every once in a while it goes the other way too

Feeling rich with poetry gems right now (which is great cos we’re broke & the world at large is feeling more friable than ever). You write these poems & wonder where they came from & then sometimes they are published in great journals like Vector & Flag+Void who are great to work with, & have consistently been producing interesting work for years. This past week saw the release of my poems in both of those journals simultaneously. Amazing.  (Copies are available at the links provided.)

In other poetry news – after much planning, I’ve gone ahead & started a new reading series for teens and adults at the Library. We will meet every other month & feature a visiting poet, followed by an open mic. While funds are limited, I have a modest budget for paying performers, & am currently seeking grants as well. I’ll be releasing an open call for submissions soon – so please write me if you know a poet that would like to be considered. Here’s a write-up the local paper did of our first reading in the series featuring MK Chavez!

The Poetry Center Chapbook Exchange is also still open for chapbook submissions through August 1st so send some work our way!:

Poetry Center Chapbook Exchange
Open Reading Submission Period: June 1st – August 1st

The Poetry Center invites emerging and established poets to submit work to the Poetry Center Chapbook Exchange. The PCCE is a community-curated chapbook archive created in 2010, by poets recommending other poets using an each one-invite one model. See http://poetrychapbooks.omeka.net
We aim to provide and maintain open access to small-press and out-of-print chapbooks to promote readership of contemporary poetry as well as encourage its value and availability for use as free, educational, teaching resources.
Send us your work that plays, sings, risks, interrogates, provokes, and moves beyond.

Guidelines:
Length: 10-40 pages
Currency: New work (written within the last 5 years); published work that’s fallen out of print.
Aesthetics: seeking a range of forms, approaches, hybrids.
There is no reading fee.
Please email submissions to chapbookexchange@gmail.com.

 

Hope you’re all well & finding some strength in poetry.

 

Teen Tech Week grant

Happily planning Teen Tech Week 2015 with the help of my first grant award from YALSA! We will be piloting a Minecraft Mods program (modeled after Sonoma County’s Minecraft Coding Camp). I’ve been meeting with avid teen Minecrafters at various skill levels who are keen on leading & facilitating sessions, and am excited to see how this all shakes out! I’m also thrilled at the prospect of buying tablets dedicated for teen use. To date, our teen space does not have any hardware whatsoever, and even the addition of 3 or 4 tablets will greatly improve access. Yay, YALSA!