annogram

Out of Sequence

I’m thrilled that my poem, “Trinity,” has been selected for Out of Sequence, an anthology of poems based on the Shakespearean sonnets, to be published by Parlor Press this summer. Out of Sequence will be a 154-part publication with an editorial introduction both online and in print. Edited by D. Gilson, the anthology will feature poems, essays and visual art. Some sonnets still need remixing—see below!

Le Héros in Eleven Eleven, Exchanges and Inventory

Hélène Sanguinetti

My translation of Chapter 11 of LeHéros(Flammarion, 2008) by Hélène Sanguinetti currently appears in Eleven Eleven. Chapter 8 will also debut in the winter issue of the University of Iowa’s Exchanges translation journal. December welcomed publication in Princeton’s Inventory, January in California College of the Arts’Eleven Elevenand now University of Iowa. As Hélène herself wrote me, “Ouahhhoooouuuuu!” which I believe is French for “Woo-hoo!”

The Manhattanville Review

Isn’t great to get an email that says, “We love your work”? That’s how I learned that The Manhattanville Review has accepted my poem, “Trackside Commissary,” for its upcoming issue. Stay tuned for details.

More anthologies debut

If you’re going to AWP, you’ll be able to purchase Not Somewhere Else But Here: A Contemporary Anthology of Women and Place(Sundress Publications, 2014) and The Widow’s Handbook (Kent State University Press, 2014). The latter has a series of recent blogs in Best American Poetry. The Rabbit Ears TV channel, now up and running, features my video poem, “Velocity,” and The Cancer Poetry Project 2 (Tasora Books, 2013) is also live on YouTube. Cities(Chuffed Buff Books, 2014) is now available on Amazon UK and on Kindle.

Periphery as new center

Anne Sexton with Maxine Kumin

This essay by Ozone Park Journal Editor Eric M. B. Becker bears reading. Have you ever felt like there is a glass ceiling to your chosen art form? Amiri Baraka (1934-2014) wept when he realized his own poems could never be like those in The New Yorker. Poet Maxine Kumin (1925-2014), once a 1950s housewife, worked on the phone with pal Anne Sexton (1928-1974), laying down the handset for hours and then speaking into it to share drafts. And folk icon Pete Seeger (1919-2014) left Harvard to find his true calling in an encounter with Lead Belly in Greenwich Village. The periphery has always been the center of creativity. These great American artists would tell us to rejoice in the margins and occupy them. Fully.

Lovrien Gregory

You love Lovrien – Part 3

My grandmother, artist Lovrien Price Gregory (1888-1972), settled down at 3 Church Lane in Scarsdale in a home designed by my grandfather, Julius Gregory (1875-1955). The all-stone house, like a small castle with its turret and interior wood ceiling beams, was featured in magazines such as House and Gardenand House Beautiful. Julius wrote architectural columns for these journals, so no surprise his home would be featured in them.

The Times highlights Lovrien's design work

Lovrien complemented Julius’s work with murals or paintings within many homes he designed. Alas, many works, selling online, are disappearing into private collections. She also painted murals for the Children’s House at St. James the Less Church across the street, where she and Julius were parishioners. When the Depression hit, heartache of heartaches, they had to sell the house and move to a small apartment in New York’s Tudor City. I’ll complete her story in the next annogram.

Deborah Coulter Art Exhibit

Deborah Coulter

Deborah Coulter once again astonished art lovers with extraordinary collages and charcoals last month at the Marjorie and Norman Alexander Gallery at the JCC of Midwestchester. Her collages blend common images in such a way as to make their original meaning vanish in service to a complex whole. The charcoals deliver intriguing, soft brush-stroke patterns that seem to move. Collectors take note: her work is being snapped up fast!

‘Lucky Them’ preview

Thomas Haden Church and Toni Collette

What fun to preview “Lucky Them,” a romantic comedy written and produced by Emily Wachtel, at Sarah Lawrence College last month. Toni Collette stars as a journalist who must locate her former lover, a Jim Morrison-like singer, or risk losing her job at a rock magazine. Teamed with a nerdy millionaire brilliantly played by Thomas Haden Church, she sets out to find the missing musician. Find out why audiences at the Toronto Film Festival went wild for this wistful midlife coming-of-age story when it comes out in May!

Maxine Silverman’s Transport of the Aim

Congratulations to award-winning poet Maxine Silverman on the publication of her long-awaited Transport of the Aim,poems on the lives of Emily Dickinson, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, and Celia Thaxter (Parallel Press, 2014). Maxine will read from Transport on Friday, March 7 at 5:30pm at the Discover Portsmouth Center; Sunday, March 23 at 2pm at the Nyack Library; and Sunday, April 27, 1:30 pm at JCC-on-the-Hudson.

Poetics of Work Workshop in Paris

This intimate look at writing with imagination and formwith poet James Navé will take place March 21-22 in Paris (Métro: La Motte-Picquet Grenelle). Email Navé at nave@jamesnave.com or call/text +1-919-949-2113. Tuition is 300€ – Limit 15. Thanks to Francophile Susan Seligman for sharing this!

Beatles 50^thAnniversary

Did you see the February 9^th program on CBS? Jay Shulman, our resident music archivist, tells us that that “Boys,” the song that Ringo played, was originally recorded by the Shirelles. It was Ringo’s first vocal with the Beatles, recorded in one take February 11, 1963 and released on Parlophone in the UK and on “Introducing the Beatles” in the US on Vee-Jay.

Calls for haiku, ghost stories and more

Chuffed Buffed Books is looking for haiku for an online collection; deadline is March 14. Also, for short story writers, there will be another anthology coming up. The theme is in the vein of the 19^thcentury ghost story. Details on website and more info to come over next few months.

Lunch Ticket, the online journal of the MFA in Creative Writing Program at Antioch University Los Angeles is looking for translation, fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry and visual art. For guidelines, see www.lunchticket.org.

Out of Sequence seeks responses to Shakespeare’s sonnets. Respond to one below through a poem, essay of no more than 500 words, or visual piece amendable to .jpg formatting. Submit with your bio to outofsequencesonnets@gmail.com by March 1, 2014. Sonnets available: 4, 33, 37, 38, 39, 41, 42, 46, 48, 49, 53, 62, 67, 68, 70, 77, 78, 82, 84, 85, 86, 87, 89, 92, 96, 97, 99, 102, 107, 112, 113, 114, 117, 118, 123, 124, 131, 132, 133, 139, 141, 149, 150, 151, 152, 154.

Word Soupis raising money to end hunger while publishing poetry! To find out about the next deadline, go to http://wordsoup.weebly.com/or read more here. Look for Linda Simone’s poem, “New York 10016” in the current issue.

Chocolate Cherry Muffins

After Scottish novelist Regi Claire described these muffins baking in her kitchen, I requested the recipe. What better, in this month of Presidential celebration? We can celebrate George Washington and his mythic childhood admission of cutting down his father’s cherry tree. In his honor, let’s be glad for our country, Scotland and the most creative Regi who added cherries for a gourmet take on a standard favorite:

4 ½ tablespoons melted butter

½ cup sugar

1 pinch salt

1 teaspoon vanilla sugar

3 eggs

½ cup ground hazelnuts or almonds

4 ounces chocolate, melted

1/3 cup flour

few drops of cherry liqueur

jar of maraschino cherries

confectioner’s sugar

Regi Claire

Preheat oven to 350^oF. Combine in a mixing bowl melted butter, sugar salt and vanilla sugar. Beat eggs and add to mix, then nuts, melted chocolate, drop or two of cherry liqueur and the flour. Spoon into muffin tins, adding four to five cherries per muffin. Bake 18-20 minutes, or until well risen and lightly firm to the touch. Once cooled, dust the muffins with confectioner’s sugar. Bon appétit!

Round the Net

Thanks for the following people for sending these links, events and/or good news:

ALTA list-serve for articles on translation as a performing art, Margaret Atwood on translating translation and small presses growing translation readership

The Boss and Fallon take on Gov. Christie

Congrats to Jeanette Briggs on winning a blue ribbon for a collage from the Art Society of Old Greenwich

Guitarist-songwriter Michael Cefola for this hilarious Springsteen-Fallon take on Bridgegate

My sister-in-law Elainefor sending me this song my dad used to sing at the dinner table

Daisy Fried

Congrats to Elisabeth Frost on her new chapbook, A Theory of the Vowel(Red Glass Books, 2014)

Assisi Editor Wendy Galgan for letting us know that Daisy Fried will read from Women’s Poetry: Poems and Advice, March 5, 4:30 pm, at St. Francis College’s Founders Hall

Congrats to Gary Glauber on the publication of “Not For Us,” “Not For Us,” “The Snowy Owl,” and “The Snowy Owl” in Eunoia Review; “Putrid Deliquescence” in Deep Water Literary Journal, “Hitchhiker” in Agave, “Seasons of Loss” in Ozone Park Literary Journal, and “Star-Crossed” in Three Elements Review

Congrats to Cindy Hochman on her poem, “Blank White Page,” appearing in Arsenic Lobster

Poet Robert MacDowell for this advice on how to listen with empathy and validation and alerting us to for his upcoming talk, Actualization of Women and Men in the New Global Paradigm, on March 2 at the Golden Gate Center for Spiritual Living

Poet Mary McCrayfor Tony Hoagland’s article, “Twenty Little Poems That Could Save America”

Wait for me!

Bass player Larry Schwartzman for this adorable video of a puppy trying to run with the big dog

Roof BooksPublisher James Sherry for two new RB books, Erica Kaufman’s Instant Classic and Kit Robinson and Ted Greenwald’s A Mammal of Style

Poet Linda Simonefor this article on the debate around Robert Frost’s character, more realistic images of women and families and this 2013 writers’ memoriam

Frost Medal Winner Gerald Stern

Congrats to Gerald Stern on winning the Poetry Society of America Frost Medal

Congrats to filmmaker Frank Vitale on his video Hitchhike 1,2,3 being featured in French Canadian magazine 24images in the issue 50 Ans d'Art Videoand thanks to his sharing Episode 3 from The Metropolis Organism

Thanks to photographer Elaine Whitman for this video of Pete Seeger

Enjoy the periphery!

Ann

The wicked winds of March have blown away crusted mounds of snow here in New York, and yet more snow is predicted. In this annogram, we’ll focus on the bounty of poetry that’s happening next month with spring’s arrival. If you’re new to annogram, welcome and feel free to contact me if you would like me to consider your poetry or arts announcement.

eleven eleven

My translation of “The Ditch,” Chapter 11 from Le Héros (Flammarion, 2008) by Hélène Sanguinetti, appears in issue 16 of eleven eleven. A biannual journal published through the California College of the Arts MFA Writing Program in San Francisco, eleven eleven is “a forum for risk and experimentation.” Previous issues have featured work by Alain de Botton, Vanessa Place, Cole Swenson, and others whose work in issue six was selected for Best of the Web 2010.

Saint Peter’s B-List

Saint Peter’s B-List, ananthology featuring poets such as Martin Espada, Mary Karr, Franz Wright and yours truly, debuts next week. Neither devotional nor pious, it captures unexpected ways the saints illumine daily life for us saints-in-the-making. Readings will take place at Cornelia Street Café, April 1, at 6 pm, or Fordham University’s Manhattan Campus Atrium (corner of 60^th Street and Columbus Avenue), April 24, from 6 – 8 pm. Visit GoodReads through April 10 and you may win a free copy! Congratulations to Editor Mary Ann B. Miller on this charming and soon-to-be cherished volume.

The Widows’ Handbook

This amazing anthology has gotten rave reviews in The Boston Globe. Introduced by Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, this poetry / essay collection makes a thoughtful gift to recently bereaved and a rewarding read for the rest of us. I am honored that it contains my poems, “Irradiation” and “What Yields to Winter.” Local readings will take place at the Columbia University Bookstore onApril 11, 6 to 8:45 pm and Poets House on Saturday, April 19, 2-4 pm. Check the TWHwebsite for other nation-wide readings.

The Gondola Maker

Congratulations to Laura Morelli on her book, The Gondola Maker. Publishers Weeklyraves,“Sixteenth-century Venice is the star of [this] well-crafted historical novel,” and Frances Mayes, author of Under the Tuscan Sun, calls it “an especially compelling story.” Kirkus Reviews selected this “fascinating glimpse into Renaissance Venice” as its Indie Book of the Month. Morelli, an art historian and author who lived in Italy for years, is the only person who could have written this book. Order it here and enjoy!

You love Lovrien – Part 4

My grandmother, artist Lovrien Price Gregory (1888-1972) and her husband Julius bought a cottage in Greensboro, Vermont near Caspian Lake. This home inspired Lovrien to create a series of landscapes, delicate watercolors and oils, as varied as the location itself. Driving up Route 5 was an all-day trip from Manhattan back then but a perfect gathering place for their adult children, Alfred and Jules, and their new respective brides. They sold the Greensboro house before Julius passed away in 1955.

Drawing by Lovrien Gregory

Lovrien lived in their amazing Upper East Side apartment when I knew her. She had painted, over the fireplace, a graceful pastel and silver-leaf mural of classic Greek children holding hoops and, on the wall behind her bed, a convincing trompe l’oeil antique-iron headboard. Even the bathroom had white-chalk contour drawings of nudes on architectural paper (right). The apartment celebrated the creative skill of a classically trained artist.

Abstract oil by Lovrien Gregory

That’s why it was astonishing, when in her 70s, she attended the Art Students League to learn abstract expressionism, and ended up creating gorgeous paintings which combined classic figures with dynamic geometric patterns. For a portrait artist, at such an advanced age, to open oneself to a new approach is amazing. As a kid, I knew none of this—I was anxious for cookies to finish baking, and fascinated and terrified by her kitchen’s dumbwaiter which seemed to descend to Hades itself.

Sassy Lovrien in later years

She replaced her earlier portrait business with a new devotion to Christian Science and spent her last years in an eldercare community in Navesink, New Jersey. Despite having dementia, she filled a sketchbook with impeccable pencil landscapes, nurse portraits, and one memorable if wistful sketch of a dog leaning on its paw. I can see, flipping through the pages, how her art sustained her when her sense of location and/or memory may have failed her. She died at 84 and is buried with husband Julius at an old family cemetery in south Jersey. Look for a post-script in the next annogram.

Katonah Poetry Series

Christian Wiman, former editor of Poetry Magazine, will read at the Katonah Village Library (Garden Room) on March 16 at 4 pm—admission $10. The Katonah Poetry Series (KPS) will also host a fundraising event, Billy Collins at the Walker Arts Center located at the Harvey School, April 27 at 3:30 pm, $40 per adult, $20 per KPS member and $15 per student. Order the Collins tickets here.

L. Lamar Wilson

Salon Sundays in Charlotte

Pedestal Magazine will host Salon Sundays in April, 2-4 PM at CAST Theater, 2424 North Davidson Street, Charlotte, NC. April 6: Joseph Bathani, Tanja Bechtler, Bluz, M. Scott Douglass, Diana Pinckney; April 13: Anthony S. Abbott, Otis Hughes, Sarah Lindsay, Ed Mabrey, Jonathan K. Rice; April 20: Beth Brown, Dorianne Laux, Joseph Millar, L. Lamar Wilson; April 27: Tanja Bechtler, Jaki Shelton Green, Morri Creech, George Wallace. Tickets, $15 adults, $12 seniors (60+), $10 students, can be purchased here.

CUNY poetry events

Marjorie Perloff

Marjorie Perloff on Paul Celan’s Love Poetry, March 19 at 6:30 pm, in the Martin E. Segal Theatre; Claudia Moreno Parson on Amiri Baraka and Edward Dorn, March 24 at 6 pm, in Skylight Room (9100); Sixth Annual NYC/CUNY Chapfest, April 1, at 365 Fifth Avenue; Lost and Found Series IV Launch, April 3 at 4 pm in C198; and William S. Burroughs Centennial Conference, April 25 in Room 9206-9207.All events take place at CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue between 34th and 35th Streets.

Alice Notley

Segue Reading Series

See the following poets at Zinc Bar, 82 West 3^rd Street in New York, Saturdays 4:30-6:30 pm for a $5 donation: March 22:Rob Halpern, Ann Lauterbach; March 29: Amy De’Ath, Kevin Davies;April 5: Feliz Lucia Molina, Danny Snelson; April 12: Chris Sylvester, The Waitress; April 19: Cassandra Gillig, Alice Notley; and April 26: Andrew Durbin, Rod Smith.

Other Worlds: An Afternoon of Poetry and Song

Carole Glasser Languille

At the Old Stone House in Brooklyn, on April 13 at 3 pm, Carole Glasser Languillewill read from her book Church of The Exquisite Panic: The Ophelia Poems(Pedlar Press, 2012). In addition,Mara Goodman will sing in Spanish, Yiddish, Arabic, and English accompanied by Martha Siegel on cello and Laura Liben on guitar. The Old Stone House is located at 336 Third Street, Brooklyn, between 4^thand 5th Avenues.

Scarborough Fair Express

My favorite scone and muffin baker, John Byrne, recently opened SF Express in Bronxville. Oh! To taste the cherry and chocolate scone once again with its buttery layers! Marcel Proust, I will remember this scone forever. To celebrate the reappearance of Scarborough Fair Catering, I am sharing this recipe from Candice Kumai’s Pretty Delicious (Rodale Books, 2011):

Lemon-Cran Scones

3 cups all-purpose flour plus extra for shaping

1/2 cup sugar

zest and juice of 1 lemon

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 cup dried cranberries

1 cup confectioners' sugar

Heat oven to 375°F. Whisk flour, sugar, lemon zest, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in large bowl. Work butter in with fingers. In measuring cup, whisk buttermilk and applesauce. Press half together with dry ingredients. Pour in remaining liquid. Add dried cranberries; stir to combine.

Divide dough in half and sprinkle each round with flour. Pat each into 1-inch-thick circle and divide into 6 wedges like a pie. Place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake until golden, 15 to 18 minutes. Remove from oven. Cool five minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack. In bowl, whisk 4 tablespoons lemon juice with confectioners' sugar; drizzle on scones. Serve warm or let cool and store in airtight container.

Round the Net

Thanks to the following people who shared these links and/or good news:

Translator Guy Bennett on his translation of Greguerías (Mindmade Books, 2014), by Ramón Gómez de la Serna.

My sister-in-law Elaine for taking photos of my grandmother's work (above)

Poet Gary Glauber for poems in Dirty Chai, The Gambler, and Poemeleon

Writer Alison Ireland for the opportunity to participate in a creativity survey and her new writer-dedicated “blank page” website Hour of Writes

Publisher Janet Kaplan for Edric Mesmer’s poetry book, Faun for a Noon (Red Glass, 2014) orderable for $10 in a check addressed to author at 1217 Delaware Avenue, Apartment 802, Buffalo, NY 14209

Poet Amy King for the 2013 VIDA Count, which tracks gender equality in literary journals

Cancer Poetry Project Editor Karin Miller for this video of Canadian poet Samantha Albert

Mara Mills

Director Mara Mills for directing the Small Town Theater Company’s “Painting Churches,” the Tina Howe play, on April 4 and 5 at 8 pm in Armonk

Novelist Nahid Rachlin who will be teaching summer workshops in Paris and on Martha’s Vineyard

Music archivist Jay Shulman for this fantastic look back at WNEW “Channel 5”

Poet Linda Simone for this article on mapping the music in translation

Poet Alison Stone for her new collection, Dangerous Enough (Presa Press, 2014)

Poet Neal Whitman for alerting me to the wonderful life of Alice Herz-Sommers

Culinary expert Annette Zito on the debut of her new book Red Carpet Menus(ZAMMWorks, 2014)

Wishing you delicious poetry and scones,

Ann

National Poetry Month starts out with a bang—the news that Dos Madres Press will publish my first poetry collection, Face Painting in the Dark, this year. But wait—there’s more! Dancing Girl Press poet Alyse Knorr, guest editor of Sugar Mule, has accepted my poems, “Wildlife” and “Vermont: Midnight,” for the next issue. Could I be any happier?

