Valentine Greetings
Dear annogrammers,
yes, you did just receive a newsletter from me. There was so much in the hopper
that I had to follow it up quickly. Thank you for your generous response, and
for support around preservation efforts involving my grandfather's work. We
await a verdict this month. In the meantime, send me your news and be sure to include all
related links. You are amazing, and you deserve love and chocolate for all your
creative accomplishments. Happy Valentine's Day!
Readers’ Favorite in China
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| My Chax publisher, poet Charles Alexander, and my translator Chen Du |
Chen Du’s translation of my poem, “Amphibious,” has won second place in the 2020 Readers’ Favorite Awards in Yan He (Yellow River) where it appeared. Translator, essayist, and poet Chen Du has appeared in The Los Angeles Review, Babel, American Writers Review, Waymark Literary Magazine, Lunch Ticket, and Sinking Water Review. With frequent co-translator Xishen Chen, her translation of Chinese poet Yan An was a 2020 Gabo Award Finalist. I am honored to be translated by the prolific Chen Du!
Thanks to Karen Head and Collin Kelley, editors of Mother
Mary Comes to Me: A Pop Culture Poetry Anthology (Madville Publishing)
for including my poem “Theokotos.” This “inspired” collection, featuring work
by poets such as Laure-Anne Bosselaar and Denise Duhamel, received accolades in
Amethyst
Magazine. Sample it at the
February 22nd, 7pm, reading from the Georgia Center for the
Book.
More Gratitude
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| W. H. Auden (1907-1973) |
Thanks to Cindy Hochman for publishing “The
Mole” in the September First
Literary Review-East and “No one praises this monastic season” in November; Robin Barratt for “We Live
at a Crossing” and “Postcards on a Passing World” in On
The Road from The Poet (UK); and Bethany
Rivers for “Beatitude,” “When I learned that Auden was alcoholic,” and “The
last time I sit with you” in Spring 2020 As
Above So Below (UK).
Black History Month
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| Amanda Gorman |
We honor Black History Month with Youth National
Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman’s fierce yet
vulnerable Inauguration poem, “The Hill We Climb.” More ways to celebrate: tap into the
New York Public Library’s author events that reach deep into Black History; view Jonette O’Kelley
Miller’s “19th Century’s Stereotypes vs.
19th Century Realities,”; or read J. Chester Johnson’s Damaged Heritage and William
Alsup’s Won
Over.
The Little Island
Have
you heard about the
Little Island? Huge tulip-shaped pylons secure the two-acre floating island in
the Hudson River and create its varying levels. Designed by Thomas Heatherwick,
creator of the
Vessel, this island park at Pier 55 will boast three main lawns, lush varieties
of trees, shrubs, grasses, and perennials; boulders for climbing, a small
amphitheater, and even a secret garden. The $250 million project—initiated in
2012 by Diane Von Furstenberg and her husband Barry Diller—will open this spring.
Covid Ditty
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| Steve Greenstein and cast |
What to do if you’re an actor out of work in the Bronx during Covid? Get creative! Steve Greenstein is producing his own series, “Covid Ditty,” a dramedy on life in the Bronx’s Kingsbridge section. He won my heart in the first episode when he entered a Carvel and the cashier began to imitate Tom Carvel! A few of us recall and treasure that gravelly voice. There’s a more complex storyline than that…so tune in.
New and Recent Releases
Heller Levinson and Will Alexander, Dialogics (Concrete Mist Press)
Laura Morelli, The
Night Portrait (William
Morrow Publishing)
Mary Newell, Quetchenbach,
and Nolan, eds., Poetics for the
More-than-Human World Anthology (Spuyten Duyvil Press)
Jean-Luc Pouliquen, Itinéraire poétique en étoile (Independently Published)
Sarah Riggs, Eavesdrop (Chax Press)
Mark Saba, A
Luke of All Ages / Fire and Ice (Adelaide Books)
Verdant
(Truth Serum Press)
Dianalee Velie, Italian Lesson
(Poetry Box)
 |
| Ellen Bass |
Ellen Bass, Living Room Craft Talks ($300; highly recommended)
Mahopac Poetry Workshop,
6pm, every second Wednesday
The Poet
(UK) Poetry Writing Course (£70)
February Readings and Events – ET
 |
| Marilyn Nelson |
February 4-28, “Imagination is Your Freedom,” Upstream Gallery Juried 2021 Photography Exhibit
February 7, 4pm, Carolyn Forché and Lori Soderlind, HVWC
February 10, 7pm, JP Howard and Marilyn Nelson, HVWC
February 17, 24; March 3, 10; 7pm, “The Art of the Virtual
Exhibit,” Beth Gersh-Nesic at The Greenwich Arts Council
February 20, 8pm (6pm Tucson time), Brandon
Shimoda and Tacey Atsitty, POG Arts Tucson, rsvp here
 |
