Fifteen Years of the Poetry Buffet

 Melinda Palacio    

Poet Gina Ferrara of New Orleans has been running the Poetry Buffet at the Latter Library in New Orleans for fifteen years. I've been fortunate to participate in the reading since it started. The poetry series meets every first Saturday of the month. This month's offering, due to the lingering pandemic, will be on zoom. If you are in the mood for an early poetic feast, find your time zone and zoom in, 2pm Central and noon PST. I'm a little under the weather, but thanks to zoom, I will deliver my fifteen minutes like the pro I am. I will join our hostess, who will read, along with Julie Kane and Andy Young. 

Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86283753394...

The Poetry Buffet Poets for March 2022, Saturday, March 4 at 2pm central, noon pacific

Gina Ferrara lives and writes in New Orleans. She has four poetry collections including her most recent Weight of the Ripened (Dos Madres Press, 2020), a finalist for the Eyelands Poetry Prize. Her work has appeared in numerous journals including Callaloo, The Poetry Ireland Review and Tar River Poetry and was selected for publication in the Sixty-Four Best Poets of 2019 by Black Mountain Press. Since 2007, she has curated The Poetry Buffet, a monthly reading series in New Orleans. She teaches English and writing at Delgado Community College Julie Kane’s most recent poetry collection is Mothers of Ireland (LSU Press, 2020), winner of the Poetry by the Sea Book Award and a longlist finalist for the Julie Suk Book Prize. Previous collections include Rhythm & Booze, a National Poetry Series winner, and Jazz Funeral, winner of the Donald Justice Poetry Prize. With Grace Bauer, she co-edited Nasty Women Poets: An Unapologetic Anthology of Subversive Verse. Her poems appear in more than sixty anthologies including Best American Poetry and The Book of Irish American Poets from the Eighteenth Century to the Present. She has served as a Fulbright Scholar, Louisiana State Poet Laureate, Poets’ Prize Committee Chair, National Book Award in Poetry juror, and George Bennett Fellow in Writing at Phillips Exeter Academy. Professor Emerita of English at Northwestern State University of Louisiana, she currently teaches in the low-residency poetry MFA program at Western Colorado University. Melinda Palacio is a poet, author, and speaker. She lives in Santa Barbara and New Orleans. Her poetry chapbook, Folsom Lockdown, won Kulupi Press’ Sense of Place 2009 award . She is the author of the novel, Ocotillo Dreams (ASU Bilingual Press 2011), for which she received the Mariposa Award for Best First Book at the 2012 International Latino Book Awards and a 2012 PEN Oakland-Josephine Miles Award for Excellence in Literature. Her first full-length poetry collection, How Fire Is a Story, Waiting, (Tia Chucha Press 2012) was a finalist for the Milt Kessler Award, the Paterson Prize, and received First Prize in Poetry at the 2013 International Latino Book Awards. In 2015, her work was featured on the Academy of American Poets, Poem-a-Day Program. Melinda's latest poetry collection is Bird Forgiveness. Andy Young's second full-collection, Museum of the Soon Departed, was chosen for the inaugural Patricia Spears Jones Award and will be published by Camperdown NYC next year. She is also the author of All Night It Is Morning (Diálogos Press, 2014) and four chapbooks. She holds an MFA from the Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College and teaches at New Orleans Center for Creative Arts. Her work has recently appeared, or is forthcoming, in The Southern Review, Pank, The Journal of the American Medical Association, and The Cortland Review. Her poems have also been featured in contemporary and flamenco dance productions.

Bird Forgiveness: the Box Landing and Tour

Melinda Palacio

The birds have officially landed. I've received a box of author copies of my new poetry book, Bird Forgiveness. When my publisher requested a photo of me opening the box, I sent several stills and I also took a video to post on the feisboo (the big FB will most likely ban this post as well). I noticed that the ritual opening of the book box is a social media tradition that allows readers to share in the big moment when the author finally views the finished copy of books that will go out into the world. I'm thrilled to share this moment with La Bloga.

Will the birds land in your area?

For bookings and to bring the Bird Forgiveness Tour to you: contact melindapalacio@gmail.com or 3 Taos Press

Bird Forgiveness, the new poetry book.

Bird Forgiveness Tour  2018

Summer

June 17-22, Santa Barbara Writers Conference

June 21 panel, June 20 workshop

June 26, interview new orleans

July 14, Camarillo Library panel   2-3pm 

July 15 Poetry Zone Santa Barbara, Karpeles Manuscript Library 21 W Anapamu, 2pm, with Gina Ferrara

July 17, Santa Barbara     Chaucer's Books 7pm, Loreto Plaza3321 State Street, Santa Barbara CA 93105

July 25, New Orleans, Octavia Books, 6pm,

August 3, Teche Center for the Arts, 210 E. bridge St., Breaux Bridge, Louisiana in the heart of Cajun-Creole Country, 6pm.

