Monthly

Poetry First!
Co-sponsored by the Creative Writing Department at San José State University
1st Tuesday of Each Month
7:30 PM
South First Billiards (New Venue!)
www.sofapool.com
420 South First St., San Jose

Admission: FREE

Remember: You must be 21 or over (you can be way over) to join the festivities which begin at 7:30PM, with an open mic to follow.


Poetry Reading @
Willow Glen Books
2nd Thursday of Each Month
7:00 PM
Willow Glen Books
1330 Lincoln Ave.
San Jose, CA 95125

Admission: FREE

MAY

May 3rd

Haiku in the Tea House
Japanese Friendship Garden, Kelley Park
Senter Road, San Jose

10:00 to 12:00 noon:
Haiku Workshop

12:00 Noon to 1:30 p.m.:
Garden walk and haiku writing

1:30 to 3:30 p.m.:
Featured Readers - June Hymas, Patrick Gallagher, and Ann Bendixen

There will be light refreshments and an open-mic haiku reading.

This event is co-sponsered by PCSJ and the Yuki Teiki Haiku Society.

May 6th

Poetry First!
Featuring Carolyn Dille and Linda Lappin

Carolyn Dille is a poet and writer who leads workshops and retreats in many forms of creative expression. Her poetry has been awarded recognition by the Poetry Society of America as finalist for the Emily Dickinson Prize and by the Jentel Foundation with Artist Residency fellowships. Her works in progress include Well, a collection of poems, Waking Creativity, a book on meditative awareness and creative process, and Memory's Body, a multimedia interactive installation in collaboration with a visual artist.

Linda Lappin graduated last May from SJSU with an MFA in Poetry and continues to work with local poets Sally Ashton and Nils Petersen as well as Ellen Bass (when she can) and Diane DiPrima. Her collection Not Far From the Tree is in the final editing phase and will be sent out next fall. She has been published in Convergence, Schuylkill Valley Journal, S'nscr't, and The Coe Review.

May 8th

Poetry Reading at Willow Glen Books
Featuring Rachelle Escamilla

Rachelle Linda Escamilla, born and raised in Hollister, California often finds herself amid two worlds: that of her ancestry and America. Assuming jobs in orchards, fast food chains, and car washes, she was exposed to the lower tiers of the socio-economic structure in America where she realized that she was neither American, Mexican, nor Chicana.
"There is a place between the hybrids Chicano and Mexican-American, I haven't found the term for such a place, but I find myself there more often than not".
Rachelle's poetry is fueled by compelling narrative and distinct images fashioned from the shady area of assimilation which she inhabits.

Rachelle, along with other poetry enthusiasts, spearheaded the Poets and Writers Coalition at San Jose State University. The Poets and Writers Coalition (PWC) is an organization built to generate and maintain a strong creative writing community on campus and in the greater Bay Area. She has performed her work alongside noted San Jose poets Samuel Maio, Alan Soldofsky, Persis Karim, Kate Evans, Nills Peterson, Sally Ashton, Lorna Dee Cervantes, Jeredith Merrin, Kathleen Lynch, Sandra McPherson, and many more.

Rachelle is a three-time James Phelan Award winner, and the recipient of Honorable Mention in SJSU's Legacy of Poetry contest. She currently works as an assistant Event Coordinator in the School of Library and Information Science at SJSU, is the poetry editor for Reed Magazine's 2008 issue, and has been accepted into University of Pittsburgh's MFA program in poetics.

May 10th

The Marin Poets:
Susan Terris, CB Follett, Anthony Russell White

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. LIbrary
150 E. San Fernando Street
Downtown San Jose
Second Floor, Room 225
2:00PM
Admission: FREE

SUSAN TERRIS' poetry books include Natural Defenses, Fire is Favorable to the Dreamer, Poetic License, Curved Space, and Eye of the Holocaust. Her work appears in many anthologies and reviews, and with CB Follett, she is co-editor of the annual, Runes, a Review of Poetry. Her next book, Contraiwise, will be published in 2008. Terris is also a winner of the Pushcart Award.

CB FOLLETT won the 2001 National Poetry Book Award from Salmon Run Press, and has been published in numerous reviews and anthologies. Five of her poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, and she also has been nominated as an individual. Her five collections of poetry include Hold and Release. She is the publisher/editor at Arctos Press.

ANTHONY RUSSELL WHITE serves on the staff of the Nine Gates Mystery School. A poetic high point for him was a visit to teh tomb of Jelaluddin Rumi at Konya, Turkey. White is still awed by Rumi's poetry. William Stafford has been another major influence. White admires the way Stafford's quiet, plain language still manages to go quite deep in a few lines.

May 18th

The St. Mark's Poetry Project Presents
Poetry in Song
Featuring Nils Peterson

St. Mark's Episcopal Church
1957 Pruneridge Avenue, Santa Clara
2:00 p.m.
Donation: $10

This event benefits the St. Mark's Poetry Proejct and Poetry Center San Jose's 2009 California Poets Festival.