Category Archives: readings

Nikki Giovanni at Oakland Museum of California


Admit One
Originally uploaded by geminipoet

The Oakland Museum of California is the jam. A few weeks back Barb & I hit up there First Friday for a chill night of California history (past and the rapidly evolving present), ecology (from the wetlands to the Sierras), and dancing to the oldies (Do the twist, again!). Ok, we didn’t participate in the dancing to the oldies but a lot of folks did which was a beautiful thing to see and experience, especially since it happens in our backyard of Downtown Oakland.

So here we are again, back at the Oakland Museum to come hear Nikki Giovanni speak at a free, first-come-first-serve, complete with complimentary snacks and coffee in celebration of National Library Week. Holler, Oakland!

And Oakland hollers back with a packed line waiting to get in and a mix of folks patiently waiting for a chance to experience Ms. Giovanni (a fellow Gemini Poet). I should note that I do not know Nikki Giovanni’s work but I do know the name. It feels like I always have, even before I started writing poetry, and that made me even more eager to see if Nikki Giovanni, the Poet, lived up to the hype of Nikki Giovanni, the Personality.

Happy to say that Yes! Ms. Giovanni exceeds the hype. She leapt right into the fray with commentary on the Democratic race and had pointed remarks for both candidates. But as to the questions of who will win it all in 2008, Ms. Giovanni summed it up with this-
“What the hell does it matter? We’re colored, we’ll survive anything.”

Earlier it was announced that Ms. Giovanni could only stay until the Museum closed for book signings but she threw that to the curb announcing that she would sit on the sidewalk all night if need be to sign every book in the place. “I ain’t afraid of Oakland,” she sated instantly winning over the full house.

We only got to hear three or four poems but the night was packed with personal anecdotes celebrating survival and art. Every story masterfully laid out in rich detail, historical perspective, and the proper language for the proper moment. If the story was critical, the language was heated. If the story was lighthearted, the language was joyous. And if the story was crass, the language was hella crassed and unapologetic.

This stance of direct language reflects the seriousness that an orator must bring if they are to be a bridge of experience, a link between the vanguard of struggle and the next wave that must continue the struggle. The choice of story to connect the generations acts as the conscious of the present. Nikki Giovanni is that bridge and that conscious.

A short Q&A brought an interesting array of perspectives. An Oakland great-grandmother wanted to know if Ms. Giovanni planned to publish more children’s books. (Yes, a variation of Aesop’s Fables and a Children’s History of Rap where Giovanni traces the roots of rap all the way to the formation of opera and the Greek chorus.) A young Black male asked for more insight into black feminism. (Giovanni answered that that question would take up the whole night. I was wondering if the young man was listening to how Nina Simone, Rosa Parks, and Giovanni’s mother and sister where the core of the evening’s conversation.)

Nikki GiovanniFor me, the most interesting question came from a Black woman writer asking if Ms. Giovanni could speak, as a writer and a distinguished professor of writing, on the differences between the difference between today’s and yesterday’s Black Lit. Ms. Giovanni responded with some joy, commenting on how glad she was to see Black writers on bookshelves and also seeing entire sections of bookstores dedicated to them. She also remarked on how today’s writer-of-color can deal with an agent or bookstore owner of similar background, a luxury Ms. Giovanni didn’t have as an emerging voice. She also hoped that more writers would take advantage of these opportunities to generate work in their own distinct voice (“Why write in another person’s voice if that person doesn’t like you in the first place?”) of their own personal histories, no matter how challenging it may be, (“Anytime you tell the truth, it’s painful.”) and then to get those stories out to the community (“Your job is to find someone who loves you.”).

“The young writers need to know that there are stories to be told. The story of who we are should be told. It is, after all, an American story.”

He sees angels in the architecture

In the Grove: An Homage to Andrés Montoya Guest Edited & with an introduction by Daniel ChacónScenes from the In the Grove #16 Release Party

Prelude: Getting my read on
In preparation for the reading, I read, for the 5th or 6th time, the ice worker sings and I also picked up How Much Earth: The Fresno Poets which clued me in on the breadth and scope of the personal histories of some of the amazing writers who call Fresno their poetic touchstone. One of the things on my mind as I was getting ready for this reading:

“If the land helps determine the poet, the poet in turn helps define the land.”
• David Kherdian

Word.

Scene 1: The Roadtrip
California is beautiful. This was my first time in the Central Valley and I’m glad to have been able to road trip it there. Experiencing the change in geography, weather, and mood slowly unfurl from the Bay Area to the San Joaquin Valley through the lens of the car window will be the fuel for many more poems to come. The conversation on the way down between Barb, Craig, Javier, and I will be the fuel for more broader discussions on American Poetics, believe that.

Scene 2: Not just a book release party
No, more of a celebration. A wake, as in to remind the living of what they have. You could feel the energy right away as old friends and new friends found each other over good drinks and food. The energy at the raffle table was amazing as some amazing literary gems were on display and every time you looked over, more was being added.

Puentistas of Fresno City CollegeScene 3: the ice worker lives
Daniel and Sasha were amazing hosts keeping the energy live and the poetry flowing from reader to reader. Props to James Espinoza for handling the raffling of prizes with wit and joy.

