Terry Moore (T Mo) In Sacramento, we are very fortunate to have award-winning spoken word poet Terry Moore as part of our poetry scene. While he has performed his poetry all around the country, he organizes and hosts plenty of local events to showcase other artists from the Capital region and beyond. Terry hosts The Show, the popular Saturday night series in Oak Park. You’ll see him there on the last Saturday of every month, taking videos, making sure everyone is comfortable, getting young people to participate, and introducing acts with warmth and style. But when T-Mo takes the stage to speak his own pieces, the intensity goes up. Working smoothly, often with a two- or three- piece band

Born and raised in Sacramento, Kathy Kieth now lives in Pollock Pines. A musician, music teacher, music therapist, psychologist and poet, her work has been published in many journals, including Atlanta Review, California Quarterly, Main Street Rag, Möbius, Potpourri, Ekphrasis, PDQ, Poetry Now, Slant, and Tiger’s Eye. Kathy has also published four chapbooks: Night Full of Owls from White Heron Press, Keeping Time in the Clock Shop from PWJ Publishing, Why We Have Sternums from Rattlesnake Press, and Sex—For Animals from Rattlesnake Press. She was also nominated for the prestigious Pushcart Prize. In the last six years, Ms. Kieth has published hundreds of Sacramento-area poets in her quart

John Allen Cann plays with images and language to create new worlds where we can see ourselves in a new light. In “Spectral Thoughts,” the poet recasts an 18th century Japanese haiku master as an American trucker, so that we might create something new, surprise the sun? Basho steadies the steering wheel of his semi rolling across the blank wilds of middle America. Perhaps Cann sees himself as this traveler/poet, or perhaps like Wallace Stevens, he’s insisting that creativity is indispensible. Later in the same poem, talking about Humpty Dumpty, the poet reminds us, “only imagination/can make our eggman/whole again.” These poetic flights are intellectual pursuit in Cann’s world; watching

You could chat with Jim Moose for a while and not find out that he’s a World War II veteran or a retired attorney, but you might be able to figure it out through his poetry. Jim uses regular rhythms and rhyme in his poetry – you can hear that classic lilt of iambic pentameter in much of his work. It’s bouncy and generally easy to follow. But Jim’s wide range of topics – old friends, war scenes, historical poems, mountain hikes and courtroom scenes – set him apart from most poets I know. Check out this selection of pieces from his new book Hotchpot – you’ll find humor and wisdom, sorrow and joy, and a unique look at the world in the poetry of James M. Moose. Jim Moose, pere (James M. Moose

  Cynthia Linville’s poems blend images and personal story to create pieces that stay in the reader’s mind. When the narrator of one of the poems encounters a lover from long ago, the conversation’s real, the setting is real: "Yeah, I heard." And now over greasy bacon and sticky orange juice, no more guilt. The poet weaves detail and commentary together deftly in Nevermore, again as the narrator reflects on an acquaintance from the past: Pasts like ours (filled with wooden crosses and beatings in schoolhouses) require a greater escape velocity than other pasts do. Cynthia Linville teaches English at California State University, Sacramento and serves as poetry editor of Poetry Now and

frank andrick frank andrick has lived in San Francisco, Paris, Lockeford and Sacramento, where he has been an integral part of the poetry scene for many years. Deeply influenced by French poets such as Verlaine and Baudelaire, andrick’s poetry flirts with surrealism at times, but I think of him as a romantic as well – one who believes that art, and the sharing of it, can redeem humanity to some extent. As a regular host at Luna’s Café on Thursday nights, frank often mixes poetry with music, and he recently produced a mixed-media event which included films from the 1930s as background for his poetic work. Frank also edits WTF, Rattlesnake Press’s quarterly journal of the literary and visu

Monday night, October 26 - Sacramento Poetry Day - help the Sacramento Poetry Center celebrate its 30th anniversary. 1719 25th Street - (25th and R) 7:30 PM - Free Admission.

Jennifer O’Neill-Pickering As both a visual artist and poet, Jennifer O’Neill-Pickering brings a painterly eye to her words on the page. She shows us “the dark blur of crows,” and comments on “silver threads of light/illuminating something you can’t hold/and therefore can never lose.” From "turquoise unions" to "apricot light," a strong visual sensibility is at work in her poetry. When she was growing up, Jennifer he wanted to be an artist and a poet. Her early years were spent in the rural community of Tierra Buena, fifty miles north of Sacramento, with a view of the Sutter Buttes. Today, Jennifer wears many hats, as artists often do: mother, wife, writer, artist, teacher, graphic arti

  SPC Presents Frank Andrick's ELEMENTS An evening of poetry, prose, storytelling, film, cine-poems, sound and music on October 12th 1719 25th Street (25th and R) featuring Christopher Fairman, Josh Fernandez, Wendy Rivara, and David Houston and Strings plus screenings of films by Man Ray and Stan Brakhage Mon. Oct. 12, 2009  At 7:30 PM Host: Bob Stanley refreshments and a poetic meet and greet at 7:30 Free. Donations Accepted. 1) The show starts at 8:00PM sharp with a short film plus poem and songs by Chris Fairman. 2) Segue into a set by Frank Andrick reading/performing poems interpolated with films by Man Ray, Stan Brakhage, etc. with an additional few poems with Wendy Rivera on

County Lines – October 10, 2009 Ann Wehrman In Ann Wehrman’s poetry, she savors the richness of nature in simple activities – the sun glimmers through redwood trees, feet splash into puddles and break up the reflection of the moon. She paints a city life, paying bills, getting mail, walking the concrete path, but finds details in the treasures the city holds: The trees rise, olives and hundreds more release their bounty of oxygen, shade, texture. Some are fuchsia or white with summer… In more than one way, Ms. Wehrman’s work reminds me of that of Mary Oliver, whose early poems startle the reader with their attentiveness to nature, and their message – that we must be attentive to nature

