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Poetry Flash Reading Series
Mary Mackey and Susan Kelly-DeWitt
5/18, Berkeley
more info
Dan Alter, Judy Halebsky, Maw Shein Win
5/29, Berkeley
more info
Susan Browne and Jeanne Wagner
6/12, Berkeley
more info


Julia Vinograd

Zeitgeist Press poets honor Andy Clausen, Eli Coppola, David Lerner, Julia Vinograd

5 MAY 2024 — sunday

Poetry Flash presents a Zeitgeist Press reading honoring releases by their late authors: The Fabled Damned, by Andy Clausen; Make of Me Many Miracles, the collected chapbooks of Eli Coppola; A Bouquet of Nails, by David Lerner; and The Book of Jerusalem, by famed 'Bubble Lady' Julia Vinograd; Zeitgeist Press poets Deborah Fruchey, Richard Loranger, Anita May, Paul Corman Roberts, Jan Steckel, and David West, Zeitgeist publisher Bruce Isaacson and Poetry Flash host the event, 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. The video of this event will be posted on the Poetry Flash YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/channel/UClwdR-uPFNz7XxbBbLcnoEA.

MORE ABOUT THE READERS

Paul Corman-Roberts's recent book is a collection of independently-published experimental poems, Exquisite Zombie OWLS of the Heights. His previous collection is a graphic poetry chapbook, The Sincere, with illustrator Ray Swaney, from Libran Apocalypse Books. He is the author of Bone Moon Palace, Black Lawrence Press, a CLMP Firecracker nominated full-length poetry collection. He is a founder and organizer of the Beast Crawl Lit Festival in Oakland, California, and has taught workshops for the San Francisco Creative Writing Institute. He sometimes fills in as a drummer for the U.S. Ghostal Service, The Jennifer Blowdryer Band, and the Poznansky Sisters.

Deborah L. Fruchey is the author of five books: two comedy romance novels, Armadillo, poems, one self-help manual for the mentally ill, and a flash fiction collection, Priestess of Secrets. Connie Post says of Fuchey's book Three Kinds of Dark, "The poems in this collection have verve, have a kick, and will leave your senses wanting more." Deborah Fruchey's first novel was chosen as a Best Book by the American Bookseller's Association. She was included in the Babarian anthology, Poets from Hell, and edited Our Lady of Telegraph Avenue, a tribute anthology about the late poet Julia Vinograd. Fruchey was part of the Above Paradise and Café Babar scene. She is never going to get used to going to poetry readings where Julia is not in the front row.

Bruce Isaacson's new book of poems is Anthems of the Damned, in which the poet shows how it feels "to be human in an age of the ghosted soul." His most recent previous collection is Leningrad to Las Vegas; his is new novel is Vegas Dirt, as he says, "These are human stories of the Great Recession—the salesman with two families, the mogul in misery, the erotic dancer who took the stage name America." Isaacson was the first Poet Laureate of Clark County, Nevada, which includes Las Vegas. He's publisher of Zeitgeist Press.

Richard Loranger is the author of Sudden Windows. Joan Gelfand says, "To my mind, the prose poem has never had a more adept practitioner. Echoes and enjambment, like the eddies themselves, drift and float throughout the text. Add a pinch of anger, a tablespoon of despair and a cup of rage and you have a book that, shot out like a rocket to space, shall endure through the ages. I'd like to read this book in heaven." His previous collections are Poems for Teeth, The Orange Book, and ten chapbooks. His work has been included in over one hundred publications and thirty anthologies, including Revival: Spoken Word from Lollapalooza, Poetry Flash, and Nomadic Journal. He is a multi-genre writer, performer, musician, and visual artist.

Anita May is the author of All of it, So Far. Marvin R. Hiemstra says, "Beautiful, often terrifying, based on both love and indifference. The honesty of Anita May's poetry is absolutely nonpareil: an amazing candor that quickly bonds with the reader. Reading All of it, So Far brings understanding, forgiveness, and a new appreciation of the rich variety in the human experience." She has self-published multiple chapbooks, and is included in the anthology Between the Fault Lines: 8 Bay Area Poets, from Sugartown Publishing. She lives for words and music in Northern California.

Jan Steckel's new book is her short story collection, Ghosts and Oceans. Thaisa Frank says, "…Jan Steckel has created her own magic realism, exploring fluid realms between rumor and myth. A woman becomes the color of a mango. An angel makes a hurried appearance at the hour of death. The sea is alternatively seductive and dangerous. The language is so musical; you can hear the book." Jan Steckel's latest poetry book is Like Flesh Covers Bone; previous books include The Horizontal Poet, Lambda Literary Best Bisexual Book Award-winner, her fiction chapbook Mixing Tracks, and her poetry chapbook The Underwater Hospital. She lives in Oakland, California.

