Stephen Linsteadt - Featured Poet on October 28!

After a wonderful and inspirational reading by the incomparable Sharmagne Leland St. John, the Village Poets have another poetic delight planned for October. Painter and poet Stephen Linsteadt and poet Maria Elena B Mahler have been scheduled to read their work and present a new book of poetry inspired by Stephen paintings on Sunday, October 28, 2012, at 4:30 p.m. at the Bolton Hall Museum in Tujunga, California (10110 Commerce Avenue, Tujunga).  Poets who have contributed to the Woman in Metaphor book of painting and poetry are encouraged to come and read their work from the book during the Open Mike segments of the afternoon.

We regret to inform you that due to our scheduling error Maria Elena B Mahler will not be able to appear at this reading, which was initially planned for October 21, 2012. Instead, she will be invited to return at a later date. On October 28, Maria Elena will be with us in spirit and will be represented by a couple of poems read by others.

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. His most recent project is an anthology of poetry based on his paintings, Woman in Metaphor.  A sample poem from the book is reprinted below.

Maria Elena B Mahler’s poetry 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 Español, and 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 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.

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Stephen Linsteadt

Saint-Rémy de Provence

A wale of rock jumps out of the land

and freezes above the earth;

the backdrop to “Starry Night”

painted close to where green bathed

the artist’s vision in a yellow

            tainted room.

The scent of Languedoc

still warm about your neck.

           

Thunder uncoils over the night.

Rain on my umbrella

drops of deep mystery. Madness in May

only warm iris blossoms understand.

Their light whispers

and won’t hold still.

You can’t complain that I’m singing

            this is an asylum.

And where are the human beings

who once lived in the olive groves?

We were compelled to keep our distance

            from the chapel.

Pigeons cooed then waited

for the echo to reverberate

off its stained glass walls.

 

_________________________________________

 

Maria Elena B. Mahler

 

 

La Machi       

Nobody knows her name, only the color of her skin.

If I had a photograph of her face

it would be sepia cracked by the storms over Mapuche land.

Her eyes would be dark stones of lava and

her hair flowing rivers of molten core.

Above Alerce forest, pumas draw the circle.

In my dreams I have seen her chewing chamico.

Along Chilean valleys, water runs horizontal

spoiling the virginity of Andean snow, where la Machi

got sweaty under the Araucaria tree.

His mal de ojo broke her spell.

Their passion over the still wet moss was all they had

between them.

The impediment to their holy union wasn’t the raven in her hair

but the bonds of duty as la chamana:

           forbidden to leave the underworld.

Breaking the sacred law meant certain death

so she quietly gave up her fruit:

    first a boy

    then a girl — my grandmother.

_____________________________________

Mariano Zaro

                        Portrait and Still Life with Art

I got married because I didn’t know how to say no.

                        I did not know I could say no, just like that.

                        You spend your life trying not to hurt people.

                        Maybe it was shame.

                        They say shame is premature exposure.

                        They say shame is the seed of all self-destruction.

                        We got married, it was the thing to do.

The next day

I knew I had made a mistake.

It was too late.

And when you talk to people about it—

well, I did not talk about it with many people,

just this old woman from the warehouse,

they tell you that is normal, that you feel strange

when you get married, in the beginning.

I wanted to talk to people about it

but everybody was too busy,

we were all busy trying to survive.

This happened when everything was there for me to have.

She stops talking, looks at the toast.

I don’t blame anybody.

Don’t blame myself.

Now I look back and it’s all there.

I don’t want to make it nice.

I don’t like sweet, I already have told you.

I know it’s all there. I can breathe.

She picks up tiny crumbs,

presses the tablecloth with the tip of her ring finger.

We leave the hotel.

I can hear the sound of her shoes—

the sound she liked so much

at seventeen.

I can hear the sound of her shoes on the floor.

