#Phoenix Poet Laureate

[p-isforpoetry]

Zoological Positivism Blues by Paul Muldoon (read by Gabriel Byrne)

Come with me to the petting zoo Its waist high turnstile gate Come with me to the petting zoo We’ll prove it’s not too late For them to corner something new They can humiliate You know the zoo in Phoenix Park Began with one wild boar It’s in the zoo in Phoenix Park We heard the lion roar And disappointment made its mark On the thorn forest floor

I guess we’ll hire two folding bikes They rent them by the day I guess we’ll hire two folding bikes And you’ll meet me halfway Why do orangutans look like They’re wearing bad toupees? The mealworm and the cricket snacks The tender foliage The mealworm and the cricket snacks They’re still stored in a fridge For when the polar bears start back Across the old land bridge

You snuggled up to me at dawn For fear I’d oversleep You snuggled up to me at dawn The tickets are dirt cheap For outings in the carriage drawn

By two Merino sheep So come with me to the petting zoo And we’ll see how things stand Come with me to the petting zoo I’ll learn to take commands I’m sure we’ll find something to do If we’ve time on our hands

Source: Guardian Visuals, 2015

In 2015 actors including James Franco, Ruth Wilson, Gabriel Byrne, Maxine Peake, Jeremy Irons, Kelly Macdonald and Michael Sheen read a series of 20 original poems on the theme of climate change, curated by UK poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy.

[biglisbonnews]

Arizona Falls in Phoenix, Arizona Located in northeastern Phoenix, on the edge of Scottsdale, this unusual attraction highlights a waterfall created in 1883 during the construction of the Arizona Canal. When contractor William J. Murphy and his team came upon a natural 20-foot drop, they decided to incorporate the drop into a new waterfall. Locals started coming to the spot for picnics and recreation, enjoying the cool mist of the waterfall and the area's shady trees. In 1902, Phoenix's first hydroelectric power plant was built at the site and was then rebuilt and updated in 1911. The power plant encased the falls and a dance floor was built on the plant's roof. The plant was shut down in 1950 when necessary repairs and maintenance were deemed too expensive for the plant to continue operation. Over the ensuing years, interest in the site waxed and waned until the city of Phoenix and the water and power organization Salt River Project (SRP) joined forces to create a new hydroelectric plant and public recreational park featuring art installations and educational materials. The current park opened in 2003. Mags Harries, a sculptor, and her husband Lajos Heder, an architect, designed the falls alongside landscape architect Steve Martino.The park features overlooks and a concrete deck where visitors can sit and feel the waterfall's spray. At the park, there's a boulder from each of the dam sites SRP manages, gears from the original powerhouse, and thematic poetry by Alberto Rios, Arizona's first poet laureate, that's been sandblasted into the concrete. Signs throughout the park explain the history of the site, hydroelectric power, and how the white amur fish helps clear the water of weeds and algae. https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/arizona-falls

[jamieroxxartist]

✔ Mark Your Calendars: Thursday Oct 13 on 🎨#JamieRoxx’s Pop Roxx Radio 🎙️#TalkShow and 🎧#Podcast w/ Featured Guest:

#MichaelColeman of #SeeYourShadowSongwriting ​(#Country)

☎ Lines will be open (347) 850.8598 Call in with your Questions and Comments Live on the Air.

● Click here to Set a Reminder: http://tobtr.com/12152333

Pop Art Painter Jamie #Roxx (www.JamieRoxx.us) welcomes Michael Coleman of #SeeYourShadowSongwriting (Country) to the Show!

● WEB: www.seeyourshadow.com ● FB: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100059696545177

See Your Shadow Songwriting is a musical creation entity currently based out of Phoenix, Arizona. Run by Michael Coleman, aka The Metropolitan Cowboy, See Your Shadow is unique in the fact that it is a collaborative network of talented vocalists and musicians who make the songs it creates their star.  Michael Coleman, the artistic director of See Your Shadow Songwriting, writes and produces all the songs created and released by See Your Shadow Songwriting.  See Your Shadow was launched in Columbus, Ohio, and takes its name from Michael Coleman’s birthday being Groundhog Day.  Michael Coleman and See Your Shadow Songwriting’s lyrical writing style packs such a punch, that Michael has earned the distinction of being the only professional songwriter ever nominated for the office of Poet Laureate for the State of Ohio.

