Hardpan: A Journal of Poetry Reading

Entering into the starkness of the SPC cave (or was this just a Dadaist display?), the contributors to Hardpan Magazine, Modesto’s newest entry into the literary scene, took their place in front of the podium. They were joined there by the Hardpan editors (Gordon Preston, debee loyd, and Karen Baker).

Gordon Preston announced the readers one by one as they came up to read fromthe issue of Hardpan where their work appeared. Leading things off was henry7 reneau, who rode up on his bicycle just before things got under way. He read ‘homicidal in freedomland,” and “seven days in oz.” Then Karen Baker (not pictured) read “incidental food.” Next up was Brad Buchanan who appeared to be in a “fighting mood” when he read “Spilled Milk.” Toby Bielawski read a tribute to Annie Dillard entitled “Thinking of Tinker Creek.” Quinton Duval read his tribute to irrepressible longing in The Valley entitled “Lonely Vistas.” Josh Fernandez read “Bluebird,” a poem he had recently written.



Lynn Hansen continued by reading “Spadefoot” and “Gravel Ghost.” debee loyd read “The Game” and two other short pieces, “soil” and “i rise”. Mark Nicoll-Johnson read “3 Highways” dedicated to 99, 108, and 120 that run through The Valley. [He also related a terrific anecdote about Maya Angelou after the reading.] William O’ Daly read “Our Names Returning After Rain” and Tom Portwood read “I Am Andersonville.” Finally, Stephen Sadler read “Anticipating the End of Summer” and “Regression.”

Of course, Hardpan is always looking for submissions, and you can submit for issue four until Sept. 1 to hardpanpoetry@sbcglobal.net. Of course, it might be nice to query wih an e-mail for guidelines first.

Sacramento Literary Events [June]

June 2007 Literary Events for Sacramento

3 Sunday
PoemSpirits featuring guest reader TBA.
Free and open to the public; open mic and
light refreshments provided. Bring a poem to share,
yours or another's. Location: 2425 Sierra Blvd.
Contact: Tom Goff or Nora Staklis: 916-481-3312, or
JoAnn Anglin: 916-451-1372. uuss.org

4 Monday
Sacramento Poetry Center presents Robbie Grossklaus,
Jackie Schaeffer, and Bill Carr with Miles Miniaci and his band Litany.
7:30 pm at HQ for the Arts. 1719 25th Street.
Hosted by Bob Stanley.

5 Tuesday
SPC Poetry Workshop.
7:30 pm, Hart Senior Center @ 27th & J.
Bring 15-20 copies of your one-page poem.
Info: Danyen 530-756-6228.

The Moore Time for Poetry TV series presents poet Nikki Skies
from Los Angeles. Cablecast on channel 17, Comcast Cable @ 5 am.

UC Davis Creative Writing Program Reading Series presents
award-winning novelist and short story writer Molly Giles.
Molly was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for her
first book, Rough Translations.
126 Voorhies Hall, UC Davis Campus, 1st & A Streets, Davis.

7 Thursday
Poetry Unplugged features TBA.
1414 16th Street. Info: 916-441-3931 or lunascafe.com.
Free. Festivities begin at 8 pm; open mic also.
Hosted by Mario Ellis Hill.

11 Monday
SPC Board of Directors meets at HQ for the Arts.
1719 25th Street. 5:45-7 pm.

Sacramento Poetry Center presents Jan Haag and Sue Staats.
(note: reading at Carmichael Library--5605 Marconi Ave., Carmichael).
7:30 pm. Bob Stanley and Indigo Moor host.

12 Tuesday
SPC Poetry Workshop.
7:30 pm, Hart Senior Center @ 27th & J.
Bring 15-20 copies of your one-page poem.
Info: Danyen 530-756-6228.

Bistro 33 Poetry Series.
Presents: Joshua Clover
8:30 pm. Open mic after.
Historic Davis City Hall, 226 "F" Street, Davis.

13 Wednesday
Dr. Andy's Poetry and Technology Hour.
Host Andy Jones. 5 pm, KDVS-90.3 FM
or subscribe to podcast at kdvs.org

14 Thursday
Luna's Poetry Unplugged features TBA. Open mic before/after.
Hosted by Geoffrey Neill. 8pm @ Luna's Cafe, 1414 16th Street.
Info: 441-3931 or lunascafe.com. Free.

