your june-in-bloom annogram

Dear annogrammers, is it finally summer? Can we really go outside and see friends? Warm weather, soaking showers nourishing soil, and decreased Covid. Writers and artists making creative dreams bloom…read on and rejoice!

 

Gratitude to Editors and Publishers

 

Thanks to Raya Morrison of Blood & Bourbon (Canada) for publishing “Grace,” “Profile,” and “Cape Revival;” my Face Painting in the Dark publisher Robert Murphy, for highlighting on the Dos Madres blog poems translated into Spanish by Ligia M. Yamazaki and read by us both on the Book Movie (Madrid); and novelist Darrell Laurant for posting the May annogram on the We Who Create Facebook page.

 

 

Sarah Bracey White in “Transcendence”

 

Sarah Bracey White will star in “Transcendence” based on her much-loved memoir, Primary Lessons (Cavan Kerry, 2013), LIVE at Peekskill’s Paramount Theatre, June 18 and 20, at 7:30pm. Directed by a Hollywood director, this world premiere features classical/rock violinist Daisy Jopling, the Peekskill High School City Singers, and a gospel choir performing original and familiar tunes. Social distancing will be observed at this Daisy Jopling Music Mentorship Foundation fundraiser. Tickets going fast: book soon!

 

Wini McQueen and the Story of Cotton

 

Wini McQueen

Contemporary textile artist Wini McQueen draws on the African tradition of dyed and hand-sewn cloth to depict the history of slaves in the early cotton industry. “I want my work to speak of the beauty and horror of learning where I came from,” she says. Hear more reflections on her gorgeous work here in a recent museum exhibit. Thanks to poet and artist Linda Simone for sharing McQueen’s work and the “find” below.

 

 

The Lost Poems of Emily Brontë

 

Emily Brontë (1818-1848)

Rare manuscripts from the Brontë family are up for grabs at an upcoming Sotheby’s auction. The jewel in the crown is a manuscript of 31 handwritten poems by Emily Brontë (1818-1848) in February 1844. Discovered by her sister Charlotte (1816-1855) who thought the poems extraordinary, the manuscript played a key role in inspiring the sisters’ literary careers—including that of novelist Anne (1820-1849).

 

 

Cousin Brucie Back on 77 WABC

 

Cousin Brucie Morrow

Do you remember clutching your new transistor radio to your ear when your parents thought you were asleep or studying? Cousin Brucie Morrow, king of the airwaves, introduced New Yorkers to amazing music from the Beatles and Dave Clark Five to the Supremes and Temptations during the 60s. Brucie is back on WABC Saturdays 6-10pm, also streamed nationwide. Da do run run! Ah, my 10-year-old heart!

 

New and Recent Releases

 

Catherine Arra, Deer Love (Dos Madres Press, 2021)

 

James Cummins, Recalcitrant Actors (Dos Madres Press, 2021)

Jennifer Franklin, No Small Gift  (Four Way Books, 2018)

 

First Literary Review - East May-June

 

purifying wind (Moon Shadow Sanctuary Press, 2020)

 

What Remains (Gelles-Cole Literary Enterprises, 2019)

 

 

Creative Calls

 

American Literary Translators Association call for seminar and roundtable proposals for its fall conference – by June 21

 

Bull City Press Open Chapbook Reading Period – by June 15

 

Mom Egg Review open call on “mother figures” – poetry, fiction, prose, hybrid – by July 15

 

The Poet call for work on friendship – by June 30

 

 

Creative Workshops

 

Bill Hayden, host
Norwalk Poetry Workshop

Mahopac Poetry Workshop, 6pm, every second Wednesday

 

Mini Tutorial on Poetic Meter thanks to Yorktown Poet Laureate John McMullen

 

ModPo, University of Pennsylvania’s free poetry course and global community

 

Norwalk Poetry Workshop, first and third Mondays, 6:30pm; email poet_laureate@norwalkpl.org to register

 

The Poets Salon, led by Ed Ahern and Alison McBain of Fairfield Scribes Press, 10am, every second Saturday

 

 

June Readings and Events – ET

 

Laurel Peterson

June 5, 7pm, Lit Balm, Gary Snyder, Wang Ping, John Kinsella, Allison Adelle Hedge Coke, Tracy Ryan; register here

 

June 6, 6pm, Pequot Library, Meet the Author featuring Laurel Peterson; register here

 

