Sonoma County Literary Update

Dear Literary Folk,

As most of you know, my co-editor and technical genius of the Literary Update has been recovering from pneumonia these past few weeks, and consequently we were unable to provide a March edition. Jo-Anne and I will get this April post to you just as soon as we can.

Dana Gioia at Santa Rosa Junior College
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending SRJC’s presentation of Sonoma County poet Dana Gioia at Burbank Auditorium. Among Dana’s many accomplishments, in addition to his writing, editing, and translating, are his eleven years as chair if the NEA, two years as California State Poet Laureate, and lead administrator for community literary arts programs The Big Read and Poetry Out Loud. In fact, Dana had invited two high school student participants in Sonoma County’s Poetry Out Loud program: Lily Morgan from Santa Rosa High, and Sophia Cortez Torres from Roseland University Preparatory. Each recited two poems they had prepared for this year’s county-wide competition.

Dana was introduced by Steve Trenam, who teaches through SRJC’s Older Adults Program, and also leads Poetic License, which hosts quarterly online readings through Sebastopol Center for the Arts. (Some of you might remember that Steve invited and hosted U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limon in the fall of 2022). Dana read and recited poems from his new collection Meet Me at the Lighthouse, as well as poems from his previous books, then took questions from the audience in conversation.

Sometimes while attending one of our many literary events in Sonoma County, I am overwhelmed with a sense of gratitude and good fortune to be living in such a literary community. Dana and I have known each other for almost 50 years, having met at Stanford in the 70s. Certainly neither of us could have known how poetry would guide our lives, nor how our paths would eventually cross. It’s part of the serendipity and synchronicity of life.

The First Sonoma Community Writers Festival April 4
On Thursday, April 4, 2024, Sonoma State University will host the first Sonoma Community Writers Festival from 4 to 9 PM.

The Sonoma Community Writers Festival is a collaboration between English and Creative Writing faculty and students at Sonoma State University, the Zaum literary magazine staff, and various local independent literary organizations. The mission of the festival is to offer more opportunities for the Bay Area literary community to assemble, network and celebrate diverse voices. The festival programming will occur in the Student Center and other locations on the SSU campus, with scheduled readings and panels in both ballroom and classroom environments, as well as workshop spaces devoted to collaborative writing. There will also be a table bazaar for organizations and publishers to promote their services and products.

No registration is required. The festival is free and open to the public.

Sonoma State University is located at 1801 E. Cotati Avenue, Rohnert Park. General Parking is $5.00, Reserved Parking in Lot D is $8.00. The passes can be purchased in the lots or at the Parking & Information Center at the entry to campus.

Use this link to see a list of panels, speakers, and readings: https://english.sonoma.edu/community-writers-festival

LitCrawl Sebastopol on April 13th
You’ve heard of pub crawls, both musical and literary. Well, something like that will be happening in downtown Sebastopol on Saturday, April 13, 2024: this year’s LitCrawl Sebastopol, a project of SebArts and the Litquake Foundation. For this one Saturday afternoon, over 119 authors from around the Bay Area will be reading at various locations. Join the fun! Hundreds of readers, writers, and revelers will “crawl” through downtown Sebastopol, listening to readings and celebrating Sonoma County’s spirited and diverse literary community.

LitCrawl is FREE to all.

To check the lineup of readers and schedule of times and venues, use this link: https://litcrawlsebastopol2024.sched.com/

Lit Crawl will conclude with An Evening with Alka Joshi
“10 Years to Overnight Success!”, a benefit for SebArts
6:30pm, 282 S. HIGH ST, SEBASTOPOL, Tickets $25

Alka Joshi is the internationally bestselling author of the Jaipur Trilogy: The Henna Artist, The Secret Keeper of Jaipur and The Perfumist of Paris. Her debut novel, The Henna Artist, was a New York Times/ LA Times/Publishers Weekly/Toronto Star Bestseller, a Reese Witherspoon Pick, an Indigo 10 Best books of 2020, and was long listed for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize.

Congratulations to Poetry Out Loud State Winner!
Riley O’Hara of Sonoma County is this year’s California Poetry Out Loud state champion. A high-school sophomore from Sonoma Valley High School, the 16-year-old O’Hara took first place in the statewide recitation competition held March 17 and 18 in Sacramento. He will go on to represent the state of California at the Poetry Out Loud National Recitation Contest beginning April 29 in Washington, D.C.

The 2024 State Finals marked the 19th year of California Poetry Out Loud, which encourages youth to learn about poetry through memorization and performance. This year also marked the first time in four years that the program returned from its modified virtual format during the COVID-19 pandemic to a live, in-person, two-day event. Students representing 51 counties competed for the state title. A program listing of all 2024 county champions is available here.

O’Hara recited “We Are Not Responsible” by Harryette Mullen, “Sonnet 29: When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes” by William Shakespeare and “1969” by Alex Dimitrov. His English teacher is Travis Beall.

Nominations for Sonoma County Poet Laureate Close on April 29, 2024
Hard to believe, but it’s been almost two years since Elizabeth Herron was selected as our Sonoma County Poet Laureate. In that time, her Being Brave workshops have tapped the power of poetry to open the heart. And she continues to offer these unique workshops—one is coming up at Sebastopol Center for the Arts on April 14, 1-3 PM.

Now it’s time to think about who might be our next Poet Laureate. Nominations will be opening soon for Sonoma County’s 13th Poet Laureate. The Poet Laureate is a Sonoma County resident who has demonstrated a commitment to the literary arts in the County. The Poet Laureate often participates in official ceremonies and readings and receives a $2,000 stipend payable in yearly $1,000 increments.

Nominations for Poet Laureate require that the poet be a resident of Sonoma County whose poetry manifests a high degree of excellence and who has produced a critically acclaimed body of work. The nominee must also have demonstrated an active commitment to the literary arts in Sonoma County, must propose and perform a project of their own creation, and must agree to participate in official ceremonies and poetry events.

The public is invited to nominate qualified poets. Information about requirements and application instructions can be found on the Sebastopol Center for the Arts website at www.sebarts.org/poet-laureate.

Napa Valley Writers’ Conference Sign Ups are open until April 22
The deadline to sign up to apply to the 2024 Napa Valley Writers’ Conference Sunday, (July 21 to Friday, July 26, 2024) is April 22, 2024!  Don’t miss your opportunity to study with our amazing 2024 faculty:

Poetry:
Jan Beatty – Jane Hirshfield – Bruce Snider – C. Dale Young

Fiction:
Lan Samantha Chang – Peter Ho Davies – Jamil Jan Kochai – Lysley Tenorio

Poetry & Prose Translation:
Emily Wilson

To apply visit: http://www.napawritersconference.org/attend-the-conference/apply/

Send Us Your Poetry/Short Prose Selections for 2024
In last December’s Literary Update, I announced that starting in January, I wanted to feature more Sonoma County writers in my choice of Poem for the Month. The theme can be anything you feel is appropriate to the season. I’ll repeat the guidelines here for those who missed the previous posts. I’ve adjusted the subject line so you won’t feel limited to sending lineated verse. In fact, prose poems, flash fiction, creative nonfiction are all welcome, as long as the piece you send is no more than a page in length.

Send your submission to me at tehret99@comcast.net, with “SCLU Poem/Prose of the Month” in the subject heading.

Send me just one submission, no more than a page (or less).

These can be previously published, provided you identify the publishing source. If the piece is not your own, provide the author’s name and source. The author should be a Sonoma County voice, and if contemporary, please ask the author’s permission to submit.

Deadline: You can send the submission any time during the month, but I’ll need to receive your submission a few days before the month’s end to give me time to read, make my choice, and contact the author of the piece selected.

______

The Poem for April,
in honor of the glorious and plentiful rain we have recently enjoyed, is “Pantoum for Rain Dog.”

Pantoum* for Rain Dog
by Susan Rose Pareto

Dog is bored and restless.
Rain is pouring down.
I’m loath to leave this comfy bed,
but walk we must, says she.

Rain is pouring down,
the road is sodden and feckless.
But walk we must, says she,
up to the woods we go.

The road is sodden and feckless.
The hills are wet and slick.
Up to the woods we go,
Dog barks in great delight.

The hills are wet and slick,
rain drips from leaf and stick.
Dog barks in great delight,
“Water slithering, sliding everywhere!”

Rain drips from leaf and stick.
The gullies run fast and wild,
water slithering, sliding everywhere,
it’s like the earth has burst.

The gullies run fast and wild,
Dog nips at water’s tumble.
It’s like the earth has burst,
she frolics and romps quite madly.

Dog nips at water’s tumble,
gamboling down the hill.
She frolics and romps quite madly,
there’s never been a better day.

Gamboling down the hill,
a whirling dervish made of mud,
there’s never been a better day.
As rain keeps pouring down.

A whirling dervish made of mud.
It’s time to end our walk,
as rain keeps pouring down
my soles and hat are sogged.

It’s time to end our walk.
I whistle loud and firm.
My soles and hat are sogged,
but never has my heart
felt so lithe and light.

*A pantoum is a poetic form derived from a Malaysian verse form in which the 2nd and 4th line of every verse becomes the 1st and 3rd line of the following verse creating interwoven quatrains.

Susan Rose:
Susan Rose writes and lives in rural Sonoma Country after decades of living abroad. She has published in Creative Nonfiction, Geneva Writers Offshoots, Bern Writers Anthologies, Sparks blog, The Persimmon Tree and others. Her upcoming chapbook looks at themes of aging in society. She worked as a professional translator for many years, has two wonderful dogs and a cat that thinks she’s half-dog, and loves her gardening.

______

Terry Ehret
Sonoma County Literary Update Co-editor

Dear Literary Folk,

Fin del Mundo
Jo-Anne Rosen, who handles all things technical when it comes to the Literary Update, has been off on an Antarctic adventure, so the Update is coming to you a few days late. I’ve asked Jo-Anne to share with us some of her experiences and photos.

I sailed beyond the “end of the world” with my two sisters on a ship housing about 2500 passengers and at least 300 crew and staff, a small floating city, 16 decks tall and as long as the Eifel tower is high. My youngest sister Louise, who lives in Santa Rosa, and I were traveling with a group of retired Florida teachers that included our middle sister Ava. This was the only time since childhood we three sisters have traveled together.

After 14 exhausting hours on airplanes, we rested in Buenos Aries two days, enjoying a tour of the colorful Boca neighborhood that was settled by Italian immigrants and the largest and most splendid bookstore I’ve ever seen (El Ateneo Grand Splendid), housed in a beautiful old opera house, five stories high.

We boarded the ship on 20 January and were at sea three days, our first port of call being the southernmost city in Argentina, Ushuaia, where we had booked an excursion to see a penguin colony in Tiera del Fuego. It never happened because that day workers were on strike protesting the new government’s policies. Instead, we came across an exciting protest march, consisting of many left-leaning factions, we learned, that normally do not get along, everything from Peronistas to Socialists. As it turned out, there were more penguins to be seen elsewhere.

