Poetry at the "Bite Me" Art Exhibition,McGroarty Arts Center, March 16, 2013, 2:00 p.m.

We are thrilled to invite all our readers and poetry lovers to a Special Poetry Reading by Village Poets held on March 16, 2013 at 2:00 p.m. at the recently opened

Art Exhibition "Bite Me"

at the McGroarty Arts Center

7570 McGroarty Terrace, Tujunga, CA 91042

The Village Poets Reading on Saturday, March 16, will feature poetry about food written and read by local poets: Dorothy Skiles, Poet-Laureate of Sunland-Tujunga, as well as Marlene Hitt, Joe DeCenzo, Alice Pero, Mina Kirby, Kathabela Wilson, Bryan Story, and Dr. Maja Trochimczyk. There is no Open Mike Reading on this day.

The "Bite Me" Exhibition, curated by Danielle Eubank, faculty member at the McGroarty Arts Center, is open daily from March 9 to March 22 from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., except Sundays. It ends with an Arts Fair on Saturday, March 23, 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

The following artists are included in the "Bite Me" Exhibition: Suzy Beal, Debby Beck, Sonia Mae Beduya, Dacia Calkins, Melanie Chapman, Sara Chao, Laney Clevenger, Michele Collender, Preston Craig, Chick Curtis, Miriam Dema, Babs Fine, Stacia Gates, Sheri Garwood, Barbara Harrison, William Hartdegen, R. Rene Hoffman, Mark Kennedy, Linda Kunik, Nancy LaCroix-Toyne, Evy Lareau, David Long, Sandra Low, Athena Mantle, Laura Marchetti, Barry Michlin, Lissa Mooney, Glenn Newland, So Jung Park, Rollence Patugan, Jess Perry, Ho Yan Pun, Linda Queally, Ainsley Rickert, Nita Sinaga, Yuki Toy, Laura Jean Toyne, Elizabeth Tucker, Colleen Underwood, Dawn Valli, Nicola Voss, and Jenny Ziomek.

McGroarty Arts Center. Photo (c) by Maja Trochimczyk

While discussing the theme, Curator Danielle Eubank asked: "What does food mean to you? Such a simple word, food, something we all need. At the same time it is a complex topic sparking social, political, economic, and cultural debate. Is it nutrition or is it a geo-political lever? What do you like to eat? What is real food? How does our culture differ from others? How do you eat? Is food simply for fuel or do you eat it for comfort, cultural holidays, and social gatherings? How is food related to body image? Is it a symbol of abundance? Power? Food affects the local and global economy through food trucks, genetic modification (GMOs), food production, farmers markets, food security, and homelessness. It impacts our health and society through diabetes, obesity, anorexia, bulimia, meals in schools, food labeling, organic, portions, food pyramids, fat, calories, carbohydrates, vitamins, slow food, hunger, and desire."

Dorothy Skiles read her new poem at the Opening of the Exhibition on March 9, 2013.

I LOVE MY ROMA TOMATO!

Canvas One

The eye of the artist
Is familiar with the oval
Shape, the texture of
A perfect Roma tomato –
Firm and ripe.
Its meat sweet, yet tart.
She lightly sketches
The tomato on canvas.
Satisfied,
The artist prepares
Her brushes and palette.

Canvas Two

With the flick
Of the her wrist,
The color yellow
Appears on canvass,
The artist envisions
The perfect omelet
Garnished with parsley
On a white ceramic plate.

Her favorite omelet
Comes to mind –
Filled with sautéed mushrooms,
Scallions, and red bell pepper.
A Roma tomato thinly sliced,
Topped with a sprinkle
Of cheddar cheese,
So pleasing to
The eyes and palate!

Canvas Three

A late afternoon sun,
Lights a dark corner
Of her studio, where
Unfinished sketches
On canvas lean
Against the wall, forgotten.
The artist thumbs through
The stack,and finds
A sketch of her mother.