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Photos from the Reading:

https://picasaweb.google.com/100602334921816625334/VillagePoetsStephenLinsteadt

 

Sharmagne Leland St. John - September 23, 2012 at Bolton Hall

We are thrilled to welcome the wonderful Native American poet Sharmagne Leland St.John as Featured Poet of the Village Poets Monthly Reading at Bolton Hall Museum on September 23, 2012 at 4:30 p.m.  The event also includes an open mike for poets and refreshments served courtesy of Marlene Hitt and Mari Werner. A hat will be passed to collect funding for the hall's renovations. The Bolton Hall is located on Commerce Avenue in Tujunga California  and it is hard to miss - the only building of river-stones among a sea of stucco. 

 

Sharmagne Leland-St. John, 5 time Pushcart Prize nominee, is a Native American poet, concert performer, lyricist, artist, and film maker. She is the Editor-in-Chief of the poetry e-zine Quill and Parchment.com. Sharmagne spends time between her home in the Hollywood Hills, in California and her fly fishing lodge on the Stillaguamish River in the Pacific Northtwest.  She is the founder of fogdog poetry in Arlington, WA and tours the United States, Canada, and England, as a performance poet.

 

She is widely anthologised and her poetry and short stories appear as well in many  on-line literary journals.  She has published 4 books of poetry  Unsung Songs (2003),  Silver Tears and Time (2005), Contingencies (2008),  La Kalima (2010), and co-authored a book on film production design. Designing Movies: Portrait of a Hollywood Artist (Greenwood/Praeger 2006). Sharmagne is co-editor of Cradle Songs: An Anthology of Poems on Motherhood (2012).

 

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EL NORTE

 

El Norte.

A prayer upon her brown lips.

 

El Norte.

A dream growing like

plumeria blossoms from

empty chambers in

her heart.

 

In El Norte

she can make a decent wage.

Her children will not go to bed hungry.

She quits her job at the plantation,

kisses her children’s warm cheeks

as they sleep;

says goodbye to Columbia.

 

The Rio Grande behind her,

she now mops my neighbours’ floors,

scrubs their  toilets

for ten bucks an hour.

 

By the time she pays rent for her room,

buys bus tokens, and junk food

there is little left to send home.

Her children grow up without her.

Abuelita sends black and white photographs.

The little one is still frail and thin.

 

El Norte

The Land of Milk and Honey…

The Promised Land he believes in.

He’ll go on ahead,

send for his children one by one;

then his wife and the baby.

 

Under the sweltering

San Fernando Valley sun

he pushes the market basket

as he picks through

the neighbourhood trash;

for glass and aluminum

to recycle for pennies.

Surely his job teaching 

the village children their ABCs

was better than this.

 

In the marketplace in El Salvador

his wife almost forgets she is married.

The man with the gold tooth

smiles at her as he wraps the fish

in newspaper…

adding an extra piece now and then.

 

She misses her husband,

but has nothing to confess to the priest

as he leans in closer

to hear her sins.

 

 

From Divine Names to Kolodji's Haiku - Summer at Bolton Hall

On July 22, 2012, at Bolton Hall Museum, the first reading from "Meditations on Divine Names" featured poets Joe DeCenzo, Marlene Hitt, Dorothy Skiles and Maja Trochimczyk, the anthology's editor.

The readers of poems also included Angela Lee and Mira Mataric. Poets presented their own work as well as selected poems by others: Czeslaw Milosz, Sharon Chmielarz,  Marian Kaplun Shapiro, John Z. Guzlowski, Rick Lupert, Susan Rogers, Leonard Kress, Odarka Polanskyj Sprocket, and Barry Spacks.

The hosts, Lloyd and Marlene Hitt, reminded the poetic guests that the Bolton Hall Museum is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year and encouraged everyone to attend the festivities.

A photo album from this even is available on Picasa Web Album: Meditations at Bolton Hall.
 

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Deborah P. Kolodji - Featured Poet on August 26, 2012!

The next Village Poets Reading at Bolton Hall Museum will take place on August 26, 2012 at 4:30 p.m.  The featured poet, Deborah P. Kolodji, is well known in the poetry community for her involvement in the haiku movement, not just because of her talent.

