First Friday:  Open Mic, November 1, 2019
Featuring Annis Cassells. 

Annis Cassells was the featured poet at the First Friday Open Mic at Dagny’s Coffee on Nov 1, 2019, she read from her book of poetry, You Can’t Have It All.  Even though the event was over a year ago, it seems fresh as we remember the excitement of the poets and musicians sharing their original creations. 

There were three performers interviewed:  Annis Cassells, Cynthia Bermudez and Nelson Varon.  These interviews allow us to know the poets and their poems in greater understanding and liveliness. 

Other poets and musicians performing at this Open Mic were Zack Alqaisi, Cynthia Bermudez, Tim Chang, Christopher Craddock, Shelley Evans, Carla Martin, Jim Merrick, Alyssa Morataya, PAWN, David Tetz, Fabian Tolan, Nelson Veron, and Suzanne Weller.

Open Mic November 1, 2019
Photos by Josh Burgos

 

Interview with Annis Cassells

By Carla Martin

Q.  You read to us poems from your chapbook, You Can’t Have It All.  How did you choose the poems for this collection?

A. All of our writing is a revelation — not only to our audience, but to ourselves. So the so-called themes of my poems did not reveal themselves to me until they were written and gathered. They were just poems I’d written over a number of years that I thought were good enough to include.

Q.  What inspired you to write your poems?  What are their back stories? 

A.  I’ve always been a writer, kept a diary as a child, wrote for my high school newspaper, wrote with my students when I taught, and served as editor and writer for two different newsletters. Through the years I dabbled in poetry, but I became more serious about poetry and learning the craft after attending workshops for a couple of years at the San Miguel Writers Conference in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. That’s where I first encountered the poets Ellen Bass and David Whyte and really became hooked.

Many of my poems are autobiographical and the incidents must have made an impression on me since those childhood memories are more than 65 years old. I clearly remember the time recounted in “First Taste”– that cellar and my sweet grandmother’s joy at sneaking that grape juice. As I think of it now, it was probably one of the first secrets an adult shared with me.

I wrote her name Annie Cass-ells because that’s the way she pronounced it “CASS-els.”

 

First Taste

by Annis Cassells

The Cassells home-place cellar,
earthen-floored,
must-scented, raven-aired.

Grandma Annie Cass-ells
and ten-year-old me,
we heave worn wooden doors,

throw daylight underground,
pick our way down brick slab steps,
stand still, let our eyes adjust.

She leads
bound for thick, unpainted plank shelves
jammed against an uneven patched wall.

She reaches
for a dusty jug
amongst canned pickles, peaches, beets.

She pours
a half-pint jelly jar one-quarter full,
“grape juice.”

She savors
A dark liquid sip
“Ahhhhh.” 

She passes
the almost-empty vessel
to me.

She cautions
“Just a little now.
Makes you feel warm inside.”

She stretches
knobby fingers for the rest
as the jar leaves my lips.

We ascend
hugging peach and pickle jars
Silent glances sealing our secret.

Daily life is inspiring. Looking around and seeing what’s going on, noticing things that catch my attention for whatever reason, or listening in on what others are saying might spark a thought that germinates into a poem. My poem “Don’t Slice My Bread” started with a trip to a farmers’ market in Coos Bay, Oregon and stopping at the stall of a local baker. When the vendor asked if my friend wanted her newly purchased loaf of bread sliced, she responded, “Oh, no! Don’t slice my bread!” I immediately said aloud, “That sounds like a poem!” and it became a poem that’s a metaphor for my philosophy of life.

 

Don’t Slice My Bread

by Annis Cassells

Measured segments bore me
The best we can hope for,
a yeast bubble
Or slight deviation in height

Uniformity restrains

Let me gouge boulders
Catch crumbs
Inhale the yeasty aroma
of finger-held fissures
Oozing melted butter.

Let me delight in haphazard hunks
Leave none untried, untested
Skirted or ignored.

Let me taste it all
In its simplicity
In its complexity
Stale or fresh,
Life’s staff and stuff.

Some poems, though autobiographical or concern social issues, came about because of themes for upcoming publications, like the community poetry anthology our current Kern County Poet Laureate, Matthew Woodman publishes through CSUB. So when he announced the call for poems about drought, I asked myself, “What do I know about drought?” and came up with very little. I began listing all the types of drought and what that could mean. The process took me back to my own experience, of course, and I wrote about societal drought.

 

Inner City Girls Survive

by Annis Cassells

Drought distresses inner city girls.
Oh they have water
take twenty-minute showers
soak hours in claw-footed tubs.
Come summer, they cavort beneath
oscillating lawn sprinklers.

Inner city girls living it survive
a different type of drought.
Reduced by a lack of civility
Controlled by an absence of compassion
Restrained by a want of understanding
Checked in their right to equality.

Civility, Compassion
Understanding, Equality
Commodities in short supply.
All the water in the world
cannot compensate
for societal drought.

Inner city girls living it possess a thirst
A craving that begs to be slaked
Ambition that needs to be fulfilled
Potential that expects to be reached.
By wits and will, and bits of kindness,
inner city girls survive.

Q. What poets have influenced you?  Who have messages you connect with, or styles you admire?

A.  I’ve always loved Lucille Clifton’s work. Her poem “Blessing the Boats” is one I often read and hand out during “Poem in Your Pocket” Day. Of course, Maya Angelou and Alice Walker. Poets I heard and loved from programs at Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, Sharon Olds, Yusef Komunyakaa, our own Kern County Don Thompson, Sandra Cisneros, Claudia Rankine, Jericho Brown, Clint Smith, Ada Limón, my cousin, poet Cyrus Cassells—and so many that I’m newly encountering since I’ve been able to put more concentration on poetry and have been able to hear and read their works.

But, a major influence in my writing has been Ellen Bass. The first time I saw her, as keynote speaker in San Miguel, she opened her program with the poem, “At the Padre Hotel in Bakersfield, California” and I was an immediate fan. At the conference I took a half-day workshop with her and since then have done a week-long retreat with her in Canada and two six-week craft workshops over Zoom during the pandemic.

One of the good things that has come out of the pandemic is the ability to have access to poets, readings, classes, workshops all over the world. And this year I’ve truly taken advantage of that. Since the Dodge Poetry Festival was virtual, I was able to fulfill my dream of attending and heard so many new-to-me poets as well as ones I was familiar with. Right now, I’m in a 4-week workshop with poet and teacher Erin Redfern.

Q.  What advice would you give to other folks wanting to create a book of poetry?  It might be interesting and helpful if you describe your journey in making your book.

A.  First, write and write and write some more. Then write some more. I had amassed quite a body of work, over eight or more years’ worth, but when the time came to publish my collection, about 25% didn’t get included. Either I didn’t think they were good enough or they didn’t seem to fit.

Enlist people to read your poems and give you feedback. I have a critique group and other readers whom I trust. Send some of your poems out to journals and magazines for publication and see how that goes. Sometimes you get rejection, sometimes you get feedback, sometimes you get a note of acceptance.

Have someone read your entire manuscript, give you more feedback, and suggest an order to put the poems in. By the time I reached this point, I was weary and could not keep anything straight. I’d read and worked with those poems so many times. I handed off my set of poems to two different people whom I respect. Both gave me helpful feedback. Some suggestions I took and others ignored. One of those readers ordered the poems for me and gave me an idea of which two should be the beginning or final poems.

I published my book through Amazon’s KDP. I decided to go the self-publishing route because I wanted my book out into the world. And, I did not want to wait around for a traditional publisher to pick it up. At that point, I was 75 years old and felt I had no time to waste! I certainly didn’t want any more suggestions for changes.This is the plus side of self-publishing: the author is in control of it all.

KDP was ALL new to me. After reading through the instructions, I knew I needed to print them out so I could re-read off screen and highlight directions. Once I decided on the title, I chose my cover photo and author head shot from my Pictures file on my computer. So they were ready to go.

Designing the cover was challenging. Yes, KDP has templates, but I had to try out several to discover the look I wanted (placement, fonts, back cover), and that meant starting over a number of times. It’s a good idea to study the covers of books you own to note what is usually displayed on a cover and to see what design elements appeal to you.

With the help of the instructions, experienced friends, and some YouTube videos about formatting, I finished the project. It took several weeks of treating the work on the book like it was a job. Each day I spent from 6:00 to 8:00 am “at work.” Sometimes it was a little longer if I wasn’t at a good stopping place.

It felt so great when it was time to press “PUBLISH” and order my advance reader copies! But, that feeling didn’t compare to the elation of having the actual book in my hands.

Q.  What steps have/are you taking to promote your book? (readings, Facebook promos, etc.)

A.  Authors these days must be willing to promote their own book, and that seems to be true with traditionally published books as well as self-published. The online steps I took were announcing and showing the book on my blog, The DayMaker, and on Facebook and Twitter. I added an author page to my Facebook account and have posted videos of me reading poems on both pages.

I approached Indie bookstores and coffee shops to do readings and contacted libraries to read and participate in their Meet the Author programs.  I read at Open Mics, here in Bakersfield at Kern Poetry’s First Friday, virtually in Durham, NC, Florence, OR, and Salem, OR. I displayed and sold books at the Writers of Kern Spring Conference and participated in a book fair in Oregon at which I sold a dozen books.

I had help from others, too. My family alerted the world my book was out and urged folks to buy it. One daughter invited friends to a reading when I visited her. She also gave my book to a friend as a gift. That friend is a professor at UNC in Chapel Hill, NC, and she determined my book fit in with the curriculum of one of her classes, so it became required reading and she taught from it. I was able to visit her classroom shortly afterward and read and answer questions from her and the students. That was a real highlight and blessing that came from writing and publishing You Can’t Have It All!

One of the loveliest things is the many folks I’ve met because of my book. They’ve attended readings, or received the book as a gift, or they’re fellow poets and writers. So publishing my collection has enriched my life in so many ways.

 

 

Interview with Cynthia Bermudez

By Carla Martin

Here is the poem and vignette that Cynthia shared with us on First Friday:

 

Snow Stars

by Cynthia Bermudez

They fell from the sky looking like white-colored sea urchins, sharp spines penetrating their first contacted surface: people, cars, buildings, everything.

One attached itself to me as I sat on a park bench. It landed on my forehead piercing my skin.

A thousand tiny teeth digging into my flesh. Tendrils thinner than silk spread across my face eyes, cheeks, nose —a myriad of lines coloring my face a pale blue.

They called themselves Snow Stars, loosely translated. Although, they weren’t made of snow but instead of a crystalline structure not found on Earth.

Everything looked like distorted candy dots as if porcupines painted the world and people were now flocked trees with meat ornaments. Everywhere a pristine white.

The sun rose and set, rose and set.

I hadn’t noticed how my movement stopped. My cells, every atom slowed to nothing I realized I still sat on the bench.      

The sun rose and set, rose and set.
I heard the others in my mind, others like me,
connected by pale blue veins rooted into and through my body down through the bench and into the ground.

I … no. We.

 

The House on Agate Street

by Cynthia Bermudez

When I was eleven years old, I packed a small plastic bag with a week’s worth of clothes and my favorite book and stayed in an old abandoned house down the street, something I had seen my older sister do when she was angry with my mother. Two teens were already sheltered there, a boy and girl. They took a spot near the ashen fireplace. Charred wood scorched the firebrick. They held hands and kissed and asked me questions. What my name was and why was I there. We all slept under a thin cotton throw on cold concrete. The wooden floorboards ripped from the ground. The smell of dust and mold filled every corner, every break in the wall, the crumbling popcorn ceiling.