We reached Cape Horn on day 5 where luckily visibility was excellent, so we could sail close to the coast and see the Chilean lighthouse at the southernmost point on the continent. The Drake Passage, dreaded by many a navigator of yore, was unusually calm. On day 6 we were elated to spot our first floating iceberg from our stateroom (we had a balcony). Although we’d been warned a dense fog might prohibit entering the Schollart Channel, the sun broke through and we sailed into Paradise Bay. We sisters ran all over the boat taking photos and videos.  

That’s when I started sneezing. The next morning, I had a fever and tested positive for Covid. Ava and Louise remained negative, though we shared one stateroom.

I was actually relieved to be quarantined for five days; there were too many people and too much activity on the ship for my taste. Also, the cruise line provided me with free room service and phone calls and, best of all, a notification that I will be refunded for those five days. On day 1 of Covid-jail, I could see all of Elephant Island from our cabin, since the ship rotated slowly, as if to give me a view of everything. The sun literally sparkled on the water.  

My only regret was not being able to visit Port Stanley and take the excursion via tour bus and jeep to see the Gentoo penguins. But my sisters took great photos and videos. And they had fish n’ chips for lunch (the comfort food of our Canadian childhood). I also missed out on Puerto Madryn, which had been founded in 1865 by Welsh settlers. However, I didn’t miss much, as that is now a small, rundown city with a beachfront that looks like Miami Beach did in the ‘50s. Our final port of call was Montevideo, Uruguay, whose old town near the port reminded us of Paris or New Orleans. We celebrated my 80th birthday that night on the ship.

The only time I experienced motion sickness was on the flight back from Houston to San Francisco, attempting to finish this report on my tablet and descending in 60 mph winds into the atmospheric river. I have never been happier to land at SFO. Everyone on the plane applauded the captain when we touched down at last.  

Nominations for Sonoma County Poet Laureate Open on February 10, 2024
Hard to believe, but it’s been almost two years since Elizabeth Herron was selected as our Sonoma County Poet Laureate. In that time, her Being Brave workshops have tapped the power of poetry to open the heart. And she continues to offer these unique workshops—one is coming up at Sebastopol Center for the Arts in April.

Now it’s time to think about who might be our next Poet Laureate. Nominations will be opening soon for Sonoma County’s 13th Poet Laureate. The Poet Laureate is a Sonoma County resident who has demonstrated a commitment to the literary arts in the County. The Poet Laureate often participates in official ceremonies and readings and receives a $2,000 stipend payable in yearly $1,000 increments.

Nominations for Poet Laureate require that the poet be a resident of Sonoma County whose poetry manifests a high degree of excellence and who has produced a critically acclaimed body of work. The nominee must also have demonstrated an active commitment to the literary arts in Sonoma County, must propose and perform a project of their own creation, and must agree to participate in official ceremonies and poetry events.

The public is invited to nominate qualified poets. Information about requirements and application instructions may be found HERE. The deadline for nominations is April 29, 2024.

Sonoma County Poetry Out Loud
Sandra Anfang, host of Rivertown Poets, sends this news from the realm of youth poetry, so important to our literary community:
 
On Sunday, January 28th, eight students representing different high school competed in the Sonoma County Poetry Out Loud competition at Sonoma State University. Poetry Out Loud is a national recitation competition that involves high school students from all U.S. states and territories. Students compete at the class, school, county, and state levels and each state’s winner moves on to the national event. The program provides an opportunity for students to sample, enjoy, and interpret many different poetic voices from a wide range of poets.
 
The eight students who participated this year were, in no particular order, Ashely Morales, Ella Wen, Estefany Cal Mojica, Eva Smith, Lily Morgan, Riley O’Hara, Sabine Wolpert, and Sophia Cortez Torres. Riley O’Hara won the contest, with Lily Morgan in second place. Sophia Cortez Torres took third place. Riley will attend the state contest in Sacramento.
 
Congratulations to all participants and to runners-up Lily and Sohpia. Best of luck at the next level of competition, Riley!

A Few Upcoming February Events (many more in the calendar!)

A Benefit for SebArts: Rumi’s Caravan on Saturday, February 10, at 7 pm. An Evening of Poetry + Music in the Ecstatic Tradition, featuring Doug von Koss, Kay Crista, Barry Spector, Maya Spector, Rebecca Evert and Larry Robinson with musical accompaniment by Jason Parmar and Don Fontowitz.

Redwood Writers Club will be presenting Life in the Flames: A Five-Year Journey Bringing Inflamed to Publication on Saturday, February 17, 11 a.m.–2 p.m. Just after midnight on October 9, 2017, as one of the nation’s deadliest and most destructive firestorms swept over California’s Wine Country, hundreds of elderly residents from two posh senior living facilities in Santa Rosa were caught in its path. The frailest were blind, in wheelchairs, or diagnosed with dementia, and their community quickly transformed from a palatial complex that pledged to care for them to one that threatened to entomb them. Investigative reporters Paul Gullixson and Anne Belden will share their five-year journey bringing this story to publication, at Finley Community Center, Cypress Room, 2060 W College Ave., Santa Rosa. For more information: redwoodwriters.org
 
Longtime Sonoma County teacher, artist, and poet Marylu Downing returns to celebrate the launch of her new book, Pink Paisley Scarf. The launch will be held on Saturday, February 17, 4:00-5:30 p.m at the Occidental Center for the Arts. After selected readings, the author will be in conversation with Patrick Fanning, author, publisher and President of the OCA Board. Q&A with the audience. Free admission, all donations gratefully accepted. Book sales and signing. 3850 Doris Murphy Way, Occidental.  

Saturday, February 17, 5:00-7:30 p.m. Napa Writers Salon, Author Readings & Talks, Meet & Greet, Book Signings, with Lenore Hirsch, Mary Holman Tuteur (reading by John Tuteur), Iris Jamahl Dunkel and Paul Wagner.. Jessel Gallery, 1019 Atlas Peak Road, Napa. $10 at the door (kids free). Limited seating, RSVP required: 707-257-2350. jesselgallery.com/writerssalon.html

Remembering N. Scott Momaday
Some of you may be familiar with N. Scott Momaday from his work with Ken Burns in documentaries over the years, often providing the historical perspective of the Native Plains people, most recently in The American Buffalo. More important, however, Scott Momaday was the first Native American to win a Pulitzer Prize for his 1968 debut novel House Made of Dawn. His narratives, poetry, and teaching inspired other Native American authors, such as James Welch, Sherman Alexie, Leslie Marmon Silko, Joy Harjo, and Louise Erdrich. According to Joy Harjo, “Momaday was the one we all looked up to. His works were transcendent. There was always a point where despite the challenges and losses … there was some moment that imparted beauty.”

One such moment of beauty can be found in his book The Way to Rainy Mountain (1969), which weaves Kiowa oral myths and legends with his own autobiography. Back in 1974, when I was just 18, Momaday’s narratives gave me my first taste for the lyrical prose poem. Later, when I taught writing, especially with students who struggled to find their way in the academic world, I liked to give them this piece, in which Momaday describes his grandmother Aho at prayer, and ask them who in their own lives has made a strong emotional impression on them. (For you grammar wonks out there, this passage also provides the best example I know of the use of the colon and semicolon.)
 
Now that I can have her only in memory, I see my grandmother in the several postures that were peculiar to her: standing at the wood stove on a winter morning and turning meat in a great iron skillet, sitting at the south window, bent above her beadwork, and afterwards, when her vision failed, looking down for a long time into the fold of her hands; going out upon a cane, very slowly as she did when the weight of age came upon her; praying. I remember her most often at prayer. She made long, rambling prayers out of suffering and hope, having seen many things. I was never sure that I had the right to hear, so exclusive were they of all mere custom and company. The last time I saw her she prayed standing by the side of her bed at night, naked to the waist, the light of a kerosene lamp moving upon her dark skin. Her long, black hair, always drawn and braided in the day, lay upon her shoulders and against her breasts like a shawl. I do not speak Kiowa, and I never understood her prayers, but there was something inherently sad in the sound, some merest hesitation upon the syllables of sorrow. She began in a high and descending pitch, exhausting her breath to silence; then again and again—and always the same intensity of effort, of something that is, and is not, like urgency in the human voice. Transported so in the dancing light among the shadows of her room, she seemed beyond the reach of time. But that was illusion; I think I knew then that I should not see her again.

I was extraordinarily lucky when I was an undergraduate at Stanford in the mid-70’s to have Momaday as a teacher. I took three courses from him: American Indian Mythology, Legend, and Lore; The Phenomenological “I”; and Reading and Writing Poetry, my first writing workshop. Momaday taught me something I have never forgotten. After reading a fledgling poem I had turned in, he said “Something about this reminds me of Theodore Roethke. You should read some of his poetry.” Well, I hurried off to the library, took out Roethke’s collected poems, read them all, and proceeded to commit “The Waking” to memory. In high school, I had not been exposed to much contemporary poetry; Roethke became for me, through Momaday’s offhand (or maybe not so offhand) remark, a teacher of profound psychological depth, as well as grace and lyric form. Sometimes the best advice a teacher can give a student is to simply point them in the direction of a writer worth reading.  

On January 24, N. Scott Momaday died at his home in Santa Fe, N.M. He was 89. If you’re interested in reading more about Momaday’s life and work, check out this link to the Academy of American Poets: https://poets.org/poet/n-scott-momaday.

Send Us Your Poetry/Short Prose Selections for 2024
In last December’s Literary Update, I announced that I’d like to feature more Sonoma County writers in my choice of Poem for the Month. The theme can be anything you feel is appropriate to the season. I’ll repeat the guidelines here for those who missed the December post. I’ve adjusted the subject line so you won’t feel limited to sending lineated verse. In fact, prose poems, flash fiction, creative nonfiction are all welcome, as long as the piece you send is no more than a page in length.

Send your submission to me at tehret99@comcast.net, with the words “SCLU Poem/Prose of the Month” in the subject heading.

Send me just one submission, no more than a page (or less).

These can be previously published, provided you identify the publishing source. If the piece is not your own, provide the author’s name and source. The author should be a Sonoma County voice, and if contemporary, please ask the author’s permission to submit.

Deadline: You can send the submission any time during the month, but I’ll need to receive your submission a few days before the month’s end to give me time to read, make my choice, and contact the author of the piece selected.

