Poetry Santa Cruz events upcoming in the next month in Santa Cruz County. Please see our Events page for future listings and a comprehensive list of literary events in and around Santa Cruz.
 

Poetry Santa Cruz Events
Advance notice: Saturday December 5 10 AM to 2 PM	Poetry Revision Workshop with Robin Ekiss at a private residence in Santa Cruz, west side.  Cost: $40.  Limited to 10 participants. Advance registration and payment required.  To reserve a place, call Len Anderson at (831) 464-8983.  Email: lenand@cruzio.com. [ Read more about this event ]
Tuesday December 8 7:30 PM	Robin Ekiss and George Lober.  Capitola Book Cafe, 1475 41st Avenue, Capitola.  [ map ]  Suggested donation $3.  [ Read more about this event ]
Sunday December 27 2:00 PM	Poet/Speak Open Reading with no featured reader, All Open Reading.  Main Library upstairs Meeting Room, 224 Church Street, Santa Cruz.  [ map ]  Free.  Presented by Poetry Santa Cruz and hosted by Joyce Keller.
Events Co-sponsored by Poetry Santa Cruz
Thursday, Nov. 19 7:30 PM	A Woman’s Life in Pieces, written and performed by Patrice Vecchione. Tickets $20 or $10 with student ID, Info & tickets: (831) 655-2010 or www.livenetworks.tv.  Wave Street Studios, 774 Wave Street, Monterey.
Friday November 20 7:30 PM	Kat Meads and Sally Ashton.  Felix Kulpa Gallery, 107 Elm Street, Santa Cruz.  [ map ]  Free.  [ Read more about this event ]  Presented by A New Cadence Poetry Series.

The reading by Robin Ekiss on December 8 is supported by Poets & Writers, Inc. through a grant it has received from the James Irvine Foundation.

These events are supported, in part, by a grant from the Cultural Council of Santa Cruz County.  Some events are supported by matching grants to our readers from Poets & Writers, Inc.  Poetry Santa Cruz is also grateful for the support of its members and donors, In Celebration of the Muse, and those who donated in memory of Maude Meehan and Kathleen Flowers.  The William James Association acted as our fiscal sponsor for our first four years.  Our readings are sponsored by Bookshop Santa Cruz, Capitola Book Café, Watsonville Public Library, Casablanca Inn, The Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History, Cabrillo College, KUSP and the National Writers Union Chapter 7.  Membership premiums have been donated by Graywolf Press, the University of Pittsburgh Press, Robert Sward, Coffee House Press, Copper Canyon Press, and Farrar, Straus and Giroux.  A voluntary donation of $3 may be requested at venues where collection of donations is permitted.

Morton Marcus

Morton Marcus died early Wednesday morning, October 28.  Mort was a master of many kinds of poetry but most notably the prose poem, an organizer of poetry events, longtime host of The Poetry Show, Cabrillo professor for thirty years, film critic and historian, raconteur and polymath, tremendous community spirit.  One of the most remarkable gifts he gave us was the way he so openly accepted his approaching death.  We will miss him.  Read Wallace Baine’s article in the Santa Cruz Sentinel.  A memorial is being planned and updates will be posted here when further information is available.  You can learn more, and read poems and interviews at www.mortonmarcus.com.

Update 9/30/09: Read Stephen Kessler’s article in the November 4 Santa Cruz Weekly.  Mort’s family is donating his poetry collection and literary papers to the The Morton Marcus Poetry Archive, which will be housed at the University of California Santa Cruz.  In lieu of flowers, the family suggests tax-deductible donations to support the archive be sent to:

Library Development Office
Att: Morton Marcus Poetry Archive
University of California at Santa Cruz
1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064

Donations can be made online at: library.ucsc.edu/give.  Once online, donate to: Libraries/Special Collections

Update 10/1/09: A public celebration of Mort’s life: Saturday, November 7, at the new Cabrillo Crocker Theater, at Cabrillo College, from 1 to 3 PM.  Read Wallace Baine’s tribute to Morton Marcus in the November 1 Santa Cruz Sentinel.

Update 10/2/09: See the KUSP radio website for
• a podcast of KUSP reporting on Morton Marcus' passing, with interviews of Joseph Stround and Dennis Morton
• a podcast of The Poetry Show from Sunday, November 1 with Susan Freeman and Len Anderson reading poems by Morton Marcus and talking about his remarkable life and poetry and contributions to the community

Update 10/5/09: Stephen Kessler’s remembrance “An Amazing Man” appears in the November 4 Santa Cruz Weekly and Lisa Jensen’s “Memento Morty” appears in the November 5 Good Times.

Verse Daily Features Poem by Lisa Allen Ortiz

On November 3, Verse Daily featured “The Tortoise Survives the Fire” by Lisa Allen Ortiz of Santa Cruz.  The poem was first published in Crab Creek Review.

