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Lisa B (Lisa Bernstein)
Photo: Angela Bennett

Lisa B (Lisa Bernstein) and Dick Cluster

5 NOVEMBER 2023 — sunday

Poetry Flash presents a reading by poet and jazz singer Lisa B (Lisa Bernstein), God in Her Ruffled Dress, and writer Dick Cluster, translator of the acclaimed poetry collection, Fiat Lux, by Paula Abramo, Art House Gallery & Cultural Center, 2905 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, two blocks north of Ashby BART, refreshments, free, 3:00 pm PDT (poetryflash.org).

Thank you for continuing to support Poetry Flash and our reading series.
Featured books for this reading will be available for signing at the event and Dick Cluster's will also be at bookshop.org/shop/poetryflash.

MORE ABOUT THE READERS

Lisa B (Lisa Bernstein)'s new poetry collection, God in Her Ruffled Dress, from LA's What Books Press, appears thirty-four years after publication of her debut full-length poetry book The Transparent Body, from Wesleyan University Press. D.A. Powell says of God in Her Ruffled Dress, "A book of deep seeing, 'the code inside the code'…also a book of intense listening, 'the bright spurt of trumpet' and the train calling like a late-night lover…a series of divine pleasures transcribed faithfully by a skilled musician and writer." Lisa B's poems have appeared in more than sixty anthologies and periodicals, including City Lights Review, Field, Kenyon Review, Lilith, Ploughshares, Poetry International, Tikkun, and ZYZZYVA. She has received Creative Writing fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, Headlands Center for the Arts, Ucross Foundation, and others. She is also a jazz and groove singer interweaving spoken and sung verse in her original songs and re-envisioned standards. She has released seven albums and various singles (available on all music platforms) to critical acclaim and international radio play, and performs with her band throughout the country. She also works as a professional psychic reader.

Dick Cluster has been translating Spanish-language literature for the past twenty-five years. His recent translations include Paula Abramo's Fiat Lux, nominated for the 2023 Northern California Book Award in California Translation, a cycle of poems about Abramo's ancestors—political refugees to and within Latin America—and about poetry itself. Alejandro Zambra said of it, "Amazing, unique and mind-blowing little book. Paula Abramo proves that there are territories where only poetry can take us." Dick Cluster also translated Gabriela Alemán's Poso Wells and Family Album, and Mylene Fernández Pintado's A Corner of the World, all from City Lights Books. He edited and translated his curated prose anthology, Kill the Ámpaya: The Best Latin American Baseball Fiction. Achy Obejas says of it, "If baseball is really a metaphor for life, then Kill the Ámpaya—Dick Cluster's wonderful collection of Latin American baseball stories—is an astonishing record of its beauty and coarseness, redemption and tragedy." Dick Cluster is also the author of a social history of Havana and a detective novel series.




Daily Listings

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2 JULY 2025 — wednesday

3 JULY 2025 — thursday

  • Poetry Night open mic for poems, stories, and songs, air-conditioned venue, please limit your reading to two items or four minutes, whichever is shorter, with host Dr. Andy Jones, John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street, Davis, 7:00 (www.poetryindavis.com)

4 JULY 2025 — friday

5 JULY 2025 — saturday

6 JULY 2025 — sunday

7 JULY 2025 — monday

8 JULY 2025 — tuesday

  • Award-winning author and paramedic Joanna Sokol reads from her new book, A Real Emergency: Stories From the Ambulance, joined in conversation by Kevin Fagan, Mrs. Dalloway's Literary and Garden Arts, 2904 College Avenue, Berkeley, free admission, 7:00 (510/704-8222, www.mrsdalloways.com)

9 JULY 2025 — wednesday

10 JULY 2025 — thursday

  • Poem Jam: Kim Shuck, San Francisco Poet Laureate emerita presents contributing poets reading from their new anthology, Colossus: Water, Poem Jam takes place on the second Thursday of each month unless otherwise noted, San Francisco Main Public Library, Latino/Hispanic Room, 100 Larkin Street, San Francisco, free, 6:00 (415/557-4400, on.sfpl.org/07-10-25)

11 JULY 2025 — friday

12 JULY 2025 — saturday

13 JULY 2025 — sunday

14 JULY 2025 — monday

15 JULY 2025 — tuesday

  • Jackie Thomas-Kennedy reads from her new novel, The Other Wife, joined in conversation by Carol Edgarian, Mrs. Dalloway's Literary and Garden Arts, 2904 College Avenue, Berkeley, free admission, 7:00 (510/704-8222, www.mrsdalloways.com)

