Poetry Center San Jose | Calendar of Events

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A look at past events presented by Poetry Center San José

Previous PCSJ Events:

Nils Peterson, Sally Ashton, and The Silicon Valley Gay Men's Chorus conducted by Shawn Reifschneider
in
A Revel of Poetry, Music, Wine celebrating St. Valentine's Day
Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2012, 5:30pm
Le Petite Trianon 72 N. Fifth St. San Jose, CA 95113
Come early for talk and a glass of wine or soft drink.
The reading will start about 5:30.
A Donation of $10 is requested.

POETRY READINGS @ WILLOW GLEN LIBRARY
Third Thursday of Every Month
Thursday, February 16, 2012, 7:00pm
Featured Readers: PATRICIA J. MACHMILLER,
JOAN ZIMMERMAN, JUDITH SCHALLBERGER,
and CAROL STEELE
An open mic reading will follow
Willow Glen Library
1157 Minnesota Avenue, San José, CA, 95125
(408) 808-3045 or (408) 266-1361
Free and open to the public

Poetry Readings At Willow Glen Library is proud to present our first all-Haiku reading. The featured poets will read from Wild Violets, the Yuki Teikei Haiku Anthology for 2011. The reading will include a sampling of haiku and haibun from the book. Haibun, in case you are wondering, is a prose poem with a haiku attached.

PATRICIA J. MACHMILLER writes. Mostly she writes poems. Long poems. Or short. Very short. Haiku. Sometimes she writes essays. Once she wrote a poetic journal. Once a poetic performance. It was performed-once. She lives here. In Silicon Valley. Where she worked. Once. She is a charter member-almost-of the Yuki Teikei Haiku Society.

JOAN ZIMMERMAN is the editor along with Jerry Ball of Wild Violets, the 2011 Yuki Teikei Haiku Society's Membership Anthology. Her haiku and tanka have been published internationally (including Australia, Germany, and the UK). She is co-editor & contributor for "Poetry at Ariadne's Web." Born in Northwest England, she wrote her first poems in attempts to avoid exercising or helping with household chores. She likes chocolate. She lives in Santa Cruz.

JUDITH SCHALLBERGER enjoys writing haiku and tanka poetry and collaborated in the design of the Yuki Teikei Haiku anthologies, Wild Violets (2011) and Autumn Deepens (2010) and is a very active member of Yuki Teikei. She is a graduate of SJSU, School of Art and a former ceramicist. Her haiku have been published in Mariposa, Notes from the Gean, Remembering: Poems Read at Willow Glen Books, Haiku Society of America and Yuki Teikei Anthologies.

CAROL STEELE writes haiku and lyric poems. She has been a member of Yuki Teikei since 2000, is a past president and the soon-to-be editor of the GEPPO, Yuki Teikei's bi-monthly study-newsletter. She also enjoys flowers and the study of ikebana, traditional Japanese flower arranging.

3 VOICES: POETRY FROM CONNIE POST, ELLARAINE LOCKIE, & ERICA GOSS
Saturday, January 21, 2012, 2:00 pm
Book signing to follow
Open MIC MC: Parthenia Hicks, Poet Laureate of Los Gatos
Mention PCSJ when you buy merchandise on 01/21/12 to help support Poetry Center San Jose.

Barnes & Noble Booksellers
3600 Stevens Creek Boulevard, San Jose, CA 95117
Free and open to the public

Connie Post served as Poet Laureate of Livermore, California from 2005/2009. Her work has appeared in The Aurorean, Blood Root Literary Magazine, Calyx, Kalliope, Comstock Review, Cold Mountain Review, Crab Creek Review, Karamu, Caesura, Chiron Review, DMQ Review, Main Street Rag, The Dirty Napkin, Monterey Poetry Review, Slipstream, The Toronto Quarterly, The Tule Review, The Pedestal Magazine, Wild Goose Poetry Review and The Great American Poetry Show. Her awards and recognition include the 2009 Caesura Poetry Award from the Poetry Center of San Jose and the Dirty Napkin Cover Prize (Spring 2009). Her poetry has earned two Pushcart nominations (2007 and 2010), and a "Best of the Net" nomination in 2010 from "Up the Staircase Quarterly." Connie is the author of two chapbooks from Finishing Line Press: Trip Wires (2010), And When the Sun Drops (2012).

