your may annogram

A Virtual Embrace
Hi everyone, thanks for your kind emails and news. Connecting and celebrating our talents is more important than ever, and you, yes you, are vital to this annogram community. Read on to see how we are creating and bringing forth our best selves. Avoiding stores, I produced my own “card” for a family member—something I really loved doing.

Free Ferry e-book and more

Excited to announce Free Ferry (Upper Hand Press) will soon be available as an e-book—thanks to publisher Ann Starr for her master plan to expand readership! I am equally grateful for acceptances in As Above So Below (UK) and Truth Serum PressVerdant anthology (Australia). 

Snowflakes in a Blizzard
Thanks to Darrell Laurant for featuring my first book, Face Painting in the Dark , this week. Darrell’s concept for his blog came when he considered the challenge writers face in promoting their work—like singling out a snowflake in a blizzard. It’s my good luck that he has also singled out Free Ferry and The Hero .  

Fonoteca Española de Poesía
My gratitude to María Luisa López for selecting my translation of Hélène Sanguinetti’s “The Battle” from The Hero (Chax Press) for her Books Movie. Follow the text while hearing Hélène’s compelling voice as well as my translation. This unique video subscription brings the best in Spanish and international poetry to your inbox—sign up here.

Linda Simone’s Watercolors
Teabag watercolor (right)
by Linda SimoneIn Linda’s inventive watercolor series, “Painting in the Time of Corona,” she selects a photo posted each Wednesday in her Facebook feed, then creates and gifts the painting to the photo’s owner. “People love it when their photo is chosen,” Linda says. See the gorgeous teabag watercolor paintings she’s created, and maybe submit a photo of your own!

Di Meola and the Beatles
Jazz fusion guitarist Al Di Meola’s new album, Across the Universe , celebrates the Beatles’ songbook with heart-grabbing melodies. Di Meola says that, while much of jazz has left melody behind, he discovers it afresh by going deeper into songs like “Strawberry Fields Forever.” Thanks to my favorite guitarist, Michael Cefola, for sharing this amazing tune with us.

New Releases
Susana H. Case, Dead Shark on the N Train (Broadstone Books)
Cathryn Essinger, The Apricot and the Moon (Dos Madres Press)
Heller Levinson, Seep (Black Widow Press)
Mary Newell, Sarah Nolan, and Bernard Quetchenbach, editors, Poetics for the More-Than-Human World (Dispatches from the Poetry Wars)
Steven Salmoni, A Day of Glass (Chax Press)
Ann Starr, Starr Review – New Edition
Estha Weiner, Poetry Podcast (Soundcloud)

Creative Opportunities
Kevin PilkingtonBordighera Press Lauria/Frasca Poetry Prize – submit by June 30
Bronx River Bookswill deliver books to your door if you are in their locale
David Crews offers online community poetry workshops
Hole in the Head Review call for submissions by June 19
The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts is open for submissions.  The Writer's Harbor Poetry Week: June 15-19 with awesome teacher / poet Kevin Pilkington
Steel Toe Books Poetry/Prose Prizes and Open Chapbook submissions

Linguine with Lentil and Wine Sauce
We still have chilly nights that call for a warm nourishing meal. This one, based on one from The Festive Vegetarian (Pantheon Books, 1983), fits the bill—a vegetarian Bolognaise.
1 tablespoon olive oil1 onion, peeled and chopped1 large garlic clove, peeled and crushed1 teaspoon basil, fresh chopped or dry1 14.5-ounce can tomato sauce½ cup dried lentils1 tablespoon tomato paste or ketchup1 ¼ cup red wine1 ¼ cup vegetable stock or waterSea salt and freshly ground pepper1 8-ounce box of linguine – try DeBolesbuttergrated Parmesan cheese
Heat oil in medium-size saucepan and sauté onion 10 minutes until soft and slightly brown. Add garlic, basil, tomato sauce, lentils, tomato paste, wine, and stock. Bring to boil, then cover saucepan, turn down heat, and simmer 45 minutes, stirring from time to time, until lentils are tender and mixture is a thick purée. Season with salt and pepper. Cook linguine, drain, and put in a pan with butter, stir, and pour onto a platter. Top with lentil sauce and Parmesan cheese.

