YES! Of course!

Here at Local Poets Guild, we think it’d be absolutely delectable if Albuquerque could host Jomar Valentin this summer. Jomar is a three time member of the award winning Austin New Soul Slam Poetry Team, an active member of FLAGS (Federation of Lesbians, and Allies of Gay Sports) and the Winner of Season 4 of Austin’s Next Drag Superstar (Austin’s Live version of RuPaul’s Drag Race). He also has two black belts, likes gin and tequila, fried chicken and old book smell and he makes some bomb fried rice! Check out this video of Jomar Valentin performing.

With your support, Jomar’ll be tearing up some good words for Pride Fest very soon… And Local Poets Guild will help stretch the funding to make his visit possible by matching your donations dollar-for-dollar.

WHAT? HUH? HOW? You donate a dollar, or five, or twenty-five, or fifty–any amount–just show your support to welcome Jomar and LPG will match it.  And Erin Northern has made the process of donating GOFUNDME easy!!! You can just click – n- donate…

A tremendous poet in her own right, Erin does great work for the GLBTQ community year-round with OUTspoken, and she has gone out of her way to set up a GO FUND ME site so you can donate quickly and easily to support Jomar. Every donation counts as a show of support for art and queer voices and you know Jomar’s gonna deserve a nice honorarium for the whirlwind performance he’s gonna bring our city….

There’s no nail-biting needed! Just click and say:

“Yes, I’ll get Jomar some bottled water” ($2)

“Yes, I’ll fund a breakfast burrito at the frontier” ($5)

“Yes, double my contribution…” ($10)

“Yes, slam lives!” ($15)

“Yes, I value all the opportunities OUTspoken provides!” ($25)

“Oh, yes!” ($50)

This is no-fret-easy. Albuquerque has a strong and supportive and diverse poetry community and we know how to make things happen.  All your donations go straight to OUTspoken and then LPG will match the grand total up to $400.

Let’s do poetry proud this summer!

The MATCH is ON!

–lisa gill

Local Poets Guild

—————————-

* I read the sassy/lovable quote under one of Jomar’s youtube videos–it fits.

**Thanks to OUTspoken, to ABQ Slams, to Erin, and forthcoming applause and thanks to Jomar.  AND HUGE  THANKS to everyone who can make a donation no matter how small or large… it all counts. Local Poets Guild also wants to give a special thanks to McCune Charitable Foundation for supporting our efforts to see a wide array of poetry endeavors to fruition again this year. 

SEVEN

7pm  Monday 4/15 — Bill Nevins is the poetry feature and will perform with friends including Bob Warren and Mitch Rayes; The Third Ear (Mark Weaver on tuba and Mike Balistreri on bass) also return to play and accompany any poets who wish to try their hand at performing with music.

SIX

7 pm Monday 4/22– YOU BE THE FEATURE. Along with the regular open mic, this event offers opportunities for small features by people who simply show up and are raring to go with sets of 10-15 min. We hope at least three will participate.

FIVE

7 pm Monday 4/29 — We will showcase Silence Ire, a film by Katie Schneier and Beth Hansen on resilience featuring text by Lisa Gill and interview excerpts from Nate Maxson, Jules Nyquist, Stewart Warren, Amanda Rich, Bill Nevins, and more. Katie and Beth may also demo some looping of films/sound and a second collaboration by Lisa Gill and Jeanne Liotta may be shown.

FOUR

7 pm Monday 5/6–Double feature with Jules Nyquist and Aaron Greenwood. Both of these poets have been regulars at East of Edith and also volunteer and support the wider poetry in many different ways. Jules runs the playhouse and streams house poetry events and more, and Aaron has done poetry hike fundraisers for many and also suppored The Word is a Woman with website design, and supported the guild with many donations including currently some forthcoming web design help.

THREE

7 pm Monday 5/13–Triple Hitter LA Feature sees the return of Michael C Ford, Peggy Dobreer, and Brendan Constantine–three forces from LA who’ve all made multiple pit stops in Burque before. A must-hear!

TWO

7 pm Monday 5/20– Double Feature with East of Edith regular and rumi-inspired poet Teresa Gallion who will read from her new book accompanied by Mitch Rayes on guitar, as well as a chance to hear  personal work from Zingara Poet and the editor of 200 NM Poems, Lisa M. Hase-Jackson, before she moves away.