A teenaged boy named Mason, who rode around the neighborhood on his bicycle, brought us scraps of half-eaten corn ears and burnt tortillas and day-old cold chicken. We feasted on the floor, a turned over crate the finest table, our food on plastic bag plates. Mason called the lovebirds Elvis and Marilyn and every time they’d chuckle. Elvis played music on a guitar he had bought with six whole dollars, money he saved cleaning yards and cashing in plastic bottles at a Five and Dime. He strummed the cords and Marilyn watched him dreamily. Elvis was going to be a big star someday, Marilyn his wife. He’d build her a house in the woods; she’d be safe there. He said I could come, too. Marilyn put her arm around me and said of course. Mason said he’d bring the food.

Q.  What inspired you to write your poem?  What is its back story? 

A.  I set out to write two short pieces: a poem, “Snow Stars,” and a vignette, “The House on Agate Street.”

“Snow Stars” was written from a contest prompt. The challenge was to write a short 250-word narrative about an alien invasion. I thought what if aliens arrived not in massive space ships with advanced technological weapons but as small creatures from another world drifting slowly down from the sky. And what if these aliens assimilated the Earth and its inhabitants, indiscriminately altering life on Earth and terraforming the land. I didn’t win the contest, but the poem was bought by Devolution Z and later purchased as a reprint in an anthology titled, “Untimely Frost.”

“The House on Agate Street” was a personal assignment. I wanted to write a character sketch and a vignette, though I cannot remember what my motivation was. I had read The House on Mango Street some time before and loved the idea. I set out to write two short pieces: a one-character sketch and one vignette. The fantastical/imaginative elements are fictional but the vignette was inspired by one of my own experiences. “The House on Agate Street” was published by Vine Leaves and later reprinted in their 2014 “Best of” anthology.

Q.  Do you like to read poetry?  If you do, what poets have influenced you?  Who have messages you connect with, or styles you admire?  What other art forms inspire you, like songs or paintings?

A.  I love reading and listening to poetry. My early exposure to poetry were poets like Frost and Yeats, but I feel like more contemporary and even a few unknown poets have influenced me. I love listening to spoken word poetry and my favorite site is Button Poetry. Also, I read pseudonymous poetry from various forums that have influenced me. Other types of art forms inspire me as well. I love music and visual art.

There are many poems that have resonated with me. “Dolor” by Theodore Roethke. “All for a Day” by Robert Sward. “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou. Works by spoken word poets: Rudy Francisco, Sabrina Benaim, Phil Kaye, Guante, Porsha Olayiwola, just to name a few.

Q.  What advice would you give to other folks wanting to create poems?  How do you make a poem?  Do you have a special place you go to, or music you listen to, etc.?  Give us a glimpse into your creative process.

A.  There are poetic forms and styles a writer can choose to use. Or they can write free verse. My personal preference is free verse, narrative-style poetry and songs. I think if you want to write something, just write it. Don’t worry about anything or anyone else. As for my creative process…I’m not even sure if I have one. I write when I can. Anything can inspire me: music, art, a conversation, etc.

 

 

Interview with Nelson Varon

By Carla Martin

Nelson read us his poem “Shalom, Shalom,” which was one of the poems read at the Bakersfield World Peace Day rally in September 2019. Here is his poem, which Nelson also wrote music to:

SHALOM, SHALOM

(A   S o n g    o f    P e a c e)

by Nelson Varon

                                                                                                   

The roar of oceans filled with tears,
The thunder of the silent dead,
Together cry, for once for all,                                              
SHALOM, SHALOM.

The babies in their mother’s arms,
Are held with desperate urgent prayer,
That G-d will grant them in their world                                        
SHALOM, SHALOM.

No more the waste, and 
No more the shambles,
The human suffering,
No more, no more.

The promise must be made again,
“All war will end, all war will end”.
And we must somehow learn to find
SHALOM, SHALOM.

Dear G-d, how long must it go on
‘Till neighbors learn to live as one?
Please help us live in love and peace,
SHALOM, SHALOM

No more the waste, and
No more the shambles,
The human suffering,
No more, no more.

The promise must be made again,
“All war will end, all war will end”.
Then shout with ever-lasting joy,
SHALOM, SHALOM.

So brothers, sisters take my hand
And sing with all your hearts a song
Of peace for all the earth, Amen!
SHALOM, SHALOM. 

Copyright 1973 – Renewed 2001 All Right Reserved                                                                          

Q. What inspired you to write your poem/song?  What is its back story?

A.  By the time I had come home from work at my organ and piano store very late one night in 1973, my wife, Edith, and our three children were already fast asleep. After eating the dinner she had left for me, I turned on the TV in the family room to the “Late, Late Show” and sat down to relax before going to bed.

The film, which had just started, was about a ship called the SS St Louis which had picked up almost 1,000 Jews, who, in 1938, were fleeing Germany for their very lives following “Kristallnacht” or Crystal Night. The ship first docked in Cuba asking for permission to disembark their passengers as refugees but were denied entry. The ship, according to the film, then went on to Miami in the United States and to various ports in South America only to be denied entry over and over again. In desperation, the SS St Louis, having no other alternative, was forced to return to Germany with their cargo of desperate human beings, all of whom knew they would be facing certain death at the hands of the Nazis upon their return home.

Being a musician and a retailer of organs and pianos, we had a music room in which was a grand piano and a Lowery organ. I was so moved by the film that, notwithstanding the late hour (about 1:30 am), I sat down at the organ and began aimlessly playing. Almost immediately my fingers started playing a melody over and over again. Each time I played this haunting melody, words came into my consciousness from seemingly out of nowhere until, after about a half an hour, the lyrics and the song were completed and remembered in my mind.

As a songwriter, however, I always kept manuscript paper and pencil on the organ to jot down song ideas which would come to me from time to time before I forget them. I stopped playing long enough to write down the entire melody and the lyrics. I then continued playing the completed song over and over again, singing it out loud in my music room in the middle of the night, with tears streaming down my face the whole time. I will never forget that experience, (nor will my daughter whose bedroom was adjacent to the wall in which the organ speakers were mounted and kept waking her up).   

The poem, “Shalom, Shalom,” is actually the lyrics to that song which I had named, “Shalom, Shalom:  A Song of Peace.”  The poem (lyric) is included for you to read.

Q.  Do you like to read poetry and if so, which poets have influenced you?

A.  Yes, I do like to read poetry, but tend to prefer those poets who write in a narrative style. One of my treasured books is A Treasury of Great Poems, English and American. I frequently will randomly select poems to read in this book of poems from all periods dating back to the fifteenth century and up to the twentieth century. Three poets who have influenced me, though not on a conscious level, are Samuel Taylor Coleridge (The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a favorite poem of mine), Robert Byrnes, (Jon Anderson, My Jo is another favorite) and Robert Browning (My Last Duchess, also a favorite).

Q.  What advice would I give to other folks wanting to create poems? What is your creative process?

A.  I can only say that I still have much to learn myself about writing poetry. It would, therefore, be presumptuous in the extreme were I to even try to advise anyone on this topic.

I can only say that in my experience, poetry, like any other type of writing, is a trial-and-error process in which you can learn to write poetry by simply writing poetry. Sharing your work with others in critique groups of other would-be poets is really helpful. I would also suggest that you try to become familiar with various structural formats in which established poems have been written. These formats can be learned in poetry classes but can also be identifiable as you read poems written by iconic poets. In that regard, it would probably would not be a bad idea to read as many ageless great poems as you can.

As far as how I go about writing poems, or song lyrics (which has comprised most of my poetic writings so far) it usually starts with an idea I may have for a poem or, as in the case of lyrics, a melody that I have written. I will generally write a first draft, then rewrite it and then rewrite it many, many times over the course of days, weeks, months and sometimes years.

Many of the great song lyrics that have been written are, in fact, excellent stand-alone poems. Song lyrics have a great deal in common with good poetry, particularly in the observance of the admonition, “show, don’t tell” and in their use of imagery to define a feeling. Great love longs, for example, seldom mention the word “love” in the lyric but instead use extraordinary imagery to poetically communicate love, or remorse at its loss. (To see an example of this, you might want to Google the lyrics of Irving Berlin in describing the loss of his first wife in “When I Lost You,“ or the lyrics of Jerome Kern describing his love for a woman  in “All The things You Are”).

I usually do my writing seated at the desk in my home office if it is a poem or seated at the piano (I no longer have an organ) if it is a song. I write about my observations of things I see or experience, or about the feelings I have about love or relationships or the loss thereof.  I do not have a disciplined time which I regularly devote to my writing but rather tend to write when I have something to write about.     

 

We started the New Year with sparkles of spoken words at Open Mic poetry.  The poets who performed were Portia Choi, Lola Jimenez, Carla Martin, Chris Nielsen, Eric Osborne, Kevin Shah and Suzanne Weller.  Barbara Mattick and Viridiana Pena listened in. 

The poets performing their poetry for Open Mic can be viewed on this video at:
Zoom Kern Poetry Meeting     
Passcode to enter:
poetry12#

Two of the poets, Lola Jimenez and Kevin Shah, were interviewed by Carla Martin. 

Interview By Carla Martin

Interview with Lola Jimenez

Lola Jimenez graduated from Cal State Bakersfield in Spring of 2020. She majored in English and plans to go back in the fall for a second BA in Communications. She is 22 years young and has been writing since middle school.   

Q.  What inspired you to write your poem?  What is its back story? 

A. “Diamond Eyes” was actually inspired by makeup. As a creative, I like to do more than just write, I also like to express myself through makeup. I hate using glitter, but for some reason I feel like it always completes my looks. As much as I hate glitter (because it’s messy) it always adds that extra thing I’m looking for. I also feel like I write a lot of sad poems, and I wanted to bring some light and love into my portfolio so, I decided to write “Diamond Eyes.” It slowly transformed into a poem about an old friend and how I had a love/hate relationship with them. However, I always ended up feeling complete when I was with them.    

Q.  Do you like to read poetry?  If you do, what poets have influenced you?  Who have messages you connect with, or styles you admire?

A. I love to read poetry! I would definitely say my current favorite authors are R.H. Sin and Rupi Kaur. However, Pablo Neruda and Philip Larkin had big impacts on me growing up. Neruda introduced me to Odes which is something I do now in my own writing. His “Ode to the Lemon” was so simple yet so beautiful. There was so much appreciation for such a small object and there are everyday objects that deserve some form of recognition. Both Rupi Kaur and R.H. Sin have messages about life I relate to. Both write to or about women and I being a woman identify with many of their pieces.

Q.  What advice would you give to other folks wanting to create poems?  How do you make a poem?  Do you have a special place you go to, or music you listen to, etc.?  Give us a glimpse into your creative process.

A. Advice I would give to people wanting to write is just to do it! There are no rules to poetry! Every poem looks different and there’s so many different styles and I promise if you feel like someone needs to hear what you have to say, I can guarantee that other people relate to it.  I write poems in 3 ways. One is to write down whatever I have on my mind. This can be just getting things off my chest, how I feel or write about a heart break. 2^nd way is to read poetry books and write responses or underline something that really spoke to me and write using my perspective or opinion. 3^rd I learned in college, which was to write everything I want the poem to contain words, phrases on the side and then find a way to formulate the poem using all of the things I brainstormed. I usually listen to music when I write but I feel the music HAS to match the mood or sound of my poem. I also feel the best time to write is at night when we’re more vulnerable. There’s something magical about late night writing sessions with a good playlist that make me happy.

