The Kaleidoscope Reading Series is back in June with killer lineup of wordsmiths.
Featuring Oscar Bermeo
with Michelle Puckett, Norman Zelaya, Samuel Sattin and Julia Azar Rubin.
3109 24th Street at Folsom. Thursday, June 24th.
Admission: FREE.
I’ll be reading next Monday at one of San Francisco’s nicest venues: Bird and Beckett’s. Hope you can come through.
Bird & Beckett Books and Records
featuring Oscar Bermeo and Linda King
plus an Open Mic
Monday, June 21st, 7:00pm
653 Chenery Street
San Francisco
Click here for map
www.bird-beckett.com
OAKLAND, CA — 580 Split, the literary journal of Mills College’s Graduate English Department, presents an evening of poetry, prose, and music to celebrate the release of Issue 12. The event will take place on Friday, May 21, from 5:30 to 8 p.m., at the Layover bar in downtown Oakland (1517 Franklin Street). It will be free and open to the public.
Among the many talented Bay area poets and writers featured in this year’s issue of the journal, who will be sharing some of their most recent work at the launch party, are Chinaka Hodge, Josh Healey, Aimee Suzara, Oscar Bermeo, Sonya Shah, Amir Rabiyah, and Janine Mogannam.
There will be an informal reception following the reading, with DJ Diet spinning a soulful assortment of music old and new, as well as an opportunity to be among the first to purchase the print edition. The print edition will also be available for purchase online after the event.
We hope to see you there…
The reading at Abobe Books last night has definitely breathed new life into my poetics. I’ve revised older work, shared new work, read work from other poets and came back to the bedrock of my work–sharing my story with new audiences.
First off, Daphne Gottlieb shared some amazing new work where she embodied the voice of carnival workers, a clear extension of her poetic manifesto of finding the voice of society’s “others.” Instead of staying in the safe space of revisiting voices she has personified before, Gottlieb brought the audience into a world many have visited (the land of carny and festival lore) but few have actually taken the time to explore. Gottlieb let us explore that world with poetry that channeled persona and emotion in clear and direct tones while still elevating the music of common speech.
Charlie Jane Anders came through fresh from the chaos of Wonder Con and went right into a new story filled with time travel, cancer babies, sumo robots, rocket-propelled grenades and an assassination attempt on one of the US’s most beloved Presidents. Yeah, seriously, and you know what–she pulled it all off with crisp dialogue, kinetic language and a reading style that made the audience believe every word was truth than the Bible. With her focus on reporting for IO9 and curating some of SF’s best literary venues, you shouldn’t miss a chance to her Miss Charlie Jane when she reads her work.
As for me, I was psyched to find out earlier in the week that I would be getting twenty minutes to read, a big leap from the seven or ten minutes I’ve been getting lately. Not that I’m complaining, any chance to read is a good chance to work on your orality but twenty minutes gives me a chance to share a couple of arcs of work, recite poems from other writers, and sneak some banter in which is exactly what I did. My reading wasn’t perfect, my voice choked on a few spots and I swore a little too much in my banter but overall, I had a good time and my recitation skills continue to improve with better articulation, varied pacing and more persona. I still need to work on my keeping my breathing under control and staying true to the clock (I came in just under the mark).
SET LIST
• I’m Jus Askin
• Urban Relación
• The Story of How Pigeon Came to Live in City
• One Question, Several Answers
• Mami’s Ghazal
• M/mediation I Dominance by Ruth Ellen Kocher
• The Lady of Guadalupe’s Dream and Jade Ruin by J. Michael Martinez
• Heaven Below
• Psalm for Public Housing
• Ash Wednesday
• Good Friday
Many thanks to everyone at Eleven Eleven and Adobe Books for making this happen. Now I have to hustle to get more readings so I can keep this momentum going.
YouTube videos from Eleven Eleven #8 Release Party at Adobe Books
Flickr photos from Eleven Eleven #8 Release Party at Adobe Books
