Articles in the Category of Readings

Redondo Beach Power of Art Festival Reading

Despite a stubbornly recurring sore throat, I made the journey down to Redondo Beach yesterday to read a few poems at the invitation of the Redondo Beach Power of Art Festival. It was a pleasure to join the lineup with such a diverse group of locals: Jared Johnson played Eastern melodies on his specially-tuned guitar, then read a few linguistically dense, abstract poems; Professor Anthony Lee read brave pieces about the human experience; Chicano poet Marcelino Miyares recited rhymed and unrhymed poems with a Christian influence; Charles Indika Perera read a variety of poems in his sonorous Sri Lankan accent; Brenda Petrakos performed pieces at the front of the stage combining poetry, song, and dramatic monologue; Barbara Rabinowitz read work ranging from haiku to mini-epics lamenting the environmental crisis in the Gulf of Mexico; and Hannibal Tabu recited poems about the shared plight of Mexican- and African-Americans, a love poem, and a poem about comic books. Continue Reading “Redondo Beach Power of Art Festival Reading” »

Reading at the Carnegie Art Museum, Oxnard

It was an honor to read poetry at the Carnegie Art Museum in Oxnard last night with Jamey Hecht. Jackson Wheeler has been running the Arcade Poetry Series for over twenty years, and Andrew Carnegie’s neoclassical bequest has played home to the series for the past decade. It is a charming venue, and Jackson is a gracious host.

Jamey read from his new collection, Limousine Midnight Blue, with the boldness and intensity of a talented stage actor, bringing to life his treatise on the Kennedy assassination and its harrowing repercussions. He also read from his translations of Sophocles, including passages from “Oedipus Rex” that brought this old classics warhorse vividly into the present, stamping and snorting.

Another treat was the opportunity to finally meet Glenna Luschei. Also, Fiona and Cameron from Lettre Sauvage showed up with their beautiful letterpress works. Their book-arts chapbooks, broadsides, and other printed paper craft can only be fully appreciated in person. Kudos to them for re-imagining the place of the printed book in the digital age.

And thanks most especially to Jackson, for his effusive generosity of spirit, which makes this series a local treasure.

Reading at the Ruskin Art Club

I spent a rich and meaningful afternoon reading poems with fellow Pacific University Alumni: Kathryn Belsey, Michelle Bitting, Jonathan Harris, and George Wallace–as well as eminent faculty member David St. John. The Ruskin Art Club played host, thanks to the ever-gracious Elena Karina Byrne, to this reunion of sorts. Afterward I heard audience members remark that they felt the variety and quality of the readings gave testament to the strength of Pacific’s writing program. David St. John kindly remarked that, to him, the real secret of teaching is that one actually gets back, through the students, so much more than one gives. It was an afternoon full of generosity and goodwill–not to mention outstanding poetry.

I also took this occasion to debut my new limited-edition broadside of the poem “Recipe for the Broken.” The poem was first published in “Walt’s Corner” of The Long Islander, the newspaper founded by Walt Whitman in 1838. Fittingly, the column is now curated by George Wallace. The poem and background image are printed on sturdy 8.5″ x 11″ paper as part of The Broadsider Volume 2, Series 12 (Poor Souls Press 2010), conceived and created by Paul Fericano. A limited quantity of hand-numbered and signed prints are now available for sale on this website.

An Unexpected Dedication

Robert Peake reads a poem next to "Elliot" the bear

Photo by Randy Graham

I broke away from work to attend the dedication ceremony for my neighbor Mark Benkert’s new memorial sculpture to the Aliso Street Bear (a.k.a “Elliot”). In introducing me to read the poem I wrote dedicated to the bear, Mark also mentioned something remarkable about the process of sculpting the memorial.

For both Mark and I, the loss of the bear resonated deeply with the loss of our sons. As Mark was inscribing the letters “J” and “B”, the initials of his son, Jonah Benkert, the “B” also read much like a “P”–and he mentioned that “J.P.” reminded him of our own son, James Peake. Needless to say that by the time I took the microphone, I was nearly unable to speak.

Yet I managed to read my poem, honoring the bear, our sons, our community. The rest of the dedication meant a lot to me–from written poems and prose pieces, to impromptu verbal tributes, a song, and drumming. It was also a moment of catharsis for our community, coming together once more to honor all that the bear brought to us.

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To learn more about how to promote the peaceful coexistence of humans and animals in the Ojai Valley, please visit the Ojai Wildlife League website.

Poetry and Generosity

This is an open note of thanks to Paul Fericano. I had a great time reading at the Broken Word series at Farmer and the Cook last night, and listening to Danielle Camacho, P.Lyn Middleton, Quin Mallory, Paul Fericano, Crystal Salas, Steve Sprinkel, and Johnny Fonteyn weave words into the warm summer night. Afterward, I got to talking with Paul, and he showed me one of the gorgeous, limited-edition offset-print broadsides he creates. On remarking how much I liked it, he gave it to me. And then another. In fact, a whole set.

Strangely enough, this is not the first time I have gone to a poetry reading and come home with a gift. It seems to me that the best kinds of writing communities have, at their heart, a spirit of generosity. This was certainly my experience in the MFA program, where my advisers gave so much more than what was asked of them by the university. And so, with so much talk about “greatness” in poetry, I would like to propose a new definition–that poets not be measured so much by what the Paris Review says about their twelfth collection–but by how poetry inspires them to keep giving back. The product of great poets is great poems. But, so often in my experience, the by-product is generosity.

Three Poems in Sugar Mule Online

Pobre Mulo ViejoSugar Mule #32 just went live online, bearing three of my poems. As fate would have it, I plan to read two of these three poems tonight at The Artists’ Union Gallery in Ventura. The reading begins at 7:30PM. Bring a poem or two for the open mic.

And for those of you who can’t make it, for whatever reason–enjoy the poems!

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