Calls for Submissions

Poetry Center San José has extended the deadline by one month for its 2009 Poetry Contest with a $500 Prize and publication in Caesura, the literary journal of Poetry Center San José.  The final judge will be Nils Peterson, Poet Laureate of Santa Clara County.  Entry Fees: $10 per for three poems, and multiple entries with separate fees are allowed.  Open to all work not previously published. Simultaneous submissions are allowed, but please notify immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere.  Contest open to all writers except current Poetry Center San Jose board members and family members of the judges.  All entries will be considered for publication.  Submission Period: 8/17/09 to 11/17/09.  See the website for full guidelines including submission format: www.pcsj.org.

Porter Gulch Review invites submissions of poems, short stories, screenplays, paintings, drawings, photographs or anything else that can be transferred to paper.  Written works must be less than 5,000 words each.  Up to four poems or two short stories. Typed, single-spaced, one copy only and no staples.  Include a cover letter with your address, phone, email, titles of submissions and a 2-3 sentence playful bio.  Include a disk with files of literary or art works and mark on the disk your name and names of pieces included. Any originals of artworks should have your contact information on the back.  Mail in 9X12 envelope to Porter Gulch Review, Cabrillo College, 6500 Soquel Drove, Aptos CA 95003.  Email all files including bio to PGR@cabrillo.edu as well.  Deadline: December 1, 2009.

Central Coast Writers announces its Spring 2010 Contest for poetry and short stories.  In each category, awards will be made for winners: $500 and publication (print and on-line) in the Homestead Review (Hartnell College, Salinas).  All entries will be considered for publication.  Entry Fees: $15 per short story and $5 per poem.  Submission period: September 15, 2009 through January 15, 2010.  For contest rules, see the website: www.centralcoastwriters.org.

The California Coastal Commission is sponsoring a Coastal Art & Poetry Contest for students in Kindergarten through 12th grade.  Deadline: January 30, 2010.  See the full details on the California Coastal Commission website.

Poetry Santa Cruz Has a Page on Facebook and as of 10:00 PM PST 9/21/09 has 758 fans.

On The Poetry Show

• October 11: Dennis Morton interviews William O’Daly, translator of Pablo Neruda.
• November 8: Dennis Morton interviews David Swanger.
• November 1: Susan Freeman and Len Anderson read poems by Morton Marcus.
• October 30: A KUSP special news report on the death of Morton Marcus with remembrances from Joseph Stroud and Dennis Morton.
• October 25: Dennis Morton and Susan Freeman read poems they have picked.
• October 18: Lesley Anne Taylor interviews Taije Silverman.
• October 11: Dennis Morton interviews Brian Teare.
• October 4: Dennis Morton reads poetry of McArthur Grant Winner Heather McHugh and more.
• September 27: Dennis Morton reads poems from three recent books and then plays a recording of poems by e. e. cummings.
• September 13: Dennis Morton reads poems by women poets.
• September 6: Dennis Morton reads poems by a variety of poets.
• August 30: Dennis Morton reads poems by Morton Marcus, poems from the recent issue of Poetry, and recent collections by individual poets. • August 23: Lesley-Anne Taylor reads poems from Women’s Work, a new anthology of poems by women, edited by Eva Salzman and Amy Wack
The Poetry Show airs each Sunday 9-10 PM on KUSP 88.9 FM.  Past shows are podcast on kusp.org.

Poetry in the Local Print Media

The Good Times and Santa Cruz Weekly both print monthly poetry columns.  Copies of Redwood Coast Review are distributed in the Library Main Branch lobby and in Bookshop Santa Cruz and regularly feature poetry, book reviews and other articles of literary interest.  Recent columns:
• Poems by Josephine Dickinson in the November 5 Good Times.
• “Wayne’s College of Beauty” by David Swanger appears in the November 4 Santa Cruz Weekly.
• Poems by Lynn Levin in the October 8 Good Times.
• “My Day in Santa Cruz” by Morton Marcus appears in the October 6 Santa Cruz Weekly.
• Poems by Jeannine Hall Gailey in the September 17 Good Times.
• “Lost Dog” by Ellen Bass appears in the September 2 Santa Cruz Weekly.
• “Vroom!” by Tilly Washburn Shaw appears in the August 5 Santa Cruz Weekly.
• Poems by Brendan Constantine in the July 23 Good Times.
• A tribute to Kathleen Flowers by Stephen Kessler and four of her recent poems, as well as a poem by Alta Ifland appear in the Summer 2009 issue of The Redwood Coast Review.
• Poems by George Lober in the July 9 print Good Times.
• A love poem to Santa Cruz by Robert Sward in the July 8 Santa Cruz Weekly.
• Poems by Chi Eun “Gloria” Kim, Kaily Dorfman and Eva Cover, the prize winners in the 2009 Santa Cruz County High School Poetry Competition in the May 28 Good Times.
• Poems by Kathleen Flowers and Gregory Orr in the May 7 Good Times.

