James DenBoer and Cynthia Broshi Read at SPC Tonight

James DenBoer and Cynthia Broshi, at the SPC.
It's been months since I hosted an event at Sacramento Poetry Center, but I am back. I started tonight with two powerful poets, Sacramento's James DenBoer and his friend Cynthia Broshi (and did I mention that Jim is my Facebook friend too?). I loved the reading, and the attendance was great, a good sprinkle of some of Sacramento's best poets in the crowd, Susan Kelly-Dewett, Dennis Hock, William Daly (the famous Neruda translator), Quinton Duval, Mary Zeppa, Tim Kahl, and others. So here are some photos and a few highlights:

The structure was simple: Jim and Cynthia started by reading a poem together, a poem that echoes Beowulf, setting a grand tone.

Then Cynthia sat down and Jim read alone. Having worked with fiction from Summer 2009 until the end of Fall, I had to retrain my ear to hear the sounds of poetry. So I caught some very impressive phrases from Jim's reading: "ache of wholeness", "exploitation of gaps", "you don't make up poems/you discover them"...

These are the kinds of sounds I walk away with after poetry readings. I like these kinds of sounds.

Then Jim sat down and Cynthia read. She reads well, brings the poetry to life. She read from her latest manuscript which mixes the three things poets love to explore indulgently: sex, love, death... Her poetry dips into the classical, is not afraid to go for the archaic as necessary, allows words to take over, to rule.

Here is another photo, a version of the first one:

. [These photos were captured by my now-old LG-something phone. I had forgotten my camera in the car and couldn't leave my event to go get it].

There are many big names coming to Sacramento this year. Even on my line up I have national award winners, a McCarther Fellow, a poet from Southern California. As always, we attempt to pair a local and out-of-town poet. The readings are on Mondays from at 7:30, followed by Open Mic. I host every second Monday. If you would like to read at the SPC, contact me, or any of the other hosts. More details can be found on the SPC Website.

We will be running the second book contest, so send your manuscripts.
Tule Review, our perfect-bound journal is welcoming submissions. The deadline for the next issue is February 26.

I am hosting again; it feels great to be back.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I agree - both readers were intense, in different ways - Jim's poems were like a philosophical essay, a walk through the landscape of the mind, touching on how language shapes us and the struggles of life; Cynthia played the edges of language to go deep into love and despair at the same time - I like your phrase that she allows "words to take over - to rule"
January 13, 2010 at 11:23 PM
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