​● Media Inquiries: MTS Management Group/MTS Records www.mtsmanagementgroup.com

[finishinglinepress]

FLP POETRY BOOK OF THE DAY: Inheritance Of Aging Self by Lucinda Marshall

TO ORDER GO TO: https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/inheritance-of-aging-self-by-lucinda-marshall/ Please share/please repost [PROMO] RESERVE YOUR COPY TODAY

Lucinda Marshall is the Founder of both the DiVerse Gaithersburg (MD) Poetry Reading, and the Gaithersburg (MD) Poetry Workshop. Her poetry has won awards from Waterline Writers, Third Wednesday, and Montgomery Magazine, and has been published in numerous journals, including Global Poemics, Broadkill Review, Foliate Oak, The Rising Phoenix Review, and Poetica, as well as in the anthologies “Poems in the Aftermath” (Indolent Books), “You Can Hear The Ocean” (Brighten Press), “Is It Hot In Here Or Is It Just Me?” (Beautiful Cadaver Project), and “We Will Not Be Silenced” (Indie Blu(e) Publishing). She lives in Maryland and is also an accomplished mixed media and fabric artist.

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR Inheritance Of Aging Self by Lucinda Marshall

In this “landscape steeped in loss,” Lucinda Marshall beautifully reminds us to cleave to our memories: scent memories, rearranged and fractured memories, body memories that get absorbed back into the universe. These poems are infused with wisdom to help guide us through the legacy of our own non-being, instructing us to observe the “autumnal dancers”: “a brittle reminder of/ shy green finery/ cautiously unfurled/ in spring’s early sun-warmth,/ hurtling now with grim finality/ into a soggy mosaic/ of brief decoration/ on soon frozen ground.”

–Nancy Naomi Carlson, Author of An Infusion of Violets, Associate Editor, Tupelo Press

From the very beginning of her collection–the title, Inheritance Of Aging Self–Marshall’s approach is satisfyingly clear and direct. Marshall writes about losing people she’s loved, as well as her own mortality, with an insight born of contemplation and wisdom. There is a refreshing frankness to her reflections on illness, aging, memory and death—in “End of Life Directive,” for example, she defies us to rethink our simplistic conceptions of the line between life and death: “one ought not/to presume dichotomies/because edges are ill-defined.” The work is personal, yet universal, resonating long after one turns the last page.

–Tara Campbell, Author of Political AF, Midnight at the Organporium, Circe’s Bicycle, and TreeVolution

Lucinda Marshall’s Inheritance Of Aging Self engages poetry’s time-honored themes about time passing, but with bright defiant narrations that refresh language and activate the imagination. This poet is always watching, noting each moment in human existence, indenting everything with her inimitable fingerprint. Whether in the garden of Eden where “survival was never promised,” or practicing yoga, she speaks of “perpetually rearranged memories…” and then she manifests them. This creative experience would be nothing without lyricism, prosody, and deep feelings. Marshall gives all of this, and much more, with her memorable new collection.

–Grace Cavalieri, Maryland Poet Laureate

#flpauthor #preorder #AwesomeCoverArt #poetry

[superstitionrev]

#ArtLitPhx: Four Chambers presents Get Lit: Rupi Kaur, Instagram Poets, and the Politics of Craft

#ArtLitPhx: Four Chambers presents Get Lit: Rupi Kaur, Instagram Poets, and the Politics of Craft

Inspired by the literary and philosophical salons of 17th century France, Four Chambers presents Get Lit: Rupi Kaur, Instagram Poets, and the Politics of Craft. Every month, Four Chambers hosts a night of conversation, community, and drinking with Phoenix Poet Laureate and ASU Lecturer of English Rosemarie Dombrowski, PhD.

This month’s event will take place Thursday, November 2nd, from 7pm to…

[thebattlelost]

#Knittle #Quotes #Poetry #Poet #Poets #Poem #Love #Heart #Soul #Giving #Children #Sons #instagrampoetry #instagram #Addiction #Recovery #Addict #PTSD #Veteran #Texas A Poets brother and father I'm closest with my younger brother beside me and father behind, I guess from out of the ashes new life is born like the mighty Phoenix except in the case old wounds are healed and new memories will be made. Poet Richard M Knittle Jr. A #Poets Journey Texas Poet Laureate Nominee 2016-2020 https://www.instagram.com/p/BuhHlKogLDU/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=mbyds7joshn5

[helloboundless]