I made a flyer with my own personal brand colors and font. 

Diamond Eyes

By Lola Jimenez

Growing up
I used to call glitter
The devil’s spawn

It was hard to get rid of 
& it lasted forever
Years later you would 
Still find it wherever you 
Left it 

However, I see glitter different now
Years later & i’m glad it lasts forever
Because I will never
Forget how your eyes
Shined, shimmer, 
Glimmered, & glittered
In the light

The twinkle in your eyes
Have lasted a lifetime in
My mind

Glitter always reminds me 
Of you 

 

Interview By Carla Martin

Interview with Kevin Shah

These are the two poems Kevin shared with us:

PASSING ACT

By Kevin Shah

They stopped before the gently sloping hill
to look up at the Moon.

The young man in the heavy coat
rubbed his hands together, his breath
rising like a ghost.

“Do not watch the Moon too long, old man.
“It’s a traveling act.”

The old man, with a lighter, longer
coat spoke. “Son, the moon will be here
tomorrow. We are a passing act.”

MY FIRST PANDEMIC POEMIC¹

By Kevin Shah

I’m taking a Master class
$180

I’m glad to spend the money because I can learn how to write
From James Patterson or David Baldacci.

One of my favorite writers, David Sedaris, inspires me with his suggestion on how to get stories.

He says you have to engage with life. Go out there and do things.

Let’s take this thing called life. He’s right. Unfortunately, the best stories come from the worst decisions of life, its tragedies.

And the s***’s real

Outside my door, I hear the cars. They’re louder these days, more menacing. And when I take my daily walk, I see dark circles in the street where children usually play. Well maybe I exaggerate. But at any rate, it’s a place I will often walk, the middle of an intersection.

And we’re in the middle of a pandemic. Everybody’s huddled indoors or pretending to be.

Back to story. Writers know that bad situations make for good stories. Unfortunately, we must participate in this thing called life, and I’m talking about the bad stuff.

And like I said before, the s***’s real.

Last I checked, earthquakes still happen. And we think that this virus has ended the world? I had a student who died in a car accident a couple of months ago. Her world ended in an instant.

Recently, a volcano became active again in Hawaii. I have a friend whose mother died from cancer during the summer. He couldn’t visit her. I know of others who have died, and I suspect it’s because they couldn’t get the medical care, or they decided against their better judgment to stay home and wait out this virus, one month, then two, then, I just told you the rest of their story. I suspect one of my heroes, Sir Kenneth Robinson, may have died of cancer. I can’t remember.

I’m so mixed up and bent out of shape with worry that I can’t even remember what I was going to ask my doctor when I see him later today. What worries me more, the questionable safety of a rushed vaccine or my aching thyroid? I have reached the point where I can’t remember all the bad news. It just keeps coming. On my thyroid is a 4 cm mass. Don’t worry too much. It was biopsied last year and shown to be non-cancerous.

And of course, depression and suicide are up.

It’s all a big mess. And for this reason, I write. And I don’t know what happens to what I’ve written once these words are spoken here. My hope Is that they will spread like a virus and find a home, infecting the host listener and living within her bloodstream with truth and perhaps a chuckle or two.

It’s the one good virus.

¹I invented this word to mean a short speech masquerading as a poem. Inspired by the word polemic.

Q.  What inspired you to write your poems?  What are their back stories? 

A.  PASSING ACT started with a visual of the moon outside my door. I was inspired by a line that came to my mind: “passing act”. There are many poems written about the Moon, but one in particular has lived with me for almost fifteen years. One night, as my CSUB English professor and I drove into Bakersfield, following some poetry research we were doing out of town, she pointed at the crescent moon and quoted two lines from Samuel Coleridge’s “Dejection: An Ode”:

Late, late yestreen I saw the new Moon,

With the old Moon in her arms;

And I fear, I fear, my Master dear!

We shall have a deadly storm.

(Ballad of Sir Patrick Spence)

I don’t know if I was inspired by that. But I cannot look up at the sky without thinking about poetry.

MY FIRST PANDEMIC POEMIC was an outpouring of thoughts and feelings that I wrote for the First Friday virtual open mic. I just wanted to voice what I think many people are dealing with as they struggle to cope with life in a society that has been locked down indefinitely and to great detriment. I think it was writing as therapy for me. 

Q.  Do you like to read poetry? 

A.  I am forever in love with poetry. I prefer to hear people read poems. I want to feel the rhythm and the sounds. I always tell myself I should not write poems. But once I hear a poem I love, I have a deep need to write. Writing poetry is a creative way of saying “amen” to the poems I hear. Kind of like when you hear a drum beat. You feel like striking a drum and joining in. So, each time I write, I am honoring poetry in gratitude and music.

Q.  If you do, what poets have influenced you?  Who have messages you connect with, or styles you admire?

A.  I also like to read poems in a book. Kern County’s Don Thompson, Robert Frost, Dylan Thomas, Shakespeare, Billy Collins, and Ted Kooser are some of my favorites. I also sense the poetry of Sandra Cisneros’s writing. I think that all of these poets have influenced me. More directly, I have been inspired by Don Thompson’s poetry. He lets life speak through wildlife and landscapes. 

Q.  What advice would you give to other folks wanting to create poems? 

A.  I would get comfortable with the various forms of poetry and try to discipline yourself with these forms for a season. This will give you creative confines that will not hinder but release your creativity by squeezing it out of you and forcing you to learn new words and new ways to say old things. Read widely and often. Imitate many poets so you can find your unique style.

Q.  How do you make a poem? 

A.  Very quickly. I used to ask Facebook friends for a topic. Then I would compose a poem in under ten minutes. I like to write many poems so that maybe I might find one that is worth revising. By the way, the best poets revise many times. Once you are used to writing sonnets or haiku or other forms, you will have a brevity that you can release when you write free-verse.

Q.  Do you have a special place you go to, or music you listen to, etc.? 

A.  I do not purposely listen to music or read poems to write my own. I just stop whatever I am doing as I think poetically and visually throughout the day. I also am inspired by my photography, which is a huge focus for me when I travel to Frazier Park to do astrophotography. Poems need to have sound, sense, and imagery. So, anything that engages those helps you think and feel poetically. I just believe that poetry, especially the poetry of those I mentioned earlier (add Khalil Gibran and, of course, the Bible), teaches us how to experience the world. I am almost always ready to write a poem. Poetry is well-suited to the wisdom and music found in words. And, of course, I am inspired most often by or in nature.

Q.  Give us a glimpse into your creative process.

A.  As I mentioned, I write things all the time. I will let the poems sit or post on social media. Very often I will see a poem on my pages that I have forgotten about for many years. I will immediately revise it in light of what I “see” in the poem and what I or others may be going through. I recently created my first poetry book “Rainbows in the Dark,” which will ship to me in mid-January. This was just a photobook with pages devoted to some of my better, shorter poems. It incorporates my photography. That process was about arranging poems and images into a book form. The last poem is PASSING ACT, appropriately placed. So, if I in a fresh-read state of mind and I have images and ideas coming at me, I get caught up in the energy and make subtle revisions. But I always need to let poems sit for days or weeks or even years. I don’t force them into their final state. Or I do, but I give them a new life, new title, new format as needed.   

 

Story by Carla Martin

We had our first ZOOM First Friday Open Mic on November 6, 2020.  A delightful group of Bakersfield performers read their works.  There was a wide range of poetry shared.  Here are some of the highlights:

Tanya Dixon sang the hymn “It is well with my soul” as part of her inspiring poem, while Annis Cassalls repeated George Floyd’s desperate plea of “I can’t breathe!” in her impassioned work.  Anke Hodenpijl also read her stirring poem on social justice which is featured, along with Annis’ poem, in the new national anthology, ENOUGH:  “Say Their Names.”

Two students from Eric Osborne’s English class at East High, Adaliz Rodriguez and Kimberly Raminez, read their intriguing poems.  We are so jazzed they joined us and look forward to many more students appearing in our Open Mics.  Eric Osborne, their teacher, also read his entrancing poem reminiscing about past students after visiting the now-empty East High campus.

Chris Nielsen shared his heartful verses from his soul about a life well-lived.  Anna Byrd Marco read the shortest poem of the evening, the sublime “Red pepper moon, hot chile sky,” succinctly describing the landscape in our valley during the September wildfires.

Ruth Handy read her haiku about the energy of Japan, while Carla Martin read her seductive “recipe” for love and 40 clove garlic chicken.  Chloe Joseph shared her imaginative portrait of “Daughter of the Sea” which created a memorable image of a woman who longs to drown.

Suzanne Weller shared two poems – one in English and the other in French.  We were entranced with their lilting meter and rhyme.  What a wondrous ability to write poetry of this caliber in two languages!  Chris Craddock shared his clever poem about his lover with an allusion to Edgar Allen Poe’s famous raven, who quoth, “Nevermore!” 

Veronica Madrigal, Barbara Mattick, and Heather Ponek were an appreciative audience to us all.  We appreciate their support!

So many voices, so many messages.  This Open Mic was a true melting pot of our community’s concerns, hopes and dreams.  Thank you to all who joined our event.  We look forward to hearing from you next month!

Interviews with Eric Osborne, Suzanne Weller, and Dr. Tanya Dixon from Zoom First Friday Open Mic, November 6, 2020.

Interviews by Carla Martin

Interview with Eric Osborne

Eric Osborne is an English teacher at East High.  He encouraged some of his students to share their poetry at our Open Mic as well.  Once you read his comments, you will see why he is a much-loved teacher and wonderful poet.  Here is the poem he shared with us:

This Place

     by Eric Osborne

This place is just a building.

Stone walls and tile floors and glass windows.

This place is like so many other places

That I wish I could be instead.

Those doors that shut me in can open

So easily; a gust of wind is all it takes.

I am free to leave whenever I want

And go home or somewhere that feels like home,

But the voices echo through these empty halls.

The laughter, and the tears, and the thank yous for

Everything, for being there, for believing in me

Linger in my skull, and

This place comes alive, and they wrap me

In their memories.

This place does not hold me here;

Their memories do.

This place is a rye field on the edge of a cliff

And they are my bungee cord.

Q.  What inspired you to write your poem?  What is its back story? 

A.  This poem drew its inspiration from two different ideas that I was trying to flesh out. It turned out that they were two parts of the same puzzle. The repeated “this place” and the building imagery came to me while I was in my empty classroom in a nearly empty school during the pandemic. I went back in to gather some materials that I would need to finish the 2019-2020 school year online and begin preparing to teach 2020-2021 online as well. The emptiness of the school really impacted me because of how much love I have always felt there. I realized that it was not the place I loved but the people in the place. The idea of my students being a “bungee cord in the rye” is something that had been on my mind for a long time. The Catcher in the Rye was hugely influential on my becoming a teacher in the first place as I wanted to help students the same way that my previous teachers have helped me. However, I have realized over the years that these same students are also the ones keeping me from falling over the cliff as well. “This Place” is really about the level of importance my students play in my life. 