A memory awakens…

Her mother in the kitchen
Bent over the cutting board
Peeling Roma tomatoes,
Scooping out the seeds,
Tossing garlic and onions
In the cast iron pot with hot
Olive oil sizzling!
Then come the tomatoes,
The oregano,
Basil,
Bay leaf,
Tomato paste,
A sprinkle of sugar,
A pinch or two of
Red pepper flakes
And some red wine.

Sauce simmers for hours,
The aroma rises from the
Stove, fills the house.
The artist’s lets these
Memories linger -
She can almost taste the
Savory red sauce!
Now, finished with the sketch
Of her mother, she picks-up
The brush and palette
And lets her hand
Glide across the canvas.

Dorothy Skiles
3/9/13
© Copyright 2013 by D. Skiles

(First reading: Opening of the McGroarty Arts Center Exhibition and Fair, March 9, 2013.)

Bite Me! Art Exhibition curated by Danielle Eubank, McGroarty Arts Center

GATHERING AT GALE’S

by Dorothy Skiles

~ to George and Dena

At half past seven…

Evening sky still

so young and so full

of the colors

of early dusk

that scatters its light

across the horizon…

            Meet you and Dena

            on your way

            to Albany.

You greeted us

with a familiar

embrace, as

we came up

the walk,

            and led us

            to our place.

            among family. 

Broke bread,

poured wine,

savored the

time together.

Conversation

sprinkled the meals  

of seafood stew,

pasta with lamb,

pork with rosemary,

potatoes and garlic.

And when we caught

our breaths, coffee and

bread pudding were

shared before parting,

before we’d miss you,

again.

Dorothy Skiles

Rev. 03/16/13

©Copyright 2013 by D. Skiles



American fruit tart. Photo (C) 2010 by Maja Trochimczyk

Marlene Hitt will read a wide cross-section of her food-related poetry. The first Poet Laureate of Sunland-Tujunga, she is the Director of the Bolton Hall Museum, and the driving force behind the Village Poets Monthly Readings held there. At the McGroarty Arts Center's exhibition we will hear her poems: Best of Bites, Mother's Day, Feast Day, Vegetable Booth, and Irish Moss.

Mother’s Day

Mother.

Mint leaves from her garden,
baby carrots, snap peas,
red-ripe tomatoes, and apricots...
As with paint pots before canvas,
her hands the brushes,
she arranges the color of the meal.
Monet’s gardens hang for centuries,
hers are devoured in an hour,
displayed only in memory. Meals.
Potatoes sprinkled with parsley,
lamb with Asian pear and kiwi salsa.
Chipotle-glazed apples,
chicken dumpling soup
with lemon grass and cilantro.
Vanilla bean souffles, flour pudding.
From her hands:
bok choy cooked crisp-tender,
haggis and ale, oatcakes and mutton.
Her treat, oreos, vanilla ice cream,
grilled cheese, strawberry milk.
Once, warm bread, this morning’s cream,
corn cob jelly, french toast,

Mother.

Acorn mush, piki and a sprig of sage.The artistry of the nurturer.

Mother.

(C) by Marlene Hitt

Marlene Hitt

Irish Moss - the Reaping

We waited for a full moon,
waited for midnight,
waited for the fullness of knowing...
Like knowing when
to harvest the moss.

Some searched in the morning
when the sun was high, the air clear,
when dew remains as it drops from grasses.
All of us wait
for the time of the reaping
of the carrageen
when the people gather,
reap together
to pick under midnight moon,
the seaweed,
which will become transformed
into the sweetest of puddings.
Magic, it is, the moss beside the sea,
the reapers, to thicken the pudding.

(c) by Marlene Hitt

Vegetable Booth

Apples are ripe on the apple vine,
carrots are grown through the roof.
I’ll grind some spinach to make some wine,
Yes, I’ll set up a vegetable booth with turnip flowers and melon juice,
a strawberry bunch tied with string
with chocolate prunes and sour vermouth
and a tart lemon pie. I will bring

cabbage leaf jam and zucchini jelly
a pot of squash and leek stew.
Bring your coins and appetite
be part of the vegetable crew.