Deborah P Kolodji is the moderator of the Southern California Haiku Study Group, which meets each month at the Pacific Asia Museum on the 3rd Saturday of the month.   She is also a member of the Haiku Society of America, the Yuki Teikei Haiku Society, the Haiku Poets of Northern California, and the Science Fiction Poetry Association.   She served as president of the Science Fiction Poetry Association for five years, ending in 2011. 

She has published over 800 poems in journals both on and off the web, including Modern Haiku, Frogpond, bottle rockets, Acorn, Simply Haiku, the Heron's Nest, Star*Line, Strange Horizons, Tales of the Unanticipated, the Magazine of Speculative Poetry, Goblin Fruit, poeticdiversity, and the Mainichi Daily News.  Her short stories have been published in THEMA, Tales of the Talisman, and Everyday Weirdness.  Her essays can be found in Frogpond, Haiku Canada Review, the Horror Writer's Association Newsletter, and Chicken Soup for the Dieter's Soul. 

Since the cover of "Meditations on Divine Names" is a closeup photo of a matilla poppy, a haiku about this flower was selected to represent Debbie's talent:

matilija poppies -
a skillet of fried eggs
on the campstove

For those interested, here's a link to Debbie's reading of three haiku at Catalina Library in Pasadena: Kolodji at Monday Evening Poetry.

Dorothy Skiles, Deborah Kolodji, Maja Trochimczyk

Marlene HItt and Deborah P Kolodji at the reading

Group after the reading

Rick Wilson with Deborah P Kolodji

Meditations on Divine Names - Group Reading, July 22

On July 22, 2012 at 4:30 p.m. Village Poets of Sunland-Tujunga will present the new anthology from the local Moonrise Press, "Meditations on Divine Names" edited by Maja Trochimczyk and available online: www.moonrisepress.com/divine.html.  The reading will feature selected poets who contributed to the volume and all Los Angeles participants are invited to attend and read their work.

Meditations on Divine Names is an anthology of contemporary poetry, featuring 138 poems by 63 poets associated with diverse spiritual traditions. Their poems represent: various branches of Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Kabbalah, Wicca, Sukiyo Mahikari, and ancient Greek, Egyptian, Hawaiian, and Slavic religions. The book is divided into ten paired sections: Naming, Names, Earth, Water, Air, Fire, He, She, Being, and Loving.

The editor, Maja Trochimczyk is a poet, music historian, photographer and non-profit director. Born in Poland and educated in Poland and Canada, she published four books of music studies and three volumes of poetry. She describes herself as a Catholic mystic.


The poets belong to different religions or religious denominations. They see the manifestations of the divine in many aspects of life - personal prayer, religious ceremonies, singing of psalms, family relationships, nature, sun, sky, bread making, loving, and love making. They admire the colors of the sky and the liquid nourishment of water. The clarity of mountain air and the gentleness of human touch. From the four letters of YHWH to Lada or Pele, the anthology catalogs some unusual divine names. Poets reflect on the act of naming, the facts of knowing and unknowing of our God(s). They give testimony to their hopes and beliefs, and share what they find beautiful and inspirational, or, sometimes, disturbing. There is darkness around and death, but the poets look for ways to ascend above, to illumination.

LIST OF POETS:

The following poets are represented: MJ Adams, Nicholas Alexander, Catherine Auman, Jon B., Marcielle Brandler, Sharon Chmielarz, Joe Decenzo, Carol Dorf, Kate Hallett Dayton, Carl Estrin, Amy Falvey, Elsa S. Frausto, Bill Gillard, Michael Graber, John Guzlowski, Peter J. Harris, Carl Hitchens, Marlene Hitt, G. Bennett Humphrey, Oriana Ivy, Mitch James, Roy Jacobstein, Lois P. Jones, James Levin, Terranda King, Alexis Krasilovsky, Leonard Kress, Sharmagne Leland-St. John, Rick Lupert, Radomir Voytech Luza, Czeslaw Milosz, Rajiv Mohabir, Geoshino Ollscia, Shirley Dunn Perry, Nils Peterson, Lenora Popa, Kate Robinson, Susan Rogers, Mary Kay Rummel, Nicholas Samaras, Peter Shefler, Marian Kaplun Shapiro, Dorothy Skiles, Lee M. Sloca, J.D. Smith, Barry Spacks, Odarka Polanskyj Stockert, Charles A. Swanson, Taoli-Ambika Talwar, Judith Terzi, Maja Trochimczyk, Ann Tweedy, Davi Walders, Martin Willitts Jr., and Kathabela Wilson

