Home-Grown Gems: Santa Barbara Poets

 Melinda Palacio, Santa Barbara Poet Laureate

Flowers for Poets

*An earlier version of this column was published in the Santa Barbara Independent 

National Poetry Month ends with a city college poetry workshop and a reading at the Arlington with National Youth Poet Laureate, Amanda Gorman. However, Santa Barbara poets, myself included, will continue to poet during the coming months. Santa Barbara will host at least four poetry events in May. We are blessed with a vibrant poetry community. At my writing workshop at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, every seat was filled. I was thrilled to see how many people came to spend a couple of hours writing ekphrastic poetry, poetry in response to art. An unlikely couple who attended was Santa Barbara Middle School student, Ellery Green and her mom. Ellery inspired everyone with her poetry and sketching skills. During the workshop, she had time to compose three poems. The future of poetry is safe. 

 

Another young, local poet, Takunda Chikowero, took to the stage on Saturday at our Poetry in the Parks event. He read his award-winning Earth Day poem. Takunda is in the fourth grade at Isla Vista Elementary and the winner of the 2024 MLKSB Poetry Award. The young student is in the process of writing his first poetry book. What I didn’t mention when I introduced him was that he is the younger brother of Kundai Chikowero, Santa Barbara’s Youth Poet Laureate Ambassador. For six consecutive years, Kundai won the poetry competition at the Martin Luther King Santa Barbara Essay and Poetry Awards program, from 7^th through 12^th grade. She was mentored by Sojourner Kincaid Rolle. I’ve also worked with her over the years to present her poetry at the MLKSB awards celebration. She was always a natural and needed little coaching. Every year, Takunda would watch his older sister prepare for her award-winning poem at the Arlington Theatre. Now, he is following in her footsteps. It’s a joy to see his progress as a young poet.   

 

Santa Barbara County is currently searching for its next Youth Poet Laureate. The program was established in 2022 with Madeline Miller serving as the inaugural Youth Poet Laureate and Kundai Chikowero as Youth Poet Ambassador. Applications are due May 20^th by midnight PST. Contact yplsbc@gmail.com for more information. 

 

Another fun poetry connection is with Joshua Alan Richardson (pronouns they/them) who attended my Día de los Muertos Poetry Reading at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art last November. At the time I didn’t know they wrote poetry. Later, when we met again at the Alhecama theatre, where Joshua was the event attendant, they mentioned being a poet. It’s nice to see the various poetry connections around town. When Joshua asked me for advice on how they might get published, I suggested the online submittable site, where you can send in poems to various journals, publishing houses, and contests.They shared some poems with me. This week’s poem and its translation in English comes from Joshua Alan Richardson, who publishes under the pseudonym Criollo. 

 

 

Joshua A. Richardson aka Criollo 

 

Naufragar en el amor

By Criollo

 

Te sigo buscando

en la playa, la arena

entre cada ola

y en la marea.

 

Esperaba que ya soñando

en mi mente te hallaría

tal vez en mis fantasías

o despierto por la mañana.

 

Aún sigo pensando

que en la luz del día

vinieras y me dirías

las palabras que tanto quería

oír de ti la última vez.

 

Pero ya al no encontrarte

fuera de las ganas

que yo tengo de amarte

en mis mareos

me hundo por mi estupidez.

 

 

 

 

 

To Drown in Love

By Criollo

 

I keep looking for you

on the beach, the sand

between each wave,

and in the tide.

 

I was hoping that once dreaming

in my mind I would find you

perhaps in my fantasies

or awake in the morning.

 

I still think

that in the light of day

you would come and tell me

the words that I had wanted so much

to hear from you last time.

 

But now that I can’t find you

out of the desire

that I have to love you

in my dizziness

I sink for my stupidity.

 

 

Bio:

Criollo is a California-born Salvadoreño. They recently graduated from UCSB with a Bachelor's in Anthropology and a minor in Spanish. Their previous works have been published by UCSF Mission Bay Hospital. They are currently working on a collection of poetry and looking to create comfortable and accessible spaces for Chicanx/Latinx art and literature in Santa Barbara and the Central Coast.