Jan Steckel's Blog: Horizontal Poet Sings Bidyke Blues, page 6
November 22, 2010
The Luckiest Woman in the East Bay
Because I get to read with James Cagney!
Here's a poem of his:
The Florist – James Cagney
after smoking
whatever it was
down to its last flake
of ash
he comes into the flower shop
approaches the florist, and asks
what flower
cuts thru the bullshit
between people
and says:
I don't hate you
despite never saying that I love you
that apologizes
without
being sorry
that
means love
without saying it
and says love
without
meaning death
and the florist says
the yellow chrysanthemum
James Cagney is a featured writer poet and performer currently residing in Oakland, California. His work has appeared on line and in print in Caduceus, Sussurus, http://www.facebook.com/l/96962BWgnGx...
Un-mute.com, Oakland Local, and Sparring With Beatnik Ghosts.
James and I are reading together Friday, December 10, 2010 from 7:00pm to 9:00pm
at the Nefeli Cafe. Dale Jensen and Diana Quartermaine will be your hosts. There will be an open mic. 1854 Euclid Avenue, Berkeley, California, U.S.A.
Here's a poem of his:
The Florist – James Cagney
after smoking
whatever it was
down to its last flake
of ash
he comes into the flower shop
approaches the florist, and asks
what flower
cuts thru the bullshit
between people
and says:
I don't hate you
despite never saying that I love you
that apologizes
without
being sorry
that
means love
without saying it
and says love
without
meaning death
and the florist says
the yellow chrysanthemum
James Cagney is a featured writer poet and performer currently residing in Oakland, California. His work has appeared on line and in print in Caduceus, Sussurus, http://www.facebook.com/l/96962BWgnGx...
Un-mute.com, Oakland Local, and Sparring With Beatnik Ghosts.
James and I are reading together Friday, December 10, 2010 from 7:00pm to 9:00pm
at the Nefeli Cafe. Dale Jensen and Diana Quartermaine will be your hosts. There will be an open mic. 1854 Euclid Avenue, Berkeley, California, U.S.A.
June 27, 2010
Jazz, Giovanna and me....
Happy Pride, y'all! We marched in a Bisexual contingent in the San Francisco Pride parade today. So good to see old friends and make some new ones there. It was even fun lying on the sidewalk for two hours waiting for our contingent to move -- I got to look up a lot of skirts, some worn by women.
Speaking of women, if you're not all put off by the objectification (which in my case is strictly equal opportunity), I hope the women among you will consider coming to my July 10 reading in Piedmont/Oakland, CA, USA:
"Works in Progress Reading and Concert
(An Open Mic for Women)
Saturday, July 10, 2010, 6:30pm - 10 pm
Fireside Room, Plymouth United Church of Christ
424 Monte Vista (corner of Oakland Ave), Piedmont/Oakland.
The driveway on Monte Vista goes to the Fireside Room, parking lot & wheelchair access.
SIXTH ANNIVERSARY PARTY !!!
Poetry, music, champagne and cake for everyone!
Featuring Jan Steckel. Jan’s incredible poetry will leave you thrilled, stunned and grateful. Her Mixing Tracks (Gertrude Press, 2009) won the Gertrude Press fiction chapbook award for LGBT writers. The Underwater Hospital (Zeitgeist Press, 2006) won in the lesbian and bisexual poetry categories for an international Rainbow Award. www.jansteckel.com.
And Giovanna Capone. An Italian American poet and fiction writer, Giovanna’s work has appeared in numerous publications, including Unsettling America: An Anthology of Contemporary Multicultural Poetry, ed. by M. & J. Gillan. Her work has been taught in Poetry for the People, a grassroots-oriented workshop at UC Berkeley. Currently, she is at work on a manuscript of her original poetry.
Introducing Cheri Anderson, a contemporary jazz vocal stylist who infuses lyrics that are rooted in Love, music that is "Jazzin' the Spirit.” With songs about love, love of God, love of ourselves, and love of one another, Cheri sings with the smoothness of Nancy Wilson and the huskiness of Phyllis Hymen in a range that reaches five octaves.
