your grateful annogram

Dear annogrammers, in this blustery time of year, we are warming to new work, recognition, and opportunities. It is amazing how far we have come, and what sparkling paths beckon. Like this beautiful season of change, annogram will be morphing too. Read on and find out!

 

 

Of Interest in Alparegho

 

Readers love the Translator’s Note in Alparegho, Like Nothing Else (Beautiful Days Press). It details how I came to discover, work with, and grow close to the extraordinary French poet Hélène Sanguinetti. Her own story, also shared, is spectacular too—it involves the great French poet René Char. Alparegho, Like Nothing Else, in this regard, makes a perfect gift to encourage anyone who would like to translate.

 

 

Slab, Dead of Winter, and more

So thrilled to have four poems in SLAB, and two accepted for Dead of Winter II anthology from Milk and Cake Press. Gratitude also to Matt Morris of Home Planet News for reformatting my poems so they are easier to read.

 

 

Swwim-ing in Translation

 

Hélène Sanguinetti

Thanks to Jen Karetnick for publishing Hélène Sanguinetti’s “Broken Songs That Remain 1 and 2” from Domaine des englués suivi de Six réponses à Jean-Baptiste Para (La Lettre Volée, 2017), a hybrid book-length poem. More translations to come in Ezra and Notre Dame Review.

 

 

Encyclopedia of Wishing

 

I am honored to have written the introduction to this book! Wish Mavens Barbara Dickinson and Margie Herrick share their know-how in making wishes come true. It’s not some woo-woo New Age trick; it’s about listening to ourselves and paying attention to what gives us joy. A fun read and gift.

 

 

Looney Tunes

 

Thanks to this vintage vinyl store for the VIP invitation to a pizza party-debut of a newly acquired 5,000-record collection! I thought I was going along to support my favorite guitarist, Michael, but no—caught up in the fervor I scooped up these 99-cent 45s:

Nancy Sinatra

Addicted to Love – Robert Palmer

California Dreamin’ – The Mamas and the Papas

Downtown – Petula Clark

I Wanna Be with You – The Raspberries

I’m Not in Love – 10CC

In the Air Tonight – Phil Collins

Lola – The Kinks

Red Rubber Ball – The Cyrcle

She’s Gone – Hall and Oates

The Letter – Joe Cocker

These Boots Are Made for Walking – Nancy Sinatra

Windy – The Association

 

 

Sennelier Monday Live

Yves-Marie Salmonson,
Sennelier Art Director

Imagine painting with 200+ people at the same time! Thanks to Sennelier Monday Live, you can—from the prestigious paint-maker’s Paris location. The bilingual French-English is easy to follow and offers Sennelier giveaways for those who post their art. Magnifique!

 

 

Sargent, Again

Sargent, Self-Portrait (1886)

Pumped by Beth Gersh-Nesic’s lecture on Sargent, my favorite guitarist, Michael, and I headed to the Met. We were not disappointed. Sargent’s landscapes beamed with sunlight, and his portraits, in one person’s words, held the viewer in their gaze. Incredible.

 

 

Holding Up the Sky

 

Ed Jordan, star
of Holding Up the Sky

Congratulations to director/producer Bob Nesson on the premiere of Holding Up the Sky, a film that tracks how two once-incarcerated men helped each other survive beyond prison. An educational project, the film is available to groups interested in learning about and promoting prison reform.

 

 

Creative Opportunities

Kevin Pilkington

Cagibi, all genres, open

 

Maine Media Workshop, Just Below the Surface: A Poetry Workshop with Kevin Pilkington, July 20-24, 2026

 

Pedestal 97, open call for poetry, by December 7

 

Plant-Human Quarterly, poetry, open

 

Pure Slush, all genres, by November 30

 

 

New and Recent Releases

 

Joel Allegretti, Let’s All Be Happy (Opiate Books)

 

Michael Baldwin, Roll Back the Sun (Inner Eye Books)

 

Therese Craine Bertsch, Pearl of the Cosmos: The Rosary (Independently published)

 

Ann Cefola, trans. Alparegho, Like-Nothing-Else by Hélène Sanguinetti (Beautiful Days Press)

 

Cecily Chen, trans. Bed by Wu Ang (Beautiful Days Press)

 

Jim Daniels, An Ignorance of Trees (Cornerstone Press)

 

Robert Fanning, All We Are Given We Cannot Hold (Dzanc Books)

Jim LaVilla-Havelin, A Thoreau Book (Alabrava Press)

 

Bob Heman, A Sky Obscured by Bicycles (SurVision Press)

 

J. Chester Johnson Reading Whispers (BlazeVox Books) (preorder)

 

Heller Levinson, Crossfall (Black Widow Press)

 

Laurel Peterson, The Sky Weeps with Us (Finishing Line Press) (preorder)

 

Christian Schlegel, Blackbird (Beautiful Days Press)

 

Delphine Smith, “Heartache, Struggle,” in the Bounce Back, Black Woman podcast

 

Mark Vincenz, All the Tricks of Language (Dos Madres Press)

 

Mark Vincenz, Irønclad (Spuyten Duyvil Press)

 

Sarah Bracey White, A Walk Down Memory Lane: Short Stories for Seniors to Spark Joy (Zeitgeist, 2025)

