Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Happy Holidays! The New Year with Maria Elena B. Mahler and "Woman in Metaphor" on January 26, 2014

The last Poetry Reading of 2013 at Bolton Hall Museum was held on November 26, 2013 and featured Ed Rosenthal, poet and Susan Dobay, artist. With best wishes for a lovely holiday season, and happy and healthy New Year 2014, we'd like to share another of Dobay's Visual Interpretations of Music.



Village Poets: L to R. Seated: Maja Trochimczyk, Kathabela Wilson, Justin Kibbe, Susan Dobay, Ed Rosenthal, and Joe Decenzo. Standing: Dorothy Skiles, Endre Dobay, Rick Wilson, Chris Wesley, Sharon Hawley, Don Krotser, Peter Larsen, Pam Shea,Alice Pero,  Janet Nippell, Mari Werner, and Marlene Hitt. November 26, 2013, Bolton Hall Museum. 





WOMAN IN METAPHOR - MARIA ELENA B. MAHLER FEATURES ON JANUARY 26, 2014

The first reading of Village Poets in 2014 will be dedicated to the presentation of a new poetry-and-art book edited by Maria Elena B. Mahler.  The reading will take place on Sunday, January 26, 2014 at 4:30 p.m. and will include two segments of Open Mike - before and after the featured group reading, as well as refreshments.  



Dancer Upstairs with Marie Anne Favreau - by Stephen Linsteadt
About "Woman in Metaphor"


Poet and editor, Maria Elena B. Mahler, collected twenty-seven poems from twenty-seven accomplished, published, and award winning poets from different parts of the world. She invited them to write a poem based on one of StephenLinsteadt's paintings; paintings he created over the last thirty-five years.

The book contains an introduction and essay by Lois P. Jones, host of Pacifica Radio’s “Poet’s Café” (KPFK, Los Angeles 90.7 fm), and co-producer of the Moonday poetry reading series in Santa Monica. Lois is a four-time Pushcart nominee, and the winner of the 2012 Tiferet Poetry Prize and the 2012 Liakoura Prize. About this collection of art and poetry, Lois explains:

"When Stephen Linsteadt embarked on his metaphoric journey, he was striving toward a deeper sense of conception. If art implies a desire for the sacred it is, as Eckhart Tolle suggests, a portal or an access point which ultimately leads you to yourself. It is this portal that bids we enter, freely and without agenda. Each of the twenty-seven writers in Woman in Metaphor, all of various ages and beliefs – practiced poets or sensitive observer, transversed this threshold, returning with their own compelling visions."
 
Beyond Words by Stephen Linsteadt

"The artwork alone is worth the price of the anthology and the same can be said for the poetry. However, if you are expecting the usual classical female figure studies or poetry that sings the songs of love, requited or otherwise, this is not for you. Woman in Metaphor is not just about gender, it is an analysis of the meaning gender and all of the spiritual dimensions that it comprises. The poetry and art combine to give us what any great work of art strives for – a new way of envisioning a topic." - From a review by Ed Bennett in Quill and Parchment  
Read more>>


List of Poets included in "Woman in Metaphor"


“Woman in Metaphor” is a global community of poets from diverse countries, including Argentina, Chile, Germany, Poland, England, Spain, and a Native American. Pushcart Prize nominees include: Lia Brooks, Lois P. Jones, Sharmagne Leland-St. John, Susan Rogers, and Marci Vogel. Other award winning poets include Katrina Naomi (Templar Poetry Competition), Kate Kingston (The Ruth Stone Prize, the Atlanta Review International Publication Prize, and the Colorado Council on the Arts Literary Fellowship in Poetry). Russell Thorburn is the current poet laureate of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Other published poets include: Sharon Alexander, Nancy Scott Campbell, Elsa S. Frausto, Anita Harmon, David Dodd Lee, Sylvia Linsteadt, Genie Nakano, Dean Pasch, Mary Kay Rummel, Maja Trochimczyk, Mel Weisburd, M.J. Whistler, Kath Abela Wilson, and Mariano Zaro. And the new voices of Meg Cox, Indiana Jane Linsteadt, and Taylor Wade.




The book's editor, Maria Elena B Mahler, is a poet whose work has been published in English and Spanish in Badlands, Solstice, Quill & Parchment, Global Alchemy, Saint Julian Press and Poets on Site. She was a finalist for the 2011 San Francisco-based Primer Concurso de Poesía Latinoamericana en Españoland is published in the anthology by Colectivo Verso Activo. Recently, her work was also selected for the Spanish anthology Se Buscan Quijotes, published by El Centro de Estudios Poéticos in Madrid, Spain. Maria Elena also co-authored the non-fiction book The Heart of Health (Truth Publishing Co.) and also enjoys writing fiction. She was raised in the South of Chile. After graduating with a degree in Communications, she lived and worked in Mexico and Canada, and finally settled in the Sonoran Desert of Southern California in 2003.


