No Dog Days Yet

But county poetry keeps cooking...

It’s July, and poetry is keeping me sane, how about you?

I have cheery news and more events to share today. Keep me posted about yours!

Youth Poet Laureate News

The Watsonville Poet Laureate Committee has announced the selection of Watsonville’s first Youth Poet Laureates, Rachel Huerta and Eva Sophia Martinez Rodriguez. You can read more information about their role and about them here. (And scroll to the end of this issue for poems from each of them).

Also coming soon is a Santa Cruz County Youth Poet Laureate, sponsored by the Santa Cruz Public Libraries and supported by the County Office of Education and Arts Council Santa Cruz County. The first SC County Youth Poet Laureate will be appointed next April, after an application period which opens in the fall. (Deadline will be Feb 1, 2024).

In conjunction with the YPL program, we will offer six free workshop events will be offered to young people countywide from October to January, ranging from poetry-writing to oral performance to how to select poems and assemble a poetry portfolio. These workshops will be open to anyone 13-18, regardless of whether they go on to apply to the poet laureate position this year. I will continue updates here, but you can also check out the new Santa Cruz County Youth Poet Laureate page or email me questions at poetlaureate@santacruzpl.org.

If you are a high school teacher and you would like a classroom visit to hear more about the SC County Youth Poet Laureate program, please get in touch with me!

EVENTS

Reminder—this Sunday,  SC County Parks’ new series Poetry and Music in the Parks  launches; I’ll host. July 9, from 1:30-3:30, at Mesa Village Park in Watsonville (790 Green Valley Rd). Three poets—Joseph Jason Santiago LaCour, Adela Najarro, and Olga Rosales Salinas—will read from 2-3, with music by the The Rhythm Rangellers (before and after the poems).

More current events

Inter|Act Spoken Word at Abbott Square Market has set Tuesdays for the rest of the year. They are the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month, which makes it easy to remember, but if you want them in your calendar, those dates are: July 18, Aug 1, Aug 15, Sept 5, Sept 19, Oct 3, Oct 17, Nov 7, and Nov 21. You can also sign up for their mailing list.

Don’t forget: The Hive Poetry Collective’s summer event at Bookshop Santa Cruz. Tuesday, July 18 at 7pm, we will host county local, Jamaica Baldwin, and Bay Area Poet, Francesca Bell. More info and registration link at hivepoetry.org.

Poetry & Writing Conference comes to Santa Cruz

Círculo de poetas & Writers is holding their annual conference this year in Santa Cruz, and will take place on August 5 (and August 12, online) at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History. Includes workshops & presentations, $25 fee + $50 annual membership. More info here. In case you don’t know Círculo, their Mission Statement reads: “Círculo de poetas & Writers is a community of authors dedicated to the creation, promotion, and dissemination of multilingual multicultural poetry and prose through workshops, publications, and public presentations. Founded in 2015, the organization encourages diverse voices and is open to new and established writers. Circulo de poetas & Writers seeks to advocate for and represent writing communities of color and their contributions on local and national levels.”

That’s all for now. Poems below. As always—keep in touch!

Two poems by the new Watsonville Youth Poet Laureates

mixed (Rachel Huerta)

i am mixed.
the soil of strawberry fields
and the blush of cherry blossoms
run wild in my blood.
i listen silently as my abuelos talk over bowls of pozole
in a language that’s a whisper away from a song
a language that i fight to understand.
i trace a finger over the edges of my eyes
eyes that taper at the very ends
eyes that are ghosts of my harabeoji’s;
we both trick the cameras when we smile.
i am a vivid collage of the beauty that came before
and yet my pecan skin and untidy curls
are almost obtrusive
in a community of caucasians.
i am a brown girl with asian eyes.
i will never fit solidly into white america
but i’m always lingering on the outside of my cultures
looking through a window
at what i should be.

Belonging (Eva Sophia Martinez Rodriguez)

I always feel like I don’t belong anywhere
Not at home
I’m “too young” to be part of their conversations
I’m not “old enough” to do what they do
Not old enough to drink
Go out without an adult
Not old enough to be trusted and talked to like a person
Instead I get treated like the baby
The one that needs to be protected and never can go out because “she’s too young”
Can’t drink
Can’t drive
Can’t think with her mind
But it’s not my fault I’m “too young”
Not at school though
I’m “too old” there
I don’t know the slang
I don’t follow up on trends
I’m old schooled
And get seen as “too old” for someone to date
I worry too much about what other people think and when counting down the days
I’ll be the first to drive
The first to be an adult
It should feel nice
When really it’s not
The two places where I should feel like I belong
Are the two places where I feel like I don’t