________

Prose Poem for February

GRATON
by Mark Tate

Up the steep hill, I turned right at Sullivan Road & continued past the orchard & entered the cemetery that looked over the Santa Rosa plain. Clouds sailed across the sky & I could see up the Dry Creek Valley or down to Valley Ford. Standing near the grave that read Saphomia Stout, Beloved Wife and Mother, 1830-1871, I bowed my head & murmured to her, placing a piece of soft sandstone at the foot of her grave near one of the head-sized stones that encircled her plot. Within the oval ring of stones were the smooth stones, small shells, & bits of driftwood I had left on previous visits as had become my ritual. When my wife was buried, my sisters & I planted some gladiolas in two hand-made baskets partially submerged in the earth, a little garden fashioned on the hill. Near her grave, in a small plot enclosed by an iron fence, was the grave of our two-year old daughter—gone fifteen years. The thin wood marker was split & her name had faded into the weathered wood. A valley oak not more than two feet high had sprouted in the corner of the iron fencing. Unable to bring myself to pull the oak from the grave, I walked toward the dirt road that turned around the orchard & headed home. Fog edged through the trees & down the road before me, making the signs on the town buildings unreadable.

About Mark
Sonoma County poet Mark Tate’s collection Walking Scarecrow was selected for the 2023 Blue Light Book Award. Mark is the author of three previous books of poetry Pommes de Terre (2001), Sur lie* (2002), and Rooms and Doorways (2003), and three novels, Beside the River, and its sequel River’s End (McCaa Books, 2021), and Butterfly on the Wheel (McCaa Books, 2022). He served for ten years on the Sonoma County Poet Selection Committee for the poets laureate of our county. He is a long-time resident of Northern California where he lives with his wife, Lori.  

Walking Scarecrow, The Poems of Pineshadow from Blue Light Press is available through Amazon and Barnes & Noble. 
________

Terry Ehret
Co-editor, Sonoma County Literary Update

Dear Literary Folk,


Another new year opens. After waltzing in the arms of the old year on New Year’s Eve—one-two-three/one-two-three (think the digits of the date)—my husband and I started 2024 by climbing Taylor Mountain, just as the fog was lifting and the blue sky beckoned us up the trail. There must have been several hundred people who, like us, decided to take in the views today, speaking a variety of languages, and all greeting one another with wishes for a happy new year as our paths crossed.

In pre-Covid years, Don and I hosted a New Year’s Poetry Brunch at our home—a delightful potluck of shared dishes and shared poems and music to launch the new year. I miss that ritual, but it seems we’re not yet out of the Covid woods, and there have been so many other bugs plaguing us through the holidays, I thought it best not to risk it. Maybe we’ll shift the event to the Summer Solstice so it can be outdoors, at least for the foreseeable future.

We spent some holiday time watching movies: old favorites like Truman Capote’s A Christmas Memory, Dylan Thomas’s Child’s Christmas in Wales, The Holiday, Joyeaux Noël, and (new to us) Love, Actually; and some newer releases like Barbie, Maestro, American Symphony. We also introduced our grandson Connor to How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the original, narrated by Boris Karloff). None of us could name the uncredited vocalist who sings “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Ginch,” so I looked it up. His name is Thurl Ravenscroft, also known as the booming voice behind Tony the Tiger, among many other credits. It seems a shame that he remains unknown to most of us, so I’m doing my part here to make sure we all know his name.

Send Us Your Poetry/Short Prose Selections for 2024
In last month’s Literary Update, I announced that I’d like to feature more Sonoma County writers in my choice of Poem for the Month. I was delighted to receive six poems for the January Update. From these, I’ve selected “Exact right life,” by Linda Loveland Reid. If you scroll down, you’ll find the poem and a short bio at the end of this post.

I hope to continue this, and invite you all to send something for February. The theme can be anything you feel is appropriate to the season. I’ll repeat the guidelines here for those who missed the December post. I’ve adjusted the subject line so you won’t feel limited to sending lineated verse. In fact, prose poems, flash fiction, creative nonfiction are all welcome, as long as the piece you send is no more than a page in length.
 
Send your submission to me at tehret99@comcast.net, with the words “SCLU Poem/Prose of the Month” in the subject heading.

Send me just one submission, no more than a page (or less).

These can be previously published, provided you identify the publishing source. If the piece is not your own, provide the author’s name and source. The author should be a Sonoma County voice, and if contemporary, please ask the author’s permission to submit.

Deadline: You can send the submission any time during the month, but I’ll need to receive your submission a few days before the month’s end to give me time to read, make my choice, and contact the author of the piece selected.

Guy Biederman Returns! Micro/Flash Fiction All Day Workshop
Sunday January 14th, 2024 10 AM-4 PM
Never tried your hand at flash fiction? Here’s your chance to explore new ways of writing. Guy has been leading workshops for many years on the power of flash and micro fiction. “Strive for sinewy sentences,” Guy says, “and stories that charge the moment. We’ll practice the art of expressing more with less as we explore flash and micro fiction. Using writing seeds, time limits, and story samples, we’ll pursue the creativity of limitation, the pleasure of discovery, and the earnest work of craft.”
For details, visit the Occidental Center for the Arts website: https://www.occidentalcenterforthearts.org/upcoming-events

Blue Light Awards
Those of you looking for a place to publish a poetry manuscript might want to consider The Blue Light Book Award for a full-length book of poems (deadline February 1), or the Blue Light Poetry Prize for Chapbook publication, which is open for submissions from February 1 through June 30. For guidelines, see: bluelightpress.com/contestsFull.php or bluelightpress.com/contests.php

Mark Tate Wins Blue Light Book Award
Big congratulations to Sonoma County poet Mark Tate whose collection Walking Scarecrow was selected for the 2023 Blue Light Book Award. Mark is the author of three previous books of poetry Pommes de Terre (2001), Sur lie* (2002), and Rooms and Doorways (2003), and three novels, Beside the River, and its sequel River’s End (McCaa Books, 2021), and Butterfly on the Wheel (McCaa Books, 2022). He served for ten years on the Sonoma County Poet Selection Committee for the poets laureate of our county. He is a long-time resident of Northern California where he lives with his wife, Lori. 

Sixteen Rivers Annual Call for Submissions for Book-Length Poetry Manuscripts
Sixteen Rivers Press invites Northern California authors to submit book-length poetry manuscripts by February 1, 2024. All manuscripts will be read blind and typically one or two manuscripts are selected for publication. The winner/s will be announced on the press’s website during Summer 2024. Selected manuscripts will be scheduled for publication in Spring 2026.

Sixteen Rivers values diversity. We encourage poets of color, young poets, and LGBTQ poets to submit. If you’ve submitted in the past and not been selected, please don’t be discouraged. Because we only publish two new authors a year, sometimes it takes a few tries. We are a unique organization, run by the poets themselves. In joining us, you have the chance to learn about all aspects of poetry publishing and book production.

For full submission guidelines, use this link: https://sixteenrivers.org/submit-work.

Book Launch for Claire Drucker’s New Collection The Life You Gave Me
Sebastopol poet and teacher Claire Drucker will be presenting a poetry reading/book signing for her new collection, The Life You Gave Me, on Sunday January 14, 2024, from 2:00-4:00 pm at the Sebastopol Center for the Arts, 282 S. High Street. Claire says, “There will be some yummy finger food as well. Hope to see you there!”

Passages: A Life Journey in Poetry & Song
Saturday, January 20, 2024, 5:00-7:00 pm
The Sebastopol Center for the Arts presents an experience that will take you through the beauty and emotionality of poetry and choral music, to reflect and appreciate more deeply the scope and fabric of our lives. Performances by: Harmonia Choir: John Maas director, Acorn MusEcology choir: Sarah Saulsbury Dupre director. Poetry Readings by: Enid Pickett, Sarah S Dupre, Jodi Hottel, Phyllis Meshulam, Ella Wen, John Maas, Geoff Geiger, and Steve Fowler. Details: https://sebarts.org/classeslectures/p/passages-a-life-journey-in-poetry-song

Off to Antartica!
I’d like to remind everyone that our incredible engine behind the Sonoma County Literary Update, Jo-Anne Rosen, will be briefly on hiatus from January 17 through February 4. Jo-Anne is off on a cruise to Antarctica with her sisters! I’ve asked her to send us photos and notes about her journey, and she has promised a write-up for the February post. During Jo-Anne’s time away, she will not be available to update the blogsite, and the February Literary Update will be delayed… unless a volunteer steps up to cover her absence. (Knowledge of WordPress and MailChimp needed.) If you can help out, please contact Jo-Anne at: editor@socolitupdate.com.

________

Poem for January, 2024

Exact right life
by Linda Loveland Reid

A strangeness stalks me   the first time
in forever, I think a     something  
dropped into the    dark
maybe even into Plato’s cave,
or perhaps     into my own    
mind
I believe there is     more
I want the corners of my life    to turn   
pink   as I go to the
                          sunset
I want my dyed blonde hair   not
to fall out    before
I make it to      the end
Somewhere between tears and coffee,
I need to find
the      exact life
To fly toward the
sun,
to hell with     waxed wings
Let the cup spill,    the juice stain,
I want 
to drown in       endorphins
I need to see myself,
to know
these last years     are right
Taste the morning blue of   the sky,      
           love my     one life.

About Linda
Maybe the fact that I was born in Hollywood has given my practicality a huge shot of drama. Certainly, living in California Wine Country for 50+ years has given me great joy. 

Before I retired from an insurance firm that I founded (Reid-Loveland Insurance), now run by my daughter, I was Executive Director of United Way for North Bay. Now retired, I follow different passions: Painting, Writing, Lecturing, and Directing Theater. 

My motto: “Love and Live ‘til you tilt”

For more about Linda’s art and writing, visit her website: https://www.lindalovelandreid.com/

________

Terry Ehret
Sonoma County Literary Update co-editor

Dear Literary Folk,

Off to Antartica!
Our incredible engine behind the Sonoma County Literary Update, Jo-Anne Rosen, will be briefly on hiatus from January 17 through February 4. Jo-Anne is off on a cruise to Antarctica with her sisters! I’ve asked her to send us photos and notes about her journey, and she has promised a write-up for the February post. During Jo-Anne’s time away, she will not be available to update the blogsite, and the February Literary Update will be delayed… unless a volunteer steps up to cover her absence. (Knowledge of WordPress and MailChimp needed.) If you can help out, please contact Jo-Anne at sonomacountyliteraryupdate@gmail.com.

Board of Supervisors Honors Poet Laureate Elizabeth Herron
The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors will adopt the Gold Resolution honoring Elizabeth Herron as our 12th poet laureate at their meeting on December 12, 2023, 1:30 pm. Elizabeth and her guests will arrive around 1:15 pm. I hope some of you can join us in person!

The address is: 
Board of Supervisors Chambers
575 Administration Drive
Room 102A
Santa Rosa, CA 95403

Elizabeth will be offering a Being Brave Project Poetry Workshop on Saturday, January 20, 1:00-3:30 p.m. Occidental Center for the Arts Literary Series. Details and registration forthcoming: occidentalcenterforthearts.org/upcoming-events

Send Us Your Poetry Selections for 2024
Regular readers of the SCLU know that I conclude each post with a poem for the month, sometimes honoring the season, sometimes celebrating a local author or honoring a literary voice we have lost. I always enjoy reading through the many possibilities to find the one I think will complement the content of the month’s post. But it occurred to me that I’d really like to be featuring more work by Sonoma County authors.

