Animal Poetry on July 19 and Elsa Frausto on July 27, 2014

 PAWS FOR READING AT THE LA CRESCENTA PUBLIC LIBRARY ON JULY 19, 2014

Floor tile in the Sainte Chapelle in Paris, 1248.

The La Crescenta Library/County of Los Angeles, 2809 Foothill Blvd., La Crescenta, CA  91214, is hosting a special poetry event entitled, Paws for Reading, on Saturday, July 19, 2014, from 2:00 - 3:00 p.m.

The  former Poet Laureate’s, Marlene Hitt, Joe DeCenzo, Maja Trochimczyk, and Dorothy Skiles will be presenting poems about the animal world.  In addition, a number of guests poets will be reading their work on animals and related matters.  The poets will present their work in the following order:

• Becky Mate 
• Peter Larsen 
• Marlene Hitt* 
• Mira Mataric 
• Mina Kirby 
• Joe DeCenzo* 
• Jessica Wilson 
• Maja Trochimczyk* 
• Sam Graham 
• Bev Collins 
• Jill Meunier 
• Dorothy Skiles* 
• * indicates members of the Village Poet Planning Group  

Also, it is anticipated that photos and other art work, in keeping with the theme of animals, will be decorating the walls. Come join us for this delightful event.  Refreshments will be served.

PRESENTING ELSA FRAUSTO, POET LAUREATE OF SUNLAND-TUJUNGA, JULY 27, 2014

Elsa Frausto, the Eighth Poet Laureate of Sunland-Tujunga.

Sunland-Tujunga’s new Poet Laureate, Elsa S. Frausto, will be featuring at the Village Poets of Sunland-Tujunga’s upcoming Monthly Reading Series on Sunday, July 27, 2014, from 4:30 - 6:30 p.m., at Bolton Hall Museum, 10110 Commerce Ave., Tujunga, CA 91042.

Elsa S. Frausto was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She has lived in the Foothills with her family for over twenty years. Her work has appeared in a number of local and international publications, among them Porte des Poetes, Speechless the Magazine, Poem of the Month in Poet at Work, Badlands, the anthology Meditations on Divine Names and many anthologies by Poets on Site.

She was the coordinator and host for Camelback Readings held at the Sunland-Tujunga Library. Elsa is a member of the Chuparosa Writers, volunteers at the Friends of the Library Bookstore and at the Noise Within Theater (Pasadena) and is poetry editor and translator for the Spanish language literary magazine la-luciernaga.com.  Her new venture as Poet Laureate of Sunland-Tujunga (2014-2016) is the blog Poetria.org where poetry and travel with stops along the way from philosophy to food are welcome. Her local musings Walking Around can be read monthly in Voice of the Village.


Faith and the Nectarine

In matters of faith,
I'm with the nectarine.
It prepares its sap
where it can't be seen,

spells winter,
suspects spring,
and knows it's still
not time.

Heat is a dance
on summer's skin.
The long hours beat,
sugar jingles,

autumn can't wait.


Elsa S. Frausto

Poets are welcome to sign-up for the open reading.  Come and enjoy an early evening of poetry, light refreshments and eclectic conversation. A $3.00 donation is appreciated.

THE POET LAUREATE AND VILLAGE POETS IN THE FOURTH OF JULY PARADE

Look for the decorated car of Village Poets in the Fourth of July Parade in Sunland-Tujunga, starting from Mt. Gleason Avenue down Foothill Blvd. to Sunland Park.  We will be presenting Elsa S. Frausto, the new Poet Laureate, accompanied by former poets laureate Joe DeCenzo, Marlene Hitt, Dorothy Skiles and Maja Trochimczyk.

See the album of photos from the Fourth of July 2014 on Picasa Web Albums. Photos by Maja Trochimczyk, Bill Skiles, and others. 

Elsa Frausto, Joe DeCenzo, Dorothy Skiles, Marlene Hitt, Maja Trochimczyk

Drumming up the applause for Elsa S. Frausto, Eight Poet Laureate of Sunland Tujunga

Julia Stein as Featured Poet on June 22, 2014 at Bolton Hall Museum

We are thrilled to welcome Julia Stein as Featured Poet on June 22, 2014 (4:30 p.m.) at the Bolton Hall Museum in Tujunga. The reading will include two open mike segments and the featured poet's presentation will be followed by a reception.  We pass George Harris's Hat (the builder of the Bolton Hall Museum) to collect donations for the Little Landers Historical Society, suggested amount $3, for the upkeep of the Museum.

JULIA STEIN

Julia Stein’s seventh book of poetry What Were They Like? was published March 2013. In the last two years she edited two books of poetry: Every Day is an Act of Resistance: Selected Poems of Carol Tarlen by the brilliant S.F. poet Carol Tarlen who died in 2004 and Walking Through a River of Fire: 100 Years of Triangle fire Poetry. Stein is the 2011 Joe Hill Poetry Award winner. She has worked on an oral history project interviewing pioneers of the San Fernando Valley including children who grew up in Sunland-Tujunga to pioneer families 1900-1920.

AFTER THE FIRE STORM 

  We hiked into the burnt-black Simi hills,

headed past a forest of black shrubs,

saw tiny green buds beginning to grow,

stopped at the sandstone rock quarry where

the foundation stones of Los Angeles were dug,

climbed up footholds of the rock wall to the top

to see four leeching ponds cut into sandstone

where Chumash women leeched the acid out of acorns,

yes, we could learn from them how to cut into stone

and leach acid out of plants to get the hidden nourishment.

We walked up to the stone ruins of the stagecoach house,

saw blackened weeds in the middle of stone cisterns,

started hiking up the brown-stone devil’s slide where

once a stagecoach route cut across the hills;  now

we can learn to find the path through the stony land.

We saw against the black ash a green weed

with stinking yellow lemon gourds--the calabash.

Yes, we need to be green weeds and lemon gourds

stinking up the blackness of this city, saying we can

grow again, making this city a good green place.

HAWLEY AND JUSTUS READING IN MAY 2014

Photos from the reading are now available on the Picasa Web Album.

https://picasaweb.google.com/Maja.Trochimczyk/VillagePoetsHawleyAndJustusMay2014