Jan Steckel's Blog: Horizontal Poet Sings Bidyke Blues - Posts Tagged "poetry-express"

I'll be doing up to two poetry readings a month this year to promote my new poetry book The Horizontal Poet. Below is the schedule so far. As you can see, I'll be doing at least two readings this year in Santa Barbara as well as several in the San Francisco Bay Area.

If I can raise the money for travel, I'd like to do readings in any of the following towns where I have relatives and friends: Chicago IL, Seattle WA(especially Bellevue), Santa Cruz CA, Santa Monica CA, Sacramento CA, Ft. Bragg or Mendocino CA, Costa Mesa or Newport Beach CA, Sonoma CA. Secretly I dream of making it to NYC in June.

If you have poetry contacts in any of the above towns and could arrange a reading for me there, please message me on Goodreads or email me at Jmsteckel at AOL dot com.

February 4 Santa Barbara Poetry Series, Contemporary Arts Forum, Paseo Nuevo Mall, Santa Barbara, CA

February 11 Book Launch Party, Plymouth United Church of Christ, Fireside Room, Oakland, CA

March 16 Expressions Gallery, Berkeley, CA

April 2 Poetry Express, Priya Indian Restaurant, Berkeley, CA

April 14 The Poetry Zone, Karpeles Manuscript Museum, Santa Barbara, CA

July 14 All Women's Poetry Potluck and Salon Reading at Lakeview Library, Lake Merritt, Oakland, CA

September 8 Frank Bette Center for the Arts, Alameda, CA

October 27 Women's Poetry Potluck and Salon, featured reader, Frank Bette Center for the Arts, Alameda, CA

Want me to come to your town? (I'm looking at you, San Franciscans.) Email me at Jmsteckel at AOL dot com or message me here on Goodreads to discuss the possibility.

A terrific review of my book The Horizontal Poet just got posted by Marie Lecrivain, editor and publisher of the Los Angeles litzine poeticdiversity and a fine poet and writer.

http://alkhemiapoetica.blogspot.com/2...

I love the image of her reading the title poem aloud at a poetry reading in Los Angeles. Wish I could have been there!

April, National Poetry Month, is a whirlwind. Had a terrific time reading the other night at the 10th Anniversary of Poetry Express in Berkeley with my friend Al Averbach. I'll be the featured reader on April 14 at The Poetry Zone, a collegial open mic hosted by Suzanne Frost at the Karpeles Manuscript Museum in Santa Barbara. Then it's back up to Berkeley for a reading with excellent poet Jeanne Wagner at Expressions Gallery, hosted by Steve Arntson, on the evening of April 20, with an open mic, 7-9 PM. Finally, I'll read on April 24 at the Lambda Literary Finalists reading at 6 PM at the main San Francisco Public Library. I'll try to post details about each reading here a few days beforehand.

How are you celebrating National Poetry Month?

Oh boy! Going tonight to hear our poet-friends Dale Jensen and Judy Wells read in celebration of their 10th wedding anniversary at the Frank Bette Center for the Arts tonight in Alameda. Jeanne Lupton will host. Can't wait! My husband Hew Wolff and I will read at the open mic -- I wrote a special tribute poem for Dale and Judy. 7 PM.

Hew's out hanging paintings. Wanted to invite anyone in the SF Bay Area to his reading Monday, May 14 at Poetry Express at Priya Indian Restaurant on San Pablo Ave. in Berkeley, California. It's hosted by Jim Barnard, Nance Wogan, Jan Dederick and Odilia Galván Rodriguez. There's an open mic, and poetry fans get 20% off their delicious Indian Food. 7 PM - 9 PM. Hew's formal poetry is lilting, clever, conversational and lovely.

Right now Hew's hanging a painting in the Pro Arts Gallery at Frank Ogawa Plaza in Oakland, California. We'll attend the free reception there at 7 PM on Friday, May 4.

On Saturday and Sunday, June 9 & 10, from 10 AM to 5 PM each day, we'll be having an open studio in the back yard. We'll hang Hew's paintings all along the fence, serve snacks and drinks, and hang out with anyone who shows up. I'll get the details up on Facebook soon, or, if you aren't on Facebook but want to come, just message me on Goodreads or email me at jmsteckel at aol dot com for details.

Happy end of National Poetry Month!

Thanks to Evan Karp for posting a YouTube video of the April 24 Lambda Literary Finalists reading at the San Francisco Public Library. Here’s the video of me reading four of my poems from The Horizontal Poet: “Dios le bendiga,” “Twenty Thousand Vaginas Under the Sea,” “The Rose Grew Round the Briar,” and “The History of our Love.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chWLAn...

Thanks to Marie Lecrivain of the Los Angeles Lit Zine poeticdiversity for reprinting my poem “Fourteen Crossings” from my book. The poem appeared previously in Red Rock Review. You can find it here:

http://www.poeticdiversity.org/main/p...

Picks for this week:

I’m attending Oakland poet Cassandra Dallett’s featured reading at Poetry Express at Priya Indian Restaurant in Berkeley tonight. I first heard Cassandra at Paul Corman Roberts’ and H. K. Rainey’s by-submission-only reading Anger Management at Viricocha in the Mission in San Francisco. My husband Hew Wolff will be the featured reader at Poetry Express next week, Monday, May 14. Bring a poem of your own to share, and get 20% off your delicious Indian meal if you’re there to hear poetry. 7-9 PM every Monday night, 2072 San Pablo Ave, (between University Ave & Addison St), Berkeley, CA 94702. (510) 644-3977

This Wednesday, June 9, Jeanne Lupton and I are going to hear my poetry mentor and friend Julia Vinograd featured at Sacred Grounds coffeehouse in San Francisco. Should be a terrific show. Jeanne and I will both read at the open mic, I expect. Open Mic signups begin at 7 PM every Wednesday night, with readings from 7:30 to 10 PM. 2095 Hayes Street, San Francisco, CA 94117. (415) 387-3859

Next weekend, Saturday, May 12, I’m going to Works in Progress, a Women’s Open Mic in Piedmont, a neighborhood of Oakland. I’ll be one of several readers at this bimonthly womens’ reading, but the most exciting action for me this time is singer-songwriter/looper Irina Rivkin’s beautiful, complex music. Shar Bacchus will play recorder. Contact me for details at jmsteckel at aol dot com if you want to go.

Hope to see you around!

Warmly,
Jan