I’ve tried this several times before: first in 2014 with poems on the drought, then in 2020 with pandemic poems, and one other time with poems that summed up the year in a few lines. These were great!

Starting this month, I’m inviting you to send me poems (or short prose pieces), your own or by someone else, and in any style. Choose something that you think fits the season and is not too long. (Readers are often in “skim mode” by the end of the post).

During the month of December, send me poems/prose that reflect upon the new year. We’ll start there and see how it goes. Here are the guidelines—I’ll keep it simple:

Send your submission to me at tehret99@comcast.net, with the words “SCLU Poem of the Month” in the subject heading.

Send me just one submission, no more than a page (or less).

These can be previously published, provided you identify the publishing source. If the poem is not your own, provide the author’s name and source. The author should be a Sonoma County voice, and if contemporary, please ask the author’s permission to submit.

Deadline: You can send the submission any time during the month, but I’ll need to receive your submission a few days before the month’s end to give me time to read, make my choice, and contact the author of the piece selected..

California Poet Laureate Lee Herrick’s Our California Project
Here’s a great opportunity to join in a state-wide conversation about living in California. Our state poet laureate Lee Herrick and the California Arts Council invite all Californians to write a poem about their city, town, or state, exploring what they love about it, what joy they find in it, what they would change about it, or what they hope for.

Guidelines: Please note the following:
Please submit one poem per person.
Submissions must be unpublished works.

We will not censor any poems, but we reserve the right to remove poems from our service if they are plagiarized or if they contain content deemed offensive on the basis of race, sex, ethnicity, class, religion, sexual orientation, or gender identity.

If you don’t know Lee Herrick’s work, you’re in for a treat. Lee was born in Korea, and came to California when he was adopted at 10 months old. He grew up in Danville and now lives with his family in the Fresno area. Lee served as Fresno Poet Laureate from 2015-2017. He teaches at Fresno City College and in the low-residency MFA program at University of Nevada Reno at Lake Tahoe. He is the 10th California Poet Laureate, and the first Asian American to serve in the role. His poems are infused with his deep compassion and humanity, his ear for music, and his love of place.

Here is the link to read more about Lee Herrick and this project. The link will also take you to the page where you can submit your poem. https://capoetlaureate.org/ourcalifornia

At the end of this post, I have included Lee Herrick’s poem “My California” from his 2012 collection Gardening Secrets of the Dead. To hear the author read this poem, use this link: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/play/77155.

Upcoming Literary Events
Miss Austen’s Mistake?
I am an Austen aficionado. I don’t collect memorabilia or tea cozies (though my sister once gave me a Jane Austen action figure). Instead, I read her books. During Covid, I reread them all. Recently my husband asked me to recommend an Austen novel he might read. I considered Sense and Sensibility, but it runs a bit long—“too many notes,” as the Emperor of Austria once said of an early Mozart opera. Don’t get me wrong; I’m still in awe of the 19 year old Austen who could draft such a book! The opening of that novel is a brilliantly funny and scathing portrait of how the wealthy convince themselves it’s in their poor relations’ best interest to be denied their inheritance. But in the end I steered him to Pride and Prejudice or Persuasion, my personal favorites for their compression and elegance.

So I’m curious about a Book Passage event coming up on Saturday, December 9, 2:00 p.m. Charles Swensen will read from his featured book: Miss Austen’s Mistake: The Real Story Behind Sense and Sensibility. A reading in the Book Passage Corte Madera store, followed by a Q&A. Event hosted by the Left Coast Writers®. More details: bookpassage.com

Readers Theater Presents Two Holiday Classics
Kick off your holiday season with a Petaluma tradition, Petaluma Readers Theatre’s annual Christmas show: Two holiday classics, Truman Capote’s A Christmas Memory and Dylan Thomas’ A Child’s Christmas in Wales.

These are two of my favorite holiday stories, ones I’ve taught countless times and read to my own kids till they have them memorized. I’ve attended the Readers Theater productions in the past, and if you’ve never treated yourself to this (or like me, missed these performances during the Covid years, mark your calendar for Friday, December 15, Saturday, December 16, 7:00 p.m. and Sunday, December 17, 2:00 p.m. Polly Klaas Community Theater, 417 Western Avenue, Petaluma. Tickets: brownpapertickets.com/event/6138216

Calls for Submissions: December 2023
Jo-Anne maintains a Calls for Submission page of the Literary Update, and if you’re looking for a publishing home for your writing, this is a terrific resource. Here are a few that caught my eye.

Landlocked Magazine Biannual Call for Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry
Deadline: December 10
LandLocked seeks writing that is innovative, that pushes beyond the dense thicket of the unexplorable. We accept all genres―speculative, realistic, and those hybrid bodies of works yet to be named. We want new voices, experienced voices, and everything in between.
landlocked-magazine.com/submissions

The Good Life Review: Open Call for Micro Prose and Short Poems
Ends on Friday, December 29
Work submitted here will be considered for our “Micro Monday” segment (online) and not our quarterly issues. We currently pay $25 per piece for work published in this segment. Maximum word count: 500
Guidelines: thegoodlifereview.submittable.com/submit

Call for 10-Minute Play Submissions
Ten-minute plays sought from local authors for the Inaugural Grand Central Petaluma 10×7 BY THE RIVER. Bare stage, with some giant cubes, no additional scenery, 1-4 characters, very limited props and costumes.

Any subject matter is okay — suitable for a general audience in a daytime outdoor setting. To be performed on an outdoor stage in the rear of Grand Central, 226 Weller Street, Petaluma.

Reviewing submissions through the end of 2023.
Production scheduled for Summer of 2024.
Deadline: December 31, 2023
Send pdf to: ndrwbrier@gmail.com

Annual Call for Submissions for Book-Length Poetry Manuscripts
Sixteen Rivers Press invites Northern California authors to submit book-length poetry manuscripts between November 1, 2023 and February 1, 2024. All manuscripts will be read blind, and typically one or two manuscripts are selected for publication. The winner/s will be announced on the press’s website during Summer 2024. Selected manuscripts will be scheduled for publication in Spring 2026.

Sixteen Rivers values diversity. We encourage poets of color, young poets, and LGBTQ poets to submit. If you’ve submitted in the past and not been selected, please don’t be discouraged. Because we only publish two new authors a year, sometimes it takes a few tries. We are a unique organization, run by the poets themselves. In joining us, you have the chance to learn about all aspects of book production.

For full submission guidelines, use this link: https://sixteenrivers.org/submit-work.

Poem for December

My California
by Lee Herrick

Here, an olive votive keeps the sunset lit,
the Korean twenty-somethings talk about hyphens,

graduate school and good pot. A group of four at a window
table in Carpinteria discuss the quality of wines in Napa Valley versus Lodi.

Here, in my California, the streets remember the Chicano
poet whose songs still bank off Fresno’s beer soaked gutters

and almond trees in partial blossom. Here, in my California
we fish out long noodles from the pho with such accuracy

you’d know we’d done this before. In Fresno, the bullets
tire of themselves and begin to pray five times a day.

In Fresno, we hope for less of the police state and more of a state of grace.
In my California, you can watch the sun go down

like in your California, on the ledge of the pregnant
twenty-second century, the one with a bounty of peaches and grapes,

red onions and the good salsa, wine and chapchae.
Here, in my California, paperbacks are free,

farmer’s markets are twenty-four hours a day and
always packed, the trees and water have no nails in them,

the priests eat well, the homeless eat well.
Here, in my California, everywhere is Chinatown,

everywhere is K-Town, everywhere is Armeniatown,
everywhere a Little Italy. Less confederacy.

No internment in the Valley.
Better history texts for the juniors.

In my California, free sounds and free touch.
   Free questions, free answers.
Free songs from parents and poets, those hopeful bodies of light.


Lee Herrick, “My California” from Gardening Secrets of the Dead. Copyright © 2012 by Lee Herrick, published by WordTech Communications LLC.
____________

Terry Ehret
Co-editor, Sonoma County Literary Update

November 1, 2023

Dear Literary Folk,

Today and tonight mark the Day of the Dead/el Día de los Muertos, a holiday traditionally celebrated on November 1 and 2. Although related to the simultaneous Christian remembrances for All Hallow’s Eve, All Saints’ Day, and All Souls’ Day, it has a much less solemn tone and is portrayed as a holiday of joyful celebration rather than mourning.

My altar (ofrenda) at home has photos of my mom and dad, my husband’s parents, and the beloved friends and family who have gone before us. Each year there are more to remember, and I’m reminded of my mom’s prayer book with her list of those she prayed for each day. One column listed the living, the other the dead. The first column grew steadily shorter till, by the time of her own death, there were very few left.

Among those I’m remembering today are my departed classmates and teachers who weren’t able to join the 50th high school reunion gathering last month. I promised to give an account of how that reunion went, and here it is in brief. The gathering itself was incredibly moving—50+ classmates returning to the school where our identities as young women were nurtured and forged. Most of us had not seen each other in 30 years or more, but after a brief moment of uncertainty, we were able to recognize our old friends by their smiles, their eyes, their mannerisms. The profound joy of being together again was palpable in the room. We organizers thought we might need an ice-breaker to spark conversations, but quite the opposite. For me the most moving moments were when our former teachers got up and spoke about the work they’ve been doing since our classroom days in the early 70s, It’s fascinating and humbling to realize how little we actually knew about our teachers, how smart, multi-talented, and influential they were, not just in our lives, but in communities far beyond the classroom.

The teacher who name came up the most, Marianne Rackham, taught us English. More than that, she taught us how to write, how to think, how to see connections between literature, art, history, philosophy. She had nicknames for each of us, all literary references. Mine was Hester (as in The Scarlet Letter), a consequence of my tendency to work on embroidery projects during class. Another friend was Portia (as in Merchant of Venice), regarding her argumentative turn of mind, especially ambiguous test questions. My favorite of these was a student whom Mrs. Rackham called “Helen.” This stemmed from a lecture on the Medieval world view in our Senior Humanities class when Agnes raised her hand and asked who Helen Brimstone was. One student remembered an important piece of advice Marianne Rackham offered: “Live in the world of the author.”

Remembering Louise Glück
I am also remembering today the poet Louise Glück, who passed away on October 13. In 2020 she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature “for her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal.” (poetryfoundation.org/poets/louise-gluck)

Because Glück writes so effectively about disappointment, rejection, loss, and isolation, readers often characterize her poetry as bleak or dark. I am also reminded that her father was credited with inventing the X-acto knife; her poetry had a similar precision, cutting deeply into the pain and disillusionment of our lives. But her poetry is also full of music, passion, and the longing to break through the darkness into light.

