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Fame In Alameda
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ALAMEDA ISLAND POETS
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Alameda Island Poets
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| Ken Peterson, President Alameda Island Poets |
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| On Jack London 131 Birthday 3rd & Brannan SF, CA |
Ken Peterson 01/03/10 Alameda Island Poets Chapter. Dear Members and
friends.
A.) The First Wednesday reading at Borders Books in Alameda will be on January 6, 2010
December Workshop follow up.
The December workshop was a start
on Three little Words: Prose, Poetry and Verse The idea came from signs that many poets have trouble understanding
these terms.
In the December meeting I provided a definition of Verse as in a form and nothing more than that. It seems
to have been mistaken. A lot of what is said and written about poetry seems mistaken.
My goal is to develop definitions
which are correct and which are easily, clearly and correctly understandable by ordinary people.
I went to many different
sources including some which seem to be relied on in University courses around the country. They werent much help. Finally,
I went to the Oxford English Dictionary.
Here are definitions which apply to the usual uses of the terms.
1.)
Prose Ordinary language 2.) Verse A
succession of words arranged according to natural or recognized rules of prosody and forming a complete metrical line. One
of lines of a poem or piece of versification. To avoid
the use of the terms prosody and versification it would become A
succession of words arranged according to natural or recognized rules of poetry and forming a complete metrical line. One
of lines of a poem or piece of poetic work. It may also mean A
small number of metrical lines so connected by form or meaning as to constitute either a whole in themselves or a unit in
a longer composition; a stanza.
Or That
part of a modern popular song which leads into the chorus or separates one chorus from another. From
these definitions from the OED, the term Free Verse is entirely different from the standard meanings. A poem can
not be free that is without any set metrical pattern and be a metrical form at the same
time. It can not be free and not free both at the same time.
The term has come to mean in English some particular poetic
style or form which is neither actually free nor verse. It is adapted from the French which can have
free verse because French does not have the same metrical characteristics as English.
3.) Poetry This
is more difficult. The art or work of a poet. a. With
special reference to its form: composition in verse or metrical language, or in some equivalent patterned arrangement of language;
usually also with choice of elevated words and figurative uses, and option of a syntactical order, differing more or less
from those of ordinary speech or prose writing.
Also,
With special reference to its function: the expression
or embodiment of beautiful or elevated thought, imagination, or feeling, in language adapted to stir the imagination and emotions,
both immediately and through the harmonic suggestions latent in or implied by the words or connections or words actually used,
such language containing a rhythmical element and having usually a metrical form (of the above). Though the term sometimes
is extended to include expression in non-metrical language having similar harmonic and emotional qualities (prose-poetry).
To simplify that will take some doing, I think.
With that much background, now to
Poetic Devices Which will be offered January
6, at Borders by Cathy Dana.
A workshop on Poetic
Devices conducted by Cathy Dana will start at 6:30. The reading will start at 7:00 PM upstairs to the left
of the Coffee and snack bar.
The featured reader is Avotcja. She is a poet of great talent and interest who brings
to her work her love of music and long interest in history and social issues. Google Avotcja to find her website.
B.)
The members of the Alameda Island Poets Chapter are invited to read at the Alameda Museum Art Gallery on Saturday January
16, 2010 from 12 noon to 3:30 P.M.
A special effort
is made to feature our poets in particular consideration of the lost opportunity at the Webster Street Festival.
This
will be and even better opportunity for reading because of the venue and the interest of the program sponsors in the Alameda
Island Poets.
In addition to Poetry there will be Dance
performances and vistual arts displays. And refreshments. This is always a lot of fun.
Performer guest passes are available in advance or at the door.
C.) The grapevine has brought the news that Janet Butler
and Mary Loughran have each won two awards in the Bay Area Poets Coalition annual contest. There were only 6 awards
in three categories (short/mid/long poems) and 179 entries. So Alameda Island Poets did very well indeed.
Our Second Wednesday gathering is scheduled from 6:00 to 7:55
PM at the Alameda Main Library.in the back near the snack bar, tol start with a workshop conducted by Mary Rudge. This workshop will focus
on poems on which you could use help.
Do not bring poems you consider complete. Bring only works
in progress where suggestionscould be helpful, such as titles, word choice, writers block logjams, phrasing, rhythm,
length, flow, emphasis and so on.
Bring ten copies of each unfinished poetic work..
