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.


Thursday, May 06, 2010

Did you Miss Poets on Board - May 3, 2010?

Viola Weinberg and Mario Uribe spoke to a full house on May 3, 2010 about their collaborative efforts. They met at a party and discussed collaboration, but it didn't actually occur for another two years. Mario painted a series of Buddhist Enso circles, went to a reading given by Viola, and asked her to write poems on the paintings. She wrote a poem of 24 lines to go with the 24 circles Mario had painted. She hesitated to write on the paintings, but Mario assured her that he wanted her to do just that. Viola arranged the paintings as pleased her and wrote the lines of her poem on each painting. It is the final stanza of the poem, Enso, that appears on the 275 placards that are featured on RT buses in SPC's new Poets on Board program.
Viola and Mario spoke about the many incarnations of their collaboration, including a performance by a theater group and a book that was bound in the traditional Japanese method - loose inside of a portfolio.

Viola read the poem, and she pointed out the line that is the favorite shared by her and Mario - "quiet charcoal on white." They also spoke about their connections to Japan and Japanese art. After the event, they answered questions and signed the placards. Signed placards may be purchased from SPC for $25.00 and will support the Poets on Board project.

Viola Weinberg will return to Sacramento this weekend to read at the Crocker Art Museum's 125th anniversay on Saturday, May 8, 2010. Dennis Schmitz will join Viola as one of many poets reading that day.

1 comment:

Viola Weinberg said...

Mario and I just ran into each other at the drugstore. This area reminds me a great deal of Sacramento in the 60s--smallish and intimate.

We chatted about the wonderful evening at the SPC talking about Poets on Board--and the process of our "beautiful child" book, Enso. Thanks to all who are buying bus boards to help finance the next Poets on Board. It's a lovely project!