The painter, Stephen Linsteadt was featured at Bolton Hall Museum as a poet in 2012. Stephen Linsteadt is a painter, poet, and writer. He is the co-author of The Heart of Health; the Principles of Physical Health and Vitality. His latest book is titled Scalar Heart Connection. His poetry is published in Moments of the Soul (Spirit First), Solstice, Cradle Songs (Quill & Parchment Press), Saint Julian Press, Poets on Site, and others. His paintings have appeared in Reed Magazine, Badlands Literary Journal, and Birmingham Arts Journal and can be seen at StephenLinsteadt.com.


Thursday, October 31, 2013

Ed Rosenthal's "The Desert Hat" and Susan Dobay's Visual Interpretations of Music , November 24, 2013

Two different art forms, two different experiences to be grateful for... Poet Ed Rosenthal survived an ordeal in the desert to write poetry about it. Susan Dobay turned to computer-assisted art-making and what she calls "visual interpretations of music" when she no longer could paint her monumental canvas... We will meet both incredible artists on Sunday, November 24, 2013 at 4:30 p.m. at the Bolton Hall Museum in Tujunga. The Village Poets Monthly Reading will also include open mike and refreshments.

ED ROSENTHAL

Ed Rosenthal, “Poet/Broker of Downtown Los Angeles,” was known for using his verses to keep his escrows going. Taking the opposite tact of iconic modernist poets Wallace Stevens and T.S. Eliot, who kept their day jobs at a seeming distance from their poetry, “Poet/Broker” employed poetry as a tool in commercial real estate. Rosenthal’s “Poetic Request for 30 day Extension of Contingencies” was cited in the Los Angeles Times for enabling a redevelopment project. His Wall Street Journal piece admonished clients in couplets. To place poetic legitimacy on his state-issued real estate licenses, Rosenthal had some signed by world renowned writers, including Seamus Heaney and Evan Boland.

Prior to his near-death experience, he was already bored with the persona of the “Poet/Broker.” A fan of Federico Garcia Lorca, Rosenthal began to work with poems carrying lunar motifs in urban landscapes. Survival of a harrowing near-death experience in the Mojave Desert in 2010 has deepened this imagistic writer’s divorce from practicality in the direction of spiritual exploration.

THE DESERT HAT

This volume of poetry was inspired by a six-and-a-half-day ordeal of Ed Rosenthal, a Poet-Broker, who survived alone after being lost in the Mojave Desert in September 2010. An experienced hiker, he unexpectedly veered far away from his usual route and could not find his way back. While in Salvation Canyon, he was several times missed by search-and-rescue aircraft and helicopters, and finally, miraculously, was found by San Bernardino County Sheriff's Deputies. The wry, surreal, and reflective poems in The Desert Hat: Survival Poems describe the spiritual trajectory of a survivor living through a close encounter with death, starting from alienation in a corporate urban environment and ending with the post-trauma reflections about life and natural environment.

The book consists of 36 poems organized in four sections, reflecting the distinct stages in the spiritual and personal journey, from getting off track, through searching for a way back, through hallucinations in a hostile desert environment, finding shelter in the shade of Salvation Canyon, to being rescued and experiencing the world after the return from the brink of death. The title alludes to a canvas hat that Rosenthal used as a notebook and helped the lost poet control his thoughts, capture emotions, and write down his last will and a farewell to his wife and daughter. The 12 illustrations include photos of the famous hat. The Desert Hat was published in October 2013 by Moonrise Press:  www.moonrisepress.com/desert.html  The book will be available for sale and signing.  

In "The Desert Hat," Los Angeles poet/real estate broker Ed Rosenthal presents the mythopoetic journey through his real-life experience of being lost for 6 days in remote canyons of the Mojave Desert's Joshua Tree National Park in September, 2010. "The Desert Hat" delves deeply into the wildest and unpredictable heart of the Mojave into a storied landscape that Rosenthal renders as both recognizable to the reader and also deeply specific to his solitary and unanticipated experience, and in these poems, creates an empathetic and spiritually-affirming desert landscape that resonates within all of our desert hearts.