St. Peter’s B-List at Cornelia Street Café

Come hear me read with poets from St. Peter’s B-List(Ave Maria Press, 2014), at Cornelia Street Café on Tuesday, April 1, at 6 pm. Mary Ann Miller, the book’s editor, will host Dean Kostos, Susan L. Miller, Angela Alaimo O’Donnell, Christine Redman-Waldeyer, Susanna Rich and me for this fun and not-so-holy reading. Hope to see you there—and, remember, GoodReads is giving away 20 copies of the anthology through April 10!

Slant of Light at Hudson Valley Writers Center

I will also be at the Slant of Light (Codhill Press, 2013) reading at the HVWC on Friday, April 11 at 7:30 p.m. Come hear me read with poets Sally Bliumis-Dunn, Lisa Fleck-Dondiego, Ruth D. Handel, Pamela Hart, Adrienne Hernandez, Ann Lauinger, Jo Pitkin, Natalie Safir, Margo Stever and Meredith Trede. In addition, Mervyn Taylor will read his beautiful elegy to the late Brenda Connor-Bey, one of the anthologized poets.

Cake, prose and poetry

Kevin Pilkington

Enjoy an evening of prose and poetry with novelist Lucy Rosenthal and poet Kevin Pilkington on April 3 at 6:00pm at Cake Shop in New York.

Poet Pamela Laskin, organizer and host of the NYC Poetry Festival (see below), will read at the CUNY Graduate Center, April 9, at 6:30 as part of the Turnstyle Reading Series.

Hear local poets read from The Widow’s Handbook(Kent State University Press, 2014) at Poets House on April 19, from 1:30-4:30 pm; and at Cornelia Street Café on May 25, 3-5 pm.

NYC/CUNY Chapbook Festival

The NYC/CUNY Chapbook Festival runs April 1 through April 3, celebrating the chapbook as a work of art and a medium for alternative and emerging writers and publishers. Here’s the festival schedule at the CUNY Graduate Center. The book fair, 10 am – 8 pm on Thursday, will feature these publishers.

NYC Poetry Festival and Contest

Poets Elana Bell and Aracelis Girmaywill be featured at the Annual NYC Poetry Festival and Contest. The festival will take place at City College, in Theater B of Aaron Davis Hall, 135th St. and Convent Avenue in New York, on May 9, 9 am - 5 pm.

Closing look at Lovrien

When I mentioned my grandmother, Lovrien Price Gregory (1888-1972), was one of the first female cartoonists at the turn of the 20th century, annogram readers were hooked. You loved her story, and I thank you for honoring her achievements this way. This Philadelphia Quaker-turned-Christian Scientist may be best remembered for this one comic strip.

What no one knows is that the cartoon’s writer would become her brother-in-law. Lester Lear (1897-1987) eventually married Lovrien’s half sister, Isadora Schmidt (1904-2000). In addition, “The Pioneers” narrative was most likely inspired by Lovrien’s husband. Julius Gregory’s (1875-1955) French grandparents crossed the country by Conestoga wagon to arrive in California at the height of the Gold Rush.

Commenting on the cartoon, artist Jim Rowe says it reminds him of the comic strip “Little Nemo” by Winsor McCay. “Little Nemo,” which debuted 10 years earlier, ran about the same time as “The Pioneers.” Ah, but now we must say adieuto Lovrien, cartoonist, muralist, portrait maker and abstract expressionist, saluting her ability to stretch her artistic talent in surprising ways.

Linda Simone

Writing Prompts

Thanks to Pushcart-nominated poet Linda Simone for sharing these prompts from Writer’s Digest:

Day 1: Write 10 potential book titles of books you’d like to write.

Day 2: Create a character with personality traits of someone you love, but the physical characteristics of someone you don’t care for.

Day 3: Write a setting based on the most beautiful place you’ve ever seen.

Day 4: Write a letter to an agent telling her how wonderful you are.

Day 5: Write a 20-line poem about a memorable moment in your life.

Day 6: Select a book on your shelf and pick two chapters at random. Take the first line of one chapter and the last line of the other chapter and write a short story (no more than 1000 words) using those as bookends to your story.

Day 7: Write a letter to yourself telling you what you need to improve in the coming 6 months.

Day 8: Rewrite a fairy tale from the bad guy’s point of view.

Day 9: Turn on your TV. Write down the first line that you hear and write a story based on it.

Day 10: Go sit in a public place and eavesdrop on a conversation. Turn what you hear into a short love story (no matter how much you have to twist what they say).

Day 11: Write the acknowledgments page that will be placed in your first (next?) published book, thanking all the people who have helped you along the way.

Day 12: Gather everything you’ve written over the previous 11 days. Pick your favorite. Edit it, polish it and either try to get it published or post it on the Web to share with the world. Be proud of yourself and your work.

Chocolate Pavlova

Celebrate spring with this gluten-free recipe from Cook Yourself Thin (Voice, 2009). This incredibly rich, exquisite tasting dessert is only 337 calories a serving, perfect for Easter or any special occasion.

For the pavlova
4 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon cocoa powder

For the topping
1 cup whipping cream
1 cup fresh raspberries
1/4 cup shaved dark chocolate
1/4 cup melted chocolate for drizzling

Preheat oven to 300 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk egg whites and salt on high speed until they hold their shape. Add sugar gradually until mixture stands in firm peaks. Add lemon juice and whisk just to incorporate. Sift cocoa powder into a small corner of the bowl and lightly fold it into the meringue using a plastic spatula. Do not overmix or you will lose the rippled effect.

Pour meringue onto parchment-lined sheet pan in an oval shape, roughly 3 by 5 inches and 2 inches high. Switch off oven without opening door and leave pavlova in turned-off oven for one hour. Remove and set aside. Topping: Whisk whipping cream into semi-stiff peaks and spoon on top of pavlova. Sprinkle with raspberries and shaved chocolate before serving. Finish with drizzled chocolate.

Round the Net

Thanks to the following people for these links and/or announcements:

Clobberhead and grateful owner

Congrats to Sarah Bracey White on the third printing of her memoir, Primary Lessons (Cavan-Kerry, 2013)

Guitarist and songwriter Michael Cefola for the inspiring story of Clobberhead

Translator Roger Greenwald for this list of best translated fiction

Poet and civil rights essayists J. Chester Johnsonfor his four-part article on the little-known Elaine race riots

Translator Lucas Klein for his wonderful interview in Asymptote

Congrats to Anomalous Press on its first anniversary

Congrats to poet Maxine Silverman, on second printing of Transport of the Aim (Parallel Press, 2014)

Poet Linda Simone for this article on the disappearance of New York bookstores

Translator Willard Wood for these jokes translated from around the world

Filmmaker Frank Vitale for sharing Episode 4 of The Metropolis Organism

Wishing you a joyous Easter, Passover and poetry filled spring.

Until next time,

Ann

Reading "Andromeda at Midlife"

Slant of Light reading

I loved reading last month with friends from A Slant of Light: Contemporary Women Poets of the Hudson Valley (Codhill Press, 2013). This Hudson Valley Writers Center (HVWC) event featured really fine Westchester poets, and an insightful talk by editors Larry Carr and Jan Schmidt, who announced that the anthology had received a Beverly Hills Book Award.

Proud poets and anthology editors

I caught up with Dos Madres Press author Ruth Handel; NEA recipient Pamela Hart; Against Butterflies (Little Red Tree Publishing, 2013) authorAnn Lauinger, and HVWC founder and poet Margo Stever, among many other friends. When Mervyn Taylor read his tribute to Brenda Connor-Bey, I knew she must have been there. It was too magical an evening! Thanks to Meredith Trede for organizing a great event and Sarah Bracey White for taking wonderful photos.

St. Peter’s B-List at Cornelia Street Café

My favorite place to read in New York is Cornelia Street Café, whose underground venue could encourage people to break out black berets and snap their fingers. Last month, I had the honor of reading alongside the lovely Mary Ann B. Miller, editor of St. Peter’s B-List (Ave Maria Press, 2014), and contributor poets Dean Kostos, Susan L. Miller, Angela Alaimo O’Donnell, Christine Redman-Waldeyer and Susanna Rich. St. Peter’s B-List makes a great gift for any spiritually attuned friends.

Sarah Lawrence Poetry Festival

What a pleasure to read at my alma mater with MFA alum and Red Glass Press PublisherJanet Kaplan, current undergraduates and MFA graduate poets! Festival organizer and Dancing Girl Press poet Katie Longofono kept us to one or two poems, which created fun, speed-dating exposure to nearly 20 poets. Our reading was followed by Kim Addonizio and Eileen Myles.

Scarsdale Inquirer interview

Thanks to Debra Banerjee, arts editor at The Scarsdale Inquirer, for recently interviewing me. Debra and I had a great conversation about poetry, and she managed to capture all the important points in a fabulous Arts Section cover story. Enjoy the interview here.

The Burden of Light

Congratulations to editor Tanya Chernov (right) on the release of The Burden of Light: Poems on Illness and Loss(Smashwords, 2014). This multimedia project, which includes three of my poems, weaves together a tapestry of inspiration, support, and hope. You set the price for the book, which will directly benefit the National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance.

More good news

Regi Claire

My translation of Chapter 8 of Le Héros by Hélène Sanguinetti is in Exchanges, the University of Iowa’s translation journal. My poems, “Wildlife” and “Vermont: Midnight,” go live May 15 at Sugar Mule. Lummox Press has accepted one of my poems for its 2014 anthology, and my Small Print Magazine interview with Scottish novelist Regi Claire is now online.

Seshadri wins Pulitzer

Congratulations to Vijay Seshadrion winning the Pulitzer for his poetry collection3 Sections (Graywolf, 2013). Vijay began his education in the sciences, and, as a result, brings startling clarity to all things literary as both poet and critic. In engaging talks, he has the gift for making a complex poet like Wallace Stevens simple, and a seemingly simple Robert Frost complex. Annogramrejoices in this much-deserved Pulitzer Prize!

Iaconetti watercolors

Joan Iaconetti’s first solo exhibit imagines post-graffiti subways in dark, deliciously sinister angles, platforms, and riders. Called “evocative neo-noir” by the Curbed NY, her work is on view Monday through Saturday, 10 am – 6 pm, at the Bridge Gallery through June 2. The gallery is on the fourth floor of The New School, 66 West 12^th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.

Translate in the City

The City University of London is offering a translation program, June 23-27, 2014. A week of translation workshops will cover a range of literary genres guided by leading literary translators, plus guest speakers and events. Languages: Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Russian, Spanish, Polish and Portuguese into English. To register, email s.hall@city.ac.uk or call +44 (0)20 7040 0123.

Reid Castle at Manhattanville

Poetry readings

Come hear novelist Terry Dugan, one of 15 Manhattanville MFA graduates reading on May 13, at 7 pm, in the East Library at Reid Castle at Manhattanville College.

Also on May 13, at 6:30 pm, the Go Cat Go Poetry Series welcomes Evie Ivey and Cynthia Toronto at Gracie’s Corner Diner, 352 E 86th St (between 1^st and 2^nd Avenues), New York.

E. J. Antonio

The 12th Annual New York City Independent Publishers Book Party will take place 6-8pm, Thursday, May 15, 6-8 pm, at the ZieherSmith Gallery, 516 W. 20th Street, in New York.

The Hot Poets Collective, Cheryl Boyce-Taylor, E.J. Antonio, Sabrina Hayeem-Ladani, Elizabeth Lara, Anton Nimblett, Jayne Pierce, and Ed Toney will read on May 16 at a private Woodside, Queens home. To attend, RSVP by May 12 to jgex@Hotmail.com.

The Saturn Series Open Mike will feature Juanita Torrence-Thompson, Ellaraine Lockie and E.J. Antonio on May 19, at 8-10 pm at Revival, 129 E. 15^th Street, New York.

Calls for submissions

Ruth Handel of the Poetry Caravan

If you’re a poet in Westchester County, you can bring poetry to people who might not be able to hear it otherwise. Contact Ruth Handel (RuthHandel@verizon.net) to learn more about the Poetry Caravan.

Calling all poems on “desire” or “road kill” for the Lummox Poetry Anthology to be published in November. Donate $15 and your submission will also be considered for the 2014 Lummox Poetry Prize, $100 and chapbook publication. Send 2-3 poems to poetraindog@gmail.com.

Poets for Living Waters is a poetry project which responded to the 2010 Gulf Oil Disaster. In light of the highly contested Keystone Pipeline, please send 1-3 poems, brief statement of ecopoetics, and short bio to poetsforlivingwaters@yahoo.com before July 20, 2014.

Asparagus Soufflé

How I love fresh spring vegetables, like artichokes and asparagus! Here’s a favorite recipe from The Ayurvedic Cookbook (Lotus Press, 2004) by Amadea Morningstar with Urmilla Desai.

1 cup milk

3 tablespoons ghee (clarified butter you can purchase at Trader Joe’s or Mrs. Greens)

3 tablespoons barley or whole wheat flour

1 pound fresh asparagus (about 1 cup cooked)

1 egg yolk

½ teaspoon sea salt

¼ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

4 egg whites

1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar

Paprika as garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wash asparagus and chop into 1-inch pieces. Steam until tender, about 8 minutes. Melt ghee in medium saucepan; slowly stir in flour. Add milk gradually, stirring constantly over medium heat. The sauce will thicken as it cooks. Bring mixture to a boil and stir in cooked asparagus. Reduce heat to low and stir in egg yolk. The mixture will thicken a bit more as you continue to cook it for another 1-2 minutes. Stir in salt and pepper; remove from heat and let mixture cool.

Beat egg whites with cream of tartar in a clean glass, enamel or stainless steel blow (plastic will slow down the process). When egg whites are stiff enough to peak, fold them gently into the cooled asparagus sauce. Place whole mixture in an ungreased soufflé or baking dish (one about half as deep as it is wide). Sprinkle top with paprika. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until soufflé is firm. The soufflé will keep for a few minutes after taking it out of the oven before it falls, but it is best eaten immediately. Goes well with salad and bread or rice. Serves 2-4.

Round the Net

Congratulations to Jeanette Briggs on winning the President’s Award from Purchase College, selected by the faculty for outstanding and dedicated studies.

Congratulations to Ruth Handel on four poems published in Eclectica; on reading from her Tugboat Warrior (Dos Madres Press, 2013) at Dobbs Ferry Public Library, and for Poetry Caravan readings at Armonk, Greenburgh and Scarsdale Libraries.

Congratulations to NEA recipient Pamela Hart, who will be teaching a summer course on ekphrasis at the Sarah Lawrence Writing Institute—register by May 29.

Amy King

Poet Amy King for The Boston Review’s online collection of poetry on surveillance.

Congratulations to Jacqueline Lapidus and Lise Menn, editors of The Widows Handbook (Kent State University Press, 2014), which has gone into its second printing!

Thanks to Poets & Writers for this literary map of New York’s Upper East Side.

Congrats again to Pulitzer -winner Vijay Seshardi, here talking about his poetry on NPR.

“Oh no, me gotta go! Ai yie yie yie,” writes music archivist Jay Shulman who let us know that April 11 was International Louie Louie Day.

Congratulations to Linda Simone, whose poetry collection, Archeology, will be published by Flutter Press.

Congratulations to Widows Handbook(Kent State University Press, 2014) contributor Chris Thieleon her essay, “Trusting the Process,” which appears in The Best American Poetry Blog.

Thanks to the Times Literary Supplement for this discovery from the poet Sappho.

Wishing you a Happy Mother's Day and successful soufflés,

Ann

We begin June with this wondrous photo taken by a friend at a wedding in Australia. If ever I needed an image of muses, it would be these young women in sparkles fluttering against a strong offshore breeze. May your muses move with the wind too!

Our winged Dodge and a sweet donkey

Do you remember cars with push-button gears, plaid-fabric bench seats and chrome fins? My poem, “At the County Airport,” recalls such space-age designs. To my delight, Main Street Rag has accepted it for a car-themed anthology. I’m also thrilled that issue 46 of Sugar Mule features two of my poems. Thanks again to guest editor Alyse Knorr.

Karin Miller

Anthology awards / readings

Congratulations to editor Karin Miller, whose Cancer Poetry Project 2 (Tasora Books, 2013) was named Best Poetry Book of 2013 at the Midwest Book Awards Gala on May 15 and is a National Indie Excellence Award finalist.

A Slant of Light (Codhill Press, 2013) has won First Prize in the 2014 USA Book Awards for Anthology and the 2014 da Vinci Eye Eric Hoffer Book (Cover) Award; and is a finalist in the 2014 Beverly Hills International Book Awards for Anthology, 2014 NextGeneration Indie Book Awards in Women’s Issues, and 2014 International Book Awards in Chick Lit/Women’s Literature.

Martin Espada

Hear fantastic poets from St. Peter’s B-List(Ave Maria Press, 2014) on Wednesday, June 11, 6-8:30 pm, read at Poets House, 10 River Terrace, NYC, across from Battery Park. Poets include Kate Daniels, Martin Espada, Brett Foster, Gerry LaFemina, Jamison Lee, Susan L. Miller, Angela Alaimo O’Donnell, Susanna Rich, Nicholas Samara, and Lauren Schmidt.

The Widow’s Handbook (Kent State University Press, 2014) continues readings: June 5, 7 pm, Iona Senior Services, 4125 Albemarle St NW, Washington, DC; June 7, 2 pm, Swarthmore College, Trotter Hall 301; June 8, 7 pm, Stonehenge Studios, 3508 SW Corbett Ave., Portland, OR; June 10, 2 pm, East Castle Place, 2505 E. Bradford Place, Milwaukee, WI; June 26, 7 pm, Gibson’s Bookstore, 45 S. Main Street, Concord, NH, and July 9, 11 am, Shorewood Senior Resource Center, 3920 N. Murray Ave, Shorewood, WI.

Petra Lewis

Petra Lewis at WORD

WORD - A Caribbean Book Fest will celebrate Caribbean-American Heritage Month on Sunday, June 8, 2 – 8 pm, at Medgar Evers College, 1650 Bedford Avenue, in Brooklyn. Petra Lewis, author of The Sons and Daughters of Ham: Book I, A Requiem, will join 35 writers from 18 countries celebrating the storyteller in all of us.

Dianalee Velie Poetry Workshop

Dianalee Velie

If you’re in southwest New Hampshirethis summer, you can join the Monday Night Poetry Group the second Monday of the month at 7 pm, at the Newbury Library. Poet Dianalee Velie encourages everyone to come, listen, or read. Next session Monday, June 9. All levels welcome.

