Jan Steckel's Blog: Horizontal Poet Sings Bidyke Blues - Posts Tagged "san-francisco"

I'll be doing up to two poetry readings a month this year to promote my new poetry book The Horizontal Poet. Below is the schedule so far. As you can see, I'll be doing at least two readings this year in Santa Barbara as well as several in the San Francisco Bay Area.

If I can raise the money for travel, I'd like to do readings in any of the following towns where I have relatives and friends: Chicago IL, Seattle WA(especially Bellevue), Santa Cruz CA, Santa Monica CA, Sacramento CA, Ft. Bragg or Mendocino CA, Costa Mesa or Newport Beach CA, Sonoma CA. Secretly I dream of making it to NYC in June.

If you have poetry contacts in any of the above towns and could arrange a reading for me there, please message me on Goodreads or email me at Jmsteckel at AOL dot com.

February 4 Santa Barbara Poetry Series, Contemporary Arts Forum, Paseo Nuevo Mall, Santa Barbara, CA

February 11 Book Launch Party, Plymouth United Church of Christ, Fireside Room, Oakland, CA

March 16 Expressions Gallery, Berkeley, CA

April 2 Poetry Express, Priya Indian Restaurant, Berkeley, CA

April 14 The Poetry Zone, Karpeles Manuscript Museum, Santa Barbara, CA

July 14 All Women's Poetry Potluck and Salon Reading at Lakeview Library, Lake Merritt, Oakland, CA

September 8 Frank Bette Center for the Arts, Alameda, CA

October 27 Women's Poetry Potluck and Salon, featured reader, Frank Bette Center for the Arts, Alameda, CA

Want me to come to your town? (I'm looking at you, San Franciscans.) Email me at Jmsteckel at AOL dot com or message me here on Goodreads to discuss the possibility.

Anger Management in San Francisco, hosted by H.K. Rainey and Paul Corman-Roberts, was one of the most fun readings I've been to. We descended through a beautiful antique store called Viricocha in the Mission district of San Francisco into the red light of a basement speakeasy. Chairs clustered around small tables, and the bar in the back sold beer and wine. The acts and the audience were equally picturesque, and everyone seemed to have talent spurting out their ears.

Thanks to Evan Karp of Litseen.com for the footage below of me reading "Don't Tell Me" and "The Horizontal Poet."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fyna8v...

A terrific review of my book The Horizontal Poet just got posted by Marie Lecrivain, editor and publisher of the Los Angeles litzine poeticdiversity and a fine poet and writer.

http://alkhemiapoetica.blogspot.com/2...

I love the image of her reading the title poem aloud at a poetry reading in Los Angeles. Wish I could have been there!

April, National Poetry Month, is a whirlwind. Had a terrific time reading the other night at the 10th Anniversary of Poetry Express in Berkeley with my friend Al Averbach. I'll be the featured reader on April 14 at The Poetry Zone, a collegial open mic hosted by Suzanne Frost at the Karpeles Manuscript Museum in Santa Barbara. Then it's back up to Berkeley for a reading with excellent poet Jeanne Wagner at Expressions Gallery, hosted by Steve Arntson, on the evening of April 20, with an open mic, 7-9 PM. Finally, I'll read on April 24 at the Lambda Literary Finalists reading at 6 PM at the main San Francisco Public Library. I'll try to post details about each reading here a few days beforehand.

How are you celebrating National Poetry Month?

I'm not an atheist, but I'm not a believer, either. Nor am I an agnostic, if you take the definition of agnostic to mean someone who believes it's impossible to know if God exists or not. I just know that I personally don't know if God exists. I don't have any problem with other people's beliefs in God. Evangelical, militant atheism mildly annoys me.

Nor do I find it as important to be sure about God's existence as many people do, because I'm pretty sure that the humanistic morality my parents taught me leads me to behave in the same way as I would if I were sure about God's existence. Don't treat others the way you wouldn't want to be treated, as Hillel put it. Safer and less prescriptive than the Golden Rule,

Want a quick turnaround time for a poem, essay or story to be published? I woke up to find four poems I had submitted last night to The Eloquent Atheist were posted this morning! The last poem in the group is about Joie Cook, one of the best performers and poets I know personally. She's another Zeitgeist Press author and lives in San Francisco.

http://www.eloquentatheist.com/2012/0...

What is the basis of your conscious behavior and morality, whether you believe in God or not?