(c) by Marlene Hitt



Maja Trochimczyk picking mushrooms in the Sierras, 2011

Maja Trochimczyk will read a sample of her food-related poems, including "How to Make a Mazurka" from Chopin with Cherries: A Tribute in Verse anthology published by Moonrise Press in 2010 to celebrate the bi-centennial of Chopin's birth.  The poem is about a Polish "mazurka" which refers both to a special cake for Easter and a dance that Chopin loved.  Maja will also read her poems "On Mushrooms" published on the Poetry Laurels Blog in August 2011 (reprinted below), and "On Eating a Donut at a Krakow Airport" published on the Chopin with Cherries Blog in January 2013.

Polish Easter dishes including the mazurka, 2011.

            

How to Make a Mazurka

Maja Trochimczyk

    

                         After Mazurka in A Minor, Op. 17, No. 4,

                        for my Grandparents, Stanisław and Marianna Wajszczuk,

                        who could play and bake their mazurkas like no one else            

          Take one cup of longing

for the distant home that never was,

one cup of happiness that danced

with your shadows on the walls

of Grandpa’s house, while he played

a rainbow of folk tunes

on his fiddle, still adorned

with last wedding’s ribbons

            mix it – round and round to dizziness

stir in some golden buzz of the bees

in old linden tree, add the ascent

of skylark above spring rye fields,

singing praises to the vastness of blue

            mix it – round and round to dizziness

add chopped walnuts, figs, dates

and raisins, pour in some juice

from bittersweet grapefruit

freshly picked in your garden

add dark grey of rainclouds in Paris

that took Chopin back to the glimmer

of candles in an old cemetery

on the evening of All Souls’ Day

            mix it – round and round to dizziness

bake it in the cloudless heat

of your exile, do not forget to sprinkle

with a dollop of sparkling crystals,

first winter’s snowflakes at midnight 

King Boletus (prawdziwek) found in the High Sierras, California, 2011.

On Mushrooms

Maja Trochimczyk

In the forest of Christmas trees for giants
I look for the shapes of mushrooms
I used to know well – hiding
In tall grass under the aspen,
Beneath piles of pine needles and bark
Prawdziwek – the true one,
The king of the forest, Boletus
Rules in unexpected places
Among birch twigs and Douglas fir
Osaki, Kozaki – his second-rate,
Still lovely cousins wait in the shade
Among manzanita, wild currants and fern.

I find bitter, colorful szatans,
Pretending to be true
Pale muchomory my grandma used
To kill flies in a glass filled with sugar water
Psie grzybki fit for a dog
That would not eat them
And twisted, tree-growing huba
I do not know how to cook.

My share of mushrooms?
The toxic lookalikes of true ones!
That’s all there is in this
Enchanted forest for me.

And this is why, my dears, I wrote
And you read Confessions
Of a Failed Mushroom-picker.



King Boletus (Prawdziwek) found in California.

On Mushrooms was first published in Poetry Laurels Blog; reprinted in The Voice of the Village in September 2011. 

McGroarty Arts Center, mushroom and cake photos (c) 2011 by Maja Trochimczyk.

Album of pictures from the reading is now available on Picasa Web Albums:

Village Poets at the Bite Me! Exhibition

Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo - Featured Poet on March 24, 2013

On Sunday, March 24, 2013 at 4:30 p.m. Village Poets will present Featured Poet Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo at the Monthly Poetry Reading at Bolton Hall Museum in Tujunga, CA.

The event will include two Open Mike Sessions, before and after the Featured Poet, and refreshments. A hat will be passed around to collect donations for Bolton Hall Museum and to cover the costs of refreshments.