~ Ruth Nolan. Professor of English @ College of the Desert, California desert poet, writer, editor, conservationist & scholar

SUSAN DOBAY

SUSAN DOBAY is a Hungarian-born California artist and gallery owner of the Scenic Drive Gallery in Monrovia. She left Hungary after the 1956 uprising against the Soviets that left thousands dead and the country in bondage for another 40 years. She studied the arts both in Hungary and in the U.S. and has shown her work for the first time with the Alliance of Hungarian Artists. As a member of New York Artist's Equity and Los Angeles Visionaries Association, Dobay has created an impressive body of work including painting, collages, image integration using digital technologies and visual interpretations of music inspired by famous operas and other classical compositions. Dobay's works were seen at over sixty solo exhibitions in Hungary, the U.S., Canada, Germany, England, Belgium, Austria, Israel, Japan and Kenya.  www.susandobay.com


VISUAL INTERPRETATIONS OF MUSIC

Dobay's most recent project is creating music videos with artistic interpretations of scenes and characters from Italian opera (La Traviata, Madame Butterfly, Pagliacci) and Hungarian music. She calls the technique used in these visual poems "image integration" - because of their "integrated" quality, with photographs of paintings transformed into digital art and photographs of real life scenes transformed into abstract images by adding shapes and colors. Ms. Dobay will present two of her Visual Interpretations of Music. Her artistic credo may be summarized in the following statement: "Although I derive inspiration from various sources- e.g.., music, nature, the human condition- I try to find the balance between mind and spirit. My goal is to involve viewers in a creative game where both the mind and the heart are stimulated."





TOCCATA                  http://youtu.be/c08Z_ZUKVEo  
LA TRAVIATA            http://youtu.be/HGFTQBJX6XA
PAGLIACCI                 http://youtu.be/7Bck-_v0rs0
Madama BUTTERFLY  http://youtu.be/-IHDZsLzdpA
Magyar REQUIEM      http://youtu.be/XU8y7IKL5E4



Wednesday, September 25, 2013

For Halloween - Apryl Skies and Sean Hill at Bolton Hall on October 27, 2013

There is never too much of a good thing. Apryl Skies, the founder of Edgar Allan Poet publishing house, and a life-time Poe fan, has accepted our invitation to be the Featured Poet during Village Poets Monthly Reading at Bolton Hall Museum in Tujunga, on October 27, 2013, at 4:30 p.m.  Ms. Skies will be joined by poet Sean Hill as our second Feature. The reading will also include two sections of Open Mike and refreshments.

APRYL SKIES


Apryl Skies, an LA native, is a 2013 (PoeticDiversity) & 2014 (Sybaritic Press) Pushcart nominee and award-winning author of A Song Beneath Silence (Readers Favorite 2012), Skye the Troll & Other Fairy Tales (Best Poetrybook of 2010 by Muses Review.

Apryl Skies is founder and editor of Edgar & Lenore's Publishing House of Sherman Oaks and with several titles hitting the number one best-sellers list for Amazon she is currently building solid momentum in the publishing industry. Titles include: A Song Beneath Silence by Apryl Skies, Running on Fumes by Alicia Winski, Skye the Troll & Other Fairy Tales for Children by Apryl Skies, This Same Small Town in Each of Us by Wanda Morrow Clevenger, In the Company of Women: An Anthology of Wit & Wisdom Sass & Class, Dialect of Dahlias by Gloria J Wimberley, Actual Tigers by William Crawford, Men in the Company of Women: A Provocative Anthology of Praise & Persuasion, More titles forthcoming in 2013 are, Edgar Allan Poet Journal #1 , Art is Always an Impression of What an Artist Sees by Martin Willitts, Jr., & Back to Back: Two Poets Under One Roof by E.L. Freifeld & Lois Michal Unger.

 Skies' creativity is not exclusive to her passion for literary composition and is a natural talent with poetry, photography and canvas. Skies expresses her devotion to the written & spoken word with a quiet intensity; a superbly visual and telling writer, whose work holds merit among authors both classic and new. Whether with written or spoken word, art or design, Skies captures the sublime beauty of the world with a unique and lyrical voice. Creating her own greeting card line in May 2010, this poet proves she has few limitations. Inspired by a wide range of writers, Apryl has established a modest following of her own and has impressed readers worldwide, as well as by her performances throughout Los Angeles. While Skies is known mainly for her lyrical approach to poetry, her more light-hearted pieces include fairy tales, amphigories, fables and juvenile verse. Using whimsy, humor and colorful characters Skies speaks of hope and embraces the differences that make us all unique. 