Q. Do you like to read poetry?  If you do, what poets have influenced you?  Who have messages you connect with, or styles you admire?

A.  I enjoy reading poetry very much. My early inspirations are probably the same as most other writers. Men like Shel Silverstein and Edgar Allen Poe are the first I can recall being favorites. Later, Allen Ginsburg’s “Howl” showed me the power that poetry can have and how it can be both dark and beautiful at the same time. More recently, Taylor Mali was an influence for me as being a teacher is also a theme in many of his works. When I write pieces that are not about my job, people like Shane Koyczan, Sarah Kay, Rudy Francisco, Neil Hillborn, and Jared Singer are all influences for me. I like how they weave narrative elements into their works and how they are so emotionally vulnerable. There is a level of catharsis and release in their poetry that I often hope to find when I write my own.

Q.  What advice would you give to other folks wanting to create poems?  How do you make a poem?  Do you have a special place you go to, or music you listen to, etc.?  Give us a glimpse into your creative process.

A.  The biggest piece of advice I would give to other people wanting to create poems is to stop trying to write what you think other people think poetry is. If you look at was presented at the Open Mic in November, they were vastly different. Someone presented a poem that was two lines long. Someone else presented a poem that took the entire five minutes. Still a third person presented a poem that was in French. Some focused heavily on their rhyme while others focused on some other poetic device. The beauty of poetry is that it can be whatever you need it to be and do whatever you need it to do. The only rule is that there are not any.

Before now, I have not really thought about my creative process. I do not really have something that I do every time. Typically, a line will pop into my head, and I will toss it around for while until it builds up enough momentum to jump out. My first drafts of poems (and by this, I mean just the first time I write. Poets know the first million drafts of a poem happen in our heads) are usually stream of conscious writings. Once the concepts are on the page, I will go back over it and refine, refine, refine. Because of having the Google Docs app on my phone, I do not really have a special place to write. It is really just wherever I am when one of the ideas decides to fall out.

Interview with Suzanne Weller 

The first poem Suzanne read was one she wrote in August for the Tuolumne Meadows poetry workshop Zoom meeting.  It shows a mastery of meter and rhyme:

Poem by Suzanne Weller

Cool breezes blow through ceiling grates

In icy worlds bears hibernate

The indoor air recycled, worn

not mountain winds in early morn

The upstairs currents ventilate

Words circulate, time to create

New furniture adorns my room

A sacred place where flowers bloom

And daylight streams through shutters white

to brighten up the Range of Light

My Bonnie book, my cup of tea

I’ll sip it slowly, thoughtfully

The Wilder Muir, the walks and talks

and poetry in Parson’s Lodge

 

The second poem Suzanne read was a sonnet in French written for the French Tea Club in Bakersfield:

Sonnet pour le Vert

by Suzanne Weller

Le vert, la couleur que moi je prefere

depuis mon enfance elle est ma plus chere

le feu vert montre ma voie encore libre

pour faire un voyage, mes trois vertes valises

Couleur de printemps, naissance de la vie

des plantes, des arbres, calmes et tranquilles

meme en automne quand les feuilles rougissent

les plantes vertes toujours verdissent

Les feuilles respirent de l’air pur au soleil

nous faisant de l’air tout oxygene

j’aime le vert d’eau et le vert bouteille

le jaune, le bleu, vert intermediare

le rouge par contre est complementaire

parmi les couleurs le vert est meilleur

 

Suzanne wrote an English version called “Green“

Green is the color of nature

Color of life and nurture

Color of spring, birth of new life

Color of calm, absence of strife

Even in fall when leaves still turn

evergreens stay constant endure

Leaves breathing in taking in sun

breathing out air, pure oxygen

Emerald green, green serpentine

yellow and blue, green go between

Complements red, red shining sheen

Green light means go, your way is clear

Leave behind red, guilt, shame and fear

Take a deep breath, nature is near.

Q.   What inspired you to write your poems?  What are their back stories? 

A.  Nature usually inspires me to write poetry, and also I love the musicality of words, the rhyme, the meter, the assonances of sounds.  I have also loved music my whole life.  At the age of 5 I wrote a piece for the piano, then studied piano and majored in music at Lewis and Clark College In Portland Oregon for a year.  I wrote my first poem there, in French, inspired by the sonority of the language.  After I completed my Master’s in French at UCLA, I spent several years working in music writing songs and performing with a group called Carmen.  Writing a poem is like writing a song.   I returned to UCLA and completed my doctorate in French and wrote a thesis about the musicality of poetry, called “La Semiologie de la Musique dans la Poesie.”  I began writing poems about nature while working in Yosemite and being inspired by the poetic writings of John Muir.

Q.  Do you like to read poetry?  If you do, what poets have influenced you?  Who have messages you connect with, or styles you admire?

A. While studying French Literature I read and enjoyed many French Poets:  Rimbaud, Valery, Baudelaire, Mallarme, and the surrealist poets, especially Paul Eluard.  I enjoy Eluard because of the musicality of his poetry and positive messages of hope, justice and Freedom: La Liberte.  I also like the nature-oriented poetry of Gary Snyder, the Pullitzer prize winning California poet and many songwriters like Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan who recently received the Nobel prize for literature.  I admire our own music and poetry writers: Buck Owens, Red Simpson and Merle Haggard, who created the Bakersfield Sound.

Q.  What advice would you give to other folks wanting to create poems?  How do you make a poem?  Do you have a special place you go to, or music you listen to, etc.?  Give us a glimpse into your creative process.

A.  When you write a poem let your mind be free.  Be spontaneous.  You can rewrite and edit later or the next day.  Find a subject that inspires you.   I like to work with forms like Sonnet, Vilanelle, Haiku, Counted syllables, rhythm and rhyme create a musical effect.  But poetry can also be written without forms or rhymes or meter.  The poet is really free to write in any way that is spontaneous, personal and natural.  In Yosemite I would go for nature walks in the woods, then come home and write about my impressions of nature’s beauty in poetic language.  Poetry is often described as being an emotional expression of language.  Poetic emotion often results from musical structures.  The principles of musical continuity, return, closure, and the technique of theme and variations all apply to poetry.   In fact, in poetry, musical patterns often replace linguistic norms.  Repetition is essential to the understanding of musical syntax and also of poetry.  In poetry, repetition creates rhythm that makes language flow.  Poetry is like water that flows around obstacles in a river, like dams or boulders or logs.  It can also create eddies and still pools below rocks.  But it just keeps flowing like water or music until it reaches the ocean.  The end of a piece in music usually slows and reaches a final cadence, from the dominant to the tonic. The end of a poem is often indicated musically, by returning to a final cadence or theme.   In poetry, sentences don’t exist like in prose, because in poetry, musical continuity doesn’t adhere to grammatic rules.  Poetry is a deviation from linguistic norms.  A series of adjectives or a series of repeated words without a verb could be poetic but wouldn’t be prose. The repetition of the adjectives or the same word would create a sort of musical rhythm that would come to a musical conclusion at the end.

Interview with Dr.Tanya Dixon

This is the poem Tanya shared with us so eloquently Friday night.  Her lovely voice rang out as she sang the words to the hymns.

Hymn (Memories)

by Tanya Dixon

As she sang the hymn

I was reminded

Of how the Baptist hymnal

Was burgundy with gold

Lettering on the front cover

Full of songs by authors

Whose lyrics

Bore their experiences in measures

Eighth notes sixteenth notes

I especially love, “It is well with my soul.”

 

We stood up in church to sing the hymn

We were taught respect

Pastor Tyree Toliver would sing out…” AAAAHHHHH MAAAA ZINNNG GRAAAAAACE.”

RESPECT

We’d chime in

Harmoniously and some not so harmoniously

Swaying, some folk were sitting down on the pew

It was okay

We were in the house of the Lord

We sang hymns and honored our elders

We sang hymns in stormy and foggy weather

We wouldn’t dare roll our eyes to those

Who had hair that was salt and pepper

 

Thank God for Rev. Spencer, the corner preacher

Who rendered How Great thou Art with such splendor and dignity is his demeanor

Thank God for the deacons who lined the hymns

The spirituals

With gratefulness and simplicity

My soul tires even though we have the latest technology

And some still are ungrateful

Oh, and the mother, Sis. Deloney who hummed a tune

In the corner pocket of the sanctuary

As Pastor Toliver broke down the text

I thank God for these precious moments

That have been embedded in my

Cellular memory…forever

Q.  What inspired you to write your poem?  What is its back story?

A.  This hymn is an excerpt of my upcoming book entitled, “Keeper of the Chapel.” It’s a book of poetry and prayers. I use hymns to settle me before doing Sacred work or to soothe my soul on difficult days. One day, I was reminiscing about growing up in my home church here in Bakersfield, CA. We sang a lot of hymns. So, this poem entitled, “Hymns” is an ode to my former Pastor, the late Dr. Tyree Toliver, and some of the elders of the church (i.e. Rev. William Spencer and Sis. Deloney) who were dedicated to singing the hymns. The way they sang moved me and helped to establish my faith in God. These precious memories are still affirming to me naturally, spiritually, and culturally.

Q. Do you like to read poetry?  If you do, what poets have influenced you?  Who have messages you connect with, or styles you admire?

A.  I enjoy reading poetry. Before I continue, I have to say that I come from a family of orators. My grandfather, Morris Hicks Sr., was voted Class Poet while attending high school in Texarkana, Texas. He encouraged me to do public speaking. He had such a way with words. My godmother, Censa Faye Webster was a Poet who influenced me to write and produce books. I have been influenced by the works of Dr. Maya Angelou, Langston Hughes, and Billy Chapta. I like Billy Chapata’s poetry. It feels like quiet healing. He has a way of speaking to the heart. I admire all the styles of the poets that are listed. Overall, I am a huge fan of Dr. Maya Angelou’s style. It is rich with wisdom and will cause you to swim in your own truth. .

Q.  What advice would you give to other folks wanting to create poems?  How do you make a poem?  Do you have a special place you go to, or music you listen to, etc.?  Give us a glimpse into your creative process.

A.  Poets: Write what you feel, write what you think, write what you see, and be true. Never compare yourself to other Poets. Comparison will take away your joy. You are an original, so let your original voice be heard. Find your thing that will help you to write poetry. For me, prior to the pandemic, I had to go to Starbucks and write or go to the beach for inspiration. Now I take pleasure in the simple things like drinking an Apple Snapple.  I listen to hymns, classical music, instrumentals or Hip-Hop music while writing. Write about the times the unrest is healing. I never start with the whole poem in mind, sometimes it is just a simple word. Poet friends, I encourage you to speak through the ink, in the note section of your smartphone or on the keyboard of your computer. Whatever you do, Speak!

First Friday Open Mic at Dagny’s  Coffee (Summer 2019)

There were poets and musicians, new faces and seasoned performers at Dagny’s Coffee during the summer 2019 at First Friday Open Mic. 

Below are interviews of poets who performed during the summer.  An in-depth interview is made of Julie Jordan Scott by Carla Martin.  Julie hosted the Open Mic on May 3, 2019 and on July 5, 2019.  Additional interviews and their poems include Austin Yi (performed June 7, 2019) and Mateo Lara (performed August 2, 2019).

Open Mic June 2019
Photos by Kern Poetry

 

Open Mic July 2019
Photos by Kern Poetry

 

 

Interview with Julie Jordan Scott 
By Carla Martin

Q.  Julie, you hosted in May and July of 2019, and did such a fabulous job! I was wondering if you’d care to share some of what you know about poets and poetry in our community and beyond?