We fell in love with National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman like so many others on January 20th. Having never heard of Amanda, we were instantly awestruck when she took the stage in her glowing golden jacket and red band. She looked like a delicate bird. She sang like one, too. Her poetry was a soothing melody that healed America's wounds like phoenix tears. The grace of her hands were like two synchronized dancers. We quickly fell into a trance. Above all else, her message has stayed with us. ⁠ ⁠ Rise. Rebuild. Reconcile. Recover. ⁠ ⁠ She gave us what we needed to hear; what this nation needed to hear: hope. We are not broken, simply "unfinished." Now is the time to come together and lift our hands toward each other. Only together can we heal. As she so elegantly spoke... ⁠ ⁠ "there is always light, if only we're brave enough to see it, if only we're brave enough to be it."⁠ ⁠ We are so excited to celebrate Black History Month! We've got books to read, programs to watch, actions to take, businesses to support, inspirational folx to follow. Cannot wait to share some of our plans with you and hear what you've got going on!⁠ ⁠ This list isn't something we bust out only for special occasions. Our core values of integrity, intention, altruism, abundance, balance and optimism inform the decisions we make on a daily basis. In living in alignment with these values, we naturally navigate the space we're in with devotion to equity, equality and justice. Black History Month shouldn't be 28 days of doing good, hard work meant to sustain your feelings of allyship until the following February. This is work and reveling we should commit to every single day to ensure the change we desperately need in our society.⁠ ⁠ So tell us, what do you have on the agenda? Anything you think we'd all love to join you in celebrating? Please share! ✊🏿✊🏾✊🏽✊🏼✊🏻✊⁠ @sacred_ruins⁠ & @foreignspell⁠ ⁠ #blackhistorymonth #blacklivesmatter # blm #amandagorman #thehillweclimb #poetry #poetsofinstagram #writersofinstagram #poet #inspiration #justice #equality #equity #ally #healamerica #allyship #risetogether #standtogether #surj #showupforracialjustice #advocacy #change #hope #racialjustice https://www.instagram.com/p/CK2eogOn8UZ/?igshid=o83tq5ug7fm7

[inside-liminale]

#BlackLivesMatter (2)

InSide-Liminale, Alice ed io, sosteniamo la causa del #blacklivesmatter.

Sia come individui che come collettivo di lavoro, siamo impegnati nella lotta contro qualsiasi tipologia di razzismo. Ci stiamo attivamente mettendo all’opera su come possiamo sostenere la nostra comunità sia negli Stati Uniti che a livello internazionale. E’ nostro compito interrogarci sul nostro rapporto con le questioni politiche, razziali ed economiche e indagare su come il nostro lavoro può portare verso il cambiamento. Non abbiamo delle risposte, ma vogliamo apportare il nostro contributo.

Queste sono alcune risorse che abbiamo raccolto e che vorremmo condividere con voi come strumento di sostegno e di apprendimento in merito al tema.

Articles:

“The Death of George Floyd, In Context,” by Jelani Cobb of The New Yorker

“Of Course There Are Protests. The State Is Failing Black People,” by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor for the New York Times

“This Is How Loved Ones Want Us To Remember George Floyd,” by Alisha Ebrahimji for CNN.

The New York Times Magazine’s award-winning The 1619 Project is as important as ever. Take some time to read (or re-read) the entire thing, particularly this essay by Nikole Hannah-Jones

“You shouldn’t need a Harvard degree to survive birdwatching while black,” by Samuel Getachew, a 17-year-old and the 2019 Oakland youth poet laureate, for the Washington Post

“It’s exhausting. How many hashtags will it take for all of America to see Black people as more than their skin color?” by Rita Omokha for Elle

“The Case for Reparations,” by Ta-Nehisi Coates for The Atlantic

“How to Make This Moment the Turning Point for Real Change,” by Barack Obama in Medium

Books:

The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson

Can we talk about race? Why are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria by Beverly Daniel Tatum

A Spectacular Secret: Lynching in American Life and Literature by Jacqueline Goldsby

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo

Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah

How To Be An Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo

Biased by Dr. Jennifer Eberhardt

Wilmington’s Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy by David Zucchino

Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children In A Racially Unjust America by Jennifer Harvey

The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of  How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin https://www.amazon.com/Fire-Next-Time-James-Baldwin/dp/067974472X

Books for Black Dance Legacy

Dancing the Black Question: The Phoenix Dance Company Phenomenon

By: Christy Adair

Performing Blackness: Enactments of African-American Modernism

By: Kimberly W. Benston

Dancing Many Drums: Excavations in African American Dance

By: Thomas DeFrantz

Dancing Revelations: Alvin Ailey’s Embodiment of African American Culture

By: Thomas DeFrantz

Marion D. Cuyjet and her Judimar School of Dance. Training Ballerinas in Black Philadelphia 1948-1971