Copies will be distributed to participants
for ideas. You may ask for comments on particular matters and limit input to those areas only.
Comments
will all be positive. There will be no negative comments.
2.) Our business meeting agenda will entertain an
invitation to read at the Alameda Museum in January; ongoing matters relating to the second Wednesday meetings, suggestions
for Nanette to consider future featured readers on first Wednesdays, and other items will be discussed.
I
look forward to seeing you and your work and hearing how you approach your writing project.
2.) Recently, Nanette appeared on the evening news about the women against violence
/ UN program in San Francisco.
We’ll all keep plugging away at it, hopefully our workshops
will result in our membership showing accomplishments for the better in poetry events on days ahead.
3.) The CFCP
contest is also coming soon. The Deadline is usually in the middle to the end of January. I will keep you posted.
4.)
As you may know, John Rowe of the BAPC will Chair the Poets’ Dinner in 2010. Richard Angilly gave
me copies of entry forms to hand out and sent the information as an attachment.
Poet's Dinner Contest
deadline is January 20, 2010.
84th ANNUAL POETS’
DINNER/CONTEST – Awards at Francesco’s Restaurant
Open to all ages MUST BE PRESENT TO CLAIM AWARDS
WHEN ANNOUNCED
Lunch: March 20, 2010 (11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.) THEME: “ACTION”
GUEST SPEAKER: Connie Post CONTEST DEADLINE:
January 20, 2010
(Postmarked before midnight) NO CERTIFIED OR REGISTERED MAIL. CATEGORIES
(8 topics): BEGINNINGS & ENDINGS,
LIGHT or HUMOROUS, NATURE, LOVE, SPACES & PLACES,
PEOPLE, THEME (“Action” ), POET'S CHOICE.
Poems must be original, unpublished in any “juried” way, in English,
not previous prizewinner or honorable mention winner. (Grand Prize & other winning poems may be included in a future
anthology. Others will be destroyed after 3/20/10.)
40-line maximum, any form, any style.
NUMBER OF ENTRIES: Three
(3) per person; one (1) per category
1. Type entry on ONE side only of 8½ x 11 white paper
2. Type category topic in upper right-hand corner of each page.
3. DO NOT put your name, etc., ANYWHERE on any entered poem.
4. Send three (3) clear copies of EACH entry (with no illustrations).
5. AUTHOR MUST ATTEND TO CLAIM AWARD.
MAIL ENTRIES TO CONTEST CHAIR:
Andrew MacRae
37077 2ND ST. APT. #3 FREMONT, CA 94536-2833
PRIZES: One Dorothy Tyrrel GRAND PRIZE
- $60.00 -- To be chosen from among the first three winners in each category.
For each CATEGORY:
Three --- $30.00, $20.00,$15.00 plus three Honorable Mentions.
The Ad Schuster Annual Citation for last year's Grand Prize Winner will also be presented and read.
AWARD PROCEDURE:
Winning entries to be read and awards presented ONLY at this 3/20/10 luncheon. On slips provided at the lunch,
write your name, title and first line of each poem submitted. Use the slip to claim a winning poem immediately after
it is read. If there is NO CLAIM, the prize will be awarded to the next ranked submission. Judges’ decisions
are final.
NOTE: The Ina Coolbrith Circle invites all interested in poetry to its April meeting (4/25/10,
2 p.m.) at the Lafayette Presbyterian Church, Davies Room, 49 Knox Dr., Lafayette, where winners are invited to read their
winning poems.
DONATIONS: Books and monetary contributions to sustain awards may be sent to AWARDS CHAIR, Natica
Angilly - 1515 Poplar Ave., Richmond,
CA 94805-1662.
(Donor calls only, please): (510) 235-0361.
POETRY BOOK TABLE:
Please pre-arrange sale space for your books by contacting BOOK TABLE CHAIR: Tanya Joyce, before March 15, 2010 at (510) 428-0606
or tanya@tanyajoyce.com – SPACE LIMITED. Our 75th Anthology, Remembering, is available. DATE, TIME, LOCATION:
Saturday, March 20, 2010. 11:30 a.m. for NO-HOST cocktails --
84th Annual Poets Dinner where?