$7-$10 Admission includes a free raffle ticket for a chance to win one
of six $25 certificates for fine dining at a local restaurant.
6:30 - 7:30 Pot Luck -- BRING YOUR FAVORITE FOOD TO SHARE!!
7:30 - 10:00 fireside Performance
Hosted by Feminist Author & Poet Linda Zeiser, Produced by Linda Zeiser & Carolyn Stull. For information, contact Linda at (510) 701-1022 or ZeiserpoetMC@aol.com.
Works In Progress is a creative space for women's art: Poets, Musicians, Comediennes, and Performance Artists. All are encouraged to share their works, completed or evolving. WIP is scent-free and wheelchair accessible."
Speaking of women, if you're not all put off by the objectification (which in my case is strictly equal opportunity), I hope the women among you will consider coming to my July 10 reading in Piedmont/Oakland, CA, USA:
"Works in Progress Reading and Concert
(An Open Mic for Women)
Saturday, July 10, 2010, 6:30pm - 10 pm
Fireside Room, Plymouth United Church of Christ
424 Monte Vista (corner of Oakland Ave), Piedmont/Oakland.
The driveway on Monte Vista goes to the Fireside Room, parking lot & wheelchair access.
SIXTH ANNIVERSARY PARTY !!!
Poetry, music, champagne and cake for everyone!
Featuring Jan Steckel. Jan’s incredible poetry will leave you thrilled, stunned and grateful. Her Mixing Tracks (Gertrude Press, 2009) won the Gertrude Press fiction chapbook award for LGBT writers. The Underwater Hospital (Zeitgeist Press, 2006) won in the lesbian and bisexual poetry categories for an international Rainbow Award. www.jansteckel.com.
And Giovanna Capone. An Italian American poet and fiction writer, Giovanna’s work has appeared in numerous publications, including Unsettling America: An Anthology of Contemporary Multicultural Poetry, ed. by M. & J. Gillan. Her work has been taught in Poetry for the People, a grassroots-oriented workshop at UC Berkeley. Currently, she is at work on a manuscript of her original poetry.
Introducing Cheri Anderson, a contemporary jazz vocal stylist who infuses lyrics that are rooted in Love, music that is "Jazzin' the Spirit.” With songs about love, love of God, love of ourselves, and love of one another, Cheri sings with the smoothness of Nancy Wilson and the huskiness of Phyllis Hymen in a range that reaches five octaves.
$7-$10 Admission includes a free raffle ticket for a chance to win one
of six $25 certificates for fine dining at a local restaurant.
6:30 - 7:30 Pot Luck -- BRING YOUR FAVORITE FOOD TO SHARE!!
7:30 - 10:00 fireside Performance
Hosted by Feminist Author & Poet Linda Zeiser, Produced by Linda Zeiser & Carolyn Stull. For information, contact Linda at (510) 701-1022 or ZeiserpoetMC@aol.com.
Works In Progress is a creative space for women's art: Poets, Musicians, Comediennes, and Performance Artists. All are encouraged to share their works, completed or evolving. WIP is scent-free and wheelchair accessible."
May 2, 2010
Sumer is Icumen in
One of the oldest rounds in English is "Sumer is Icumen in." See the manuscript here. It's so warm today here in Oakland, and the birds are singing so loudly in our back yard, that it feels like summer's on it's way. I have two readings scheduled for this summer, and I hope those of you in the SF Bay Area will save the dates.
The first is at the Berkeley Poetry Festival on Saturday, June 5, in front of the old Cody's bookstore at Telegraph and Haste. I'll be reading at 2:30 PM; the festival lasts from 12:30 to 6. I'll post more details soon.
The second is at Works in Progress (WIP), a women-only reading hosted by Linda Zeiser, on July 10, where I'm honored to be featured with Giovanna Capone. WIP will move to a new location in Piedmont that evening; details to follow.