Fall

September 1                Santa Barbara Paseo Nuevo 2-4pm

September 6          Ventura, Topping Room EP Foster Library, 7:30 pm,  Ventura, 651 E. Main Street       host Phil Taggart

October 6          Poetry Buffet with Valentine Pierce and Dennis Formento, New Orleans Latter Library  2pm

October 28    Maple Leaf Bar, New Orleans 3pm

November 10              Louisiana Book Festival      Baton Rouge TBA

November 14, University of New Orleans CWW with Neil Shepard   New Orleans, 8pm

2019

February 9, Core Winery, 7:30 pm, Orcutt Tasting Room, 105 W Clark Ave., Old Orcutt, CA, corewine.com

March 27-30 AWP Portland

Live from the Core: Poetry and Wine tasting in Orcutt

Melinda Palacio

Library Wines before the reading.

In a strange twists of hits and misses, I ended up reading at CORE Winery in Orcutt.

When my poetry pal, Gina Ferrara, asked me to read for her, I did not hesitate to say yes. I have to admit I was a little disappointment she wouldn't be traveling from New Orleans to California to read from her new book, Fitting the Sixth Finger,  poems inspired by the paintings of Marc Chagall. Gina has promised to return next year.

Gina first met Michael McLaughlin, the poet and coordinator of the Live from the CORE Poetry Series in California. He was so taken by Ferarra's reading at the Mission Poetry Series that he asked her to read in Orcutt. I was more than happy to host my good friend. McLaughlin also read at the Maple Leaf Bar on the day when I was in New Orleans, but reading in a different part of town. Most people had assumed we knew each other because he is based in Santa Maria, a town forty minutes from Santa Barbara; we had never met. However, contrary to popular belief, I do not know every poet in California, although I'm working on it.

Reading at CORE Winery was fun.

While Los Angeles is filled with more poetry events than an eager fan can attend, the little town of Orcutt, holds one poetry reading at the CORE Winery once a month. The series is now in its second year and has a strong following and includes an impressive core group who sign up for its open mike. The reading series featured several La Bloga friends, including Luivette Resto, and Emma Trelles, who will read next Saturday, June 10, along with San Luis Obispo poets Jim Cushing and Celeste Goyer at CORE Winery Tasting Room, 105 W. Clark Ave, Old Orcutt, CA 93455. If you're still scratching your head about where Orcutt might be, it's 75 miles north of Santa Barbara. The drive is gorgeous. Orcutt is one of those one street towns. There's a main drag with everything from a hardware store to a winery to an Italian restaurant that serves handmade pasta.

Signing books after the reading

I was most impressed with the CORE Family, Becky and Dave Corey, who open up their tasting room to poetry once a month and the generous audience who listened attentively, bought copies of my book, and shared their own excellent poems during the open mike. What more could a poet desire? Many thanks to Michael McLaughlin for the reading opportunity. I had the pleasure of testing out some new work from my upcoming poetry book, Bird Forgiveness (forthcoming from 3: a Taos Press), and reading with Bay Area poet Mark Fabionar, who recited his first poem at the age of five at a Filipino community center in Stockton.

Mark Fabionar 

I'm looking forward to hearing more poetry at CORE next week. Come and join me and listen to Emma Trelles and new poet friends from San Luis Obispo  June 10.

Poetry in the Wet Air: Three Anthologies

Melinda Palacio

Rainbow in Santa Barbara. Keep raining California. 

I have the pleasure of being included in three wonderful anthologies: Maple Leaf Rag VI, the Wandering Song, and Poetry in Flight. Maple Leaf Rag VI is the latest sampling of poems read at the Maple Leaf Bar. For those unfamiliar with the poetry scene in New Orleans, the Maple Leaf Bar holds the longest running poetry reading series in the South. The reading began in 1979 and was founded by Everett Maddox who passed away in 1989. Nancy Harris has been hosting the weekly readings for more than 25 years. The collection includes many New Orleans poets, past and present, as well as first-time visitors, such as La Bloga friend Maria M. Kelson of Pueblo and Santa Barbara poets Chryss Yost and George Yatchisin. My poem, "Bones for Feathers" is included in the anthology. The book launch for the Maple Leaf Rag VI is this Sunday, January 15, at the Maple Leaf Bar in New Orleans, 8316 Oak Street.  For those unable to attend the reading, you can order a copy of the book through the Portals Press website.

Maple Leaf Rag VI: An Anthology of Poetic Writings New Orleans
Portals Press, 2017

Next month, at AWP, Tía Chucha Press will present The Wandering Song: Central American Writing in the United States, edited by Leticia Hernández Linares, Rubén Martínez, and Héctor Tobar. The Wandering Song is a much anticipated anthology of Central American writers living in the United States. This is the first time a comprehensive literary survey of the Central American diaspora by a U.S. publisher will be available for readers and scholars, a collection appropriate for high school, college, or university courses in U.S. Literature, Latino Literature, Multicultural Studies, and Migration Studies. The multi-genre collection includes poems, short stories, essays, memoir, novel excerpts, and creative nonfiction. I'm looking forward to this collection and am honored to have two poems in the book, "This Is How the World Ends" and "All Things Precious." The anthology is available for pre-order through Tia Chucha Press and Northwestern University Press. The book launch and reading will be in DC, Wednesday, February 8 at the AWP, details TBA, stay tuned on La Bloga.

