An Evening with Tiger's Eye Journal Poets at Sacramento Poetry Center

Issue 18 of Tiger's Eye

Tonight the Sacramento Poetry Center hosted the Tiger's Eye Journal Readings, which featured six poets who contributed to the current issue(Spring-Summer 2010).I was the host, since second Mondays at SPC are, in the words of Sacramento Poet Laureate Bob Stanely, "Manu Mondays".

It was a full house (what a lively crowd!), and the open mic featured four more poets, so for the night, we had a total of ten powerful poets. Here are some memorable moments from the reading:

the audience

The Tiger's Eye editors Colette Jonopulos and JoAn Osborne, who write, "We leave traces of our energy behind when we write. When another person accepts our words it completes the loop which begins with our initial creative urge. To think that our words don't change lives is to be naive. To write knowing our words are an intimate exchange of energy between the poet and the reader, is to be aware, awake, to be living the questions themselves."

Cleo Griffith

Cleo Griffith has been published in Iodine Poetry Journal, Main Street Rag, the Aurorean, Cider Press Review, Time of Singing, Quercus Review, Sierra Nevada Review, the Christian Science Monitor, First Things, and many others. She is Chair of the Editorial Board of Song of the San Joaquin, a poetry journal established in 2003 and is a member of the Modesto, CA chapter of the National League of American Pen Women. She lives in Salida, CA with her husband Tom.

Tom Goff (Sacramento)
Tom Goff has written many book reviews for Poetry Now, the newsletter of the Sacramento Poetry Center. He is the author of Field of the Cloth of Gold and truenature, chapbooks available from Poet’s Corner Press in Stockton, California. Tom also plays trumpet, most recently with the Golden State Brass and the Auburn Symphony. He is married to poet and artist Nora Laila Staklis.

Laura LeHew (Oregon)

Laura LeHew is an award winning poet whose poems have appeared or are forthcoming in such journals as Alehouse Press, Ellipsis, Elysian Fields Quarterly, HeartLodge, Homestead Review, Pank, PMS, and Tiger's Eye. She is on the Lane Literary Guild's steering committee, an active member of the Eugene/Springfield chapter of the OSPA, and co-founded Uttered Chaos, which organizes local readings. In her spare time she facilitates a critique poetry group.

Joyce Odam

Joyce Odam is an editor at the Poetry Depth Quarterly. Her most recent chapbook, "The Power of the Moment," was published by Red Cedar Press in 1998, and her poems have appeared in the Bellingham Review, the Haight Ashbury Literary Journal, and the Wormwood Review.

Gordon Preston

Gordon Preston was born in New York and attended San Diego State. He is an intervention reading teacher. He has been a member of California Poets in the Schools in Modesto. His first book of poetry Violins was published by Finishing Line Press. He was also the assistant editor of hardpan, a literary journal out of Stockton.

Karen Clausel

Karen Clausel is enjoying the emergence of her artist archetype, making jewelry, writing poetry, and writing her memoir about her experiences as a pioneer in women's ordination. Karen has over 30 years experience as a professional delving deeply into the human story and exploring psychotechnologies for emotional healing and spiritual evolution. She is a United Methodist clergywoman who has written countless sermons, created innovative liturgies, and edited many less memorable church newsletters. In her private practice as a psychospiritual therapist, she facilitated 7 on-going weekly therapy groups, numerous weekend Intensives, and was fascinated with the process of assisting clients re-write their "life scripts." Karen received her Doctorate of Ministry from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC. Her poetry has been published in Tiger's Eye, Heartlodge, and in two anthologies, The Quizzical Chair and Word Quilts. She is the Contest Chair for the Oregon State Poetry Association. Karen lives in Eugene, OR.

audience.