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ALAMEDA ISLAND POETS

Alameda Island Poets

Nanette Deetz, Charlie Lopez Sr., Ken Peterson, Mary Rudge

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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.

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?

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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.com
www.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."

Marie Burnett
 
Sitter's Song

Hush a bye little babe
from another woman's womb,
your mama's out workin'
but she'll be back soon.
Then you will suckle
at her warm skinned breast,
not from plastic bags
of milk she expressed.

Rock a bye precious one
you're not sad alone.
I'm sure mama's wishin'
that she were at home.
Instead she's a cradlin'
plates on a tray,
and smilin' at strangers
for minimal pay.

Sleep a bye child dear
my own ones rocked too,
as she falls asleep
listenin' out like you do.
While I pour liquor
from bottles all night,
and break up all those
nasty bar room flights.

Dream a bye baby
your mama will soon be near,
And I love you plenty
though I'm just your sitter.
Now let's sleep a while
and while dreamin' pretend,
that cradlin' and rockin'
and lovin' don't end.

Bio. 
After many years of travel, after 20 years of single parenthood, after all the 80 hour weeks she could muster, after all manner of personal and health crisis, Marie has finally arrived in lovely Alameda ready to write!

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Marie Burnette

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
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Carrie Clinton

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.
 

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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