** FRANCESCO’S, 8520 Pardee Drive, Oakland -- Airport Room
** (From I-880, take Hegenberger Road exit toward the Airport, turn right at Pardee Drive, and right into the parking
lot.) LUNCH SERVED PROMPTLY AT NOON. – FREE PARKING ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Poets’ Dinner LUNCH ORDER
(Enclose this form along with check & SASE)
Tickets $28.00 -- (at door: $29.00 as available)
NAME_____________________________________________
ADDRESS_________________________________________
CITY ______________________________________________
PHONE (
) E- Mail
# Fresh Fillet of Red Snapper ______=
$_________ # Walnut Crusted Chicken Breast ______= $_________
# Eggplant Parmegiana
______= $_________ ________
Tickets @ $28.00 ea: TOTAL Enclosed: $________
Seating will be FIRST COME, FIRST SEATED.
Make checks payable to POETS’ DINNER, mail with SASE and this form
to:
RICHARD ANGILLY,
1515 Poplar Ave.,
Richmond, CA 94805-1662.
Ken Peterson
Nanette Bradley Deetz
CROW DANCE
Black crow sitting under a pine tree,
white clouds against an azure sky.
Lazy wind whispers her secrets
as crow listens
from the edges of the world.
We watch each other from different galaxies;
circles, intersecting circles,
as the waters of Alameda Bay
flow around us.
Crow begins his dance
as squirrel appears from behind the pine tree.
Butterfly and dragonfly watch
as our galaxies intersect
for one moment,
under a pine tree by the bay;
dancing,
at the edge of the world.
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| Lourdes Costales & Amy Estrada |

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| Lourdes Costales, Amy @ Frank Bette Center & mom |
Poem by Lourdes Costales:
My Refuge
Nature - with its clean and simple lines
The sun fading into the horizon
The play of light and dark shadows of a mountain
The landscape at a distance is like
An Ansel Adams black and white photograph.
Trees baring their branches
Birds flying in the moonlight
Sailboats gliding in the calm water.
Whenever I need to refocus
and want to gain perspective
I come back to Crab cove to remind me of
Nature's Simplicity.
Poem by Amy Estrada (from her book of poems Ipagpatawad Nino Kami (Pardon Us),
Poems for the Philippines)
NENE
We will have a party for Nene.
Nene, "kaligayahan sa iyong kaarawan"
(happiness on your birthday).
We have only red rice –
her schoolmates, at home,
eat salads and sweets,
even cakes, everyday!
"Ipagpatawad ninyo kami sa aming kahirapan"
(pardon us for our poverty),
but we will have red rice with coconut milk,
and let little girls play, pick-up-sticks and pretend.
It is too small a house for the dancing
and a radio is a precious thing.
ipagpatawad ninyo kami sa aming kahirapan.
(pardon us for our poverty)
but all will sing
"kaligayahan sa iyong kaarawan"
(happiness on your birthday)
Nene, eleven years old.
BIO; Amy (Filomena) Bernardo Estrada, born and raised in Manila, in the Philippines, studied
and received degree from San Francisco State She co-wrote a book of poems Ipagpatawad Nino Kami
(Pardon Us), Poems for the Philippines with Mary Rudge, and is published in Alameda Poets anthologies, in The Human Face of
Love; Light, Dark Wind and Moon; and in Western Arrow 1998, among other publications. She has been a panelist at a World Congress
of Poets in English and Spanish, at the California Federation of Chaparral Poets, Inc., convention, on Glenda Bargera's The
Star Rover TV show, and has read her poetry at numerous events. Some of her poems are written for and dedicated to children
she has adopted in the Philippines. Amy is active with civic, religious and cultural Pilipino community events.
*******************************************
Poem by Angela Chung Reiss
(pub in Alameda Island Theme Poem anthology)
BIO: Angela Reiss is from Korea, a member of the Korean Writers Association, San Francisco
Korean Literary Association, Korean Expatriate Literature. She has written articles for bilingual publications, has been a
featured reader at poetry events including the Califonria Federation of Chaparral Poets, Inc., state Convention, she
has been a panelist, speaking on translation of poetry, Korean and English. In 2005 she was a featured poet at a World
Congress of Poets in Beijing and Tianan, in China, as a guest of the government. Angela has also been
featured on Glenda Barbera's "The Star Rover" Television show.
Peaceful place, Alameda
A little island Alameda is
The corner of the bay
Twilight is passion on a shining
Place on the village.
In the early evening a large group of mallards
Calmly sit down with their families
On the golden turf
Over the sea shore
A boat is waiting for the sunshine
At noon,
When the sea is burning from the sun
The wind calls to the boat people
And brings them to the ocean.