Online Poetry + Art Events (EST)
Patricia CarragonMay 17, 3pm, Tompkins Corner Cultural Center https://mailchi.mp/52d7640f5a40/coming-upbroadway-old-time-jazz-world-music-5133437?e=22c496ae48
May 21, 4-6pm, "As We Keep Our Distance,” poets Madeline Artenberg, Patricia Carragon, Susana H. Case, hosted by Jerry T. Johnson; register for admissionhttps://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-poets-writers-storytellers-virtual-poets-stage-event-iv-tickets-105087178580
May 21, 7-8pm, Beth Gersh-Nešić  on “Mothers in Art History,” Byram Shubert Libraryhttps://www.greenwichlibrary.org/byram-shubert/
June 7, 4pm, poets Peggy Ellsberg, Jennifer Franklin, Margo Taft Stever
http://www.writerscenter.org/calendar/shpeditorsreadzoom/

Ongoing Poetry Events
Ralph Nazareth, host of
Curley's Diner Poem Alley seriesMondays, 2pm (8pm Paris time) Spoken WordSign on at https://zoom.us/j/366208796https://zoom.us/j/366208796
Third Mondays, 6:30pm, Norwalk Poetry Workshophttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/83671321809?pwd=OFkwZzZWMVhDdlhMTU91K2lOVkQvZz09
Tuesdays, 7:30pm, Curley's Diner Open Michttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/4334374070?pwd=QUhLVi9PSUlKdnYyczF3M1M3Y25wdz09
Wednesday Poetry Nighthttps://www.facebook.com/WednesdayNightPoetry
Third Wednesdays, 6pm, Business of Writing and Publishing Workshop https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83424545821
Thursdays, 6:30pm, Mahopac Writers Group https://us04web.zoom.us/j/547690440
Bill Buschel, host of
HVWC Open MicFourth Wednesdays, 6pm, Yorktown Poetry Workshop https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83176155376
Third Fridays, 7pm, HVWC Open Mic led by Bill Buschelhttps://www.writerscenter.org/calendar/open-mic-2020-05-15/
Every other Friday, noon, Talking with Our Mouths Full, translation conversations

Indoor Treats
Falling Water by Frank Lloyd WrightVisit iconic architecture by Frank Lloyd Wright
Travel the universe via the Keck Observatory Cosmic Videos
Singalong at Marie’s Crisis Café, Facebook group, 4-7pm and 7-9pm
Access exhibits at the National Baseball Hall of Fame

ʼRound the Net
Grover Washington Jr.The Booker Prizefor its shortlist
Writer Jeanette Briggs for sharing one of her favorite songson International Jazz Day
Poet and writer Bill Buschel for recommending John Krasinski’s Some Good News (SGN)program
John KrasinskiAuthor Philip Caputo on his tribute to writer Karen Marcus Wessel, friend we lost to Covid
Writer Barbara Dickinson on her launch of scholar Igor Sibaldi’s website, Sibaldi’s Code
Poet and writer Terry Dugan for sharing this campaign to help local bookshops
Art Historian Beth Gersh-Nešić for “The Marvelous Madame Marval: A Woman Artist Among the Fauves”
Poet and author Marilyn Johnson on having three poems in Hole in the Head Review   Work Life Fitness Expert Natasha Nešićon offering weekly 20-minute Zoom exercise sessions

The New York Arts Exchange for online exhibit Fereshteh Priou: Poetry in Line and Form
The New York Public Library for celebrating its lions, Patience and Fortitude
Writer Elizabeth Primamore for stories in The Opiate Magazine and The Hawaii Pacific Review
Poet Ed Roberson on winning the 2020 Jackson Prize
The Sad and Useless Humor Site for challenging people to recreate great artworks
Poet and artist Linda Simone for her poem, “Incontrovertible,” in Tejascovido   Novelist Louise Farmer Smith on the e-book edition of her novel One Hundred Years of Marriage   Translator Jill Timbers for sharing this important piece, “The Erosion of Deep Literacy”  
Surviving the Unexpected
New Zealand's Jack Buchanan
gets his family in the grooveOur dramatic societal change makes me appreciate, for the first time, the fears my grandparents surely experienced during the Depression. I have to ask myself if there is enough milk, and if yes, do I want to use it in one meal? I intuit how mind-blown my parents must have been when the US entered World War II. Facing our own global crisis, we’re seeing creativity transform from a “nice to have” to a means of survival—from rapid-fire biomed discoveries to inspirational videos of families quarantining in “Family Lockdown Boogie” and “One Day More.” So, please—now more than ever—do what your heart calls you to do, and make the world more whole by expressing your whole self.
Be safe, be creative!
Until next time,Ann