Ellaraine Lockie is a widely published and awarded poet, nonfiction book author and essayist. Her honors include the Lois Beebe Hayna Award, Writecorner Press Poetry Award, Skysaje Poetry Prize, Dean Wagner Poetry Prize, Elizabeth R. Curry Prize, and OASIS Journal's Best Poem Award. Her seventh chapbook, Stroking David's Leg, was selected Best 2010 Individual Collection from Purple Patch magazine in England, and her eighth chapbook, Red for the Funeral, won the 2010 San Gabriel Poetry Festival Chapbook Contest. Ellaraine teaches poetry and writing workshops and serves as Poetry Editor for the lifestyles magazine Lilipoh. She is the author of the chapbook Wild as in Familiar, published by Finishing Line Press (2011).

Erica Goss is the winner of the 2010 Many Mountains Moving Poetry Contest. Her poems, articles and reviews have appeared in many journals, most recently Hotel Amerika, Connotation Press, Miller's Pond, Pearl, Main Street Rag, Rattle, Eclectica, Blood Lotus, Café Review, Zoland Poetry, Comstock Review, Stirring, Lake Effect, and Perigee. She won the first Edwin Markham Poetry Prize in 2007, judged by California's Poet Laureate Al Young, and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2010. Erica teaches creative writing and humanities in the Bay Area and is a contributing editor for Cerise Press. She is the author of a chapbook, Wild Place, published in 2011 from Finishing Line Press.

POETRY READINGS @ WILLOW GLEN LIBRARY
Third Thursday of Every Month
Thursday, January 19, 2012, 7:00 pm
Featured Reader: KATHIE ISAAC-LUKE
An open mic reading will follow
Willow Glen Library
1157 Minnesota Avenue, San José, CA, 95125
(408) 808-3045 or (408) 266-1361
Free and open to the public

KATHIE ISAAC-LUKE was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She has a Master's degree in Nursing, and during her work in that field she visited a number of countries. Her poetry, which reflects her travels as well as her Louisiana origins, has been published in various journals and anthologies. Her short story has recently appeared in The Call: An Anthology of Women's Writings, published by Dragonfly Press. She was formerly a program coordinator for Poetry Center San Jose, where she edited the journal Caesura for five years. Her poetry collection, Chrysalides, was published in 2010 by Dragonfly Press and was nominated for the 2011 Independent Publisher Book Award in poetry.

She and her husband now live in the Sierra Foothills of California.

POETRY READINGS @ WILLOW GLEN LIBRARY
Third Thursday of Every Month
Thursday, December 15, 2011, 7:00 pm
Featured Reader: NILS PETERSON, CHRISTMAS POETRY
An open mic reading will follow
Willow Glen Library
1157 Minnesota Avenue, San José, CA, 95125
(408) 808-3045 or (408) 266-1361
Free and open to the public

As per our Christmas tradition, Nils Peterson, the first Poet Laureate of Santa Clara County, has graciously agreed to read from his selection of Christmas poetry and wonderment. I'm sure it will be a wonderful Christmas gift to yourself and those you may bring.

NILS PETERSON is Professor Emeritus at San Jose State University where he taught in the English and Humanities Departments. He has published poetry, science fiction, and articles on subjects as varying as golf and Shakespeare. A chapbook of poems entitled Here Is No Ordinary Rejoicing was published by No Deadlines Press, a collection of poems entitled The Comedy of Desire with an introduction by Robert Bly was published by the Blue Sofa Press, and a collection of poems entitled Driving a Herd of Moose to Durango appeared in 2005. He was nominated for a 2005 Pushcart Prize. His newest book of poetry came out in February 2011, published by Poetry Center San Jose.

POETRY READINGS @ WILLOW GLEN LIBRARY
Third Thursday of Every Month
Thursday, November 17, 2011, 7:00 pm
Featured Reader: CASEY FITZSIMONS

CASEY FITZSIMONS is an Army brat, having lived in Brazil and Germany, and derives some content inspiration from moving seventeen times by the age of seventeen.

She has taught high school and college math, practiced law, and done significant pro bono work in fair housing. She has a master's degree in Fine Arts from San Jose State University and taught art in San Francisco for many years, publishing her studio drawing book, Serious Drawing, with Prentice Hall, and reviewing many exhibitions for Artweek. She is a frequent reader at San Francisco Bay Area venues. About being a poet, Casey says, "My father was a Milton scholar, so what chance did I have?"