But I know the central street,
A roadside tree,
Year and year a hundred years
An ancestor spirit of soul
A blood vessel tree
Deep green of a leaf, open to the sun
Embrace all of island people
Oh! Yes.
It sounds like Alameda is
A restful,
And peaceful place.
POEM BY CHRISTINA GRAPPO
WEST END 2 WEST TOWER, ALAMEDA
WEST END BRANCH, ALAMEDA SOUTH SHORE MALL, ALAMEDA PARK STREET SHOPPING, ALAMEDA WEBSTER
STREET DISCOUNTS, ALAMEDA NAVAL YARD RUINS, ALAMEDA ALAMEDA MUSEUM, ALAMEDA CRAB COVE MUSEUM, ALAMEDA NEPTUNE
BEACH, ALAMEDA PARK STREET BRIDGE, ALAMEDA PARK STREET BRIDE, ALAMEDA FRUITVALE BRIDGE, ALAMEDA FRUITVALE BRIDE,
ALAMEDA HIGH STREET BRIDGE, ALAMEDA HIGH STREET BRIDE, ALAMEDA POSEY TUBE, ALAMEDA POSSE POSER, ALAMEDA BAYFARM
ISLAND, ALAMEDA FLATLAND PLAINS, ALAMEDA ISLAND PARADISE, ALAMEDA PAIR ‘0' DICE, ALAMEDA ALAMEDA HOTEL,
ALAMEDA ALAMEDA MOTEL, ALAMEDA FIRESIDE LOUNGE, ALAMEDA BEACHSIDE LOUNGERS, ALAMEDA LINCOLN PARK, ALAMEDA FRANKLIN
PARK, ALAMEDA BEACH COMBERS, ALAMEDA BEACH CRUISERS, ALAMEDA BICYCLE PATHS, ALAMEDA BASKETBALL COURTS, ALAMEDA THE
PERIMETER, ALAMEDA WEST TOWER, ALAMEDA
POEMS BY CATHY DANA AND MANY OF THE OTHER POETS ON THIS WEBSITE AS WELL AS OTHER POETS MAY BE FOUND IN THE NEW ANTHOLOGY:
Alameda Theme Poems, 2004, 2005, 2006. The first book of its kind in Alameda about Alameda. An Historic addition to your collection.
Buy it in Alameda at Wilmot's Book Store, The Frank Bette Art Center, or contact this website or maryrudgepoet@yahoo.com.
Excerpt from a Poem by Cathy Dana:
Conversations with the Sea
Part I. The Place
I notice the place Where wet sand meets dry The line curving and Uneven, a soft shadow Of hills
and valleys, dry sand Licked by a curious tongue. Sand embraces, arms open wide, Greeting these waters, welcoming
the waters Never rejecting Never too busy Never closed for the day. Licked sand smooth and glistening, Sculpted
but not tamed by the watersı touch. The uneven waterline meanders Graceful in its lack of discipline Sometimes a
distinct line Sometimes the dark wet fades imperceptibly Into the light dry.
Part II. The Gifts
The sea, for its part, brings little gifts To amuse the sand; pebbles, driftwood, Broken shells, seaweed;
deposits them, Then leaves them for a time. Great mounds of seaweed hug the sand, Resting after a long, liquid voyage Waiting
till the tide sweeps in and Calls them home again, back To the undulating underwater world. The seaweed, pungent
and steeped In by-gone eras, memories of First life, birth of life, the briny Origins of life, Is now only great
mounds of Sea debris, heaped carelessly On wet sand. I step around this debris Deliberately. I turn to lovelier vistas, Lapping
waters shimmering beneath distant hills and Big sky, then catch myself knee-deep in a skulking, Invisible prejudice.
Sea ³debris² I So quickly name it--- And find myself guilty of Dismissal without observation, perhaps The one
true sin Against life, against God.
Part III. The Space I look sandward once more, Look closer, more space in my breath now The mounds
are angelıs hair, seabraids, Twisted like French knots Mounds with long tails Or tentacles. Angelıs hair Green,
maroon, pink, golden, tangerine, Purplish brown---a sea rainbow Festooned with green streamers of Wakame. Itıs that
³beauty in the eye Of the beholder² thing; just So breathtakingly true. I smile at the seaweed And nod to prejudice,
stalking me still. I find new space in my breath For my prejudice. Recognized, it Becomes transparent and docile.