The Wandering Song: Central American Writing in the United States,
Tía Chucha Press 2017.

The Anthology Poetry in Flight/Poesía en Vuelo celebrates contributors of San Francisco's, El Tecolote. In the words of Juan Felipe Herrera, "this is the El Tecolote Anthology, the pioneering, fiery, soulful eye of this community, keeping watch and ward on our realities, without borders-even if the border makers insist on doing their border work. This is a volume of dreams, battle, play and the magic of the people-new freedom of thought warriors, word-salseras-checking on that odd-angled thing called 'progress,' on that viral tsunami of corporate, social and economic encroachment." My poem, "Age-Old Poetry" is included in this long-awaited collection. This anthology has witnessed the deaths of two of its co-editors, Francisco X. Alarcon and Alfonso Texidor. The cover art is by Juan R. Fuentes and the design work by Adrian Arias. An endorsement by Juan Felipe Herrera graces the back cover. The new publication celebration and reading will be held on Sunday, March 19 from 1-4 at Acción Latina in San Francisco in their beautiful remodeled facility at 2958 24th Street.

Poetry in Flight/Poesía en Vuelo
Anthology in Celebration of El Tecolote 2017

Celebrating Poetry in Louisiana

Melinda Palacio

I can walk on my cast now. Thank you for all of your healing thoughts

My journey towards walking again began last week. I am able to put weight on my cast. Although I'm pretty good with hoisting my body on crutches, I am relieved to be walking. Soon I won't need a cane or the cast I've been wearing for the past two months. Thank you to everyone for your healing thoughts and positive energy. La Bloga took a little hit this Summer with my broken leg and Michael Sedano's scare in the emergency room, but we are back stronger. While I didn't have Sedano's mandate from ancestors to go back in line, I did experience an epiphany of sorts while under heavy hospital drugs, where I was dropped into the sea of love and realized that everything is love.

My first official outing, both fun and literary was to New Iberia and Lafayette's Word Lab. My friends Jonathan Klein and Gina Ferrara were presenting at 2pm and wanted to make a pilgrimage to Avery Island's Buddha statue. Jonathan read from his new book, the Wisdom of Ashes. Earlier in the year, he read with Daniel Chacon at Octavia Books in New Orleans. Of Gina's last book, Amber Porchlight, Frank Mundo of the Examiner says: "Charged with light, beauty and a touch of danger and heat, Amber Porch Light by Gina Ferrara is a powerful, memorable collection." 

Avery Island, New Iberia, Louisiana

The last time I was at Avery Island, several alligators emerged from the swamp. Luckily, I jumped in the car before they got too close. Avery island is ideal for someone with mobility issues. You can tour the entire island from your car, get out and sit at the different stops. The island is best known for its production of Tabasco sauce.  At the factory, you can try Tabasco ice cream and different flavors of Tabasco sauce.

Maple Leaf Rag V, Portal Press 2014

SRO crowd at the back patio of the Maple Leaf Bar

Reading a poem at the Maple Leaf Bar's back patio

The next day, last Sunday, I participated in the celebration for the Maple Leaf Rag V Anthology. The Maple Leaf Bar is the oldest running poetry reading series in the South. Started by Everett Maddox Maddox, the series has continued for thirty-five years. Currently, poet Nancy Harris took over the series after Everett's death in 1989. Publisher John Travis, owner of Portals Press has published the last four Maple Leaf Rag Anthologies. I have had the honor of being published in the last two volumes, along with my favorite South Louisiana writer, Steve Beisner. 

 From the Maple Leaf Rag V Anthology, Portals Press 2014.

hold her close

Steve Beisner

new orleans has wet and mud where people walk and stand

and know the earth they’re livin' on and how it feels to hold her close

through her nearby marshes oil canals cut obscenely straight and narrow

run miles through watery green, a highway of danger for muskrats and nutria

leafy sinews strangle the house who lost her family two summers ago

soon, with no friend, losing her battle with flora, ruin

potholes kill and eat incautious cars where there're guns enough

that someone always wants to see what steel and absent hope can do

you choose your costume for the day to say yesterday's gone,

tomorrow's not come and you got one shot at now

overhead the white-cloud virginal bandana floats, a hand's wavin’

sayin' my life's an all night dance and I mean somethin' by it

the lady says, how you doin' and really wants you to know that

different got it all over respectable and a little crazy ain't bad either

you’re no stranger after a beer and swapped stories in the cool dark bar

you want today's road to be one you'll still remember tomorrow

the meaning of barstool stories is not in the words,

but how they dart and pause, unwrap and disrobe the tellers

new orleans has wet and mud where people walk and stand

and know the earth they’re livin' on and how it feels to hold her close