Twenty-five Cent Stories

Just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday, I am pleased to announce that The Date Fruit Elegies is now published. It inaugurates Bilingual Press’s new Latino poetry series, Canto Cosas. It is a slim volume weighing in at 78 pps and a going rate of $10.00 USD. Cover art is by Gene Flores with selections from his Loteria Series (2005-2007). Christopher Buckley wrote the introduction. I thank everyone for their support. It’s a very happy moment for me.

Click here to view the official Order Form

Francisco Aragon, editor of The Wind Shifts: New Latino Poetry and also the series editor of Bilingual Press’s new poetry series, Canto Cosas, has been taking the contributors of the anthology around the nation for the past two years. The idea behind this tour is bring poets from one region of the country to another. The tour will be coming to Moe’s Books in Berkeley on Thursday, February 26, 2009. Originally the line-up included Paul Martinez Pompa of Chicago, Adela Najarro of Santa Cruz, and Lydia Torres of I’m not sure where. Well, Lydia won’t be able to make it so I as asked by Francisco to fill in.

Here are some shots of our second resident readers.

Photo 1: Beaudeline from Haiti

Photo 2: Steve Godwin

Photo 3: Phillip Osgood

Photo 4: Carolina Maine

Today is Tuesday which means the fresh batch of VSC residents will be reading tonight. Good luck to them!

It’s been four days since I left Johnson. I do miss my routine of reading, eating, writing, sleeping, repeat. I also miss the friends I made. What I don’t miss is the cold. And though I was mesmerized by the snow, it appears I dodged the snowfall.

On Monday, November 16, Kevin Young did his reading for Vermont Studio Center. He read from Dear Darkness and For the Confederate Dead, plus new poems. What can I say? He fulfilled my expectations. He’s a good poet. A good reader. A good teacher. Just plain good guy.

As you may know, Vermont poet Hayden Carruth passed away on September 29 of this year. In response, friends and family of Carruth put on a memorial reading at Vermont College of Fine Arts in Montpelier on Sunday, November 16. Among the many readers were Galway Kinnel, Stephen Dobyns, Ellen Bryant Voigt. I was fortunate enough to be in Vermont at this time, and get a ride to Montpelier to attend this reading.

Photos 1 and 2: The Hayden Carruth Memorial reading line up. Introduction by VSC’s Gary Clark.

Photo 3: Galway Kinnel

Photo 4: Stephen Dobyns

Photo 5: Ellen Bryant Voight

Last Friday Kevin Young presented his “Craft Talk” to us. He read from an essay entitled “Throw Your Voice” he wrote a year ago about voice and tone in poetry. We might be seeing a collection of his essays on poetics sometime in the near future.

Everyone seems like to like Kevin. He’s very approachable, good humored, and a good listener (although he’ll tell you when he disagrees with you). He’s the kind of guy you can talk shop with while watching football.

On Thursday I, with poet Carolina Maine, hiked up the .6 miles up the hill to get to Johnson State College. It was a clear day and perhaps the only one we’d get for a while. We were out of breath and had to stop constantly to let our lungs catch up. The hike was worth it. This is what we saw:

Yesterday was our first sunny day in days. Sunny at about 40 degrees. I took advantage of the no-chance of rain by taking a stroll in town. I had lunch at Plum & Main: a homemade meatloaf sandwich with homemade white bread (see below) and a pint of $2 ale (see below). I also hiked up the hill with Carolina Maine to go to Johnson State College (that’s a whole other blog). The sunny day ruined my productive writing day!

Today I left Perkins to find frost on the floor. I didn’t want to, but I had laundry to do. I’m glad I did as it’s been cold and rainy all day. That’s killed my rhythm of writing. A groove I need to get back into.

Kevin Young arrives today. Tomorrow he’s giving his craft talk and then we have individual meetings with him. Looking forward to that.

Here’s some shots of my stroll.

Last night VSC held a reading at the Red Mill. I read the work I’ve been revising, work I’ve never really read before therefore my nerves were racked! In the lineup was Adam Nemmet (fiction) of Baltimore, Nina (fiction) of Wyoming, Chet Pratt (poetry) of the Bahammas, Tova Gardner (poetry) of Israel, and me (poetry) of San Jose.