| Queen Esther in 19th Century depiction |
February 22, 7pm, Mother Mary Comes to Me poetry reading, Georgia Center for the
Book
February 24, 10am, “Queen Esther in Art,” Beth Gersh-Nesic at
Learning in Retirement
(Stamford)
February 24, 7pm, Alicia Ostriker, Roger Reeves and Jeffrey Yang, HVWC
Monthly Readings – ET
Thanks to Yorktown Poet Laureate John McMullen for this list:
 |
| Bill Buschel, host of HVWC Open Mic |
First and Third Mondays, 6:30pm, Norwalk Poetry
Every Tuesday, 2pm, Spoken Word World (Paris)
Every Tuesday, 7pm, Curley’s Diner
Second Wednesdays, 6:30pm, Mahopac Poetry Workshop
 |
| Layli Long Soldier |
Second Fridays, Noon, Writers, Artists, Actors, etc. Luncheon
Third Fridays, 7pm, Hudson Valley Writers Center Open
Mic – click on third Friday for details
Chax
Press YouTube readings: ecopoetics, Layli Long Soldier, Cole Swensen
Ann’s Broccoli Stalk Soup
With leftover stalks from Linda Simone’s Mac and Cheese, I made this faux
cream of broccoli soup that proved outstanding:
Stalks from two organic broccoli crowns, peeled of outer skin as
much as possible
1 organic onion, peeled and diced
1 organic potato, peeled and diced
2-3 celery stalks, preferably inner with leaves, chopped
1 quart vegetable or Not-Chick’n Bouillon Cube
broth
1 Tablespoon butter
Nutmeg, salt and pepper
Sauté onion in butter in
soup pot until translucent but not browned. Add broth, potato, and celery;
bring to boil and simmer 30-45 minutes. Cut broccoli into chunks and steam until
just tender and bright green. Remove from heat, cool, and cut into small
pieces, removing any outer skin where possible. When broth is ready, add
broccoli and seasoning. Remove from heat, carefully blend with stick blender
until creamy, and serve immediately. Broccoli can get a sour taste if cooked
too long, so add at last minute for an absolutely delicious soup.
ʼRound
the Net
 |
| "Monk in Training" by Carol Booth |
Poet and publisher Charles
Alexander for Poetry Talks Podcasts
such as No. 6, “Why Whitman?”
Photographer Carol Booth
on winning the Color Camera Club of
Westchester’s award in Category C
for her photo “Monk in Training”
Photographer Jeanette
Briggs on winning first place for her photo, “Guys on Greenwich Avenue,”
from the Art Society of Old Greenwich
Deaf Community Advocate Florence
Camace for this video on Agatha Tiegel Hanson
(1873-1959), first Deaf woman to graduate from the National Deaf Mute
College (now Gallaudet)
Poet Terry Dugan on performing
poems inspired by Mailer and Powell at Moonstone
Arts Center’s Virtual Poetry Reading
Poet BK Fischer on
being named the first Westchester County Poet Laureate
Art Historian Beth Gersh-Nesic for this fabulous blog on a new translation of Andre
Salmon’s book
on Modigliani
Poet Bob Heman for his
tiny poetry collection, [Information] (Purgatory Pie Press)
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| Cindy Hochman and Bob Heman |
Poet Cindy Hochman for her flash memoir poem, “Swan” in
Litterateur (India) and having “Everything
I Know” appear in The Long Islander/Walt Corner's
 |
| "Preparing Fruit for Market" by Michael Holstein, whimsical |
Photographer Michael
Holstein on winning the 2021 Hastings Calendar Cover Contest—a calendar
that every Hastings (NY) resident receives (not photo at left)
Author J. Chester Johnson on Damaged Heritage (Pegasus
Books) receiving this great review
Poet Heller Levinson on
praise from critic John Olson in Tillalala
Chronicles, and
for his performance of the “Trombone”
poem
Patent Attorney Alan McCollom for sharing this funny “critical” review of the classic children’s story, Good Night Moon
Yorktown Poet Laureate John McMullen on having
“Coronavirus: A Visit to the Vet” appear in The
Trolley
Director Mara Mills for sharing Studio-in-Exile’s performance, “19th Century’s Stereotypes vs.
19th Century Realities,” by Jonette O’Kelley
Miller
Poet Jean-Luc Pouliquen for this review of his latest book in Le Salon Littéraire
 |
| Christina Rau |
Poet Christina Rau on being named Walt Whitman Birthplace Poet of the Year and Poet in Residence at the Oceanside Library
Poet Natalie Safir on
her seventh book, In the Guesthouse of My Body, accepted by Dos Madres Press
Blues bassist Larry Schwartzman for Gary Clark Jr.’s “You Don’t Owe You a Thang”
Poet Linda Simone for her poem, “April Walk in the Time of Corona”, sharing top online
resources
for short story writers, this Harvard
Review article on translation,
and, on a lighter note, this hilarious “Anti-Bacterial Girl”
send-up
Filmmaker Frank Vitale on “The Erotic Fire of the Unattainable” chosen for the 2020 Cinequest Film Festival (CA), Reading Film Festival (PA), and American Fringe (Paris) selected by Richard Peña; and “A Night at the Carnival” at the 2020 Rockland in Motion Film Festival
Stay well and be sweet.
Until next time,
Ann