A.  First, I love hosting Poetry Open Mics. Many people in Bakersfield know me from my work in local theater. What they don’t know is that long before theater I was hosting Open Mic Night at Barnes and Noble, almost twenty years ago. I love encouraging poets and writers. I especially love creating community among writers and poets. That was one note of kudos I received when I hosted at Dagny’s. One of the people there said I made everyone feel welcome and affirmed.

Q.  What are some “happenings” you are aware of? Opportunities to submit poems, or read poems, etc.

A.  I spend most of my time with poets and writing poetry on social media. I need to improve my submitting skills!

In May, for example, I did a livestream series on Periscope and Instagram on Meditation and Poetry. What I loved most about this was sharing poetry found on the Poetry Foundation website which houses every single issue of Poetry Magazine that has been published since 1912. Visitors may print the poems there which is what I did during May and I encourage others to do as well.

Here is a link to the blog post I wrote introducing that series.

http://creativelifemidwife.com/2020/05/beingacomma/

Videos may be found on my Instagram page.  Here is one:

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CAqdI-TABnR/

I don’t know of any local events right now. I am not looking to be out and about much. I am at high risk after my illness in October, so I am better off staying at home. I know the Thursday night open mic at Dagny’s was doing some instagram lives for a while, but I don’t know if they still are.

Q.  Are there any issues pertaining to our region that you are passionate about? What should we be aware of?

A. In the past I was very interested in education and immigration. I am still interested in both but not as active.

Recently I participated in a Pride Parade in the Oleander area that was so fun. My daughter and I decorated our car and we represented the Empty Space theater. The Creative Crossings have done many murals in Oleander and beyond, some permanent and some chalk. Watching them grow and share so much exuberance in the community is my new local favorite.

Q.  Do you like to read poetry?  If you do, what poets have influenced you?  Who have messages you connect with, or styles you admire?

A.  I love reading poetry. When I was a newer poet, I didn’t understand the power of reading other people’s poetry: it felt like being in the classroom which I didn’t want to do! Once I started reading poets like Mary Oliver and Billy Collins I just kept going. I love finding prose writers such as Margaret Atwood, Louise Erdrich and Diane Ackerman who are also poets.

When I teach writing classes to adults, I always encourage poetry reading as a way to become better prose writers. As Samuel Taylor Coleridge said, “Prose = words in their best order; — poetry = the best words in the best order.”

Q.  What advice would you give to other folks wanting to create poems? How do you make a poem?Do you have a special place you go to, or music you listen to, etc.? Give us a glimpse into your creative process.

A.

1. Always carry a notebook with you AND/OR jot notes in your phone. I have a note folder in my phone I call “poetry jots” where I take notes on imagery, portions of eavesdropped conversations, interesting things I may say aloud or think that may become an interesting bit of poetry.
2. Write everywhere. It might sound counter-cultural, but I am opposed to having “one special place to write.” To me that is an invitation to being blocked. The more comfortable writers can get in more places – and become less self-conscious the more freely their words will flow.
3. Create a writing goal. My current everyday writing goal sounds enormous – which it is – and also tiny – which it is. Today is 198 of 377 consecutive days of haiku poetry I write every day in the morning and post on my Facebook page. In fact, I often assign my writing students to use haiku for lots of writing. Allen Ginsburg, one of the great beat poets devised something called “The American Sentence Poem” which is a seventeen-syllable poem without the three-line Japanese haiku structure of five syllables-seven syllables – five syllables.

Right now, until the beginning of August, I have added an additional challenge of writing a haiku at sunrise.

How this process works has definitely helped me during the pandemic because it requires me to leave my house and be in (urban) nature here in Bakersfield. I take a photo, I write a haiku to go with the photo, I post on Facebook and I go on with my day.

Some of them have bombed and others have been embraced. This helps the creative to learn some work will be a success and some work will flop. It’s all good, either way! What is important is every day I am intentionally putting my words out there into the world. It wipes away self-consciousness and sometimes it even inspires people.

Julie’s poetry blog:  https://juliejordanscott.typepad.com/jjspoetry/

See Julie Jordan Scott’s words and photos on Facebook. Here are a few selections.

The first one that started it all:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10156937934987333&set=a.10156937936012333&type=3

Making my subject local historical places gets audiences interested:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10156983044352333&set=a.10156937936012333&type=3

Art begets Art

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10157179265937333&set=a.10156937936012333&type=3

 

A poem by Julie Jordan Scott

Solitude, when it is a choice,
is better than
when it is a rant:

Interrupted like the loud
purr of my
neighbor’s lawn mower or
the too loud
drunken laughter of my daughter
that relegated me to my
very very very
visible porch dungeon
chocolate cake and I
are the sinews and the cartilage

ancient black out poem winks
“Interwoven” of deserted island pink
in a sea of gesso
smudgy innocence, breasts
undercover when I am stuck alone
in the clock tower…. apologies for less than
stellar poetry
accepted

I don’t even

So here’s the deal:
uniformity, lock step agreement is boring
(and that bulbous choice is an
utterance I don’t use lightly) feel the
frowning energy, mutterings airborne
and the appeal of the flibbertigibbet
nestles into the roots of my crown
smiling, Mona Lisa like.
Like Mona Lisa. akin to
Mona Lisa basking in her
mystery. people continue attempting
to fit into boxes marked “understood”
rather than rolling into the welcoming
womb of mystery, the antidote to
know-it-all’s snarkdom wouldn’t we as
humanity be better off if we accepted
it is in the not knowing and the moving
forward even with the fog swirling about
the antidote is in the airborne space between the
foot and the soil, the roll of the wheel, the
movement of the pencil on repeat

 

Interview with Austin Yi
by Carla Martin

Here is the poem Austin shared with us at Dagny’s on June 7, 2019:

Air Apparent
after Carl Theodor Dreyer’s The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)

flurried utterances
                                          of consecrated smut
off shelves of humorless self-styled holy
men among other Hollywood martyrs
back from the marketplace, spruced up
in ashes gathered from
                                          burning bouquets
belonging to a girl no more an ornament
than a coal lump but
                                          just as bright;
wheezing through rerun lapses erected
to rank of mantra,
                                          a prayer, a state
of grace attained through the naming of
                            things that don’t belong
to them,
bungling branches hacked for that
original magic―

               the whole thing just faded away
                                                         the mount and the ramp
down
               the other side exactly as you    
                                                                     described
highly stylized  
                            grandiose but
no trick                                                      the little strength
                                                        of our universe
                                                                                    with its
               bonobo incontinence
and
               useless inclinations—
                                                       my best
                             friend on a beach
                                                                                    with a fistful of sand
                                            for home
                                                          has nothing to do
                             with self-
                promotion;
                                                          what a woman!

                                           delighting in trees
simply because their leaves
                                                                        move
                            if
                                           even by the very wind
              enkindling faggots
             of sapless wing
                                                            and limb
                                           below roasting soles
as soiled
as Christ’s

 

Q.  What inspired you to write this poem? What’s its back story?

A.  I watched “The Passion of Joan of Arc” for the first time in March and couldn’t help but see it as an allegory of the #MeToo Movement.

Q.  What poets do you admire? Who has influenced your own writing?

A.   Right now my Holy Trinity of Poets consists of Frank O’Hara, William Carlos Williams, and Audre Lorde. In O’Hara’s work I admire this sense of “programlessness” as his friend and contemporary John Ashbery puts it, or rather how he can create poetic structures based on the rhythm of a beautiful sentence rather than developing sentences to fit into an already-made form, like a sonnet. He reads like jazz.

I admire Williams for staying home when every other artist and writer sought ex-pat status. He also has more humanity than T.S. Eliot.

Reading Audre Lorde’s poetry empowers me. I haven’t come across a writer who speaks to the disenfranchised the way she does.

Q.  What advice would you give aspiring poets? Describe your creative process.

A.  I write poetry the way I doodle, in the margins of something “more important.” This means it’s impossible for me to intentionally sit down and write a poem. Instead, depending on the feeling I’m trying to capture, I’ll scavenge through notebooks, journals, receipts, napkins, anything, for phrases I don’t remember the origins to, compile them into a list on a word document or notecards, and begin arranging and rearranging, try to discover a rhythm and hopefully meaning beyond the nonsense of arbitrarily clustered phrases. It’s the weeding-out of sentences, words, and phrases that I find to be the closest thing to writing poetry. And the content of my notes can literally be anything, although I do prefer the eavesdropped conversation more than any other source.

 

Interview with Mateo Lara
by Portia Choi

Here is Mateo Lara’s poem shared at the Open Mic on August 2, 2019:

 

“Rest Here”

By Mateo Lara

time     to         rest here           the space above           your head above

the lie              here I pull                    us down together.

this                  which bastardizes light           which bastardizes ownership             

the joke of land           the split skin                the withered throat      hide the truth

the cursed land            here     the sleep eternal          us, quiet weakened things

broken-glassed room   mouth  ghost   bed      the confinement

the trap is freedom      the trap is open            ness     necessary

the shadow falls          the secret in our walls             voices escape, we finally        escape

now we ask for freedom         when we          though we       should have taken it from the

beginning.

 

Mateo emailed that “What inspired me to write the poem is the fight for immigrants on the border. Just having family dealing with the obstacles and struggles of finding safety in the violence and chaos that the U.S. has posed to immigrants, especially immigrants of color. It was a kind of evocation to rest, and ask for your freedom, demand it, despite the pain.”

Kern Poetry Interview with Jerry D. Mathes II

Interview by Carla Martin
Photographs by Kern Poetry

Jerry D. Mathes II was the featured poet for Dagny’s First Friday Open Mic Night, last year on May 3, 2019.  The event was hosted by local poet and poetry advocate, Julie Jordan Scott.

 

 

The interview with Jerry D. Mathes II 
by Carla Martin

Q.  What inspired you to write your poems?  What are their backstories?

A.  I am inspired by life to write poems. That thing that drives anyone to tell a story that is as innate as painting on cave walls. In poetry, I write about events that have an underlying transformational moment, an emotional turn that happens. In the poem, “Venus in Retrograde” I was driving out Highway 58 before sunrise between Tehachapi and Boron headed to Las Vegas, Nevada where my father had been hospitalized and was about to undergo heart surgery. My two daughters were asleep and I was alone with the road noise and Venus burning in the light of false dawn. I wrote the poem in my head as I contemplated the gravity of the trip, my rocky relationship with my father, and the drive, the journey itself. This is classic story telling. What is the physical action of the story and what is the emotional action of the story? I had my journal with me, as I always do, so scribbled out the lines as it rested on my thigh. I’d learned how to write on a steno on my thigh as a helicopter manager when I was a wildland firefighter, so it’s something I can do easily.  

 

Venus in Retrograde 

The girls and I drive east, 
Sunrise like a creamsicle, 
spread only the way a desert 
can make it, edged between jagged 
mountains and the freezer blue 
of a sky, failing before day. The half-light 
ripples the frost on the dry lake, 
and Venus hangs a punch hole in the dark sky. 

We travel to see my father, whose heart 
is battered with decades of cigarettes, 
industry, and the working class diet 
designed to keep the body burning 
through the long shifts of mining ore, 
hauling the nation’s freight, or the rejection 

of a first born son. The space around 
his heart has filled with fluid like so much 
sweat and tears of a lifetime of work, 
compressing it until it struggles to beat, 
to do its job. 