Paul Harding

Canaan Meetinghouse Reading Series

In the same NH neighborhood, stop by these readings which feature nonfiction writer Douglas Bauer and author Sue Miller on July 10, poet Jeffrey Harrison and novelist Deb Harkness on July 17, natural historian Bernd Heinrich and novelist Rachel Urquhart on July 24, author Abigail Carroll and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Paul Harding on July 31. Readings start at 7:30 pm at the Meetinghouse, Canaan Street, Canaan, NH.

New books

Tanya Chernov is delighted that her anthology, The Burden of Light(Smashwords, 2014), is live on Amazon.

Dancing Girl Press announces a new chapbook, Borrowed Logic, by Alison Stone.

Petra Lewis announces that the EBook version of her novel, The Sons and Daughters of Ham: Book I, A Requiem, is live on Amazon.

James Dean

Mindmade Books has published Bernat Manciet’s Ode to James Dean in a bilingual edition translated by Pierre Joris and Nicole Peyrafitte. This 1958 hallucinatory meditation on the actor’s death, captures “brutal, sharp, abrasive, wily, loutish, irascible, burning, rash, fighting, aggressive” qualities that Manciet (1923-2005) prized as a major latter 20^th-century Occitan writer.

Red Glass Books is beside itself with joy to announce the publication of Café between wars, a chapbook by Karen Garthe and designed by Janet Kaplan. Available from the author—please email her at macminch2@gmx.com for details.

Calls for work

Red Booth Review is accepting poems on celebrity and art and photos on isolation through June 30. Include 4-10 poems within an email and/or 3-5 digital images no greater than 720px. See current issue for editorial preferences in poetry.

Watercolor by Isabelle Fuller

Beatrix Potter Redux

Thanks to artist Isabelle Fuller for sharing this delightful spring watercolor which pays homage to classic Beatrix Potterillustrations.

Racoco on the go-go

SOAK: A torrent of AcTS and Training molded by LEIMAY at CAVE will take place June 19 at 8 pm. Racoco Productions will show a new collaboration with visual artist Stephanie Beckand composer Lynn Wright, Paper Work, which charts ideas of "progress," territorial expansion, discipline, and disorder.

Beck and Racoco will follow up this premiere with an installation and series of performances at Harlem’s Chashama Performance Space, 1351 Amsterdam Avenue. The installation will be open to the public Saturday, June 21, from 3 - 9 pm, Sunday from noon - 8 pm, and Monday from 10 am - 9 pm.

Benefit Harp Concert

On Sunday, June 15, at 4 pm, harpist David Holton and flutist Pamela Sklar will perform, accompanied by tenors Michael Hull and Robert Puleo at Trinity St. Paul’s Church in New Rochelle. This benefit will raise funds to send David Holton to the Philippines as part of the Episcopal Church Young Adult Service Corps. Reception to follow concert. Suggested Donation: $15.

Send Sam to Ghana

Sam Russell, a recent Trinity Collegegraduate with an economics degree, is going to volunteer in Ghana where he will help WomensTrustimprove their operations, focus on micro lending to women to eliminate poverty, and raise awareness how scholarships can improve life for girls. Help Sam get to Ghana by contributing to his IndieGoGo campaign.

Cool Ginger Limeade

When the heat rises, I thirst for something delicious. I created this recipe as an alternative to chemical- and high fructose-sugar-laden ginger ale. Ginger has an astringent quality that cleanses the digestive system, and lime is alkaline to counteract acidity. Great after a big meal!

1 cup bottled natural spring water

1 quarter-size quarter-inch slice of ginger root, peeled

1/2 lime

2 Tablespoons (more or less to taste) organic raw honey

This refreshing drink calls for a strong blender. Combine water and ginger root in blender and process on the highest setting about a half minute. Using a tea strainer over a tall glass, strain the ginger water into the glass. Rinse out the blender to make sure it is free of any ginger.

Return the ginger water to the blender and squeeze the juice of one-half lime into blender. Add two tablespoons of raw honey. Blend again on high. Pour back into glass. The drink will be a lovely cream color and develop a foamy head. Drink right away. Serves one.

Round the Net

American Literary Translators Association list-serve for this article on publishers fighting Amazon

Translator Jeffrey Angles for sharing this article by the great Persian translator Dick Davis on translating Hafez.

Contemporary poets discuss poetry
hosted by UPenn Prof Al Filreis

Professor Al Filreis for sharing this early greeting from his celebrated teaching assistants preparing for September’s ModPo class

Belated birthday wishes to Gary Glauber, whose poems “Anthem” and “Refrain” appear in The Citron Review; and has three more poems in The Blue Hour, and two in East Jasmine Review, purchasable at the East Jasmine Review Store.

Writing mentor Robert McDowell for letting us know about his new workshop, Flash Writing for Fantastic Exploration, starting June 11—to register, email rmcdowell@mind.net

Congratulations to Laura Morelli on winning a silver IPPY Award for Best Adult Fiction Ebook for her debut novel, The Gondola Maker, also been shortlisted for the Eric Hoffer Award, the da Vinci Eye Prize, and the National Indie Excellence Award

The Offbeats

Congratulations to Jay Shulman (second, right) of the Offbeats, especially guitarist Michael Cefola (far left), on another tremendous Night of Rock benefit for the Scarsdale Teen Center

Thanks to Linda Simonefor alerting us to the passing of the beloved civil rights activist and poet, Maya Angelou

Congratulations to Ellen Steinbaum on her guest entry on The Best American Poetry Blog

Thanks to filmmaker Frank Vitale for sharing Episode 5 of the Metropolis Organismand this fascinating look back at his role in the PBS children’s program, Shining Time Station

Maya Angelou

We close this annogram with a Maya Angelou quote, “All great achievements require time.” Angelou overcame racism, poverty, and sexual assault, only to find a higher purpose in civil rights activism and powerful poetry and prose. All it took was time. Eighty-six years of extraordinary courage—which annogramcelebrates today.

Until next time,

Ann

Thank you for looking for your July annogram. Annogram was away for the holiday weekend, so I am back to see what’s of interest this month to my uber-creative subscribers. Hmmm…looks like artists may take over!

Lilly Ledbetter with President Obama

Women poets in the work space

Are poets “the unacknowledged legislators of the world?” Mais oui, say Carolyne Wright, Mary Baylor, and Eugenia Toledo,editors of Raising Lilly Ledbetter:Women Poets Occupy the Workspace, to be published by Lost Horse Press this fall. I am thrilled my poem, “First Job,” will appear in this anthology. Despite the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, women still earn only 77 cents to a dollar earned by men. Harrumph.

Theater Diva

Finally, a blog about cultural events in and around New York City! Arts columnist Debra Banerjee, who interviewed me recently, does us all a favor by reviewing concerts, plays and art exhibits. I particularly loved her profile of Marilyn Maye, a cabaret singer still going strong at age 86. Brava, Debra!

Brooklyn Bridge by Linda Simone

(Sub) Urban: Watercolors by Linda Simone

Linda Simone’s extraordinary watercolorsgrace the Madeleine Gutman Gallery at Greenburgh Town Hall. The opening reception drew a SRO-crowd and well-wishers filled Linda’s arms with roses. Her exquisite paintings run from brooding Manhattan scenes to open seasonal landscapes. See this fine exhibit, curated by Sarah Bracey White, through August 27.

Photo by Michael Cefola

Feast of St. Anthony in Little Italy

Oh, the joys of the Bronx, aka daBronx! Bronxites refer to nonresidents as “the unfortunate.” My husband Michael, our good friend Elaine Nole, and I headed to Arthur Avenue one Sunday for pastry and espresso at DeLillo’s. Little did we know it was the Feast of St. Anthony, the Franciscan saint known for finding lost things, and Michael snapped this great photo.

Deborah Coulter collage

Deborah Coulter will display her outstanding collages and drawings, with work by artist Lake Charles, in an exhibit, “Dreams and Memories,” at the Oresman Gallery at the Larchmont Public Library. An opening reception, this Thursday, July 10, from 6-8 pm, is free and open to the public. Exhibit runs through August 29.

Danielle Jackson photography

Photographer Danielle Jackson’s exhibit, “Lighthouses & Landscapes,” will be on display in the gallery at Ossining Public Librarythroughout the month of July—I can’t think of a better way to cool off than to take in Dani’s serene seascapes!

Creamy Summer Vegetable Soup

Here’s a savory vegetarian soup I created. Add other vegetables as you like—but don’t cheat on the curry leaves which give the soup its needed bass note. This delicious soup also requires a countertop electric grill with a lid, such as you would use for hamburgers or grilled cheese sandwiches; and a hand blender.

Vegetable oil spray

1 yellow zucchini, sliced thin lengthwise

1 green zucchini, sliced thin lengthwise

1 carrot, sliced thin lengthwise

1 red pepper, cored, seeded, sliced into strips

A handful of curry leaves

Salt

Plain yogurt (optional)

Spray grill with vegetable oil and heat grill according to its instructions. When grill is hot, place vegetables on grill perpendicular to grooved surface. Close lid and cook 10 minutes. Open lid, turn vegetables over, and cook another 10 minutes. The vegetables should be soft with brown or black grill marks. Some may need to cook longer than others; remove cooked vegetables to a plate.

Combine vegetables in saucepan with water to cover. Bring to a boil. Remove saucepan from heat. Purée vegetables with your hand-held blender. Add curry leaves and blend until completely smooth. If soup is too thick, add water. Salt to taste. You may add a dollop of yogurt to make it creamier, or to decorate soup once ladled. Serves two.

You can find fresh curry leaves at an Indian or Pakistani grocery. Do not substitute curry powder—it’s overpowering and a completely different flavor.

Photo by Carol Booth

Round the net

Congratulations and/or thanks to:

T J Banks’ blog on the Best American Poetry website

Carol Booth for taking these great photos from the Mermaid Parade

Steve Brannon for latest downloadable issue of Small Print Magazine

Terry Dugan for this article on France’s anti-Amazon stance

Photo by Carol Booth

Beth Gersh-Nesic for Tatjana Bergelt’s exhibit at the Serbian Consulate through July 27

Gary Glauber for poems in Stone Voices and The Citron Review

Claudia Hammon for this poetic rant by William Logan

Cindy Hochman for her review of Alison Stone’s Dangerous Enough(Presa Press, 2014)

Janet Kaplan for recommending this writing workshop on film and poetry

Photo by Carol Booth

Robert McDowell for his new website

Laura Morelli for 10 Reasons to Love Limoncello

Poets House for its annual poetry book showcase, on view through August 16

Jay Shulman on noting the passing of Gerry Goffin and Ultra Violet

Photo by Carol Booth

Linda Simone for her poem, “The Incredible Shrinking Woman,” in Carnival Magic

Linda again for this piece on solitude

The Small Town Theater for its summer concert series

Frank Vitale for chapter six of The Metropolis Organism

Keep cool, keep creative!

Until next time,

Ann

Happy September. I love the gold quality of the light through the trees, and the blue skies. Good news: My poem, “Trinity,” based on Shakespearian Sonnet 34, appears in Out of Sequence: The Sonnets Remixed. Editor D. Gilson is posting about the project, and the Parlor Press book arrives this fall. Main Street Rag Press has accepted “At the County Airport, 1964,” for its car anthology; and best of all, my interview with translator and poet J. Chester Johnson will appear in Illuminations in June.

Little Games at the Eastchester Inn

Little Games at the Eastchester Inn - photo by Mike Virsinger

Little Games, a band featuring my husband Michael Cefola, made its debut at the Eastchester Inn on September 6. The band plays a riveting mix of 1960s British blues-rock, from Yardbirds, Animals and Who to later artists such as Eric Clapton, Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac and Gary Moore. From left to right: keyboardist Anthony Nisi, guitarist Michael Cefola, drummer Tommy Vinton, and bassist Larry Schwartzman. Be sure to catch Little Games at Foley’s in Pleasantville on November 8 at 10pm. See you there for more amazing music!

Bookbinder Malcolm Summers

Traditional English Bookbinder

What a pleasure to discover the joys of bookbinding from Malcolm Summers, whose sunlit studio above the Chester Bookworm is filled with quality acid-free paper, Scottish leathers, space-age glue and old-fashioned presses. He binds everything from antique books and dissertations to wedding albums, and his clients span the globe. You can even take a workshop with him to learn this noble trade. Aren’t you relieved to know that someone like Malcom is still crafting books?

Linda Simone and new book

Linda Simone and Archeology

Poet Linda Simone is pleased to announce the publication of Archeology (Flutter Press, 2014). Linda’s long-time fascination with archeology led to this collection, which juxtaposes poems about real archeological finds with poems about modern experiences that serve to reconnect people--both living and dead. I love Linda’s work, and encourage you to purchase this distinctive collection.

Kevin Pilkington Master Poetry Class

National Book Award poet and novelist Kevin Pilkington is holding a Poetry Master Class for five sessions this fall at the Sarah Lawrence College Writing Institute for students with an MFA or MA in Writing who would like to get back into a workshop atmosphere, Tuesdays, November 11 - December 16, 6pm-8pm. Here are all ofthe details. Kevin's novel, Summer Shares, is now available as a paperback on Amazon.

Ferguson in view of Elaine Race Massacres

J. Chester Johnson

The Task Force Against Racism at Trinity Wall Street will host a symposium on the Elaine Race Massacre today at 2 pm, at St. Paul’s Chapel. The Elaine Race Massacre, perhaps the deadliest racial conflagration in US history, led to the Supreme Court’s Moore v Dempsey ruling toward equal protection and eventually to the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Civil rights activist, historian and poet J. Chester Johnson will speak on this tragic event. If you miss it, be sure to read his essay.

OSilas Gallery Celebrates Local History

Hotel Gramatan in Bronxville, NY

Legacies, Landmarks & Achievements: Celebrating 350 Years – Eastchester, Tuckahoe, Bronxville celebrates 30+ local historical figures as well as the legacies of the Tuckahoe marble quarry and the famed Hotel Gramatan. Discover surprising history in your own backyard! At the OSilas Gallerythrough November 9; Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday: 12-5pm; Thursday: 12-7pm; Saturday & Sunday: 2-5pm.

Quick Draw returns


John Lehr as Sherriff John Henry Hoyle

Ever wonder whatever happened to the Geico caveman? John Lehr stars in Quick Draw, a western comedy on Hulu that has just returned for a second season. Archeologist John McCrayinspires the program’s historical authenticity, going as far as Fort Smith, Arkansas to research the notorious Belle Starrfor an episode or two. Bravo to Lehr and McCray for creating a hilarious and authentic comedy!

Calls for Work

Highland Park Poetry wants poems and photos about grandparents or great-grandparents. Send poems (30 lines max) and jpegs by September 23 to jennifer@
highlandparkpoetry.org.

Vida looking for essays on intersections between gender, race, sexuality, class, physical abilities; misogyny in workshops/publishing/readings/theater/film that illuminate larger social issues;feminist literary successes/innovations; making gender privilege visible in the literary and larger world.

Evie Shockley

Poetry Readings / Talks

Fall ushers in poetry readings and talks to keep you round and sweet as a Gala apple:

September 23 – Eleni Sikelianos on mixing genres, Poets House, 7pm

September 28 – Ellen Bass, Katonah Library, 4pm

October 4– Richard Forman, Tracie Morris; Zinc Bar, 4:30pm

October 7 – Octavio Paz Centennial Celebration, Poets House, 7:00pm

October 9– Evie Shockley, St. Francis College, 4:30 p.m.

October 11– Kate Berlant, Tony Torn, Ubu Sings Ubu; Zinc Bar, 4:30pm

October 12 – Jim Daniels, Katonah Library, 4pm

October 18– Jomar Statkun, Christopher Stackhouse, Maria Damon; Zinc Bar, 4:30pm

October 25– Malik Gaines, Alex Segade; Zinc Bar, 4:30pm

The Frank O'Hara Chocolate Shake

Frank O'Hara(1926-1966), a premier New York School poet, loved having a daily cheeseburger and chocolate shake for lunch, his favorite meal. He'd walk around midtown, get some inspiration and type up a poem before starting on his afternoon work. Those poems ultimately became Lunch Poems(City Lights, 1964). I love his poetry as much as a good shake, and this one is goodfor you.

2 cups almond milk*

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon or more raw cacao powder

1 half of a ripe avocado

1 heaping teaspoon of almond butter

1 tablespoon or more of raw coconut nectar

a dash of cinnamon

Put all ingredients in the blender and blend on high for a few minutes. Taste to see if the shake is sweet and chocolaty enough, and adjust if you need stronger flavor. Pour into a tall glass and enjoy!

*To make your own, soak one-half cup raw slivered almonds in filtered water overnight. Pour water and almonds in blender with teaspoon of vanilla, two cups or more water, and blend on high for three minutes. Strain almond milk through a tea-strainer into a container with a lid. Keeps three to four days.

'Round the Net

One of Powell's 25

Cindy Hochman, editor of First Literary Review East, for the latest issue

ALTA list-serve for this article on British readers gobbling up foreign translations, a new bio on Proust translator Scott Moncrief, a French portrait of literary translators, and how to translate an untranslatable book

Francis Battista, Best Friendscofounder, on “Four-Footed Citizens”

Guy Bennett, editor, for publishing Portia Elan’s Ghazals for the Body (Mindmade Books, 2014)

Another Powell's 25

Christopher Brisson, writer, for this wonderful upbeat video for dog lovers

Terry Dugan, poet and filmmaker, for Powell's 25 Books to Read Before You Die

Cindy Dunne, Lakota Kids Enrichment, for beautiful poetry by Lakota children

Dennis Dybeck, translator, on Jerome the patron saint of translators

Gary Glauber, poet, for poems in jmww and 3 Elements Review (page 47)

Ruth Handel, Dos Madres Press poet, on her recent Warner Library reading

Cindy Hochman, editor of First Literary Review East, for the latest issue

And one more

Mary McCray, poet, for this take-off on net neutrality and fabulous fall Big Bang Poetrynewsletter

Christina Rau, Dancing Girl Press poet, for "Notes From Her Suicidal Bed" selected by Goodreads in July

Sam and Liz, editors of Circumference, for bringing back this great translation journal

Jay Shulman, music archivist, for this Zombies band documentary and revelation onJim Morrison's death; and for celebrating the lives of Bob Crewe, Charlie Haden and Johnny Winter.

Tourism Santa Fe, for the Burning of Zozobra (feel sorry for Zozo—what did he do?)

Frank Vitale, filmmaker, for his “Car Driving” and “Traffic Signaling in the Mediated City” videos

Wishing you the ripe creativity of fall,

Ann

Best American Poetry

Good news!This monthThe Best American Poetry Blog highlights my Illuminationsinterview with J. Chester Johnson, and Sophie Chouinardreviews Face Painting in the Dark (Dos Madres Press, 2014) in Cahoodaloodaling. In addition, Earth’s Daughters accepted my poem, “Royal Quiet DeLuxe,” and my interview with memoirist Sarah Bracey White will appear next month in the Southern Literary Review.

Little Games at Growlers

Join us Saturday, September 5, at 9:30 p.m. for energized blues-rock at Growlers Beer Bistro in Tuckahoe! Little Games features vocalist/guitarist Michael Cefola, bassist Larry Schwartzman, drummer Tommy Vinton, and guitarist/vocalist Don LaSala. Speaking of blues, Michael highly recommends this collection of interviews with B.B. King in the latest Guitar Player.

