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Fame In Alameda |
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ALAMEDA ISLAND POETS |
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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.
Part I. The Place I notice the place Part II. The Gifts The sea, for its part, brings little gifts Part III. The Space
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.
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.
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..
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
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.
**********
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
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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