My daughters sleep as I drive and regard 
Venus through the windshield, fading 
with the sunrise. How the son always 
feels the pull of the father, no matter 
how far away he travels or long ago 
the last civil word. 
Venus maybe in retrograde, 
but it always returns along its frozen 
ellipsis, not to the heart, but close enough 
to see its light at its brightest. 

 

Q. Do you like to read poetry?  If you do, what poets have influenced you?  Who have messages you connect with, or styles you admire?

A.  I do like to read poetry. And poets who have influenced me are Walt Whitman, Emily Dickenson, Tennyson, Wilfred Owen, Langston Hughes, Richard Hugo, Jane Kenyon, James Wright, Anna Akhmatova, Allen Ginsberg, Robert Hayden, Phillip Levine, Yusef Komunyakaa, and others. I don’t really look for messages, but how a poet uses words and images and how they connect to the human condition. I like when a poet lets a poem have room to breathe and even if it adds up to a certain way of looking at the world, like in Levine’s “What Work Is” or Tennyson’s “Ulysses,” events within the poem led us there and we aren’t being preached at. Even political poets like Owen and Ginsberg work through imagery and in the end let the readers contemplate how they feel about the subject. You can look at Ginsberg’s “America,” and its litany of injustices, sense of protest, or those people on the fringe, where it seems a rejection of America and its values because “America I’ve given you all and now I’m nothing,” but in the end turns it upside down when he says “America I’m putting my queer shoulder to the wheel.” The same with Owen’s poem “Dulce et Decorum Est.” He isn’t saying the war is hell, stop the war. He is showing you the horror of war as it existed for him on the Western Front and the reader can see the horrors and come to their own conclusions, which is much more powerful as he comes to the final line in Latin that works against the idea of glory and honor in war. Poetry can reveal to us injustices, horror, or oppression and it can be celebratory, elegiac, or mythic in searching, but how it wrestles with these things is what is important to me. Aristotle wrote in Poetics, “the ending must be unexpected, yet satisfying.” He was talking about all narratives. It’s what gives us surprise or delight as we finish reading. It’s also important to remember the reader is smart and doesn’t need to be told most things, and it robs a reader of the satisfaction of discovery. For instance, in Whitman’s “The Artilleryman’s Vision,” the artilleryman is hallucinating the battle in his home in bed with his wife and “through the dark, I hear, just hear, the/breath of my infant.” He shows us and we are left to share the experience. You can see this also in “Starlight Scope Myopia” by Yusef Komunyakaa where we are looking through a night vision scope at enemy soldiers who “Gray-blue shadows lift/shadows onto an oxcart.” and what is flat and dark opens out into a larger world of humanity we couldn’t have predicted, and discover a revelatory ending. I think a lot about Richard Hugo’s “Degrees of Grays in Phillipsburg” about a trip to a played-out mining town and he shows us the wreckage and hope of life in this trip. It begins, “You might come here Sunday on a whim,” and if that isn’t inviting you into a world laden with meaning to ponder, then I don’t know what is. But for all these authors, it is the imagery that shows us the way, and not the author telling us, and the author trusts we are smart enough to get it. I have no use for preachy poetry. In fact, preachy poetry is more for the writer than the listener. As the poet Richard Hugo said, “I you want to send a message, call Western Union.”  

 

Q. What advice would you give to other folks wanting to create poems?  How do you make a poem?  Do you have a special place you go to, or music you listen to, etc.? How long does it take you?  Do you write in the morning or evening?  On the back of envelopes or on your phone? Give us a glimpse into your creative process! 

A.  The advice I give people who want to be poets is to write and read and write some more. Look at poems you like and figure out how they were constructed. A good thing to do is get a book on forms and learn how to construct formal poems that don’t sound stilted, archaic, or forced, and after that you can break the form and create what you want. Another exercise I learned in college was modeling. Take a poem you love and use it as a blueprint for your own poem. Copy the meter, the line length and the number of lines, but use your own words and imagery. 

I don’t have a special place, or music, or a particular time of day and compose poems with whatever is handy. A poem can take years or days to minutes to write, because that’s how it works. My creative process is to look at the world or think about events or things and what questions they raise for and how to work it out. Yeats said, “Out of the quarrel with others we make rhetoric; out of the quarrel with ourselves we make poetry.” The poet must be introspective and struggle with her or himself as they confront the world and, most importantly, confront themselves. Poetry, it’s a search for meaning.  

Kern Poetry Interview with Matthew Woodman, Kern County Poet Laureate

Interviews by Carla Martin
Photographs by Kern Poetry

 

Interview by Carla Martin
Here are four poems Matthew Woodman shared with us at Dagny’s on First Friday, April 5th, 2019:

The Fugitive
       “I’d like to settle down, but they won’t let me.”
        –Merle Haggard

Who wouldn’t want to shed
their stripes in the shadow
of Mt. Shasta, the most
voluminous strato-
volcano astride the
Cascade Volcanic Arc?

Of the five essential
features of the phono-
graph, Edison opens
with captivity and
permanent retention
of all manner of sound-

waves previously stamped
“fugitive,” reception
as a correlative
of regulation, San
Quentin California’s
oldest prison and the

state’s only death row. Es-
capes may be divided
into voluntary
or negligent, actual
or constructive, Haggard’s
parole and then pardon

inexorably linked
to his band of Strangers
and the birdseye maple
Fender Telecaster
with the two-tone sun-
burst finish. To listen

is to risk being moved.
We are brief engagements
of time and pressure in
eruptive, ecstatic
song. Who wouldn’t want to
be born in a boxcar?

 

Day and Night
       (after Rufino Tamayo’s El día y la noche, 1954)

we purchased a family membership
at the california living museum
the aquarium will open
after the new year after the holiday
lights we watched the cougar
sleep we practiced deep soft stuttering
hoots on the great horned owl
we croaked and clacked the ravens
we followed fox tracks through
the powdery soil outside the cages
a turkey vulture spiraled over
head I told my son something dead
might be on the menu soon
his great grandfather recently passed
and dividing classifying diurnal
nocturnal but then why is the owl
awake sometimes things slide
through the night my grandfather
slipped into a coma I saw him
standing in my living room a high-
way away what propellant keeps
us participating in this bilateral
symmetry can modality be new
what happened after they took him
to the funeral home I explained
cremation and a simplified version
of closed systems of conservation
of energy and life cycles what was
your favorite part I asked the snake
house he replied a building seems
to cut into the side of a mountain
or pyramid and he’s always liked
descending mines or caves reading
about ancient monuments studying
the stars can I go out at midnight
he asks and look for ghosts at first
I dumfounded am but then realize he
refers to a game downloaded on his
mother’s phone of I tell him course

 

The Astronomer (1957)
       (after Rufino Tamayo’s painting El astrónomo, 1957)

The more I look the longer I last
just jump they say right in if you want

to understand but how does one reach
the firmament put oneself into play

amid the fault lines interplanetary
alignments slopes tracing the otherwise

incomprehensible tangle of table
crossed legs and do you want a refill

make of your head an orbital stone
be unafraid to careen and cause

questioning glance if need be at the hole
where the compass would be had you not

ditched it at the border along with your hold
on the pedometer and your corner chair

against the wall where normally you’d watch
the intersections traffic not in what

could happen but rather in fusing
the range your space to the spaces out there

 

Man with Flower
       (after Rufino Tamayo’s painting Hombre con flor, 1989)

The palette knife shaves seconds clean
into years since I had a full head
of hair the pate a sheen robin egg blue

the sky in spring shorn of the last
wispy tufts I still nick my throat’s right
when the razor’s dulled blade has seen

better days of buttered toast bacon
and eggs beneath a mound of biscuits
and gravy shelled on a handwashed plate

the rest proceeds both too quick too slow
how much has what else will rust
this patina before it all leaches

into the soil and sprouts a spindly
white daisy from which children
weave chains and forge crowns

– – –

Q. When did you first become interested in poetry? What poets have inspired and influenced you?

A. I first became interested in poetry as a child through Dr. Seuss and Shel Silverstein, and I have a “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish” tie that I wear on days I am feeling especially nostalgic. In terms of writing poetry, I suppose I would have to blame the writer Jim Dodge, from whom I took three or four creative writing courses at Humboldt State University. His novel Stone Junction is a hallucinogenic quest novel that I highly recommend, Fup is a shorter work about a larger-than-life pet duck, and his collection of poetry Rain on the River: New and Selected Poems and Short Prose contains one of my favorite poems, “Karma Bird.” I am always on the prowl for new poets and poems from whom I can find my own inspiration. Two of my earliest influences were John Berryman (Dream Songs) and Raymond Carver (Ultramarine). More recently, I have been influenced by Charles Simic (Hotel Insomnia), Olena Kalytiak Davis (Shattered Sonnets, Love Cards, and Other Off and Back Handed Importunities), Kay Ryan (The Best of It), A.R. Ammons (Garbage), Homero Aridjis (Solar Poems), and William Carlos Williams (Paterson), and this year I’ve been following Rocío Carlos (the Other House).

 

Q. What is your greatest desire to accomplish as Poet Laureate of Kern County?

A. I seem my role as Poet Laureate of Kern County as being some sort of catalyst who can inspire other people to read, write, and perform their own poetry. If I can inspire or assist another writer in putting their own words into the world, then I will consider my role a success.

 

Q. What advice would you give to aspiring poets? What is your modus operandi?

A. To all aspiring poets out there . . . read as much poetry as you can! Read the classics! Read what was published last week! Don’t obsess over finding your voice; instead, try to gather and give breath to all your voices. There are hundreds of literary journals publishing great poetry. Subscribe to a few, or ask your local library to pick up a subscription; many of these journals also have an online component (or are completely online), so there is no financial obstacle to seeing what’s being created now, in the same time and space in which we are living. I particularly enjoy the online journals Mojave Heart Review, Memoir Mixtapes, and Longleaf Review and the print journals Willow Springs, Puerto Del Sol, and Zyzzyva, but each journal has its own voice, so find the journal that publishes work you enjoy, and keep writing (and editing! and rewriting!) and then submit your own work to that journal. And don’t be discouraged by rejection; rejection is all part of the process and is a sign that you’re on the right path (as long as you continue writing and improving). My poems have been rejected a painful number of times, but –to use an analogy– the only way to build muscle is to tear the tissue and let it heal back stronger. Earn those rejections! And then make changes to your poem (or not!) and send it out into the world again. I also recommend finding a community of writers so that you can encourage and support each other through the process. The Writers of Kern is doing great work on this account, and an aspiring poet could also use the local library’s community page to start a writing group at the library. As for my own modus operandi, I like to give myself writing assignments or projects. For example, one of my recent projects involved the painter Rufino Tamayo, whose painting “Dog Howling at the Moon” stunned me when I first saw it. I then sat down to write a collection poems, each of which would be inspired by a different Tamayo painting. This ekphrastic project resulted in nearly 200 poems, and an earlier collection focusing on “moon” poems ended up numbering nearly 80. Each project has a centered focus (paintings or the moon), so part of my process is trying to expand my stylistic range so that I don’t repeat the same “tricks” or literary tropes. This has allowed me to push myself while also keeping an anchor to hold the poems in some sort of bay.