I turn again to the great Mounds with tails. How would I look upon them Were I the proud mother of These
fine seaweeds? Would I take time to know Their every nuance? Would I see beauty No one else could possibly See?
Would I ache For my seaweed child, An ache raw, unbidden, and Clasped fiercely to my heart?

Cathy Dana, M.S., CHT, CMT, is a firewalking hypnotherapist with a black belt in
aikido.
One of only 16 Certified Conscious Embodiment
instructors, she has trained with founder Wendy Palmer for over 20 years. With a master's degree in counseling, Cathy has
spent the last 25 years practicing and teaching a combination of bodywork and hypnotherapy, specializing in healing trauma.

Carrie Clinton
THE PEACE BAKERY
Peace slices generously like a birthday cake
Smells warm like baking cinnamon
Glistens like royal icing
Squeezes like light pink roses
Shines bright yellow and lemony
Celebrates like shiny silver sprinkles
Parades like candles
Satisfies like brownie dark and rich
Refreshes like an ice cold glass of milk
After the bakery burned down
Deadly sweet fumes of crisp sugar
Sharply sliver your tongue
As they hover, as smoke does,
Against the unyielding walls
To ashes and soot the once shiny roses
Blister and peel the shiny metal sprinkle
Candles too weary and wickless to stand
Unrecognizable, the albino brownies
Crumble and sog in the reckless spills
Of lukewarm soda
The New "Gal" in Town by Valerie Broadbent
It was 1999 when I found this special place with tree lined streets and Victorians of grace.
I'd never seen so many: each a treasure with stained glass windows for everyone's pleasure.
Alameda won me over, and I knew I'd stay in this charming island city by the bay.
As soon as I was settled and had more time to explore I became enchanted, as I uncovered more.
My curiosity grew about Alameda's history but our local museum helped solve the mystery.
Its old photos enlightened me greatly when historians showed homes standing stately.
Some were built a hundred years ago or more, and they held the keys which unlocked the door
Revealing interiors of quality construction lovingly restored and saved from destruction.
Enjoying these homes by the bay
is just one of the reasons I plan to stay.
BIO; PETER LIM .Peter Lim is a published poet who has enjoyed a long and storied career of writing,
though just in his early ‘20's and a student at San Francisco State. He freelances in
his field. His genre of poetry is "Spoken Word Poetry." He is the lyricist for his electronic pop band,
Tensegrity Nine and he is also a lead singer extraordinaire. and says he is available for hire "to perform or write
beautiful prose or poetry for your next baby shower, wedding, square dancing event, poetry slam, bar/bat-mitzvah, or on any
special theme; nothing will prove too difficult, too outrageous or too far out". Contact him at CYBERLIMa@aol.com. Tensegrity Nine is an Oakland/Alameda-based Electronic Pop music duo formed in late 2003 and featuring
Matt Payne and Peter Lim on a variety of electronic and acoustic instruments. Tensegrity Nine fuses elements of Folk, Rap,
J-Pop, Progressive House, and Hyphy to create a distinctly out-of-this-world musical atmosphere. Tensegrity Nine's live performance
is a seamless, high-energy affair featuring passionate vocals, musical solos on strange instruments, quirky humor, and choreographed
dancing. In essence, it is the musical nerd-rock, electro-pop equivalent of John Mayer, anticon, Yanni, and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony,
thrown into a pot of steaming lava, mixed together with an electric egg beater. . For more information check websites: www.tensegritynine.comwww.myspace.com/ptlt9
SEASONS by Mary Rudge
Season cycling, cycles spinning
we bring
Interior circles, inner dream
moved by sun-spin, moon-cusp, Saturn,
shaped by our mother's mother's gene
to child of thunder, light, or darkness,
we who are never as we seem,
we who spend a life time learning
who we are and what we mean
are measuring the seasons turning
cycles ending, and beginning..
Bio:
Mary Rudge speaks internationally at universities, schools, cultural events, and libraries, on five continents on teaching
peace skills and Poetry as a Healing Art. She was awarded Honorary Doctorates in Greece, Taiwan, New York, nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for her literary work,
named Princess of Poetry in Italy,
crowned in ceremony at the City Hall Rotunda, San Francisco as an international Poet Laureate. She has been the Poet Laureate for the
City of Alameda since 2002. Newspapers have called her a global catalyst and one of the Bay Area's most charismatic poets.