ONE

7 pm Monday 5/27– Take the roof off the projects! We’ll blow out the final reading of the series with a small party featuring the full five-person elemental orkestra, food, and a one-poem-each reading in which all 100 plus people who’ve featured at the projects, as well as everyone who ever read on the open mic  are invited to participate. This will also be a reading which I hope to be able to attend; all of the others I will attempt to skype to which is the only way I currently get out due to health.

That’s all Folks!!!

Thanks  and enjoy the last run of open mics Local Poets Guild will offer. All of these take place at the Projects, 3614 High Street NE through the open garage doors. After this we shift gears to more online work and the rare showcase and look forward to the next evolution…

Lisa Gill

Then in high school I learned to view an 8 on its side as an infinity symbol.

My third significant 8 encounter came immediately after my childhood lapsed. I became  an “early” guinea pig for EMDR (eye movement desensitization reprocessing), which is a treatment protocol now sometimes used with success for PTSD. Ideally it stimulates each side of the brain individually, and by going back and forth from hemisphere to hemisphere,  increases conductivity. Theoretically (in my colloquial language and odd interpretation), such stimulation might allow traumas to get out of their burbling stew pockets, releasing some pressure in a controlled way, and perhaps even strengthening the bridge between hemispheres of the brain aka the corpus callosum. Back then, in 1990, EMDR was still a bit woo-woo, and my rather scientific-type psychiatrist was in western woo-woo training, so our woo-woo session was witnessed by video camera and a line of “judges” behind a one-way mirror. What she did was make the infinity symbol over and over and over with her finger, and I tracked the tip of her manicured nails making fallen figure eights with my eyes until I splattered memories all over the walls… too much, too fast, too uncontrolled. She didn’t realize the power of the tool she was wielding. Later, with non-figure eight techniques and skilled therapists for trauma, I’ve had good luck with EMDR for diffusing stressors and traumas, and perhaps even fattening up some signal function on my corpus callosum which I need because it shows damage from both trauma and disease.

What does all this have to do with East of Edith?

A. Limits are good. 

B. And I like 8′s.

This year we will only be offering ten total East of Edith open mics as part of our whole programming and for the 8th East of Edith open mic in LPG’s countdown, I really wanted a good one. Consequently this Monday April 8th, 2013, we will kick off our usual open mic with a film strip “lecture” by Jenette Issacson, where she goes “green” and repurposes old archival footage from the Basement Films archive to perform alongside–a stunning one-two punch offering new insights and utter and perfectly-timed hilarity…  And we’ll also showcase the work of “America’s Art Philosopher” and  TIME Magazine’s Noodler-of-the-Year, Zine-Blogger Extraordinaire Eva Avenue (see her website http://nightlynoodlemonthly.com/).

(You can see Jenette’s face pictured among “The Tickler” heads–she’s the one with really good eye shadow, smile, … and the about time shot of Eva  is by Bradford Erickson)

Both of these artists fulfill what I consider the minimum requirement for good art: authenticity and ardor.  They do what they do because they love it and because it makes perfect honed sense in their own minds –and the audience gets to revel and learn and celebrate human spirit. (WE’ll also be seeing if poets would like to try their hand at Jenette’s craft with a workshop and opportunity coming in May—it’s pretty pretty fine and wild opportunity and I hope some people are interested.)

All this is kindly hosted by Mitch Rayes, who not only runs the Projects as a venue for all kinds of events, but also stepped up to be a seasonal coordinator for LPG, and now takes his stint in the role.

So come out and enjoy. 7 pm at 3614 High Street NE (just east of Edith and north of Candelaria through the open garage doors)

__________That Was the PROMO and Here is the Philosophy______

Why not more east of Edith open mics?

Less is more. (All poets should know this.)

And, more differently is more. Or, more differently is at least different. (Change is good and can indicate growth and adaptation to shifting needs).

