3:15 Experiment Poets Unite! Danika Dinsmore Reads Tonight at the Cobalt!

August 20, 2006 ~ 3:15 AM

I hear elephants
keep their trunks at half-mast
when a member of the tribe dies

I hear they parade like lost souls

Do pets ever mourn our passing?

Do animals worry?

I don’t see evidence
in bees    or birds
worrying about the sudden change
in weather                 passing storms
kids have left the nest
haven’t called in a week     took off
with that dirty bird

Mourning takes space and time
can be triggered by any sense
or by a slight vision
of personal         intake

The man walking in front of me
had my Father’s legs,
that funny skinny pale
and I choked on a lump
in my throat     Do birds
suffer for lack of imagination?
Do they “not feel like it” sometimes
the arrow flying north  next stop
the Great White North?

I stress therefore I am
and I am because you were
you made me aware     you
gave me colour scheme
appreciation of art & music     why
I plan to eat ice-cream
next Thursday and take a trip
to the Museum     I don’t
expect to see any elephants
or birds     there

c. Danika Dinsmore
please note some of the formatting is incorrect

Today March 29 is a good day for poetry! If you’re from around LA or Ventura County, you should consider going to hear Danika Dinsmore or Joyce LaMers. More info on both readings and poets along with sample poems follows.

Pictured above is the bare bones for the broadside that Rick Lupert is making for Danika’s featured reading tomorrow, Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 9:00 pm at the Cobalt Cafe, 22047 Sherman Way, Canoga Park, CA.

Danika Dinsmore’s early writing career was built on experimental poetry and collaborative spokenword performance. In 1993, she and NY poet Bernadette Mayer launched an annual collaborative writing project called The 3:15 Experiment, during which participants wake up in the middle of the night throughout the month of August to write. While living in Seattle she performed with the 12-person SPLAB Word Orchestra and the performance group ForWord ForTete. Her inspired performances earned her the Washington Poets Association award for Performance Poetry. She currently lives in Vancouver, BC and teaches as an artist-in-the-schools and for Creative Writing for Children and Capilano University. She blogs about her multi-disciplined writing life as The Accidental Novelist. Her accidental novel, a children’s fantasy adventure called Brigitta of the White Forest, was recently released by en theos press.

Danika and I go back to 2000 where we met at the Taos Poetry Circus. During the past two weeks, she’s been staying with us during her Imaginary Worlds book tour stops in Ventura County. On Monday, she moved on to LA; the following week, she’ll be in the Bay Area.

Tomorrow, however, she’ll be at the Cobalt: http://PoetrySuperHighway.com/cobalt I’ll be there too, reading in the 7 minute open mic, and I hope we’ll see some other 3:15 experiment poets there too!

Also tomorrow, in Ventura, March 29  Joyce LaMers is the featured poet at Artists Union Gallery, 7:30pm 330 South California Street, Ventura with host Phil Taggart followed by an open-mic. You’ll definitely enjoy a laugh with Joyce! Here’s a few poems by Joyce LaMers:

I’m in Love With Tiger Woods

Tiger, Tiger, burning hot,
People say you overshot:
Easy girls in easy reach
Laid like pebbles on a beach!

Seems you strayed a bit off course.
Now it’s rehab and remorse,
But one whose stroke is hard and sure
Is not a man who needs a cure!

A pox upon the rehab nurse
Who shifts your driver to reverse,
Or psycho doctors who imply
They know best how your balls should lie!

Tiger, Tiger, it’s a trap!
Gossip tongues will always  flap!
You’re my hero, Tiger, but
How come I never made the cut?

Octogeneria

Why are they leaving?  It isn’t late.
The party’s young; it was going great!
The dip’s not finished!  The beer’s still cold!
Why are they all beginning to fold?
Why are they fumbling about for wraps?
The band’s still playing, and it’s not Taps!
Why aren’t they dancing?  Why so glum?
If they don’t like parties, why did they come?

I hear a car start up outside
And someone phones for a taxi ride.
They’re heading out!  They’ve had their day!
Where are they going?  They do not say.
And what about me?  My friends are gone!
Who’ll take my hand to party on?
I’d dance all night, if a little slowly—
Do I just sit here with the guacamole?

Sure Shot

Dick Cheney shoots quail
With an aim that can’t fail,
But he sure pulled a boner
When he shot that big donor.

Joyce LaMers reads her poems on youtube
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLwEN5T-6RM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWeThq-ZT8g&feature=related

Here’s a list of future features on Tuesdays at the AUG:

April 5     Jackson Wheeler
April 12   Doris Vernon
April 19 Dorothea Grossman & Michael Vlatkovich
May 10   Mary Rose Betten
May 17   Maxine Landis
May 24   Lynne Thompson and Candace Pearson
June  7   Chella Courington

Here’s who’s featuring on the past Saturday of the month at  7:30pm with host friday; open mic follows.

April 30 Bruce Williams
May 28 Spiritual Quartet featuring Lois P. Jones,
Taoli-Ambika Talwar, Maja Trochimczyk and Susan Rogers
June 25 Florence Weinberger
July 30 Holly Prado
August 27 TL Cabrera
September 24 Jeanette Clough