Last week received my contributor's copy of Askew, a Southern California (Ventura)-based literary journal in a newspaper format. I enjoyed the poems a lot, and I liked the way the editors presented my poem about my mentor ("Julia Vinograd Turns Canned Food into Poetry") and its final line "She does not deign to eat the peach" right under another poem that ended with the word "peach."

Askew is edited by Phil Taggart and Marsha de la O with the help of Friday Lubina. Phil and Friday also host readings in the Ventura area. I was scheduled to read on July 31 at Phil Taggart's reading at the Artists Union Gallery there. Unfortunately the gallery just lost its lease and the reading its venue, so I'll have to wait for another opportunity to hear the editors of Askew read.

I also received my contributor's copies of Assaracus: Lady Business, with five of my filthiest queer poems bringing up the rear, so to speak, at the end of the volume. Assaracus is a gay male literary journal edited by Bryan Borland. This was their issue of poetry by lesbian and bisexual women, and I absolutely loved it. My favorite poetry in the volume was by Maureen Seaton. Couldn't find her on Facebook -- hope to run into her work again soon.

Editor Michael W. Jones of the online journal The Eloquent Atheist was kind enough to print my poem "Downsizing the Solar System" at http://www.eloquentatheist.com/2012/0....

As I've mentioned here before, I'm not an atheist, actually. I just know that I don't know what the cosmic story is, but I acknowledge that you might, so I'm not really even a proper agnostic. (That is, I understand agnosticism to be the belief that one cannot know whether God exists.) The thing is, I have a physician's attitude that if the answer to a question doesn't change the plan of action, then I don't need the answer. Since I'd behave the same way toward other people whether I knew that God existed or not, I figure it's best just to get on with the good works and try to be as decent a person as I can. I respect the faiths of others, and also the agnosticism or atheism of others.

Lastly, I wanted to remind San Francisco Bay Area readers that I'll be featured at Caffe Greco in North Beach in SF with Julia Vinograd on Monday, July 9th. Sign-up for the open mic is at 6:30 PM. 423 Columbus Ave., between Vallejo and Green. Hope to see some of you there! Bring a little work of your own to read at the open mic if you'd like to.

Julia Vinograd is my poetry mentor. You can find a lot of her books here on Goodreads. Here's her short bio:

Julia Vinograd is a Berkeley street poet. She has published 56 books of poetry, and won the American Book Award of The Before Columbus Foundation. She has three poetry CD collections: Bubbles and Bones, Eye of the Hand, and The Book of Jerusalem. She received a B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley and an M.F.A. from the University of Iowa. She has a Poetry Lifetime Achievement Award from the City of Berkeley. She won a Pushcart Prize for her poem “The Young Men Who Died of AIDS.” She was one of the four editors of the anthology New American Underground Poetry Vol. 1: The Babarians of San Francisco— Poets from Hell.

That's the title of a delightful blog by Sara Chittenden, a bi woman who plays bass in the indie band Soundmeetsound. If you want to learn more about bi people (or get a shot in the arm of pride!), check out her inspiring and beautiful Tumblr at http://thesunnysideofbeingbi.tumblr.com

You can find her great review of The Horizontal Poet at
http://thesunnysideofbeingbi.tumblr.c...

Soundmeetsound's first album is coming out soon.... I can't wait.

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I'll be doing at least three San Francisco Bay Area readings in September. Save the dates:

September 5 PM I'm featured at Sacred Grounds Cafe Open Mic in San Francisco, hosted by Dan Brady, who recently read his own work at the SF Public Library.

September 8 PM I'm cofeatured with my friend and mentor Julia Vinograd at an open mic hosted by the lovely Tanka and performance poet Jeanne Lupton at the Frank Bette Center for the Arts in Alameda.

September 22 PM I'm featured with my husband Hew Wolff and several other queer and/or kinky erotica writers at Perverts Put Out, San Francisco's literary smut salon hosted by Carol Queen and Simon Shepard at the Center for Sex and Culture.

Details and invitations to follow!

Please save September 5 for me if you're going to be in the San Francisco Bay Area that evening! I'll be the featured reader at the Sacred Grounds Cafe near the Haight. Bring some poetry of your own to share at the open mic.

Sacred Grounds: Open Mic Wednesdays: 7 pm sign up
2095 Hayes @ Cole, San Francisco.
415-387-3859
Host: Dan Brady: creative1@creativeideasforyou.com

Host Dan Brady is a poet, composer, singer and an elementary school teacher in the San Francisco Unified School District. He took over hosting the Sacred Grounds Cafe Wednesday night reading after its longtime host Jehanah Wedgwood passed away a year and a half ago. Jehanah hosted the open mic for nineteen years and edited fifteen anthologies of its poets' work. Sacred Grounds is the oldest continuously running open mic in the city, started in 1973.