In Local Poets Guild’s first two years of going official, we did a ton of public readings and performances and panel discussions and poetics talks, as well as a variety of workshops from craft to writing to heal,  and much outreach into non-traditionally-poetry avenues. We were able to stretch the cash value equivalent of a few fancy features within an institutional setting into over 100 events each year —a true feat which we could do  because we’re not an institutional setting and because we could and did willingly and gratefully add mountains of volunteer labor, plus good ole Burque-style long-cultivated grassrootz chutzpah, and this community’s ever-strengthening enthusiasm for poetry.

By working with a baseline philosophy built on collaboration and community building, we helped seed poetry well into the fabric of the city… from readings at 516 Arts and Church of Beethoven/Chatter, to events at Globalquerque, Acequia Booksellers, the Outpost, the Guild, Basement Films, Burque Bioneers,  the Pride Parade (thanks to OUTspoken and all our collaborators)… and much much much much more… including a mountain of off-the-radar work, like making references for poets to people looking for performers, or answering queries from magazines and journalists wanting to do articles, writing letters of rec, offering advice on magazine submissions or how to put together applications for grants  etc. In general, I’ve witnessed, and had the pleasure to participate in, lots and lots of good dialogue, good networks, all the while good friendships being built.

And East of Edith weekly open mic and feature is part of that foundation and comprised about a quarter of our efforts, and it was an important part of the whole. (I’m a firm believer in the value of an open mic for about 10,000 reasons which I’ll address in more detail in a later post).

All that said, seeds grow. Seeds grow everywhere. They spread, they take hold, they strengthen. It’s good. We have a good community  and lots of good people step up to the plate. Needs get met. Writers find voice and outlets and continue developing individual craft. In turn, audiences get to hear good work and learn the ways poetry can inform living and participate if they want.

Everywhere people learn and grow and support each other and sometimes even thrive…

And this currently very solid and well diversified foundation of literature in our town means that organizations who want to support New Mexico’s literary voice get to ask what’s next? How can we help?

Local Poets Guild is at that point now. We get to say, what do we want to build? How do we take the knowledge from our own efforts and ask what worked and how can we strengthen that? what didn’t and what did we learn? What was good but could go farther? what got missed? Essentially, how can we step up to the next level–and importantly, what are the particular strengths and gifts we have to offer and how can those be brought to best fruition?

My primary interests remain two-fold:

–how to cultivate and support good writing and high levels of authentic craft

–and simultaneously how to allow the private take-home work to get into the world.

And by world I mean world. And by home I mean anywhere you can use your own brain.

My own particular life experience means none of this can be considered without taking into account the impact of poverty, violence, and disability issues.

What I find compelling right now is the possibility that truly attending to the needs of disabled and marginalized-for-any-reason writers  might actually support and dovetail perfectly into both national/international outreach for all writers. Access  for someone like me, who is currently largely homebound, will also mean access to someone in Brooklyn or Australia.  I see ways to begin to open this kind of virtual door… I mull and ponder and develop strategies… During the summer, that development will be my main task, work that later I hope will allow different kinds of opportunities and archive that could hopefully benefit all kinds of people…

For now, enjoy East of Edith as we do our countdown, and since I am mostly homebound now, I’ll be there watching via skype transmitted on another kind poet’s machine, and that’s what I’ll keep doing until we get streaming capacities figured out and launch our restructure…

And we’ll see what shapes up!

here’s to our good town–

lisa gill

The short list, we just featured Jenn Givhan #9 and Rich Boucher #10

#8 is Eva Avenue and Jenette Issacson on 4/8

#7 is a poetry-n-jazz showcase with TEO 315 plus poetry by Bill Nevins 4/15

After that, we have to look forward to include an LA Triptych with Peggy Dobreer, Brendan Constantine, and Michael C. Ford on 5/13, and a book celebration with Teresa Gallion on 5/22. Much soon…

–lisa gill

Rather, our feature Jenn Givhan’s poetry is the opposite of a prank. Recently she asked me to read through a grant application for her and offer a bit of advice. I was happy to do so. I was happy to do so because her poetry is strong AND she takes her job as a writer seriously.