16 Saturday
Underground Poetry Series. Open mic. 7-9 pm. $3.00
Featuring Glen Stovall & The Stovall Singers and Black Men
Expressing Love poem tour.
Underground Books, 2814 35th Street.
Hosted by Terry Moore. terrymoore.info.

17 Sunday
Third Sunday Writing Group.
Free creative writing workshop.
10th & U Street. Contact Nancy Walker for more info. @
oolalaparee03@yahoo.com

18 Monday
Sacramento Poetry Center presents Luke Breit and Jose Montoya.
7:30 pm at HQ for the Arts. 1719 25th Street.
Hosted by Frank Graham.

19 Tuesday
SPC Poetry Workshop.
7:30 pm, Hart Senior Center @ 27th & J.
Bring 15-20 copies of your one-page poem.
Info: Danyen 530-756-6228.

The Moore Time for Poetry TV series presents Pastor Alonzo Morris and choir
plus R & B artist Willie Whitl. Cablecast on channel 17, Comcast Cable @ 5 am.

21 Thursday
Luna's Poetry Unplugged features TBA. Open mic before/after.
Hosted by frank andrick. 8pm @ Luna's Cafe, 1414 16th Street.
Info: 441-3931 or lunascafe.com. Free.

25 Monday
Sacramento Poetry Center presents Hardpan Magazine reading with
debee loyd, Gordon Preston, Karen Baker et al.
7:30 pm at HQ for the Arts. 1719 25th Street.
Hosted by Tim Kahl.

26 Tuesday
SPC Poetry Workshop.
7:30 pm, Hart Senior Center @ 27th & J.
Bring 15-20 copies of your one-page poem.

Bistro 33 Poetry Series.
[On Hold until fall]
8:30 pm. Open mic after.
Historic Davis City Hall, 226 "F" Street, Davis.

27 Wednesday
Dr. Andy's Poetry and Technology Hour.
Host Andy Jones. 5 pm, KDVS-90.3 FM
or subscribe to podcast at kdvs.org

28 Thursday
Luna's Poetry Unplugged features TBA. Open mic before/after.
Hosted by B.L. Kennedy. 8pm @ Luna's Cafe, 1414 16th Street.
lunascafe.com. Free.

30 Saturday
"The Show" Poetry Series. 9 pm @ Wo'se Community Center--2863 35th Street.
$5.00. Info.: T.Mo @ 916-455-POET,

JULIA CONNOR at SACRAMENTO CITY COLLEGE

Julia Connor arrived at Sacramento City College in Lillard Hall and planted herself among the red chairs there like a gentian among the geraniums.

Connor, who is currently Sacramento's Poet Laureate but who has also taught at Naropa and studied with Robert Duncan, kicked things off by reading from “Making the Good,”her first attempt to put together a collection. Connor shared that, looking back, maybe she wasn’t ready to put a collection together at that point but that she was nevertheless delighted to be asked to do so. The poem she read was called “Epiphany” and it invoked the image of a risen scorpion, which according to the tenets of alchemy is the eagle.

From the same collection, she read “The Place of Dark Blue Flowers.”

She then read a section from a book called “Canto for the Birds,” whose origin was a zigzagging trip through the Sacramento Valley to Arizona with her husband. They were accompanied on that trip by a book Connor had received from State Parks and Recreation that showed all the preserves in the Central Valley. Also along on the trip was a book written by 14th Century alchemist Giordano Bruno, which Connor read aloud while her husband drove.

After this poem was read, Connor entertained a question from an audience member who asked her why she was so interested in alchemy in her poems. To which, Connor replied, “It’s like chemistry with a sense of humor.”She said she was also drawn to alchemy because, unlike chemistry, things still had powers. She also mentioned how alchemy also had correspondences between things, connections that allow one to connect in a substantive way with a larger world of objects. She mentioned that this kind of connection enlivens people in a way that chemistry cannot approach.

