your september annogram

Solar eclipse in the northeast

Photo by Michael Cefola

How amazing the eclipse, even at 60 percent partiality! Thanks to my astronomer husband Michael, we had great views through a solar telescope for the full four hours as the moon moved along the sun’s bottom edge. 

Less high-tech, a colander spread dozens of crescent-sun disks over our deck. Wildlife seemed noisier as light slightly dimmed, and the air cooled. Get your solar sunglasses now for the next one—in seven years!

Free Ferry at Fordham University

As you may know, one of Free Ferry’s dual narratives follows one of the scientists who isolated plutonium. That scientist was a professor at Fordham, and I am delighted that I will be reading at the Rose Hill Campus as part of a STEM event recognizing the 75^th anniversary of his achievement. Come to Flom Auditorium at the Walsh Library on October 11, from 2:30-5:30pm, to hear multiple speakers and enjoy a reception. The event is free and public welcome.

JohnMac Radio Show

What a great time talking with poet and program host John F. McMullen, aka “JohnMac”!  We covered writer workshops, ways writers can increase literary credits, joys of the online course ModPo, and a dose of politics. You can hear the hour-long interview in this podcast, and be sure to listen to those with Edward Ahern and Susana H. Case.

Ann Starr on Outsider Art

Ann Starr

What does it take to create a small press? A lot of gumption, and in Ann Starr’s case, a leap of faith.  Discover how she relies on intuition, and how literature deepened her understanding of visual arts and music. Most needed? Not advanced degrees, extensive training, or cultural approval—only the realization that “the human heart is at the center of all.” Read on.

Deborah Coulter at the Alexander Gallery

Deborah Coulter

Deborah Coulter, an artist excelling in charcoal, drawing, and collage, will participate in a Faculty Show at the Marjorie and Norman Alexander Gallery at the JCC of Mid-Westchester. Deborah, an instructor at the Summer Arts Center, calls teaching there “a joy.” The exhibit, September 17 – October 12, is open Monday-Thursday, 8:30am-8pm; Friday, 8:30-5pm; and Sunday, 8am-4pm.

Baring Breasts in Peekskill and Bethlehem

"Bosom Bodies,” an exhibit honoring Breast Cancer Awareness Month, will be October 7 - 29, at the SIA Gallery; opening October 7, 3-6pm, and closing performances and panel on October 29, 3-5pm. A complementary exhibit, Clarity Haynes: Bearing Witness, The Breast Portrait Project, 1998 – Present at Payne Gallery, also curated by Beth Gersh-Nesic, runs September 7-October 15 in Bethlehem, PA.

Creative opportunities

Keetje Kuipers

Beta readers needed for art historian/novelist – email laura@lauramorelli.com

Keetje Kuipers on Beyond the Precious Self: Publishing Your Failed Poem, September 26, 2pm

Loose Moose Publishing Poetry Contest by December 1

New Millennium Writing Awards by November 30

New York Encounter Poetry Contest judged by Dana Gioia – by November 7

New releases

Auden, the Psalms and Me by J. Chester Johnson (Church Publishing)

Carpeing the Diem by David Lee Garrison (Dos Madres Press)

15 Flower World Variations – revised (The Operating System) by Jerome Rothenberg

Indra's Net: An international anthology of poetry in aid of The Book Bus (Bennison Press)

The Oligarch by James Sherry (Palgrave MacMillan)

The Standing Eight by Adam Berlin (Finishing Line Press)

Technicians of the Sacred - 50^th anniversary ed. (Univ. of California Press) by Jerome Rothenberg

Curried Squash Soup

This recipe from The Perfect Wife Restaurant is probably the most delicious soup I’ve had in a long time. 

1 large onion

2 ribs celery

1 T. chopped garlic

3 T. curry powder

4 c. zucchini, rough chop

4 c. summer squash, rough chop

½ c. white wine

2 large potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1” chunks

½ gallon chicken or vegetable stock

¾ c. heavy cream

Chop onion and celery roughly.  Sweat in butter with garlic.  Add curry powder and toast a few minutes.  Add squash and wine.  Deglaze.  Add stock and potatoes.  Simmer till potatoes are soft.  Puree using a hand blender, adding cream slowly.  Season with salt and white pepper. 

Poetry readings / literary events

Marianne Moore (1887-1972)

Brooklyn Book Festival, September 11-17, Kaveh Akbar, Will Brewer, Carolyn Forché, Robin Coste Lewis, Layli Long Soldier, Aja Monet, Meghan O'Rourke, Morgan Parker, Tommy Pico, Erika L. Sánchez, sam sax, Nicole Sealey, Danez Smith, Mai Der Vang, Javier Zamora

Center for Fiction, September 13, 7pm – Daniel Handler, Emma Straub

Pacific Standard, September 13, 8pm – Jerry T Johnson

Charlie Rauh

Brooklyn Public Library, September 15, 8:30pm – Marianne Moore Tribute: Heather Cass White, Patrick Breen, Eleanor Chai, Timothy Donnelly, Margo Jefferson, Maureen N. McLane, Maria Tucci