Happy Fourth of July with Poet Laureate Dorothy Skiles

Three Poets Laureate rode in one car, a brown convertible decorated with flowers, flags, and sage-colored ribbons, to match the Poet Laureate sign and the posters with the name of our newest Poet Laureate No. 7, Dorothy Skiles.  Dressed patriotically from navy pants, to red shirt and white hat, with a shining sash and a red umbrella decorated with whimsical maxims, Dorothy sat on the back of the convertible, waved and occasionally recited her poem "Congratulations" written especially for this occasion.

The 4th Poet Laureate Joe DeCenzo drove in a top hat, evening coat, and blue jeans; the 6th Poet Laureate, Maja Trochimczyk, covered in stars, waved and called out with good wishes.  A teen helper, Ann, walked along and gave away postcards with Dorothy's inspiring poem.  The Poetry Mobile followed the Little Landers Historical Society, and other notables, in a very large parade. This year, it included, in addition to vintage cars, dirt bike riders, horse riders in a variety of outfits, the Oldest Rock of Sunland Tujunga, and more.

There were jazz bands and rock groups, Christian musicians and local notables - the chair of the Sunland-Tujunga Chamber of Commerce, the Honorary Mayor of Sunland Tujunga, The two Grand Marshalls of the Parade, including Lloyd Hitt (with Marlene Hitt), dressed in Bolton Hall's Black and White outfits with colorful sashes.  Dorothy read her poem that was distributed on colorful postcards.

CELEBRATION

The Fourth of July's
Night skies are alight with stars
In celebration

Of our nation's birth!
Red, white, blues of many hues
Dance before our eyes.

Children frolic about,
Lovers snuggle on the lawn
All want to stay 'till dawn!

(c) 2012 by Dorothy Skiles

Our two feuding politicians were there as well, Los Angeles Councilman Richard Alarcon and his challenger in the election to the seat on the California Assembly, Raul Boccanegra. They will face off again in the next round. Let the best man win!!!

Patriotic music blared from loudspeakers, children sprayed each other with water, the fire trucks continued creating summer showers for those who wanted to brave the curtains of water. The dirt bikers and the unicycle rider showed their tricks, the marching band from Verdugo Hills High School marched, the cheerleaders and the color guard delighted the crowds with their routines. I'm sure there were more participants, but I could not see them all. 

We met up with the donkey, named Maggie, at the end. Luckily, she did not provide our music - we were playing American golden oldies - Sinatra and Cole Porter, with Ella Fitzgerald and more... Everything was all right, as it should be, at the Sunland-Tujunga Fourth of July 2012 Parade!!!!

See more pictures from the parade: Maja Trochimczyk's Fourth of July 2012 Album.

Photo Captions: 1) Joe DeCenzo, Dorothy Skiles and Maja Trochimczyk; 2) The Poets' Mobile in the Parade; 3) Dorothy Skiles; 4) Joe DeCenzo, Dorothy Skiles, Maja Trochimczyk and Raul Boccanegra; 5) Maja Trochimczyk, Councilmember Richard Alarcon with his daughter, and Dorothy Skiles; 6) Maja Trochimczyk with a Donkey named Maggie.

June 24 Guest at Bolton Hall - G. Murray Thomas

G. Murray Thomas is the Featured Poet at the Open Reading of the Village Poets of Sunland-Tujunga. The reading will be held on Sunday, June 24, 2012 at 4:30 p.m., at Bolton Hall Museum, 10110 Commerce Avenue, Tujunga, CA 91042.