ABOUT HER WRITING:

Jenn Givhan has a great ear and works hard at crafting a visceral and grounded poetics, particular and significant, each narrative flushing out the larger world of literature, including traditional forms and myth… plus I swear she one-ups  the old Icarus myth and that’s not an easy one to top! It’s not even an easy one to allude to without just slicing the old ham, albeit in yet another pretty spiral cut or whatever… Her Icarus matters and has a NOW vision. Rigorous specificity is how I think of her work. An authentic, solid, and earned voice. The personal claim she stakes on any theme leaves us gasping, mulling, and pondering all kinds of questions:

1. If you are going to visit a friend or family member in the mental hospital, what artist and song would you like to hear on the playlist for the ward dance?

2.  Could there possibly be a good literary use of nude pics I sent to my ex? Or since perhaps I didn’t get around to that  yet, I wonder if I can repurpose those threats from the one history-referencing stalker I had?

3. Has  the internalization of a mother calling a daughter “cochina, dirty girl” ever been rendered more beautifully than Jenn Givhan’s “I was too hot, too tight,/twisted lime tequila misstep/swatting deerfly & following trails/despite myself…”

4. And how on earth did she turn a mumuu’d woman and animal crackers into a prayer any reader can believe?

5. “Liminal” is a good word …

Jenn Givhan has a great ear and works hard at crafting a visceral and grounded poetics, particular and significant, each narrative flushing out the larger world of literature, including traditional forms and myth…  I swear she even one-ups  the old Icarus myth and that’s not an easy one to top! It’s not even an easy one to allude to without just slicing the old ham in yet another pretty spiral cut or whatever… Her Icarus matters and has a NOW vision.

AND AFTER ALL THE GOOD WRITING:

After all the typewritten sweat and blood, Jenn make a commitment to do the tremendously tedious but potentially rewarding and very important business of submitting work to journals and applying for grants and entering book competitions. Her publications list is impressive:  Prairie Schooner, Contrary , The Fertile Source, Arsenic Lobster, decomP, As Us, Fickle Muses, Malpais Review , The Feminist Wire, Acentos Review, Rattle, Crab Creek Review  and dozens and literally dozens more, both print and online, regional, national, border-crossing… 

Part of why I wanted her to feature tonight is so that the community could come together and wish her a collective “Good luck!” on the current grant app, which she should be solidly in the running for…  and simultaneously thank her for getting NM poetry out into the world of literary journals.  I remember whole years working magazine returns when I would scrounge the contributor lists of  journals,  big name journals, who’s who journals, top notch prestigious lists of funding recipients and I could go through hundreds of names and find NO poets from New Mexico (except occasionally Gene Frumkin). East Coast, West Coast, no matter what “slant” a magazine on the bookstore rack had, we weren’t there.  We should be there. We deserve to be there. We have to do our work to even be considered… Thankfully many NM writers are doing it with books and journal publications and more begin to join forces.

I appreciate that Jenn Givhan is doing “the work” and also doing “the work.”

Catch her tonight at East of Edith. 7 pm through the open garage doors at 3614 High STreet NE (east of edith, just north of candelaria). There’s also the usual open mic and Mitch Rayes hosts.

Return again next Monday and for eight and only eight more weeks of this open mic series before LPG shifts our attention towards other directions…

More on that soon….

–lisa gill

If you are at all familial with Mr. Boucher’s poetry, then you already know that never before in the history of Monday Night Literature has the collision of factual knowledge striking against a poet’s interior mind been rendered so grammatically!  Everything is intentionally [sic]. As the old tried-and-true saying goes: “Muddled geography is only as good as the muddler.”  And Mr. Boucher raises the watermark for all of us. Within each of his parables of historocity, there inevitably comes a coy moment when Mr. Boucher innocently releases into the audience an image or word so delicately mangled that we can’t help but form a collective goldfish bowl to catch it. As soon as the particular strange iridescence hits, there’s a “splush” and the whole beautiful fishtale of Mr. Boucher’s orchestration begins to fountain, poeming out in concentric circles of wonderment…   

——————————————————————-

The above was my meager attempt to do small written tribute to tonight’s feature at East of Edith open mic, poet Rich Boucher.  On a more serious note, we are VERY VERY VERY LUCKY to have Rich here with us. He  gave me permission to share with readers what’s been happening: last month he suffered a stroke. His recovery so far has been remarkable, really truly amazing. Not only is he regaining function, but he’s writing new poems by the ream! So please, I encourage you to come out to tonight’s reading as a show of support for his tremendous resilience and I can guarantee you’ll get an earful of good poems and  laugh til tears. And don’t forget–you can sign up on the open mic too if you want to share. 2-poem, four minute time limit.

