your november annogram

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 see the documentary Audrie 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