I first heard Glück’s poetry at the Napa Valley Poetry Conference back in the mid-80s, and I remember my admiration of her treatment of mythological themes, and my envy of her lyrical talents. I was very new to poetry writing myself, just recently out of grad school and a decade away from my own first publication. She had a piece of interesting advice for writers about putting together their manuscripts. She said she always looked for certain patterns, repeated tropes, phrases of words, and then from these she determined what she needed to avoid and what she needed to discover in her next poems. In her just-published collection The Triumph of Achilles, for example, she noticed she didn’t use contractions and that her voice had a kind of Delphic resonance. She decided she needed to try a more conversational voice, one more open to uncertainty and questions. I went home from this conference with Glück’s book, and set to work dismantling her poems and reassembling the language into my own poems. I wanted to use the amazing energy of her work, which so impressed me, to push myself into new territory. I still follow that advice when assembling a manuscript or helping others put theirs together. Years later, I selected Glück as one of the contemporary American women writers for the Sitting Room workshops I was then leading. I still found her poems difficult to embrace and penetrate emotionally, but well worth the work.

I’ve included “The Wild Iris” for the November poem. Scroll down to read this. If you are new to Gluck’s poetry, you might find this PBS article by Amy Canon a helpful introduction: pbs.org/newshour/arts/how-louise-glucks-quietly-devastating-poetic-voice-speaks-to-us-from-beyond-the-grave.

This quote from Canon’s article reflects my own reasons for selecting Glück as November’s poet: “Her lyric voice still reverberates after her death, in part because of how consistently she turned her attention to questions of mortality.”

Congratulations to Sonoma County Award Winners
The County News page of the Literary Update lists several Sonoma County writers who have recently received awards. Among these are Chrissi Langwell, who was awarded the Jack London Award for 2023; Donna Emerson, whose poem “Sarah Mae” won the Editors’ Choice Award from Paterson Literary Review; and Jennifer March, founder of Petaluma Readers Theater, whose podcase “Not Your Mother’s Storytime” is a finalist for the 2023 Signal Awards for Scripted Fiction.

Being Brave Workshop with Poet Laureate Elizabeth Herron
As part of her Being Brave Poetry Project, Sonoma County Poet Laureate Elizabeth Carothers Herron will lead a workshop on Sunday November 19, 1:00-3:30 p.m. at the Occidental Center for the Arts For more info: occidentalcenterforthearts.org or 707-874-9392.

Crosswinds Poetry Journal Is Now Accepting Submissions
I encourage you to consider entering your work in Crosswinds Poetry Journal’s ninth annual international poetry contest. They will be awarding over $2,000 in prizes this year and supporting literacy and food security as well. Judging will be April Ossmann.

Editor David Dragone says, “As always, I’m looking forward to joining the Crosswinds’ editorial team and getting myself ready for some enjoyable reading. Please submit some work for our contest this year.”

Crosswinds Poetry Journal – Poetry Contests – Poetry Contest Submissions     

Annual Call for Submissions for Book-Length Poetry Manuscripts
Sixteen Rivers Press invites Northern California authors to submit book-length poetry manuscripts between November 1, 2023 and February 1, 2024. All manuscripts will be read blind, and typically one or two manuscripts are selected for publication. The winner/s will be announced on the press’s website during Summer 2024. Selected manuscripts will be scheduled for publication in Spring 2026.

Sixteen Rivers values diversity. We encourage poets of color, young poets, and LGBTQ poets to submit.

Online Submissions: Send an e-mail to sixteenriverssubmissions@gmail.com with your name, address, phone number, and the name of your manuscript. Attach a PDF of your manuscript to the e-mail (name the PDF with the title of your manuscript). In the body of the e-mail, please include a personal statement (350 to 500 words) about why you want to work in a publishing collective, including any special experience or skills you might contribute, and tell us where you heard about our press and our call for submissions. The manuscript must be e-mailed no later than February 1, 2024. For full submission guidelines, use this link: https://sixteenrivers.org/submit-work.

________

Poem for November



The Wild Iris 
by Louise Glück

At the end of my suffering
there was a door.

Hear me out: that which you call death
I remember.

Overhead, noises, branches of the pine shifting.
Then nothing. The weak sun
flickered over the dry surface.

It is terrible to survive
as consciousness
buried in the dark earth.

Then it was over: that which you fear, being
a soul and unable
to speak, ending abruptly, the stiff earth
bending a little. And what I took to be
birds darting in low shrubs.

You who do not remember
passage from the other world
I tell you I could speak again: whatever
returns from oblivion returns
to find a voice:

from the center of my life came
a great fountain, deep blue
shadows on azure seawater.

Source: Poems 1962-2012, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2012. Originally published in The Wild Iris, 1992.
________

Terry Ehret
Co-editor, Sonoma County Literary Update

Hi, Literary Folk!

We had some damn good fun last month with book launches, readings, and the Poetry Walk. Such a pleasure and honor to read with Elizabeth Herron and my fellow poets laureate emeriti! The finale at Aqus Café was sublime!

Tomorrow I’ll be gathering with 50 of my high school classmates and a handful of former teachers for a celebration of our 50th reunion. I went to an all-girls school, and so the gathering will be of women only, except for on male teacher—we did have those! I’ve been helping to organize this event, and doing so has brought me in touch with women from all over the country and who have led such different lives. We had a small class, just 107 graduates, and of these, sadly, 11 have passed away. Asked to say in a pre-reunion questionnaire what memories stand out from our 4 years together, one classmate wrote, “Girls becoming women without boys!” It made me laugh, but it is different when women come of age and into their own without constantly seeing themselves in the mirror of male acceptance and approval. It can be very empowering. Next month, I’ll let you know how it goes.

Suddenly it’s October, time for another literary tradition in Sonoma County: The Poetry of Remembrance Community Reading. (And speaking of “suddenly,” check out the poem for the month at the end of the post. It’s a hoot!)

Poetry of Remembrance Community Reading
On Saturday, October 21, from 6:00 to 8:30 PM, members of the community are invited to attend the annual El Día de los Muertos “Poesía del Recuerdo / Poetry of Remembrance” celebration. We are pleased to announce that this year’s event will take place at Petaluma Historical Library & Museum, 20 4th Street, Petaluma, CA 94952.

Our featured bilingual speakers will include Lalin the Poet (Luis Vasquez) and poet Gina Tello Bugarin; poet and painter Sandra Anfang; artist and community educator Irma Vega Bijou, former Sonoma County Poet Laureate Phyllis Meshulam, and many others. Our host for the evening will be Elizabeth Herron, Sonoma County’s current Poet Laureate.

Those who wish to honor the memory of someone who has departed are encouraged to bring something—a photo or an item that reminds them of their loved one—that can be placed on a community altar for the evening.

Those who would like to participate in the community reading are encouraged to share, in Spanish (or other language) and/or English, a brief poem or remembrance.

Poetry of Remembrance/Poesía del Recuerdo is part of the month-long El Día de los Muertos celebrations held in Petaluma during the month of October, featuring community altars, bilingual storytelling, sugar skull workshops, music, dance, and a procession with giant puppets.

Admission is free. For more information about El Día de Los Muertos events, check out Facebook at El Día de Los Muertos Petaluma.

Sixteen Rivers Press Benefit Will Feature California Poet Laureate Lee Herrick
For three years, Sixteen Rivers has hosted its annual benefit reading as a virtual event. We’re thrilled to return to a live event, complete with delicious food, books by our authors, new anthologies of teen poets, and a reading by California Poet Laureate Lee Herrick.

The benefit will be held on Sunday, October 22 from 2-5 PM at Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda, Berkeley. Please join us for a delightful afternoon of wine, hors d’oeuvres, a silent auction, poetry, good company and conversation. The event is free and open to all. We ask that you use the link below to visit our EventBrite page. Once there, click on “get tickets” to let us know you’re coming. This will help us plan food and beverages for our guests. You can also use the EventBrite page to make a donation, if you’re so inclined. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sixteen-rivers-2023-fall-fundraiser-tickets-680501587567

Helping Writers Publish
Last month, I noticed a couple of workshops offered in Sonoma County focusing on strategies for getting published. Here’s another coming up next week on Sunday, October 8, 2:00-4:00 p.m. Occidental Center for the Arts Literary Series. Prepare to Publish! A General 5-Step Overview with Shawn and Crissi Langwell, Publishing Coaches. Details about cost and registration are on the calendar page.

Barbara Kingsolver reads from Demon Copperhead
When I was first starting out as a writer, I remember discovering Barbara Kingsolver’s The Bean Trees. What inspired me in Kingsolver’s novel was the breadth of its scope, and the author daring to engage the politics of single motherhood, adoption, and families that find themselves unexpectedly. I liked the way the novel wove in elements of nonwhite mythology and traditions in which women have power. This kind of writing can seem heavy-handed, yet I didn’t find Kinsolver’s writing to be didactic. It helped me imagine a female-centric narrative.

On Friday, October 13, 7:00 p.m. Book Passage will present Barbara Kingsolver reading from her Pulitzer Prize Winning novel Demon Copperhead. Hosted by Dominican University of California, In Angelico Hall (20 Olive Ave., San Rafael). Details on the calendar page.

“H.D.: Out of the Shadows” with Barbara Beattie
Another author whose struggle to discover her hero’s story inspired me is Hilda Doolittle, better known as HD. She began as an Imagist—the first Imagist, actually—and protégé of Ezra Pound. But she resisted the expectation to become the male poet’s muse, and eventually came to define herself apart from the powerful and patriarchal literary world of post WWI England and Europe. On Saturday, October 14, 2:00 p.m. at the Sitting Room Library. Barbara Beatie, an M.A. student at Sonoma State University will share with participants some of her paper that was presented at the American Literature Association Conference in May 2023. All are welcome and it is free, but please rsvp to Barbara at Beatieba@sonoma.edu. At 2025 Curtis Dr, Penngrove. More details: sittingroomlibrary.org/events.

While you’re at the Sitting Room, check out the Poetry Room. On the wall in a hinged display frame is the issue of Poetry Magazine in which Ezra Pound introduces HD and coins the term Imagiste, a donation to the Sitting Room from Crystal Ockenfus.
_______________________

Poem for October

“Tension”
by Billy Collins

“Never use the word suddenly just to create tension.”
– excerpt from Writing Fiction

Suddenly, you were planting some yellow petunias
outside in the garden,
and suddenly I was in the study
looking up the word oligarchy for the thirty-seventh time.

When suddenly, without warning,
you planted the last petunia in the flat,
and I suddenly closed the dictionary
now that I was reminded of that vile form of governance.

A moment later, we found ourselves
standing suddenly in the kitchen
where you suddenly opened a can of cat food
and I just as suddenly watched you doing that.

I observed a window of leafy activity
and, beyond that, a bird perched on the edge
of the stone birdbath
when suddenly you announced you were leaving

to pick up a few things at the market
and I stunned you by impulsively
pointing out that we were getting low on butter
and another case of wine would not be a bad idea.