AGAIN: East of Edith 7:00pm at 3614 High Street, east of edith and just north of candelaria through the open garage doors. BONUS: Mitch Rayes is taking his turn as one of LPG’s seasonal coordinators for a few readings and will host.

Thanks, and I hope to see you virtually soon!

lisa gill

Over the years Albuquerque has been blessed with the presence and contributions of many great writers and literary activists. Recently, Tanaya Winder and Cassie Lopez were students in the UNM MFA program. Not only did they contribute to the growth of the UNM  community, but also became involved in the local literary scene. Tanaya even served as the first seasonal coordinator of Local Poets Guild, offering three tremendous events including a Triptych on the theme of Bridging Borders in which Lopez was featured. Since graduation, they are swiftly becoming literary forces nationally and Albuquerque is blessed to know them.

Now Casandra Lopez and Tanaya Winder are cofounders and editors, along with Christine Trudeau, of As Us, A Space for Women of the World, a new literary journal appearing online and also with forthcoming print issues. They write, “The mission of the magazine As/Us is to showcase the creative literary expressions and scholarly work of both emerging and established women writers from around the world. We are interested in publishing works by underrepresented writers particularly Indigenous women and women of color.”

The first issue launched in January and featured an interview with Joy Harjo and strong poetry and prose from many women writers, including Shauna Osborn, Lyla June Johnston, Tacey M. Atsitty, Valentina Cano, nila northSun, Yasmeen Najmi, Juanita E. Mantz, Tria Andrews, Justine Kao, Marianne A. Broyles, Julie Lythcott-Haimes, Layli Long Soldier, Erika Wurth, Jennifer Givhan, Alicia Lawrence, Lesley Belleau, Leanne Simpson, LaEsha Sanders, Kaylanah Shendo, Linda Boyden, & Venaya Yazzie. A tremendous issue, which is forthcoming soon in a print edition.

Following that issue, Casandra and Tanaya accepted an invitation from  Lauren Chief Elk, co-founder of the Save Wiyabi Project, to put together a special issue supporting both that project and One Billion Rising. The result went live on V-Day, with contributions in prose, poetry, dance and visual art, from both men and women who offer thematic consideration of many different facets of violence against women. Included are works by Hank Richardson, Lauren Chief Elk, Takeo Rivera, Natalia Duong, Hakim Bellamy, Jessica Helen Lopez, Ricky Triana, Teresa Blankmeyer Burke, Alejandro Jimenez, Natalie Scenters-Zapico, Cuauhtemoc Peranda, Carlos Contreras, Michelle Brooks, Richard Vargas, Michelle Otero, Reed Bobroff, Erika L. Sanchez, Molina Speaks, Margaret Randall, Scott Hernandez, Aaron Yazzie, Poetic Theater Productions, plus contributions from editors Casandra Lopez and Tanaya Winder.  (I also have short prose in the issue.)

All I can say thank you. Thank you Casandra and Tanaya for all your work and your vision and thank you to all the contributors and everyone on staff who helps with the magazine. As Us matters.

And as a writer, a reader, a member of the global community, I want to encourage anyone who finds this particular LPG blog post to check out As US, issue one, and the special February issue, and also consider submitting. Guidelines are available at the website. Summer issue will have guest editor Samantha Tetangco. And support the magazine if you can, by reading, by writing, by spreading the word, by buying the print issues or making a donation… this is good work.

Meanwhile, let us all keep reading, writing, voicing…

–Lisa Gill

January 5th at the Filling Station for a mere $5.05,  LPG and friends present a full night which includes BA BA (banjo and tuba) along with a Yeats essay on banjo-watching, plus poetry and a large ensemble of TEO 315 (pictured below in their “second album cover”), and a short but hefty film by Bryan Konefsky called Chicken Delight. In my last blog, I said the flick was about “poultry.”  And it is, sort of, and also about the other teasers I mentioned. But more about history, American then and now, Chicken Delight is a sort of winding lovesong to our most self-destructive attempts at various types of recent progress.