Her books include "Water Planet" (Leopold Senghor wrote the preface), "Hungary, Austria and Other Passions", "Poems for Ireland" "Beat, She Can't be Beat", and a Beatzine
publication: "When The Rapture Comes." She co-edited "Poets and Peace International" for ten years which
went to numerous countries with poems in seven languages, "State of Peace: The Women Speak," "Poems
from Street Spirit" (on homelessness and other social issues), "The Human Face of Love" on Mental Health issues,
and most recently edited three volumes of peace poems by local poets "Farewell to Armaments", "Flaunt Peace in the
Face of War" and "For You World Peace IMAGINE."
The Least Tern's Turn On The Edge of Extinction On the Mothballed Runway Of the Alameda Naval
Air Station Sunday, March 28, 2004
by AM Fonda There are migrating stars in opaque night skies, That today to date, elude trained eyes, These
jaded Suns call galaxies home As we search the heavens, thinking we're alone Our awareness develops as we learn To
preserve nesting grounds for our friend Least Tern. Such slender, graceful acrobat, Sea swallow feasts on
anchovies, or fresh crab, cracked Shorebird, avid fisherman Will nest on hospitable sand Or pebbles, concrete
or cement, Whatever grounds Earth won't charge rent A plot of land, a refuge so Flocks of Least Terns may come and
go. If we ever locate the center of the Universe And discover an endangered species arrived there first Where
we are now could be better or worst Depending on our propensity to learn On a mothballed runway where, rests, nests
Least Tern. AM Fonda's poem, published in the Alameda Island Theme Poem Anthology, Audubon Society
Newsletter, read in ceremony at the Least Tern Sanctuary, Alameda Point March 28, 2004
Claire J. Baker has been active in
Alameda poetry for years -- in past few years as a member of Alameda Island Chapter of California Federation of Chaparral
Poets...Claire credits poetry as having helped her save her sanity when she returned to her birth state as a 20-year-old and
began life on her own . Even then, Chaparral Poets served as a comforting anchor.
Claire has eight chapbooks and over 2300 published poems to date (newspapers, journals,
anthologies, her Unitarian Universalist monthly church bulletin), among many others over the years.
She is now a proud senior living 10 miles north of Berkeley, her birthplace.
Local and national awards number over 400 to date: Artists Embassy Intl; Street Spirit,
Poetalk, Writer's Digest, Coolbrith Circle, and the Poets Dinner, to name a few. She won two Triton medallions and the Grand
Prize at Poets' Dinner, 1984, as well as two Grand Prize performances with Artists Embassy Intl.
Ms. Baker is proud to have promoted Poetry Landmarks (a tree, sun dial, bench, plaque)
in Northern California. She is still active in the exciting poetry world where she has served as judge, editor and contest
chair. She is an avid reader, lover of animals, proud Unitarian-Universalist, presently living in Senior apartments
in quiet, semi-rural Pinole, CA
Claire has been happy to be a poet and a member of the Alameda Island Chapter of
CFCP.
July 26, 2007
DOUBLE HELIX
Within the spirals of life's rousing ride
we carry DNA and spirit prints,
flickering drama, foibles, freedoms, talents
through every primal and transcendent fire.
Attempting to master loop-the-loops, we lean
to milder turns, away from jarring dips,
gratified each time we compromise,
cast sun on polar views and clear the fog,
practice stellar acts reflecting love.
When joy bear-hugs and we hug warmly back,
we sip the tasty tea of miracles,
believe that we will thrive on earth forever...
Yet somewhere on the journey, planets which
have circled, marked our birth, will tumble free;
the helix starts to memorize our glow,
our brief or extended melody. When we
can cling no longer, the spiral gives us wings
for soaring on. We rise, become the sky.
(c) Claire J. Baker
Dancing Poetry Festival, 2005 Grand Prize Winner
Helen Montminy
SOFT WINDS
Alameda is
where soft winds blow friendship
into our lives and hearts forever
Janet Ann Collins
ALAMEDA
We've got fascinating history and
....a cool delightful view,
A cozy small town atmosphere
....with urban access, too
But it's not just the location;
....those realtors are wrong.
And it isn't our great weather that makes
....this place worth a song.
Sure it's nice to live
....where we can see the Golden Gate.
But, really,
....it's the people that make Alameda great.