June 6, 4pm, Katonah Poetry Series, Roseanna Warren; register here; $5 donation

 

June 12, 1-5pm, SISTAAH Open Studio (NYC) featuring the work of Wilhelmina Grant-Cooper (LIVE and in-person); register here

 

June 14-19, The Schomburg Center Literary Festival; register here

 

Jerry T. Johnson, host
Poets and Writers Stage
at the Norwalk Art Festival

June 17, 7pm, Byram Shubert Library, Art Historian Beth Gersh-Nesic on Fathers in Art; register here

Wednesdays - Sundays, through June 21, 12:30-5:30pm, Upstream Gallery, photographer Jo
Zalon Meer and painter Daniel van Benthuysen (LIVE; walk-in gallery)

 

June 26 and 27, 12 noon and 3:30pm, Poets, Writers, Storytellers Stage at the Norwalk Art Festival, Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Park, Norwalk, Connecticut (LIVE and in person)

 

 

Monthly Readings – ET

First Sunday, 4pm, Poetic License (Austin)

Every Tuesday, 2pm, Spoken Word World (Paris)

Every Tuesday, 7pm, Curley’s Diner

Third Fridays, 7pm, Hudson Valley Writers Center Open Mic – click on third Friday for details

 

Southwest Salad

 

Homage to McDonald’s salad of yore once good for a fast-food grab. While missing it recently, I decided to duplicate it:

 

½ 15-oz can organic black beans, drained

1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

2 cups nacho chips, crumbled

1 organic carrot, grated

1 bag organic romaine lettuce

3-4 tablespoons Drew’s Chipotle Ranch dressing

 

Tear up lettuce into bite-size pieces into a large salad bowl. Add all other ingredients, toss with dressing, and serve immediately.

 

 

̓Round the Net

 

The Astronomical Society of Greenwich for this rover-view of Mars

 

Translator Chen Du on this Pilgrimage Press reading, and for work, with co-translator Xisheng Chen, in Delos and Exchanges

 

Poet Terry M. Dugan on her reading at the Howland Cultural Center in Beacon, NY

 

Poet Jennifer Franklin on her book, No Small Gift (Four Way Books, 2018) reviewed in Women’s Voices for Change

 

Art History Professor Beth Gersh-Nesic for sharing the online exhibit by her Global Honor students at Mercy College, Human Revolution: Reworking the Soul for Justice

 

Poet Cindy Hochman on her poem, “Of Course, Of Course,” appearing in the LIPS tribute to Lyn Lifshin

 

Psychologist and annogram-fan Steve Guggenheim for this amazing project featuring an animated poem, “The Man in the Mangroves”

 

Poet and memoirist J. Chester Johnson for noting new jazz compositions performed at Lincoln Center focusing on Ida B. Wells’s work and the Elaine Race Massacre explored in Damaged Heritage: The Elaine Race Massacre and A Story of Reconciliation (Pegasus, 2019)

 

Jim LaVilla-Havelin

Poets Jim LaVilla-Havelin and Linda Simone on having poems in purifying wind (Moon Shadow Sanctuary Press, 2020), first-place winner in the Texas National Federation of Press Women contest

Poet Heller Levinson on having six poems appear in Sulfur Surrealist Jungle

 

Yorktown Poet Laureate John McMullen for this revision quick reference guide and this article on paying for poetry submissions

 

Carl Phillips
Photo by Reston Allen

Presence Editor Mary Ann B. Miller for Presence 2021 poets John Hodgen, K. T. Landon, and Martha Silano whose work appeared in Verse Daily last month

 

Poet Carl Phillips on winning the $75K Jackson Prize

Poet Jean-Luc Pouliquen on this excellent review of his book, Vu du Parc (Independently published, 2021)

 

Poet Christina Rau for these first-ever virtual museum tours, “Pioneers of Poetry and Paint: Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner, Walt Whitman” followed by her poetry workshop

Poet and playwright Joe Simone on his poem, “Catching Mr. Crandall,” in Bardball

Del Crandall (1930-2021)

Poet Linda Simone, whose essay “Triptych,” is in What Remains (Gelles-Cole Literary Enterprises, 2019), awarded honorable mention and shortlisted for the 2021 Eric Hoffer Grand Prize Book Award

 

Memoirist Mary Wasacz on her first, incredibly poignant publication, “Hello and Goodbye,” in Moments Between

 

Until next time,

Ann