By: Melanye White Dixon

African-American Performance and Theater History: A Critical Reader

By: Harry Justin Elam, David Krasner

The Royalty of Negro Vaudeville: The Whitman Sisters and the Negotiation of Race, Gender, Class in African American Theatre: 1900-1940

By: Nadine George-Graves

The Black Dancing Body: A Geography from Coon to Cool

By: Brenda Dixon Gottschild

The Black Tradition in American Dance

By: Richard A. Long, Joe Nash

Dancing in Blackness. A Memoir: The Life and Times of Halifu Osumare

By: Halifu Osumare

WHAT TO LISTEN TO

podcast episode with Jamie Foxx, Michael B. Jordan, and Bryan Stevenson about Just Mercy

1619, a New York Times Podcast,  an audio series on how slavery has transformed America, connecting past and present through the oldest form of storytelling. Nikole Hannah-Jones

Still Processing, a New York Times culture podcast with Jenna Wortham and Wesley Morrison

Seeing White, a Scene on the Radio podcast

Code Switch, an NPR podcast tackling race from all angles

Jemele Hill is Unbothered, a podcast with award-winning journalist Jemele Hill

Hear To Slay, “the black feminist podcast of your dreams,” with Roxane Gay and Tressie McMillan Cottom

[mochasuga]

What’s a Phoenix To a Toni? When I Die, I Want To Come Back As The Poet Laureate Herself As Burning Pages Of Trauma And Healing And Bullshit and Past And Future And Quiet And Loud Be So Bad Ass I Could Lift Up a Crowd With My Pen Quills Become Erect Every Moment Morrison Morphs The Mundane Into Mayhem. May My Life, The Courageous Calluses Of My Palms Be Unbreakable, Never-Ending Ode  To The Woman That Wrote Books Of Gold. For Toni X DictionKanari 🐦📖🎙 #GradSeason #Unstoppable #BlkGyalMjk #BlackWritersMatter #BookWorm #BachelorsInArts (at The University of South Alabama) https://www.instagram.com/p/B552AIvAWV3/?igshid=shoahqsbht22

[transcribespeech]

German Translation Services

There are around 120 million speakers of German in 8 countries around the globe. German isn't only native to Germany: it is the official or co-official language in Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol in Italy, part of Belgium, and Luxembourg. It is the main language of around 95 million individuals and the most broadly spoken language in the European Union.

German is likewise a standout amongst the most generally shown foreign languages in the world.

The various types of German

With such a large number of speakers spread crosswise over eight countries around the globe, the usage of German will undoubtedly fluctuate making it a pluricentric language.

In the event that one has known about High and Low German, one must understand that it doesn't allude to any social order: this grouping alludes to the geographical part of Germany where the adaptation of the language was/is spoken.

Low German (Niederdeutsch or Plattdeutsch) is spoken in the low-lying region of northern Germany. It is an old form of German in utilize even today. Low German likewise advanced over the seas to the USA, Canada, and Brazil with the Mennonites when they left Germany to keep away from religious pressure.

High or Upper German (Oberdeutsch or Hochdeutsch) was originally utilized in the southern highlands of Germany. It was promoted due to the interpretation of the Bible into German by Martin Luther in the sixteenth century.

This kind of German turned into the present Standard German.

Standard German is a blend of High German and distinctive tongues, 'falsely' made by poets, philosophers, and scholars. When we discuss German today, Standard German is the thing that we allude to, and this is what is instructed in all language schools.

Germany: England's nearby cousin

German and English are part of the West Germanic language family and are firmly related.

King George I of Great Britain was a German import from Hanover and, even today, the British Royal family has Teutonic (read German) heritage.

English To German Translation are connected languages however far apart as to require interpretation. With English being a dominant world language, it isn't surprising that translators and interpretation administrations are expected to travel openly between the two languages.

Deutsch nach Englisch: What is the requirement for interpretation into English and the other way around?

Germany: the economic powerhouse

The conspicuous answer is that Germany is a capacity to figure with even today when the world has come to mean the United States of America to a great many people.

Simply consider that Hitler had conveyed Germany to decimation-financially and morally-toward the finish of World War II in 1945. Today, Germany is the biggest national economy in Europe with the fifth biggest GDP in the world. It has risen like the Phoenix from the fiery remains of WW II.

In 2016, Germany had the most elevated exchange surplus in the world worth $310 billion. This makes the country an export mammoth. Germany, truth be told, exports $1.27 trillion in merchandise and ventures each year.

