Stay Cool
Hope you’re all managing the weather and taking advantage of it in ways you can. If you know me, you know I’m a tomato farmer at heart, so I get kind of dreamy-eyed when July is like this, I confess. It’s a great season to wander into readings and open mics, sink into writing poetry yourself, and send it out into the world, all of which are covered in the listings below.
At the end of this dispatch I am including the link to a short essay I was invited to write for Terrain.org, in my role as local poet laureate. It’s less an attempt to represent the region and more an attempt to consider some of the questions which come up when I ponder my connections to our county. If you read it, I hope it invites you to ponder your own, too. Either way, I hope you check out Terrain.org—it's a wonderful site.
Readings & Events
Tuesday, July 9, 7pm. Hive Live! at Bookshop Santa Cruz, featuring C.S. Giscombe and Santa Cruz County’s own Nancy Miller Gomez.
Friday July 12, 7-9pm. Satori—Open Mic. Featuring Jen Siraganian, Writer, Educator, Literary Organizer and Former Poet Laureate of Los Gatos. More information here.
Tuesday July 16, 7pm. Inter|Act Spoken Word Open Mic Celebration of Writers of Color of Santa Cruz County. At Satori an artist space, 815 Almar, Unit 9, Santa Cruz.
Save the Date: New Santa Cruz County Youth Poet Laureate reading: Poetry and Music in the Park (2024-25 version!) continues Sunday, August 4, from 1:30-3:30. Poets include our county Youth Poet Laureate, Dina Lusztig Noyes, along with Roberto Efren Osorio and Chloe Gentile-Montgomery. A vibrant lineup of poetry talent.
Workshops and More
Thursday July 11, 3-5pm. Ecopoetry at the Boulder Creek Library with Magdalena Montagne. Can poets help save the earth? We’ll look at poems that unsettle and urge, enlarging the idea of nature poetry, helping readers not only know, but feel, and then perhaps leading them to action. We’ll write and share in a supportive and creative environment. Workshop is free, but due to the small size of the meeting room, pre-registration is required.
Thursday, July 25, 3-5pm. Ecopoetry at the Garfield Park Library with Magdalena Montagne. See above. Workshop is free, but due to the small size of the meeting room, pre-registration is required.
The Círculo de poets & Writers summer conference will be held both in-person and online. The in-person conference will take place on Saturday, August 17th at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History in Santa Cruz, while the online conference is the following Saturday, August 24th, via Zoom. You can attend both or just one date. Both dates include opportunities to get to know each other, attend workshops, and more, concluding with an open mic for all participants. Register and find out more about scholarships available for BIPOC participants here.
Watsonville Poet Laureate 2025-26
The esteemed Bob Gómez, Watsonville Poet Laureate, will end his accomplished tenure on December 31. We will find some opportunities to celebrate and thank him before then. Meanwhile, individuals can nominate themselves or be nominated by other city residents to be the next Poet Laureate through an application made available at the Watsonville Public Library. Deadline is August 30th. See more information here.
More Words from Me
Essay in Terrain.org, “Not One Place.” “In this series curated by Currents editor Leonora Simonovis, three current poets laureate write about what it means, in the words of Robin Wall Kimmerer, ‘to become native to place.’ Each of them explores the deep connections they have created with land and people, stressing the fact that belonging is a reciprocal process, not a given right.” Responses welcome, if you’re so moved.