View from the Chair and New Mobility

Maggie and Jim Sinocchi

A great gift in my career has been working closely with members of the disabilities community—although “disabilities” hardly describes professionals whose talents far exceed my own. In View from the Chair, Jim Sinocchi faces some end-of-life planning most of us avoid; and in New Mobility, Jim Barry recalls one spring when he got “hammered.” I adore both Jims, and now you can get to know them too.

Eric Greinke and Dolly

Poets in Review

Thanks to Eric Greinke for including his review of Hence this cradle (Seismicity Editions, 2007) in Poets in Review (Presa Press, 2015). Hence is my translation of the second collection by French contemporary poet Hélène Sanguinetti. Eric’s essay joins many notable reviews he has written over two decades.

Brilliant Blunders at Iona

Astrophysicist and cosmologist Mario Livio will speak at the Murphy Center auditorium at Iona College in New Rochelle on Thursday, September 10, at noon. The talk will focus on “Brilliant Blunders,” major errors committed by such luminaries as Darwin, Einstein and Pauling, in describing the evolution of Earth, human life, and the universe as a whole. Free. Directions here.

1.5 Million Black (Wo)Men Missing

A panel, “More Than a Protest Novel: Connecting the Dots - 1.5 Million Black (Wo)Men Missing,” will take place Tuesday, September 15, 2015, 6:30 – 10:00 p.m., at The New School’s Lang Center. While looking at policy initiatives and antiviolence solutions, this free event will consider the deaths of Freddie Gray, Sandra Bland, and Charleston victims. Book-signing of Petra Lewis’s Sons and Daughters of Ham (PEL Press, 2014) follows.

A Fast Niçoise

Oh, the lowly can of tuna! Soon drenched in mayo and hidden in rye. Redeem your modest can of tuna with this one-serving recipe which is both healthful and tasty:

1 5 oz. can albacore tuna in water (avoid brands with soy in ingredients)

1 handful of baby spinach or mixed greens

10 Kalamata pitted olives

1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive (EVO) oil

Place greens in bowl and top with olives. Drain water from tuna can and break up tuna over greens. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and EVO. Toss and enjoy!

’Round the Net

Congratulations and/or thanks to the following:

Regi Claire

Editor Rachel Adamson latest issue of Lines + Stars

Poet Joel Allegrettion Rabbit Ears (NYQ Books, 2015) launch scheduled for December 14, 6:30 p.m., at Bowery Poetry Club

Poet John Amen on his upcoming reading tourthrough New Mexico and New York

Novelist Regi Claireon chairing the Scottish PEN/Amnesty International Imprisoned Writers Series at the Edinburgh International Book Festival

Artist Deborah Coulter for her Visual Playblog
Feminist Studies on their Multimedia Issue (available through JStor)

Hans Hofmann, The Gate

Art historian Beth Gersh-Nesic for this last call to see murals by Hans Hofmann

Translator Ann Gwinfor noting that two Hugo Awards went to translated work

Poet and editor Cindy Hochman on the latest issue of First Literary Review-East
Actor Tony LoBiancoon offering acting and coaching lessons

Poet Mary Ladd McCrayon 10 Ways to Be a Better Poetry Reader

Poet Kevin Pilkingtonon Michael Dennis’s review of Ready to Eat the Sky (River City
Publishing, 2004)

Linda Simone at the Twig

Tech guru Justin Simone for 29 Incredibly Useful Websites You Wish You Knew Earlier

Poet Linda Simoneon her Archeology (Flutter Press, 2014) book-signing at San Antonio’s Twig Book Shop and Tina Tocco’s book review in First Literary Review-East

Music archivist Jay Shulman for this article on Groucho Marx’s passion to master guitar

The brouhaha over Go Set a Watchman (Harper, 2015) has died down. Some have read it; others, like me, have not. Happily for all, the controversy revisited the profound impact of To Kill a Mockingbird, as well as the movie, upon the American imagination. The week that Watchman appeared, the journal Still Crazypublished Neal Whitman’s poem which he generously shares here:

Our Kind

“I think there’s just one kind of folks. Folks.”

-- To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee (1960)

It was an old town,

a tired old town.

In rainy weather,

its streets turned to red slop.

It felt hotter then.

It inspired her to write one book.

Just one.

Mary Badham, Gregory Peck
in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

On his movie script,

Gregory Peck wrote:

Fairness

Stubbornness

Courage

Love

Until next time,

Ann

Random Acts of Poetry Day

So happy today, October 7, is Random Acts of Poetry Day. According to Jennifer at Highland Park Poetry, we should be pinning poems on grocery bulletin boards and scrawling verse in chalk in the street. Sounds good! My random acts have included three poems recently accepted by Zoomorphic, and one by Main Street Rag Publishing for its ghosts anthology.

Photo by Jeff Pang

Women Poets of the Hudson River

Ruth Handel, Natalie Safir, Meredith Trede, and I will read at the Warner Library in Tarrytown on October 24 at 2 pm. Ruth’s most recent book is No Border is Perennial (Dos Madres, 2015), Natalie’s Love Like Snow(2011), Meredith’s Field Theory (SFA Press, 2011) and mine,Face Painting in the Dark(Dos Madres, 2014). Hope to see you there!

Writing & War

Bellevue Literary Review presents “Embattled,” a performance of poetry and prose on Wednesday, October 21, 2015, at 6 pm. Two actors will read select poems by BLRpoets, featuring work by my dear friend Terry Dugan. Free and open to the public at NYU Langone Medical Center, 550 First Avenue (30^th-33^rd Streets), Schwartz Hall E.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Commemorating Bonhoeffer

“For Conduct and Innocents,” amultimedia drama in verse written by J. Chester Johnson, will take place Sunday, October 18 at 2 pm at Trinity Church (Wall Street). Directed by Alan Baxter, the performance portrays significant moments leading to Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s death, with choreography by the Trinity Movement Choir, and Paul Knopf’s original score for an upcoming film on Bonhoeffer (1906-1945).

Collaborations in Dance
Racoco

This Brooklyn festival, on Sunday, October 18, at 8 pm, celebrates movement-based performance developed in collaboration with artists in film, sound, costuming, visual art, and more.Racoco, featuring Rachel Cohen, Remi Harris, Masumi Kishimoto, and Meghan Schardt, with live music by Lynn Wright and guests, rejoins visual artist Stephanie Beck on a shared program. At TRISKELION ARTS, tickets $16.

October Poetry Readings

Thursday, October 7, 7 pm: Matthew Zapruder, NYU Lillian Vernon Creative Writing House

Friday, October 9, 6 pm: Michael Klein, Andrea Cohen, Poets House

Saturday, October 10, 4:30 pm: Katie Degentesh, Katy Bohinc, Zinc Bar

Monday, October 12, 7 pm: Jane Hirshfeld, Poets House

Tuesday, October 13, 7 pm: Robyn Creswell, Dunya Mikhail, Nat’l Sept. 11 Museum; register911memorial.org

Tuesday, October 13,7 pm:Cate Marvin, Robin Beth Schaer, McNally Jackson Books

Thursday, October 15, 7 pm: Rachel McKibbens, Hieu Minh Nguyen, Casey Lynn Rocheteau,BookCourt

Wednesday, October 14, 6:30 pm: Lynn Emmanuel, Sarah Lawrence Slonim House

Saturday, October 17, 4:30 pm: Ben Tripp, Boni Joi, Zinc Bar

Sunday, October 18, 3:30 pm: The Widows Handbook, All Saints Catholic Church Library

Edwin Torres

Sunday, October 18, 4:30 pm: Edward Hirsch, Hudson Valley Writers Center, $10

Monday, October 19, 7 pm: Ai Tribute,Proshansky Auditorium /CUNY Grad Center

Thursday, October 22, 7 pm: John Wieners Celebration,Poets House

Saturday, October 24, 2 pm: Ann Cefola, Ruth Handel, Meredith Trede, Warner Library

Saturday, October 24, 4:30 pm: Rodney Koeneke, Edwin Torres, Zinc Bar

Thursday, October 29, 7 pm: Liwaa Yazji, Poets House

Friday, October 30, 6:30 pm: Randall Horton, Cheryl Boyce-Taylor, Center for Book Arts

Chocolate Walnut Scones

Thanks to my dear friend and translator, Ligia Yamazaki, I learned about eating “Clean” and later discovered this delicious recipe.

1/2 cup coconut oil + 1 teaspoon for greasing baking sheet
1/4 cup water
1/4 to 1/2 cup pitted and mashed-up dates (soak until soft)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup gluten free all-purpose flour (Bob’s Red Mills) +1 tablespoon gluten free flour

Pinch sea salt
2 oz organic dark chocolate (preferably sugar/dairy free, like Gnosis or Green & Black), coarsely chopped
1/2 cup raw, organic walnuts, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 350. Mix all dry ingredients in large bowl. In separate bowl, mash dates until you have a thick paste and set aside. Warm coconut oil until it's liquid and add to date paste with vanilla and water. Add wet to dry. Then add chocolate and walnut pieces and mix until just combined. Dough should hold together; adjust water and flour if too dry or sticky. Form dough into a round and place on lightly floured (leftover gluten-free flour) surface and cut in half. Roll each half into another round. Cut one round in half and then cut each half into thirds and repeat so you have 12 wedges. Lightly grease baking or cookie sheet with coconut oil and place wedges in oven for 16 minutes (rotating pan after 8 minutes).

’Round the Net

Thanks and/or congratulations to the following people:

Writer Cindy Beer-Fouhy on her Life Stories class at the Sarah Lawrence Writing Institute

J. Chester Johnson

Publisher Guy Bennett on debut of Piotr Macierzyński’s If father dies first (Mindmade Books, 2015) translated from Polish by Aleksandra Małecka and Piotr Marecki

Essayist Jeanette Briggs on “City Stories” appearing in Diverse Voices Quarterly

Poet Terry Dugan on having her poetry selected for Writing & War (see above)

Poet Ruth Handel on her upcoming book No Border is Perennial (Dos Madres, 2015) and 10^th year teaching Enjoying Poetry at Scarsdale Adult School

Poet Cindy Hochman for this article on the publishing industry’s thoughts on editing

Poet J. Chester Johnson on his upcoming drama in verse on Bonhoeffer (see above)

Poet Amy King for nominationsto the volume Bettering American Poetry

Novelist Petra E. Lewis on appearing in the Daily News, speaking at the National Action Network, and hosting an anti-violence panel at the New School

Poet Sherry Loeffler on the best rejection she ever received—part 1and part 2

Robert Murphy

Translator James Manteith for pointing out the new Iris DeMent album is based on Babette Deutsch and Lyn Coffin translations of Akhmatova

Poet Mary McCray for the results of this survey of online learning

Poet Don McIver and the 2015 ABQ Slam Team for appearing in a TED talk

Art expert Laura Morelli on her latest book on vacation treasure-shopping, Naples & the Almafi Coast

Poet Robert Murphy on his recent NYC reading at the Swift Hibernian Lounge

PBS for Jim Henson documentarysharing his early coffee ads (PS: If asked if you want Wilkins Coffee, the answer is yes)

Sports broadcaster Steve Overmyer for highlighting the New York Sharks—a women’s professional football team

Poet Kevin Pilkington on his master poetry class, starting October 20, at the Sarah Lawrence Writing Institute

Poet Claudia Rankine on winning the Forward Poetry Prize

Music archivist Jay Shulman for this book reviewof Chrissie Hynde’s memoir

Sarah Bracey White and winning plant

Poet Linda Simone on having “Rara Avis” accepted in Grabbing the Apple: An Anthology of New York Women Poets

Memoirist Sarah Bracey White on winning the First and Growers' Choice Awards at the Parkway Gardens/Parkway Homes Fall Flower Show

Poet Neal Whitman on having “When Dusk Falls” appear in this Italian journal and for recommending this video of poet Alice Oswald

Before we leave off, I want to remember Ann McGovern, author of the children’s classic, Stone Soup. When I was little, that story often inspired me to pretend my lunchtime soup was the savory one described in her tale. Later, when pursuing my dream of being a writer, I heard her speak at a writers’ conference. She was warm-hearted and approachable, and led an amazing life. Here’s to making delicious soup out of stones!

Until next time,

Ann

Photo found by Linda Simone

A lot happening: Linda Simone's fantastic review of Face Painting in the Dark (Dos Madres Press, 2014) appears in First Literary Review East. If concerned about race relations, you will also want to read my interview with memoirist Sarah Bracey White in the Southern Literary Review. Three of my poems are also in Cicada, a hip teen journal full of intelligent cartoons. Thanks to editors of AMP, Hofstra University's new digital magazine, for accepting my poem, "Signs and Wonders," for their 2016 inaugural issue.

Kattywompus Poets read

I'll be reading with Susana Case, Robin Messing, and Margo Taft Stever this Friday, November 20, at 7:30 p.m. at the Hudson Valley Writers Center in Sleepy Hollow. We'll be joined by fellow Kattywompus poet Cornelius Eady and his band, Rough Magic. Come for a fun evening of poetry and music (admission $10). You can catch this same lineup, with Leah Umansky and Kattywompus Press publisher Sammy Greenspan, at the Cornelia Street Cafe on Monday, December 14, at 6:30 p.m.

Rabbit Ears launch

Debuts December 1

Congratulations to editor Joel Allegretti on the upcoming publication ofRabbit Ears:TV Poems (NYQ Books, 2015),a tribute to the medium that has influenced America's tastes, politics, language, and lifestyles. I'm pleased it includes my “Velocity" alongside work from Billy Collins, Ellen Bass, Dorianne Laux, Timothy Liu, and Tony Hoagland. The poems are funny, poignant, witty, mysterious, and educational, much like TV itself. You can hear mine in this short YouTube film.

One Hundred Years of Marriage

Louise Farmer Smith’s One Hundred Years of Marriage (Upper Hand Press, 2014) is an extraordinary novel, and as poet Terry Dugan says, “It’s the perfect book club book”; also for academic courses on American women or our literature. While noting great books, be sure to get Kevin Pilkington’s latest Where You Want to Be (Black Lawrence Press, 2015), and a charming collaboration between poets Eric Greinke and Glenna Luschei, Zen Duende (Presa Press, 2015). Happy holiday gifting and reading!

Peanuts are back!

Congratulations to Anthony Nisi, Blue Sky Studio production manager, on the new Peanuts Movie. It has an important message about values and highlights all the great characters and lines we've always loved—"Good grief!", "Curse you, Red Baron!" and "You blockhead!" My favorite: seeing all those Peanut dance moves again, which I could probably perform from memory. The Peanuts Movie also utilizes innovative 3D animation. Be sure to take the little Peanuts in your lives to this fun family movie!

"Yellow Lit" by Diane Green

Diane Green at Madelyn Jordan

You are invited to a champagne brunch at the Madelyn Jordan Gallery this Sunday, November 22, 12 noon – 2 p.m. Art Historian Beth Gersh-Nesicwill host a Q&A with artist Diane Green on her work in the exhibitionThe Space Between. RSVP info@madelynjordonfineart.com

Poetry readings / conversation / music

Kevin Young

Thursday, November 19, 7 p.m. - Nick Flynn and Gregory Pardlo, Fordham University, Lincoln Center Campus, 113 West 60th Street, 12th Floor

Thursday, November 19, 7 p.m. - Kevin Young and Gabrielle Hamilton, New York Public Library at 42nd and Fifth, register

Rosamond King

Friday, November 20, 7:30 p.m. - Susana Case, Ann Cefola, Robin Messing, Margo Taft Stever, and Cornelius Eady and Rough Magic,Hudson Valley Writers Center

Sunday, November 22, 1:30 p.m - Susana Case, Sally Blumis-Dunn, Jennifer Franklin, and Margo Taft Stever, JCC on the Hudson

Friday, December 4, 6:30 p.m. - Rosamond King, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gallery 681

Sunday, December 6, 4:30 p.m. - Nick Flynn and Kathleen Ossip, Hudson Valley Writers Center

Tuesday, December 8, 7 p.m. – Helen Vendler, New York Public Library, tickets $20-45, register

Golda Solomon

Friday, December 11, 7 p.m. - Sharon Olds and Cynthia Nixon, New York Public Library at 42nd and Fifth, register

Friday, December 11, 7:30 p.m. - Three local MFA poets, Hudson Valley Writers Center

Sunday, December 13, 4:30 p.m. - Golda Solomon, Hudson Valley Writers Center

Monday, December 14, 6 p.m. - Susana Case, Ann Cefola, Robin Messing, Margo Taft Stever, and Cornelius Eady and Rough Magic,Cornelia Street Cafe

Saturday, November 28, 8 p.m. - Jay Shulman, cellist with Windham Festival Chamber Orchestra, Doctorow Center, Hunter, NY; tickets

Sunday, November 29, 6:30 p.m. - Jaime Lee Lewis, Bowery Poetry Club

Moosewood Pumpkin Pie

In time for Thanksgiving! From Mollie Katzen’s Moosewood Cookbook(Ten Speed Press, 2014), this recipes depends upon fresh pumpkin for its wildly satisfying flavor. Remove seeds and stem from a sugar pumpkin, then cut into chunks. Boil or steam until a knife glides easily through pumpkin. Drain, remove and discard skin from each chunk, and puree with handheld blender. Makes two and sometimes three pies, depending on size of pumpkin.

3 cups pumpkin puree

¾ cup honey

2 Tbsp molasses

¼ tsp ground cloves

3 tsp cinnamon

1 ½ tsp ginger

1 tsp salt

4 eggs, slightly beaten

1 12-oz can evaporated milk (or 1 cup scalded fresh milk, or nut milk for a dairy free option)

frozen or homemade pastry pie shell

Combine ingredients in order given in a very large bowl. Pour into two pie shells and bake 10 minutes at 450 degrees, then 40 minutes at 350 degrees, or until center ceases to wobble when gently shaken. Or omit pie shell for a delicious pumpkin pudding. Bake filling in buttered baking dish and serve with vanilla ice cream or heavy cream.

’Round the Net

Congratulations and/or thanks to the following for news and links:

Actors Jane Bradley and Chris Coffey
read Terry Dugan's poetry

Singer/songwriter Eric Andersen on writing fourteen new songs based on Byron's poetry

Memoirist Sarah Bracey White on receiving recognition as one of the YWCA's "Mover and Shaker" this year

Guitarist Michael Cefola on great musical discoveries, Vintage Trouble and guitarist Neil Zaza

Artist Lidia Chiarelli, via poet Neal Whitman, for this video of an exhibit based on Ferlinghetti's “Chagall's Magic Lantern” poem

Poet Terry Duganon having her work read by actors Jane Bradley and Chris Coffey at Bellevue Literary Review's poetry event last month

Self Portrait, Paula Moderson-Becker

Art Historian Beth Gersh-Nesic for this exhibit of work by Paula Moderson-Becker(1876-1907) and for Beth’s wonderful PostModern Mom blog

Poet Gary Glauberfor his poem in Bookends Review and Calliope Magazine

Writer Carolyn Gregoire on this new look at the creative brain

Poet Cindy Hochmanon having five poems appear in the fall Muddy River Review

Novelist Laura Morelli on the publication of her short story, "The Tapestry," now available

Gail and Frank Zappa

Translator Cindy Schuster on recommending this Paris Review interview with poet/translator Peter Cole

Publisher James Sherry on Roof Books' new Parsival by Steve McCaffery and we plié by Patrick R. Phillips

Music archivist Jay Shulman for this tribute to Ringo and remembering Gail Zappa

Poet Laureate Juan Felipe
Herrera and Linda Simone

Poet Linda Simoneon meeting US Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera, and for this article on grammar distorting history

Actor Dagmar Stansova for sharing this rare film clip of her in an early acting class with Angelina Jolie

Publisher Ann Starr for this great review of Cuban-born Dominican artist Quisqueya Henriquez

Photographer Joe Vericker on covering Pope Francis's visit to New York in September

We close with love and prayers for dear friends in France, especially poet Hélène Sanguinetti and our mutual friend Claire Barre. There’s no explaining such tragedy, but this father made a good attempt helping his son understand. Wishing us all candles and flowers, and deep gratitude this Thanksgiving for those we love and the life we cherish.