Business and exchange with Germany are very attractive. All economic activity requires contracts, correspondence, documentation and legal activity: in short, every one of the wheels of commerce must be lubed to cut the arrangements. This is absurd if communication is a hindrance. Professional interpretation administrations of the most noteworthy quality are, in this manner, in great demand.

Germany: the focal point of culture

German philosophers like Kant, Nietzsche, and Schopenhauer, have molded western theory.

Mozart and Beethoven were German goliaths who walked the western established music scene. Today, Germany is the biggest music advertise in Europe and the third biggest in the world.

10% of all books distributed worldwide are in the German Language.

German cinema, media, workmanship and design, are no less famous.

Man does not live by bread alone: the finer crafts of life are what place people as the most astounding form of Nature's manifestations. Without German to English interpretation, we stand to lose all that Germany brings to the table in such manner.

Germany: the innovator in Science, Engineering and Technology

Germany has been home to the most prominent of researchers and analysts, generating more Nobel laureates than some other country. Einstein was a German: need more be said?

Germany is a world head in innovation. Leading colleges and research institutes initiate way breaking work in innovation and science and work in close collaboration with manufacturing and major engineering mammoths.

On the off chance that the Arts are important to a raised life, the sciences and engineering innovation are important to life itself.

The allowed forward and backward stream of learning and information is unthinkable without German to English interpretation. Such interpretation must be exact, proficient, and very much explored: just a specialist is able to do such an errand.

Germany: home to mammoth producers

Germany is a gigantic manufacturing center point. Who hasn't known about German-made vehicles? Mercedes Benz, Daimler, Porsche, Volkswagen, and BMW are brands that make your heart beat quicker.

Pharmaceutical companies like Bayer and Siemens, sporting hotshot Adidas, and Faber-Castell stationery are the very tip of the German manufacturing chunk of ice, however hot properties in the global scene too.

Need to exchange with the Germans? Being two-tongued takes on new meaning.

In conclusion, it must be expressed that the world needs to interact with Germany as well as needs to. We can't divorce the ubiquity of a language from the favorable global impression of the country of its birth. At the end of the day, German is a looked for after language globally in light of the fact that its Vaterland is a favored country.

A global opinion survey by the BBC uncovered that Germany is the second most regarded country in the world among FIFTY countries and that it has had the best influence in the world since 2011.

[ourladyofdiscord]

How Future Became The Poet Laureate Of Percocet (PHOENIX NEW TIMES) Here's 1 (of 2!) pieces I wrote for the Phoenix New Times about everybody's favorite codeine-crazed, pill-popping rapper. Phoenix New Times: How Future Became The Poet Laureate Of Percocet

[jamieroxxartist]

Tonight's Episode #1292 of 🎨#JamieRoxx’s Pop Roxx Radio 🎙️#TalkShow and 🎧#Podcast w/ Featured Guest: #MichaelColeman of See Your Shadow Songwriting ​(#Country) has now been converted to a PODCAST and is now archived (for FREE) at: ✔ www.PopRoxxRadio.com also on wherever you Stream or Download Podcasts at, Including: ✔ BlogTalkRadio: http://tobtr.com/12152333 ✔ Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/yynbdbky ✔ Apple Podcasts: https://tinyurl.com/hjdpqb6 ✔ iHeartRadio: https://tinyurl.com/yylvjl65 ✔ TuneIn: https://tinyurl.com/y34agloq ✔ Pandora: https://tinyurl.com/yygddano ✔ Google Podcasts: https://tinyurl.com/yazcmb88 ✔ VIP Ad FREE (all Podcasts) on Jamie Roxx's Patreon: www.patreon.com/JamieRoxx Pop Art Painter Jamie #Roxx (www.JamieRoxx.us) welcomes Michael Coleman of #SeeYourShadowSongwriting (Country) to the Show! ● WEB: www.seeyourshadow.com ● FB: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100059696545177 See Your Shadow Songwriting is a musical creation entity currently based out of Phoenix, Arizona. Run by Michael Coleman, aka The Metropolitan Cowboy, See Your Shadow is unique in the fact that it is a collaborative network of talented vocalists and musicians who make the songs it creates their star.  Michael Coleman, the artistic director of See Your Shadow Songwriting, writes and produces all the songs created and released by See Your Shadow Songwriting.  See Your Shadow was launched in Columbus, Ohio, and takes its name from Michael Coleman’s birthday being Groundhog Day.  Michael Coleman and See Your Shadow Songwriting’s lyrical writing style packs such a punch, that Michael has earned the distinction of being the only professional songwriter ever nominated for the office of Poet Laureate for the State of Ohio. ​● Media Inquiries: MTS Management Group/MTS Records www.mtsmanagementgroup.com