David West is the author of Evil Spirits and Their Secretaries. He is a poet of humor, insight, and power. This book was all written during the era of the Café Babar readings in San Francisco in the 1980s and early-1990s. Here is an excerpt from his book: "The new blues are gray / There's no money in pain / I feel very little / They just bill me."




Daily Listings

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8 MAY 2025 — thursday

  • Nonfiction author Sarah Schulman reads from her book, The Fantasy and Necessity of Solidarity, in which Schulman challenges the traditional notion of solidarity as a simple union of equals, arguing that in today's world of globalized power structures, true solidarity requires the collaboration of bystanders and conflicted perpetrators with the excluded and oppressed, both onsite and online, see website for Zoom registration, City Lights Bookstore, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, 7:00 pm PDT (For more information, visit: citylights.com/events/sarah-schulman)

9 MAY 2025 — friday

  • The Tritone Poetry series features poets Melissa Mack, Dana Swensen, and Wren Farrell, Tamarack, 1501 Harrison Street, Oakland, 6:00-8:00 pm PDT (For more information, visit: tamarackoakland.com)

10 MAY 2025 — saturday

  • Carol Moldaw, So Late, So Soon: New and Selected Poems, reads from her latest collection, Go Figure, with National Book Award-winning poet Arthur Sze, The White Orchard: Selected Interviews, Essays, and Poems reading from his newest collection, Into the Hush, Dance Palace, 503 B Street, Point Reyes Station, 4:00 pm PDT (For more information, visit: ptreyesbooks.com/event/2025-05-10/arthur-sze-carol-moldaw)
  • Book launch and party for Miss Experience White, "an illustrated, surrealistic political poem cycle about destroying the demon of white supremacy and dealing with white privilege" by writer and multidisciplinary artist Milo Starr Johnson, with illustrator John Seabury; the celebration includes a reading by Milo Starr Johnson, and brief readings by Kim Shuck, San Francisco Poet Laureate Emerita, Pick a Garnet to Sleep In; Kimi Sugioka, Alameda Poet Laureate, Wile & Wing; poet Debby Segal, Fool's Apprentice; a Q&A with Milo Starr Johnson and John Seabury follows, hosted by Richard Loranger, free admission, books available for purchase, Clarion Performing Arts Center, 2 Waverly Place, San Francisco, 3:00 pm-5:00 pm PDT (For more information, visit: www.theclarionsf.org)

11 MAY 2025 — sunday

  • Poetry reading by Stephen Ratcliffe, w i n d o w, author of more than twenty-five books of poetry, and Norman Fischer, poet, essayist, and Soto Zen Buddhist priest, at a private home in the north Berkeley hills, seating is limited, there is an admission, 5:00 pm PDT (For more information, including the location, email the event host at: Harry@fullplatemedia.com)

12 MAY 2025 — monday

  • Poet, translator, and teacher Arthur Sze celebrates two new books, Into the Hush and The White Orchard: Selected Interviews, Essays, and Poems, with lyric poet Carol Moldaw, Go Figure, both onsite and online, see website for Zoom registration, City Lights Bookstore, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, 7:00 pm PDT (For more information, visit: citylights.com/events/arthur-sze-with-carol-moldaw)

13 MAY 2025 — tuesday

14 MAY 2025 — wednesday

  • The Blue Whale Reading Series presents a poetry reading by Mary Kay Rummel, Little River of Amazements, former Poet Laureate of Ventura County, and poet and fiction writer Susan Chiavelli, open mic follows, second Wednesday of each month, Unity of Santa Barbara Chapel, 227 East Arrellaga Street, Santa Barbara, free, 5:30 pm PST (For more information, visit: www.facebook.com/groups/sbpoetrymonth)

15 MAY 2025 — thursday

  • San Francisco Poet Laureate emerita Kim Shuck celebrates non-English poetry by inviting Clara Hsu, Preeti Vangani, Keana Aguila Labra and special guests to read at SFPL's monthly poetry reading, the Main Library's Poem Jam poetry reading series takes place on the second Thursday of each month. unless otherwise noted, San Francisco Public Library, Latino/Hispanic Room, 100 Larkin Street, San Francisco, free, 6:00 pm PDT (415/557-4400, on.sfpl.org/05-15-25)

16 MAY 2025 — friday

  • The Tritone Poetry Series features poets Juliana Spahr, Violet Spurlock, and Norma Cole, Tamarack, 1501 Harrison Street, Oakland, 6:00-8:00 pm PDT (For more information, visit: tamarackoakland.com)

17 MAY 2025 — saturday

18 MAY 2025 — sunday

  • Poetry Flash presents a poetry reading featuring Susan Kelly-DeWitt, Frangible Operas, and Mary Mackey, In This Burning World: Poems of Love and Apocalypse, Art House Gallery & Cultural Center, 2905 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, two blocks north of Ashby BART, refreshments, free, 3:00 pm PDT (poetryflash.org).

