Tanka Poets with Mariko Kitakubo at Kathabela and Rick Wilson's Poetry Salon.
Refreshments are served and $3 donations collected for the cost of the venue, the second historical landmark in the City of Los Angeles, that celebrated its centennial in 2013. 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.
KATHABELA WILSON
Kathabela Wilson created and directs Poets on Site, Tanka Poets on Site, and Caltech Red Door Poets. She holds salons and weekly tanka meetings with her husband Rick Wilson at their home, hosts tanka performance festivals in and around Pasadena, California, and welcomes visiting poets. Kathabela performs with Rick’s accompaniment on flutes of the world in museums, galleries, libraries, and the local Storrier Stearns Japanese Garden. She has created more than thirty programs and themed anthologies containing international poets’ work. She leads the online Facebook group Tanka Poets on Site, for several years giving daily prompts for tanka writing exercises. Tanka Poets on Site was presented on the Queen Mary at the Tanka Society of America’s Tanka Sunday in 2013.
She currently writes “Mapping the Artist,” a weekly interview series with poets and artists, and hosts a weekly “Poetry Corner” for ColoradoBlvd.net, where she presents many tanka poets. Kathabela (her pen name is Kath Abela Wilson) uses her patient, beautiful 94-year-old mother’s Maltese maiden name (Abela) as a centerpiece and inspiration. Kathabela and Rick travel the world together to math conferences (the summer of 2014 marked their fifth trip to China and Japan). She loves her work as TSA secretary, especially because it gives her close personal contact and friendship with members, and inspiration to collaborate with them and read their work even more closely.
clear summer evening
getting ready for
the great ball
Mt. Fuji
puts on her red dress
Ekphrastia Gone Wild, 2013
inside my shadow
I feel the pull downward
lie down with long stems
of lilies naked to the pink
my legs are green
Ribbons, Fall 2013
like a painting
a blue heron . . .
my heart lifts
like a brush
full of sky
Atlas Poetica #20, 2015
Handmade Dish sent by tanka poet
David John Terelinck in Australia for tanka mertings in California
your handmade dish
rolled and folded heart-shaped
holds cashews
the chili-lime of love
we lick our fingertips
Kathabela and Rick Wilson perform at the Bolton Hall Museum, July 22, Photo by Emil Schultz.
TANKA READING UPDATE
Tanka Poets will be joined by Jennifer Bentson (http://www.jenniferbentson.com/)
artist of the California Oaks. She will bring a few paintings on easels, and she will speak a few minutes on her experience with tanka poets and the oaks.
The tanka poets will read some tanka from the poets' tour of the Caltech campus tour with special focus the 400 year old oak that was lost a couple of years ago. Some poets and artists who are hoping to participate are Taura Scott, dalton perry, Charles Harmon, Mira Mataric, Jackie Chou, Joyce Futa, Briony James, Sonny Premo (artist), Jennifer Bentson (artist), Deborah P. Kolodji, and Kath Abela Wilson. Poets performing are all active members of Tanka Society of America. All readings will have flute accompaniment by Rick.Wilson.
The poets will also give examples of tanka prose, tanka sequences, collaborative sequences kyoka and even cherita a relative of tanka --all by different poets as well as thoughts by the poets on why they write the form, its openness and variety. Poets will read from tanka journals especially to show a range of publication possibilities.
https://coloradoboulevard.net/mapping-the-artist-jennifer-bentson-artist-to-the-oaks/
VILLAGE POETS NEWS
The reading on July 22, 2018 that featured Dr. Mira Mataric and Charles Harmon was a great success. The featured poets were pleased with the event, and Dr. Mataric commented: "We have been enjoying you and your events for many years and always come gladly with high expectations. This particular event was one of even more outstanding, successful performances and overall warm, friendly atmosphere. We came home happier and more elated. I want you to know how much we love and respect your efforts and friendship through the years. Thank you."
In response to Dr. Mataric's email, from her and her husband Gene, Dorothy Skiles stated:
"Dear Mira, It was a very enjoyable evening! Thank you for your observations, kind words, and loyal support! We so enjoyed having Charles and you co-feature! Your animated delivery, both heartfelt and humorous poems were well received and very entertaining! We strive to make it a welcoming place where new and seasoned poets can gather to perform their work in front of an engaged and appreciative audience. We are so fortunate to have the support of the foothill community and beyond who attend our events and the Little Landers Society in providing the needed space. Lastly, it’s the continuous support of poets like you who come to our events that and give their gift of poetry and community that keeps the doors open!"
Here are some photos taken by Emil "Gene" Schultz. Thanks to poets and photographer!
