JFK: We are tied to the ocean
April 3, 2014
“We are tied to the ocean,” said John F. Kennedy, “and when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch, we are going back from whence we came.”
Today is the third day of both National Poetry Month and Earth Month, and today I am writing to invite you to hear poet Dian Sousa from San Luis Obispo County read tonight at EP Foster Library in the Topping Room at 7:30pm (651 E. Main Street, Ventura). Hosted each Thursday (except the fourth Thursday) by Phil Taggart, an open mic.
I chose this Earth Month poster for today because when I think of poets who write about and love the sea, about poets who go back from whence we came, I think of Dian, an ocean loving surfing poet if there ever was one. The video below, with a funny introduction about national poetry month, gives you a taste of Dian’s work and performance style.
Marsha de la O on Dian Sousa’s new book, The Marvels Recorded in My Private Closet.
Praise this turbulence, the multitudes inside it,
voices barking, cawing, roaring drunken anthems
to “the broken-toothed edge of the beat up world.”
Praise the rank luxury of feral imagination, lavish
and surreal, fiercely loyal to what “lurks in the depths
and is not crushed.” Praise the humor that stings,
exaggerations made of broken glass, the long line
of a restless spirit perhaps especially prone to lashings.
Toss back these words like shots of mescal, let their
truths burn beautifully down your throat. Reader,
the voice is oceanic, flowing undivided currents,
boundless, blue, faithful to the curl of the wave,
the axioms of indigo. What if poetry is meant to
transform us? Pick up this book. Each poem is an
axe and you’re the kindling log ready to be split open,
waiting to burst into flame.
future featured readers
April 10 Kim Young
April 17 Doris Vernon
April 24 NO READING
May 1 Sandra Knapp
May 8 Alex M. Frankel
May 15 Rick Smith
May 22 NO READING
May 29 Alex M. Frankel
June 5 Kevin Patrick & Patti Sullivan
June 19 Perie Longo
July 17 Sandra Hunter
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art predator 
Reblogged this on whisper down the write alley and commented:
Dian Sousa kicks off National Poetry Month with a reading tonight at EP Foster Library Ventura CA.