Sonoma County Literary Update

Dear Literary Folk,

Something about the Blues
Beloved poet and jazz musician Al Young passed away April 17, 2021, in the midst of the Covid pandemic, when gathering in groups was a challenge for most of us. Consequently, Al’s memorial was postponed until we could safely gather. On Saturday, June 3, at 2:00 p.m., Al Young’s life and work will be celebrated in a tribute called “Something about the Blues” at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar Street, Berkeley. Featured readers: Ishmael Reed and current California Poet Laureate Lee Herrick. RSVP to info@poetryflash.org.
You can read the Literary Update’s tribute to Al Young at this link: https://socolitupdate.com/2021/05/01/may-2021/. Discover more about Al’s life and work at this link: https://www.berkeleyside.org/2021/04/21/al-young-california-poet-laureate-berkeley-ca-dies-81

Time to Eat Cake!
Two important anniversaries are coming up in early June, and you are invited to be part of both celebrations! The first of these is the 10th anniversary of Rivertown Poets in Petaluma on June 5th; the second is the Sitting Room’s Rebirthday Party on June 10th.

Rivertown Poets Features Rebecca Patrascu and Gwynn O’Gara
You are warmly invited to join us for our next reading which takes place on Monday, June 5th, at 6:15 p.m. PDT. This reading marks the completion of ten years of continuous monthly poetry readings. We’ll be live at the Aqus Cafe, located at 189 H Street in Petaluma (corner of 2nd and H). We won’t be Zooming in for this event but our July reading will be on Zoom. Our June 5th features are Sonoma County poets Rebecca Patrascu and Gwynn O’Gara. An open mic of three-minute readings follows the features. Signup will be live on the clipboard–as in the Beforetime. Poets will have books on hand for purchase during the intermission. Plan to arrive early for a good table and an open mic slot. The Aqus Cafe serves delicious food and drinks. The kitchen closes at 7:00, so plan to order before we begin the reading. There will be cake!
—Sande Anfang, founder and host of Rivertown Poets

Sitting Room’s Rebirthday Party

Date: Saturday, June 10
Time: 2 to 5 or so
Place: 2025 Curtis Drive, Penngrove, CA 94951
(No need to rsvp, but if you want more information, call 707 795-9028)
Carpool?— it is more fun, better on the environment, AND easier on the parking
Refreshments and entertainment provided — Anything on paper presents to The Sitting Room welcome but no- present people will also be welcomed and being present is the best present of all…CUthere, IF THE WEATHER IS O.K. FOR OUTDOOR COMFORT; if not in these uncertain climes, stay home and read a book, o.k.?
—JJ Wilson and Karen Petersen

Sacramento Poetry Alliance hosts an Afternoon of Translation
with Terry Ehret, John Johnson, and Susan Cohen
If you’re up for a drive to the Central Valley, or if you know poetry aficionados in the Sacramento area, please pass along this invitation:

Terry Ehret and John Johnson will read from their translations of Plagios/Plagiarsms, by Ulalume Gonzalez de Leon, on Saturday, June 10, 4 pm. Susan Cohen will also present her translations of Yiddish poems. The reading series is hosted by Tim Kahl and the Sacramento Poetry Alliance, and will be held in a lovely garden setting in the Land Park district, 1169 Perkins Way, Sacramento, CA.

Off the Page Readers Theater
One of Sonoma County’s most creative and collaborative ventures is Off the Page Readers Theater. Founded in 2013 by Hilary Moore, Pat Hayes and Mike Hayes, they have grown to a troupe of six Sonoma County actor/directors. For some shows they invite guest actors to perform with them as well. 

Off the Page specializes in performing the works of local authors. By now they have performed the works of more than 50 writers. Twice a year they choose a theme and call for entries. For each show they create a “symphony” of stories, plays and poems. A percentage of their proceeds goes to local charities.