You can find three poems of mine online now in Apparatus Magazine, edited by Adam W. Hart. Those of you who are poets and writers, be sure to let me know about your readings and publications, too! Enjoy the warmer weather.
The first is at the Berkeley Poetry Festival on Saturday, June 5, in front of the old Cody's bookstore at Telegraph and Haste. I'll be reading at 2:30 PM; the festival lasts from 12:30 to 6. I'll post more details soon.
The second is at Works in Progress (WIP), a women-only reading hosted by Linda Zeiser, on July 10, where I'm honored to be featured with Giovanna Capone. WIP will move to a new location in Piedmont that evening; details to follow.
You can find three poems of mine online now in Apparatus Magazine, edited by Adam W. Hart. Those of you who are poets and writers, be sure to let me know about your readings and publications, too! Enjoy the warmer weather.
February 5, 2010
Gently Criticized Literature
What a wonderful review of my fiction chapbook Mixing Tracks (Gertrude Press, 2009) by Mary Meriam in Gently Read Literature at
http://gentlyread.wordpress.com/2010/...
The book is still available for $8 at http://www.gertrudepress.org/catalog?...
Congratulation to Jane Ellen Glasser for winning this month's Goodreads Newsletter Poetry Contest with her delightful poem "Le déjeuner sur l’herbe." Thanks to all of you who read the poems and voted for your favorite. My poem "Cancer and the Man" came in fourth out of sixth finalists in the Goodreads poll.
How is everyone else's writing going? Anyone know a good place to submit poems about Passover? Seems like the right time to submit the ones I have, if not a bit too late.
http://gentlyread.wordpress.com/2010/...
The book is still available for $8 at http://www.gertrudepress.org/catalog?...
Congratulation to Jane Ellen Glasser for winning this month's Goodreads Newsletter Poetry Contest with her delightful poem "Le déjeuner sur l’herbe." Thanks to all of you who read the poems and voted for your favorite. My poem "Cancer and the Man" came in fourth out of sixth finalists in the Goodreads poll.
How is everyone else's writing going? Anyone know a good place to submit poems about Passover? Seems like the right time to submit the ones I have, if not a bit too late.
January 28, 2010
Always a bridesmaid, never a bride....
It's time to vote in the Goodreads Newsletter Poetry Contest at http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2.... My poem "Cancer and the Man" is one of the finalists. All the poems are great. Hope you'll enjoy all of them and vote for whichever one you like best.
In other news: if you'd like to, you can read my prizewinning poem "Alameda in the Shutter-Click" on THE FREE POET at http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2...
Going to go submit those Passover poems.... hope everyone else's writing and other endeavors are going well.
In other news: if you'd like to, you can read my prizewinning poem "Alameda in the Shutter-Click" on THE FREE POET at http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2...
Going to go submit those Passover poems.... hope everyone else's writing and other endeavors are going well.
January 6, 2010
Santa Barbara Reading Saturday, January 9, 2-4 PM
My husband Hew Wolff and I will be the featured readers at The Poetry Zone in Santa Barbara, Saturday, January 9, 2010 at 2-4 PM. Come read a poem of your own at the open mic, hosted by Suzanne Frost. Upstairs at the Karpeles Manuscript Library, 21 W.Anapamu, Santa Barbara, California, USA.
You can find Hew Wolff's poetry on his website at http://www.hewwolff.org
Come a little early to look at the old manuscripts in the Karpeles Manuscript Museum. Check it out at http://www.rain.org/~karpeles/sbafrm....
You can find Hew Wolff's poetry on his website at http://www.hewwolff.org
Come a little early to look at the old manuscripts in the Karpeles Manuscript Museum. Check it out at http://www.rain.org/~karpeles/sbafrm....
January 2, 2010
Four Poems in Full of Crow
Happy New Year, friends! I'm thrilled that four of my poems appear in January's issue of the online magazine FULL OF CROW. It's the debut issue for FULL OF CROW's new poetry editor MK Chavez. The poems are "The Rose Grew Round the Briar,""Pretty, Wild," "My Jericho," and "Dance of the Perseids." Hope you enjoy them at http://fullofcrow.com/poetry/01/jan-s...
