your bloomin' annogram
Dear annogrammers, April’s warmer temperatures and promise of a post-vaccine life seem especially precious this year. Shakespeare’s birthday arrives this month, and why not celebrate with a delicious zucchini cake with strawberries? Above all, pick up your instrument of choice and get creative—spring is blooming with possibility.
National Poetry Month
The Lions masked this yearYou’ll see lots of local festivals and online readings below, and two creative offerings as part of San Antonio’s robust poetry program. Closer to home, the New York Public Library is also sponsoring free poetry events and online workshops. While we welcome these, remember—it’s always National Poetry Month chez annogram.
Authors Are Dangerous People
Write it how you feel it. All that is necessary for evil to flourish is that good people publish nothing. Viva la revolución! That’s the manifesto of Blood and Bourbon (Canada), where my three poems,
"Grace," "Profile," and "Cape Revival,” will appear. Equally thrilled for upcoming publications of “Roofers” in
Ancient Paths
and “Trackside Commissary” in
Brought to Sight & Swept
Away: A Poetry Anthology About Time
(Vita Brevis Press).
National Poetry Month San Antonio
Linda Simone poem at Culinary Institute in San Antonio
(NPMSA) sponsored an Ekphrastic Poetry Contest for youths and adults to write on specific artwork at four local museums. First, NPMSA offered mini workshops before selecting 20 winners from 125 applicants. San Antonio always has great poetry events (see below). Kudos to judges Jim LaVilla-Havelin, Octavio Quintanilla, and Linda Simone!
National Haiku Day – April 17
"Nesting Pair" by the BoxesPoets Jim La Villa-Havelin, Linda Simone, Eddie Vega, and Mobi Warren will read their haiku, and some Basho and Issa, at the San Antonio Botanical Garden at 10 am. Attendees may also compose haiku in response to origami sculptures, by Santa Fe artists Jennifer and Kevin Box and others, placed throughout the garden.
Immersive Van Gogh
The Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit will debut at a super-secret location in the heart of NYC on June 10th. Wander through 500,000 cubic feet of monumental projections animating van Gogh’s oeuvre. Social distancing circles and strict sanitizing policies will keep you safe as you experience art like never before. Buy tickets here.
Community Read
This poetry month, some of us will be reading other life-changing work. The Scarsdale Safe Coalition is sponsoring a community read of Chanel Miller’s
Know My Name: A Memoir
(Viking). A 2019 National Book Critics Circle Award winner, the memoir confronts sexual assault and its aftermath. A Zoom discussion will follow April 21st, 7-8pm. For Zoom link, call 914-723-3281.
New and Recent Releases
Jerry T. JohnsonJerry T. Johnson,
Poets Should Not Write about Politics
(Evening Street Press) pre-order
Janet Kuypers, Eternal Never Ending Now (Cyberwit.net)
John McMullen, 2020 – The Year of the Coronavirus (Independently Published)
No Season for Silence (Kallisto Gaia Press) pre-order
Kevin Pilkington, Playing Poker With Tennessee Williams (Black Lawrence
Press)
Remembering Lawrence Ferlinghetti(Moonstone Press)
Lori Soderlind, The Change: My Great American, Postindustrial, Midlife Crisis Tour (University of Wisconsin Press)
Creative Opportunities
Gnashing Teeth call for poetry, artwork, essays, and stories from female-identifying youth 8-18 for anthology, SHE: Seen. Heard. Engaged; deadline April 30
Darrell Laurant’s We Who Create website, and Bridge to New Facebook page to connect with others on the creative journey
Darrell Laurant
Mahopac Poetry Workshop, 6pm, every second Wednesday
ModPo, University of Pennsylvania’s free poetry course and global community
Alison McBainNorwalk Poetry Workshop, first and third Mondays, 6:30pm; email poet_laureate@norwalkpl.org to register
The Poets Salon, led by Ed Ahern and Alison McBain of Fairfield Scribes Press, 10am, second Saturdays
Poets and Writers’ new Poets and Writer Groups that offer open writing groups nationwide
Ed Ahern
Pure Slush call for poetry and prose on conversations by April 6; and on friendship, starting April 15
Writers, Artists, Actors, etc. Luncheon, noon, every second Friday
April Readings and Events – ET
Vijay SeshadriFridays in April, Connecticut Poet Laureates Read, 7pm, YouTube link here
April 1-25, Upstream Gallery Celebrates 30 Years, anniversary exhibit
April 1-30, The New Orleans Literary Festival and Press Fair
April 5-9, Little Grassy Literary Festival
April 7, 7pm, HVWC, Indran Amirthanayagam, Rebecca Morgan Frank, and Vijay Seshadri, $10
April 8-11, Sarah Lawrence College Poetry Festival
April 9, 7pm, Moonstone Arts Center, Terry M. Dugan, Isabella Piacentino, Rob Wright; Zoom reading; meeting ID 827 6872 9107, passcode 896169
Reginald Dwayne BettsApril 10, 3pm, Hudson Valley Annual Westchester Poetry Festival featuring Reginald Dwayne Betts
April 12-30, New York Public Library World Literature Festival
April 14, 7pm, HVWC, Russell Banks and Sigrid Nunez, $10
April 17, 4pm, Kevin Pilkington Zoom launch for Playing Poker With Tennessee Williams (Black Lawrence Press)
Walt Whitman birthplace April 18, 3pm, Aaron Caycedo-Kimura, Sally Bliumis-Dunn, Jennifer Franklin, Margo Taft Stever; register here
April 28, 3:30pm, virtual tour of Walt Whitman’s Birthplace and the Pollock-Krasner House on Long Island, followed by 20-minute poetry writing session with poet Christina Rau; register here
April 30, 1pm, New York Public Library, Celebrating Indigenous Languages of the Americas
Monthly Readings – ET
First Sunday, 4pm, Poetic License (Austin)
Every Tuesday, 2pm, Spoken Word World (Paris)
Every Tuesday, 7pm, Curley’s Diner
Third Fridays, 7pm, Hudson Valley Writers Center Open Mic – click on third Friday for details
Zucchini Cake with Strawberries
Modeled after a classic strawberry sponge cake, this healthier version features hidden zukes, almonds, and a minimal yet perfect vanilla buttercream icing.