In 2013, the Bolton Hall Museum is celebrating its 100th anniversary. The Museum is Los Angeles's Historical Monument No. 2.  The events are listed on the website for the Little Landers Historical Society and include:

• April 13, 1 p.m. - Cornerstone Ceremony
• May 11, 10 a.m. - Historic Home Tour
• July 4, 10 a.m. - Fourth of July Parade
• August 10, 4 p.m. - Open House
• November 9, 3 p.m . - Dance 

Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo is the creator and curator of Beyond Baroque’s monthly reading series Hitched, a founding editor of The Splinter Generation, and was nominated for a 2010 Pushcart Award. Her work has been published in The Los Angeles Review, PALABRA, CALYX, and The Acentos Review, and she is the winner of the 2013 Poets & Writers California Writers Exchange.

She received an MFA from Antioch University Los Angeles. In August 2011, Xochitl-Julisa volunteered with the Tucson-based direct humanitarian aid organization, No More Deaths.

Poems from her manuscript, The Mediation for the Lost and Found, are inspired by her time in the Arizona desert. She teaches high school English and drama in Arcadia, CA.

Here is a link to the Poets & Writers prize she won: http://www.pw.org/about-us/california_writers_exchange_award. The site includes a link to a sample of her work. 

Here are some poems in Acentos Review: http://www.acentosreview.com/November_2012/Bermejo.html

Mariano Zaro - Featured Poet on February 24, 2013

After a hugely successful and well attended reading by Sunland's Elsa S. Frausto, who read both her own poetry and her translations from Spanish, we will continue our explorations of multicultural poetry in the reading of Spanish-born poet and writer Mariano Zaro. The reading will take place at the Bolton Hall Museum on Commerce Avenue in Tujunga on Sunday, February 24, 2013 at 4:30 p.m. In addition to the reading, there will be an Open Mike segment allowing poets to present their own work. 

Mariano Zaro is the author of four poetry books: Where From/Desde Donde (Bay Books, Santa Monica), Poems of Erosion/Poemas de la erosion (Carayan Press, San Francisco), The House of Mae Rim/La casa de Mae Rim (Carayan Press, San Francisco) and Tres letras/Three Letters (Walrus-Morsa, Barcelona). His poems have been included in the anthologies Al Aire Nuevo (San Luis Potosí, Mexico), New Baroque (Los Angeles), LA Melange (Los Angeles), River’s Voice (Los Angeles), The Seattle Muse (Seattle) and Luces y Sombras (Tafalla, Spain). 

As a fiction writer, his short stories have appeared in several literary journals in Spain and the United States: Menos 15, El signo del gorrión, Caracola, The Louisville Review, Poeticdiversity, The Baltimore Review, Pinyon, Magnapoets and The Portland Review. In 2004 he received the Roanoke Review Short Fiction Prize. He has translated American poets Philomene Long, Alicia Vogl Sáenz, Sarah Maclay, Michelle Mitchell-Foust and Tony Barnstone. He earned a Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Granada (Spain) and a Master´s in Literature from the University of Zaragoza (Spain). He conducts poetry workshops and he currently teaches Spanish at Rio Hondo College (Whittier, CA).

PHOTO ALBUM: Village Poets Present Mariano Zaro

____________________________


PLUMS                                                                                     

---Mariano Zaro

My father wraps plums

with newspapers.

I cut the pages in half.

He wraps the plums.

We are in the attic.

It’s summer.

We don’t talk.

He rolls the fruits,

his fingers twist both ends of the paper.

It´s raining outside.

The plums look like wrapped candy.

He is meticulous, not too meticulous, just enough.

The plums have to be without nicks or cuts,

firm, not too ripe, unblemished.

The storms have been coming all afternoon.

That´s why my father is home;

he couldn’t go to the fields.

His hands are so beautiful

I am almost afraid of them.

He ties the plums with a thin string,

like a necklace.

Five plums in each string, exactly five.

I don´t know why.

His hands inspect the fruit, twist the paper,

tie the knots, do the math.

I hide my hands under the newspapers.

He is on a ladder now.

He hangs the strings from a wooden beam in the ceiling.

I pass the strings to him.

One by one.