 

 

Upcoming Events – ET

 

Shea Daniel-Youngblood, Alston Cox,
Laura Lopez, and Linda Simone,
four of the artists in Seven on the Square

Seven on the Square, exhibit at Kapej San Antonio, through December

 

December 7, 1pm, Arts on Site, Jamboroco, open house for Racoco Action Theater featuring light refreshments, music, and fun (free)

 

December 19, 6pm, Space Cowboy Coffee, Beats by the Beach with hosts Christina Rau+Peter Dugan

 

January 7, 2026, 7pm, TLA Network, Meditate, Move and Create with Christina Rau; register here

 

May 15–17, 2026, Franciscan Retreat Center, The Siren’s Call: A writer’s retreat to explore the interplay between creativity and stillness

 

 

 

Monthly Workshops and Readings

 

Use this link and scroll to listings

 

 

Butternut Squash Soup

 

Once again, we thank chef Linda Simone for passing along this soul-warming soup recipe:

 

1 large butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cubed

1 medium onion, chopped

3 cups vegetable broth

1 cup heavy cream or milk

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tbsp maple syrup

1 tsp ground cinnamon

Salt and pepper to taste

2 tbsp olive oil

 

Preheat oven to 400°F. Toss squash with olive oil and spread on baking sheet. Roast 25-30 minutes, until tender and caramelized. In large pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Sauté onion and garlic, until soft, about 5 minutes. Add roasted squash and vegetable broth. Bring to boil, then simmer 10-15 minutes. Use immersion blender to puree soup, or transfer soup in batches to blender. Stir in cream or milk, maple syrup, and cinnamon. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer 5 minutes, and serve hot.

 

 

ʼRound the Net

 

The Jive Aces

Poet and author Joel Allegretti on his first collection of short stories, Let’s All Be Happy

 

Songwriter and essayist Jeanette Briggs for this article on a man who kept a list of every book he ever read—all 3,599 of them

 

Guitarist and songwriter Michael Cefola for this upbeat video from the Jive Aces, “Bring Me Sunshine”

 

Poet Therese Craine Bertsch on reading her Pearl of the Cosmos with the Sayville Chamber Chorale at the Queen of the Rosary Motherhouse

 

Poet Suzanne Cleary on winning a Pushcart Prize

 

Translators Chen Du and Xisheng Chen on Yan An translations in Agni, Meetinghouse Magazine, Poetry Northwest, and Toad Press; and being runners-up for the Carnegie Mellon Press 2025 Literary Translation Prize

 

Editor Larry Falz on SkyWAAtch winning the 2025 Apex Grand Award for Publication Excellence

Poet and artist Bob Heman on his collage, “The Visitors,” in Clockwise Cat (at left)

 

Poet Cindy Hochman on having 10 poems in Cholla Needles and more work in Six-Line Poems

 

Poets Cindy Hochman and Bob Heman on five collaborative poems in Axon Journal (Australia)

 

Editors Cindy Hochman and Karen Neuberg for an incredible run editing the extraordinary and generous journal First Literary Review East

 

Poet Heller Levinson on this glowing review of his new book, Crossfall, and on it being translated into French by Pierre Petiot

 

Poet Mary McCray for her outstanding newsletter, Big Bang Poetry

 

Johnny Cash
(1932-2003)

Yorktown Poet Laureate John McMullen for this article on listening to Johnny Cash read the Gospels

 

Poet Joyelle McSweeney on being a Jeopardy! Champion

 

Miami-Dade Poet Laureate Caridad Moro-Gronlier for this wonderful blog about preserving her grandmother’s tradition

 

Poet Mary Newell on being one of the translators of Notes on Inner Work: In Question with Michel Salzmann (Indications Press)

 

Poet Jean-Luc Pouliquen for discovering this treasure trove of poetry recordings at Harvard

 

Bassist Larry Schwartzman for this clip of Buddy Guy performing “Money (That’s What I Want)”

 

Cellist and CD producer Jay Shulman for Hullabaloo videos (one and two) where he attended Mick Jagger's live rehearsal in the NBC Brooklyn studio

Poet and artist Linda Simone on her poem, “Trading Rivers,” selected for the Texas Bards Anthology 2025; and on having work in Seven on the Square, a San Antonio exhibit of local landscapes

 

Resilience Coach Delphine Smith on her amazing podcast, “Bounce Back, Black Woman!”

 

Smithsonian Magazine on Romeo and Juliet, two coyotes who have made Central Park their home

Playwright and memoirist Sarah Bracey White on her interview in the “Don’t Encourage This” podcast and for this article on gratitude

 

 

Our Art Conspiracy

 

Pursuing art always feels like a conspiracy against the daily if routine requirements of life. The annogram community, for close to 20 years now, has been all in. We have committed to the long apprenticeship and been slightly stunned by achievements and milestones. 

 

And falling deeper down that rabbit hole myself, I will be closing out quarterly annograms with this issue. Thanks to you annogrammers, cherished former neighbors, coworkers, and long-time friends, who tell me that you eagerly await and save each issue. That has meant the world to me.

 

Never fear: you may receive briefer “express” annograms now and again—as the muse dictates! Now go out and do what you do best.

 

Until next time,

Ann