Who could tell what the next moment would hold?
Another drip from the faucet?
Another little spasm of the second hand?
Would the painting of a bowl of pears continue

to hang on the wall from that nail?
Would the heavy anthologies remain on their shelves?
Would the stove hold its position?
Suddenly, it was anyone’s guess.

The sun rose ever higher.
The state capitals remained motionless on the wall map
when suddenly I found myself lying on a couch
where I closed my eyes and without any warning

began to picture the Andes, of all places,
and a path that led over the mountain to another country
with strange customs and eye-catching hats
suddenly fringed with little colorful, dangling balls.
____________________

Terry Ehret
Co-editor, Sonoma County Literary Update

Dear Literary Folk,

Under the light of a blue super moon, we turn the calendar to September and take a look at literary events coming up as we welcome Indian Summer and the approach of fall.

Petaluma Poetry Walk on Sunday, September 17 11:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m.
The Petaluma Poetry Walk is back! Last September, we bravely ventured to outdoor venues after COVID’s interruption of the Walk for two years. And then, of all things, it RAINED! A first for the Poetry Walk. We scuttled to move readings indoors and held umbrellas for each other as we moved from venue to venue. Who know what the weather (and fire season) will bring? But rain or shine, here is the spectacular line-up of venues and readers:

Hotel Petaluma, 11 AM: Kary Hess, Matthew M. Monte, Joseph Zaccardi
Artaluma, noon: Melissa Eleftherion, Jack Crimmins, David Rollison
The Big Easy, 1 PM: Charlie Getter, Gail Mitchell, Kurt Schweigman
Oli Gallery, 2 PM: Anita Erola, Connie Post, Dr. Jeanne Powell
Copperfields, 3 PM: Kim Shuck, Maw Shein Win
Phoenix Theater, 4 PM: MK Chavez, Gail Entrekin, Steve Trenam
Petaluma Historical Museum, 5 PM: Tony Aldarondo, Georgina Gabriela Tello Bugarin, Ernesto M. Garay
Aqus Café, 6-8 PM: Iris Jamahl Dunkle, Terry Ehret, Elizabeth C. Herron, Maya Khosla, Phyllis Meshulam, Gwynn O’Gara.

Thanks to all the local Petaluma businesses that have opened their doors to make the Walk possible. More details may be found on our County news page. Look for updates on Facebook. The complete schedule is posted at: www.petalumapoetrywalk.org. Or download a brochure here.

Long Poems at Café Frida
Celebrate the start of fall and the unique pleasures of live poetry with Ed Coletti’s Festival of the Longer Poem. Ten poets will read one poem for up to ten minutes each (see our Calendar for list of poets). The reading will be held on Sunday, September 24, 1-3 PM at Café Frida, 300 South A Street in Santa Rosa.

Maggie Tuteur’s Book Launch Coming Soon
Many of you know that I’ve been working with a team of writers and artists to bring out a remarkable collection of poems by Maggie Tuteur. Maggie has been struggling for many years with hearing loss, chronic fatigue, and dementia, but seeing her poems make their way into print has been a source of deep pleasure for her. And these are amazing poems!

The book is called How the Earth Holds Us. We hope to bring it out by the end of the month, so we invite you to look forward to October’s Literary Update where the book launches will be announced.

About the book, our Sonoma County Poet Laureate Elizabeth Herron wrote this:

“We hear in ourselves the yes of recognition when we read “A Long Life,” the opening poem of How the Earth Holds Us — our death winds around our lives as bindweed does the flowers in a garden, closer even, for it cannot be rooted out. All along death “hums beneath your breath/too familiar to hear.” In these poems, over and over Mary Holman Tuteur reminds us of our mortality using nouns that become verbs, verbs that attach themselves surprisingly to subject phrases, while her prepositions lead over and over to unusual transitions. But there are narratives too in these poems, stories to remember later, wondering and a little haunted by them. Peopled with family and friends, her poems often begin in the middle of their stories and then unfold around the reader as they unfolded around their writer. Some of her most direct phrases have enormous impact (“How could the earth not throw us to our knees?”); and her passion compels us to the implicit answer. An erotic edge permeates her poems – intimate and revealing. And there is humor, too. In “Women of a Certain Age,” the poem from which the title of the book is taken, Tuteur tells us “we discern the shift/ in how the earth holds us.” Her poems pivot from present to past and past to present as deftly as a dancer. She is “a woman who will never look forward without glancing back.” Finally, these poems invite readers into the emotional life of a sensitive adventurous spirit with a bright intuitive aesthetic ripening through time. This is a book I am glad to have read and will return to.”

Give That Unsolicited Manuscript a Chance!
Jo-Anne Rosen, co-editor of this Literary Update, maintains an excellent page with information about calls for submission in various genres. Please do visit the Calls for Submission page and check it out. Here is a call for poetry manuscripts which I’ve just learned about, and which isn’t yet up on the submissions page, but worth looking into.

2024 Perugia Press Prize is OPEN: Perugia Press is a women’s poetry publishing outfit. Poets must be women, which is inclusive of transgender women and female-identified individuals. Because gender inequity still occurs in publishing, it is part of our explicit feminist mission to support and promote women’s voices in print.

To support writers in early to mid-career, poets must have no more than one previously published full-length book. You are still eligible if you have published a poetry chapbook/s or books in other genres.

Publication of the winning manuscript comes with $2,000, author copies, and other support from the press.

Manuscripts must be submitted between August 1 and November 15. Details and guidelines are available on the Perugia Press website: https://perugiapress.org/contest/

Redwood Writers Presents a Roundtable Discussion on Writing & Publishing
Wherever you are at in your writing journey, this event will offer a rare opportunity to connect with the minds behind stories and poetry, explore the craft, and gain valuable insights into the world of literature and publishing. Saturday, September 16, 1:00-2:30 p.m. Admission: $5 CWC members, $10 non-members. More details and registration: redwoodwriters.org

Round Table Conversations at the Sitting Room Library
The Sitting Room Library is launching a new series this fall called Round Tables. Here’s how they work: These Round Tables are a new way of getting small groups in conversation using the rich resources of the Sitting Room Library. Here is how we are imagining them: no cost, no advance preparation needed. And only one meeting planned. Browse the library, select a book. Each person speaks and also listens and thus we have what we all say we are wanting: conversation. Bring your curiosity! 

Saturday, September 16, 2:00 p.m.
Round Table Introduction with Sharon Bard.
Join in for an introduction to the Round Table Conversations. All are welcome, but space is limited to the first eight who email Sharon, srbard@comcast.net.

Saturday, September 23, 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Qi Gong: Writing Gong Workshop with Karen Fitzgerald
This workshop is designed to appeal to your Creative within – be she/he a writer, painter, sculptor, weaver, designer It is a workshop aimed at all creatives, from beginners to advanced to Masters of an art form, even if that art amounts to doing life. Writing will be the act that serves to integrate the gentle movements of a qi gong practice to one’s creative practices. $30 donation benefits the Sitting Room Library. Please email Karen, thinkinc@aol.com for additional information.

Saturday, September 30, 2:00 p.m.
Round Table 2, Reading Other People’s Mail with J.J. Wilson
What could be more fun than sitting a-round-table where we pluck books from the LETTERS FROM WOMEN WRITERS SHELF and choose some worthy of reading aloud to one another. Not surprisingly, from Jane Austen to Zora Neale Hurston, they are good letter writers (tho we are warned that Virginia Woolf’s letters are “intensely performative and recipient-specific in tone”) and I think we’ll get some good insights along with some good laughs. To sign on the dotted line for this experience (ltd to six people), please telephone J.J. Wilson at 707 795-9028.

And here are the October dates and topics:
Saturday, October 7, 1:00 to 4:00 pm, Round Table 3, Savoring Woolf with JoAnn Borri
Saturday, October 14, 2:00 p.m. “H.D.: Out of the Shadows,” with Barbara Beattie, M.A. student, Sonoma State
Saturday, October 28, 2:00 p.m., Write Your Own Obituary with Marie Thomas McNaughton.Check out the Literary Update’s Calendar page or visit the Sitting Room Library’s new website at this link for details: https://sittingroomlibrary.org/events

Anyone interested in hosting a Round Table that is tailored to the resources of The Sitting Room Library, please telephone J.J. Wilson, 707 795-9028 to talk your ideas over, o.k.?

Poetry of Remembrance Community Reading October 21
On Saturday, October 21, from 6:00 to 8:30 PM, members of the community are invited to attend the annual El Día de los Muertos “Poesía del Recuerdo / Poetry of Remembrance” celebration. We are pleased to announce that this year’s event will take place atPetaluma Historical Library & Museum, 20 4th Street, Petaluma, CA 94952.

Our featured bilingual speakers will include Lalin the Poet (Luis Vasquez) and poet Gina Tello Bugarin; poet and painter Sandra Anfang; artist and community educator Irma Vega Bijou, former Sonoma County Poet Laureate Phyllis Meshulam, and many others. Our host for the evening will be Elizabeth Herron, Sonoma County’s current Poet Laureate.

Those who wish to honor the memory of someone who has departed are encouraged to bring something—a photo or an item that reminds them of their loved one—that can be placed on a community altar for the evening.

Those who would like to participate in the community reading are encouraged to share, in Spanish (or other language) and/or English, a brief poem or remembrance.

Poetry of Remembrance/Poesía del Recuerdo is part of the month-long El Día de los Muertos celebrations held in Petaluma during the month of October, featuring community altars, bilingual storytelling, sugar skull workshops, music, dance, and a procession with giant puppets.

Admission is free. For more information about El Día de Los Muertos events, check out Facebook at El Día de Los Muertos Petaluma.

Sixteen Rivers Press Benefit Will Feature California Poet Laureate Lee Herrick
For three years, Sixteen Rivers has hosted its annual benefit reading as a virtual event. We’re thrilled to return to a live event, complete with delicious food, books by our authors, new anthologies of teen poets, and a reading by California Poet Laureate Lee Herrick.

The benefit will be held on Sunday, October 22 from 2-5 PM at Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda, Berkeley.

