grateful for having played my small part in bringing this festival to Ojai for another season and, frankly, glad to know it is all done - and done well. Thanks to all four poets for gracing us with their presences, to the regional poets and all the tireless organizers and volunteers - especially Tami Haggard and Jim Lenfestey - for bringing another magical season of poetry to Ojai’s Libbey Bowl.

Due in part to a migraine at the end of a long week, I once again didn’t manage to make it to the Outlaw Poets reading on Friday night. However, I did finally make it out to the Arcade Poetry Series reading in Oxnard last night to hear Dian Sousa and Jimm Cushing. The venue was one of the countless libraries built by Andrew Carnegie around the turn of the last century - a multi-story white Neoclassical renovated into a spacious visual art gallery. The exhibit of photographs from Tibet, currently on display until May 20th, was worth the $3 admission in itself.

Dian Sousa read exuberant poems from her first and (newly published) second collection of poems. Her work exhibits a voracious creativity and tremendous capacity for unique image and metaphor. She read longer poems with strong narrative threads, though if there is any fault with this vigorous work, Sousa might benefit from striking out the occasional weaker line, striving for greater compression. Still, she read extremely well, entertaining and edifying the thirty-person audience with some truly magical themes. Her work is exciting, original, and vibrant - expressing her belief, which she shared that night, that “if you’re not in love with the world every day, you can lose your job as a poet.”

Jackson Wheeler, who hosts this series now in its eighteenth year, introduced Jimm Cushing with a highly flattering quote from W.S. Merwyn about Cushing’s earlier work, illustrating Cushing’s prestigious lineage. Cushing began his reading with a sampling of poems by a variety of other authors published by Cahuenga Press. His generosity, and belief in poetry as a discipline best nurtured by collaboration rather than competition, shone through in his obvious appreciation of these other poets.

I read a range of poems, many new pieces fueled by the MFA - and even some poems about the passing of our son. It was the first time reading them in public, save for a few I read in workshop at the last residency. It felt necessary - like it was time; another stage of honoring and letting go. I also dedicated the first part of the reading to the memory of Sandford Lyne, opening with one of his poems, reading a couple new translations I had done of Machado and Neruda (two of his favorites) and ending the first section with a eulogy in honor of his great spirit.

The place was packed. Roe, our indefatigable host, joked that the event was a sell-out just like Mary Oliver’s reading last week (though Cambell Hall admittedly does hold one or two more people than the Gallery). Still, it was nice to see standing room only. More high praise and fond support: Doris brought her cookies and of course left with an empty bowl. I could not have had a more supportive group in which to read such intimate and personal poems.

Seeing Li-Young Lee read from his own deeply sorrowful, grief-stricken poems last week gave me a model for what it means to honor the experience and honor the art even though it is deeply personal. I felt in some way that seeing him read gave me the strength to do what I had to do tonight.

I will be reading as a featured poet in the Artist’s Union Gallery’s annual Erotic Poetry Benefit. This reading celebrates the erotic in the broadest sense - works that evoke yearning, longing, and loss, as well as the more traditional praises of desire and tributes to the beloved. The reading will be held in conjunction with the gallery’s annual erotic art exhibit, and all proceeds go to benefit the gallery’s good works. The event starts on Saturday, Feb. 10th at 7:00 pm and there is a $10 donation at the door. The gallery is located at 330 South California Street in Ventura.

The Spoken Word Salon at Zoey’s Cafe in Ventura will hold its final reading after an outstanding five years running on Thursday, December 21st at 7:30 PM. Some more details are available here.

I had a great time at the “Friday On Saturday” reading at the Bell Arts Factory tonight. The open mic was one strong poem after another. I read about a dozen poems, mostly newer work including poems from my application to Pacific. I felt well received and appreciated the opportunity to read as a featured poet again (I have been on hiatus for over four years). People hung around long after the evening officially ended, enjoying the coffee and cookies.

The series will take a break in December and January, so I will looking forward to more great evenings of poetry starting up again in February. Thanks to Friday Lubina for another great event, and also to my sister Lisa Peake for putting up fliers in Ventura and Ojai to let people know about the reading. I met some new poets and poetry fans tonight, and appreciate the community support.

My first night at the Bell Arts Factory, I heard Cathryn Andresen read a pantoum and was mesmerized. That experience, in part, helped me realize some of the potential of formal poetry in my own work. Tonight she read a wide range of forms: rhyming, free verse, limericks, and kimo, showcasing poems largely forged in local workshops. The mood varied from light sexy humor to aching trauma, and she demonstrated a strong commitment to vulnerability, insight, and craft.

This series has emerged as a strong supportive force in the community thanks to Friday Lubina. She has just the right mix of poise, humor, and tireless cheerleading to keep the evening focused yet relaxed and above all highly positive. I’m really looking forward to reading there next month.