The next poem that Connor read was called “Hearth,”and it was derived from an incident relating to her two older sisters, one who is 12 years older, the other who is 14 years older. This was followed by “At Tommy Dollard’s House,” a poem about coming to terms with the impulse of male violence.

Connor then switched to reading from a series of prose poems. The first one was called, “Relations,” and it focused on her lifelong fascination with the shape of a mouth and how that shape informed the kind of person one might be, the kind of mental landscape one inhabited. This was followed by “The Theory of Snow”is a meditation on a winter scene that allows the speaker to acknowledge her own loneliness and her bitterness, which she then roots in “the clearing of a man.”

Nest up was “The Visiting Room,” a powerful story about an inmate struggling with his life-long grief for an early mistake he had made.

Finally, Connor ended with one of her signature pieces, “One February Eve on the Six O’ Clock News.”

Alan Williamson at Bistro 33

In the dimly lit Bistro 33 in Davis, Andy Jones and Brad Henderson (aka Beau Hamel) emerged as hosts for a reading by poet/critic Alan Williamson.

Brad started off the evening by reading “Tonight, my friend, Joe Wenderoth, & I Are Watching UFC on Pay-per-view & We Don't Give a Rip What Our Colleagues at UC Davis Think” dedicated to Joe Wenderoth and inspired by a trip to the Squaw Valley Writer’s Conference where there was a wrestling camp running concurrently with the writer’s conference. The piece chronicled Henderson’s past as a championship high school and college wrestler, and it included a Freudian slip where one of the intense male-on-male scenes that, as Andy Jones later quipped, got a little “brokeback.”

Andy then read two poems that come from his “A Poem a Day in the Month of May” catalog, which has found Andy looking to increase his poetry production in May. The first was entitled “Ascension.”The second was called “Pre-history of the Teenager,” and it featured enough adult content to render it unreadable to his daughter Geneva.

Alan Williamson, in one of his rare public readings in Davis, then took to the podium and read Small College, All Male, Early 1960’s from his book Res Publica.

Then he read “Fallings From Us, Vanishings,”which took its title from Wordsworth’s “Intimations Ode.” He followed that poem with a poem by Gary Snyder from Danger on Peaks called “One Day in Late Summer.”

He then read “Fantasia on a Medieval Latin Poem,” and he ended with a new work that is, as yet, unpublished. It was a piece that was a study of a koan and one’s struggles to come to a conclusion with the paradox contained within a koan. One arrives at a conclusion not through intellect. The koan in question was this: does a door have buddha nature or not? The response to this was “mu” which could mean “no” in everyday usage or in another, higher meaning: unask this question as it poses a false dichotomy. The poem was entitled “Empty Sky,” and Alan Williamson read excerpts from it.

Sacramento Literary Calendar for May 2007

1 Tuesday
Sacramento Poetry Center.
Poetry Workshop. 7:30 pm. Free.
Hart Senior Center. 27th & J.
Facilitated by Danyen Powell. (530) 756-6228.
Bring 15-20 copies of your one-page poem.

The Moore Time for Poetry TV series presents
Slam poet Chaz from Los Angeles.
Cablecast on channel 17, Comcast Cable @ 5 am.

3 Thursday
Poetry Unplugged @ Luna's.
Featured Poets: TBA. Open mic after.
1414 16th Street. 8 pm. Free.
Hosted by Mario Ellis Hill.
lunascafe.com

4 Friday
All are invited to Escritores del Nuevo Sol's_Evening of Short Stories. Presenting writer's
include Juan Carillo, Dr. Fausto Avendano,
Minerva Daniel, Graciela B. Ramirez, and others.
@ La Raza Galeria Posada, 7:30 pm.
Charge: $5 or as you can afford.
1024 22nd Street. For info. call Graciela Ramirez @
456-5323 or JoAnn Anglin

5 Saturday
Escritores del Nuevo Sol's writing group workshop and potluck.
11 am @ La Raza Galeria Posada. 1024 22nd St.
Bring up to 3 pages of your work to read if you wish.
For more info. call Graciela Ramirez @ (916) 456-5323 or
JoAnn Anglin

