Celebrating over 30 years as an arts organization.


The Center hosts readings, workshops, lectures, and publishes a variety of poetry publications. SPC is located in the R25 Arts Complex located on the corner of R & 25th Streets in midtown Sacramento.



Sacramento Poetry Center memberships support a variety of local poetry programs, publications, readings, and events. Members receive a free subscription to Tule Review and Poetry Now. Please send your check for $30 or more to SPC, 1719 25th St., Sacramento, CA 95816. Fixed incomes are $15.


Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Susan Palwick and Ellen Klages—July 28, 2008

Susan Palwick came from Reno and Ellen Klages came from San Francisco to meet in the middle at the Sacramento Poetry Center during the height of the vacation season, yet there were still a good number of people who attended their reading.



Susan Palwick began the evening reading excerpts from her newest collection of short stories entitled The Fate of Mice. The story was set in the period before “The Change” in 2029 when all matters of progressive social causes are embraced due to a sudden breakthrough in human consciousness that has everyone realizing that conflict and antagonism just wasn’t working out. It is a time of mutually-assured happiness augmented by the pharmaceutical industry’s help (after “The Change” even the pharmaceutical companies admit to their previous deceptive and heinous activities and offer to provide for everyone free of charge).

The main protagonist is the father who blends in nicely with a vast array of conspiracy theorists who nurture his fantasies about the inhumanity in the world before the change. He keeps in contact with them on the Internet. However, as all of his theories about vast and secretive harms done in the world melt away, he becomes a victim of “conflict addiction.” He can’t help himself from thinking someone is out to get him all the time even though the rest of society has moved on from that point.

The rational glue that holds the family together is Nate, the son who at the outset is trying to assuage his father’s guilt for bringing him into the world by attempting to convince him that there is some good stuff in the world too. After “the Change” Nate and his sister are put in charge of attending to their father’s slippery hold on the reality that conflict really is a thing of the past. With the help of a new industry of amusement parks that endeavor to comfort those who are addicted to conflict by trumping up and recreating a bygone era when men were known to compete vociferously, the father begins to get the help he needs. The past has never been so nostalgically poisoned.



Ellen Klages read from several sources, and in doing so, proved why her writing defies all labels. She read a short piece from Portable Childhoods available from her website here which included called “Möbius, Stripped of a Muse” that reflected the struggles of a female writer trying to put together the plot for a far-out science fiction book and failing to get the approval of her academic mentor. the story moved in and out of the frame of the writer’s story, then back into the head of the writer.

She then read from “Knuckles,” a story about the reluctant, misbegotten love a mother has for her child. And “Columbus Day” a hilarious representation of a mother who is learning what Columbus Day means to her child and trying not to be a little bit appalled.

Finally, there was a story about whether one’s nine-year-old self would be able to get along with a subsequent nine-year-old offspring.

Klages wrote all of these “childhood” pieces without mirrors and without the virtue of ever having children. She assured her audience that she sometimes is mistaken for having the same keen insights as a mother.

Friday, July 04, 2008

Sacramento Poetry Events [July 2008]

Calendar

Note: Unless otherwise stated, events take place in Sacramento, CA.


July Literary Events for Sacramento

Tues, 7/1 7:30 pm and every Tuesday: SPC Poets'
Workshop @ the Hart Cntr, 27th/J sts. Danyen@
530-756-6228 FREE bring 15 copies of your one
page poem to be read/critiqued.

Every Tuesday 7 p.m. - "Life Sentence" poetry
reading and open mic. The Coffee Garden, 2904
Franklin Blvd., Sac.
http://www.myspace.com/lifesentenceshow

Wed, 7/2 8pm Mahogany Poetry Series, and every
Wed nite at Queen Sheba restaurant @ 1704
Broadway, with Khiry Malik M., Slam, open.

Wed, 7/2 The Bistro, 3rd and F Streets in Davis, 1st
and 3rd Wednesdays. Free. 530.756.4556
aojones@ucdavis.edu
http://www.bistro33.com/bistro33_davis for schedule

Thurs, 7/3 and every Thurs 8pm, Open Mike and
featured poet at Lunas Café -- Feature TBA

Sat., 7/5 and every 1st Sat- Rhythm N Rhymes:
open mike, webcast & filmed for public TV @ Butch
N Nellie's,
near corner of 19th & I. myspace.com/RNRshow

Sat., 7/5 Galleria Posada open mike 1024 22nd St.
in Spanish and English 916.456.5323
916.446.513346-1324 fax
www.larazagaleriaposada.org
larazagaleria@sbcglobal.net

Mon, 7/7 - 7:30 p.m. Asian Poetry Reading with
Frances Kakugawa at SPC, at 25th and R. Asylum
Art Gallery. Free. 916-979-9706.
http://www.sacramentopoetrycenter.org.

Tues, 7/8, 7:30 pm and every Tuesday: SPC Poets'
Workshop @ Hart Cntr, 27th/J sts. Danyen@ 530-
756-6228 FREE bring 15 copies of your one page
poem to be read/critiqued.


Friday 7/11, 7:00-9:00pm, Second Friday Poetry
Reading at The Vox (gallery & cafe) 19th & X Street,
Sacramento
Free & Family-Friendly
Featuring Brad Buchanan, Catherine Fraga,
Stephen Sadler, Lisa Jones, Matt Veazey and Frank
Graham. Hosted by Cynthia Linville.
Vegan meal beforehand 6:00 - 7:00 pm under $10.
RSVP for the meal

Monday 7/14, 7:30 pm—
Ali Salim reads at SPC HQ 1719 25th St.

Tues, 7/15, 7:30 pm and every Tuesday: SPC Poets'
Workshop @ Hart Cntr, 27th/J sts. Danyen@ 530-
756-6228 FREE 15 copies of your one page poem.

Friday, 7/18, 7:30pm, Sacramento Poetry Contest
Winners will give a reading at SPC, at 25th and R .

Monday, 7/21, 7:30 pm
Yang Her will be reading poems from her new book
Paint Life With Colors of The World at SPC, at 25th
and R. The event will also bea benefit for My Sister’s
House www.my-sisters-house.org.

Thursday, 7/24, 8:00 pm,
Poetry Unplugged at Lunas 1414 16th St. SAC
Featuring: Monika Rose, Phillip T. Nails

Saturday, 7/26 4:00-7:00 PM
The Sonoma Community Center and Readers' Books, in Sonoma; a public
party to 'benefit 'The Reading Garden', created to provide more
poetry and author events, for all. 4-7 pm. Readers' Books, 103 East
Napa Street, Sonoma, CA 95476. Ticket Info: 707/939-1779. Music,
magic, food and drink, dancing, an auction, raffle prizes, readings,
and more.

Sunday, 7/27, 11am-1pm
El Camino Poets meet to workshop poems. All poets
are welcome bring 10 copies of your 1 page poem
for critique. At the Hart Cntr, 27th/J sts.

Mon, 7/28, 7:30-- Susan Palwick and Ellen Klages
Will be reading at the SPC at 1719 25th st.

Tues, 7/29, 7:30 pm and every Tuesday: SPC Poets'
Workshop @ Hart Cntr, 27th/J sts. Danyen@ 530-
756-6228 bring 15 copies of your one page poem to
be read/critiqued. FREE



last modified 7/4/08