Interviews by Carla Martin

Photographs by Ezekiel Espanola

– – –

Interview with featured poet, Larry Etue, by Carla Martin

These are three poems selected from the ones that Larry read at Dagny’s Open Mic on March 1, 2019:

 

The Time of Now

Night begins to thaw

and light melts

over the landscape

illumination uneven

trickling through the forests, quietly

trickling among the

buildings, quietly

fulfilling the mythological promise

as the bones of Osiris

are again mended

sending long shadows stretching westward

as the arc of day begins 

and begs the question

that greets all who have choice:

what to do with this

the given

this the time of now 

the only time of importance

of all the time

that has ever been

 

Slowin’

Why do you hurry so?

To what do you run?

From what do you flee?

Is rest your foe?

Is silence to be shunned?

To hurry is to blur

To hurry is to miss

Why do you hurry so?

At the end of your race

Is the grave

Didn’t you know?

     Why do you hurry so?

 

Alley Riches

The downtown alley remains in shadow. 

Light never breaks through the buildings

of business and commerce.

This place is a concrete swamp of fetid odors,

a mossy north wall dampness ever present.

It is from here in the predawn that the city’s bedraggled exiles fan out with purpose.

Tenacious as raptors scrapping over road kills

they dumpster shop with pole and sack.

There they find boxes and boards for shelter, bottles and cans for cash.  All goes in the cart

and its plastic saddle bags. 

Grab and go. No waiting, no checkouts. 

Two hours later a day’s work is in before

the sun begins to search for them.

Then its time to sit with fellow exiles,

share a smoke and the narrow-necked sack

and tip a grateful salute to the side glances

and shaking heads of the city’s eight-to-fivers. 

–

Q.  What inspired you to write poetry?

A.  Working towards my BA in Liberal Arts and experiencing a down period in the process, I came upon the lines, ‘ The woods are lovely dark and deep, I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep.’ by Robert Frost.  The simple message of promises to keep rekindled the energy to continue towards graduation and continues to inspire me in the present.

That experience taught me that the right words at the right time can be a life changing alchemy.  Since then I have found inspiration in the poems, or stanzas within the poems of Dickinson, Tennyson, Heaney, Sandburg, Shelly, Emerson, Akhmatova, and so many others.

Q.  Some of your poems are social commentaries.  Do you think poets have an important role to play in bringing certain issues to light?

A.  I strongly believe that bringing attention to the plight of others suffering from our many contemporary social outrages falls within the purview of poets and others for comment.  Even if a poem or piece of writing or song doesn’t affect a change it demonstrates that there is at least one person who says, “This is not right,” and that one poem, writing, song joined by others 

may contribute to a movement and shift towards the better….maybe.

Q.  What advice would you give to people wanting to write poetry?  What is your modus operandi?

A.  I try to see the ordinary, the prosaic, the literal, beyond the sight lines of everyday vision and give words to the experience.  I work from a sense of inspiration:  source is immaterial;  when something moves me I set it to words in figurative language.  Most of my writing is done in coffee shops and often the ideas, fueled by an inspiration, have to be quickly captured on a napkin or in a notebook if at hand.  I then will develop the theme into a poem.

Rule #1 then is to always have something to secure your inspiration.

    Once my thinking is firm about the theme the writing begins with a very messy melange of words that needs a bit of sorting out.  After the sorting process I turn to the formatting or structure of the poem.  I want it to be pleasing to the eye and invite the reader for at least a momentary scan.  The thematic content can be lost to the reader if not supported by the ‘bones’ of the poem.  

Rule #2 then is to attend to the format once the content has been satisfied.

    I never use cliches…unless writing a poem about cliches, which has yet to happen.  Word choices and clauses to present the theme can take some time and frequent rewrites.  But I find ‘working the poem’  and attending to details an adventure.  Also, if including factual material in your poem…be certain of the facts.

Rule #3 then is to never use cliches or hackneyed phrases.

    I try to say a lot with as few words as possible.  After completing initial drafts I look for ways to eliminate the extraneous while leaving the core theme intact.  Let succinctness be your writing muse.  A poem, to me, is determined by the cohesiveness and clarity of its content.

Rule #4 then is less is best…let every word support the theme…if not, then delete.

    The capstone for me and for you as aspiring poets is to write for yourself…do not write to please an imaginary audience.  Authenticity is important.

Rule #5 then is Authenticity… it is your poem, your theme, your structure. Please yourself but always be ready to revise.

    When you have finished  to satisfaction and titled your poem, read it aloud.  What may flow in silence may not flow when spoken.  And, let’s face it, despite writing for yourself, you and I know you would like to do a public reading.  For experience and confidence I suggest that you find a group of like minded writers with whom to share your work.     

One final comment:  Get a copy of The Art of Reading Poetry by Harold Bloom… it is in paperback and I found it to be indispensable for both reading and writing.

---

 

Interview with Cori Love by Carla Martin

Here is the poem that Cori shared at Dagney’s Open Mic, March 1, 2019:

 

Black Love

Black Love is bold and beautiful

Difficult and Dramatic

And like my hair,

It can be unmanageable and full of kinks

Yet, its able to flow naturally.

Black love can be crunchy, sweet and salty but like caramel popcorn you always want seconds.

Black Love leaves a permanent stain.

It will never fade to a funky Shade of Grey.

Black is love is always what’s trending what’s new and sexy!

Black Love, when dressed up, stays red carpet-ready.

Go ahead, Tweet that!

When a girl falls in Black love,

that’s when you’ll notice her walking down the street with an extra sway in her hips

While wearing his favorite colored lipstick,

Deep burgundy number 19.

When a guy is in Black love

He will begin to walk down the street with a bit more Swag in his steps.

He is walking to the Rhythm of Black Love.

Black love is fueled by its music..

Luther Vandross sang, “It’s never too much.”

Anita Baker sang, “Sweet Love, hear me calling out your name, I feel no shame.”

And Sade said, “Your love is King, Crown you with my heart.”

So I do not want to fall in just any kind of love,

I want love that’s Dramatic, Crazy, Bold and Beautiful.

I Want Black Love.

–

Q.  What inspired you to write this poem?What is your back story?

A.  I was inspired to write this poem. I want to share why Black Love is real to me and why I call it that. Yes, Love is universal but from my afrocentric point of view, Black Love has more attitude, drama and boldness and beauty to it, than any other kind of love that you can have, and that’s why it’s real to me!

Q.  Do you enjoy reading poetry?Who are some of your favorite poets?

A.  I love to read poetry.  My favorites are Maya Angelou and Nikki Giovanni. They both speak of liberation and their lyrical phrasing is phenomenal.  But more often I enjoy watching  poets performing live on  stage. Seeing poetry come to life is when I get inspired the most!

Q.  What advice would you give to people wanting to write poetry?

A.   My advice to those who desire to write is simply believe that your stories matter. Write about topics that truly matter to you.

---

 

Interview with Ruth Handy by Carla Martin

This is the poem Ruth shared at Dagney’s Open Mic Night on March 1, 2019:

 

May the Oceans Be Freed of Plastic

What’s on TV?

How important is it?

May the oceans be freed of plastic.

 

Who’s in love with whom? 

Are the children okay after the divorce?

May the oceans be freed of plastic.

 

Did you register to vote?

Do you care what happens?

May the oceans be freed of plastic.

 

How much debt do you have?

How much does the country owe?

May the oceans be freed of plastic.

 

Do you care about yourself?

Do you care for others?

May the oceans be freed of plastic.

 

Does your soul have breathing room?

Are you at one with all life?

May the oceans be freed of plastic.

–

Q.  What inspired you to write this poem?

A.   I am very upset by the photos of animals and fish suffering and even starving from swallowing plastic in the ocean. Also I learned that there are 5 huge piles of plastic, miles wide, in all of the oceans with no solution in sight to clear them away. Somehow I feel that this pollution is connected to the fact that we are not managing our lives well as human beings – we are careless emotionally and financially, and the consequences can no longer be ignored.

Q.  What poets do you admire?  What kind of poetry really speaks to you?

A. I am moved by Portia Choi’s poems about her childhood experiences in Korea when the war was at it’s height.  I love Haiku, especially Basho’s poems about nature. He wrote these a couple of centuries ago in Japan.

Q.  What advice would you give to people trying to write poetry?

A. If people are interested in writing poetry, it might help to come to the First Friday readings at Dagney’s Coffee Shop. There will also be an Open Mic and Poetry Reading on April 6 at 11:00 am in Artworks in the Pine Mountain village. You can hear what concerns people have. Also poetry allows a person an opportunity to speak from a different plane and perspective, from in between worlds as it were.

Interviews by Carla Martin

Photographs by Ezekiel Espanola

–

Interview with Ariel Dyer 

by Carla Martin

Here are the lyrics to three of the songs Ariel shared with us:

SIREN SONG

by Ariel Dyer

“Hey sailor,” she sang, “I can show you a good time

“So walk right off of that plank, come on in the water is fine”

As he dove under the waves, she began to change her mind

The next morning, the captain read about it in the headlines

So hold her tight but not too long

She’ll be leaving in the morning but she won’t be gone

Thought she left you with a siren’s song

and headed out across the water

You asked her once, she spun the spell

“Do you love me?” “Yes, I love you well,

“Follow me into my pretty hell, if you dare to risk the drowning,

“If I take your hand I won’t let go.”

On the run on the high seas, maritime law’s a real bitch

A lonely life but she had to keep away from all those dirty rotten no good ships

Every night on the same star, she’d make the same wish

To find a love that made sense, she was tired of screwing the fish

So hold her tight but not too long

She’ll be leaving in the morning but she won’t be gone

Thought she left you with a siren’s song

And headed out across the water

You asked her once, she spun the spell

“Do you love me?” “Yes, I love you well

“Follow me into my pretty hell

“If you dare to risk the drowning

“If I take your hand will I be home?”

“Hey sailor,” she grinned, “Wanna make a bet?

I’ll let you keep me forever, if you can make it back to my place without getting wet”

He asked, “What if I lose?” She said, “Well, I guess you’ll be dead”

He walked right off of that plank, and straight into the sunset

So hold her tight but not too long 

She’ll be leaving in the morning but she won’t be gone

Thought she left you with a siren’s song 

And headed out across the water

You asked her once, she spun the spell

“Do you love me?” “Yes, I love you well

“Follow me into my pretty hell, cuz you don’t seem to mind the drowning

I’d rather not be on my own but

If you walk away, I’ll go alone”

UNDER YOUR SKIN

by Ariel Dyer

If it’s not a good look

Why do I wear it so well?