6 Sunday
PoemSpirits featuring guest reader Rhony Bhopia, published
author and founder of ShiluS Publications. Co-host Tom Goff
will present the work of Rabindranath Tagore,1913 Nobel
Laureate. Free and open to the public; open mic after.
Light refreshments provided. Bring a favorite poem to share,
yours or another's. @ UUSS 2425 Sierra Boulevard. uuss.org
Contact: Tom Goff or Nora Staklis: 481-3312 or JoAnn Anglin

7 Monday
Sacramento Poetry Center.
Board of Directors Meeting.
All are welcome to attend.
1719 25th Street. _5:45-7 pm.
Sacramento Poetry Center.
Presents American River College writing class w/David Merson.
HQ for the Arts. 7:30 pm. Free.
1719 25th Street.
Hosted by Bob Stanley.

8 Tuesday
Sacramento Poetry Center.
Poetry Workshop. 7:30 pm. Free.
Hart Senior Center, 27th & J.
Facilitated by Danyen Powell. (530) 756-6228.
Bring 15-20 copies of your one-page poem.
Bistro 33 Poetry Series.
8:30 pm. Open mic after. Free.
Historic Davis City Hall, 226 F Street.

9 Wednesday
Dr. Andy's Poetry and Technology Hour.
5 pm. Hosted by Andy Jones.
KDVS90.3FM

10 Thursday
Poetry Unplugged @ Luna's.
Featured Poets: TBA. Open mic after.
1414 16th Street. 8 pm. Free.
Hosted by Geoffrey Neill.
lunascafe.com

14 Monday
Sacramento Poetry Center.
Presents CSUS creative writing class.
HQ for the Arts. 7:30 pm. Free.
1719 25th Street.
Hosted by Bob Stanley and Indigo Moor.

15 Tuesday
Sacramento Poetry Center.
Poetry Workshop. 7:30 pm. Free.
Hart Senior Center. 27th & J.
Facilitated by Danyen Powell. (530) 756-6228.
Bring 15-20 copies of your one-page poem.

The Moore Time for Poetry TV series presents
Slam poet Chaz from Los Angeles.
Cablecast on channel 17, Comcast Cable @ 5 am.

17 Thursday
Poetry Unplugged @ Luna's.
Featured Poets: TBA. Open mic after.
1414 16th Street. 8 pm. Free.
Hosted by frank andrick.
lunascafe.com

19 Saturday
Underground Poetry Center.
Featuring Sean Miller, Bill Carr & Layla Holmes.
7-9 pm @ Underground Books.
2814 35th Street. $3.00
Hosted by Terry Moore.

20 Sunday
Third Sunday Writing Group.
Free creative writing workshop.
10th & U, Sacramento. 1-3 pm.
Contact Nancy Walker for more info. @
oolalaparee03@yahoo.com

21 Monday
Sacramento Poetry Center.
Presents a poetry reading by Nancy Walker to
celebrate The Third Sunday Writers' Group 13th Anniversary.
Also includes readings by Rebecca Morrison, Joe & Susan Finkleman,
Theresa McCourt, Kimberly White, JoAnn Anglin, Pearl Stein Stelinsky & others.
HQ for the Arts. 7:30 pm. Free.
1719 25th Street.
Hosted by Rebecca Morrison.

22 Tuesday
Sacramento Poetry Center.
Poetry Workshop. 7:30 pm. Free.
Hart Senior Center, 27th & J.
Facilitated by Danyen Powell. (530) 756-6228.
Bring 15-20 copies of your one-page poem.

Bistro 33 Poetry Series.
8:30 pm. Open mic after. Free.
Historic Davis City Hall, 226 F Street.