Until next time,

Ann

Ann reads at Cornelia Street Cafe

Kattywompus at Cornelia Street Cafe

What a pleasure to read with Kattywompus poets Susana Case, Cornelius Eady, Robin Messing, and Margo Stever at the Hudson Valley Writers Center last month! We also enjoyed music by Cornelius's band, Rough Magic. We took the show to Cornelia Street Café this week. Hosting was poet and Kattywompus publisher Sammy Greenspan, and poet Leah Umansky, both of whom also shared their gifted work for a spectacular evening (photos courtesy Michael Holstein).

Cornelius Eady

Cornelius Eady and Rough Magic

Commissioned by the Poetry Society of America, Corneliusset poems by Sterling A. Brown (1901-1989) to music—and Rough Magic was born. Fronted by Cornelius and Robin Messingon vocals, the band features Charlie Rauhon guitar, Emma Alabaster on bass, Leo Ferguson on drums, and Lisa Liu on keyboards and electric guitar.

Charlie Rauh

A mesmerizing mix of lyric and sound, the poems contrast Cornelius's own tributes to Sandra Bland, Trayvon Martin and John Snowden. Note: Rauh’s own haunting debut EP Innocent Spelleralso blends ethereal chords with whimsical hints reminiscent of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."

The Wanderlust: A South Carolina Folktale

Congratulations to memoirist Sarah Bracey White and illustrator Linda Simone on the debut of The Wanderlust: A South Carolina Folktale. This wonderful, beautifully illustrated tale is great for all ages, so be sure to get your hands on a copy. To order, email the author at bracey0114@aol.com. Here's a delicious sample:

Walter Morgan had a bad case of the wanderlust. Way befo’ he ever finished grade school, he’d been to visit more parts of the state of South Carolina than the post office had ever heard tell about. Once, when his ma whipped him for wanderin’ off, Walter told her, ‘Sometimes my feels git real itchy and the only way to ease the itch is to walk down the road a piece. After a while, the walkin’ feel so good I just can’t stop.’ After Walter married Mae Witherspoon, the preacher’s daughter, everybody expected him to settle down. And for near ‘bout two years, Walter did. He worked real steady in the saw mill and went no further than the Santee River. But many’s the time I seen him sittin’ on that river bank, pluckin’ on his guitar and starin’ off to’ards where the river flowed.

Santa Clops for Christmas

Scratching your head for perfect gifts for little ones in your life? Look no further than A Visit from Santa Clops or the Fright Before Christmasand The Cave of Santa Clops by Gig Wailgum, available in paperback from Amazon. Visit has received glowing reviews from The Picture Book Review, Dial for Books, andI'd So Rather Be Reading; and Cave from Dial for Books, I'd So Rather Be Reading, andBest Sellers World.

More poetry

Kevin Pilkington's new and selected Where You Want to Be (Black Lawrence, 2015) is back in Amazon stock. Ciara Miller's Silver Bullet (Mindmade Books, 2015) meditates on the film industry's use of entertainment to mask race and racial injustice. In Quit(Burning Deck, 2015), Lissa Mclaughlin gives voice to a grief worker within the hospice landscape. And consider these fine chapbooks: Gary Glauber's Memory Marries Desire (Finishing Line Press, 2016), and Jessica Lynn Dotson's Time Trials(L&S, 2015).

Highland Park Poetry Challenge

Highland Park’s 2016 Poetry Challengehonors the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death by offering poets one of the following prompts: Shakespeare’s life, identity, plays, character; a sonnet, or subject of "night." Poets of all ages may submit. Deadline: Monday, February 29, 2016 at 11:59 p.m. Send poem(s) as text in an e-mail to Jennifer@highlandparkpoetry.organd write “2016 Poetry Challenge” in subject line.

Poetry Readings

Sunday, December 20, 1:30 p.m. – Natalie Safir, Geri Rosenzweig, JCC on the Hudson, $5

Sunday, December 20, 6 p. m. – Kevin Pilkington , Le Poisson Rouge, free

Sunday January 10, 4:30 p.m. – Jonathan Galassi, Hudson Valley Writers Center, $10

Wanderlust Sweet Potato Waffles

Let's celebrate the debut of The Wanderlust with yummy southern sweet potato waffles! Gluten-free options below–delicious either way and great for a lazy New Year's day spent in your PJs:

1 cup mashed sweet potatoes (instructions below)

juice from an orange or lime

3 eggs, separated

1 cup milk or almond milk

1/4 cup melted butter or sunflower oil

1 1/2 cups flour or gluten-free flour such as Bob's Red Mill All-Purpose Gluten-Free Flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

Cut sweet potato into even chunks, and boil or steam until tender. Remove skin. Put in a bowl with juice from lime or orange, and, if too tart, a drop or two of maple syrup. Beat with hand-held blender. Add to the sweet potatoes: 3 egg yolks, milk and butter or sunflower oil. Stir in flour which has been mixed with baking powder and salt. Beat three egg whites to soft peaks and fold into sweet potato mixture. Cook in an oiled waffle iron until crisp.

’Round the Net

Thanks and/or congratulations to the following:

Editor Joel Allegretti on recent launch of Rabbit Ears (NYQ Press, 2015), Boston Globe review, Pittsburgh Post-Gazettte review, and book marketer blog interview

Poet Terry Duganon high praise for her work in Bellevue Literary Review's Embattled Issue, and for sharing this great interview with poet Rowan Ricardo Phillips

Food Democracy Now! for promoting a new thriller on GMOs called "Consumed"

Poet Gary Glauber on his first chapbook and being nominated for a Pushcart Prize

Translator Daniel Hahn for his new AsymptoteFortnightlyAirmail column, "Ask a Translator"

Poet Ruth Handelon having her work in the Hudson Valley Center of Contemporary Art's "Writing the Walls" Exhibit this month

Editor Cindy Hochman on the latest issue of First Literary Review East

Poet J. Chester Johnson for this video of his highly successful play on Dietrich Bonhoeffer, For Conduct and Innocents

Editor Karin Miller on this moving short film based on a poem from The Cancer Poetry Project 2

Poets House on PBS featuring Bill Murray explaining why he recites poetry

Poet Linda Simoneon having her poem, "Teahouse of the Texas Moon," accepted in the new Dos Gatos Press anthology of Southwestern Persona Poems; and for sharing yoga for writers

Music archivist Jay Shulman for alerting us to Rubber Soul's 50th anniversary this month, and remembering Cynthia Robinson of Sly and the Family Stone

Poet Elaine Whitman on winning the first prize in the 40th annual Yuki Teikei Haiku Society Haiku Contest

Wishing you peace and joy in this season of lights, and a very Merry Christmas to all!

Until next time,

Ann

Today, annogrampeeks above ground and declares six more weeks of winter! Fine. Bring on the hot chocolate and fat novels. February also heralds news of upcoming publications for me—from the anthology, First Encounters with One’s Own Femininity, to poems in digital journals Zoomorphic and Amp.

Kevin Pilkington at Writers Center

Award-winning poet Kevin Pilkington will read this Friday, February 5, at 7:30 p.m. at the Hudson Valley Writers Center. Kevin is the author of many books including his latest Where You Want to Be: New and Selected Poems (Black Lawrence, 2015). Learn more about Kevin in this blog interview.

Low: The Power of Bass

Discover the integral role of bass at the Museum of Music Making, now through July 31. This exhibition introduces aspects of the low register—bass—experience. Open your eyes, ears and imagination to this sonic realm! We appreciate MoMM’s Mike Hendrickson for letting us know about this fabulous exhibit.

Love Poems for San Antonio

Linda Simone

San Antonio’s Poet Laureate, Laurie Ann Guerrero, will read two poems by Linda Simone as part of the opening reception for Love Poems for San Antonio on Thursday, February 4, at 6 p.m. at Culture Commons. The text-based art installation of 30+ poems celebrating San Antonio will be on display through February 28.

Ruth Handel at Scarsdale Library

Poet Ruth Handel will read at the Scarsdale Library Thursday, February 4, at 7:30 p.m. Ruth’s latest book is No Border is Perennial (Dos Madres Press, 2015). Also reading will be novelists Asif Ishmael and Barbara Solomon Josselsohn, and poet Deborah Skolnik.

The Bridge at Trinity Wall Street

Thanks to poet J. Chester Johnson for alerting us to The Bridge, an art exhibition showcasing 47 contemporary artists from 15 countries. The Bridge focuses on what they hold in common through their Christian, Muslim, and Jewish cultures. Now through February 28 at St. Paul’s Chapel in Trinity Wall Street.

Poetry readings

Rachel Eliza Griffiths

Thursday, February 4, 7 p.m., Tribute to James Tate (1943-2015), New School Auditorium

Saturday, February 6, 4:30 p.m., Liz Howard, Lanny Jordan, Zinc Bar

Thursday, February 11, 7 p.m., Tribute to Ruth Stone (1915-2011), Thirteenth Street Repertory Theatre

Saturday, February 13, 4:30 p.m., Sandeep Parmar, Cody Rose Clevidence, Zinc Bar

Wednesday, February 17, 7 p.m., Patricia Spears Jones and Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon, BookCourt

Tina Chang

Saturday, February 20, 4:30 p.m., Myung Mi Kim, Joey Yearous-Algozin, Zinc Bar

Thursday, February 25, 7 p.m., Eileen Myles, Alice Quinn, Lillian Vernon House

Saturday, February 27, 4:30 p.m., Ian Heames, Kathleen Fraser, Zinc Bar

Friday, March 4, 7:30 p.m., Rachel Eliza Griffiths, Hudson Valley Writers Center

Saturday, March 5, 4:30 p.m., Anne Boyer, Lara Mimosa Montes, Zinc Bar

Rosmarie Waldrop,
photo by Anneli Dufva

Sunday, March 6, 4:30 p.m., Laurie Sheck, Hudson Valley Writers Center

Friday, March 11, 7:30 p.m., Tina Chang, Hudson Valley Writers Center

Saturday, March 12, 4:30 p.m., Aaron Kunin, Rae Armatrout, Zinc Bar

Saturday, March 19, 4:30 p.m., Dawn Lundy Martin, Rosmarie Waldrop, Zinc Bar

Skillet-Sizzled Buttermilk Cornbread

The recipe from The Lost Road Project: A Walk-in Book of Arkansas (University of Arkansas Press, 1994) by the late poet C.D. Wright (1949-2016), is a tribute to her most delicious poetry. I made this mouth-watering cornbread recently and can attest to its near sacred, buttery crumb. For southerners, this may be akin to taking the Eucharist.

Vegetable oil cooking spray

1 cup unbleached white flour

1 cup stone-ground yellow cornmeal

1 tablespoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon baking soda

1¼ cups buttermilk

2 tablespoons sugar

1 egg

¼ cup mild vegetable oil

2 tablespoons butter, or mild vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray 10-inch cast-iron skillet with oil and set aside.Sift together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt into medium bowl. In smaller bowl, stir baking soda into buttermilk. Whisk in sugar, egg, and ¼ cup oil.Put prepared skillet over medium heat, add butter, and heat until butter just starts to sizzle. Tilt pan to coat sides and bottom.Pour wet ingredients into dry and combine quickly, using as few strokes as possible. Scrape batter into prepared pan and bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Let cool a few moments, and slice into 8 wedges to serve.

’Round the Net

Thanks and/or congratulations to the following:

Peter Chelnik,
photo by Roxanne Hoffman

Poet Joel Allegretti on his Huffington Postinterview

Writer Christopher Brisson for link to these hilarious dog collages

Amateur Astronomer Michael Cefola on his letter to the editor in this month’s Astronomy Magazine

Poet Peter Chelnik on his upcoming poetry book, Hey Girl

Poet Terry Dugan for video of professional actors recently reading her war-protest poems

Poet Gary Glauber on publication of his poem, “The Other” in Verse-Virtual

Poet Eric Greinkeon Forge Journalinterview, and Adastra Press broadside, “Trout,” $20 through Gary Metras (16 Reservation Rd., Easthampton, MA 01027)

Cindy Hochman

Poet Cindy Hochman on her selection as the Grand Prize Winner in the Long Island Light Verse Contest

Editor Pamela Laskin on the publication of It’s All About Shoes:A Collection of Essays, Poems and Stories About Women and Their Unusual Relationship to Shoes(Plain View Press, 2015)

Actor Tony Lo Bianco for offering acting classes at Symphony Space (email TonyLoboActing@gmail.com)

Author Laura Morellion her recent participation in The New York Times Travel Show

Poets and Writers for highlighting this new unusual way for literary lovers to hear book reviews

Music archivist Jay Shulman on the Baltimore Sun’s reviewof his father’s work

Dagmar Stansova (left)

Poet Linda Simone for this amazing recording of Stephen Hawkings reading a poem on relativity, and great take on who a contemporary Emily Dickinson might be

Actor Dagmar Stansova on starring in American premiere of Mario Diament's "Land Of Fire”

Poet Arthur Vogelsang on offering one-on-one online workshops

Westchester Amateur Astronomers for passing along this NASA video on the size of the universe

Happy Groundhog’s Day! Remember, whenever you see your shadow, it’s time to make some art.

Until next time,

Ann

Free Ferry

For National Poetry Month, I am thrilled to announce my second book of poetry, Free Ferry, will be published by Upper Hand Press on January 16, 2017. Thanks to publisher Ann Starr, whose commitment to innovative work includes outstanding sleeper novels such as One Hundred Years of Marriage and The Naming of Girl. Stay tuned for more on Free Ferry, which combines mythology, 1960s suburbia, and the story behind plutonium.

Rabbit Earsreading

I will read with poets from Rabbit Ears: TV Poems(NYQ Books, 2015) on Friday, April 29, at 7:30pm at the Hudson Valley Writers Center. Come join editor Joel Allegretti, poets Jeanne Marie Beaumont, Susana H. Case, Suzanne Cleary, Philip Fried, Amy Holman, Erik LaPrade, Lynn McGee, Mervyn Taylor, Angelo Verga, and Estha Weiner as we read about the cultural impact of television.

Linda Simone and poem

Poetry on the Move

Congratulations to Linda Simone, a poet selected for San Antonio’s Poetry on the Move, and for the city bus system in Norwalk, CT. Linda’s work also was chosen for the Love Poems to San Antonio anthology and launch event. Congrats to Kevin Pilkington, whose poetry was also selected for Norwalk.

Tenement Threnody

Join poet Meredith Trede this Sunday, April 17, for her book launch of Tenement Threnody (Main Street Rag, 2016) at Sundays with George, 1:30pm, at the JCC on Hudson. annogram congratulates Meredith on her second exceptional book of poetry. Sundays with George, a monthly poetry series, is hosted by poet and translator Dr. George Kraus.

Maggie and Jim Sinocchi

View from the wife

So many of you responded positively to Jim Sinocchi’s blog, View From The Chair. Jim has posted a great article by his wife Maggie, written decades ago, on being married to Jim. They continue to be extraordinary people and help us all remember what’s most important in life, in love, and yes, in marriage.

Writing workshops

Natalie Safir hosts “Stories I Tell My Friends,” a writing workshop, free, 1-3pm, at the Warner Library on Wednesdays, April 13 and 27; May 11 and 25 and ending June 15. Cindy Beer-Fouhy also offers “More Life Stories: Writing Workshop for Ages 50+,” Fridays, 12:30 –2:30pm, Fridays May 27 - June 24; register at Sarah Lawrence College Writing Institute.

Eamon Grennan

Poetry readings

April 13, 6:30pm – Eamon Grennan, Godwin Ternbach Museum

April 14, 6pm – Carla Carlson, Cynthia Cruz, J. Chester Johnson, James Fujinami Moore, Maya Pindyck, NYU Bookstore

April 14, 6:30pm – Fanny Howe, CUNY, Room C202

Jo Pitkin

April 14, 7:30pm – Ruth Handel and the Poetry Caravan, Dobbs Ferry Library

April 15-17 – Sarah Lawrence Poetry Festival

April 15, 6:30pm – Panel on June Jordan’s Life and Work, CUNY, Room 9207

April 16, 4pm – Panel with poets Jo Pitkin, Will Nixon, Molly McGlennen, and Lucia Cherciu, Butterfield Library

April 17, 1:30pm – Meredith Trede, JCC on Hudson

Angelo Verga

April 17, 4pm – Robert Pinsky, Katonah Village Library, $10

April 17, 4:30pm – Jessica Greenbaum, Peter Marcus and Gary Whitehead, HVWC

April 20, 7:30pm – Ruth Handel and the Poetry Caravan, Greenburgh Library

April 24, 4:30pm – Christopher Bakken, HVWC

April 27, 7:30pm – Ruth Handel and the Poetry Caravan, Scarsdale Library

April 28, 6:30pm – Rhina Espaillat, David Ferry, Robert Pinsky, Ellen Doré Watson, First Parish

April 29, 7:30pm – Joel Allegretti, Jeanne Marie Beaumont, Susana H. Case, Ann Cefola, Suzanne Cleary, Philip Fried, Amy Holman, Erik LaPrade, Lynn McGee, Mervyn Taylor, Angelo Verga and Estha Weiner, HVWC

April 29, 8pm – Irish poets Louis DePaor,Theo Dorgan, Eamon Grennan, Belinda McKeon, Susan McKeown, Paul Muldoon, Leanne O'Sullivan,The Great Hall at Cooper Union

Creamy Onion Soup

This recipe is courtesy of artist Angela Virsinger and her husband Mike, who celebrated birthdays last month. Happy Birthday!

4 large onions, roughly sliced

½ Tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 Tbsp maple syrup

4 cups chicken or vegetable stock

½ cup coconut milk

4 Tbsp ghee or cooking fat

Sea salt and ground black pepper

Melt ghee or cooking fat in a saucepan over medium heat. Add onions, saute until tender and golden, about 20 minutes. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and maple syrup, and stir. Pour in stock, bring to a boil, and simmer 15 minutes. Puree soup using a blender or immersion blender until smooth. Add coconut milk, season to taste, and serve warm.