[finishinglinepress]

FLP CHAPBOOK OF THE DAY: The Firetalker’s Daughter by Regina YC Garcia

ADVANCE ORDER: https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/the-firetalkers-daughter-by-regina-yc-garcia/

The Firetalker’s Daughter honors the power of #mother’s love and tender #teaching, the value of #ancestral gifting and wisdom, the necessity of mourning for movement, and the audacity to hope and act for a more just future. Spun along a motif of fire, these poems carry searing incantations that evoke an awareness of the relevance of the literal, figurative, and spiritual #fires that breathe down lines and throughout time.

Regina YC Garcia resides in Greenville, NC and is a Poet, Writer, Voice Artist, Narrator, and English Professor at Pitt Community College. She holds a BA in Speech Communication with a Concentration in the Oral Interpretation of Literature from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, as well as a Masters in Education with a Graduate Certificate in Multicultural and Transnational Literature from East Carolina University. She is the 2021 National DAR American Heritage Poetry Award Winner, a 2021 NCLR James Applewhite Semifinalist, and is published in a variety of journals and anthologies. Additionally, she has both written and video poetry featured in The South Florida Poetry Journal, Up the Staircase Quarterly, The Book of Black, Black and…, The Amistad, The Black Light Project (a documentary), and others. She additionally has upcoming work in Main Street Rag, and poetry and voice work to be featured in the Sacred 9 Project, a series of musical and literary compositions, arranged by Curtis Raybon, Director of Choirs at Tulane University. Regina is the mother of three grown sons and one ‘daughter-in-love, and is married to the wonderful Romeo A. Garcia, Jr.

PRAISE FOR The Firetalker’s Daughter by Regina YC Garcia

Spiritual incantation and unspoken ancestral magic singed and sparked my heart, as I moved through the language and gospel of Regina YC Garcia‘s debut collection The Firetalker’s Daughter. Charting a path through her lineage of healers and those who could “talk the fire” out of burns and wounds, the gift passed over her, she burns her own powerful impressions of Black Light onto the breaking world, like an ancestor alive and witnessing. “I cannot talk the fire / Yet, I am Fire… Truth / My ancient magic renders demons cold.” Garcia takes the reader into the depths of self, motherhood, social justice cries, the erasure of Black history by the fires of an all-consuming whiteness, mourning a lost daughter in Breonna Taylor, and yet, carrying an unwavering hope in “the rise of indomitable spirits from the embers.” The seeds of generations are scattered in these blazing words, torched open. These poems— a phoenix rising from, all around us, a world of ash.

–Kai Coggin, author of Mining for Stardust, Incandescent, and Wingspan

The Firetalker’s Daughter is an offering, incantation, and invocation that taps into the power physically or metaphorically of fire. Through expressions of the inner self, Regina YC Garcia’s poems tap into the questions of reconciling fearsome nature with goodness and peacefulness as seen through this divine elemental creation.

Scorching imagery and passion create wisps of smoke. Smoldering narratives become lightning bolts and poetic kindling igniting substantive undergrowth for a brighter day. The Firetalker’s Daughterinvites the blaze that always illuminates the before time of far tomorrows.

–Jaki Shelton Green, North Carolina Poet Laureate

Please share/please repost #flpauthor #preorder #AwesomeCoverArt #poetry #chapbook #read #poems #fire #motherhood

[superstitionrev]

#ArtLitPhx: Four Chambers Presents Get Lit: Capitalism

#ArtLitPhx: Four Chambers Presents Get Lit: Capitalism http://wp.me/p6jBdc-4be

Inspired by the literary and philosophical salons of 17th century France, Four Chambers presents Get Lit: Capitalism. Every month, Four Chambers hosts a night of conversation, community, and drinking with Phoenix Poet Laureate and ASU Lecturer of English Rosemarie Dombrowski, PhD.

This month’s event will take place Thursday, October 5th, from 7pm to 8pm. It will be held in the Reading Room…

[limejuicer1862]

Wombwell Rainbow Interviews

I am honoured and privileged that the following writers local, national and international have agreed to be interviewed by me. I gave the writers two options: an emailed list of questions or a more fluid interview via messenger.

The usual ground is covered about motivation, daily routines and work ethic, but some surprises too. Some of these poets you may know, others may be new to you. I hope you enjoy the experience as much as I do.