23 Wednesday
Dr. Andy's Poetry and Technology Hour.
5 pm. Hosted by Andy Jones.
KDVS90.3FM

24 Thursday
Poetry Unplugged @ Luna's.
Featured Poets: TBA. Open mic after.
1414 16th Street. 8 pm. Free.
Hosted by B.L. Kennedy.
lunascafe.com

26 Saturday
"The Show" Poetry Series.
9 pm. Wo'se Community Center.
2863 35th Street.
Info. T. Mo at (916) 455-POET.

28 Monday
Sacramento Poetry Center.
Presents William O'Daly (Night of Translation).
HQ for the Arts. 7:30 pm. Free.
1719 25th Street.
Hosted by Tim Kahl.
[CANCELED. Rescheduled for this Fall]

29 Tuesday
Sacramento Poetry Center.
Poetry Workshop. 7:30 pm. Free.
Hart Senior Center, 27th & J.
Facilitated by Danyen Powell. (530) 756-6228.
Bring 15-20 copies of your one-page poem.

31 Thursday
Poetry Unplugged @ Luna's.
Featured Poets: TBA. Open mic after.
1414 16th Street. 8 pm. Free.
Hosted by TBA.
lunascafe.com

BEN LERNER—MAYDAY at UC Davis

In Voorhies Hall Ben Lerner appeared before the faithful UC Davis crowd to read from his most recent book Angle of Yaw. The crowd was quiet and attentive as they listened to Joshua Clover kick off the evening, in honor of Mayday, with a rendition of Allen Ginsberg’s “Kral Majales,” who read the piece with a decidedly understated “I am the King of May” compared to a gleeful exuberance one imagines attached to the youthful Ginsberg cavorting through Czechoslovakia during the year of the Prague Spring.

Then Ben Lerner took to the stage and offered to the denizens of that dimly lit room several pieces from Angle of Yaw and a new poem that was still in progress, still under revision. He started off the evening with “Begetting Stadia,” an homage to football stadiums and the the age of the spectacle. Then he read several selections of prose poems from Angle of Yaw. Finally, he read a new piece that he prefaced as being untitled and unfinished. Then lowering our expectations for it even more, he described what he saw as the movement and technique in the poem, both of which he expected the audience to be underwhelmed by. However, in my opinion, the new poem was the highlight of the evening. It seemed to be read with more conviction and attention, perhaps because he is still in the middle of the heat of this poem. If this last piece is any indication of the body of Lerner’s works to come, we have a lot to look forward to with this exceptional young talent.

PETER GRANDBOIS at SPC on April 23, 2007

Peter Grandbois arrived at the SPC tanned and rested after his recent talk at the San Francisco Public Library, but still a little on edge in preparation for his public lecture on Thursday the 26th for the appearance of Sherman Alexie and Leslie Marmon Silko for the California Lectures series.

Peter read a brief section from his book The Gravedigger that he had not read before in public. It featured the hero, Juan Rodrigo, the gravedigger, who realizes that he is going to fall in love with his 3rd wife, Rosalita. The image that cements this feeling for Juan Rodrigo is Rosalita doing something rather rude to her former husband’s grave. [See Chapter 8.]

He also read a new short story, one which he had not read aloud in public before. It was a story that he described as being a little different for him. It didn’t fall into the usual category of “magic realism” or “surrealism” which much of his work could be labeled as. Instead, Grandbois described the piece as “American funhouse hyper-realism.” Employing his usual mode of listening to music while he writes in order to set the mood for the world he is entering, “Wait Your Turn” [17:04] came to life while Grandbois was listening to Sinatra.

SACRAMENTO POETRY CENTER WRITER'S CONFERENCE

SACRAMENTO POETRY CENTER WRITER'S CONFERENCE

SPC Writers’ Conference 2007
All events at 1719 25th Street, Sacramento

April 20 - Friday night reading and reception 7-9pm
Heather Hutcheson, Andy Jones, Danny Romero, Brad Henderson.
Free to the public

April 21 - Saturday workshops 9am to 4pm
$35 conference fee for all day Saturday
8:30 – 9:00 Coffee and muffins

9:00 – 9:45 Panel Discussion –
Andy Jones, Camille Norton, Gail Entrekin, Danny Romero

10:00 – 11:45 Small workshop sessions:
Andy Jones/Brad Henderson
Gail Entrekin – “The Taste of Poetry”
Camille Norton – "The Muse of History: Writing the Past into the Present."
Heather Hutcheson – “Where Poems Begin”
Tim Kahl – “The Speaking Voice as Poetic Tool”

12:00 – 1:00 Lunch break

1:00 – 1:20 X - Sac City Ethnic Theatre Workshop)

1:30 – 2:45 Afternoon workshop sessions
Danny Romero – Writing Memoir
Angela Dee Alforque – Performing Spoken Word

3:00 – 4:00
Participants group reading and celebration.



