Dear annogrammers, in thisblustery time of year, we are warming to new work, recognition, andopportunities. It is amazing how far we have come, and what sparkling paths beckon.Like this beautiful season of change, annogram will be morphing too. Readon and find out!

 

 

Of Interest in Alparegho

 

Readerslove the Translator’s Note in  Alparegho,Like Nothing Else (Beautiful Days Press). It details how I came to discover, work with, and grow close to the extraordinary French poet Hélène Sanguinetti. Her own story, also shared, is spectacular too—it involves the great French poet René Char.  Alparegho, Like Nothing Else ,in this regard, makes a perfect gift to encourage anyone who would like to translate.

 

 

Slab, Dead of Winter, and more

So thrilled to have four poems in SLAB , and twoaccepted for Dead of Winter II anthology from Milk and Cake Press. Gratitudealso to Matt Morris of Home Planet News for reformattingmy poems so they are easier to read.

 

 

Swwim-ing in Translation

 

Hélène SanguinettiThanks to Jen Karetnick forpublishing Hélène Sanguinetti’s “BrokenSongs That Remain 1 and 2” fromDomaine des englués suivi de Six réponses à Jean-Baptiste Para (LaLettre Volée, 2017), a hybrid book-length poem. More translations to come in Ezra and Notre Dame Review .

 

 

Encyclopedia of Wishing

 

I am honored to have written theintroduction to this book! Wish Mavens Barbara Dickinson and Margie Herrick sharetheir know-how in makingwishes come true. It’s not some woo-woo New Age trick; it’s aboutlistening to ourselves and paying attention to what gives us joy. A fun read and gift.

 

 

Looney Tunes

 

Thanks to this vintage vinyl store forthe VIP invitation to a pizza party-debut of a newly acquired 5,000-recordcollection! I thought I was going along to support my favorite guitarist, Michael,but no—caught up in the fervor I scooped up these 99-cent 45s:

Nancy SinatraAddictedto Love – Robert Palmer

CaliforniaDreamin’ – The Mamas and the Papas

Downtown– Petula Clark

IWanna Be with You – The Raspberries

I’mNot in Love – 10CC

Inthe Air Tonight – Phil Collins

Lola– The Kinks

RedRubber Ball – The Cyrcle

She’sGone – Hall and Oates

TheLetter – Joe Cocker

TheseBoots Are Made for Walking – Nancy Sinatra

Windy– The Association

 

 

Sennelier Monday Live

Yves-Marie Salmonson,
Sennelier Art DirectorImagine painting with 200+ peopleat the same time! Thanks to SennelierMonday Live, you can—from the prestigious paint-maker’s Parislocation. The bilingual French-English is easy to follow and offers Senneliergiveaways for those who post their art. Magnifique!

 

 

Sargent, Again

Sargent, Self-Portrait (1886)



Pumped by Beth Gersh-Nesic’s lecture on Sargent, myfavorite guitarist, Michael, and I headed to the Met. We werenot disappointed. Sargent’s landscapes beamed with sunlight, and his portraits,in one person’s words, held the viewer in their gaze. Incredible.

 

 

Holding Up the Sky

 

Ed Jordan, star
of Holding Up the Sky

Congratulations to director/producer BobNesson on the premiere of HoldingUp the Sky, a film that tracks how two once-incarcerated menhelped each other survive beyond prison. An educational project, the filmis available to groups interested in learning about andpromoting prison reform.

 

 

Creative Opportunities

Kevin Pilkington Cagibi , allgenres, open

 

Maine Media Workshop, JustBelow the Surface: A Poetry Workshop with Kevin Pilkington, July20-24, 2026

 

Pedestal 97, opencall for poetry, by December 7

 

Plant-HumanQuarterly, poetry, open

 

PureSlush, all genres, by November 30

 

 

New and Recent Releases

 

JoelAllegretti,  Let’s All Be Happy (OpiateBooks)

 

Michael Baldwin, Roll Backthe Sun (Inner Eye Books)

 

Therese Craine Bertsch, Pearl ofthe Cosmos: The Rosary (Independentlypublished)

 

Ann Cefola, trans. Alparegho,Like-Nothing-Else by Hélène Sanguinetti (Beautiful Days Press)

 

Cecily Chen, trans. Bed by Wu Ang (Beautiful Days Press)

 

Jim Daniels, AnIgnorance of Trees (Cornerstone Press)

 

Robert Fanning, All WeAre Given We Cannot Hold (Dzanc Books)

Jim LaVilla-Havelin, A ThoreauBook (Alabrava Press)

 

BobHeman,  A Sky Obscuredby Bicycles (SurVision Press)

 

J. Chester Johnson ReadingWhispers (BlazeVox Books) (preorder)

 

Heller Levinson, Crossfall (BlackWidow Press)

 

Laurel Peterson, The SkyWeeps with Us (Finishing Line Press) (preorder)

 

Christian Schlegel, Blackbird(Beautiful Days Press)

 

Delphine Smith, “Heartache,Struggle,” in the Bounce Back, Black Woman podcast

 

Mark Vincenz, All theTricks of Language (Dos Madres Press)

 

Mark Vincenz, Irønclad (SpuytenDuyvil Press)

 

Sarah Bracey White, A WalkDown Memory Lane: Short Stories for Seniors to Spark Joy(Zeitgeist, 2025)