Sometimes, unintentionally,

my hand brushes his hand.

He leans his body against the ladder,

rests for a moment,

cleans his sweat.

My father is old.

The strings dangle from the ceiling.

Plums in-waiting like dull,

modest Christmas ornaments.                                                     

Fruit for the winter, he says.

As if you could wrap the summer with newspapers.

As if you could wrap your father’s hands

for the future days of hunger.

THE FIRST POET FOR 2013: ELSA S. FRAUSTO (01/ 27)

On January 27, 2012, at 4:30 p.m., at Bolton Hall Museum in Tujunga, CA, (10110 Commerce Ave, Tujunga, CA 91042) Village Poets will present the poetry of Elsa S. Frausto. The event will include an open mike and refreshments.

Elsa S. Frausto's work has appeared in many local and international publications, among them Porte des Poetes, Speechlessthemagazine, Poem of the Month in Poets at Work, Badlands and Poets on Site. She was the coordinator and host for Camelback Readings held at the Sunland-Tujunga Library. She has been a member of the Chuparosa Writers for many years and is Poetry Editor and Translator for the Spanish language literary magazine la-luciernaga.com

Poetic matter is not expressed by means of words. It has neither form nor content for the simple reason that it lacks existence outside of the work.
                  ~   Osip Mandelshtam


Good writing is like speaking. A speaking that echoes against walls, then within them.
       Poetry- the word on the other side- behind the word- if words are three dimensional.
                     ~   Elsa S. Frausto

______________________________

Body Double

Bedroom on the second floor.
House steady in the wind
like night with held breath.
Step outside, get a good view.
That's me inside looking out.
Me outside looking in.
The window blinds accordion the light.
Outside, the same wind plays patty-cake
with my hair. Inside, I laugh at the sight.

(c) by Elsa S. Frausto

Happy New Year 2013!



A New Year 2013

Just past the midnight hour -

New Year begins to flower

amidst high expectations,

cheers and celebrations!

We embrace the new with

resolve to keep promises

made, as days fade into

the patterns of our lives.

Dorothy Skiles, 12/28/12
7th Poet Laureate of Sunland-Tujunga

(C) Copyright 2012 by Dorothy Skiles

________________________________________________

Happy New Year 2013!

from Village Poets of Sunland Tujunga

_________________________________

Haiga "The Gift" (c) 2012 by Maja Trochimczyk, created for

a New Year Exhibition at the Japanese American Museum in Los Angeles

Ever calling - Never heard

Ever seeking - Never seen

Revealed

Detail from "The Gift" (c) 2012 by Maja Trochimczyk

___________________________________

New Year

           

A new palette, blue-white,

fresh brushes with no tint

That long season,

that whole year

blanketed itself

over the backs of colors.

Those were the yesterdays,

A child’s red dress

stitched by great-grandmother

shimmered on her skin

beside the greens of Maui’s sea

and lavender hills of sunset,

mixing up to something odd.

Tubes of paint lie fresh

not yet opened

You were dressed in black

smart and slim

every day of the year,

and now I wonder

what your face would say

if I would give you

a sun-yellow sweater

edged in gold.

The new season has begun,

bright, clear and golden.

These are the days to remember.

Burnt umber is a fine beginning.

Over that a springtime tree.

~ Marlene Hitt

(c) December 1999

___________________________________

Floating Holidays

The fourth Thursday in November

The last Monday in May

The twenty-fifth day of Kislev

The first Sunday

Following the first full moon

After the vernal equinox

The second new moon after the winter solstice

Unless there is an 11^th or 12^th intercalary month,

In which case it starts on the third new moon

I much more prefer the holidays that occur on a regular date

Especially those that fall on the 1^st

Steadfast and constant, dependable

Something you can anticipate

Primo, numero uno

Back to basics, square one

A built in chance to see things through clear eyes

A time to hail new beginnings

Salute the dawn of self improvement

And pose exalted on a rock of resolutions

A time to reel in that fish and rid the monkeys from your back

To wage battle against your apprehensions

Subdue your inhibitions

And vanquish your constraints

To finally stop procrastinating once and for all

Or least start thinking about it.