Casey's poetry appears in print and online in Fresh Hot Bread, The Prose-Poem Project, flashquake, Leveler, EarthSpeak, The Newport Review, and others. She has been a finalist in the River Styx and Writecorner Press poetry competitions. She has collected her works annually in chapbooks, most recently Altering the Lay of Land (2010) and Forgetting My Errand (2009).

She lives in Redwood City near her daughter, son-in-law, and three granddaughters. When not writing poetry, Casey tutors children and adults in reading and mathematics in Redwood City and Half Moon Bay, and plays fingerpicking blues guitar.

Willow Glen Library
1157 Minnesota Avenue, San José, CA, 95125
(408) 808-3045 or (408) 266-1361
Free and open to the public

POETRY READINGS @ WILLOW GLEN LIBRARY
Third Thursday of Every Month
Thursday, October 20, 2011, 7:00 pm
Featured Reader: DEAN RADER

Dean Rader has published widely in the fields of poetry, American Indian studies, and popular culture. His debut collection of poems, Works & Days, won the 2010 T. S. Eliot Poetry Prize, judged by Claudia Keelan. Works & Days is a finalist for the Texas Institute of Letters First Book Prize as well as the Writer's League of Texas Poetry Award. Rader was also a finalist for the Poetry Society of America's 2010 Louis Hammer Award, and Verse Daily named his poem "Twilight at Ocean Beach" one of the Best Poems of 2010.

Rader is the author of a best-selling textbook on writing and popular culture, The World is a Text (with Jonathan Silverman). With poet Janice Gould, he co-edited Speak To Me Words: Essays on Contemporary American Indian Poetry (University of Arizona Press, 2003), the first collection of essays devoted to Native American poetry. His newest scholarly book, Engaged Resistance: American Indian Art, Literature, and Film from Alcatraz to the NMAI was published in April by the University of Texas Press. He holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the State University of New York at Binghamton.

He serves on the editorial board of the DMQ review. He reviews poetry regularly for The Rumpus and The San Francisco Chronicle, where he also writes a regular column for the City Brights Section. He has also recently begun writing for the Huffington Post. Rader is a professor of English at the University of San Francisco. Earlier this year, he won the University's Distinguished Research Award.

A Native of Western Oklahoma, Rader lives in San Francisco with his wife Jill and their 3-year old son Gavin..

Willow Glen Library
1157 Minnesota Avenue, San José, CA, 95125
(408) 808-3045 or (408) 266-1361
Free and open to the public

JANE HIRSHFiELD
Thursday, October 6, 2011, 7:00 pm

PCSJ is proud to present an evening with Jane Hirshfield. Hirshfield has worked as a freelance writer, editor, and translator. Her six books of poetry have each received numerous awards. Her fifth book, Given Sugar, Given Salt, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and her sixth collection, After, was a finalist for England's T.S. Eliot Award and named a "best book of 2006" by The Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, and England's Financial Times. Her book of essays, Nine Gates: Entering the Mind of Poetry is considered a classic in its field. The Ink Dark Moon, her co-translation of the work of the two foremost women poets of classical-era Japan, was instrumental in bringing tanka (a 31-syllable Japanese poetic form predating the better known haiku) to the attention of American poets, and her three edited books collecting the work of women poets from the past have become highly influential resources. Her new book, Come, Thief will be available in August, 2011.

Hirshfield's work has been published in The New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, The Nation, the Los Angeles Times, the Times Literary Supplement, many literary journals, and multiple volumes of The Best American Poetry and Pushcart Prize anthologies. Her poems have frequently been read on various National Public Radio programs, and she was featured in two PBS television specials, The Sounds of Poetry and Fooling With Words. She is also a contributing editor at The Alaska Quarterly Review and Ploughshares, a former guest editor of The Pushcart Prize Anthology and an advisory editor at Orion and Tricycle.

Tickets to the reading:
$20 for premium seats, $10 for general seating
(with discounts for members of Poetry Center San Jose)
Tickets to the reading available at Brown Paper Tickets
A workshop will be held earlier in the day.

