Sunset Shadows by Abby Diamond
The Museum is managed by the Little Landers Historical Society, named after the "little land" that each settler received in the Tujunga and Sunland foothills when the area was settled. The readings adhere to a self-imposed PG-13 rating, without extreme depictions of sex or violence, and with an air of gentility, so poets use their words to bless the world, rather than curse it.
SEVEN DHAR
BIO: Seven Dhar aims to push the limits of language, East and West, performing in Sanskrit and Gaelic, Spanish and the awed tongue of mystics. A Buddhist meditator, yogi, and urban shaman with Los Angeles Native American roots, he graduated from UC Berkeley and UCLA and also studied at Yale and Oxford; 2018 San Gabriel Valley Poetry Festival slam poetry finalist, 2015 winner of the SGVPF chapbook and broadside contests; voted “poet laureate” by popular acclaim at Poetrypalooza 2016; LA Poet Society 2015 National Women’s Month dual acrostic poetry contests; co-host of the DTLA Poetry Meetup; published in Coiled Serpent, Eagle Rock Library Anthology, Altadena Poetry Review, Yay! LA Magazine, The Border Crossed Us, Spectrum, LA Word Salon’s LAWS Review, Karineh Madhessian's Heartbreak, Hometown-Pasadena; featured poet at the L.A. Shakespeare Fest and LitFest Pasadena along with the Poets in Distress troupe.
In the Wash - by Abby Diamond
THE SHAMAN
By Seven Dhar
Word spread of him. People asked, "Is it true, as they say, you have seen hell?" "I have." "What's it like?" "It's hideous, ironic, horror beyond imagination," the shaman winced to relive, nearly blinded by his recollection: "There's food everywhere, but no one eats, and drink aplenty, but no one drinks. There are long wooden spoons with which to partake, but their bodies have only tiny appendages for arms, too short to bring such elongated spoons up to their shriveled lips. Parched slaver forms ashes in their mouths, and bodies waste away. Struggle as they might, everything goes to wrack and ruin. They bellow in agony." The people shrank away, with growing acreage dedicated to burying their discarded surplus collapsing under smoldering heaps of trash.
"And heaven?" asked the hopeful. "Is it true as they say, you have seen heaven?" "I have." "And what's it like?" they pleaded. "Heaven," the shaman revealed, "is exactly the same."
"What," cried the people, "the same? Surely that is no heaven!" "There is one difference," the shaman went on to explain. "In heaven, there is an abundance of food and drink, long wooden spoons, and bodies with tiny appendages too short to bring these utensils up to their mouths. But the beings there, without hesitation, use the long spoons to feed one another. There is no want. No request ever goes unanswered, no desire unfulfilled. Acts of kindness overflow as do spoons. Spoon fed and cared for, there are continuous cries of gratitude and rejoicing as beings fall over one another to be the first to give. There is food, and they eat. There is drink, and they drink, and they relish diversity and bounty. They care for one another, nourish one another, thank one another. The sweetness of their caresses, gentleness of their words, kindness of their eyes," the shaman wept to recall, "make the place so beautiful that I only wish I could have shown one world to the other."
ABBY DIAMOND - ARTIST
The artist's studio - working on the Yucca.
VILLAGE POETS NEWS
Growing up in the San Fernando Valley, Abby Diamond studied a variety of art techniques, including papier-mache, sculpting, and painting. Inspired by her love for nature, her torn-paper mosaic landscapes combine methods and theory learned from oil, watercolor and Chinese brush painting, creating pure expressions of color, layer, shape, and texture.
Abby has shown her work in the 2017 Art in the Art house exhibit at the Pasadena Laemmle Theatre, and the McGroarty Arts Center in Tujunga, where she currently lives. She is a member of the Collage Artist of America, Chatsworth Fine Arts Council, and the Women’s Caucus for Art. Her piece entitled “Yucca” was the cover art for the official publication of the California State Poetry Society’s, California Quarterly, Issue 44/1.
Please visit her Etsy shop to see more of her work. Prints and greeting cards are available at https://www.etsy.com/shop/AbbyDiamondArt
Yucca by Abby Diamond
Dancing Trees by Abby Diamond
Some photos from the April 22, 2018 reading by Dr. Andrew Peterson with musicians Art Stucco and John Palmer are posted below.
Art Stucco (singer songwriter) and percussionist John Palmer open the reading.
Elsa S. Frausto
Host Joe DeCenzo
Poet Laureate Pamela Shea
Dr. Andrew Peterson
Marlene Hitt
Maja Trochimczyk with the California Quarterly
The three featured artists in their hats...Andrew Peterson, John Palmer and Art Stucco.
Poets and guests at the April 22 reading.
Work by Village Poets appeared recently in two prestigious publications:
The California Quarterly, 44 no. 1, journal of the California State Poetry Society, included poems by Village Poets Marlene Hitt, Maja Trochimczyk, and Pamela Shea. Other Californian poets in this journal featured several poets featured at Bolton Hall Museum: Deborah P Kolodji, William Scott Galasso, Kath Abela Wilson, and Margaret Saine. Maja Trochimczyk edited the journal, with Abby Diamond's "Yucca" on the cover.
Village Poets with the Altadena Poetry Review, and artwork by Toti O'Brien.
April 29, 2018
The Altadena Poetry Review 2018, edited by Elline Lipkin and Pauli Dutton. presented work by Marlene Hitt, Pamela Shea, Dorothy Skiles, Maja Trochimczyk of the Village Poets, and many of our regular participants and featured poets, including Seven Dhar, Mira Mataric, Thelma D. Reyna, Teresa Mei Chuc, Don Kingfisher Campbell, Mary Weaver, Janet Nippell, and many others.
Village Poets and Friends published in Altadena Poetry Review 2018: Beverly M. Collins,
Dorothy Skiles (Pushcart Prize nominee!), Marlene Hitt, Pamela Shea, and Maja Trochimczyk.
Altadena Public Libary, April 29, 2018. Background - artwork by Toti O'Brien.
Maja Trochimczyk's photographs of roses are shown as part of the "California Blooming" exhibition at the Hellada Gallery in Long Beach, on Linden St. The exhibition, curated by Marek Dzida, is on display until May 30, 2018
MAY - MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS MONTH
Since May is the Mental Health Awareness Month and in 2018 also the month of the "We Rise" campaign by the Department of Mental Health of Los Angeles County, Dr. Maja Trochimczyk mentioned information on the importance of access to services and health and wellness and brought flyers for distribution during the event. She also read poems about maintaining emotional well-being in life. More information about "We Rise" may be found on DMH website: http://whywerise.la/
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