 

 

Upcoming Events – ET

 

Shea Daniel-Youngblood, Alston Cox,
Laura Lopez, and Linda Simone,
four of the artists in Seven on the Square

Seven on the Square, exhibitat Kapej San Antonio, throughDecember

 

December 7, 1pm, Arts on Site, Jamboroco, open house for Racoco Action Theater featuring light refreshments,music, and fun (free)

 

December 19, 6pm, Space CowboyCoffee, Beats by the Beach with hosts Christina Rau+Peter Dugan

 

January 7, 2026, 7pm, TLANetwork, Meditate, Move and Create with Christina Rau; register here

 

May 15–17, 2026, FranciscanRetreat Center, TheSiren’s Call: A writer’s retreat to explore the interplaybetween creativity and stillness

 

 

 

Monthly Workshops andReadings

 

Use this link andscroll to listings

 

 

Butternut Squash Soup

 

Once again, we thank chef LindaSimone for passing along this soul-warming soup recipe:

 

1 large butternut squash, peeled,seeded, and cubed

1 medium onion, chopped

3 cups vegetable broth

1 cup heavy cream or milk

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tbsp maple syrup

1 tsp ground cinnamon

Salt and pepper to taste

2 tbsp olive oil

 

Preheat oven to 400°F. Tosssquash with olive oil and spread on baking sheet. Roast 25-30 minutes, untiltender and caramelized. In large pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Sauté onionand garlic, until soft, about 5 minutes. Add roasted squash and vegetablebroth. Bring to boil, then simmer 10-15 minutes. Use immersion blender to pureesoup, or transfer soup in batches to blender. Stir in cream or milk, maplesyrup, and cinnamon. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer 5 minutes, and servehot.

 

 

ʼ Round theNet

 

The Jive Aces
Poet and author JoelAllegretti on his first collection of short stories, Let’s All Be Happy

 

Songwriter and essayist JeanetteBriggs for thisarticle on a man who kept a list of every book he ever read—all 3,599of them

 

Guitarist and songwriter MichaelCefola for this upbeat video from the Jive Aces, “Bring MeSunshine”

 

Poet Therese Craine Bertsch onreading her Pearl ofthe Cosmos with the Sayville Chamber Chorale at the Queen ofthe Rosary Motherhouse

 

Poet Suzanne Cleary onwinning a PushcartPrize

 

Translators Chen Du and XishengChen on Yan An translations in Agni, MeetinghouseMagazine, PoetryNorthwest, and ToadPress; and being runners-up for the CarnegieMellon Press 2025 Literary Translation Prize

 

EditorLarry Falz on  SkyWAAtch winningthe 2025 Apex Grand Award for Publication Excellence

Poet and artist Bob Hemanon his collage, “The Visitors,” in ClockwiseCat (at left)

 

Poet Cindy Hochman onhaving 10 poems in ChollaNeedles and more work in Six-LinePoems

 

Poets Cindy Hochman and BobHeman on five collaborative poems in AxonJournal (Australia)

 

Editors Cindy Hochman and KarenNeuberg for an incredible run editing the extraordinary and generousjournal First Literary Review East

 

Poet Heller Levinson on thisglowing review of his new book, Crossfall, and on itbeing translated into French by Pierre Petiot

 

Poet Mary McCray for heroutstanding newsletter, Big BangPoetry

 

Johnny Cash
(1932-2003)Yorktown Poet Laureate JohnMcMullen for thisarticle on listening to Johnny Cash read the Gospels

 

Poet Joyelle McSweeney onbeing a Jeopardy!Champion

 

Miami-Dade Poet Laureate CaridadMoro-Gronlier for thiswonderful blog about preserving her grandmother’s tradition

 

Poet Mary Newell on beingone of the translators of Notes onInner Work: In Question with Michel Salzmann (IndicationsPress)

 

Poet Jean-Luc Pouliquenfor discovering thistreasure trove of poetry recordings at Harvard

 

Bassist Larry Schwartzmanfor this clipof Buddy Guy performing “Money (That’s What I Want)”

 

Cellist and CD producer JayShulman for Hullabaloo videos (one and two) where he attended Mick Jagger's liverehearsal in the NBC Brooklyn studio

Poet and artist Linda Simoneon her poem, “Trading Rivers,” selected for the Texas Bards Anthology 2025;and on having work in Seven on the Square, a San Antonio exhibit of locallandscapes

 

ResilienceCoach Delphine Smith on her amazing podcast, “BounceBack, Black Woman!”

 

Smithsonian Magazine on Romeo andJuliet, two coyotes who have made Central Park their home

Playwright and memoirist SarahBracey White on her interview in the “Don’t Encourage This” podcastand for thisarticle on gratitude

 

 

Our Art Conspiracy

 

Pursuing art always feels like aconspiracy against the daily if routine requirements of life. The annogram community, for close to 20 years now, has been all in. We have committed to thelong apprenticeship and been slightly stunned by achievements and milestones. 

 

And falling deeper down thatrabbit hole myself, I will be closing out quarterly annograms with thisissue. Thanks to you annogrammers, cherished former neighbors,coworkers, and long-time friends, who tell me that you eagerly await and save eachissue. That has meant the world to me.

 

Never fear: you may receive briefer“express” annograms now and again—as the muse dictates! Now go out anddo what you do best.

 

Until next time,

Ann