Le Petit Trianon Theatre
72 North Fifth Street San Jose, CA 95112

Workshop With Jane Hirshfield for PCSJ Members
Thursday, October 6, 2011
SOLD OUT

PCSJ offers members a unique opportunity to participate in a workshop with award-winning poet Jane Hirshfield on the day of her reading in San Jose. Ms. Hirshfield will lead a 3-hour session focused on craft and writing, rather than critique. Bring paper and pens, and be prepared for inspiration!

Workshop limited to 15 participants!

SANTA CLARA COUNTY POET LAUREATE
SALLY ASHTON'S FAVORITE POEMS PROJECT:
POETRY READING
Sunday, September 18, 2011, 1:00 pm

SALLY ASHTON, Santa Clara County's current Poet Laureate, will host a first public reading of poems which were submitted as part of the Santa Clara County Poet Laureate's Favorite Poems Project. Poems submitted to the Favorite Poems Project will be read by contributors. Come and enjoy favorite poems read by your neighbors and friends!

Book sales during this event will benefit Poetry Center San Jose. For more information on the Favorite Poems Project, go to http://poetlaureateblog.org

Stay tuned: Two subsequent readings from more contributors will be held within Santa Clara County in upcoming months. Details to be announced!

Barnes & Noble Bookstore
3600 Stevens Creek Blvd, San Jose, CA 95117
(408) 984-3495
Free and open to the public

POETRY READINGS @ WILLOW GLEN LIBRARY
Third Thursday of Every Month
Thursday, September 15, 2011, 7:00 pm

Featured Reader: ERICA GOSS

Erica Goss's poems, articles and reviews have appeared in many journals, most recently Hotel Amerika, Pearl, Main Street Rag, Rattle, Eclectica, Blood Lotus, Cafe Review, Zoland Poetry, Comstock Review, and Perigee. Her chapbook, Wild Place, will be published in 2011 from Finishing Line Press. She won the first Edwin Markham Poetry Prize in 2007, judged by California's Poet Laureate Al Young, and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2010. Erica teaches creative writing and humanities in the Bay Area and is a contributing editor for Cerise Press. She holds an MFA from San Jose State University.

Willow Glen Library
1157 Minnesota Avenue, San Jose, CA, 95125
(408) 808-3045 or (408) 266-1361
Free and open to the public

A TASTE OF TAPESTRY
Saturday and Sunday, September 3 and 4, 10am to 6pm
at History Park
1650 Senter Road, San José, CA 95112
Admission: $5 ages 13-64, Free for ages 12 and younger, ages 65 and older; Free for History San Jose & Happy Hollow Park & Zoo Members
parking $6, use of carpools or bus is encouraged
directions and map

Poetry Center San Jose is participating in this large and vibrant arts event at History Park. "A Taste of Tapestry" is the continuation of the Tapestry Arts event that has for many years been held in downtown San Jose. PCSJ will have a booth with publications, information, and activities in Markham House. From 1 to 2pm on Saturday, there will be a special reading hosted by Santa Clara County Poet Laureate Sally Ashton. Along with Sally's poetry, we will be privileged to hear Parthenia Hicks, current Los Gatos Poet Laureate, and Nils Peterson, co-founder of PCSJ and former County Poet Laureate. An open mic is being arranged, and other readers to present on Sunday—watch this space for updates. We will also be providing docent-led tours of Markham House on both days. This event is a unique way to make connections with the arts community; we hope to see you there!

For more information: www.tapestryartssanjose.com
Volunteers are needed for PCSJ's participation in this event. You can respond to poetsatplay@pcsj.org, or phone Dennis Noren at 408-368-0353.

POETRY READINGS @ WILLOW GLEN LIBRARY
Third Thursday of Every Month
Thursday, August 18, 2011, 7:00 pm

Featured Reader: NICK BUTTERFIELD

Nick Butterfield has attended the Willow Glen Poetry Readings since its early inception in the mid 1990's, recalling Bill and Jean Emerson's hosting of the monthly event at the Willow Glen Bookstore. Nick and many other enthusiastic poets alike have contributed to the newly published Willow Glen Book Store Poetry Anthology, Remembering. Nick also wrote with the Peerless Poets for several years and took a semester of Poetry Writing at SJSU, and multiple workshops including Villa Montalvo. Nick still comes regularly to the Willow Glen Library Readings and he participates in the Willow Glen Poetry Project and online anthology of poems each month.