‘Round the Net

Congratulations and/or thanks to the following:

Jeanette Briggs's winning photo

Photographer Jeanette Briggs on first place at the Art Society of Old Greenwich’s Sunlight and Shadows Exhibit

Novelist Regi Claire for a wonderfully supernatural short story in The Literari Quarterly

Professor Al Filreis for Jeff Marmer’s essay on poet Charles Bernsteinand letting us know ModPo 2016 is open for registration

Ross Gay

Poet and fellow Sarah Lawrence MFA Ross Gay on receiving the National Book Critics Circle Award

Art Historian Beth Gersh-Nesic for alerting us to this episode in the NPR “Infomagical” series

Poets Eric Greinke and Glenna Luschei on their 2017 Pushcart Prize for “Lone Bones” in the annogram-praised Zen Duende (Presa Press, 2016)

Poet Ruth Handel who read at AWP last month and signed books at the Dos Madres booth

Poet Cindy Hochman on Linda Simone’s review of Habeas Corpus (Glass Lyre Press, 2015) in Red Paint Hill

Author Marilyn Johnson for alerting us the acclaimed Lives in Ruins (Harper Perennial, 2015) is now available in paperback

Poet Kevin Pilkington for this discussion of his influences at HVWC

Literary journal LINES+STARS for new spring issue on Time Travel

Poet Mary McCray for recommending The House of Eternal Return on your next Santa Fe visit

Actor Bill Murray for this unexpected and powerful poetry reading of Lucille Clifton on Kimmel

Poets & Writers for this app which provides access to local readings

ADA activist and pioneer David Schwartzkopf on his interview in StoryCorps

Bassist Larry Schwartzman for this global version of “Stand by Me”

Music archivist Jay Shulman for ‘Noir at the Bar’ on the community of crime fiction writers, rare Gene Kelly footage, and Bob Dylan’s secret archives

Francophile and dog-o-phile Susan Seligman for these ‘model’ dogs in spring attire

Poet and artist Linda Simone for this Anne Carson essay and writing while translating

Poet Grace Schulman on being selected the PSA Frost Medalist

Aretha Franklin by Joe Vericker

Poet Tree Swenson on work to develop Hugo House

Poet Meredith Trede on her second book, Tenement Threnody (Main Street Rag, 2016)

Photographer Joe Vericker for this great photo of the Queen of Soul

That’s all for this edition. Hope you are loving spring—here in New York, some April showers, but temperatures on the rise.

Until next time,

Ann

Happy May! Finally warm and full of dogwood blossoms. Also blooming: poetry—my second book, Free Ferry, forthcoming from Upper Hand Press in January; poems on Brian Wilson and Johnny Cash for Opossum’smusic issue; work accepted for Our Last Walk, anthology on pet loss; and my translation of Section 9 from Le Héros (Flammarion, 2008) by Hélène Sanguinettiin St. Petersburg Review.

Sunday @ the J with George—and Ann

Come hear me read on Sunday, May 22, at 1:30 pm, with poet and translator Dr. George Kraus. George is the affable host of Sundays @ the J with George and Friends at the JCC on the Hudson in Tarrytown. This popular poetry series features the best local talent, and I am honored to join George for the reading. Hope to see you there!

Rabbit Ears editor Joel Allegretti

Rabbit Ears at the Writers Center

What a pleasure to meet poet Joel Allegretti, charming editor of Rabbit Ears: TV Poems (NYQ Books, 2015) last month at the Hudson Valley Writers Center! Joel read with Austin Alexis, Jeanne Marie Beaumont, Susana H. Case, Suzanne Cleary, Amy Holman, Lynn McGee, Mervyn Taylor, Estha Weiner, and me from this anthology which has received high praise in The Huffington Post, Rain Taxi, and the Independent Tower.

Meredith Trede

Tenement Threnody launch

Meredith Trede’s TenementThrenody (Main Street Rag Press, 2016), debuted at a recent Sundays @ the J with George and Friends event. Her innovative sonnets capture the voices and landscape of mid-century Inwood; Meredith’s husband Brad, daughter Nicole, grandson Lucas, and good friend Judith Lane brought them to life. You can see Meredith this Sunday, May 15, at 2 pm at the Warner Library. Don’t miss her!

Linda Moot directs altos, including
dear friend Carol Booth (far right)

Border Crossings: A Concert Devoted to Migrations

Mindful of immigrants, Temple Beth Shalom Choir Director Linda Moot and her choir took us on a global musical journey earlier this month. Covering medieval Judeo-Spanish songs to tangos, the event featured guitarist Steve Bloom, pianists Jonathan Faiman and Cheryl Seltzer, and the mesmerizing drumming of Youssif Sheronik. Even the audience danced like Miriam—led by composer Elliot Z. Levine.

John and Bill Moses

Mo’ Bros at Tavern 489

More joy, more music, hearing John and Bill, the intrepid Moses Brothers, play Tavern 489 recently. A blend of folk, blues, and Everly-like close harmonics, the Mo’ Bros also lay out fine guitar and fiddle. Always a pleasure to hear this talented duo.

Landscape with Rocks (1892)

Edgar Degas: A Strange New Beauty

When Degas discovered monotype—drawing in ink on a metal plate that is then run through a press—he was captivated. This exhibition includes 120 rarely seen monotypes and 60 related paintings, drawings, pastels, sketchbooks, and prints—that show Degas at his most modern. Through July 24. Fee: $23

Impressionism: American Gardens on Canvas

This New York Botanical Garden exhibit, May 14-September 11, honors iconic artists such as Childe Hassam and John Singer Sargent who captured the ephemeral quality of light observed in the natural world. The garden-wide exhibit is further complemented by 20 impressionist paintings and sculptures in the Art Gallery. Fees: $20 weekdays, $25 weekends.

Meg Lindsay

A Painter’s Night Journal

Congratulations to poet-artist Meg Lindsay, whosechapbook, A Painter’s Night Journal, will be published in August by Finishing Line Press. NEA recipient Cortney Davis calls her language “inventive and playful” and her images and metaphors “vivid and precise” in “this compelling debut.” This is a limited edition collection, so please order your copy by June 17.

Writing workshops

Poet Estha Weinerinvites you to join her poetry workshop, Let’s Lose the Muse. Cut through myths to get the tools you need to sculpt poems. Open to all at the West Side YMCA, Saturdays, 10:30 am-12:30 pm, through June 26. Register online. Fees: $252 Member, $410 Non-member.

Art by Bjorn Braun

The Katonah Museum of Art exhibit, The Nest, will springboard the May 15 workshop, When Artists Are Birds, 1-4 pm, with artist Sheila Hale and writer-in-residence Pamela Hart. Participants will begin in museum galleries then travel to Hale’s studio. Register online or call 914-232-9555 ext. 0. Fee: $60.

Poetry and other readings

Cindy Beer-Fouhy

May 12, 6 pm – Annual Independent Publishers Book Party, Zieher Smith & Horton

May 12, 8 pm – Louis Erdrich, Anne Enright, 92^nd Street Y

May 14, 6 pm – Janice Lowe, Tyehimba Jess, Alissa Quart, Berl’s Brooklyn Poetry Shop

May 14, 7:30 pm – Otto René Castillo, 543 W. 42nd St.

May 15, 2 pm – Meredith Trede, Warner Library

May 15, 4 pm – Gerald Stern and Cindy Beer-Fouhy, HVCCA

May 15, 4:30 pm – Emilia Phillips, Cecilia Stormcrow Llompart, HVWC, $10

May 20, 6:30 pm – Sueyeun Juliette Lee, Douglas Kearney, Center for Book Arts

May 20, 7:30 pm – Open Mic Night, HVWC, $5

May 22, 1:30 pm – Ann Cefola and George Kraus, JCC on Hudson

Otto René Castillo

May 22, 4 pm – Mary Jo Bang, Katonah Village Library

May 22, 4:30 pm – Grace Schulman, HVWC, $10

May 25, 6 pm – Salgado Maranhao, Alex Levatin, Poets House, $10

May 25, 7 pm -- Constance Renfrow, Tiffany Ferentini, Jared Shaffer, Carolyn Drake, Angus McLinn, Angela Sloan, Katherine Sloan, KGB

May 31, 7 pm – Joe Okonkwo, Book Culture

June 10, 6:30 pm – Stephen Motika, Jill Magi, Center for Book Arts

June 26, 4 pm – Vicki Iorio, Susan Lewis, Katie Longofono, Janeen Rastall, Christina Rau, BookMark Shoppe

Golden Vegan Ice Cream

This comes from my poetry pal, Linda Simone of San Antonio, who found it on the Internet. An ice cream machine is required and I have not tried this recipe yet—so be brave and let me know how it goes!

2 14-ounce (414 ml) cans full fat coconut milk

4 quarter-size slices fresh ginger

1/4 cup (60 ml) maple syrup, plus more to taste

Pinch sea salt

2 tsp ground turmeric

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8th tsp black pepper

optional: 1/8th tsp cardamom, 1 tsp pure vanilla extract, 2 Tbsp olive oil, 1/4 cup chopped candied ginger

Day before, chill ice cream churning bowl in freezer. Whisk and simmer coconut milk, fresh ginger, maple syrup, salt, turmeric, cinnamon, pepper, and cardamom in large saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Adjust flavor. Transfer to mixing bowl and cool to room temperature. Cover and chill in refrigerator overnight, or 4-6 hours. The next day remove ginger. Add olive oil for extra creaminess.

Add to ice cream maker and churn per manufacturer instructions – 20-30 minutes until like soft serve. In last minutes, add optional candied ginger. Once churned, transfer to large freezer-safe container (or parchment-lined loaf pan) and smooth top. Cover securely and freeze 4-6 hours or until firm. Soften 10 minutes before serving, and use a scoop warmed in hot water. Best eaten within seven days.

’Round the Net

Sarah Bracey White (lst row, far left)

Congratulations and/or thanks to the following:

Memoirist Sarah Bracey White, keynote at the Greenburgh Library’s Women and Culture event, reading from her new book, The Wanderlust

Poet Llyn Clague on having six poems in Bindweed Magazine

Masako Inkyo's opening reception

Art historian Beth Gersh-Nesic on curating Masako Inkyo’s exhibit at the Anderson Chase Gallery

Poet Gary Glauber on having poems appear in Two Citiesand Verse-Virtual

Author Herb Hadad for attending the May 5 Latino Victory Project Gala in Washington, D.C., dedicated to registering Latinos and supporting Latino candidates

Diane Guerrero, Herb Hadad,
Eva Longorio at Latino Victory Gala

ActorTony Lo Bianco on becoming a Saint Pio Foundation Goodwill Ambassador

Poets and Writersfor this fascinating articleon crowd-sourcing new covers for old classics

Music archivist Jay Shulman for honoring late music greats Merle Haggard, Sonny James, Lonnie Mack, Sir George Martin; New Yorker cartoonist William Hamilton, poet-violinist Kate Light, and the loss of the Long Island Philharmonic

Prince's Yellow Cloud Guitar

Jay once again for this article on Walt Whitman’s Paleo-eating habits

Poet Linda Simone on having “Walking the River’s Edge” appear in the San Antonio Express News

The Smithsonian for preserving Prince’s guitar and other personal items

In this season of budding beauty and new life, may you be massively creative and joyful!

Until next time,

Ann

With George Kraus for our reading

What a great reading at the JCC on Hudson! Thanks to co-reader George Kraus and an impressive audience, including poets Myrna Goodman, Ann Lauinger, and Natalie Safir; George's wife Juliana Kraus, writer Jean O'Leary and genealogist Mark Gaffney; art historian Beth Gersh-Nesic; visual artist Deborah Coulter; and my favorite guitarist and one-and-only Michael Cefola. Everyone especially loved the intro to Free Ferry, my book forthcoming from Upper Hand Press in January.

AMP—Always Electric

So thrilled to be in inaugural issue of AMP, Hofstra University's new online literary journal. Editor Janet Kaplan has selected a fantastic diversity of poetry, including work from EJ Antonio, Jim Daniels, Kristin Prevallet and Edwin Torres. I'm lifting my Prosecco to toast the editor and her poets!

Apollinaire

Apollinaire in Paris

Congratulations to Beth Gersh-Nesic, PhD, on her Bonjour Paris review of the Apollinaire Exhibit at the Musee de l’Orangerie. Beth, director of the New York Arts Exchange, is a scholar on a key member of Picasso’s “gang,” Andre Salmon. The perfect person for this review, she inspired me to read Peter Read’s book about Apollinaire and Picasso, The Persistence of Memory (University of California Press, 2010).

Coney Island at the McNay

Linda Simone and the Coney Islanders

At a June 5th poetry event in San Antonio, Linda Simone represented New York well at the McNay’s Coney Island: Visions of an American Dreamland, 1861-2008. Linda read her own work beside Nieman Studios, Inc.’s Shackles the Great and Marie Roberts’s A Congress of Curious People. Joining Linda, native New Yorkers Evelyn Golden Schneider, Jim Lavilla-Havelin, Bonnie Lyons, Sharon Olinka and David Simon also read Coney Island-inspired poems and remembrances.

Fork Out the Food in Maine

Chefs at Ancestral Path in Maine

The most delicious foods often originate in artisan kitchens, and that’s what Fork Food Labs will allow food entrepreneurs to do in Portland, Maine. A Kickstarter campaign is helping the Labs create a $30K community tasting lab—and they’ve already halfway there. Don’t you prefer American-made products? I happily donated and you can too, even $5 or $10, by July 10.

Star-gazing with WAA

Everyone longs to see the universe from a different angle...try a telescope. Westchester Amateur Astronomers holds a monthly star party at Ward Pound Ridge. No telescope necessary...WAA members bring their own for public viewing. WAA also hosts a monthly lecture at Pace University in Briarcliff, with notables from NASA and the world of advanced astronomy.

Summer of poetry

View from the Poetry Barn

PSA Chapbook Reading–June 22, 7 pm, National Arts Club, Sarah Trudgeon, Amanda Turner alongside Marilyn Chin, Jane Hirshfield, A. Van Jordan

Last Saturday at the Barn – June 25, 1-5 pm, a full afternoon of poetry at the Poetry Barn, a rural literary center in West Hurley, NY in the Catskills--20 minutes from iconic Woodstock.

Hudson Valley Writers Center – June 26, 4:30 pm, Veils, Halos & ShacklesAnthology Reading

W. H. Auden

Borderline Poetry Café – June 26, 3-5 pm, Irvington Public Library, War in a Time of Love: Verses from the Iliad and other poems of war; poetry-in-the round reading led by poet Michael Carman

Cornelia Street Café – June 26, 6 pm, Why Auden Matters: J. Chester Johnson, Graham Fawcett, Charlotte Maier, Matthew Aughenbaugh, Lindsey Nakatani

Canaan (NH) Meetinghouse Reading Series –Thursdays, 7:30 pm, July 7: Ellen Fitzpatrick and Mary Gaitskill;July 14: Sy Montgomery and Diane les Bequets; July 21: Vievee Francis and Dawn Tripp; July 28: Pagan Kennedy; Tommy O'Malley and Doug Purdy

Writing opportunities

Poetry Fellowships at Poets and Writers in New York – paid, part-time editorial positions; deadline June 20.

Poetry Workshop with Estha Weiner: Let’s Lose the Muse. Open to all levels. Four weeks start July 9 at the Y Writer’s Voice; $176 Member; $205 Non-Member; enroll here. See Estha read from Transfiguration Begins at Home (Tiger Bark Press, 2009) and take a look at In the Weather of the World (Salmon Poetry, 2013).

Gemini Ink Writers Conference – The State of the Book– July 21-24, El Tropicano Riverwalk Hotel, San Antonio, features Janet Kaplan, Reyna Grande, Tim Z. Hernandez, and Tim Seibles; Janet will lead “Serious Play for Poets and Other Grown-Ups”; panels, discussions, and more.

ModPo students at San Fran meetup

Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art invites writing on its current art exhibit. One typed page; caliber 11 font; contact info, title, artwork, artist; free to members; non-members, $25 with complimentary membership; email mmills@hvcca.org and jbrody@hvcca.org by July 20.

ModPo— Al Filreisand the ModPo team are preparing the liveliest season of ModPo ever to start September 10—with improved site, new poems, supplemental syllabi, Teacher Resource Center (TRC), and Crowdsourced Close Reading videos by global ModPo'ers. For an extraordinarily scholarly and fun experience, enroll now.

New releases

33 Flat Sonnets (Mindmade Books) by Frédéric Forte; translated by Emma Ramadan. Released from traditional constraints, the 14-line shape unspools into a compact rectangle comprised of a single, unbroken line: we experience the sonnet conceptually or aurally yet are denied it visually.

Clyde Doesn't Go Outside (Upper Hand Press, 2016). Arresting art and wit track a cat's eccentric and sometimes dark odyssey at the window.

Death of the Reader (Mindmade Books) by Alan Loney. Paraphrasing Barthes, Alan Loney implicitly asks us to consider this hybrid text blending the poetic and essayistic, and exploring the fiction of the universal (or generic or neutral) reader and its relationship with the author.

Memory Marries Desire (Finishing Line Press, 2016) by Gary Glauber. Nature and nostalgia dominate the dreamy narratives of subtlety, sadness, glimpses of passing enlightenment and truth; these poems face fears and transcend into solace and understanding.

Of Things (Burning Deck, 2016) by Michael Donhauser, poetry translated by Andrew Joron and Nick Hoff. A thicket, a manure pile, a marigold, gravel, a tomato, a cypress — award-winning Austrian poet Michael Donhauser engages in a “close reading” of natural things, tracing the movement from object to language.

Time Trials (L+S Press, 2015) by Jessica Lynn Dotson. Observant, incisive forays into family, love, and disconnectedness that speak in a low pitch that both coolly scrutinizes pain and wholly understands its lasting power.

Easy Quesadilla

This is often supper these days—a little protein, some healthy fats and gluten free. Gooey, dripping, delicious.

Alfalfa sprouts

2 Trader Joe's Brown Rice Tortillas

1 avocado, peeled and cut in thin wedges

1 cup sharp cheddar, shredded from block cheese*

1 Tablespoon olive oil

Heat oil in frying pan. Rinse one rice tortilla with water lightly, and carefully place in pan to avoid oil spattering. Tortilla will brown quickly; turn to avoid burning. Add a half-handful sprouts, one-half of avocado wedges, and one-half cup or more shredded cheese. Cover frying pan to melt cheese, or transfer with a spatula to a toaster oven to broil until melted. Remove, fold in half, and serve. Repeat for second tortilla. Serves two. Vary vegetables to include sliced cremini mushrooms or switch sprouts for leafy dark greens. *Block cheese avoids additives like cellulose (wood) or natamycin (mold inhibitor).

’Round the Net

Thanks and/or congratulations to:

Herman Hesse

Poet and filmmaker Terry Dugan for finding Maria Popova's article on Herman Hesse's impassioned defense of reading, and Emma Converse's astropoetics

Poet Gary Glauber for work in 'Merica Magazine and Verse-Virtual (May) and (June)

Poet Mary Ladd McCray for this article on the disappearance (gasp) of the period

Bassist and ancient astronaut theorist Larry Schwartzman for this discovery of a new Peru petroglyph

Music archivist Jay Shulman for Warhol's screen auditions, 50th anniversary of Dylan's

Spine Poetry by San Antonian Librarians

"Blonde on Blonde", and documentary trailer on Muddy Waters's musicians

Poet and artist Maxine Silverman on the June exhibit of her collage at the Unitarian Society in Ridgewood, New Jersey

Poet and artist Linda Simone for sharing this "spine poetry" created by librarians at the San Antonio Public Library

Linda again for sharing this great story of astronomers cracking the secret to Sappho's poetry

Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali in the Bronx

Photographer Joe Vericker for one of his first published photos, Muhammad Ali with Joe
Frazier visiting the Bronx

Poet Estha Weiner on having In the Weather of the World reviewed in American Book Review

The NYC Public Library for this history of the New York City commuter

‘The week that became forever’

We close this annogram with a poem by Greek poet Constantine Cavafy (1863-1933) to honor our LGBT brothers and sisters martyred in Orlando this week.