19 MAY 2025 — monday

20 MAY 2025 — tuesday

  • Oakland Poetry Slam, monthly on the third Tuesday, Tamarack, 1501 Harrison Street, Oakland, 6:30-10:30 pm PDT (For more information, visit: tamarackoakland.com)
  • Shelby Van Pelt discussed her debut novel, Remarkably Bright Creatures, which traces a widow's unlikely connection with a giant Pacific octopus, with novelist and short story writer Karen Joy Fowler, We are all completely beside ourselves, Kepler's Books, 1010 El Camino Real, Menlo Park, 7:00 pm PDT (For more information, visit: www.keplers.org/upcoming-events-internal/shelby-van-pelt)

21 MAY 2025 — wednesday

  • Ron Chernow, whose novel Alexander Hamilton was adapted into the Broadway play Hamilton, will discuss his book, Mark Twain, in conversation with Jonathan Bass, Sydney Goldstein Theater, 275 Hayes Street, San Francisco, $80, 7:30 pm PDT (For more information, visit: www.cityarts.net/event/ron-chernow)
  • The ZYZZYVA Issue 129 Celebration and 40th Anniversary Kick-off, Issue 129 contributors reading include Katherine Franco, writer and futurist Dominica Phetteplace, fiction novelist Marian Palaia, and poet D.A. Powell, emceed by ZYZZYVA Editor Oscar Villalon, limited seating, Kerouac Alley, between City Lights Bookstore and Vesuvio Cafe, 257 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, 6:00 pm PDT (For more information, visit: citylights.com/events/zyzzyva-issue-129-celebration-40th-anniversary-kick-off)

22 MAY 2025 — thursday

23 MAY 2025 — friday

  • The Tritone Poetry Series features poets José Vadi, Chipped: Writing From a Skateboarder's Lens, Hector Son Of Hector, and Christine No, Whatever Love Means, Tamarack, 1501 Harrison Street, Oakland, 6:00-8:00 pm PDT (For more information, visit: tamarackoakland.com)

24 MAY 2025 — saturday

25 MAY 2025 — sunday

  • Michelle Tea celebrates the release of Witch: Anthology, which she edited, with readings and rituals featuring Lily Burana, Kathe Izzo, Molly Larkey, Shelley Marlow, Brooke Palmieri, Mia Tsang, and Sarah Yanni, limited seating; Secret location will be emailed to you after registration, San Francisco, 6:00 pm PDT (For more information, visit: citylights.com/events/michelle-tea-and-friends)

26 MAY 2025 — monday

27 MAY 2025 — tuesday

  • Director, actor, essayist, playwright and screenwriter Ralph Remington reads from his book, Penetrating Whiteness: What Racism Really Is and What We Can Do About It, both onsite and online, see website for Zoom registration, City Lights Bookstore, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, 7:00 pm PDT (For more information, visit: citylights.com/events/ralph-remington)

28 MAY 2025 — wednesday

  • Nonfiction author Sophie Lewis reads from her book, Enemy Feminisms: TERFs, Policewomen, and Girlbosses Against Liberation, both onsite and online, see website for Zoom registration, City Lights Bookstore, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, 7:00 pm PDT (For more information, visit: citylights.com/events/sophie-lewis)

29 MAY 2025 — thursday

  • Poetry Flash presents a book launch for Dan Alter, who will read from his new collection Hills Full of Holes; he'll be joined in the celebration by Judy Halebsky, Spring and a Thousand Years (Unabridged), and Maw Shein Win, Percussing the Thinking Jar, Art House Gallery & Cultural Center, 2905 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, two blocks north of Ashby BART, refreshments, free, 7:00 pm PDT (poetryflash.org).

30 MAY 2025 — friday

31 MAY 2025 — saturday

  • Sixteen Rivers Press presents a poetry reading with Rosa Lane, Called Back, and Camille Norton, A Folio for the Dark: Poems, Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda, Berkeley, 3:00-5:00 pm PDT (sixteenrivers.org)

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