Nick says, "I wrote my first poem when I was 13 years old next to a newly planted apple tree in my backyard in Boulder Colorado." The poem was called "My Darkened Room." Nick draws from his life experiences as a Nurse and Nurse Practitioner in the Emergency Room and Community Clinics and Homeless Projects in Santa Clara County for the last 25 years. Also, his experiences as an avid Cross Country runner with the Spartan Running Team and a long distance traveler ranging from Papua New Guinea to Mt. Sinai, Peru, Guatemala to the China Wall Marathon in 2006 and Running with the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain and recently camping in Alaska, inform his work. "I include Death Valley National Park experiences as one of my favorite places to write about," he says.

Willow Glen Library
1157 Minnesota Avenue, San Jose, CA, 95125
(408) 808-3045 or (408) 266-1361
Free and open to the public

POETS @ PLAY
Sunday, August 21, 1:00 pm

Have you ever wanted a quiet place to write? Or an informal gathering for collaborating with fellow poets about works in progress? That’s what Poets@Play is all about. We alternate between writing and sharing our works in progress. This is not a workshop, but rather a playhouse – some starter ideas and a comfortable place to play with words. Registration is encouraged, but not required, at poetsatplay@pcsj.org (we can also provide you with information on how to avoid a parking fee).

Edwin Markham House in History Park
1650 Senter Road, San José, CA 95112
Free and open to the public

SPIRIT OF '45 DAY
Saturday, August 13, 12:30 to 4:00 pm
History Park is hosting "Keep the Spirit of 45 Alive," commemorating the 66th anniversary of the end of World War II. PCSJ and other History Park organizations and exhibits will recognize veterans and remember some of the cultural icons of the period: Rosie the riveter, the music, the dress, dance, and autos. PCSJ will present children's activities and tours of Markham House.

Edwin Markham House in History Park
1650 Senter Road, San José, CA 95112
Admission $5, under 12 free, 65 and older free, parking $6

GARDEN(ING) PARTY:
Volunteer Opportunity at PCSJ's Markham House
Saturday, July 30, 2011, 9:00 am to noon

Saturday, July 30, we are having a garden party. That is, a gardening party. We need some kind and able folks to come by PCSJ's Markham House in San Jose's History Park to help with some pruning and weeding. It needs quite a bit of attention, but with your help, we should be able to make the garden look very presentable. Anyone with experience in pruning technique for our California-native garden is especially welcome, but any help would be appreciated. If you can help, send email to poetsatplay@pcsj.org, or contact Dennis Noren at 408-368-0353.

Edwin Markham House in History Park
1650 Senter Road, San José, CA 95112

POETRY READINGS @ WILLOW GLEN LIBRARY
Third Thursday of Every Month
Thursday, July 21, 2011, 7:00 pm

Featured Reader: Nils Peterson

Nils will be signing books and reading from A Walk to the Center of Things. This is the first book of PCSJ's Caesura Editions series and all current members of PCSJ will receive a copy.

NILS PETERSON is Professor Emeritus at San José State University where he taught in the English and Humanities Departments. He has published poetry, science fiction, and articles on subjects as varied as golf and Shakespeare. He was nominated for a 2005 Pushcart Prize. His publications include Here Is No Ordinary Rejoicing, The Comedy of Desire, Driving a Herd of Moose to Durango, For This Day, Revenge of the Socks, and now A Walk to the Center of Things.

Willow Glen Library
1157 Minnesota Avenue, San Jose, CA, 95125
(408) 808-3045 or (408) 266-1361
Free and open to the public

PCSJ Membership Celebration:
Pick Up Your Cæsura Party
Saturday, June 25, 2011, 4:00 pm

One of the perks of being a member of PCSJ is to receive a copy of Cæsura. This year, there is a special edition, a collection of poems by Nils Peterson entitled A Walk to the Center of Things. To celebrate its publication and to begin the distribution, we are having a Pick Up Your Copy Party at Flight Wine Bar in Cupertino on Saturday, June 25. Come about 4 o'clock and enjoy a glass of wine. Nils will read a few poems from it about 4:30. It is a handsome book. Joe Miller and Erica Goss did a great job in design and layout using the work of Patrick Surgalski that he created for his print show at the San Jose Museum of Art.