Cake:
1 ½ cups self-rising flour
1 cup finely ground almonds
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
Zest of ½ lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 large zucchinis, peeled and finely grated
Icing:
10 sliced organic strawberries
4 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
3 tablespoons heavy cream
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, ground almonds, and baking soda in small bowl. Using an electric mixer, combine eggs, sugar, lemon zest, and vanilla until a creamy pale yellow. Add zucchini. Stir in dry ingredients until just combined. Divide between two nonstick 7-inch cake pans; bake 30 minutes. Cool fifteen minutes, remove from pans, and place on wire racks until cool. For icing: beat butter with spoonfuls of sugar, then add cream and vanilla until smooth. Spread thin layer on top of one cake; top with half the strawberries. Ice bottom of other cake, place icing-side down to sandwich strawberries; ice top of cake, and arrange remaining strawberries on top. Enjoy!
ʼ Round the Net
Llyn ClagueMemoirist Sarah Bracey White for this mesmerizing line animationtimed to Beethoven’s Fifth
Poet Llyn Clague on having work accepted by The Poetry Porch
Poets Terry Dugan and Linda Simone on having poems in Remembering Lawrence Ferlinghetti(Moonstone Press)
Poet Suzanne Cleary on being a finalist for The Moth Poetry Prize
Lawrence Ferlinghetti(1919-2021)
Artist Kathe Gregory for this fascinating recreation of a Frank Lloyd Wright lost work
Poet and artist Bob Heman on three collages and four poems in Home Planet News
Poet Cindy Hochman on work accepted by great weather for MEDIA , the LIPS tribute to Lyn Lifshin, and recent LIVE MAG! reading with Andrei Codrescu and other poets
Author J. Chester Johnson on sharing the passing of Sheila T. Walker, a prominent figure in his memoir on racial reconciliation, Damaged Heritage (Pegasus Books)
Poet Jerry T. Johnson on winning the Sinclair Prize for Poets Should Not Write about Politics (Evening Street Press)
Yorktown Poet Laureate John McMullen for Maine Poet Laureate Stuart
Edith Wharton (1862-1937) by Debra Styer
Kestenbaum’s podcast on why you should read poetry, this arresting article on plagiarism, and useful piece on chapbook presses
Poet Jean-Luc Pouliquen for his research on Edith Wharton’s former home in Hyères, France
Cellist and classical music archivist Jay Shulman for advising on the passing of Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Hanging Loose Press founder Robert Hershon
The Verrazano from Brooklyn (2020) by Michael HolsteinPoet and artist Linda Simone for free, public domain images from museums and libraries
Journalist Gerald Smith on pandemic-inspired panic buying
Poet Margo Stever for Laurence Carr’s article on Slapering Hol Press
Lori SoderlindAuthor Lori Soderlindon being a 2021 Lambda Literary Award finalist forThe Change: My Great American, Postindustrial, Midlife Crisis Tour (University of Wisconsin Press)
Filmmaker Angela Virsinger for this video of brain expert Jim Kwik on optimal reading
A Master Architect Vindicated
Julius Gregory (1875-1955) and wife, artist Mary Lovrien Price Gregory (1888-1972)
Last month my grandfather, architect Julius Gregory (1875-1955), won a victory. After a petition to destroy one of his homes had been denied, the applicants appealed. While one out of five criteria must be met for preservation, our town’s Board of Trustees came out swinging and affirmed three: the house contributes to broad patterns of history; embodies distinctive characteristics that possess high artistic value, and is the work of a master. Thanks to Columbia Professor Andrew Dolkart who, defending Julius, called him “among the most talented architects in the United States.”
Until next time,
Ann