Jeanette Powers

is the founding editor of Stubborn Mule Press and a poet/painter with seven full length poetry books published, along with numerous gallery exhibitions and online journal publishing credits. They also are a founding member of FountainVerse: KC Small Press Poetry Fest, an annual festival celebrating the indie press poetry world and which has featured international and US based presses over three days each October. Powers has been awarded grants for the poetry fest, as well as for the POP POETRY: #12poetsin12months series which featured 36 KC based poets over three years in collaboration with Spartan Press. Their personal work focuses on feelings, avoiding the political and investigating the internal wonderscape of relationships, family and emotions in a way designed to reach beyond identity while staying fiercely personal. Their newest book, “Sparkler Princess vs Suicidal Phoenix” is available through their website at jeanettepowers.com and you can follow Jeanette at @novel_cliche .

https://stubbornmulepress.com/

https://jeanettepowers.com/

The Interview

1. When and why did you start writing poetry?

I started writing very young. I was reading before even kindergarten and have always been a library brat. It just always felt right to be creative. I think all children probably feel this way, or at least do until they get a device in their hand. I didn’t get a phone till I was 32. Why did I start writing? I figured out that in my imagination, I am completely free. There are no hold barred, no limitations. I thrive in environments like that, and have just never stopped writing.

2. Who introduced you to poetry?

Wow, what an amazing question. I guess maybe was my fourth grade teacher, I definitely wrote my first poem in 4th grade. It was about a pegasus that I rode into the moonlight. But I wasn’t taken with poetry until high school when I was reading books from my school library. And I mean I really went through libraries as a kid, but this was the first one where I found the poetry section. I remember finding ee cummings and Sylvia Plath, but the poet that really took my breath away and whose book I stole was James Dickey. I think of that book often still, and here it is again. When I moved to the city after graduating, my education in poetry began in earnest, going to open mics and meeting lots of people who were voracious readers like me. It was a beautiful space in my life to be filled in with the classics and with a lot of the great modern Masters. The last decade though has been much more dedicated to reading living, contemporary poets.

2.1. Why did James Dickey take your breath away?

I suppose he sort of reminded me of my grandfather; the poems make sense, they have a weight of history, they have a certain amount of existential angst without it becoming pained or mewling. There’s also a joy and just a raw humanity. It’s not necessarily the poet that I would pick off my shelf today, but he sure set wheels going in my head.

3. How aware are and were you of the dominating presence of older poets traditional and contemporary?

I guess in some ways I’m not that aware of it then or now. It’s just all about what is relatable or interesting in terms of what I read or collect. I certainly see how, in many ways, older poets have more access to doing poetry because putting books out and touring are both expensive endeavors. I think many of the younger or marginalized poets just don’t have the opportunity to be read and heard due to financial restrictions. Which is why I’m always such a huge fan of the no-fee submissions. Of course it’s difficult for everyone in every way, but I very much feel that if you are going to dedicate yourself to building a press that is inclusive, then not charging fees is essential.

4. What is your daily writing routine?

I have struggled with routines my whole life, always wanting and always being too much of a being made of chaos to make it work. However, what works best most of the time is for me to wake up in the morning and not think of anything else in the world except for my own art, whatever project I’m working on at the time. I can work anywhere from an hour to three or four if I get on a roll. Then I go do my make-money work, read, socialize, drink. Sometimes, though, a project really calls for something special in terms of a routine. For instance, I wrote a novella in 2018 which required me to start writing tipsy and then just get extremely drunk to write. I couldn’t get the rage of the main character any other way. It’s a strange and very intense book. I think of it like character acting. You have to inhabit the space of your novel. Of course, poetry is only inhabiting the space of me, so that is easier to access. And I also love writing alone at bars or coffeeshops. In fact, tomorrow I’m going to a city (three hours from my country home!) just to do that! ha!

5. Method writing! What motivates you to write?

Method writing. Yes. That’s cool. I’m motivated by feelings, the most. I love the idea of the common denominator between people, things that interrupt the binaries of the world, emotion and feeling is a huge one. I’m interested in excavating those deep feelings that mostly go just felt and not put into words. I’m not interested in writing lectures or proselytizing, I’m interested in the dirty, hypocritical, angelic, joyful paradox of self and believe that is what makes us human. I have a natural deep compassion, and what my therapist once described as a penchant for dissociative identity disorder. This makes it easy to write. Also, I’m not afraid of telling the truth of my own stories, in fact, I view my own life as a subject through which I can practice writing. I can see I’m veering between my poetry and my novels a lot here … in some ways they are interchangeable in terms of motivation. I want to recreate a feeling, sometimes the poem is the right vehicle, sometimes a painting, sometimes performance art, sometimes a novel. I do so love when the world of a novel is born in my head, it’s addicting. Of course, you better be addicted because they take so damn long and so much focus to write.