November 26, 2009
Happy Thanksgiving!
Dear Friends,
I'm thankful for what health I have, for my family, husband and you, my friends. I'm grateful that so many things still get me excited. This morning it's the fact that my poem "Tom's Quality of Light" is one of six nominees for the Goodreads Newsletter Poetry Contest. The quality of the other poems nominated is very high. Please read them all and vote at http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2....
In other news, my poetry chapbook THE UNDERWATER HOSPITAL won Phases One and Two (the "popularity contest" part) of the Rainbow Awards for LGBT books, thanks to your votes, my friends. I'm grateful for that, too! It is now being considered by a jury of LGBT writers for the final award. Results should be out by mid-December.
My poem "Water and Salt" will be coming out soon in The Crazy Child Scribbler, while four poems were just accepted by Full of Crow's poetry editor MK Chavez.
Wishing you all a happy Thanksgiving, and hoping you also have many things for which to feel thankful.
Warmly,
Jan
I'm thankful for what health I have, for my family, husband and you, my friends. I'm grateful that so many things still get me excited. This morning it's the fact that my poem "Tom's Quality of Light" is one of six nominees for the Goodreads Newsletter Poetry Contest. The quality of the other poems nominated is very high. Please read them all and vote at http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2....
In other news, my poetry chapbook THE UNDERWATER HOSPITAL won Phases One and Two (the "popularity contest" part) of the Rainbow Awards for LGBT books, thanks to your votes, my friends. I'm grateful for that, too! It is now being considered by a jury of LGBT writers for the final award. Results should be out by mid-December.
My poem "Water and Salt" will be coming out soon in The Crazy Child Scribbler, while four poems were just accepted by Full of Crow's poetry editor MK Chavez.
Wishing you all a happy Thanksgiving, and hoping you also have many things for which to feel thankful.
Warmly,
Jan
October 9, 2009
Vote in Rainbow Awards for LGBT Writing
I awoke this morning to find that Elisa Rolle, an Italian reviewer of LGBT writing, was running a poll on Live Journal for the Rainbow Awards, and that my poetry chapbook THE UNDERWATER HOSPITAL was in the running in the Bisexual Poetry category. If you have a Live Journal account and you liked THE UNDERWATER HOSPITAL, please vote for it at http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/80....
If you don't have a Live Journal account, you can still leave a comment in support of the books you like. All categories are listed at http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/81....
If you don't have a Live Journal account, you can still leave a comment in support of the books you like. All categories are listed at http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/81....
September 2, 2009
Woman-Stirred Radio Interview Postponed!
Alas, my interview with Merry Gangemi and reading Thursday, September 3, 2009 on Woman-Stirred Radio's weekly LGBT music and literary arts show WAS POSTPONED!
I'll post a new date soon for later in the fall. Meanwhile, you can still purchase my fiction chapbook MIXING TRACKS (Gertrude Press, 2009), winner of the 2008 Gertrude Press Fiction Chapbook Award for LGBT writers for $8 at http://www.gertrudepress.org. (Select Catalog and click on Chapbooks.) That way you'll be able to call into the studio the day of the interview with comments or questions, and we can have a little on-air chat.
I'll post a new date soon for later in the fall. Meanwhile, you can still purchase my fiction chapbook MIXING TRACKS (Gertrude Press, 2009), winner of the 2008 Gertrude Press Fiction Chapbook Award for LGBT writers for $8 at http://www.gertrudepress.org. (Select Catalog and click on Chapbooks.) That way you'll be able to call into the studio the day of the interview with comments or questions, and we can have a little on-air chat.
Horizontal Poet Sings Bidyke Blues
Bidyke writer and disabled former pediatrician Jan Steckel writes about poetry, fiction, sexuality, doctoring, poverty, and what it feels like to remember what kind of socks everyone at her readings w
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