(P)EAR is back with Diane Thiel and Tony Mares

Next week, at 3 pm on Sunday April 15th at the Projects, 3614 High Street NE, our spring program coordinator Tanaya Winder hosts another installment of (P)EAR: Poetics & Poems. This time current UNM Poetry Professor Diane Thiel is joined by E.A.”Tony” Mares, Professor Emeritus of English at UNM. Both will offer perspectives on poetry craft and aesthetics, the various pleasures working with words can take.

Diane Thiel’s first collection, Echolocations, won the 2000 Nicholas Roerich Prize and took second place in ForeWord magazine’s Book of the Year competition. Many of the poems in Echolocations speak frankly about Thiel’s German heritage and the lineage of trauma brought on by war and violence.  Christine Stewart-Nuñez observed in Prairie Schooner that Thiel’s later collection, Resistance Fantasies, a 2004 National Book Award nominee, “explore[s] myth and personal story, legends and contemporary public issues.… Thiel portrays women who resist appearances or conventions, especially the ways myths typically construct them.” Thiel has now  authored eight books and she also won an NEA International Literature Award for her translation of American Fugue, Alexis Stamatis’s poetic novel.  Thiel has lived in Europe and South America and is fluent in several languages. A 2001 Fulbright Scholar and recipient of the Robert Frost and Robinson Jeffers awards, Thiel holds BA and MFA degrees from Brown University. She has taught creative writing, literature, and other subjects at the University of Miami, Florida International University, the University of New Mexico, and elsewhere.

 

E. A. “Tony” Mares is a poet, historian, essayist, and fiction writer who has published extensively. His work has appeared in local, regional, national, and international venues. Among his works are three chapbooks, two books of poetry, and one book of translations of the poems of Ángel González. : His books include The Unicorn Poem & Flowers and Songs of Sorrow (Albuquerque, West End Press, 1992), With the Eyes of a Raptor (San Antonio, Wings Press, 2004), and his translations of poems by the noted Spanish poet Ángel González, Casi Toda la Música y otros poemas/Almost All the Music and Other Poems (San Antonio, Wings Press, 2007). Most recently, along with Tomás Atencio and Miguel Montiel, he co-authored Resolana: Emerging Chicano Dialogues on Community and Globalization (Tucson, University of Arizona Press, 2009).
In addition to his literary work, Mares has a doctorate in European History and he has taught at many colleges, universities, and other educational venues. He is Professor Emeritus of English, The University of New Mexico, where he taught poetry and fiction writing in the Creative Writing Program. He founded and directed what may have been the first university based Internet outreach program in the United States designed to involve mid-school, high school, and adult writers in an online learning environment called the Writers Inn. This program encouraged a network of young students to develop their writing skills and placed them in contact with university-based professional writers. Early in his career, Mares’s research and publications reinvigorated the study of Padre Antonio José Martínez of Taos, a key figure in New Mexican and Southwestern History. From the spring of 2000 through the spring of 2001, Mares published a weekly newspaper political and literary column in Spanish, Pláticas Entre Los Trasnochadores/Conversations Among People Who Stay Up All Night, in the Albuquerque Journal North, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Mares  was the poet-in-residence for the University of Oklahoma’s Summer Program in Santa Fe, New Mexico  2004 –2009. Conversations I Never Had With Patrociño Barela came out from UNM Press in 2010. Also, Fall 2010, Voices of the American Land  published a chapbook by Mares based on imagery from the Rio Grande.

Hope you can join us for this conversation.

April LPG event at 516 ARTS

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Saturday, April 28, 4pm

516 WORDS: Judge for Yourself

presented in partnership with the Local Poets Guild

516 ARTS presents a poetry reading in celebration of National Poetry Month in conjunction with the New Mexico Showcase juried exhibition. The reading features New Mexico poets from the fields of Law, Politics, Environmental Advocacy and Education. Join us to find out how work informs poetry and whether poetry can work for New Mexico.  this event is organized by Lisa Gill, 516 ARTS Literary Arts Coordinator.
Erin Northern is currently a kindergarten teacher with Albuquerque Public Schools and the founder and co-organizer of OUTSpoken, Albuquerque’s first Queer Poetry Slam and Open Mic.

Bill O’Neill is currently in his second term as State Representative in the New Mexico State Legislature, and also works as the Development Director for the Parole Empowerment Program.

Raymond Zachary Ortiz is a District Court Judge and has just released his first book of poems, We Had More to Say: Poems from the Pilgrimage Road. A native of Santa Fe, his family and ancestors have lived in Northern New Mexico for over four centuries.

Beata Tsosie-Peña* is the Program Coordinator for the Environmental Health and Justice Program at Tewa Women United, which includes youth-focused and intergenerational activities. Her first publication was a report for the CDC (Centers for Disease Control).

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516 WORDS is made possible in part by Arturo Sandoval in memory of Anna Kavanaugh Sandoval.