|
| Two views of George Simmons |
George E Simmons
I Always Come Back
I always come back to Alameda
I was but a youth when I first left
The people the shops the atmosphere
just thinking back I feel bereft
The friends made then, still lasting
and the memories we made
I often regret ever leaving
but those friendships never fade
My childhood was happy then
Spending time at the beach
or riding bikes, or days at school
and the rules they tried to teach
But I always come back to Alameda
for a visit or just a day
And each time I return, I'm reminded
that I'm sorry I once moved away.
two short poems from Light Blooms by
Michael Thomas Kelly.
Oh, Laura
She feels the pain in her beak
as this bird from paradise pecks
at the shell from the inside to break
into the next universe.
***********
the old neighborhoods
i like the old neighborhoods best
where it takes at least six people
to change a tire -- two matriarchs
to supervise and advise the married
to console the unwedded
two patriarchs to prattle about
how it was in the good old days
and how it could've been if they'd of
been the boss back then
and one big strapping macho
buck to break the rust on the lug nuts
and a youngster, eager and almost able
to do the rest of the work and sweat
but what i like best is the loud music
it's always tops with me.
**********
Strength 8 by Tanya Joyce
Tail of a cobra,
Body of him and her,
Necklace of roses,
Red fur.
Guess who I am.
In all my poses
Sitting, standing,
Running, roaring,
Asleep, I am
Deep inside you.
from anthology Tarot Haiku
The book features Poetry by members of the
Thursday Night Tarot, started in the 1950's, one of San Francisco's longest lasting discussion groups.
The book is dedicated to the late Anna Ruth Kipping, with her photo on the dedication page
receiving a First Place Award at the Alameda Short Poem and Haiku Contest Celebration in Alameda in 2002.
Tanya Joyce's Poem in the Alameda Island Theme Anthology titled Webster Street Stitching won her the
title of Poet Laureate of Stitchery. She also composed several Haiku and other poems in the Alameda Theme Poems
Anthology
FOUR TEATROS HATH THE NAME OF ALAMEDA
Four theaters in Alameda were named Alameda.
Not many cities can claim something like that.
Yet though the names of all four were the very same,
Each could easily be told part from the other.
The first was a storefront in a most unlikely place,
A red Masonic Temple on a corner of Park Street.
A long time ago that first one was but that lair still abounds
Yesterday was super flicks, today is a Supercuts.
The second had an architect named Albert Cornelius,
Was on Santa Clara just off of Park Street.
Had a name change to Rialto but was close soon after.
Best known later on as bowl alley, now it’s bank.
The third, largest and best-known of all
Was on Central Ave just off of Park Street.
From Timothy Pfluger like Castro and Paramount,
Became rink now gym and awaits a comeback.
The fourth was drive-in, not off of Park Street
But an outdoor cinema just out of the tube,
Across the drive from its neighbor named Island.
Now is gone and replaced by a college (kind-of) named
Alameda.
Four teatros hath the name Alameda in Alameda.
One is true landmark, so should the other three.
The names were the same but the venues were not.
But all were once main sources of entertainment
In
Alameda.
İ 2006 Garrett
Murphy
www.GarrettMurphywriter.org
| Mary Loughran |

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Mary Loughran
Zoo Story
She laughed when she saw the flamingoes’
brilliant salmon in the sunlight, a dozen
perched on one stalk leg creating their
own
reedy vertical bed in that open grassy
space
they slept in at the zoo.
Too young, to appreciate the uniqueness
of their necks wrapped around their feathered
bodies like a stole nonchalantly tossed,
I watched her enthusiasm through the lens
of childhood, feeling slightly lost.
Seeing wonder all around me, since every
sight
was new, and from that place where wonder
lived,
her delight, in my sight, grew into a strange,
unnatural thing I had not seen before
in this mommy that I knew.
Unnatural the zoo where tigers pace
round and round their outdoor cage,
and panthers pace indoors the same,
where apes toss oranges peels and apple
cores
and sometimes heads of lettuce, where lions
spray and llamas spit and emus peck at
children’s hats and sometimes bit
off buttons,
where mothers laugh, cajole and kid.
We saw the elephants that day inside
their own enclosure while mother
talked with shining eyes to the man
who looked no older. We saw those elephants
quite up close that day, heard stories
of love and comfort between them.
We saw a mouse among their dung,
worried for its freedom. But most of all
I saw that day my mother as a woman,
and wondered why her cage was home,
and why the zoo was freedom.
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