Too many highlights to name but the Puentistas of Fresno City College starting out with a group reading of “fresno nights” really set the table for how far reaching a poetic work can be; how it can span generations, place, and even death. As a writer I know these things and I strive for them but to see it in practice made me step back and think if I am doing enough and what more can I do to get to that place and how the ice worker can help me get there.

I mention the ice worker because I’ve never met Andrés Montoya and do not want to front as if I ever have. But I do know the ice worker, the speaker in so many of Andrés poems that is so angry he punches at every thing he loves, a witness to so much destruction, and a prophet to the new Aztlán he imagines for his people. The ice worker has been a steady teacher and voice in my head since I have taken on the project of bringing my City, its destruction, and rebirth into poetry form. Sometimes, I get it right. And, far too often, I am off the mark; but the mark is still there and the ice worker has shown me it can be done.

Scene 4: Andrés lives
Hearing the stories of Andrés Montoya from those who knew him and shared his life brought smiles and sadness in me. While the world lost a valuable voice and teacher, his family (in all its forms) lost a true brother. The sense of loss is immense and irreconcilable, but the sense of compassion and gratitude was nearly as large. The Montoya family shared all they had with the room and the readers and it was a pleasure to give some back.

Oscar Bermeo and Manuel Paul LopezScene 5: Comunidad
Great to hear the poems of friends, poets who I know from their work, poetic elders, artists, students, and the Montoya family. This was true community in action and about as perfect as it can get. The only downer was the fact that Rigoberto González was grounded in New York through no fault of his own.

Scene 6: The Set-List

• An Atheist Learns to Pray by Sheryl Luna from Pity the Drowned Horses
• Psalm for Anywhere Avenue
• I’m Jus Askin

Malaquias MontoyaScene 7: Mas Poesia and How to Criticize Our Own
Malaquias Montoya ended the night by introducing a piece of his art that was up for auction. The portrait, Don Alberto, was of former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, which put Malaquias in between honoring a member of La Raza and citing the Gonzales’ part in the current administration’s abuse of Raza.

The solution? The inclusion of this quote in the portrait.

No olvides nunca que los menos fascistas de entre los fascistas también son fascistas.
• Roque Dalton

Scene 8: The After Effect
I’ve been reading my copy of In the Grove and can say it is one of the best journals I’ve ever read. It is an honor to be included with so many colleagues, friends, mentors, and Andrés Montoya himself. Congrats and thanks to Lee Herrick, Daniel Chacón, and all the staff at In the Grove for all their effort in this amazing issue. Please check out In the Grove for a list of contributors, sample poems, and ordering information.

Scene 9: The Mantra
Praise God, Andrés would say. Praise God.

Raffle Table Barbara Jane Reyes and Lee Herrick After Party Javier, Craig, Daniel, Oscar & Lee

More pictures from the release party at Flickr

How’m I doing?

I am near the end of my current journal–the one where I keep all my notes from workshop, first drafts, half thoughts, and stolen conversations. It’s also holding the quickly jotted lines and author banter from the last few readings I’ve attended. These notes is what has been helping me recall the little details at a poetry reading and transfer that to my recent blog recaps.

While it is a task to listen to the reading and scribbling observations; it’s also a great joy to look over these lines of poetry that are not pure lines of poetry but my best memory of these pure lines of poetry. I try to differentiate what is a perfectly transcripted line and what is my attempt to hold together a start word and end word with what I heard and what I saw or felt as I am processing the words.

But that’s part of the joy of a good live reading, which to me is still the purest form of poetry. Yes, I love books and the feel of a book in my head and the experience of having the text speak to me but I also realize that I am prone to read in the most comfortable place I can find and at the hours it is most convenient to me. I also have a bad habit of putting down a poem that I am not ready for, maybe it’s hitting too close to home or too far from where I am but either way it’s a struggle for me to get through some books even the ones I love, or better stated, have grown to love. The live reading is cool in that I give myself up the event and the poet: Ok, hit me with your best shot.

For the most part, I remain optimistic about readings and try to keep my expectations for the poetry high but my presumptions of the poet low so that I can let the key poet factors sink in: voice, cadence, stress, tone, arc of movement, ambient noise, silence, pause, facial expressions, et al; while also taking into account the external factors: venue, curator, sound system, ambient noise, audience, et al.

So am I doing a good job at these recaps? Well, you can be the judge as YouTube has been my new poetry vice and I am having a blast looking for true gems in poetry. Recently found: Neruda in his own voice, Felipe Luciano of the Last Poets introducing Salsa great Eddie Palmieri with a poem, and an interview with Ocatvio Paz.

I’ve also found some videos of reading I have recapped which is a good opportunity to see how accurate my recaps really are.

Amiri Baraka at Lunch Poems and at the Holloway Series. Recap can be found here.

Craig Santos Perez at the Holloway Series. Recap can be found here.

This reminds me that I should get around to posting more on Mackey’s half of the Holloway reading, the influence his work has had on Craig’s newer work (some of which I heard on Saturday at the Artifact series), and some other good readings I’ve been lucky enough to attend lately.