“The Unwieldy Mind, Loose Linguistic Tethers, and the Possibility of Preventing Suicide”

That’s the title, tentatively, of the talk I’m going to give at 3:00 pm on Sunday at Acequia Booksellers 4019-4th ST. NW. I’m looking forward it, and I actually hope to focus a great deal on the craft of poetry. And yet, I have to admit that he reasons I’m focusing on craft, the reasons I always focus on craft, are purely selfish: survival.

Which is why it’s downright perfect that the middle name of the poet I’ll be speaking with is “Survivor.”

John Survivor Blake.

After being born addicted to heroin and alcohol and enduring poverty in the Baruch Housing Projects on the lower east side of Manhattan at the hands of chemically addicted parents, he spent his adolescence visiting his mother in prison. Yet “Survivor” has managed to not only graduate high school and enroll in college, but has also shared performance stages with the likes of Patricia Smith, Saul Williams, Tara Hardy, Amiri Baraka, Suheir Hammad, Taylor Mali, and many, many other great writers.

He believes poetry saved his life.

Different stories for me, same assessment. Give credit where credit is due.

Language can be a powerful force for the good, even though (to be frank and a wee bit morbid) poets have foreshortened life expectancies compared to playwrights and novelists according to scientific studies. (I read that in a journal called “Death Studies.”) If you come out, among pure issues of poetry, I’ll also delve into how specific language choices statistically impact mortality.

I love this stuff! Sunday will be fun.I also hope to read from Tate and Levin, quote Emerson, Gaston Bachelard, Rukeyser, and Cocteau (image from his film Blood of a Poet pictured here) and discuss many of my influences, ranging from classic American poets and Shakespeare to Eminem.

Thanks everyone,

lisa gill

Sari Krosinsky June 9th: How Fragments Create Echoes

Sari Krosinky says, “My poems most often start as fragments–as images or ideas or words come to me, I write them in a poetry journal I carry around. The fragments come both from random things that strike me and from whatever I’m obsessing about at the moment–most often something to do with death and/or relationships. When I’ve collected enough fragments, I start picking through them, cluster the ones that seem like they fit together, build on the individual pieces and draw out connections between them. I don’t really think about craft or what I’m trying to do in a poem until it’s done. Then I hope the poem communicates something that others will find either echoes their own experience or shows them a new perspective. But ultimately I just write whatever I feel driven to write. “

And one of her poems:

Hunger

I cook like my grandmother, whipping up a badass stew

from spare parts. Hers, variations on leached chicken

swimming in grease. Mine, resurrecting potatoes-on-the-edge

with a couple cans green chilé. I mince garlic as you read

to me, baritone against the percussion of popping oil.

Looking at you, I reach for the pot, char my finger.

I thrust my hand under the tap; you go on reading

as cold water seals the burn in a scar.

Like my grandmother, I cook to feed armies. She rallied

relatives, friends, strangers to divide the booty.

I have you. Like her, will I never learn

to cook for one? Or like Orpheus, would I follow you

to Hades and, failing, survive still? When you’re gone,

I’ll play your cd, seal my hunger in your voice.

You can hear Sari Krosinsky read at Triptych this Thursday at 7:00 pm at the Projects (3614 High Street NE, through the garage doors, North of Candelaria and East of Edith.) She’ll be featured alongside Sarah McKinstry-Brown and Jasmine Cuffee.

I’m really looking forward to this night!

lg

Verso Scoop

Check out who’s gonna be performing poems and discussing craft at Verso Quatro next Wednesday May 25th at 7:00 pm at the Projects (3614 High Street NE).

Spirit Birds They Told Me, Mary Oishi‘s first collection of poetry, was published this year by West End Press, although she has been publishing and performing poetry most of her life. Since coming to Albuquerque in 1999, Oishi produced numerous poetry events, including Some of My Best Friends Are Poets, Q-Words, and WomanWords. She has produced several art-as-protest events as well: including Peace Buzz and Mightier Than the Sword: Writers Address the Nuclear Age. She works for KUNM-FM public radio, and served as adjunct faculty for UNM Valencia.

A slam poet, published author, and award-winning teacher, Joaquín Zihuatanejo has been called by critics, “one of the most dynamic and passionate performance poets in the country, melding equal parts comedy, poetry, and dramatic monologue into a crowd-pleasing display of verbal fireworks….”  An HBO Def Poet and Individual World Poetry Slam Champion, Joaquín has shared a stage with Saul Williams, Billy Collins, Alicia Keys, and Maya Angelou among others.

Jessica Helen Lopez is a three time member of the City of Albuquerque Slam Team and the 2008 National Champion Winning UNM Lobo Slam Team.  She has been the Poet-In-Residence in several New Mexico High Schools and continues her work in the classroom.  Mother to a vivacious nine year-old daughter,  Lopez is a member of the Macondo Foundation. She currently works as the poetry intern at UNM’s literary magazine, Blue Mesa Review.  Her first collection of poetry entitled, “Always Messing With Them Boys” has just been pulished through West End Press.