The Afternoon Sun

BY C. P. CAVAFY

TRANSLATED BY EDMUND KEELEY

This room, how well I know it.

Now they’re renting it, and the one next to it,

as offices. The whole house has become

an office building for agents, businessmen, companies.

This room, how familiar it is.

The couch was here, near the door,

a Turkish carpet in front of it.

Close by, the shelf with two yellow vases.

On the right—no, opposite—a wardrobe with a mirror.

In the middle the table where he wrote,

and the three big wicker chairs.

Beside the window the bed

where we made love so many times.

They must still be around somewhere, those old things.

Beside the window the bed;

the afternoon sun used to touch half of it.

. . . One afternoon at four o’clock we separated

for a week only. . . And then—

that week became forever.

Until next time,

Ann

Bo Diddley

Welcome to sultry, stormy September! I am celebrating three poems that will appear in the anthology Theories of HER and two in the upcoming Opossum Lit's debut issue on music. Of course, you may have the blues because summer is fast coming to an end….

Across 110^th Street

How I’ve enjoyed Saturday errands listening to “Across 110^th Street”! The Columbia University radio program features blues, funk and soul, noon – 2pm. I had a religious experience hearing Bo Diddley’s “Pretty Thing”; I stared open-mouthed at my car radio as if it were radioactive. But so hard to find authentic blues: try the Record Company and Lisa Mann, discovered online by bassist Larry Schwartzman, and Jack Broadbent, recommended by poet Linda Simone after Jack’s recent San Antonio concert.

Beth Gersh-Nesic

Beth New York performance and lecture

Multitalented Beth Gersh-Nesic invites you to see her performance piece, “Word Exchange,” at Saunders Farm, 863 Albany Post Road, Garrison, NY on September 3 at 2pm. Hers will be one of four performances staged in the farm’s open field. Beth, also an outstanding lecturer on art history, will speak on “The Jewess in Art from Medieval Times to Today,” 10:00am on Thursday, September 10, at the JCC of Greenwich; register online.

Deborah Coulter collage and exhibit

Artist extraordinaire Deborah Coulter celebrated my last poetry reading with this amazing collage. She writes it is "inspired by one of my favorite poets, Ann Cefola, and the exquisite poems from her book Face Painting in the Dark."Thank you, Deborah! And now you can see her work in a Faculty Art Show at the JCC of Mid-Westchester September 6 - October 14.

Celia Pilkington

Bigger than you, bigger than me

Celia Pilkington will perform in an Off-Off Broadway production of Kathryn Coughlin’s searing new play Bigger Than You, Bigger Than Me, a riveting study of our shared anxieties in the age of terrorism. Working with longtime collaborator, director Adam Thorburn, Celia promises this drama will be “one of the most exciting undertakings in our artistic partnership.” To help bring this important work to the stage, please make a fully tax-deductible donation to Fractured Atlas.

Treasures of the night sky

Few people know the thrill of looking through a telescope at the night sky. You can have this experience on September 24, at Ward Pound Ridge with members of Westchester Amateur Astronomers. If daytime is more to your liking, see outstanding photos by astrophotographer Scott Namacher on exhibit at the Greenburgh Public Library through September 9.

Dogs and ghosts, oh my!

Poet Linda Simone and I are thrilled to have poems in respective anthologies To Unsnare Time’s Warp and Polterguestfrom Main Street Rag Press. You can pre-order Unsnare, the dog-poem collection, and Polterguest, from the publisher now. These anthologies make great gifts—especially for dog lovers, and the ghost collection is perfect for Halloween, or treat yourself to both!

What mistakez? How to prep your manuscript

Learn from literary proofreader Cindy Hochman in my Ragazine interview with her. The delightful Cindy shares common errors to avoid, and winning attitudes that help nudge writers into the limelight. The interview is chockfull of useful information and a sprinkling of Cindy's trademark humor—be sure to take a look!

You wrote a book, now what?

Learn essentials of pitching, selling and marketing your book at the Mini-Unicorn Writers’ Conference on Saturday, September 10, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. at Groton Senior Center, 102 Newtown Road, Groton, CT 06340.The $49 cost includes a light breakfast and lunch, and access to wisdom of publishing insiders. Register online or email unicorn4writers@gmail. See this video for more details.

Follow Ronit and Jamil

Get to know Ronit and Jamil, the Palestinian-Israeli Romeo and Juliet who will debut in a book of verse by Pamela Laskin from Harper Collins in early 2017 and keep up with them on Twitter @RonitandJamil.

Poetry readings / opportunities

HVWC– Friday, September 9, 7:30pm, David Kutz-Marks and Justin Boening, $10

The Y Writers’ Voice– 8 Saturdays starting September 10, Poetry Workshop with Estha Weiner, $252

Natalie Safir's new book from
Dos Madres Press

The Spectrum- Sunday, September 11, 3pm, Patricia Brody, Philip Fried, David McLoghlin, Bertha Rogers, Neil Shepard, Estha Weiner

HVWC – Friday, September 23, 7:30pm, Anya Silver and Sally Bliumis-Dunn, $10

HVWC – Saturday, September 24, 7:30pm, Noah Warren and Joshua Bennett, $10

JCC on Hudson– Sunday, September 25, 1:30pm, Natalie Safir

Katonah Village Library– Sunday, September 25, 4pm, Kathleen Ossip, $10

HVWC – Friday, September 30, 7:30pm, Steph Burt and Craig Morgan Teicher, $10

Gluten-Free Zucchini Brownies

This King Arthur Flour recipe is wowing friends and family. Its not-so-secret ingredient is fresh zucchini, which reduces the sugar and makes for a delectably moist brownie. Chill in the fridge for a cool chocolate treat.

8 oz zucchini (one 8" fresh, trimmed), cut into chunks

3 tablespoons butter, melted

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup sugar

2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon espresso powder or 1 teaspoon strong liquid coffee

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup gluten-free flour

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Frosting

1/4 cup heavy cream or 3 tablespoons milk

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Lightly grease an 8" square pan. Combine zucchini, butter, eggs, and vanilla in a food processor or blender, and process until smooth. Add sugar, cocoa, espresso powder, baking powder, salt, and flour; process briefly until well combined. Add chips, pulse to break up them a bit. Pour into pan. Let rest for 15 minutes, while you preheat oven to 350°F. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until toothpick in center comes out clean, or with a few crumbs; you shouldn't see any wet batter. Remove from oven, and cool completely before frosting.

Frosting: Combine chocolate chips and milk or cream in microwave-safe bowl or small saucepan. Heat until milk is steaming, and chips are soft. Remove from heat, and stir until smooth. Spread frosting atop brownies. Place in the refrigerator for an hour or so, to set; then store at room temperature, covered, for several days. Yield: 16 brownies.

'Round the Net

Al Filreis

Photographer Jeanette Briggs and watercolorist Randy Briggs on having work in the Art Society of Old Greenwich's Midsummer Night's Dreaming Exhibition

Architect Fred Cox on his Hollywood-inspired natorium featured in Westchester Magazine

UPenn Professor Al Filreis for reminding us to sign up for ModPo

Poet Gary Glauber for work in Verse-Virtual ,Sick Lit, Your Daily Poem, Public Pool, Red Rose Review, and Panoply

Eric Holstein and Neil Spillane

The Guardian for advocating for creativity

Entrepreneur Eric Holstein for this great article on his Maine Fork Labs Food Kitchen

Translator Sylvia Kofler on having work in the 24th Annual Poet's House Showcase this month

Actor Tony LoBianco on winning an Emmy for Just a Common Soldier

Jimmy Santiago Baca

Poet Mary Ladd McCray for her latest Big Bang Poetry newsletter and this extraordinary trailer for a film on poet Jimmy Santiago Baca

Cellist Jay Shulman for this performance of a Bach aria; and for remembering the late Jack Davis, a lovely Southern gentleman, friend of my parents, and one of the original Mad Magazine artists

Celeste Barber spoofs model

Poet and artist Linda Simone for this article highlighting a Japanese word we could use in English; this art exhibit for dogs; this article on tidying up your writing, and this hilarious parody of Instagram poses (see at right)

Photographer Joe Vericker on being inducted into the Hall of Legends by the International Live Events Association

Filmmaker Frank Vitale for sharing "Bench Experiments," episodes 21-25 of The Metropolis Organism

In New York, we're awaiting Hurricane Hermine...stay safe everyone!

Until next time,

Ann

Free Ferry available for preorder

I am excited to share that my second poetry book, Free Ferry, is available for preorder. Ray Peckauskus, Sarah Lawrence Professor Emeritus of Chemistry, calls it “a fascinating take on the plutonium story,” and Nathalia Holt, best-selling author of Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us From Missiles to the Moon to Mars, says it is “a time capsule, sublimely combining the experience of a suburban family with the production and isolation of plutonium.” Intrigued? Order now for delivery next spring.

Kickstart She Can Find Her Way

You can put UPPER HAND PRESS and twenty-four women authors on the map by kickstarting a special publishing project. In She Can Find Her Way: Women Travelers at Their Best, women from several generations tell true stories of their most memorable and challenging travel experiences. Discover the many unusual gifts in exchange for your Kickstarter donation, while helping a wonderful indie press and fantastic publisher.

Boo at the Zoo

Gigi and adoring fans at the zoo

There’s one more weekend to see Gigi and the Lend-Me-a-Hand Band at the Bronx Zoo’s Halloween event. This adorable family band features songwriter/vocalistGigi O’Keeffe Schwartzman, husband Larry on bass, son Evan on electronic drums, my husband Michael Cefola on guitar, and longtime friend Paul Rutkowski on sax. See them, and amazing magic performed byDavid Levitan, at three daily shows on Saturday, October 29 and Sunday, October 30. Bring li’l ones yearning to sing and dance!

Let All Voices Be Heard

Writers of different faiths share their stories Saturday, October 15, 7-9 p.m. at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Montclair, NJ. The Writers Circle and Tiferet Journal co-host this interfaith panel moderated by Linda K. Wertheimer, author of Faith Ed (Beacon Press, 2015). Panelists will explore how writing and other creative pursuits can lead toward a more compassionate perspective on religious and cultural differences.

Jay Milder's WHITE LINES

You are invited to theopening reception of Jay Milder’s WHITE LINES at the Bogardus Mansion, Tuesday, October 18, 6-8pm. The exhibit, curated by Beth Gersh-Nesic, PhD, features Old Testament and Kabbalah-themed work by Milder (born 1934), an American artist and a figurative expressionist painter of the second generation New York School.

Vegetarian Chili

I made this recipe this week—a wonderful meal to welcome the cool weather! You may have seen this in an earlier annogram. This is my version of Chili con Elote in The New Laurel’s Kitchen(Ten Speed Press, 1986), my first vegetarian cookbook. We ate the chili in bowls the first night, and the second, spooned it onto corn chips, covered with cheddar cheese and popped them under the broiler for memorable nachos. Tastes better the next day as flavors meld.

1 organic onion, chopped

1 organic clove garlic

2 tablespoons oil

1 or 2 organic green peppers, diced

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon cumin powder

2 cups V-8 Juice

2 tablespoons ketchup

2 tablespoons salsa

1 cup frozen organic corn

3 cans Trader Joe’s Organic Kidney Beans

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon oregano

Sautéonion and garlic clove in oil until onion is soft. Crush garlic clove. Add green pepper and spices. Sautéanother 2 or 3 minutes. Add V-8 Juice and corn. Drain all three cans of beans and add whole beans from two cans to the pot. Mash beans in the third can with a knife until you have a thick paste; add to pot along with salt and oregano. Simmer 30 minutes or more; stir to avoid bottom burning.

New releases

Bearing the Mask: Southwestern Persona Poems(Dos Gatos Press, 2016)

“Bridge of Sighs,” a new short story by Laura Morelli, available on Amazon

Cadillac, Oklahoma (Upper Hand Press, 2016) by Louise Farmer Smith

Conversion Table (Mindmade Books, 2016) by A Maxwell

Eyewitness(Dos Madres Press, 2016) by Natalie Safir

Calls for work / classes

Presence, a Journal of Catholic Poetry is seeking poetry and book reviews by December 1

Tarpaulin Sky Press is accepting submissions for its annual book prize contest by November 1

The Hudson Valley Writers Center offers one-day intensives with high profile writers

Cindy Beer-Fouhy’s Writing Workshop for 50+ continues through December 7

Ruth Zaporah workshop on physical theater improv, October 21, 22, 23, in Brooklyn

Readings / Events

CD Wright (1949-2016)

HVWC, October 15, 7:30pm, Jim Tilley ($10); October 16, 7:30pm, Amy Dryansky, Jennifer Franklin, Aideen Henry, Jack Powers; music by Mike Latini ($10)

The New York Public Library, October 18, 7pm, Rebecca Solnit, Joshua Jelly-Schapiro, Garnette Cadogan, Suketu Meht,Luc Santeon their project Nonstop Metropolis: A New York City Atlas.

Queen’s College, October 18, 6:30pm, Kaitlyn Greenidge

CUNY Graduate Center, October 19, 6:30pm, CD Wright Tribute:Lee Ann Brown, Peter Cole, Monica de la Torre, Carolyn Forché, Brecht Gander, Brenda Hillman, Ben Lerner, Deborah Luster, Frances Mayes, Jane Miller, Michael Ondaatje, Brenda Shaughnessy, Arthur Sze, Jean Valentine, Anne Waldman, Michael Wiegers, Richard Leo Johnson, Toni Hall, Eiko

Gregory Rabassa (1922-2016)

Saint Mark's Church, October 19, 8pm, Garrett Caples, Hoa Nguyen

CUNY Graduate Center, October 21, 6pm, Celebration of Gregory Rabassa: Edith Grossman, Peter Constantine, Earl Fitz, Ezra Fitz, Esther Allen, Ilan Stavans, Mauricio Font, Elizabeth Lowe, Harry Morales, Daniel Shapiro, Nora Glickman, Declan Spring, Ammiel Alcalay, Stanley Barkan, Catarina Cordeiro, David Draper Clark, Clara Rabassa, Kate Rabassa Wallen

HVWC, October 21, Open Mic, 7:30pm; October 22, 7:30pm, Beth Hahn ($10); October 28, 7:30pm, Michelle Hoover, Patricia Park ($10)

Pulitzer Prize-winner Vijay Seshadri

Cooper Union, October 27, 7pm, Rae Armantrout, John Ashbery, Peter Balakian, Carl Dennis, Stephen Dunn, Jorie Graham, Yusef Komunyakaa, Sharon Olds, Gregory Pardlo, Philip Schultz, Vijay Seshadri, Natasha Trethewey, and Charles Wright. ($15)

McNally Jackson Books, October 30, 5pm, Kimo Armitage, Alicia Upano

Orchard Cove retirement community, October 30, 2pm, Jacqueline Lapidus, Susan Mahan, Joanne Seltzer, Christine Silverstein, Ellen Steinbaum

Tappan Hill, November 4, 6:00pm, HVWC gala honoring Yusef Komunyaka and Sylvia Nasar

’Round the Net

Congrats and/or thanks to the following for news and links:

Essayist Jeanette Briggs on the nomination of “City Stories” in Diverse Voices Quarterly for a Best of the Net Award

Edinburgh Poet Laureate (2009-2014) Ron Butlin on the nomination of Ghost Moon (Salt Publishing, 2014) for the 2016 International Dublin Literary Award

Guitarist Michael Cefolafor recalling “Dance Hall Days” enjoyed at the Ritz

Novelist Regi Claireon having a short story selected for the Weekend Read

Poet Gary Glauber for two poems inVerse-Virtual

John Malkovich as Picasso

Unicorn Writers Conference Founder Jan Kardys for this funny articleon www.historygossip.com

Host Phil Pochoda on winning the Complete Hoot2016 Owl Award for Best Literary Festival

Writer Mike Reiterfor this article on “Why Fidgeting is Good Medicine”

Bassist Larry Schwartzmanfor another bluesman recommendation—James Armstrong

Photo by Joe Vericker

Poet and watercolorist Linda Simone for sharing Kate DiCamillo's Newbery Medal acceptance speech and this funny Malkovich-inspired art

Photographer Joe Verickerfor recalling his dream assignment a year ago following the Pope

Filmmaker Frank Vitaleon completion of his new work of docufiction, “Anorgasmia”

Next annogram we will finally have a new president here in the US, and believe me, it's been painful! Let's focus on our glorious creative drives to create a better world.

Until next time,
Ann

Ann works hard on her pumpkin

All Hallows’ Eve

Sculpted my way into it at my friends’ house, and received the ultimate compliment at home from seven-year-old trick-or-treaters, a witch and baby bear, who pronounced my pumpkin “Very cool!” “Carved it myself,” I beamed. Costumes seem traditional this year, with a renaissance princess and Oz scarecrow my favorites. On the Internet, I found a treat—a poem of mine from last summer.

My "very cool" pumpkin

Lit Crawl Portland

Opossum Lit made its debut yesterday at an evening reading during the Portland Lit Crawl. I'm excited that two of my favorite poems devoted to music, "Revolution," and "Ring of Fire," will appear in the inaugural issue. Break a leg, or as my friend Meredith Trede says, break a line, Opossum Lit!

Audrie and Daisy

Concerned about the prevalence of sexual assault? Come seethe documentaryAudrie and Daisy, at Scarsdale High School’s Little Theater, November 30 at 7 p.m. A panel discussion, moderated by Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, will feature Kristen Bowes, General Counsel, Mercy College; Katie Cappiello, activist, founder of The Arts Effect NYC; and Anna Utsinger, activist. Reserve your seat online at bit.ly/audriedaisy.

Ruby Silvious at Riverrun

Come see Ruby’s painted tea bags—yes, you read that right. Curated by New York Arts Exchange, Ruby Silvious’s art will be at Riverrun Books and Manuscripts to celebrate her book, 363 Days of Tea: A Visual Journal on Used Tea Bags. Opening reception, December 2, 6-8pm; artist talk, December 3, 3-5pm; December 4, 2-4pm, talk on collecting by bookseller Tom Lecky.

Realms of the Mothers

Dos Madres Press will inaugurate its anthology celebrating its first decade of poetry, Realms of the Mothers (Dos Madres Press, 2016), on December 7, 6:30pm, at the Mercantile Library in downtown Cincinnati. Dos Madres published my first book of poetry, Face Painting in the Dark (Dos Madres, 2014) and will include “Dance in the City” and “Velocity” in Realms.