Before entering the publishing world Apryl focused on film with Polyphony – Be You & Accept Me Too! Consisting of educational segments, puppet adventures, fairy tales, clay animation and poetry for children. Polyphony is now available worldwide and a huge hit in the Green Cinema at the 2008 Coachella Music & Arts Festival and in 2010 won the Gold Pixie Award for animation by The American Pixel Academy. Skye The Troll & Other Fairy Tales For Children,which launched October 2010 comes alive on the page and continues to enchant children of all ages. Inspired by the award-winning cartoon series, the charismatic debut of this feature film includes over a dozen original musings and an exciting array of four brilliant new artists, Brandon Morino, Emily McGregor, Takeshi Kata and Chris J. Miller. This collection sets the bar for children’s entertainment at a charming new level…a fresh, new anthology of poetry for both children and the young at heart. 

Publishing Credits: Skies work has been published internationally in US, Ireland, Canada, Australia, UK & Spain. Credits include the current or forthcoming publications; The Examiner, H Style Magazine, Carty’s Poetry Journal (Ireland), Target Audience Magazine (U.S. & Canada), Lit Chick Show (Austalia), Tremendously Two (U.K.), Beyond The Bookshelf, Poetry Super Highway (Poet of the Week –Dec. 2010, H.O.P.E. (Canada), The Woulds & Shoulds of Editing (U.K.), The Juice Bar, Botticelli Literary Magazine Issue: 3, Poetry Corner, Noho Arts District Magazine, Red Fez Issue #44, #50, #55, In The Company of Women: An Anthology of Wit & Wisdom Sass & Class, Marbella Marbella Adelante! (Spain), Alternate Lanes- Anthology - Sybaritic Press, Lummox Review, From the Four-chambered Heart: In Tribute to Anaïs Nin.

SEAN HILL


Living for 8 months in Beijing studying while performing Theater deeply impacted and enhanced the spoken word artistry and passion of living Sean Hill wishes to share with the world. His poetry embraces all people while reminding them of why we are beautifully fun beings regardless of what we go through or what we confront inside or out.

 He's featured at the LA Watts Riot anniversary festival Art and Music Festival sponsored by the Blue Dot Mission, opened for Diplo/BigSean at the last CSUN BIG Show because of the CSUN Slam Team's generosity, has twice hosted the Success is Our Future scholarship/graduation ceremony for all the youth homes across Southern California. He is part of the SketchCityTV comedy troupe, The Ki (which means "Energy" in Japanese) a musical ensemble that is a musical movement raising $25,000 in it's first kickstarter, and promotes wholeheartedly the open mic Soapbox Sessions, the Emblem 3 youth project called, "Team Inspire", and the UN Women Greater Los Angeles Chapter. He will be in a powerful Indie feature film called, "The Better Half" (2014 release).

 He released his first spoken word album last year via online/iTunes, giving/selling approximately 500 albums in New York & California while hosting & performing for open mics at colleges/schools while teaching afterschool poetry/theater as a SAG actor who aims at leaving this world so much better than he was fortunate enough to come in to it. "Peace worldwide starts from inside" - Luminaries. "They say it's better to light a candle than to curse the dark." - K'naan. Let's keep being the change we wish to see.

POEM: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFyqIvkUN9o
 

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Peggy Dobreer Features on September 22, 2013

We are delighted to announce that Peggy Dobreer will be the featured poet at the next Village Poets Monthly Poetry Reading at Bolton Hall Museum in Tujunga. The reading will be on Sunday, September 22, 4:30 p.m. In addition to the Featured Poet there will be two Open Mike segments and refreshments. We will pass George Harris's Hat to collect donations for the Bolton Hall.

PEGGY DOBREER


Peggy Dobreer is a Los Angeles based poet, educator, and yogini. Her first book of poetry, In The Lake of Your Bones was released by Moon Tide Press in March 2012. Her work has been published in journals, such as Poemeleon, Malpais Review, Bicycle Review, San Pedro River Review, and Yoga Magazine. Just released from Ain’t Got No Press, she is proud to be included in Ekphrastia Gone Wild with Nobel Laureate, Wislawa Szymborska. Peggy is co-author of 64 Ways To Practice Nonviolence: A Curriculum and Resource Guide, ProEd, Inc., 2008.


JESSICA WILSON AND JASON BRAIN

The Double Feature of Jessica Wilson and Jason Brain on August 24, 2013 was an encounter with new directions in California poetry in the home of California Poet Laureate, John Steven McGroarty. The event was hosted by Maja Trochimczyk.

Front L to R:  Marlene Hitt, Dorothy Skiles, Jessica Wilson, Jason Brain, Maja Trochimczyk, Kathabela Wilson and Rick Wilson. Back L to R: Cecil, Sean Hill, Sharon Rizk, Mari Werner, Beverly M. Collins, Juan Camacho, Toti O;Brian and other poets and friends. 




