Thursday, April 5, 2007

WORDparty's National Poetry Month and more...

by Ingrid Keir

April was National Poetry Month and it kept us busy here at The Wordparty!

We kicked it off with a Canned Poetry reading at Frankenart Mart, a cool storefront art gallery in the Richmond district. Many of you contributed poetry to be sold in a real CAN! (See photos). Nothing like putting some poetry in the pantry just in case of an emergency!

The following week Jennifer Barone and I performed at New Blood, a reading hosted by our own Jimmy Hammond! We heard fresh new work from some our favorites including Sharon Doubiago, Monique de Magdalena, Apostle and Jesse Whiley.



Yours truly was invited to feature at Poetry Mission held at Dalva. I believe the intimate setting, the low lighting, and that darn sexy backroom put a spell on me. I was so honored that many of my fellow poets came out to listen to me read!

We continued the National Poetry Month marathon at the 2nd Annual Poem Dome at City Hall, the largest open mic San Francisco has to offer! The Wordparty helped out Diamond Dave Whitaker, E.K. Keith and Charlie Getter with this year’s event. I was lucky enough to read a poem during the three solid hours of poetry. I was wowed by the San Francisco open mic scene! It was truly an amazing to hear poetry in countless varying forms.

As if that wasn’t enough, Jennifer Barone represented at the Beat Museum’s own National Poetry Month Celebration alongside San Francisco’s Poet Laureate, Jack Hirschman, Sharon Doubiago, Monique de Magdalena, Jimmy Hammond, Rudy Waltz & Guinevere!

Whew, once April was over, we took a little poetry vacation in the Sutro Heights Park with Clara Hsu and Dan Brady’s Poets with Trees Picnic. This reading was special because it was not only outside, but we had our own Wordparty Tree! Special thanks to Miss Nicole Henares for bringing her High School kids out to the event, many of them participated by reading a poem or two!

Our own Jennifer Barone is the recipient of the prestigious Poet’s 11 award! She was hand picked by Jack Hirschman (SF’s Poet Laureate) for three poems she submitted to the contest, “Santa Lucia,” “I Won’t Speak,” and “A Political Poem”! Please join me in congratulating Jennifer on her award!!

That brings us to some things we did just for fun! Jazz Cat in the Hat, a poetry swap and a button contest! Please take a look at some of the photos we have posted to see how fun it is to get down with poetry! If you have any ideas for poetry themes, please let us know. We are going to continue to bring you innovative & fun poetry themed nights in the coming months.



Jack Hirschman & Jennifer at the North Beach Branch Library

Ingrid, Clara Hsu & Jennifer at our tree at the Poets with Trees Picnic

Ingrid @ Poems Under the Dome

Ingrid Keir Features at Dalva
Frankenart Mart's Poetry in Can