Here is the press release for the book: Poetry Center San Jose is proud to present as its first offering in its new publication series, Cæsura Editions, Nils Peterson's A Walk to the Center of Things. Nils Peterson was chosen as the first Poet Laureate of Santa Clara County because of the many years he spent making poets and poetry available to the public, his encouragement of young writers, and for his own work. This collection of confirms the wisdom of that choice and is our way to support poetry in a time when institutional funding is disappearing.

About the book Jane Hirshfield has said, "A lifetime's attention to both writing and living buoys these intimate, intelligent, sometimes chastened, sometimes celebratory, but always compassionate pages." Joseph Stroud added, "Varied in subject and manner, his poems embody a deep pleasure and wonder in being alive, and they bring us into the company of a larger life." Robert Bly adds Nils Peterson's poems show "great affection for the feminine, and they are wonderfully patient with human confusion."

NILS PETERSON is Professor Emeritus at San José State University where he taught in the English and Humanities Departments. He has published poetry, science fiction, and articles on subjects as varied as golf and Shakespeare. He was nominated for a 2005 Pushcart Prize. His publications include Here Is No Ordinary Rejoicing, The Comedy of Desire, Driving a Herd of Moose to Durango, For This Day, Revenge of the Socks, and now A Walk to the Center of Things.

Flight Wine & Food
20333 Stevens Creek Boulevard Cupertino, CA 95014
Free and open to the public

POETRY READINGS @ WILLOW GLEN LIBRARY
Third Thursday of Every Month
Thursday, May 19, 2011, 7:00 pm

Featured Reader: HARRY LAFNEAR

HARRY LAFNEAR is a founding member of the Association of Poetry Podcasting, and of the Willow Glen Poetry Project. He is also the Assistant Treasurer of Poetry Center San José.

Harry is an award winning poet and a showcased poetry performer. His work has been featured on IndieFeed Performance Poetry, Cloudy Day Art, Slam Idol, PoetGuru, and in Poems About Santa Clara County. His audio podcast, "The Everyday Muse," a year-long experiment in writing daily poetry, was syndicated on BZoO Worldwide Radio Online. Professionally, Harry has co-authored the classic "Time Bandit" video game series, plotted data from the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, and run a Las Vegas sign shop specializing in fine-art giclée. His present occupation also mixes technology and art: Harry is a technical publications expert and graphic designer for IBM. Harry currently lives in Milpitas, California, with his spouse, Stephen.

Also, if you wish to be included in the Willow Glen Poetry Project, please bring a hard copy of the poem and email it to willowglenpoetry@gmail.com. Posting of March’s poems has begun. Of course, it's okay if you just want to read your poem.

Willow Glen Library
1157 Minnesota Avenue, San Jose, CA, 95125
(408) 808-3045 or (408) 266-1361
Free and open to the public

WORKSHOP:
No Ideas But In Things:
Working with Images in Poetry
A Generative Workshop for Women with poets Erica Goss and Mari L’Esperance
Saturday, May 14, 2011, 10 am to 4 pm

Without images (or “word pictures”), a poem is air. Images in poems ground and enliven us and connect us to the world of sensation, our bodies, and our essential beingness. Poets also use images as platforms for transcending the merely personal; this use of imagery imbues the poem with universal resonance, with the numinous. In this day-long workshop, we will consider several poems in terms of their use of images and also generate our own writing in a welcoming, receptive, and non-judgmental setting. Attendance is limited to 10 participants (sorry, women only) to encourage a spirit of fellowship and open exchange.

Whether you are new to poetry or have a regular writing practice, we hope you will join us.

Cost:
PLEASE NOTE: We've reduced the price for the workshop to $85 (from $100). If you have already paid, we will refund the difference to you at the workshop. (includes beverages, bagels, fruit, wine and cheese)

How to Register:
Contact Mari L’Esperance at asphodel_ml@att.net to 1) inquire if space remains and 2) register (full payment by check only is due by 4/30).

What to Bring:
Sack lunch, favorite notebook(s) and writing instrument(s)

What Will be Provided:
Refreshments, reading handouts, paper, pens, some art supplies

Erica Goss’s poems, articles and reviews have appeared in many journals, most recently Hotel Amerika, Pearl, Main Street Rag, Rattle, Eclectica, Blood Lotus, Café Review, Zoland Poetry, Comstock Review, and Perigee. She won the first Edwin Markham Poetry Prize in 2007, judged by California’s Poet Laureate Al Young, and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2009. Erica teaches creative writing and humanities in the Bay Area and is a contributing editor for Cerise Press. She holds an MFA from San Jose State University.

