I am Reading Wednesday at 5 pm at SFCC Library!

Hope you can come:

Muse X 2 Student Winners

Friends! We hope you can join us! Our college contest winners write pretty fantastic poetry.

With the help of The Witter Bynner Foundation for Poetry
Muse Times Two presents

A Reading by Winners of Muse Times Two’s
Third Annual College Poetry Contest

Sunday, April 10, 4pm
Collected Works Bookstore

Michaelsun Knapp
Institute of American Indian Arts

John Saulog
St. John’s College

Jessica Doolittle
Santa Fe Community College

Marina Woollven
Santa Fe University of Art and Design

Each winning student will receive $200 and share in the spotlight of a group reading at Collected Works Bookstore, on Sunday April 10, 2016 at 4 pm. Muse co-curator Dana Levin judged the submissions from IAIA and SFCC; co-curator Carol Moldaw judged those from SFUAD and St. John’s. Each college established its own nomination process and sent Muse the nominated works.
Muse Times Two brings new or under-known poetic voices from around the nation to Santa Fe to present their original works. Out-of-town headliners are paired with local poets from New Mexico to enhance both our local and national literary communities. Through such poetic cross pollination, the rich literary heritage of New Mexico meets the national heritage for a vibrant literary experience.

For more information on the Spring 2016 readings or Muse Times Two in general, please contact Dana Levin at danalevin65@gmail.com. Muse Times Two is a project of Lore of the Land, Inc., a nonprofit 501c3 organization.  Donations in support of this poetry program are tax-deductible under the IRS Code. Muse Times Two is very grateful to the Witter Bynner Foundation for Poetry for a grant to support the 2016 season.

Poetry Reading Sunday at Folk Art Museum

Seeing Red

A tale of ships that came in conquest

it was written in red

of sacrifice of gods that are reborn

it was written in red

of the shocking widow dancing at the ball

it was written in red

of the child lost in the forest, blood on snow

it was written in red

a codex of glyphs may speak of a comet

of convergence, of man corn, of war

of the feathered ferocity of the hummingbird

of beauty up to her waist in water

of the throats of lilies and the mouths of enormous carp

of the wanderers in the sky who play hard ball underground

of serpents of stars and those that bring rain

of the ships’ figureheads of mermaids and monsters

and St. Elmo’s fire outlining every mast

plankton in a tide that kills

a warming sea, the melting poles, the axis tipped

of what you desire and what you fear

of the siddhu standing on one leg

and embroidery that tells of our survival

of me drinking coffee in a walled garden that is mine alone

of street fairs, fireworks, monsoon

of birth and accident and sunrise

it is written in red

it is written in red

it is written in red

—Miriam Sagan

Poetry Reading Saturday at Sweet Lily Bakery

THE FAMOUS INTERMEDIATE POETRY CLASS FROM SFCC will be reading at 10am on Saturday at Sweet Lily Bakery
229 A Johnson St
Santa Fe, NM 87501 (Next to Georgia O’K Museum).
Join us for coffee, cookies, and poetry.
It is a nice space, and you can also order soup etc. I expect this to be an intimate setting with a half dozen readers (including several blog contributors). Jump start your weekend creatively! Hope to see you.

New Reading Series

Pop Up Poetry in the Railyard

Yesterday–it was a lot of fun! Maybe a reading on the train next?

Photo by Michael G. Smith

Organizers Elizabeth Jacobson and Miriam Sagan–it warmed up later!

Elizabeth and husband David aren’t visible but are putting up the banner! A big thank you to Michael for getting it made.

It is a little scary to expose poetry to the elements–in this case wind, trains, and great smelling but noisy chile roaster. But lots and lots of folks popped in to listen even for just a few minutes. And a typically great Santa Fe poetry audience was there throughout.

Bobby Byrd at Collected Works on Tuesday April 29 at 6 pm

When I arrived in the Southwest, Bobby Byrd’s voice was one of the first I heard, along with Joan Logghe, Arthur Sze, Joe Somoza, Robert Creeley, and Keith Wilson. Venerable poet and veteran publisher of Cinquo Puntos Press he will be reading new poetry–a little bit Beat, a little bit Buddhist, a whole lot of heart.
I’ll introduce him and after the reading we’ll chat and he’ll take questions. I’m thinking of asking him:
Are you a Texan poet or secretly a New Mexican one?
Ask you borders, living on one, how it infuses your imagination, other borders (dream/”reality” and life/death).
Of interest to me…aging as a Muse.
Maybe my old stand-by–what don’t you like about being a poet?

Come join us!