Here’s part of the official synopsis:

Chicken Delight 

TRT 21.5 minutes Bryan Konefsky 2006

Written, directed, shot, and edited by Bryan Konefsky

This essay-film is a meditation on the United Statesʼ ongoing courtship with radioactivity. Here, the story begins with the Food and Drug Administrationʼs decision to serve irradiated meat in their School Lunch Program, and ends with a story that William S. Burroughs might have written about using radioactivity to grow tumors as a hip, new fashion statement.

Radioactive paint, radioactive suppositories, and radioactive cock-rings all make an appearance, as do random thongs in university libraries. And as stated in my last blog, very important carnival games help frame the flick. Which is perfect, since culturally we never stop “playing” with the environment and our bodies…

What I love best about any Bryan Konefsky film  is the pleasure which can be derived from witnessing the way he chooses to tell a story or address a subject. He often meanders, meanders so deftly, you hardly know what happens. Each surprise and turn is both highly unexpected and superbly logical. We go. We go with him each step, and how his images, sound track, and narration skip stones across various synapses in our brains is delectable, awakening, oddly cajoling and superbly disconcerting.

He’s a pro, obviously. Professor of Cinematic Arts at UNM, Artistic Director Experiments in Cinema, Basement Films Legend, he also serves as a panelist for the New Mexico Film Office’s New Visions filmmaking awards, is a member of the board of advisors for the Ann Arbor Film Festival (the oldest experimental festival in the United States), a guest curator for the Southwest Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, and an experimental film judge for Videofest sponsored by the Dallas Video Association in Texas.

His own films and installations have been presented internationally at venues such as Blinding Light Cinema in Vancouver, the Videoex Festival in Switzerland, the Erarta Museum for Contemporary Art in Russia, the Paris Underground Film Festival in France, Cinema Ritrovato in Italy, the Oslo Film Institute in Norway, the European Media Arts Festival in Germany, the Long Beach Museum of Art in California, and the premiere experimental film venues in New York City, Anthology Film Archives and Millennium Film Workshop.

Come celebrate our own local cinematic hero when he shows one of his more pressing works… Special Guest Jenette Issacson of Basement Films will also be offering up her own narration of a classic film strip with highly adept pointer action.

And on the music front, after Mark Weaver and Steven Robert Allen in BA BA during the first set, we’ll encounter the Weaver in another incarnation, with TEO 315 (aka th3 e1emental orke5tra). This is the group that used to regularly peform poetry n jazz each month at Out ch’Yonda, the inspiration for the broadside KE5TRA: sound literature, which recently has showcased poetry collaborations with Church of Beethoven (now Sunday Chatter) and Globalquerque.  In partnership with Roost Curator Weaver, Mike Balistreri is the other key maker-of-things-happening. Those two also recently performed at East of Edith, and before that in a configuration with Mat Norman and Al Faaet where they offered up a Sun Ra tribute for another Guild poetry/music event.  Regarding this particular night’s incarnation, Balistreri writes:

Mike Balistreri – unfretted and unfettered

Once again:

Presented by Local Poets Guild, Basement Films, and TEO 315

LIGATURE: an interdisciplinary connective tissue extravaganza

7 PM Saturday January 5th

at the Filling Station (1024– 4th Street SW at Pacific)

$5.05

– lisa gill

Desire matters. Since I have recently been suffering from strong multi-faceted whims, and because I believe in honoring such impulses, I booked a venue. Now I can happily say, “You are all cordially invited to join Local Poets Guild, TEO 315, Basement Films & Friends for a rollicking good night of visceral and intellectual tangling. Our offering of sonic, phonetic, and visual  explorations will take place one night only from 7-10 pm on Saturday January 5th, 2013 at the Filling Station  (1024– 4th Street SW on the corner of 4th and Pacific). At the door, we will be asking you for a mere Five-oh-Five bucks, an “Our Town” kind of price. Nickel ante, penny up, nothing dime-a-dozen here.

