Thank You For the Privilege
(by Farnaz Fatemi)
Today’s issue of For Better or Verse will be my last before I hand this newsletter over to the next Santa Cruz County Poet Laureate--who will keep it going. As Poet Laureate, it has been my privilege to use the position to contribute to some of the subcommunities of poetry in our county. One of my missions, especially with this newsletter, has been to make some of those sub communities more visible and to strengthen ties across our county. I hope I’ve done a little of that. I’ve also found new ways to nurture my own life as a poet and member of the Santa Cruz poetry community.
As you might recall, I received an Academy of American Poets (AAP) Fellowship in 2023 to support a community project of my devising. The project had two main phases. In the first half of 2024, in partnership with a handful of amazing poets I recruited, I worked with several hundred 11-18 year-olds in poetry-writing sessions about place—focusing on where they live inside Santa Cruz County. We got to encourage poetry from Bonny Doon sixth graders and students in Word Lab at Branciforte Middle School, we held workshops co-sponsored by the Natural History Museum and the County Office of Education, and visited the teen internship programs at Watsonville Wetlands Watch (I wrote some more about the details of this work for AAP, here).
The second initiative is also an invitation to all of you reading this newsletter. I developed a digital space called Mapping My Place, inspired by the poetry written in those earlier workshops. Now, everyone in SC County (or with a connection to our county) is invited to add our voices to what I hope will be an ever-growing space. You’ll see there are many ways to do this—by uploading a poem you’ve already written that connects to some aspect of SC County, or by responding to a prompt based on one of the poems, or by responding to several photos taken locally and contributed by the astounding Shmuel Thaler and Frans Lanting. There are more details, along with sample poems and many prompts, to be found on Mapping My Place, and this won’t be the last time you hear me talk about it. But I invite you to explore it when you can, contribute when you can, and certainly use the site as inspiration for writers you work with of any age. I hope you find something in it for you and I look forward to watching it grow.
New Poet Laureate Selected
I’m overjoyed to share that today the Board of Supervisors approved the two-year appointment of the wonderful Nancy Miller Gomez as our next Santa Cruz County Poet Laureate. The selection committee was thrilled to nominate her. Nancy and I will formally commemorate a handoff, a laurel-passing as it were, in a joint public reading in early spring, and when a press release is available I’ll share it via this substack. I’m so excited for our county.
Readings & Events
Saturday, Feb 1, 1-3pm. Poetry in Flight with Magdalena Montagne, as part of Community Reads: Barbara Kingsolver's "Flight Behavior." “We'll write poems inspired by one of the many themes of the novel: Identity, belonging, climate activism, social justice and more. This free workshop is open to teens and up. Come out and write with me. It's not necessary to have read the book to participate.” At the Scotts Valley Library's Fireside Room. Info here.
Events at Satori Arts
Tuesday, Feb 4, 7pm. Inter|Act Spoken Word Open Mic Featuring Dane Cervine
Friday, Feb 7, 7pm. Satori Arts First Friday Poetry Open Mic Featuring Michael Phan
Tuesday, Feb 18, 7pm. Inter|Act Spoken Word Open Mic Featuring Writers of Color
Wednesday, Feb 5, 6:30-8pm. Poetry Out Loud, Bookshop Santa Cruz. Poetry Out Loud is a nation-wide program that encourages high school students to learn about great poetry through memorization and performance. Come cheer on our students competing from across the county.
Friday, Feb 7, 6-7:30pm. Lit Chat with Jackie Berger, at Catamaran Literary Reader. 1050 River St., Studio 118, Santa Cruz. Celebrate Berger's new poetry collection Left at the Ruin.
Send Your Poems
Final call to submit to The Muse: an in-person reading of poetry by women, women-identified and non-binary poets. Feb 1st at 11:59pm is the deadline to apply to participate. (Save the date! This year’s Muse will take place March 21, 6:30-8:30 pm at the Resource Center for Non-Violence, 612 Ocean St. in Santa Cruz.) Submit here.
Lookout Santa Cruz, our Pulitzer Prize-winning local, digital news site, is accepting submissions of love poetry for a special Valentine’s Day Community Voices piece. “We are looking for poems relating to all kinds of love. Whether you are a seasoned poet or a beginner, we would love to hear from you.”
Guidelines: Submit up to 3 poems. 50 lines maximum per poem. Must be a resident of Santa Cruz County. Only submit poems that are entirely original work. Previously published poems are OK. Email submissions to reubencampbell10@gmail.com by February 5 for consideration. Please paste your submission directly into the body of the email. Include a title for your poem, your name, a brief bio and a phone number where we can reach you (max 50 words).
National Agriculture Day poetry contest, for grades 7-12, deadline Feb 21. Theme is “Grown in Santa Cruz County and the Pajaro Valley.” Send poems to Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau, 141 Monte Vista Ave, Watsonville, 95076. See graphic for full details. $250 prize for the winner.
Santa Cruz County Youth Poet Laureate Program, for youth ages 13-18, deadline March 1. All teen writers interested in working with other poets, supporting each other, and taking advantage of literary and leadership opportunities in the county are invited to apply. More information about application workshops taking place over the next month, and guidelines to apply, available here at our website, or follow the YPL Instagram site here.
Save the Dates
Feb 20 6-7pm. Five contributors (including Watsonville poet laureate Victoria Bañales) from Somos Xicanas, a new all Xicana anthology, will read at the Watsonville Library, followed by a book signing.
The Hive Live! on Tuesday March 11 at 7pm will feature poets Ellen Bass, Jan Beatty & Luke Johnson.
Thursday Apr 17, 7pm. Santa Cruz County Youth Poet Laureate Celebration. Samper Theater at Cabrillo College, Aptos. Please come help me celebrate the second annual cohort of Youth Poet Laureate finalists and the announcement of the next Youth Poet Laureate. If you were at the Kuumbwa last year, you know you’ll be inspired by the amazing poetry from so many of our county’s teen poets.
PSA from Farnaz
Don’t forget to send in items for this newsletter! In the past two years I’ve promoted every (free) event I’ve received from many of you, but sadly have missed things I didn’t know about. It’s not a given that anyone editing this newsletter will stumble on news/calls/workshops/new books in a timely way (even if I’ve included your items in the past), but it is SO clear to me that our poetry-loving community wants to keep hearing poetry news and events. Please share them with Nancy if you want! (Simply replying to this newsletter in your email works.)