I'll read for half an hour. As I recall, the open mic spots are a generous 5-10 minutes. The cafe serves beer, wine, coffee, and a variety of food (not just pastries and sandwiches). The place is two blocks from Golden Gate Park, just on the other side of the Panhandle from Haight Street. Leave time for a picturesque walk before you come to the reading!

Details at http://www.goodreads.com/event/show/6...

San Francisco Bay Area readers, save the date! I'll be reading Friday evening, Nov. 16, 2012, with Betty Blue, (aka Jane Kindred) at BiFabulous Authors, the kickoff event for the 25th Anniversary celebrations of the Bay Area Bisexuals Network (BABN). The reading and reception run from 7 PM to 9 PM at the GLBT History Museum, 4127 18th St. (between Castro & Collingwood streets) in San Francisco, California.

It's gonna be a great party, people. I joined BABN when I moved to the SF Bay Area in 1998. Soon after, at a meeting of Berkeley BiFriendly, I met the host, Hew Wolff. He had been a member of BABN almost since its inception. We have been partners now for 14 years. Today is our wedding anniversary. Happy Halloween, y'all!

Betty Blue is a bi erotica writer, one of whose alter egos is the fantasy writer Jane Kindred. I'm thrilled to get to read with her and to celebrate one of the biggest reasons I live here in Oakland -- the peer group of other bisexual people I found here in the beautiful Bay Area.

What a nice way to wake up this morning! I checked into Goodreads to find that my poem "Are You Tough Enough to Haul Flowers?" is a finalist for this month's Goodreads Newsletter Poetry Contest. I really liked the other finalists' poems this time, too. I was delighted to find that my friend Joan Colby's poem "Anniversary Song" got an honorable mention.

Right now my poem just a vote or two behind the leader. If you're a member of the Poetry! group, or would like to become one, please go to
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...
and vote for your favorite poem! You will have to join the Poetry! group to vote if you are not already a member.

In other news, I'm going to be interviewed by San Francisco's Melinda Adams, otherwise known as Lilycat, on FCC Free Radio this Sunday, February 3, from noon to 2 PM Pacific time. The Program is "Lilycat on Stuff." You can tune in to listen live at http://www.fccfreeradio.com at studio 1A. Please call in with questions! It would be so great to hear your voices.

I'll also be featured at Works in Progress Women's Open Mic on Sunday, February 9, in Oakland. All women are welcome! The reading was postponed from last month because of the host's illness. Linda Zeiser is feeling better now and will offer the reading (with 8 fashion watches given away as door prizes) FREE! There's a potluck from 6:30 to 7:30, with the reading starting at 7:30 PM. Live music from singer/songwriter Melanie DeMore. Fireside Room, Plymouth United Church of Christ, 424 Monte Vista, Oakland. More details at http://www.goodreads.com/event/show/8...

Joie Cook was a San Francisco performance poet and a friendly acquaintance of mine. I heard her read a few times and had one glorious dinner with her, her husband David, and a few old beaux of hers, during which we polished off an entire pitcher each of margaritas and mojitos. We staggered onto the street arm in arm, pledging eternal love, mad admiration, etc., and never saw each other again.

Joie died Sunday night at her Oscars-watching party. Among those with her were her husband David and her friend and former love Richard Stone. Ill with complications of hepatitis C, Joie had made herself DNR (Do Not Resuscitate), so 911 was not called. Within an hour, her daughter Jessika arrived to be with her mother's body and take her place among the bereaved.

Zeitgeist Press, DesertedX and Manic D Press published Joie's poetry. I loved Joie's poems and personality. Her life was a magnificent performance.

Here are some links to poems of Joie's:
http://rustytruck.wordpress.com/categ...
http://www.sfheart.com/sfpoets/joie_c...

Here's a poem I wrote for Joie a few years ago. It first appeared in The Eloquent Atheist.

Joie’s Poems

She’s eating hummingbird hearts
for appetizers, drinking the Salton Sea
for a cocktail. She’s doctor bitch to you,
matey, so look seaworthy.
Inch-long nails, vinyl skin, elbow hicky,
teased hair with a dyed pink streak.
She’ll take that plunging neckline,
let the girls out to say hello.
She’s thinner than a flimsy excuse,
frailer than tornadoes,
richer than creosote,
inimitable, indescribable, delicious.
I’d give my supernumerary nipple
for a taste of that. She makes us rise
like bread, a fish belly-up, the sun.