16 JULY 2025 — wednesday

  • Crystal Haryanto presents her new book, The Glory of Giving Everything: The Taylor Swift Business Model, Mrs. Dalloway's Literary and Garden Arts, 2904 College Avenue, Berkeley, free admission, 7:00 (510/704-8222, www.mrsdalloways.com)

17 JULY 2025 — thursday

  • Poetry Night Reading Series presents Dane Cervine, Nine Volt Nirvana, and Adela Najarro, with host Dr. Andy Jones, air-conditioned venue, John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street, Davis, 7:00 (www.poetryindavis.com)
  • Poets Molly Fisk and Kim Shuck present poems from varied perspectives about wildfire, flooding and related catastrophes in California from the California Fire & Water anthology; they will be joined by six other contributors to the anthology, Gene Berson, Heather Bourbeau, Aileen Cassinetto, Susan Cohen, Alison Luterman, and Maw Shein Win, California Fire & Water anthology, San Francisco Main Public Library, Latino/Hispanic Room, 100 Larkin Street, San Francisco, free, 6:00 (415/557-4400, on.sfpl.org/07-17-25)
  • Miranda S. Spivack reads from her new book, Backroom Deals in Our Backyards, a groundbreaking look at how ordinary people are fighting back against local governments to keep their communities safe, joined in conversation by Victoria Baranetsky, Mrs. Dalloway's Literary and Garden Arts, 2904 College Avenue, Berkeley, free admission, 7:00 (510/704-8222, www.mrsdalloways.com)

18 JULY 2025 — friday

19 JULY 2025 — saturday

20 JULY 2025 — sunday

  • Roberto Tejada, Why the Assembly Disbanded, celebrates the release of his new poetry collection, Carbonate of Copper: Poems, with Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Forrest Gander, Mojave Ghost, limited seating, Kerouac Alley, between City Lights Bookstore and Vesuvio Cafe, 257 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, 1:00 pm PDT (For more information, visit: citylights.com/events/forrest-gander-with-roberto-tejada)
  • Poetry Flash presents a poetry reading featuring Rachel Richardson, Smother, and Mia Ayumi Malhotra, Mothersalt, 2727 California Street, a Cooperative Art Gallery, Berkeley, refreshments, free, 3:00 pm PDT (poetryflash.org).

21 JULY 2025 — monday

22 JULY 2025 — tuesday

23 JULY 2025 — wednesday

  • Bridget A. Lyons reads from and presents her new book, Entwined: Dispatches from the Intersection of Species, joined in conversation by Leigh Marz, Mrs. Dalloway's Literary and Garden Arts, 2904 College Avenue, Berkeley, free admission, 7:00 (510/704-8222, www.mrsdalloways.com)

24 JULY 2025 — thursday

25 JULY 2025 — friday

26 JULY 2025 — saturday

  • Fourth Saturdays: Poetry at the Claremont Library presents Karen Greenbaum-Maya and Diosa Xochiquetzalcóatl, Claremont Helen Renwick Library, 208 N. Harvard Avenue, in the Claremont Village, Claremont, free, 2:00 (909/621-4902, www.claremontlibrary.org/monthly-poetry-readings.html)
  • Sacramento Poetry Alliance presents the VOICES reading with Cold River Press, 1169 Perkins Way, Sacramento, refreshments, 4:00 (see Sacramento Poetry Alliance on Facebook)
  • Marin Poetry Center Traveling Show presents a poetry reading by Judy Wells, Dale Jensen, Carol Dorf, LeeAnn Pickrell, and Judy Bertelsen, with host Kathryn Jordan, North Branch of the Berkeley Public Library,1170 The Alameda (at Hopkins), Berkeley, free, 2:00 (marinpoetrycenter.org/mec-events-category/traveling-show)

27 JULY 2025 — sunday

28 JULY 2025 — monday

29 JULY 2025 — tuesday

30 JULY 2025 — wednesday

31 JULY 2025 — thursday

  • "The Jingwei Bird" is a program that explores the complexity of climate change and our relationship to the planet through multi-disciplinary performances with Del Sol Quartet and San Francisco poet laureate Genny Lim, weaving newly composed music by Asian-American composers with powerful bilingual poetry, using storytelling and mythology to deepen our understanding and awareness of the environment, San Francisco Main Public Library, Latino/Hispanic Room, 100 Larkin Street, San Francisco, free, 6:00 (415/557-4400, on.sfpl.org/07-31-25)

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