6. What’s your work ethic?

I met a new doctor the other day and after a couple minutes, he looked at me and said “you are very self motivated, aren’t you.” That’s right, I said. I have a mantra, it goes like this: do the job completely with all of your conviction. do not lose focus on the job. do not stop until the job is done. do not stop until the job is right. do not cut a corner. measure twice, cut once. There are many verses to this mantra! I’ve been called the Energizer Bunny, Galadriel’s Light, Perpetual Motion Machine, Force of Nature on the regular, my work ethic is almost a sickness. In fact, being a workaholic is likely a coping mechanism. I’m just lucky I’ve learned to love to fail, that the perfectionist is mostly gone, that the auto-masochist in me retired, and now I mostly work in just a pure state of joy. Creation is the best playground I’ve ever found, you won’t catch me coming in from recess.

7. How do the writers you read when you were young influence you today?

Not much, actually. I’ve always been a forward thinking person, and I’m voracious for what’s new, who’s new, what’s next. I go back and reread very rarely (unless it’s Dune, Neruda, Rilke, Atwood or Szymborska … or the Tao which I read daily). That’s why the indie press circuit fits my character so well, because the writers there are “the little makers of a pre-spice blast” (lol for Dune fans), contemporary writers are on the cusp of the now, their voice is my voice, this experience. It’s intoxicating. Same with painters and music and movies, I want what’s happening this moment (except for Duchamp, who was the greatest artist of all time!). I guess if I really thought about who influences me, it isn’t really another writer at all, it’s the lady pregnant with her fourth kid trying to buy a new car, it’s a tadpole turning into a frog, it’s falling in love, it’s a factory worker in January Toledo who can’t afford to heat his house, it’s how my dog can take so much pain without complaining, it’s how adopted children are really, really wanted. The list goes on and on, other writers, though? Just friends along for the ride, and bless them

7.1. Why go back and reread these authors?

Each of those authors have something distinct that touches me, they each feel like family. I suppose that’s why they stick around. You can’t get rid of family. Neruda for love, Rilke for philosophy, Wislawa for courage, Atwood for bite and range, Dune for religion. And the Tao because it’s the closest to truth I’ve ever found and I’ve searched far and wide. I once even got degrees in physics and math in the pursuit, to no avail.

8. Whom of today’s writers do you admire the most and why?

My favorite working poet is Nadia Wolnisty, she has this capacity of turning a metaphor like no one and also just this clearly raging passion and her performances are stunning. Michelle Q. Smith, is my newest favorite, I ran across her book Ariel in Black and was blown away, she had this way of accessing older works and responding to them which is intoxicating. I also love the former poet laureate, Juan Felipe Herrara, his poems are so alive they are literally dancing off the page. George Wallace has that same power. Mike James and Daniel Crocker, both poets you’ve interviewed are spectacular for their honesty and imagination … and humor. I love humor.

9. What would you say to someone who asked you “How do you become a writer?”

I feel in some ways this is the same question as “how do you become a queer person?” … I just am. Bukowski once said “if it doesn’t come bursting forth, don’t do it.” I would add “find what comes bursting forth for you.” That’s the really difficult thing in the world, finding what you want. Do that, try everything, when it bursts forth, you’ll know that is what you should be doing.

10. Tell me about writing projects you are involved in at the moment.

Thanks so much for taking the time to interview me, Paul! It’s been fun chatting with you. I’m currently working on a screenplay called “Southern White Democrat” which tells the story of a white boy growing up in the Jim Crow south in a wealthy, politically connected family. It’s fascinating and dark. The research exposed so much of the deep trauma of American race relationships that I was unaware of, in fact, that many people are unaware of. It was intense and disappointing and I’m glad to have learned. It makes one want to learn everything, and proves “fake news” has been around a long time. I’m also writing poems as always, but no new plans to put out a book this year. I’ll be touring 2019 on my new and selected from Spartan Press, “Sparkle Princess vs. Suicidal Phoenix”. I’m writing a new novel, my sixth now, and what else … OH. Editing. I need to edit all those novels. It’s way more fun to write them than it is to edit them, ha!

Wombwell Rainbow Interviews: Jeanette Powers Wombwell Rainbow Interviews I am honoured and privileged that the following writers local, national and international have agreed to be interviewed by me.