Please join us for a delightful afternoon of wine, hors d’oeuvres, a silent auction, poetry, good company and conversation. The event is free and open to all. We ask that you use the link below to visit our EventBrite page. Once there, click on “get tickets” to let us know you’re coming. This will help us plan food and beverages for our guests. You can also use the EventBrite page to make a donation, if you’re so inclined. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sixteen-rivers-2023-fall-fundraiser-tickets-680501587567

Poem for September
The Poetry Foundation website has a terrific list of autumn poems by Richard Wilbur, Stanley Kunitz, John Keats, Bruce Weigl, Annie Finch, Rita Dove, and more. What caught my attention was this quirky poem by Grace Paley, one of my favorite short story writers (who also wrote essays and poetry), and one of my favorite human beings. Here’s the link to the Poetry Foundation’s fall poems page: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/collections/101590/fall-poems

In my internet sleuthing, I also came upon this interesting and insightful commentary of Paley’s “Autumn” and thought I’d share it with you. The author is Rosandreea on the website Contagious Gothic. Rosandreea is not a fan of romantic seasonal poetry, and I think she’s onto something in her interpretation of Paley’s poem. You can read the rest of the commentary at this website: https://contagiousgothic.wordpress.com/2017/10/09/autumn-1991-grace-paley/

“Perhaps it is something of an acquired taste, but I really appreciate the humor in “Autumn” (1991). I love the streak of mock seriousness running through the whole text and the contrast between the anti-climax of the poem’s conclusion and its core of vivid natural imagery. Much nature poetry aims to give us some kind of special insight into the processes of the natural world in order to then put that insight to work on larger questions and issues having to do with human (rather than natural). Mary Oliver’s “Lines Written in the Days of Growing Darkness” (2012) is a useful example of this. There is much more going on in the poem, but one of the natural (!) conclusions from reading the poem is that the changing of seasons shows us that we have to let go of what or who we love so that they can become renewed.”

________

Autumn
by Grace Paley

What is sometimes called a
 tongue of flame
or an arm extended burning
 is only the long
red and orange branch of
 a green maple
in early September reaching
 into the greenest field
out of the green woods at the
 edge of which the birch trees
appear a little tattered tired
 of sustaining delicacy
all through the hot summer re-
 minding everyone (in
our family) of a Russian
 song a story
by Chekhov or my father

2

What is sometimes called a
 tongue of flame
or an arm extended burning
 is only the long
red and orange branch of
 a green maple
in early September reaching
 into the greenest field
out of the green woods at the
 edge of which the birch trees
appear a little tattered tired
 of sustaining delicacy
all through the hot summer re-
 minding everyone (in
our family) of a Russian
 song a story by
Chekhov or my father on
 his own lawn standing
beside his own wood in
 the United States of
America saying (in Russian)
 this birch is a lovely
tree but among the others

 somehow superficial

— Grace Paley, “Autumn” from Long Walks and Intimate Talks by Grace Paley and Vera B. Williams.

Copyright © 1991 by Grace Paley. Reprinted with the permission of The Feminist Press at the City University of New York, http://www.feministpress.org.

Source: Begin Again: The Collected Poems of Grace Paley (The Feminist Press, 1999)
________

Terry Ehret
Co-editor, Sonoma County Literary Update

Dear Literary Folk,

My husband and I have returned from our Rocky Mountain tour and revisit of the adventures we shared 45 years ago. The glaciers of the Canadian Rockies are still spectacular, though they are receding rapidly. As promised, here are a couple of side-by-side comparisons of these great ice-beings. We are lucky to share the planet with them, and I hope they will be with us for a while. Climatologists predict they may be gone by the end of the century. The top two photos are of Crow’s Foot Glacier. The bottom two are the Athabasca Glacier. Both are visible from the Icefield Parkway.





45 years ago, we traveled in a VW bug, camping most of the way. The trip took us from Pacific Grove to Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, then into Alberta as far as Jasper; we returned by way of British Columbia, Washington State, Oregon, and down the California coast back to Monterey Bay. It took us 7 weeks. This recent trip was by bus and focused just on the Rocky Mountains. We flew into Calgary and out of Jackson Hole; we were on the road for 11 days.

One of the oddest things we saw was an historical display in Banff, which featured a VW bug packed with camping gear. There was also a canvas camping tent beside it. It made us laugh to think our VW adventure is now considered an historical artifact.



Bruce Johnson — In Memoriam
Bruce Johnson, renowned local sculptor and long-time resident of Sonoma County passed away during a tragic accident at his studio on February 14, 2023. Looking back over the posts in March–July, I found a lovely “In Memoriam” on the County News page, but I didn’t see a feature in the posts of the Literary Update to honor Bruce’s work and his influence in Sonoma County and beyond—an oversight I hope to amend here.

One of my favorite memories of my years at SRJC is the time Bruce Johnson demonstrated his sculpture technique as part of a three-day residency in 2001.He brought his chainsaw and a huge stump of salvaged old-growth redwood, and set to work in front of Analy Hall, right in the center of campus.

And then in 2005, I was lucky to be present at the installation of Poetry House, his collaboration with Elizabeth Herron, first at Paradise Ridge Winery, then at Sonoma State University. While Poetry House was installed at Paradise Ridge, I held several creative writing classes there. It’s a deeply inspirational space, which Bruce described as “an empty space where attention resides.”

Elizabeth Herron, the current poet laureate of Sonoma County and long-time friend of Bruce, wrote a short “pocket poem” upon learning of his passing: “Losing a dear friend/we must be brave/remembering/laughter through tears.”

For those who wish to learn more about Bruce, his life, and the incredible art he created (including Poetry House, the Sonoma County History Museum has included some links below.

Form and Energy: Bruce’s Website 
Press Democrat Article
Documentary by Kirsten Dirksen

Benefit for Sebastopol Center for the Arts
You are warmly invited to a sparkling evening of poetry & music, a Benefit for Sebastopol Center of the Arts on Sunday, August 6, at 6:00 pm. with eco-poets  Elizabeth Herron, Sonoma County’s current Poet Laureate, Maya Khosla, also a Sonoma County Laureate, and Raphael Block. There’ll be music with improvisational cellist, RutiCelli, accompanied by Paul Lamb on bass, and food and wine to celebrate the event and Raphael’s book launch!



Please buy your tickets here.

A Sampling of Other Upcoming August Literary Events
Napa Valley Writers’ Conference
This year’s conference runs from July 30 through August 4. While applications for the conference workshops are closed, the conference schedule also includes talks by faculty writers, special panels, and readings by the faculty at Napa Valley wineries and these readings, panels and lectures are open to the general public (for a fee). Each daytime event takes place on the Napa Valley College main campus, at 2277 Napa Vallejo Hwy, Napa, CA 94558. Tuesday’s evening event will be held at Silverado Winery.

EVENING READINGS
(McCarthy Library Courtyard, Napa Campus, Napa Valley College)
Tuesday, August 1, 6:30 pm – Victoria Chang & Crystal Wilkinson
Wednesday, August 2, 5:30 pm – Brenda Hillman & Lan Samantha Chang
Thursday, August 3, 6:30 pm – Robert Hass & featured participants

DAILY CRAFT TALKS
(Performing Arts Center, Napa Campus, Napa Valley College)
Tuesday, August 1, 9 am, Ilya Kaminsk; 1:30 pm, Peter Orner
Wednesday August 2, 9 am, Carl Phillips; 1:30 pm, Katie Crouch
Thursday, August 3, 9 am, Victoria Chan; 1:30 pm, Crystal Wilkinson

FREE DROP-IN COMMUNITY CLASSES
(Community room, McCarthy Library, Napa Campus, Napa Valley College)
Monday, July 31 – Friday, August 4: Poetry Encounter with Katie Farris 10:30 am
Monday, July 31 – Thursday, August 3: Guided Reading Class with Caroline Goodwin 4:30 pm

2023 PRICING for public admission
(tickets sold on-site prior to each Reading and Craft Talk)
Individual reading: $20
Individual craft talk: $25
Full week pass (all craft talks and readings): $275
Lectures-only pass (all 9 craft talks): $200
Readings-only pass (all 5 readings): $90
Single-day pass (two lectures and one reading): $65

Julia Park Tracey’s New Novel The Bereaved
Friday, August 18, 7:00 p.m. Copperfields Books welcomes local author Julia Park Tracey, featuring her new historical fiction novel The Bereaved. Based on the author’s research into her grandfather’s past as an adopted child, and the surprising discovery of his family of origin and how he came to be adopted, Julia Park Tracey has created a mesmerizing work of historical fiction illuminating the darkest side of the Orphan Train. The discussion will be followed by a Q&A and book signing. Copperfield’s Books, 140 Kentucky St., Petaluma. More information: www.copperfieldsbooks.com/event/julia-park-tracey-0

Mistakes Authors Make: A Presentation with Brent Ridgeway
I’ll bet we can all think of mistakes we’ve made in our writing lives, whether it’s sending our work to the absolute wrong kind of journal or acting on editing advice that ends up stealing the heart right out of our work. But there are also the lovely serendipitous mistakes that enrich our writing by freeing us from our conscious intentions. These might be typos, misheard words, handwriting so illegible we’re forced to make up the words we might have intended.

I’ve chosen a poem on this theme of mistakes as the poem for August. The poem comes with a surprising twist regarding the mistaken identity of its author. Scroll down for this.

To hear what Brent Ridgeway has to say about the mistakes writer’s make, join Redwood Writers Club on Saturday, August 19, 1:00-2:30 p.m. Ridgeway’s focus will be on Essential Steps for Achieving Success as an Author. The presentation will be at the Finley Center, Cypress Room, 2060 W College Ave, Santa Rosa. CWC members: $5; nonmembers: $10. Details and registration at: redwoodwriters.org.

Whether you are a published author or have always wanted to write, there’s a place for you at Redwood Writers, a branch of California Writers Club. New member enrollment is open from July 1 through September 30. For more information and to join: redwoodwriters.org/membership/join/

Rumi’s Caravan
Sunday, August 20, 7:30 p.m. Rumi’s Caravan Returns to the East Bay. An improvised poetic conversation with music. At Freight & Salvage, 2020 Addison Street, Berkeley. All proceeds from the performance will support the work of the Middle East Children’s Alliance. Advance tickets, $25. Details and tickets: https://secure.thefreight.org/12750/rumis-caravan

Poem for August
On the theme of mistakes writers make, I found this poem, attributed to Jorge Luis Borges. On closer inspection (and in search of the Spanish text and translator), I discovered that this may not be by Borges at all. Possible authors include humorist Don Herold and Nadine Stair.

One online source offered this:

Spanish versions with the shape of a poem were wrongly attributed to Borges by literary magazines like Mexican Plural (May 1989, pages 4–5) and books (such as Elena Poniatowska‘s “Todo México”, page 144).

In December 2005, Irish pop singer Bono read in Spanish some of the lines of the poem on Mexican TV show Teletón México 2005 and attributed them to the “Chilean poet Borges.”

Of course, Borges was Argentinian, not Chilean, but the attribution error was so extended that even the poet and scholar Alastair Reid translated one of the Spanish versions into English under the belief that it was a work from Borges. Reid’s translations starts,

If I were able to live my life again,

next time I would try to make more mistakes.

I would not try to be so perfect.
I would be more relaxed.

I would be much more foolish than I have been. In fact,

I would take very few things seriously.

I would be much less sanitary.

Whoever the author and translator might be, here is a poem celebrating making more mistakes.

Moments: If I Could Live My Life Again
(incorrectly) attributed to Jorge Luis Borges

If I could live my life again
I’d try to make more mistakes,
I wouldn’t try to be so perfect,
I’d be more relaxed,
I’d be more true-to-life than I was.