This month, on Friday, June 16 and Saturday, June 17, 7:00-9:00 p.m., Off the Page performs six 10-minute plays by Redwood Writers Club members David Beckman, Andrew Brier, Joan Goodreau, Crissi Langwell, Linda Loveland Reid and Maureen Studerwill. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. At the Finley Center, 2060 W College Ave, Santa Rosa. Admission $20. For details on authors, plays, actors, and ticket purchase: https://redwoodwriters.org/2023-10-minute-play-contest-winners

If you’d like to submit your work for Off the Page, you’ll find all the relevant information at this link on their website: https://www.offthepagetheater.com/submissions.

Café Frida/ Ed Coletti Poetry Festival on June 25
Come enjoy the great food, delightful courtyard setting, music, and poetry on Saturday, June 25, 1:00-3:00 p.m. at Cafe Frida. The Sizzling Summer Reading will feature Terry Ehret, David Beckman, Sandra Anfang, David Madgalene, Phyllis Meshalum, Jodi Hottel, Steve Shane soloing on his magic bass, Richard Long (editor of 2 River Review), and Raphael Block. Come early for lunch and music. Cafe Frida is located in the Santa Rosa Art District at 300 S A St, Santa Rosa. Details: https://edwardcolettispoetryblog.blogspot.com

Dale Dougherty’s Sebastopol City Limits Interview with Raphael Block
Dale Dougherty, editor and publisher of Make: Magazine, a DIY Tech quarterly, and Laura Hagar Rush, the former editor of the Sebastopol newspaper, Sonoma West Times & News have co-created the online journal Sebastopol Times. Dale and Laura invite you to be a part of a community of people who share your home town news. They welcome article submissions, as well as “letters to the editors.”

Dale Dougherty: dale.dougherty@gmail.com
Laura Hagar Rush: hagarlaura@gmail.com
You can also reach them at 707-322-8696 or drop by their office at 524 S. Main Street in Sebastopol.
 
Dale also hosts a podcast called Sebastopol City Limits. Recently he featured Raphael Block, who has a new book, The Dreams We Share, You can listen to the podcast or read the transcript of the interview by clicking on this link: https://www.sebastopoltimes.com/p/old-cat-poet-raphael-block?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email#details

Poem for June
For the past year, I’ve had the privilege to collaborate with a remarkable team to create a collection of local writer Maggie Tuteur’s poetry. Maggie’s book, How the Earth Holds Us, is scheduled for release in September from Wordrunner Press, and we’ll have a grand book launch to celebrate with Maggie, her family, and friends.

About Maggie’s book, Barbara Baer writes: “Readers of How the Earth Holds Us will come to know Maggie Tuteur as few have known her during a daring life of adventure, yearning, tragedy, and wonder. We may sometimes be shocked by Tuteur’s raw pain and her passion, but we are guided by her craft and her search for peace; as she writes, ‘I am living in the echo / of a clear bell’s ring.’ Those venturing into this rich collection of poems will hear Maggie Tuteur’s voice long after they close the book.“

For June’s poem, I’ve selected one of Maggie’s—a prose poem that evokes those long summer evenings in childhood when we might have lain after sunset in the half-light of “firefly time.”
_______

Shades of Childhood
by Maggie Tuteur

Still daylight when they tucked me in. I could feel the flowers beneath my window flexing their petals for the fat yellow bees, sweet-natured bumblers that brushed my palms. June bugs, those
ornery earth movers, lurching and bumbling. Upturned earthworms sensing the air with delicate snouts.

That was my place down there, not this holding pen of floppy dolls. Just before firefly time, the shadows cast by venetian blinds began their twilight crawl across the ceiling, transporting me, breath by breath, into that night garden I could never anticipate, where I was the soil and the seed.
_______
from How the Earth Holds Us, forthcoming from Wordrunner Press, copyright © 2023 by John Tuteur Trustee, Maggie Tuteur Revocable Trust. All rights reserved.
_______

Terry Ehret,
Sonoma County Literary Update co-editor