Monday, August 5, 2013

Jessica Wilson and Jason Brain Co-Feature on August 24 at McGroarty Arts Center


The August Village Poets Reading will be held on Saturday, August 24, 2013 at 4:30 p.m. at the McGroarty Arts Center in Tujunga. The Center is located at: 7570 McGroarty Terrace, Tujunga, CA 91042.This event is a joint venture between the Village Poets of S-T and the McGroarty Arts Center. It is an opportunity to welcome the community to a relaxing and enjoyable late afternoon of poetry at the historic home of John Steven McGroarty, the first Poet Laureate of California.

 Two poets will share the stage, Jessica Wilson and Jason Brain. There will be open mike sessions and refreshments provided by the Village Poets. We will pass George Harris's hat to collect donations for the Center, for the use of the space.




JESSICA WILSON

Hostess and Founder of Writers' Row: Downtown LA's Official Written Art Showcase, SoapBox Poets Open Mic, Writer Wednesdays, and the NoHo Salon. She is the Los Angeles Organizer for 100 Thousand Poets for Change and Founder of the one and only Los Angeles Poet Society! 




Jessica teaches for California Poets in the Schools at a Poet-teacher. Newly published in anthology In the Company of Women by Edgar & Lenore's Publishing House, 2012 "Viva La Poetry", A feature on Jessica M. Wilson written by Apryl Skies for Examiner Magazine: http://www.examiner.com/poetry-in-los-angeles/jessica-wilson-viva-la-poetry 

An article written on Jessica's series, Writer Wednesdays by the NoHo Arts District E-zine, http://nohoartsdistrict.com/index.php/north-hollywood-news/item/1671-the-spirit-of-the-beats-and-the-beatnik#.UTfwHRyG26_ A Poet from East Los Angeles, CA, Jessica holds her Master of Fine Arts in Writing from Otis College, and a BA in both Creative Writing and Art History from UC Riverside. Her heart is to build a universal community of literary goodness in Los Angeles! She is a Beat girl, true and true.


JASON BRAIN




Lifelong native Angeleno, Jason Brain’s favorite hobby is breathing. When he’s not breathing, Jason is an up-and-coming Spoken Word Poet and artists advocate. His 1st published collection of poetry, Mix Tape Collection I: Original Poetry, is available to the public on Amazon.com. Jason is also a burgeoning Visual Artist of photography and geometry; a theatre playwright currently revising his “365 Day, 365 One Act” collection, Amerikana:365; and the creator and host of Soapbox Sessions, an established weekly Open Mic night in the San Fernando Valley.

Jason also likes to make time to play sports, meditate, and enjoy the little things in life (like beautiful sunsets, good friends, and delicious coffee) in between it all. He hopes to meet you soon.

Website: www.jasonbrain360.com
Twitter: @jasonbrain360
Facebook: www.facebook.com/jasonbrain360
Email: Jason@jasonbrain360.com
Soapbox: www.spreadthesoap.com




Directions to the McGroarty Arts Center: 

 Exit 210 freeway west at Lowell Avenue and travel north, uphill, until you reach Foothill. Turn left. Proceed through Tujunga until you see Denny's on the right. Turn left on Plainview. Follow Plainview past McGroarty Park. Turn right into the driveway at the art center. Parking is on the top lot and the bottom lot with many stairs leading from the lower lot. Enter at the back if a class is in session. 

 From the 210 freeway east, exit Sunland Blvd. Turn left and drive about three miles up Foothill (Sunland becomes Foothill) Denny's will be on your left. Turn right on Plainview (south) and continue past McGroarty Park to the entrance of the art center. (Beware of Yates Street at Tommy Burgers. Don't turn there).

KIRBY AND COLLINS READING  - A SUCCESS


The first ever co-feature at Bolton Hall, featuring Mina Kirby and Beverly Collins on July 28, was very well attended and well received. More pictures are in Picasa Album - July 28.



In the words of Dorothy Skiles: "Saturday's event went real well! We had about 30 folks that attended. A number of new visitors as well, in addition to the regulars and those coming to support Bev and Mina. The featured program with Mina and Bev was outstanding! Their poems were light-hearted, funny, poignant - always reaching for the heart of the matter. They were very well received by the audience. We had good participation with the open reading segments. Lots of good poetry! And good snacks!... It's great to see people gather and visit at the break, and after the readings!"

 One of the readers, Mina Kirby, wrote a note, in response: "Hi, Dorothy, Thank you and the other Village Poets for inviting me to read yesterday. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I have always enjoyed the Village Poets -- You provide such a friendly, supportive atmosphere. And also thanks for the copy of the paper and the lovely flowers. The flowers are sitting over by the printer where I can see them and where the cat (who was very interested -- he wanted to bat at them...sigh!) cannot get to them. It was nice to be featured with Beverly. I enjoy her writing too."