In fact, I’d take fewer things seriously,
I’d be less hygienic,
I’d take more risks,
I’d take more trips,
I’d watch more sunsets,
I’d climb more mountains,
I’d swim more rivers,
I’d go to more places I’ve never been,
I’d eat more ice cream and less lima beans,
I’d have more real problems and fewer  imaginary ones.

I was one of those people who live prudent
and prolific lives each minute of their existence.
Of course, I did have moments of joy
yet if I could go back I’d try
to have good moments only.

In case you don’t know what life is made of,
only moments; don’t miss the now.

I was one of those who never
go anywhere, without a thermometer,
without a hot-water bottle,
without an umbrella,
without a parachute.

If I could live again
I’d travel light,
I’d try to work barefoot,
from spring to fall.
I’d ride more carts,
I’d watch more sunrises,
play with more kids,
if I could live my life again.

But now I am 85,
and I know I am dying.

Source: : https://fabricegrinda.com/moments-by-jorge-luis-borges/

Poema atribuido a Borges, pero cuyo real autor sería Don Herold o Nadine Stair.

Si pudiera vivir nuevamente mi vida,
en la próxima trataría de cometer más errores.
No intentaría ser tan perfecto, me relajaría más.
Sería más tonto de lo que he sido,
de hecho tomaría muy pocas cosas con seriedad.
Sería menos higiénico.
Correría más riesgos,
haría más viajes,
contemplaría más atardeceres,
subiría más montañas, nadaría más ríos.
Iría a más lugares adonde nunca he ido,
comería más helados y menos habas,
tendría más problemas reales y menos imaginarios.

Yo fui una de esas personas que vivió sensata
y prolíficamente cada minuto de su vida;
claro que tuve momentos de alegría.
Pero si pudiera volver atrás trataría
de tener solamente buenos momentos.

Por si no lo saben, de eso está hecha la vida,
sólo de momentos; no te pierdas el ahora.

Yo era uno de esos que nunca
iban a ninguna parte sin un termómetro,
una bolsa de agua caliente,
un paraguas y un paracaídas;
si pudiera volver a vivir, viajaría más liviano.
Si pudiera volver a vivir
comenzaría a andar descalzo a principios
de la primavera
y seguiría descalzo hasta concluir el otoño.
Daría más vueltas en calesita,
contemplaría más amaneceres,
y jugaría con más niños,
si tuviera otra vez vida por delante.

Pero ya ven, tengo 85 años…
y sé que me estoy muriendo.

Source: https://www.poemas-del-alma.com/instantes.htm

___________

Terry Ehret
Co-editor, Sonoma County Literary Update

Dear Literary Folk,

Last week, my husband and I spend a couple of days in Yosemite Valley. I have been there several times, but always in drought years, so I especially wanted to see the waterfalls after this epic winter snowfall. They were amazing! Such beauty and power are as humbling as the granite splendor of Half Dome and El Capitan.

In a few days, we’ll be off for another high mountain adventure: touring the Canadian Rockies, then south to Glacier, Yellowstone, and the Tetons, recreating a road trip from 45 years ago. Back then, the backpack up into the Tetons and the drive up the Glacial Parkway to Jasper introduced us to glaciers on a grand scale. Now we want to see these majestic ice-beings before they’re gone. Here’s a photo of one of the many glaciers from July 1978. I’ll try to recreate this image on this year’s drive up the Parkway and report back next month.

Sonoma County Voices of Summer
Shout out to Ed Coletti for bringing together a terrific collection of poets, along with Steve (with two e’s) Shane on bass, at Café Frida last Sunday. It was such a lovely way to spend a summer afternoon!

Ed has a poem “Depriving the Vultures,” just out in the Summer 2023 issue of 2RiverReview.

Sonoma County poet laureate emerita Gwynn O’Gara has a new book, called We Who Dream, just released from Finishing Line Press. I’ve selected the title poem from this collection as the Poem for July, which you’ll find at the end of the post.

Other local authors with new books out include current poet laureate Elizabeth Herron (In the Cities of Sleep), Raphael Block (The Dreams We Share), Rachel Zemach (The Butterfly Cage: A Memoir), Karen Pierce Gonzalez (Coyote in the Basket of My Ribs), Nancy Bourne (Somewhere a Phone is Ringing), and Sande Anfang (Finishing School).

Petaluma writer Donna Emerson’s poem “Sarah Mae” has been awarded an Editors’ Choice Award from the Poetry Center in Paterson, NJ. It will be published in the Paterson Literary Review this summer, and Donna has been invited to read her poem, along with other winners at the awards ceremony in February 2024. Closer to home, Donna will be reading her poetry on Saturday July 22, 2:30-4;00 p.m., along with six other poets from the Marin Poetry Center at the Larkspur Library, 400 Main Street, Larkspur.

You can see the full list of authors with new book or journal publications on the Sonoma County in Print page.

Don’t see your work there? If you are a Sonoma County writer with a poem, story, essay, creative nonfiction, or review newly published in a literary journal, print or online, let’s help you celebrate! Likewise, if you have a book or chapbook coming out this year, send your announcement to editor@socolitupdate.com. 

Upcoming July Events
Alas, I won’t be in Sonoma County to enjoy many of the literary events coming up in July, but I have sampled the calendar, and here are a few that are not to be missed if you’re lucky enough to be home in the weeks ahead.

On Saturday, July 15, at 8:00 pm, J.L. Henker will be a guest on Outbeat Collage, a KRCB (104.9) radio show about LGBTQ arts and entertainment in the Bay Area. She will discuss her short story published in Written with Pride: Stories from Queer Authors, as well as the importance of visibility for artists from marginalized communities. Hosted by Gary Carnivele. Listen to the live stream at www.outbeatradio.org.

On that same day, July 15, 11 am-2:00 pm, the Soroptimists International of Oakmont is hosting Local Authors’ Book Faire. You’ll have the opportunity to meet 20 published authors from Glen Ellen, Kenwood, Sonoma, Healdsburg, Sebastopol and Santa Rosa, who will be on site to talk about and sell their books (historical fiction, romance novels, memoir, short stories, poetry, cook books and more). Admission is free. You’ll find this all happening at the Berger Center, 6633 Oakmont Drive, Santa Rosa.

Who are the Soroptimists?
I admit, as I typed the above announcement, I began to puzzle who or what a Soromptimist is. Just for fun, I looked them up online (www.soroptimist.org) and discovered this: They are “a global volunteer organization that provides women and girls with access to the education and training they need to achieve economic empowerment.” How cool is that?! Even better, the international organization was founded right here in the Bay Area, (Oakland) about a hundred years ago. How did I not know this? So I did a little more sleuthing online, and gleaned a few interesting facts. For example, the name “Soroptimist” was coined by combining the Latin words soror “sister” and optima “best.” In the years leading up to World War II, Soroptimists worked to assist refugees fleeing unrest in central Europe. I love the fact that our local Soroptimist chapter (Oakmont Wine Country) is supporting the writers of Sonoma County with this free local authors book fair. They seem like a very worthy organization to support.

Napa Valley Writers’ Conference
This year’s conference runs from July 30 through August 4. While applications for the conference workshops are closed, the conference schedule also includes talks by faculty writers, special panels, and readings by the faculty at Napa Valley wineries and these readings, panels and lectures are open to the general public (for a fee). Each daytime event takes place on the Napa Valley College main campus, at 2277 Napa Vallejo Hwy, Napa, CA 94558. Tuesday’s evening event will be held at Silverado Winery.

EVENING READINGS
(McCarthy Library Courtyard, Napa Campus, Napa Valley College)
Sunday, July 30, 6:30 pm – Ilya Kaminsky, Katie Farris & Peter Orner
Monday, July 31, 6:30 pm – Carl Phillips & Katie Crouch
Tuesday, August 1, 6:30 pm – Victoria Chang & Crystal Wilkinson
Wednesday, August 2, 5:30 pm – Brenda Hillman & Lan Samantha Chang
Thursday, August 3, 6:30 pm – Robert Hass & featured participants

DAILY CRAFT TALKS
(Performing Arts Center, Napa Campus, Napa Valley College)
Monday, July 31: 9 am, Brenda Hillman; 1:30 pm Lan Samantha Chang; 3 pm Robert Hass
Tuesday, August 1, 9 am, Ilya Kaminsk; 1:30 pm, Peter Orner
Wednesday August 2, 9 am, Carl Phillips; 1:30 pm, Katie Crouch
Thursday, August 3, 9 am, Victoria Chan; 1:30 pm, Crystal Wilkinson

FREE DROP-IN COMMUNITY CLASSES
(Community room, McCarthy Library, Napa Campus, Napa Valley College)
Monday, July 31 – Friday, August 4: Poetry Encounter with Katie Farris 10:30 am
Monday, July 31 – Thursday, August 3: Guided Reading Class with Caroline Goodwin 4:30 pm

2023 PRICING for public admission
(tickets sold on-site prior to each Reading and Craft Talk)
Individual reading: $20
Individual craft talk: $25
Full week pass (all craft talks and readings): $275
Lectures-only pass (all 9 craft talks): $200
Readings-only pass (all 5 readings): $90
Single-day pass (two lectures and one reading): $65

Wordrunner Press Call for Prose Mini-Collections
The Literary Update’s co-editor Jo-Anne Rosen has put out a call for Wordrunner eChapbooks open submissions. Wordrunner will select one fiction and one nonfiction (memoir) mini-collection for their 2023 e-chapbook series to be published in August and December online and as ebooks. They are looking for emotional complexity and nuanced characters. The submission deadline has been extended to July 15, 2023. For details, see www.echapbook.com/submissions.html.
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Poem for July

We Who Dream
by Gwynn O’Gara

            my cells, which are my stars. . .
            —Frida Kahlo

Haloed by redwoods, a vulture sky
and plump, comical geese,
the soul-body of Guadalupe shimmers.

North on our backs, around our necks,
in our skin, snuggled in suitcases,
constant in cages, flowing underground.

September’s feathered heat and
bountiful barbeques. Tunneling cold trickles
our legs through the water’s massage.

Girls and boys play-fight for swan, burger
and unicorn floats. Reborn in dream-water,
lovers cradle one another. Kids scream.

Late afternoons a breeze from the Pacific.
Geese gabble in, splash down with cartoon faces.
Without wings we made it. Lost a few. Lost a lot.

Among thorns children, friends, work,
hoodies unzipped with sweat and song,
we who dream know there are no borders.

From We Who Dream, Finishing Line Press, 2023.
Available from Copperfield’s Montgomery Village and Sebastopol and Finishing Line Press
https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/we-who-dream-by-gwynn-ogara
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Terry Ehret, Co-editor
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.”
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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.
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from How the Earth Holds Us, forthcoming from Wordrunner Press, copyright © 2023 by John Tuteur Trustee, Maggie Tuteur Revocable Trust. All rights reserved.
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Terry Ehret,
Sonoma County Literary Update co-editor