Pardon me I mistook

Your pretty face for someone else

But you’ll just have to do

Because you see it’s getting late

Yeah, it’s a bleak point of view

That keeps the guilt from off my plate

Cuz wolves in sheep’s clothing fight dirtier than I do

And trolls in the dungeon won’t leave to come and find you

You know who I am and you’re gonna let me in

I know that I’m under your skin

Just another sleepless night

You toss and turn until you sweat

Put on her perfume out of spite

But I’m not done with you just yet

While you’re counting sheep

I’m prowling just outside the pen

Mind the company you keep

I may be a monster, but you’ll want me as your friend

Cuz wolves in sheep’s clothing fight dirtier than I do

And trolls in the dungeon won’t leave to come and find you

You know who I am and you’re gonna let me in

I know that I’m under your skin 

I don’t have to huff and puff

To blow your house on down

Tell me when you’ve had enough

I’ll burn it to the ground

Scratch the itch to let me out

From underneath your skin

It’s wearing thin

Cuz wolves in sheep’s clothing fight dirtier than I do 

And trolls in the dungeon won’t leave to come and find you

You know who I am and you’re gonna let me in

I know that I’m under your skin 

COMING BACK

by Ariel Dyer

I dreamt of a horse

A horse that was mine 

We traveled the world

She made me feel fine

One day she fell ill

I sent for the doctor

He said “I know that I’m skilled 

“But I’m no sweet talker

“Your girl’s pretty bad

“There’s no guarantees 

“The one hope you have 

“is to leave her with me”

So I said my goodbyes 

But I wasn’t too worried

Missed that look in her eyes

Was in such a hurry

To be anywhere else 

You know how it goes

I said it myself 

But it’s a bitch when you know

She’s not coming back

I had my fun then I went back home

Next up found my girl all alone

Hardly recognized her moans

All wild eyes and bloody bones

Doctor, doctor, come and see

Just what it is you’ve done to me

But only silence heard my pleas

So I pulled my gun to finish the deed

She’s not coming back

It’s too late to tell her

Too late to say it

No use even thinking 

Pointless to pray it

Your friends all feel sorry

You watched the thing die

Sometimes even the killer 

Can believe her own lies

She’s not coming back

What if it’s your fault she’s gone?

What if there’s no moving on?

What if you’d known all along?

Then you should have fixed what was wrong…

Q.  What inspired you to write “Siren Song?”  What’s your backstory?

A. I wrote Siren Song at the beginning of a new relationship, in an attempt to work out the monotony of dating and the scary transition between casual dating and being real with someone you care about. We all put on our best self when we’re getting to know someone (or at least I know I certainly do), but what about when the walls come down and it’s just you NOT at your best? Are they going to stick around?

I’ve always been a big mythology nerd, and since my name is Ariel and almost everyone makes the little mermaid joke when they meet me, sirens popped into my head. The metaphor of sirens luring men to their deaths as a stand-in for vulnerability and taking a chance in the world of modern dating seemed to work well. 

Q.  Do you think songwriters are poets?  Who are some that inspire you?

A.   I absolutely think songwriters are poets! Although it’s funny, because I don’t think I could write poetry that’s unaccompanied by music. It’s definitely got its own style. I tend to gravitate towards lyricists, and a lot of the best lyric writers in my opinion are hip hop artists. Some favorite songwriters include Joni Mitchell, Kendrick Lamar, clipping., Billy Joel, and Amanda Palmer.

Q.  What might be your advice to aspiring songwriters?  What is your method or process?

A.   My advice to people interested is songwriting is to listen to a wide variety of artists, talk with even more, and just go for it. Pick up your pen and paper, sit at your instrument, and see what happens. I write my lyrics and music mostly simultaneously, but every songwriter I’ve talked to does it differently. The important thing is to see yourself as a legitimate artist worth listening to (which, speaking from personal experience, is hard to do). My best ideas come from spending time with other creative people, drawing inspiration from their determination, commiserating in commons struggles, and even engaging in a little healthy competition.  We’ve got loads of local talent. Start mingling!

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Interview with Thomas Brill 

by Carla Martin

Here is the poem Thomas performed that evening.  He provided printed copies of it so folks could see its shape, which is essential to the meaning and understanding of the work.

This

will never

do because at

some point the lines

will become ridiculously

long, each a novel of its own

creation, each touching upon different

topics, no relation between one line and

the next, a Christmas tree of ideas splattered

onto the page without cohesion, without reason,

without rhyme or even poetry.  Indeed we measure

each and learn, as with the Werkmeister Harmonies,

there is a delicate truth and balance in the length of the lines

alone without regard to how they sound or what they mean or who

has said them even.  Instead a universal thing, the same thing that leads

one to believe in spirit and which both unites and terrorizes us in our little

beds that we believe symbolize a whole world when really we don’t even scratch the

surface of our own meaningless drifting existence which feels awkward and difficult as

each lines gets longer until, exhausted, we collapse into a collective grave or gravy of banality.

–

1.  What inspired you to write this poem?  What’s your back story? (You gave us a fascinating snippet about this Friday night! I am also fascinated by the cross-pollination of the different creative arts).

There is actually a kind of funny story about what inspired the poem.  I sit at my desk in my room every morning and write a poem.  Usually I start by making a vertical line down the middle of the page, and then write poems on either side of the line.  This time I decided to get bold and make a diagonal line.  As I was writing down to the bottom of the triangle, each line was getting longer and longer, and so it just inspired me to ride that theme and play it with it a bit.  A lot of what I write involves people’s relationship with the natural world and how out of balance our lives are when compared to nature, and I eventually worked that theme into this poem as well.

2.  What poets do you enjoy and why do they inspire you?

William Carlos Williams is one of my favorite poets.  He was a doctor and he would write poems on a prescription pad so they were thankfully short.  Also his poetry is very accessible.  His language is simple.  His ideas very clean.   I had been reading Wallace Stevens for a long time and his poetry is obtuse and cryptic–reading it is liking trying to perfectly fold a fitted sheet.  I started reading William Carlos Williams soon after and I was folding pillowcases instead.  Much easier and compact.

3.  What advice would you give to other folks in Bakersfield who might like to write poetry?

Write.  Find inspiration from everything around you.  Don’t be intimidated by your thoughts, and write freely about whatever you truly feel.  Cheat if you must by finding a word and simply writing a poem that contains that word, or a number, or something that will get you started.

Try to see the cantaloupe in the pine forest.  Or marshmallows floating in a sea of ink.  In other words, be creative in your thoughts and imagery.  Everything has not been said before.

---

Interview with Virginia Hines 

by Carla Martin

Virginia sang this original song for us Friday evening.  Here are the lyrics :

Virtuous Woman

Written/Sung by Virginia A. Hines, PhD 

For Carrie B. Hines (My Mother) Title track for the CD: In Memory of a Virtuous Woman

Who can find a virtuous woman?

Who can find a virtuous woman?

In times like these, A virtuous woman is hard to find. (x’2)

A virtuous woman, truth I’m told is more precious than gold.

She rises early to feed her family and wraps them in warm clothes to protect them from the cold.

She surveys the land, and buys it. For all her decision making is blessed by the Lord.

Who can find a virtuous woman?

Who can find, Oh a virtuous woman?

In times like these, A virtuous woman is hard to find. (x’1)

She extends her hands to poor.  Yea, yea, yea

She gives to the needy. Strength and honor are her clothes.

She will rejoice in times to come.  For a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be sustained.

A Virtuous woman, A virtuous woman, who, who can find

A virtuous woman?

In times like these, A virtuous woman is hard to find. (x’1)

Many sisters have done virtuously.  But Carrie, Carrie B, exceedth them all. (x’2).

A virtuous woman.  A virtuous woman, My, my ,mother is,

A virtuous woman.  In times like these, let Carrie, let Carrie, let her, let Carrie, Let Carrie Be!

1.  What inspired you to write this song?

     At some point in life, the focus for many, becomes more altruistic.  My focus became altruistic during the late 1990’s.  Life was going great.  But into each life challenges, crisis, loss, and suffering occur.  Prior to any major issues of magnitude in my life, I began to reflect on my blessings and the most influential person in my life-my Mother Carrie.  I am most grateful for her introducing God, Jesus, and the Holy spirit to me, as I have learned to rely on, lean on, and trust in the trinity at all times.  In response to my trust in the Trinity, I have been able to survive, thrive, and experience blessings I only dreamt of.

     Proverbs 31:10-31 teaches us about the Virtuous Woman.  My mother used this scripture as a blue print for living.  To pay tribute to her I wrote the song and sought God’s guidance relative to the melody for singing the song.   The song like the scripture resonates love, honor, respect and power of the Lord and all virtuous women, specifically-my mother.

I hale from Saginaw, MI. and have been a resident of Bakersfield for 10 months.  I served in the U.S. Army and am currently a federal employee.  I have always loved music.  I sang in the church choir as a teen and still do- at the St. John Missionary Baptist Church, where Dr. Antonio M. Alfred is the Pastor.

    In the 1990’s I wrote a collection of songs inclusive of Virtuous Woman.  To date, I have written more than 19 songs.  Virtuous Woman is the title tract on the Gospel CD entitled: In Memory of a Virtuous Woman: Carrie B. Hines.  The CD was originally released in 2014.  The other songs on the disc include: Victorious, Miracles, Can’t Wait, and Reflections.  The CD can be obtained by going to cdbaby.com/cd/dvirginiahines.  The purchase price of the CD is $10.00. Funds generated from sales of the CD have been used to develop a scholarship fund named in honor of my mother Carrie B. Hines, who passed away unexpected in March 2014.  In efforts to reframe a loss by turning it into a gift, I decided to honor mother’s work and memory be giving to those in need.   Recipients of the scholarship dollars must be participants in Big Brothers Big Sisters or have a GPA of 4.00 and plan to attend any college In Michigan or the University of Maryland (my amateur).  My mother was a big sister for more than 26 years at the Saginaw Bay Area Big Brothers and Big Sisters and I volunteer for four years in Las Vegas, NV.  The goal is to give back by advancing education through music.  The initial scholarships will be dispersed in 2019.  The link to donate to the scholarship fund is www.saginawfoundation.org/thankyou4caring.hines/     

Additional links: Website-CBIVIRTUOUSWOMAN.COM

Endowment/scholarship info-saginawfoundation.org/site/carrie_hines/

Video-https://youtu.be/7JtclLhao-c

Follow me on FB-Virginia Hines

     Music is my way of interpreting meaning from scripture, life, and experiences.  It is the way I reframe the aforementioned through lyrics. Singing is a way that I honor the Lord.  Music is a vocal expression of the ideas, longings, and exhortations God has painted on the canvas of my heart.  Indeed, musicians like poets-express, create meaning, and stir emotion when we share the results of our interpretations.

2.  What artists inspire or speak to you?

     I love all kinds of music…but  my favorite artists include: Sarah Vaughn (technique); Whitney Houston (style and versatility), Mariah Carey (range, ability to draw me in and make me feel deeply- her croons),  Bee Bee and Cee Cee Wynans (creative spiritual prose); Fred Hammond (great ability to communicate God’s word through song); Kirk Franklin( ability to create Gospel music that makes you want to move…celebrate); and Tamala Mann (range, skill, and spirituality).

1. What advice would you give to folks who are just satarting to write songs?

I believe that God gives his children gifts.  Whatever gift God gives us should be used to edify(uplift) and honor God.  Several skilled singers have told me they do not write their own songs.  I never imagined I would write any of the songs that I have written.  God inspired the songs I have written and many of them originated from a theme, a message, a few words of scripture that remained on my mind….that stir something in me.  Or even something that a preacher preached about….  If anyone wants to write songs, I would encourage them be a good listener.  But listen to what you feel and hear.  Write down themes or hooks that remain on your mind.  Also consider your own inspiration…link meaning to inspiration and I believe it will be blessed and so will your listeners.   Be true to yourself.  Many times, critics try to steer you away from your unique style.  I believe God can sharpen and refine us where we need to be sharpened and refined.  Just be yourself and follow your heart and dreams.  Blessings and Peace,

Virginia A. Hines, PhD