MORE ON THE FOURTH OF JULY


Poets in the Parade, photo by Kresse Armour

The Fourth of July Parade included four poets in a Poet Laureate Convertible: Dorothy Skiles recited her occasional poem, Joe DeCenzo was a top-hat driver and brought Sousa Marches and the National Anthem music to play, Marlene Hitt was dressed in her poems (she made a vest of a copy of one chapbook, very original!), and Maja Trochimczyk wore the flag on her head and her heart... not knowing yet that her mom died in Poland on that very day...

More pictures from the Parade are on Picasa Web Albums - 2013 Fourth of July.

Pictures from Sunland - Tujunga, including the mountains, gardens, and local landmarks are in Maja Trochimczyk's Album - 2013 Sunland-Tujunga Postcards.


STAR- SPANGLED SKIES

This Fourth of July -
Let’s give a cheer
our town’s
parade is here!
Marching bands,
horseback riders,
carriages, classic cars,
and cycles
all making their way
down the boulevard.
Neighbors greeting,
friends meeting,
flags waving high!
Children giving chase
as fire trucks go by,
spraying the crowds,
cooling them down.
Sunland-Tujunga
that’s our town!
Star-spangled skies
will surely be alight
for this town will shine
in celebration tonight!
Young folks’, old folks’, all folks’  
eyes watching darkened skies
for the sights and sounds
of fireworks on jubilant display
on this our nation’s birth holiday!

Dorothy Skiles
07/03/13
©Copyright 2013 by D. Skiles

(Written for Sunland-Tujunga’s 2013 Fourth of July Parade.)

Dorothy Skiles, Maja Trochimczyk and Marlene Hitt at the Parade

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Mina Kirby and Beverly M. Collins Feature at Village Poets, Bolton Hall, on July 28, 2013


On July 28, 2013, the last Sunday of the first month of the summer, we will celebrate poetic voices at Bolton Hall Museum in Tujunga (10110 Commerce Avenue) with two Featured Poets: Mina Kirby and Beverly M. Collins. Both poets have been seen and heard at Village Poets readings and we are looking forward to their presentations. Two segments of Open Mike and Refreshments in a lovely, historic home for poetry in the foothills...

Four  Village Poets rode in the Poets' Convertible at the Sunland-Tujunga famed Fourth of July Parade: Dorothy Skiles who recited her occasional poem, Marlene Hitt, the first Poet Laureate in town, Joe DeCenzo - the fourth and Maja Trochimczyk, the sixth.  Joe summed up the meaning of the event when he  shouted cheers to the audience: "Declare Your Independence" and "Happy Birthday, USA"

Here's an Album of Photos from the decorating, riding, and dismantling the decorations  (Picasa Web Albums).

BEVERLY M. COLLINS



Beverly M. Collins grew up in Westfield, New Jersey, loves amusement parks, music and traveling. Collins applies lessons she learned from Songwriter Guild of America and the National Association of Record Industry Professionals to her poetry. She is the author of the book, "Quiet Observations," and one of the 2012 prize winners for the California State Poetry Society.


Her work has appeared in the California Quarterly, Poetry Speaks! Year of Great Poems and Poets Calendar. (Sourcebooks, Inc.). Beverly Collins often attends many readings around town, has worked with "Poets on Site" and has featured at the Cobalt Cafe, The Talking Stick, "Unbuckled" NoHo Poetry. She is a regular at Barnes and Noble Burbank monthly readings, as well as at The VillagePoets of Sunland-Tujunga Monthly poetry Reading Series.


Next


by Beverly M. Collins

From the tip-top of January
to the bottom of every December,
life is a continuum.
May we remember to remember.

There are no platforms on which we
halt. No arrivals at which we are landing.
There is only continuous movement.
Blend motion into all planning.

Next is a good four letter word that dances
on the tongue and illuminates the playgrounds
of our minds. Next can call loudly or soft
and subtle when it chimes.

Within the cold of winter remember next comes
fragrant flowers of spring. Next reminds us
there is no be-all or end-all to anything.

When riding a high tide or if low tide has one
feeling sadness or perplexed, know true muscle
can be found in how well we just say...Next!