When you are part of a community, in this case the literary community, you share the good times and you share the losses. We shoulder the griefs in whatever way we can muster, and we carry our various memories and fully foibled gratitudes forward. One of the beauties of this transition is that writers leave legacies to aid the journey of those of us left behind. This is surely true of Peter Rabbit Douthit,  who died earlier this year. There will be a celebration of the his life at 7pm Monday, Dec 3, 2012 at Low Spirits Club, 2^ND ST. NW just north of Menaul, Albuquerque. Admission is free. (21 plus.)

The Taos poet, nicknamed the “Don King of Poetry in New Mexico,” is probably best known for co-founding the Taos Poetry Circus, the beloved event with huge round robin open mics, various showcases, and a “bout” between two poets of national stature that ran like a boxing match, even with a ring girl. He was also what he modestly hoped to be remembered as, “a good poet.” I keep finding myself returning to his book Ornithology, some of which I showcased at an East of Edith last year. Even at the end, his short near-daily  “Beloveds” writings were powerful for anyone who got to read them.  Longtime writers and residents of New Mexico, all us older poets, are likely to remember Peter Rabbit well, both for his work with the  Circus and for his own writing. Personally, I practically “grew up” at the Circus, making annual pilgrimages to Taos to participate in readings and showcases, witnessing performances by some of the best writers I’d ever had the chance to hear, and meeting people I’d work with for years. I’m grateful.

And I’m glad that Monday people have the opportunity to read and talk, tell stories, play songs, and celebrate Peter’s life.

The Celebration at Low Spirits will be attended by numerous New Mexico poets with whom Rabbit worked over the years. Poems by Jimmy Santiago Baca, John Trudell, Bob Holman and other well known American poets will be read. Attending poets will include NM Centennial Poet Levi Romero and Albuquerque Poet Laureate Hakim Bellamy and Taos Poetry Circus co-founder Anne McNaughton, along with Gary Brower, Priscilla Baca y Candelaria, Larry Goodell, Amalio Madueño, Bill Nevins, Vanessa Boyd, Carlos Contreras and others. Films clips and documentaries of the life and times of Peter Rabbit will be shown. Music will be provided by Los Unusual Suspects blues band with Richard Malcolm, songwriter Vanessa Boyd and Los Notorious Green Suede Shoes. There will be a cash bar. (21 plus)

If you’re in Albuquerque, or near, I hope you can make it out. Likely I’ll be up on the high mesa at mountain’s edge, doing my own befuddled thing, but I will be thinking of Peter, and also of the other poets who we’ve lost in recent years. Dara McLaughlin, Gene Frumkin, Mary Rising Higgins, Maisha Baton, Patricia Clark Smith, Lee Wilson, Todd Moore, plus musician Felix Wurman.  I’ll be mulling the gifts all these people brought us during their lives, the ways they keep giving. What I’ve learned.

And I’ll also be thinking of Anne McNaughton, Peter’s partner in life and poetry, how she kept us updated during the rough times, the gentle announcement of his death, and then one solitary word, as if whispered to Peter, that I caught on facebook. Or perhaps it’s a word I dreamt. Who knows. The word was “Congratulations.” Which seemed perfect. Life is hard, tumultuous, beautiful,  beautiful, beautiful, cantankerous and grinning–and when we do it well and fully the whole time, we’ve done good. Peter did good.

I close this blog post with a poem I wrote years back, around the time of the death of another friend Quincy, who I knew affectionately from his work as a sound engineer on Zerx Recordings. I wrote it during a time already heightened by other deaths that were making my head spin.  This poem wasn’t explicitly for Quincy, nor is it “for” Peter. But I do suspect it’s one Peter could have appreciated–it might have made him smile or perhaps curse–and for me to honor  my memory of him, requires a bit of the cheeky or inappropriate, that razor’s edge of the ways we laugh and shrug and laugh, all wrapped sidelong in a natural landscape with cycles that can straighten the best of us out.

Bereavement

Open casket. View this:

a woman in a black dress

thinking inappropriate

thoughts. (Where

are the turkey vultures

when you need them?)

There must be some bird

that can pick clean

grief. On the mesa,

bones of a scattered cow

are sunbleached and bright,

the epicenter of the kill

indiscernible amongst

cholla and paintbrush.

There is no mourning.

A person forgets coyotes

and fails to remember

lowing. And why not?

This is how it is. We

goodbye and go on.

–lisa gill