Breaking into Print
 
• Peeling an Orange, a collection of haiku by Peggy Heinrich with black and white photographs by John Bolivar has been published by Modern English Tanka Press and is available from Lulu.com.
• Ron Lampi’s latest publication is Lamp Light, A selection of short poems has just been published by Lulu.com.
• Medusa Discovers Styling Gel, a chapbook by Dian Duchin Reed is scheduled for release December 4, 2009 and may now be pre-ordered for $15 from Finishing Line Press.  Pre-orders will help determine the number of copies printed.  Click on New Releases and Forthcoming.  Order is alphabetical by author’s last name, or just scroll down to 13th row.
• Martina Nicholson, M.D.’s third collection of poems, Bread for the Stardust Pilgrims, has just been published by Old Mountain Press.
• Desolation of the Chimera by Spanish poet Luis Cernuda and translated by Stephen Kessler has just been published by White Pine Press.
• The Chadwick Garden Anthology of Poets, edited by Robin Somers and with introductions by Beth Benjamin and Kurt Christiansen has been published by Somersault Studios.  It features poems by 31 poets, mostly from the Monterey Bay.
• Christopher Watkins’ first collection of poems, Short Houses With Wide Porches, was published by Shady Lane Press in 2008.
• Porter Gulch Review 2009 celebrated its 24th annual issue on May 29.  Many student writers and artists are represented, as well as work by Cabrillo faculty, students and professors from UCSC, and a wide array of local talents.  Copies will be available at the Poetry Santa Cruz events in June.
• The 2009 issue of the Homestead Review celebrated its tenth year of publication on May 21 at the Poetic Voices Poetry Festival with readings by Kim Addonizio and Christine Hamm plus the winners of this year’s annual Poetic Voices intercollegiate poetry competition.
• David Lau’s first collection of poems, Virgil and the Mountain Cat, is published by UC Press.  He read April 2 at Capitola Book Cafe.
• George Lober’s second collection of poems is A Bridge to There, published by Hummingbird Press.  He read at Tor House on March 28.
• The first collection of poems by Robin Somers, Backyard Burning, is published by Somersault Studios.  She read at the March 7, 2009 In Celebration of the Muse.
• Trainsong, by Bernice Rendrick has been awarded the In Celebration of the Muse Chapbook Award 2009 and is published by Poetry Santa Cruz.  Bernice Rendrick was the first reader at the 2009 In Celebration of the Muse reading March 7.  Her chapbook is available at Bookshop Santa Cruz.
• James Maughn’s first collection of poems, Kata, is published by BlazeVOX [books].  It is a series of poems based on traditional Okinawan karate.  He read April 2 at Capitola Book Cafe.
• Joseph Stroud has a new book: Of This World: New and Selected Poems, published by Copper Canyon Press.  He read on December 9 from it for Poetry Santa Cruz.
• The anthology Sisters Singing: Blessings, Prayers, Art, Songs, Poetry and Sacred Stories by Women is published by Wild Girl Publishing. Edited by Carolyn Brigit Flynn. It includes poetry by Deena Metzger, Gail Brenner, Ziggy Rendler-Bregman, Kate Aver Avraham, Linda Holiday, Andrea van de Loo, Patti Sirens, Carolyn Davis Rudolph, Maria Papacostaki, Mary Camille Thomas, Marigold Fine, Connie Batten, Lisa Espenmiller, Gretchen Sentry, Jean Mahoney. They read on November 25.
• Daniela Hurezanu and Stephen Kessler have co-translated Eyeseas (Les Ziaux), poems by the French novelist and poet Raymond Queneau (1903-1976).  The book is published by Black Widow Press.
• Stephen Kessler has a new book of essays: Moving Targets: On Poets, Poetry & Translation from El Leon Literary Arts in Berkeley. Pre-publication copies are available directly from the author through October.
• The 2008 issue of Ping•Pong, art and literary journal, featuring work by international writers and artists.  Available for $12 now in area bookstores.  The release party was Saturday, August 9 at Henry Miller Library.
• Rick Masten’s last collection poems, Take 3—Not Dead Yet, is available for $33 including postage from SunInk Publications, 37931 Palo Colorado Road, Carmel, CA 93923.

Blue’s Cruzio Café Updated

Beau Blue has installed new animated performances on the Main Stage of his Blue’s Cruzio Café website.  High speed internet access is needed.  Featured poets are Beau Blue himself, Cat Townsend, C.E. Chaffin, Lois P. Jones, & Cheryl Snell, and reprises of videos by Robert Sward, Al Young & Morton Marcus.
New Extended Comic Book format! Animated Poets on the Stage Upstairs—a semi-reality show hosted by Beau Blue! Come check it out—you’ll have a good time.. On Facebook.

National Poetry News

For national poetry news, check out Poetry Daily’s news and the Poetry Hut Blog.

Cool Poetry Santa Cruz T-shirts!

You can now own a cool Poetry Santa Cruz T-shirt, understated and very hip for those who know. All you have to do is become a member of Poetry Santa Cruz at the $50 level. You can get books, too.

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