Luis J. Rodriguez @ at the SF Mission Branch Public Library


Tonight!
Originally uploaded by geminipoet

Let me tell you what’s really good: A standing room only venue; an attentive audience of adults, teens and kids from every demo you could think of; excited organizers giving away(!) books from the feature; and a featured reader who is ready to drop poems from his best of, some new hotness and then speak openly on a life of literary/political activism. Yeah, that’s what’s really good.

The featured reader was Luis J. Rodriguez who quickly set the tone for the evening by coming out with a handful of titles from Tia Chucha Press and speaking on Tia Chucha’s commitment to quality multi-cultural literature. More importantly, Luis let the audience know that this reading was going to be a two-way street, where he was not just going to share from his extensive collection of work but was also very interested in the room’s response to the work. “Afterwards, I really want to have a dialogue,” he stressed.

The first part of the set was poems from My Nature is Hunger: New & Selected Poems, including “The Rooster Who Thought It Was A Dog,” “Tia Chucha,” and “Meeting the Animal in Washington Square Park.” All the pieces had the right mix of imagery, humor, place and social commentary to keep both the youth and adult portions of the audience engaged and piqued for more.

Luis paused for a second to speak on the richness of language in poetry and how some audience may feel overwhelmed at times. “Poetry is meant to be heard many times and read many times,” Rodriguez told the audience. “For now, juts get a detail here and there to grab on to. And the next time, maybe another detail will get you.”

Luis reads from My Nature is HungerHis second set was all new work. “Making Medicine,” a reflection on the sweat lodge ceremony; “”Moonlight to Water,” an ode to his youngest sons and their sibling dynamic; “Machu Picchu or What I Should Have Become When the Shadows Called My Blood,” a poem in the truest tradition of Pablo Neruda, favorite line: a father when my father ate the hearts of his own children. Rodriguez also recounted the story of the first poetry reading he ever attended. The reading was in Berkeley and the features were José Montoya, David Henderson, and Pedro Pietri. “Feed the Shapes” paid homage to these men, their work, and how it changed Rodriguez’s conception of American Poetry from an Anglo-based bland form to a vibrant musical ethnically diverse landscape.

As promised, Luis did dialogue with the audience who was curious about his spiritual awakenings (Rodriguez credits the movimiento of Chicano consciousness with giving him “power in a world where I felt powerless”), the number of books he has written (currently: 13, with a new memoir coming soon), his favorite poet (“Neruda”), which book was the hardest to write (Always Running since it hurt his family and others but the obligation “to the scary truth” won out even when it pitted him against old allies and enemies).

A good portion of the Q&A revolved around the related issues of gentrification, community and gang life. Rodriguez laid out a five point gang reduction strategy that focused on community involvement to youth that worked to fill in the gaps misdirected youth fall into. Rodriguez challenge: “Every person should mentor at least one young person to get them ready for the world.” He also spoke on American gang history and how “gangs” like the Black Panthers and Young Lords were stamped out because of their commitment to political change while other gangs with longer histories continue to thrive even in the face of police efforts. Efforts that amount to concentrated assaults on communities in an effort to clear them for greedy developers while pushing hostile criminal gangs into other areas.

I asked Rodriguez if he ever experienced any conflict between the oral tradition (experiences in the sweat experiences, and tales from the vida loca) and the written word (desire to publish his own works and those of others). Rodriguez credits that conflict as a source of his creativity.

The last and best question of the night came from a pre-teen skateboarded from the front of the room. “I hear what you’re saying and have heard a lot of the same history from many of my teachers. I say all this to ask will the revolution take violence?” The young man’s articulate and pointed question was received with nodding heads and broad smiles from the audience. Luis’s answer was to expand the definition of resistance. “Expand your imagination. We are in the arms struggle but expand the definition of arms. Use your body, hearts and minds. Use it all. Use all your arts. Before you give a man a weapon, give him your heart.”

Mission Branch Library Mission Branch Library Luis J. Rodriguez: Partial Bibliography

More Luis J. Rodriguez:
The author’s website
Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural
Audio poems at e-poets.net

A Natural History of Chicano Literature: Juan Felipe Herrera

Your friends, and your associates, and the people around you, and the environment that you live in, and the speakers around you – the speakers around you – and the communicators around you, are the poetry makers.
If your mother tells you stories, she is a poetry maker.
If your father says stories, he is a poetry maker.
If your grandma tells you stories, she is a poetry maker.
And that’s who forms our poetics.

—Juan Felipe Herrera

My fascination with live poetry events continues as I search YouTube for some poetic gems and here I find this great one hour talk from Juan Felipe. The video speaks for itself but some great moments his impersonation of various Chicano Literary figures, his repeated citing of the chapbook (en español: pancarta) as an important literary document, how some figures don’t get translated into English, his personal process journal, and the life and struggle of Itzolin García.

Most of all I want to highlight this for folks who can’t make it out to readings all the time, can’t get to those good university talks on process and craft, can’t see the writer in person, and present some alternatives. Yes, there are plenty of ways to get the knowledge. That is, if you really want that knowledge.