Mari L'Esperance’s first full-length collection The Darkened Temple won the 2007 Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Poetry and was published in 2008 by the University of Nebraska Press. An earlier collection Begin Here was awarded a Sarasota Poetry Theatre Press Chapbook Prize. Mari's poems and prose have appeared most recently at Connotation Press: An Online Artifact, Poetry Kanto, Prairie Schooner, and Whale Sound. Born in Kobe, Japan, Mari is a graduate of the Creative Writing Program at New York University and the recipient of fellowships and grants from the New York Times, Hedgebrook, and Dorland Mountain Arts Colony.

This workshop facilitated by Erica Goss and Mari L’Esperance.
Sponsored by Poetry Center San José.
Attendance by reservation only, and will be held at:

Edwin Markham House in History Park
1650 Senter Road, San José, CA 95112

POETS @ PLAY
Second Sunday of Most Months
Sunday, April 10, 1 to 4 pm

Edwin Markham House in History Park
1650 Senter Road, San José, CA 95112
Free and open to the public

SECOND ANNUAL POETRY INVITATIONAL
Saturday, April 9, 1pm

Nils Peterson, Santa Clara County’s poet laureate, will gather ten area poets to read original works inspired by the art on view at SJMA. Presented in collaboration with Poetry Center San José and Arts Council Silicon Valley. Participating poets will be: Len Anderson of Santa Cruz; Sally Ashton of Los Gatos (the upcoming poet laureate of Santa Clara County); Niki Escobar of Milpitas; Parthenia Hicks of Los Gatos; Persis Karim of Berkeley; David Perez of Campbell, Doren Robbins of Santa Cruz; and Vuong Vu of San Jose.

Free with Museum Admission: (Adults: $8, Students & Seniors: $5, Free admission for SJMA members and children six and under)

San Jose Museum of Art
110 South Market Street
San Jose, California 95113
Contact: info@sjmusart.org, 408.271.6840

A TRIBUTE TO NILS PETERSON
Friday, March 18, 2011, 7:00pm

An evening of readings and tributes to Nils Peterson, Santa Clara County’s first poet laureate, with former California Poet Laureate Al Young and a group of Peterson’s former students and colleagues, many of whom are distinguished Bay Area writers, poets, and teachers. Cosponsored by PCSJ and presented by The SJSU Department of English and Comparative Literature. Nils is widely published poet, writer, and editor of literary journals. He is professor emeritus at SJSU where he taught from 1963 to 1999, and is a co-founder of Poetry Center San José.

San José State University
Student Union Barrett Ballroom
Free and open to the public

POETRY READINGS @ WILLOW GLEN LIBRARY
Third Thursday of Every Month
Thursday, January 20, 2011, 7:00 pm

Tamam Kahn, featured poet

open mic reading will follow

Willow Glen Library
1157 Minnesota Avenue, San Jose, CA, 95125
(408) 808-3045 or (408) 266-1361

Tamam Kanh has written a "Prosimetrum" (prose with lyric poetry embedded in the narrative). Fred Chappell, first Poet Laureate of North Carolina, writes: the narrative "provides understanding, the abrupt bursts of poetry offer exhilaration." This non-fiction/poetry writing provides a vehicle for presenting history that hasn't been told to most of us – the story of the wives of Prophet Muhammad.

Tamam presents her findings at women’s gatherings, in schools and universities, and at conferences and festivals worldwide. She was invited in 2009 to read her poems in Marrakesh, Morocco, by invitation from the Royal government. At present she is on a tour of bookstores with her book: Untold: A History of the Wives of Prophet Muhammad, Monkfish Books, September, 2010. Tamam lives in San Rafael with Shabda Kahn, her husband of 34 years. She is also editor of The Sound Journal.

PCSJ POT LUCK
Saturday, January 22, 2011, 12:00 noon

Empire Fire House
History Park
1650 Senter Road
San José CA 95112

Please join members and friends of Poetry Center San José in a pot luck luncheon to ring in the new year. This event is FREE, except we hope you will bring a dish to share.