SPC Writers’ Conference Presenters

Angela Dee Alforque is an assistant professor at Sacramento City College, and is the director of !X – the Sac City Ethnic Theater Workshop. Angela also serves on the Academic Senate at SCC. She received her MA from CSU Sacramento in Multi-Cultural American History & Performance.

Gail Rudd Entrekin teaches English and creative writing at Sierra College in Grass Valley. Her collections of poems include Change (Will Do You Good), from Poetic Matrix Press, which was nominated for the California Book Awards, You Notice the Body (Hip Pocket Press, 1998), and John Danced (Berkeley Poets Workshop & Press, 1984). Poetry Editor of Hip Pocket Press since 2000, she is also editor of the web page Women’s Writing Salon at www.nevadacountyartscouncil.org and producer of the Women’s Writing Salon reading series at Jason’s in Grass Valley.

Heather Hutcheson earned a BA in English from UC Davis and an MA in Creative Writing from CSU Sacramento. Her master’s project was a book-length collection of poetry, Risk Poetry. Heather spends the majority of her time outside of the classroom working to promote the arts in Sacramento. She teaches creative writing workshops for families, and, for nine years, she volunteered as the Managing Editor of Poetry Now, a monthly poetry publication. Heather has had her fiction and non-fiction published nationally and has won several awards for her poetry.

Brad Henderson (AKA, beau hamel) has published his poetry and fiction in Dominion Review, Blue Unicorn, Hayden's Ferry Review, California Quarterly, and other journals. He holds an M.F.A. in creative writing from University of Southern California, and is the author the Phi Kappa Phi Award winning novel, Drums, (John Daniel/Fithian Press 1997) and the dual chapbook of poetry, Split Stock, (Natsoulas Press 2006), co-written with Andy Jones. Henderson currently teaches writing full-time at University of California, Davis. He is co-editor of the forthcoming poetry anthology, Disturbing Minds: Poems of Desire & Desire [2008] with a foreword by Dana Gioia. He is also one of the co-founders of UC Davis' new critical-poetic school of "literary hauntedness." Brad recently completed the manuscript for his second book of poetry, Secret Cowboy at the Raw Bar, which explores addiction-ism, as well as "the American Dream" and "the American West" as tainted modern myths.

Andy Jones teaches writing and literature classes at UC Davis. Andy also serves on the Campus Media Board and acts as Faculty Advisor to The Voice, the Undergraduate Medical Journal at UC Davis. His radio show "Dr. Andy's Poetry and Technology Hour" airs on KDVS, 90.3 FM, Wednesday afternoons at 5pm. In February, 2006, John Natsoulas Press published Andy’s book of poems Split Stock, which was co-authored with Brad Henderson.

Tim Kahl’s work has been published or is forthcoming in Prairie Schooner, American Letters & Commentary, Berkeley Poetry Review, Indiana Review, Limestone, Nimrod, South Dakota Quarterly, The Journal, The Spoon River Poetry Review, and dozens of other journals in the U.S. He has translated Austrian avant-gardist, Friederike Mayröcker; Brazilian poet, Lêdo Ivo; and the poems of the Portuguese language’s only Nobel Laureate, José Saramago. He also appears as Victor Schnickelfritz at the poetry and poetics blog The Great American Pinup (http://greatamericanpinup.blogspot.com/). His first collection entitled Possessing Yourself is forthcoming from Word Tech Press.

Camille Norton's book Corruption, was published by Harper Collins in 2005 and was the winner of the 2004 National Poetry Series Open Competition. She is Professor of English at The University of the Pacific, Stockton.

Danny Romero is the author of the novel Calle 10 (Mercury House). He teaches in the English Department at Sacramento City College.


Special thanks to:
Alliance Francaise
Members of the Sacramento Poetry Center
Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission

This event was partially funded with a grant from Poets and Writers,
which is supported by the James Irvine Foundation.