Calls for work / workshops

AMP, Hofstra’s digital literary journal, is open for submissions

The Manhattanville Review is open for submissions

Katonah Museum of Art, poetry/drawing workshop, November 6, 10am – 12noon, $50

Readings / events

Laurie Ann Guerrero

National Arts Club, November 9, 7pm, Max Ritvo Tribute, Kaveh Akbar, Timothy Donnelly, Dorothea Lasky, Sarah Ruhl, Jean Valentine, Cynthia Zarin

Book Court, November 10, 7pm, Amanda Nadelberg, Anselm Berrigan

Fordham Lincoln Center, November 14, 7pm, Beth Bachman, Laurie Ann Guerrero

Paul Muldoon

HVWC, November 11, 7:30pm, Poets on War and Peace ($10)

Zinc Bar, November 12, 4:30pm, Rickey Laurentiis, Miller Oberman ($5)

HVWC, November 13, 4:30pm, Paul and Anna Nugent in Seamus Scanlon's "The Long Wet Grass"

Irvington Public Library, November 13, 3-5pm, Homer’s Odyssey, poetry in the round

Fordham Lincoln Center, November 14, 7pm, Beth Bachman, Laurie Ann Guerrero

Camille Rankine

Lillian Vernon Creative Writing House, November 17, 7pm, Patrick Rosal

Zinc Bar, November 19, 4:30pm, Sasha Banks & Alex Cuff ($5)

Katonah Village Library, November 20, 4pm, Paul Muldoon ($10)

HVWC, December 2, 7:30pm, Columbia, Manhattanville, Rutgers MFA poets ($10)

HVWC, December 9, 7:30pm, Amy King, Camille Rankine ($10)

Spanish Shrimp and Rice

This recipe comes highly recommended from our resident music archivist, Jay Shulman, via the Food Network. Sounds delicious. Olé!

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 small onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1 medium tomato, chopped

1 small carrot, diced

1/2 red bell pepper, diced

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 1/2 cups converted white rice

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed

Hot sauce (optional)

Heat oil in deep skillet over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, turmeric; cook until onion is soft, 3 minutes. Add tomato, carrot and bell pepper; cook, stirring until tender, 5 minutes. Sprinkle with 3/4 teaspoon salt, and pepper to taste. Add shrimp and cook, stirring, until they begin to turn pink, 1 minute. Add rice, 2 cups water, and 1/2 tablespoon parsley; bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until rice is tender, 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat; sprinkle in peas and remaining 1/2 tablespoon parsley. Cover 5 minutes. Fluff with fork; add peas and parsley. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with hot sauce.

’Round the Net

Congrats and thanks to the following for links and news:

Poet Joel Allegretti on the new Wikipedia reference to Rabbit Ears (NYQ Books, 2015) and his quotes at length in The Writer on the anthology

My friend Donna for this hilarious video of a cat watching horror flick

Fast Company on why creativity requires community and a scientific look at creativity

Art historian and curator Beth Gersh-Nesic for a great part 1 intro to the NYC fall art scene, and part 2 too

Poet Gary Glauber for work appearing in Leaves of Ink and Scarlet Leaf Review

Dylan

DV activist David Kroenlein on the outing of the Harvard male soccer team

Huffington Post for these cool Scottish murals and how making art reduces stress

Poet Mary McCray for article on Amy King’s urging Dylan return his Nobel

Bassist Larry Schwartzman for sending me more authentic blues in the form of Buddy Guy, who NEVER gets "old"

Buddy Guy

Music archivist Jay Shulman on Dylan releasing his 1966 tour recordings on November 11 after November 1 release of his lyrics

Jay, also our resident undertaker, on passing of Phil Chess, Zacherly, and Bobby Vee

Poet and artist Linda Simone for this fascinating article on dreams

Poet Meredith Trede on her reading today at the Julia L. Butterfield Memorial Library

Filmmaker Frank Vitale for releasing Episode 26, "Skin," and Episodes 27-30 of the Metropolis Organism on YouTube

Poet Neal Whitman and photographer Elaine Whitman on the joint publication of Elaine's photo, "Sand Dollars," and Neal's haiku "I-Ching and Change: Sand Dollar Cinquain" in Poets and Artists Around the World (Imagine & Poesia, 2016)

While this annogram promised to herald a new US president, I decided to get it to you beforehand. Instead, I leave you with the enormous creativity of poets, artists, and musicians we salute here, and challenge you to contribute to this world--with your heart, your genius, your original soul.

Until next time,

Ann

No snow yet

Wishing you joys of Christmas, Hanukkah, or your own tradition in this season of lights. I’m celebrating work in poetry anthologies Polterguest (Main Street Rag), Realms of the Mothers (Dos Madres), Our Last Walk (University Professors) and Theories of HER(Mercurial Noodle); journals Opossum Lit and St. Petersburg Review; and next year, my second book Free Ferry (Upper Hand) that you can pre-order now, and an untitled Main Street Rag anthology on bars.

Fall Festival of Writing

Join me at Scarsdale Library, Sunday, December 4, at 11:45am for readings by novice and seasoned local writers. I will be selling my books and sharing with the day’s readers and attendees about the literary life and craft. Thanks to novelist Barbara Josselsohn and her talented student Mary Wasacz for inviting me to this lovely event. Hope to see you there!

Joe Bonamassa

Joe Bonamassa at Westbury

Bonamassa, one of the best blues guitarists today, gave a soulful two hour plus concert last month. While his wide range of blues is inspired by the Three Kings (BB, Freddie and Albert), he is rooted in the British translation of Delta blues evidenced in his Beck-like “Going Down” and Zeppelin’s “How Many More Times.”

In trademark gray pinstripe suit and sunglasses, Bonamassa opened with a Fender Stratocaster which he also used in his tribute to Leon Russell. He dazzled on a Gibson ES-335 (like BB King’s Lucille); vintage 50s Les Paul, Explorer, Firebird, and 335 variants with and without Bigsby vibrato. And Long Island welcomed him warmly, with one fan exulting, “Joey Bag-o-Donuts!”

Bonamassa and band

Also impressive—drummer Anton Fig, formerly on Letterman; keyboardist Reese Wynans, formerly of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble; ACM 2016 Bass PlayerMichael Rhodes, trumpeter Lee Thornberg, formerly with Tower of Power; Paulie Cerra, touring sax with R&B greats such as Stevie Wonder; and backup singers Lisa Richards and Susan McKinnon of Miami.

Thanks to my favorite blues guitarist, Michael Cefola, for help with this review.

New York Botanical Garden at Night

Enjoy the Holiday Train Show, 7-10pm, with cocktails, ice carving under starlight, pop-up acts by NYC street performers, and live music. Inside the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, model trains zip over bridges and past replicas of New York landmarks. December 2, 3, 16, 17, 23, 30; January 7, 14, $35 nonmembers/$25 members (adults 21 and over). Advance tickets recommended.

Sasha Meret at Rafael Gallery

Sasha Meret: Selected Works, an exhibit curated by Beth Gersh-Nesic, director, New York Arts Exchange, will be at Rafael Gallery in New York from December 2-22 and opening reception take place December 12, 6-8pm. The gallery, normally open Monday-Friday, 11:30-6:30pm, will be closed for the holidays. Call Rafael Gallery (212-755-4888) for hours and times after January 5.

High-energy universe

On Friday, December 2, Westchester Amateur Astronomers will host Dr. Reshmi Mukherjee, an astrophysicist and professor of physics at Barnard, who will speak on high-energy processes in the universe. You can look forward to more monthly talks next year by noted astronomers and free star parties held at Ward Pound Ridge. In the meantime, enjoy this amazing photo of the Pac Man nebula by WAA astrophotographer Olivier Prache.

Create your own video

Frank Vitale

In one weekly class for 10 weeks at the School of Visual Arts, Manhattan, you'll receive hands-on training from Frank Vitale, 30-year film instructor as you script/shoot your first promo video. Equipment provided and 25 hours instruction is $340, which would buy a mere 45 minutes in professional studio. Sign up at http://bit.ly/2gnpi8Z or contact Frank (vitaleproductions@me.com). Frank is a great teacher! Only a few spaces remain.

Unicorn Writers

Want to get your writer game on next year? Attend the Unicorn Writers Conference at Manhattanville College on March 27. If you can't wait for feedback from editors and agents, the conference is offering a pre-conference special for $150 to have 40 pages of writing reviewed by an expert. Send a check to PO Box 176, Redding CT 06876 and your manuscript and summary to unicorn4writers@gmail.com.

Last minute shopping?

Consider two fantastic Nashville organizations: FashionAble for distinctive women's jewelry, leather handbags and wallets made by craftswomen worldwide seeking financial independence; andThistle Farms, for natural oils, balms and soaps made by women who have come off the street and are building new lives in a safe community setting.

Holiday Coffee Cake

This has to be the ideal breakfast cake, perfect for house guests to help themselves with a cup of tea or coffee: not too fattening, easy to make ahead, delicious. You probably have all the ingredients, save the lovely green apple.

2 cups all-purpose organic flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup white sugar plus 2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

10 tablespoons unsalted organic butter, softened

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup whole organic milk

1 organic green apple, peeled, cut into 1/4-inch-thin slices

Topping

4 tablespoons brown sugar

4 tablespoons organic flour

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon organic butter, cut into small cubes

Preheat 375°F oven. Grease 9-inch pie or square pan. In bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, and salt. In separate bowl, mix 2 tablespoons sugar with cinnamon, set aside. Using electric mixer, blend butter with remaining 1/4 cup sugar and eggs. Add flour mixture in three additions, alternating with milk, beating until just combined. Pour half of batter in bottom of pan, cover with apples, then cinnamon-sugar, and rest of batter. Mix brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon; sprinkle over cake, dot with butter, and bake 30-35 minutes.

Poetry readings / book launches

Ruby Silvious, artist of 363 Days of Tea

Riverrun Books and Manuscripts, December 2, 6pm, 363 Days of Tea book launch

HVWC, December 2, 7:30pm, Columbia, Manhattanville, Rutgers MFA poets ($10)

Zinc Bar, December 3, 4:30pm, Natalie Diaz, t’ai freedom ford ($5)

HVWC, December 3, 7:30pm, Michael Cunningham ($10)

Scarsdale Library, December 4, 12 noon, Fall Writing Festival—Ann sells her books

Mercantile Library, December 7, 6:30pm, Realm of the Mothersbook launch

HVWC, December 9, 7:30pm, Amy King, Camille Rankine ($10)

Eamon Grennan

New York Botanical Garden, December 10, 2pm, Billy Collins, Eamon Grennan ($25)

Zinc Bar, December 10, 4:30pm, Chialun Chang, Cecca Austin Ochoa, Tommy Pico, ($5)

National Arts Club, December 15, 7pm, Natalie Diaz, Ross Gay, Aimee Nezhukumatahil

Zinc Bar, December 17, 4:30pm, Alex Quan Pham, Ronaldo V. Wilson ($5)

New releases

A Tibetan Grammar, by Bénédicte Vilgrain, trans. Keith Waldrop (Burning Deck Press)

Our Last Walk (University Professors Press)

Polterguest (Main Street Rag Press)

Realms of the Mothers (Dos Madres Press)

ʼRound the Net

Thanks and/or congratulations to the following for these links and good news:

Walt Whitman,
photograph by Matthew Brady

Translator Neil Blackadderfor telling us about Theater in Translation

Actor Josh Brolin on a masterful reading of Whitman in this Volvo ad

New York Times columnist David Brooks on the incandescence of Gwen Ifill

DJ Bill Flanagan for asking if rock 'n' roll is dead or merely old

Translator Isabelle Fuller for this musical take on a difficult election

Poet Gary Glauber for work in Third Wednesday Fall 2016 Issue, Rivulets and Tributaries, Directionless Decade, Interior Motive, Now You See It, Now You Don't, Lex Loci, Ghost City Review

Poet Cindy Hochman for her latest reading at Cornelia Street Café

DV Activist David Kroenlein for sharing this veteran's story of sexual assault

The late Sir George Martin

PBS for the extraordinary George Martin-produced documentary series on rock and pop music, Soundbreaking

Actor Celia Pilkingtonfor receiving funding for the play Bigger Than You, Bigger Than Me

Music archivist Jay Shulman for noting the loss of Mose Allison, Raoul Coutard, Leonard Cohen, Mort Okun, Leon Russell, and Robert Vaughn

Linda Simone and her lovely watercolors

Poet Linda Simone on discovering Black Lives Matter: A Poetry Reader and on her first art exhibit in her new hometown of San Antonio

Signature for 10 books to read and know about the late poet-songwriter-musician Leonard Cohen

Executive Coach Trish Taglefor interviewing Greenburgh Arts & Culture Executive Director Sarah Bracey White about her amazing achievements in growing community art

The UK’s Zoomorphic on its marine life-inspired anthology, Driftfish

We close this year by celebrating the strength and diversity of our creative community, and our mandate to bring our individual gifts into the world for healing, for joy, for wholeness.

Until next time,

Ann

Jimmy Santiago Baca and Free Ferry

Jimmy Santiago Baca, subject of the extraordinary documentary A Place to Stand, and poet of Singing at the Gates, has endorsed my new book, Free Ferry:

Jimmy Santiago Baca

“Compelling and timely, a journey across the lake of the mind where her language floats up like medieval sirens and archetypal creatures that lure us into another world, a haunting and magical world—highly recommended.”

I am thrilled to have a New Mexican poet comment, as my book references the first atomic explosion at White Sands. My publisher, Ann Starr, reports pre-orders are impressive. Thanks to everyone who is generating buzz by ordering my bookprior to its April debut.

Matters of the Heart – A Meeting of Poets

Once again, Dr. George Kraus is convening an awesome group of poets for Sundays at the J with George and Friends at the JCC on the Hudson on Sunday, January 22 at 1:30pm. Come hear me read with poets Michael Carman, Susanna Case, Ruth Handel, Ann Lauinger, Loretta Oleck, Natalie Safir, Michelle Seaman and Meredith Trede.

Chasing Shadows

Rick Bria

Amateur astronomer Rick Bria will discuss the astrophotography of asteroids occulting distant stars on January 13 at 7:30pm in Lienhard Lecture Hall at Pace University in Pleasantville. Bria, a founding member of the Astronomical Society of Greenwich, operates the Stamford, Bowman, and Mary Aloysia Hardey Observatories. He's a superb astrophotographer whose work is truly out of this world!

Gluten-Free Molasses Ginger Cookies

Before we bid the holidays adieu, let's warm a cup of tea and bake one more batch of cookies...courtesy poet and painter Linda Simone:

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/4 cup almond flour

http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=buddinglotus-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B0006ZN538

1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp ground ginger
1/4 cup coconut oil (warmed to liquid)
1/8 cup organic blackstrap molasses

http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=buddinglotus-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B002HQC31Y

1/8 cup agave
1/4 cup crystalized ginger (diced)

Preheat 350° oven. In mixing bowl, whisk first four ingredients. In separate bowl, combine coconut oil, molasses, and agave. Add liquid ingredients to dry, and stir until dough is sticky. Fold in crystalized ginger. Scoop 1-inch balls of dough onto parchment-lined cookie sheet, leaving space between cookies as they spread while cooking. Bake for 6-8 minutes depending on altitude.

Petra Lewis

Calls for work / creative opportunities

Blogging Intensive Workshop, email petraelewis@gmail.com

Cathy's Comps and Calls for January 2017, literary calls

Development and Marketing internship, Poets and Writers

Speak Fearlessly, workshops with TV broadcaster Ira Joe Fisher

The Studios at Mass MoCA, residency deadline January 10

Austin International Poetry Festival Anthology, submission deadline February 14

ModPo, UPenn's acclaimed global online poetry course, September 2017

New releases

Marcela Delpastre, The Blood of The Stone, trans. Nicole Peyrafitte and Pierre Joris, (Mindmade Books)

Candace Habte, ed., Theories of HER (Mercurial Noodle)

J. Chester Johnson, Now and Then: Selected Longer Poems (St. Johann Press)

David Mills

Readings / presentations

Hotel Andaz, January 10, 7pm, poets Stella Padnos-Shea, Matthew Thorburn, Christina Cook

McNally Jackson Bookstore, January 10, 7pm, poets Joshua Bennett, Jennifer Kronovet

Greenlight Bookstore, January 12, 7:30pm, Glen David Gould, Mar Cólon-Margolies, Brad Wetherell, Mallory Imler Powell, Andrew Mangan, and more

HVWC, January 13, 7:30pm, Stephen Massimilla and Myra Kornfeld on food and poetry ($10)

Cervantes

Bedlam, January 14, 8pm, George Guida, Estha Weiner

HVWC, January 16, 7:30pm, David Mills's One-Man Show about MLK Jr. ($10)

Center for Fiction, January 17, 7pm, William Egginton on Cervantes inventing fiction; translators Edith Grossman, Natasha Wimmer; author Álvaro Enrigue

HVWC, January 22, 4:30pm, publishing panel with Michael Pietsch, Hachette Book Group CEO ($10)

Katherine Hepburn exemplified
the 1930s "Mid-Atlantic" accent

'Round the Net

Editor John Amen for the 16-year anniversary issue 79 of the Pedestal Magazine

Editors Adam Berlin and Jeffrey Heiman for J Journal's new website

The NEA for a link to "How a Fake British Accent Took Old Hollywood by Storm"

UPenn Professor Al Filreis for free PennSoundaudio recordings, PoemTalk podcasts, critical essays in Jacket2 magazine

The Divine Thirst
Quencher by Sasha Meret

Art historian Beth Gersh-Nesic for curating Sasha Meret: Select Works at the Rafael Gallery in Manhattan through January 23

Poet Gary Glauber on his Pushcart nomination and poems in First Literary Review - East, translated work in International Poetry, and Verse-Virtual

Poet Cindy Hochman for reviews of Marylen Gringas's SHIFT, Amy MacLennan's The Body, A Tree and Jordan Rice's Constellarium

Poet Janet Kaplan on sharing this thought-provoking lecture, "Being Imagination, Being Love"

Translator C.M. Mayo for Yiddish translators Ellen Cassedy and Yermiyahu Ahron Taub on translating Blume Lempel's Oedipus in Brooklyn and Other Stories

Laura Morelli talks Murano glass
(link at left)

Art historian and novelist Laura Morelli on this fascinating history of Murano glass

Actor Celia Pilkington on her upcoming role in Bigger Than You, Bigger Than Me at the Studio Theatre at Theatre Row in Manhattan

NYPL's Christopher Platt on encouraging readers to tweet or post what they are reading at #ReadersUnite

Fantasy writer Paul Russell on his Indie-a-Go-Go campaign to fund his new book, The Will of the Magi

Bass player Larry Schwartzman for this all-star performance of “Why I Sing the Blues”

Music archivist Jay Shulman for this article on Stevie Wonder's talent as a harmonica player; I also recommend Big Leon Brooks

Big Leon Brooks

Poet and painter Linda Simone for Frida Kahlo dressed as a man, Angelica Dass's diversity-inspired TED talk, interview with filmmaker Jim Jarmusch on WCW, Paterson and poetry, and poets picking their favorite words

Filmmaker Frank Vitale for sharing Episodes 31, 32, 33, 34 and 35 of "The Metropolis Organism"

Westchester Amateur Astronomers for great lectures, after January 13, first Fridays through June—see website for details

Zoomorphic for its newest anthology, DriftFish

Happy new year from snow-covered New York! Digging out today. While I might prefer to be a bear hibernating about now, January is great for writing, reading, and creating. Use it to your advantage and joyfully begin to fulfill your creative intentions and adventures….

Until next time,

Ann