G. Murray Thomas has been active in the SoCal poetry scene for over 20 years. He has performed throughout the L.A. area and beyond. He was the editor and publisher of Next... Magazine, a poetry calendar/newsmagazine for Southern California. Next... Magazine was published monthly between 1994 and 1998. News Clips & Ego Trips, a collection of articles from Next..., was just published by Write Bloody Press.

Thomas currently edits a monthly listing of poetry events for Poetix.net, the source for information about SoCal poetry. He is also the Reviews Editor for Poetix. His most recent book of poetry is My Kidney Just Arrived, published by Tebot Bach in 2011. His previous books are Cows on the Freeway and Paper Shredders, an anthology of surf writing. Thomas has also published five chapbooks, and has been widely published in various literary magazines.

More information about Thomas can be found at http://gmurraythomas.com/His new book of poetry is now available to order from http://www.tebotbach.org/. For all the info on SoCal Poetry, go to Poetix.net.

“YOUR KIDNEY JUST ARRIVED AT LAX”

The doctor told me as I lay in pre-op prep.
I envisioned a special chartered flight,
an entire airplane filled with organs.

Hearts with little heart shaped carry-ons.
They always watch the inflight movie
and cry all the way through.

Livers splurging on one last drink;
they don’t think they’ll be allowed
where they’re going.

The lungs eye the spot
where the oxygen masks drop.

Corneas stare out at the passing countryside;
they always get a window seat.

The spleens are always complaining
     about security
     about the length of the flight
     about the lack of leg room
     (although they have no legs).

The gall bladder always gets in line
before his row is called.

And there’s my kidney,
no doubt reading a book to pass the time
something classic: As I Lay Dying,
     or Great Expectations,
     or The Stranger.

All of them wondering
about the journey ahead,
about their new home,
about their new life.

(Published in My Kidney Just Arrived, by G. Murray Thomas, Tebot Bach 2011)

Kathi Stafford at Bolton Hall Museum, May 27, 2012

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The Village Poets of Sunland-Tujunga invite you to their upcoming Poetry Reading on Sunday, May 27, 2012, 4:30 – 6:30 p.m., at the Bolton Hall Museum, 10110 Commerce Ave., Tujunga, CA 91042.

We are very pleased to have as the featured poet Kathi Stafford. She is a member of the Westside Women Writers group and a contributor to the Portuguese-American Journal. She has previously acted as poetry editor and senior editor for Southern California Review. Her poetry, interviews, and book reviews have appeared in literary journals such as Rattle, Chiron Review, Nerve Cowboy, Connecticut River Review, Southern California Review, and Hiram Poetry Review. Her poetry has been anthologized in Chopin and Cherries, as well as Sea of Change: Poems for Hitchcock.

She edited a chapbook about Beatrice for Galerie De Difformite, called Beatrice Emerges, and including poems by Millicent Borges Accardi, Susan Rogers, Maja Trochimczyk, and Jennifer Smith, 2011. difformitechapbooks.wordpress.com/2012/01/06/beatrice-emerges/

Stafford is also a member of Poets on Site whose work was recently included in the anthology, On Awakening, celebrating the paintings and creative imagination of Hungarian painter, Susan Dobay. The anthology was edited by Kathabela Wilson.

Born and raised in Texas, Stafford has lived in India and contrasting the memories of her childhood with the exotic impressions from her Indian sojourn is a frequent theme in her poetry.

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Near Belur Temple

Kathi Stafford

The playful daughter of a Hillman is feeding jackfruit
to a black-fingered monkey . . . Kapilar

The girl can’t stop herself. The monkey
keeps begging and she goes on handing
him treats, piece after piece.

Cardamom blankets
the evening scent. Incense
burns behind bushes.

She’s anxious—knows her pet
will have a tummy ache,
but hands him jackfruit again,

Because the planets are beginning
to glow along the horizon. Soon clouds
will dip down their holy smells.

She pulls her turquoise sari
close around her skinny self.
The silk a present from the older sister,

the grave one who played the mother
but can always bring the child