Seth Walker is Houston’s premiere spoken word artist. In 2007, Seth Walker entered the Houston poetry scene like thunder, taking 1st place in the Houston Grand Slam. He was ranked as the top Slam Poet in Houston 2007. That same year, while on the Houston Slam Team, Seth placed 2nd overall in Texas at the Texas Blue Bonnet Competition. In November of 2007, Seth left Houston to travel and perform across the country full-time. Born August 1st, 1984 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Seth’s early life’s progress was measured in overflowing notebooks and a drive for excellence in education.  “As the sun of a preacher man, he was born to shine” but it was his mother’s voice and stage presence that later inspired him to take to the stage.

VERSO QUATRO: Zihuatanejo, Oishi, Lopez, Walker

You’ll want to catch this rare convergence. Joaquin Zihuatanejo, Mary Oishi, Jessica Helen Lopez, and Seth Walker will all share the same stage next Wednesday May 25th at 7:00 at the Projects, the new warehouse theater at 3614 High Street NE. We’re asking for a $5 donation but no one will be turned away.

YES. A GOOD NIGHT IS IN STORE. POWER-PACKED PERFORMANCES AND HOT BUTTON POETRY TALK.

In keeping with the spirit of Local Poets Guild, the event will be part reading and part panel discussion—so not only will you get to hear poems by these amazing forces, but you’ll get to hear them discuss their motivations and thoughts on poetry and the role of poetry in society. Richard Vargas will be moderating.

Both Mary Oishi and Jessica Helen Lopez have new books out from West End Press. And we’re lucky that there’s a day overlap in the visits of Joaquin Zihuatanejo and Seth Walker so we could bring all four together. I can’t wait to hear what all these unique poets have to say.

I’ll post bios and photos and more information tomorrow. Today, I just wanted to begin SHOUTING FROM THE ROOFTOP.

“You’ll want to catch this!”

(more soon)

lg

Good Pearing: Goodell & Jackson

Here is a quick short and inadequate recap of some of the highlights of P(EAR). There were two speakers, Larry Goodell and Gary Jackson, and about 16 people in attendance at Acequia Booksellers. It was a nice, thought provoking and inspiring time with cookies afterward

The image Larry Goodell used for getting lines was a slot machine. You pull the lever and get a mix of noun/verb/noun. Sometimes you hit it, and sometimes you don’t. He’s trained himself to write down lines that spark, and then importantly be open to what comes next, where that line leads. He quotes Ann Quinn, “Be ruthless with your own writing,” but also believes as John Cage said, “The best revision is new work.” He views poetry as inclusive and so prefers to avoid limiting classifications like slam, narrative, lyric, language–all poetry is on a continuum. And he says, “To me, poetry is a matter of song and sense.” And, “Poetry is humbling.”

Larry is also driven to ask questions like, what does the back of the poem look like, how does the poem exist in 3-d time and space, what happens if a mask is a part of a poem, or movement. He also talks heartily about poetry as service, even to the extent of publishing other poets, editing, making readings happen, all the good community involvement. There is joy in his presentation and his passion and commitment that’s contagious. It was great to hear him speak.

Gary Jackson, who opened the event, talked about cultivating obsession. However, he clarified that obsession is not “topic,” only the vehicle. For example, the comic book characters he writes about are not the topic. Rather, the context of superheroes allows him indirect access to explore issues of race and loss, adolescence and more–because poetry is capable of talking about many things at once and sometimes less direct ways work better.

Although Gary is driven by story, and narrative, he found a quote which I’ll paraphrase, that says, “A really good poem conveys meaning before it even conveys understanding.” He works hard to be neither blatantly obvious nor purposefully obscuring. He finds beauty in poetry in the way all the rules can be bent and anything and everything can be used at the service of poetry. Essentially, there are no rules. Right now,  in his own work, he’s exploring less linear leaps of consciousness. In terms of topic, he maintains work around his obsession, comics, but is also exploring concepts of motherland. I’m looking forward to seeing how these new series shape up.

Thanks tons to both Larry and Gary for speaking today.

Next P(EAR) is June 26th 3:00 with speakers TBA but I believe I’ll be one of them

Regards,

LG

P(EAR) Tomorrow: Plucky

Sunday we have our second incarnation of P(EAR): Poetics and Poems with Gary Jackson and Larry Goodell. It’s at 3:00 pm at Acequia Booksellers 4019 4th st. NW.

What excites me about this series is getting to glimpse into the mind of the poet, to hear the inner workings behind the poems, to understand the motivations and the thought and care that goes into each individual’s craft.

For me, inviting people to lecture is a way of being intellectually nosy. I’m so curious to hear what makes people tick, how they move through the terrain of language and create art.

One of the other nice things, that you may not be aware of, is that people who attend P(EAR) lectures are invited to write creative responses, either poems or essays. Later we’ll get to showcase the fruits of the series. Keep that in mind.

So come out, get inspired, take some notes, go home and write. That’s my plan at least. Hope to see you tomorrow.

LG