Within Words We Are One
Great Greats family hatbox rolls beneath her hands asking, do cedar balls burn daguerreotype was shocked, melted every one so recent, the southern way to tinder buildings and her carriage seemed to be of two minds homestead barn’s drip of rainwater on the pig’s folded …
“Salt Cedar” SUNRISE CHORDS RISE SEE THEM GROW JUST THERE UPON MY FENCE GLORIOUS JASMIN COVER FORMING DELICATE MOUNTAINS A VIEW OF THE ISLAND OF CORK UNJARRED MEMORIES THROUGH YOUR SCENTED FLOWER BEING THERE MY 1ST FLIGHT FROM MY DOORSTEP TO THE COCKPIT OF MY …
MASKS I had to wear a mask To protect me from you The fear of someone seeing Me imperfect, as I was, Frightened me You wore a mask, too, For what reasons I Could not tell but Most likely similar Pain or sorrow With time, I learned To believe in myself That I could brave others Knowing I was not Perfection or even close People saw me for Who I was and did not Run away or tell me To put the mask back on They just saw me And you removed Your mask as well Taking your chance With life and love and Learning to trust Now we all have to wear masks To protect others from us The world cannot risk A contagion we carry The sickness of our times Some day we will not Need to wear these masks And will see each other For who and what we are Tomorrow. Soon. Please.
I have lived in Vallejo for 20 years and participate regularly in the Benicia Outlaws Writing Group. I’m not known as a poet, mostly as a historical fiction writer (mainly LGBTQ) and host of Queer Words Podcast, conversations with queer-identified authors about their works and lives (www.queerwords.org). Your recent request for poetry during these challenging times made me think about submitting this, something I just wrote yesterday.
Bio: Wayne Goodman has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area most of his life (with too many cats). Goodman hosts Queer Words Podcast, conversations with queer-identified authors about their works and lives. When not writing or recording, he enjoys playing Gilded Age parlor music on the piano, with an emphasis on women, gay, and Black composers.
Congratulations to Poetry by the Bay host Jeremy Snyder for becoming Vallejo’s 3rd Poet Laureate. He was preceded in office by Genea Brice (2015-2017) and D.L. Lang (2017-2019). His work appears in Verses, Voices, and Visions of Vallejo, and he recently hosted the Vallejo Poetry …
Congratulations to Hakim for winning first place and Juanita J. Martin for winning second place at the Vallejo Poetry Slam held October 26, 2019 in the Joseph Room at Vallejo’s John F. Kennedy Library. Thank you to everyone who competed. Thank you to Provisions for …
A summary by D.L. Lang, Vallejo Poet Laureate
On September 21st, 2019, 21 Bay Area Poets Laureate gathered at the Millbrae Library in Millbrae, California. We were welcomed by San Mateo County Poet Laureate Aileen Casinetto and San Mateo County Arts Commissioner Robin Rodricks. We all schmoozed while eating breakfast together, passing around a gorgeous booklet consisting of the names of the attendees and quotes from their poetry, collecting autographs from one another.
We broke off into small groups of poets laureate consisting of both emeriti and current poets laureate, discussed our favorite projects, how we act to unite communities, the discrepancies between various communities abilities to compensate their poets laureate, the struggle of poets to be recognized as serious working artists, and the many hurdles and blessings of fame.
We had another opportunity to schmooze over a catered lunch, followed by a moving film project about the North Bay Wildfires by Sonoma County Poet Laureate, filmmaker, and fire ecologist Maya Khosla.
A’aron Heard caught our hearts with a workshop about Community Healing Through Literary Arts, explaining the biology of trauma and how creative expression can heal people.
We all had to write a poem about being the midwives of such expression, inspired by Taoism, specifically:
translation by Stephen Mitchell
When the Master governs, the people
are hardly aware that he exists.
Next best is a leader who is loved.
next, one who is feared.
The worst is one who is despised.
If you don’t trust the people,
you make them untrustworthy.
The Master doesn’t talk, he acts.
When his work is done,
the people say, “Amazing:
we did it, all by ourselves!”
Get out of the way!
Don’t encourage how to say!
You can only point the way.
The healing will come to stay,
forging a path for a brand new day.
Each soul knows when they are ready to play.
A voice like a lion
will have much to say.
County Supervisor Warren Slocum gave opening remarks prior to a powerful public poetry reading followed by book sales.
Since the gathering coincided with International Peace Day, I read “Affirmations of a Dream”.
The official video of the reading:
I spoke with several locals afterwards who had previously heard my work at the San Mateo County Fair, and passed out buttons, magnets, pens, and stickers.
Many great things will sprout from this gathering. Visit the official conference website to learn about all the poets in attendance.
Thank you to everyone who had a hand in putting this event together, including Lisa Rosenberg, Aileen Casinetto, and Caroline Goodwin.
This post is outdated. To see who our poets laureate are, please visit this page. The Vallejo Community Arts Foundation is taking applications for the next poet laureate of Vallejo, California. To find out if you meet the required qualifications and to apply, please visit: …
A summary by D.L. Lang, Vallejo Poet Laureate Around 60 poets laureate from across California gathered at the McGroarty Arts Center in Tujunga, California on October 6, 2018. This particular building was built 95 years ago as the home of John Steven McGroarty, the 3rd …
This is the start of something amazing 🙂
