It’s SATURDAY NIGHT Brought to us by OSCAR BERMEO!!!

Thanks so much for coming out! And Oscar for connecting us w/ Amalia Bueno ! Rachelle Cruz ! Guillermo Parra and Amir Rabiyah !  THANKS FOR THE POEMS !   Hope you all enjoy the show +V.

Oscar Bermeo: Whenever I say poetry the next work that leaps right into my head is community.  There’s no way around it for me.  I know that writing is a very solitary act and that no one can come in and write the poem for you but that’s only where the poetry starts.  Or maybe not, maybe the poem–even for the most reclusive of writers–begins in community as well.  In some form of sound, experience or thought that has made some connection with that writer, and, from that connection, the desire to make another connection.

I’ve been told this is a very idealized vision of poetry.  That poetry is a business–the grind of publication, the staunchness of the workshop, the hustle of live readings, the deadly serious pursuit of authenticity.  Yes, all those things are part of the rigor of poetry and they should never be taken lightly. But what about the joy of opening your circle of poetics?  Finding new audiences and encountering different poetic viewpoints?

The poets presented here believe in the value of community.  All the poems here happen in the wild open air with interactions as varied as Radiohead in Venezuela, a trip on the Bx1 in the Bronx, communion with the dead, and conversations with God.  These poems bristle against the unexpected, invite conversation and (in my idealized world) spread out to create connections with their poetry.

Word.

Oscar is the author of three self-published poetry chapbooks, including Heaven Below. He lives in Oakland, CA, with his wife, poeta Barbara Jane Reyes.  For more on Oscar and his poetics, please visit his website: www.oscarbermeo.com.

AMIR RABIYAH

Beirut Achilles

his new leather shoes broke open the back of his heel

RACHELLE CRUZ

Poem in the Time of Recession
For Thomas

I’ve sold my brain
and its’ dimpled container

GUILLERMO PARRA

Kid A

You will not write the honest
version of your life

AMALIA BUENO

 

The Ramshackle Garden

I remember your bougainvilleas bloomed
their hottest pinks and most vivid yellows