HVWC, September 15, Open Mic, 7:30pm, $5

Park Plaza Restaurant, September 16, 2:30pm – Alice B. Fogel, Howard Pflanzer, Christina M. Rau, $5

HVWC, September 17, 4:30pm – Jill Bialosky, Susana H. Case, Caroline Smith, $10

Woody Tanger Auditorium, September 18, 11am, Sandra Cisneros

Shetler Studios and Theatres, September 20-October 7, “Blood  Boundary,” by Cherokee playwright Vicki Lynn Mooney

Terrance Hayes
Photo credit: MacArthur Foundation

Rockwood Music Hall,

September 21, 9pm,

Charlie Rauh new album,
Viriditas, release

Katonah Village Library, September 24, 4pm, Terrance Hayes, $10

Cave Canem, September 22, 6:30pm, Patrick Rosal

Hauser + Wirth, September 28, 7pm – Charles Bernstein, Sergio Bessa on Mira Schendel

Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House, September 28, 7pm – Meghan O'Rourke 

Cecilia Vicuña

Kelly Writers House, September 28, 6pm – Jerome Rothenberg, Charles Bernstein, Ron Silliman, Rochelle Owens, George Economou, Laynie Brown, Michelle Taransky, Ahmad Almallah, Julia Bloch, Ariel Resnikoff

Howl Happenings Gallery, October 1, 7pm – Jerome Rothenberg, Cecilia Vicuña

Papa Susso

Poets House, October 3, 7pm – Jerome Rothenberg, Anne Waldman, Cecilia Vicuña, Bob Holman, Papa Susso, George Quasha, Ariel Resnikoff, Stuart Cooke.

Trinity Church Wall Street, 
October 8, 1pm – J. Chester Johnson on Auden

The Backroom – Local 138, October 10, 6pm – Drugstore Blue by Susanna H. Case release: Mervyn Taylor, Jennifer Franklin, Elizabeth Haukaas, Myra Malkin, Lynn McGee, Margo Taft Stever, Meredith Trede, Estha Weiner

ʼRound the Net

Jessica Helen Lopez

Professor Al Filreis for 64 indispensable Ashbery poems and this transcribed interview

Art Historian/Curator Beth Gersh-Nesic for honoring Michael Richards in the Francis M. Naumann catalog of the late sculptor’s current exhibit

Editor-in-chief Cindy Hochman for an amazing new issue of First Literary Review-East

Christina Rau

Professor Paul Mariani for this insightful look at the work of John Ashbery

Poet Mary McCray for this inspiring video “starring” Albuquerque Laureate Jessica Helen Lopez

Art Historian Laura Morelli for her Ted-Ed video on the difference between art and craft

Poet Christina Rau for poems published in Grasslimb and Whale Road Review

Poet/artist Linda Simone for sharing this hilarious poem that skewers “some” poetry profs

Photo by Mike Virsinger

Astrophotographer Mike Virsinger for this amazing total eclipse photo

Filmmaker Frederick Wiseman for his documentary on the New York Public Library

The New Yorker for the National Book Award longlist for poetry

Ode to Ashbery

John Ashbery (1927-2017)

What an eventful few weeks—eclipse, hurricanes, and loss of John Ashbery, which is its own devastation. As a teen feeling my way toward poetry, I cut this poem out of the New York Times and first pinned it on my bulletin board, then taped it into a journal. Its lyric mediated the world in an intuitive way that felt oddly comforting; I did not understand it nor did I need to. Three decades later, when I despaired over my work ever gaining traction, its author awarded me the Robert Penn Warren Award. Life changed. Something invisible had been conferred, and I received it. Maybe it emanated from the now-brown clipping preserved in my girlhood journal; maybe it was mystery, more likely desire-starched awe.

These Lacustrine Cities

These lacustrine cities grew out of loathing

Into something forgetful, although angry with history.

They are the product of an idea: that man is horrible, for instance,   

Though this is only one example.

They emerged until a tower

Controlled the sky, and with artifice dipped back

Into the past for swans and tapering branches,

Burning, until all that hate was transformed into useless love.

Then you are left with an idea of yourself

And the feeling of ascending emptiness of the afternoon   

Which must be charged to the embarrassment of others   

Who fly by you like beacons.

The night is a sentinel.

Much of your time has been occupied by creative games

Until now, but we have all-inclusive plans for you.

We had thought, for instance, of sending you to the middle of the desert,

To a violent sea, or of having the closeness of the others be air   

To you, pressing you back into a startled dream

As sea-breezes greet a child’s face.

But the past is already here, and you are nursing some private project.

The worst is not over, yet I know

You will be happy here. Because of the logic

Of your situation, which is something no climate can outsmart.   

Tender and insouciant by turns, you see

You have built a mountain of something,

Thoughtfully pouring all your energy into this single monument,   

Whose wind is desire starching a petal,

Whose disappointment broke into a rainbow of tears.

— John Ashbery

Until next time,

Ann