After an inspiring talk from Randy Weeks, the director of Denver’s Center for the Performing Arts, the crowd was already charged up to work on behalf of Sacramento’s arts community. Weeks explained how Denver’s seven-county region came up with a sustainable approach to help local non-profit arts organizations. In 1988, a recession year, Denver-area voters created a Scientific and Cultural Development Fund and by a three-to-one vote, approved a tax on themselves to support that fund. Since then, Denver arts organizations, both large and small, have been able to thrive, thanks to the stabilizing effects of this initiative. They’ve attracted more community support as well. The 150 arts volunt

In his poetry, Joe Atkins works to represent the syntax of spoken American conversations. Some of his poems also give a nod to the “flarf” school of poetry (which employs google searches, and found internet poems). As a contemporary poet, Joe gets bored with many of poetry’s traditional themes: the self, individuality, that eternal striving for uniqueness. “Poetically,” Joe says, “I'm just attempting to actively engage with our moment and so that we might know what it was.” Check out how he creates a kind of surrealistic world out of word-pixels in his work.Yr name dotted together with clouds, Scripted into the blu iris of an atmosphere, Consumed in blinking night. A taste of the future

Dennis Hock teaches creative writing at Cosumnes River College. Instrumental in developing the Sutterwriters program in 2003, he continues to work in hospitals and retreat centers with groups that use expressive writing as a healing process. An accomplished poet, Dennis is the author of The Secret Cup: Poems of Grief and Healing. Dennis’s work often offers the reader a choice – find meaning in the image – or not. He shows us that not every moment is transcendent. At times, nature or a human connection can bring a kind of salvation, but in Mockingbird, he questions the easy path to such revelation of meaning: See how complex and varied and multitudinous I am, I warble. Yet I don't feel aud

Don't miss Tim Kahl's reading on Sept 7 at 7:30 pm SPC is at 1719 25th Street (25th and R)   Join us for refreshments and poetry on Labor Day at SPC, asTim Kahl reads from his new book. Translator, teacher, poet, and editor, Tim also appears as Victor Schnickelfritz at the poetry and poetics blog The Great American Pinup.  "Possessing Yourself," his new book from CustomWords, reveals the wide swath of Tim's imagination! Check it out Monday night Sept 7.

JoAnn Anglin JoAnn Anglin grew up in South Sacramento, attended local schools, then worked for the State of California, writing copy for exhibits, newsletters and brochures. JoAnn has written poetry her whole life, and she has also written numerous articles on the arts and poetry. JoAnn coaches students in the national Poetry Out Loud program, and when she works with students, she encourages poetry writing as an accessible art and a tool for personal expression. Active with Los Escritores del Nuevo Sol (Writers of the New Sun) Ms. Anglin has been published on-line and in a number of anthologies including The Sacramento Anthology, The Pagan Muse, and in Voces del Nuevo Sol. Rattlesnake Pr

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The Sacramento Poetry Center and  The Sacramento Room present A Favorite Poem Reading Wednesday, September 2.       5:30pm to 7:30pm at    The Sacramento Room       Central Library, Second Floor      828 I Street Join your fellow Citizens in an evening of fine verse! Hosted by Mary Zeppa and Bob Stanley FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC  Readers will include: Carlos Alcala, Sacramento Bee                             Jeffrey Callison, KXJZ Marcus Crowder, Sacramento Bee                        Clare Ellis, the Sacramento Room Richard Hansen, the Book Collector                     Muriel Johnson, California Arts Council Sheree Meyer, Chair, CSUS English Dep’t           Don NOTTOLI, Coun

When Josh Fernandez reads his work, audiences are transfixed. His poetry lives on the edge, tells us that “a life full of discarded things is what we were given.” There’s a grim doubt that poetry or language will help, when we hear that “words will falsify/everything.” But Josh’s verse keeps a knowing sense of humor lurking in the background – a kind of self-deprecating grin that keeps the listener on the inside of the poet’s head. And his images render his poem/stories clearly; the reader is brought to the vivid place the poet has in mind. Josh Fernandez has lived in Sacramento on-and-off for almost 20 years. He currently writes for Spin.com and has written arts and culture stories for t

County Lines Poet of the Week – Tom Goff Tom Goff’s poetry plays with sound and form to create a mesmerizing fabric of music and reason. Two of the three poems that I’ve selected here employ rhyme, but Tom’s line breaks and rich images keep the language fresh and move the reader through the poem. Robert Hass has said that poetry is the art of balancing the sentence against the line. Sometimes poets emphasize the line at the expense of the sentence, which can create end-stops and a kind of sing-song rhythm, especially when they use rhyme. Other poets wield the sentence well, but their work leans toward prose, as they miss the opportunities that the line and the line-break can create. I thi

Second in a series about the poets of Sacramento Susan Kelly-DeWitt One of Sacramento’s most acclaimed poets, Susan Kelly-DeWitt has an eye for detail that sometimes startles the reader. Her work has been published in Poetry, Prairie Schooner, North American Review, Cutbank, Iris, Comstock Review, Oxymoron, Poet Lore, Cimarron Review, Spoon River Quarterly, and many other journals and magazines. She has also published numerous chapbooks, including Cassiopeia Under the Banyan Tree (Rattlesnake Press, 2007). Susan’s most recent book, The Fortunate Islands (Marick Press) appeared in 2008. Walter Pavlich wrote, “Kelly-DeWitt’s poems remind us, as we must be reminded, that no matter what, a