Beverly M. Collins



MINA KIRBY 





Mina Kirby is a retired mathematics professor. She has survived a broken washing machine, a broken back and a broken heart, all of which provide rich material for writing poetry and stories. She has for many years been a folk singer and sometimes songwriter. Plagued with health problems in recent years, her writing is part of coming back to life. Mina is the author of several books, including Mathematical Dreams: Songs about Mathematics, a cookbook, and eight chap books. Her poetry has been included in Red Lights (tanka), The San Gabriel Valley Poetry Quarterly, and Poetry and Cookies. She has presented her poetry at a number of venues, including Pasadena Art Talk. She lives in Altadena with her husband, daughter, two cats, a pet rat, and too many spiders.

When I Was Me *

by Mina Kirby

When I was me
in bow ribbons
and kittens
and ice cream
I saw spring melt
into a buttercup
and heard symphonies
in wind-wafted trees

When I was me
in turquoise
and breezes
and cartwheels
I ran up the mountain
the sun warm on my face
and caught sparkles
in a flowing brook

When I was me
lacy
and pink
and vibrant
I was in love
wanting togetherness
for every minute
and for all time

Where did I go
that long-haired
lemon-scented
idealistic girl
who thought
she could absorb
all the tastes
in the universe

What prickly troubles
put obstacles
in my path
changed starry-eyed into ordinary
or did I
caught in whispers
of shifting clouds
just let me slip away

Perhaps one day
when soft rains turn to sunshine
and flowing water
pours over hard rocks
in a small place inside myself
I will find clothed with soft smooth silk
in purple and crimson and gold
the new me

and learn to love her too



A Special Place

by Mina Kirby


It is warm here
Golden rays of sunshine
brighten green fields
fragrant with yellow flowers
The air sparkles
with hums of bees
and chirps of soaring birds
A gentle breeze ruffles my hair
In the distance
are sounds of an ocean’s roar
as it splashes against rocks

I could be here
yesterday
tomorrow
and today
I could be here in the sun
and the softly falling rain
in the cheerful daylight
and in the velvety darkness

I could be here with you
feel the warmth of your hand in mine
talk until the moon goes down
and stars sparkle in the night sky
We could walk
for miles and miles
absorbing the beauty
surrounding us

Or
I could be here alone
a little sadder
but content
as perhaps
some day
I will
cloaked in sunshine
remembering you






Monday, July 1, 2013

Poets in the 4th of July Parade and Mina Kirby and Beverly Collins on July 28

The Poets Convertible, July 2013

Happy Fourth of July! Poets Laureate of Sunland Tujunga will ride in a Parade in a specially decorated Poetry Convertible. Dorothy Skiles, the 7th Poet Laureate of ST will be the star, accompanied by Marlene Hitt, the first Poet Laureate, Maja Trochimczyk, the sixth, and Joe DeCenzo, the fourth who will serve as the driver.

Look for us along the Foothill Blvd., from Mt. Gleason to Sunland Park. The Parade starts at 10 a.m. Rain or Shine! See some pictures from the previous parades:

Dorothy Skiles, Poet Laureate, 2012


STAR- SPANGLED SKIES

This Fourth of July -
Let’s give a cheer
our town’s
parade is here!
Marching bands,
horseback riders,
carriages, classic cars,
and cycles
all making their way
down the boulevard.
Neighbors greeting,
friends meeting,
flags waving high!
Children giving chase
as fire trucks go by,
spraying the crowds,
cooling them down.
Sunland-Tujunga
that’s our town!
Star-spangled skies
will surely be alight
for this town will shine
in celebration tonight!
Young folks’, old folks’, all folks’ 
eyes watching darkened skies
for the sights and sounds
of fireworks on jubilant display
on this our nation’s birth holiday!

Dorothy Skiles
07/03/13
©Copyright 2013 by D. Skiles

(Written for Sunland-Tujunga’s 2013 Fourth of July Parade.)

Dorothy Skiles and Joe DeCenzo, Fourth of July, 2012




Who has more stars on the hat? Maja or a donkey?
Marlene Hitt - Poet Laureate of 1999, has ridden with the Little Landers Society and the Bolton Hall Museum volunteers. This is the first year she's riding in the Poets Laureate Convertible. Here's her Fourth of July poem:

America the Beautiful

Purple mountain majesties,ridges lines with houses,
windows on fire with the sun,
plains fruited with lawns, 
beds with all the world's flowers,
strip malls.
Spacious haz-ed skiesdrop onto hillsides.
Ten thousand worlds spin
on city streets
and broken pathways.
Beliefs are slippery 
as brookside moss,
and all the laws begin
to slide downhill
into canyons below.
God shed
with brotherhood...
Death passes freely
through red signals,
killing is for fun
or for initiation.
All the genders dance
to piercing sound
making bird song silent.
Blades of eyes
thrust out in condemnation
as new legends are sung,
the old myths lost somewhere.
Changed words question
the Constitution.
Amber waves of grainstill wave, Wind
still blows, confused,
whirl, oceans warm.
Fractal gods rule in chaos
while the people
hide behind locked doors
or in empty cathedrals
from sea to shining sea.