Yeah,

A clean slate

A fresh start

Another chance to finally get it right

Joe DeCenzo

_________________________

Time

A vacant pause while the traffic of your life speeds by.

Funny, time is really meaningless

Until you appreciate how much of it you’ve used.

It’s a shock when you first realize

You have fewer days ahead than behind.

Time is tender, so tender that we should cradle each day in our arms

So we can breath its presence, ignore the clocks and accept the moments.

We should smell and touch and taste each minute

Then set it free to make room for the next.

Time is opportunity,

The chance to experience all that occurs in an instant

Or endure the eternal echoing regret;

The chance to extract the sweetest citrus

Or let the rind grow sour at hand’s neglect;

The chance to arrest the fleeting glance

Or let the heart lay fallow on a field of indecision.

Time is for doing.  And those who do nothing,

Always seem to be running out of time.

Joe DeCenzo

_________________________

 

 

 

 

Happy Gnu Year 

By Mari Werner

The gnu is a large antelope that

inhabits the African plains

from Kenya to northern South Africa.

Gnus are grass eaters.

From the viewpoint of a blade of grass,

no gnus is good gnus.

However, gnus are very inventive.

They have developed a process

for making a special kind of paper,

which they call gnus paper.

They’ve also invented a particularly

effective broom. A gnu broom

sweeps clean.

Gnus have sophisticated social customs.

Some gnus prefer mornings

and some prefer evenings,

so they stay awake at different times

and watch over each other.

The evening gnus watch

the morning gnus and the morning gnus

watch the evening gnus.

Gnus have historically formed tribes,

the first of which was the Hoo Gnu.

Later came the Yew Gnu and the Aye Gnu,

which eventually merged to form the Wee Gnu.

Because of their many fine qualities,

gnus were recently honored by being

added to the Chinese zodiac.

The year 2013 was declared

the year of the Gnu.

May your gnu year be filled

with smiles and good gnus.

____________________________


Poems (c) by the respective poets
Photos (c) 2011-2012, by Maja Trochimczyk

Holiday Wishes 2012 and Elsa Frausto on January 27, 2013

VILLAGE POETS OF SUNLAND TUJUNGA

WISH ALL POETS AND POETRY LOVERS

HAPPY, HEALTHY, AND INSPIRED HOLIDAYS 2012!

Dorothy Skiles, Joe DeCenzo, Marlene Hitt, and Maja Trochimczyk

______________________________

ELSA S. FRAUSTO - FEATURED POET ON JANUARY 27, 2013

On January 27, 2012, at 4:30 p.m., at Bolton Hall Museum in Tujunga, CA, (10110 Commerce Ave, Tujunga, CA 91042) Village Poets present the poetry of Elsa S. Frausto.

Elsa S. Frausto's work has appeared in many local and international publications, among them Porte des Poetes, Speechlessthemagazine, Poem of the Month in Poets at Work, Badlands and Poets on Site. She was the coordinator and host for Camelback Readings held at the Sunland-Tujunga Library. She has been a member of the Chuparosa Writers for many years and is Poetry Editor and Translator for the Spanish language literary magazine la-luciernaga.com

Poetic matter is not expressed by means of words. It has neither form nor content for the simple reason that it lacks existence outside of the work.
                  ~   Osip Mandelshtam

Good writing is like speaking. A speaking that echoes against walls, then within them.
       Poetry- the word on the other side- behind the word- if words are three dimensional.
                     ~   Elsa S. Frausto

______________________________

Body Double

Bedroom on the second floor.
House steady in the wind
like night with held breath.
Step outside, get a good view.
That's me inside looking out.
Me outside looking in.
The window blinds accordion the light.
Outside, the same wind plays patty-cake
with my hair. Inside, I laugh at the sight.

Elsa S. Frausto