Kern Poetry Newsletter – October 2024

Kern Poetry Newsletter

Our mission is to showcase local poets, inform the community of
poetry events, and share information on poets and their poetry.

October 2024

HOPING FOR FALL, Soon…

Open Mics and more…
Join the local celebrations!
– – –

Good News & Events

Friday October 4th, 2024
Kern Poetry – Open Mic
Join us at Kern Poetry Open Mic – At Dagny’s 6pm

IN PERSON – Open Mic – Friday October 4, 2024    
Starts 6PM

 Poetry, Spoken Word and Music                  
Original creations for 5 min.

AND/OR 

A person can read or perform a favorite poem 
words or songs that are in the Public Domain
Still a total of 5 minute max!

To perform, sign-up before 5:50PM 

 AT
Dagny’s Coffee
1600 – 20th
(Corner of 20th and Eye St)
Bakersfield 93301

 Free to the public.  Light refreshments provided

KERN POETRY Welcomes You!
____________________
Dagny’s Coffee Shop’s back room 
1600 20th Street – corner of Eye and 20th Street  

Interview with Saxon Cross-Peavler
First Friday Open Mic – September 6, 2024
Now posted on our website!

Interview with Saxon Cross-Peavler – First Friday Open Mic – September 6, 2024

By: Carla Joy Martin

We had a full house and many new faces interspersed with the old and familiar friends at Dagny’s – all gathered to honor Samuel Rain Benjamin, our featured performer and Kern County Poet Laureate.  Samuel really wowed the crowd with poems expressing emotions from the heart.

The following persons also shared their verse:  Savanah Bean, Shelley Evans, Beatrice H. Boswell, Penny Sheppard, Heidi Mensink, Saxon Cross-Peavler, Portia Choi, Christopher Robert Craddock, and Carla Joy Martin.  We also heard original songs sung by Gabe the Guitarist.

Saxon Cross-Peavler was a newcomer who impressed us with his thoughtful, introspective works. 
Here is an excerpt from the piece he read at the Open Mic:

“Primal Pyramid”…

Click here and read complete interview on our website…

IT’S SPECTACULAR SATURDAY!

ZOOM – KERN POETRY OPEN MIC:
Saturday October 19th, 2024
6 PM PST

Stay tuned for more news and info on our website and Facebook.
Will let you know how to sign up to get your ZOOM link!

NEW BOOKS by Kern Poetry Authors

Did you get your Kern Poetry Authors new books?
Please let us know by email with your review on these books.
info@kernpoetry.com

Samuel Rain Benjamin

“If Life Were A Movie”
Samuel Rain Benjamin is the Poet Laureate of Kern County

the presale has begun don’t miss out . . .
First Thoughts/Dark Man Blues “If Life Were A Movie”

Limited Edition Only 90 copies will be released in 2024,
find out how to order your copy today
email: Samuel

This will not be released on Amazon
$25 Limited Edition Dark Man Blues
email: Samuel
to order your copy”

About the Author:
Samuel Rain Benjamin is the Poet Laureate of Kern County 2024-2026. Samuel has written many books of his poetry. He is promoting poetry as Poet Laureate far and wide.

Fidel A. Martinez

The Valley (Caprichos de San Joaquin)”

The Valley charts a path with poems that tell the story of the San Joaquin Valley. The past and the present intertwined in a quilt of colors that constantly flirt with the city of Bakersfield at its core guided by Father Garces.

About the Author:
Fidel A. Martinez lives in Bakersfield, California, which is part of the Central Valley.

Fidel has written a number of books of poetry. He still working on another new poetry book. It is prefaced on the back of this current book. He is a poet!

Fidel has been a Featured Poet at Kern Poetry in 2016. This was at Dagny’s in one of our Open Mics. Here is the link to our interview and a poem on our website:
Open Mic Featured Poet: Fidel A. Martinez – August 2016

His Book on Amazon

Catherine Abbey Hodges

“Empty Me Full”

“Empty Me Full is an invitation to intimate conversation with a wise and affectionate seeker. But Catherine Abbey Hodges is no common questioner. Hers is a wit-laced and vulnerable wondering. Exhilarated by relationship with human, animal, earth and sky, in language honed with care and cadence, her surprising turns of thought and discovery deepen our shared humanity. Without being sentimental, the book is rich with sentiment. Without dictating belief, the collection inspires reverence for the greater-than-human. In poems that turn grief to awe and sadness to wonder, the poet celebrates our stunning, imperfect lives.”
– Barbara Rockman, author of: “to cleave”

About the Author:
Catherine Abbey Hodges is the author of In a Rind of Light (Stephen F. Austin State University Press, 2020); Instead of Sadness, selected by Dan Gerber for the 2015 Barry Spacks Poetry Prize from Gunpowder Press; Raft of Days (Gunpowder Press, 2017); and the chapbooks A Spell for What Comes Next (Miramar Editions, 2018) and All the While (Finishing Line Press, 2006).

Her poems appear widely in venues including Narrative, The Southern Review, Tar River Poetry, Miramar, The American Journal of Poetry, Connotation Press, Cider Press Review, Atticus Review, SWWIM, Gyroscope Review, and Chicago Quarterly Review. They’ve been anthologized, featured on The Writer’s Almanac  and Verse Daily, and nominated for the Pushcart Prize, the Orison Anthology, and Best of the Net. Catherine serves as a staff reader for SWWIM and an advisory editor for Anacapa Review. With David Starkey, she is co-creator and -director of Canyon Wren Writing.

An award-winning teacher, Catherine taught English at Porterville College for 20 years before retiring in 2021. She writes, edits, teaches privately, and collaborates with musician and labyrinth-maker Rob Hodges in the foothills of California’s Sierra Nevada.

Her Book on Amazon

HOPING FOR FALL, Soon.

— — —
Autumn should bring cooler weather…

Kern Poetry

(excerpt)
Christopher Nielsen

“Where is poetry
in the city
of Bakersfield?

Go to the coffee shop
where the poets
hang out.

Reciting their poems
share with
other writers.

As says Portia:
”Poetry Lives!”…”

— — —

Send us your poem!
info@kernpoetry.com

You are receiving our Newsletter,
but please tell your friends.
Go to: KernPoetry.com
to sign up to our email list
to receive our monthly Newsletter.

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK

Kern Poetry Facebook Page