Marlene Hitt 

Marlene Hitt and Maja Trochimczyk decorate the car for the Fourth of July, 2013.

_______________________________________________________________



KIRBY AND COLLINS FEATURED ON JULY 28, 2013



On July 28, 2013, the last Sunday of the first month of the summer, we will celebrate poetic voices at Bolton Hall Museum in Tujunga (10110 Commerce Avenue) with two Featured Poets: Mina Kirby and Beverly M. Collins. Both poets have been seen and heard at Village Poets readings and we are looking forward to their presentations. Two segments of Open Mike and Refreshments in a lovely, historic home for poetry in the foothills...

BEVERLY M. COLLINS



Beverly M. Collins grew up in Westfield, New Jersey, loves amusement parks, music and traveling. Collins applies lessons she learned from Songwriter Guild of America and the National Association of Record Industry Professionals to her poetry. She is the author of the book, "Quiet Observations," and one of the 2012 prize winners for the California State Poetry Society.


Her work has appeared in the California Quarterly, Poetry Speaks! Year of Great Poems and Poets Calendar. (Sourcebooks, Inc.). Beverly Collins often attends many readings around town, has worked with "Poets on Site" and has featured at the Cobalt Cafe, The Talking Stick, "Unbuckled" NoHo Poetry. She is a regular at Barnes and Noble Burbank monthly readings, as well as at The VillagePoets of Sunland-Tujunga Monthly poetry Reading Series.


Next


by Beverly M. Collins

From the tip-top of January
to the bottom of every December,
life is a continuum.
May we remember to remember.

There are no platforms on which we
halt. No arrivals at which we are landing.
There is only continuous movement.
Blend motion into all planning.

Next is a good four letter word that dances
on the tongue and illuminates the playgrounds
of our minds. Next can call loudly or soft
and subtle when it chimes.

Within the cold of winter remember next comes
fragrant flowers of spring. Next reminds us
there is no be-all or end-all to anything.

When riding a high tide or if low tide has one
feeling sadness or perplexed, know true muscle
can be found in how well we just say...Next!

Beverly M. Collins



MINA KIRBY 





Mina Kirby is a retired mathematics professor. She has survived a broken washing machine, a broken back and a broken heart, all of which provide rich material for writing poetry and stories. She has for many years been a folk singer and sometimes songwriter. Plagued with health problems in recent years, her writing is part of coming back to life. Mina is the author of several books, including Mathematical Dreams: Songs about Mathematics, a cookbook, and eight chap books. Her poetry has been included in Red Lights (tanka), The San Gabriel Valley Poetry Quarterly, and Poetry and Cookies. She has presented her poetry at a number of venues, including Pasadena Art Talk. She lives in Altadena with her husband, daughter, two cats, a pet rat, and too many spiders.

When I Was Me *

by Mina Kirby

When I was me
in bow ribbons
and kittens
and ice cream
I saw spring melt
into a buttercup
and heard symphonies
in wind-wafted trees

When I was me
in turquoise
and breezes
and cartwheels
I ran up the mountain
the sun warm on my face
and caught sparkles
in a flowing brook

When I was me
lacy
and pink
and vibrant
I was in love
wanting togetherness
for every minute
and for all time

Where did I go
that long-haired
lemon-scented
idealistic girl
who thought
she could absorb
all the tastes
in the universe

What prickly troubles
put obstacles
in my path
changed starry-eyed into ordinary
or did I
caught in whispers
of shifting clouds
just let me slip away

Perhaps one day
when soft rains turn to sunshine
and flowing water
pours over hard rocks
in a small place inside myself
I will find clothed with soft smooth silk
in purple and crimson and gold
the new me

and learn to love her too



A Special Place

by Mina Kirby


It is warm here
Golden rays of sunshine
brighten green fields
fragrant with yellow flowers
The air sparkles
with hums of bees
and chirps of soaring birds
A gentle breeze ruffles my hair
In the distance
are sounds of an ocean’s roar
as it splashes against rocks

I could be here
yesterday
tomorrow
and today
I could be here in the sun
and the softly falling rain
in the cheerful daylight
and in the velvety darkness

I could be here with you
feel the warmth of your hand in mine
talk until the moon goes down
and stars sparkle in the night sky
We could walk
for miles and miles
absorbing the beauty
surrounding us

Or
I could be here alone
a little sadder
but content
as perhaps
some day
I will
cloaked in sunshine
remembering you