Thursday, June 11, 2020

We Are Here: Village Poets Anthology Celebrates the 10th Anniversary of Poetry Readings

ISBN 978-1-945938-39-9 (paperback) , $22
  ISBN 978-1-945938-40-5 (eBook, ePub), $10 
 

Village Poets is pleased to announce the publication of the 10th anniversary anthology. Edited by Marlene Hitt and Maja Trochimczyk, and entitled We Are Here: Village Poetry Anthology, this collection presents 80 poets featured during the monthly readings at Bolton Hall Museum in Tujunga, CA as well as the group of current and former Poets Laureate of Sunland-Tujunga who organize the readings. In addition to its home base at the Bolton Hall Museum, the Village Poets have also had occasional visits to the McGroarty Arts Center, the former home of the California Poet-Laureate in 1933-1944, John Steven McGroarty. His Poet-Laureate title inspired the local Poet-Laureate program, initiated in 1999. The anthology's editors are both former Poets-Laureate of Sunland-Tujunga: Marlene Hitt was the First, in 1999-2001 and Dr. Maja Trochimczyk served as the Sixth in 2010-2012 when the readings were initiated. 

The volume includes work by: 15 poets laureate from California; 20 Pushcart Prize nominees – Accardi, Askew, Byrne, Canyon, Collins, Dobreer, Dove, Ford, Fancher, Luza,  Leland-St. John , O’Brien, Jones, Pero, Reyna, Rinne, Rogers, Rummel, Skiles, and Terzi; 12 current and former college professors – Campbell, Kirby, Dove, Lipkin, Lummis,  Peterson, Rummel, Rizk, Talwar, Trochimczyk, Saine, and Zaro; and eight poets with doctoral degrees – Dove, Lipkin, Mataric, Meyer (honorary), Peterson, Reyna, Saine, and Trochimczyk.  Poets from the states of California, Illinois, New York, New Mexico, Texas, and Washington are represented along with those who have roots in 18 different countries: Argentina, Armenia, Cuba, China, Chile, Czech Republic, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, the U.K., the U.S. and Vietnam.

The colorful cover, designed by Maja Trochimczyk, features artwork by Polish-American poet and painter, Andrew Kolo, who appeared at the readings to present both his art and his poetry. The painting, entitled “Landscape with the Palm Tree” (oil on canvas), is a mosaic of vivid, saturated colors, contrasting, yet somehow in harmony with each other. This is a great metaphor for a poetry reading filled with numerous, distinct poetic voices. 

The book consists of two parts: Guests and Featured Poets, represented by 1-3 poems each; and Poets-Laureate, with 10 local poets, represented by 6-8 poems each. A list of Village Poets Readings, a brief history of the program, and biographies of the poets are included as well. The 290-page anthology is published in two versions, as a paperback and an e-book in ePub format.  

ISBN 978-1-945938-39-9 (paperback), $22 
ISBN 978-1-945938-40-5 (eBook, ePub), $10 
 


 ABOUT THIS BOOK

"This anthology is a treasure and I'm honored to be part of it! Over the last ten years, the Village Poets of Sunland-Tujunga, along with the faithful support of the Little Landers Historical Society and the McGroarty Arts Center, provided a place, not only for local poets to gather, but for poets from well beyond our town to come together as a community and enjoy conversation and share their work.  This anthology is a wonderful tribute to all who participated over the years."

~ Dorothy Skiles, Seventh Poet Laureate of Sunland-Tujunga

"This is a lovely anthology, my fellow Americans! We are all Village Poets, in one way or another. And we are all Little Landers, also called “los terrenitos,” the utopian colony of collective agriculture established in and around Bolton Hall Museum in the early 20th century. Let us cultivate our poetic land!"

~ Margaret Saine, author of Lit Angels and Gardens of the World (Moonrise Press)

"The busy poetry circles of mountain communities cohabiting the threatened southern rim of our forests, has produced a series, celebrated in this gorgeous anthology which artfully embraces power of place. These are the precious words of lyrical poets from everywhere, who joined the Valley Poets inside the halls of the pioneer settlers of Tujunga, joining in a decades-long tribute to and embodiment of the democratic community practices of the founding ancestors, gathered within the walls of monumental Bolton Hall."

~ Ed Rosenthal, survivor www.poetbroker.com         



ABOUT VILLAGE POETS 

Village Poets of Sunland Tujunga is a group of former Poets Laureate of Sunland-Tujunga. They organize poetry readings in their beautiful foothill community, write poetry, and publish books, making sure that poetry life is rich and vibrant in the foothills. Every two years, Village Poets organize a competition for the Poet-Laureate of Sunland-Tujunga (currently serving: Alice Pero). Another continuing project is the Village Poets Monthly Reading at Bolton Hall Museum in Tujunga, CA.


Marlene Hitt (Right) with Dorothy Skiles (Left) at Village Poets Reading


MARLENE HITT was the first Poet Laureate of Sunland Tujunga (1999-2001). She has been a member of the Chupa Rosa Writers of Sunland-Tujunga and the Foothills since its inception in 1985. In addition to numerous poetry chapbooks, anthologies and readings, she has authored a non-fiction book Sunland-Tujunga, from Village to City. She served at the Bolton Hall Museum in Tujunga as Museum Director and docent. In addition to her poetry activities, she was the history writer for the Foothill Leader, Glendale News Press, North Valley Reporter, and Voice of the Village newspapers, as well as the Shadow Hills Property Owners Association newsletter. She has been honored as the Woman of Achievement by the Business and Professional Women's Club. She lives happily ever after with her husband Lloyd and an outdoor cat named Lautrémont.  Her poetry collection Clocks and Water Drops was published by Moonrise Press in 2015. In 2019, after retiring from active participation in Village Poets Readings, Marlene was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award, shared with her husband, Lloyd.


Maja Trochimczyk, 2018

DR. MAJA TROCHIMCZYK, the sixth Poet Laureate of Sunland Tujunga (2010-2012), is a poet, music historian, photographer, and non-profit director born in Poland and living in California (www.trochimczyk.net). She selects and invites poets to feature at the Village Poets series  - the final approval is made by the whole group. She published seven books on music, five volumes of poetry, and three anthologies (Chopin with Cherries, Meditations on Divine Names and Grateful Conversations). The venues for her poetry included: Altadena Poetry Review, Loch Raven Review, Epiphany Magazine, Lily Review, Ekphrasis Journal, Quill and Parchment, Magnapoets, The Cosmopolitan Review, The Scream Online, The Original Van Gogh’s Ear Anthology, Lummox Journal, Phantom Seed, Spectrum, Poezja Dzisiaj, OccuPoetry, as well as anthologies published by Poets on Site, Southern California Haiku Study Group, and others. Trochimczyk presented papers at over 90 national and international conferences in Poland, France, Germany, Hungary, U.K., Canada, and the U.S. She received awards and fellowships from ACLS, SSHRCC, USC, McGill University, MPE Fraternity, Polish American Historical Association, City and County of Los Angeles, and Poland’s Ministry of Culture. The Senior Director of Planning and Development at Phoenix Houses of California, she also serves as the President of California State Poetry Society and the President of Helena Modjeska Art and Culture Club.


Preface

With this anthology of 80 poets, we celebrate the tenth anniversary of Village Poets Monthly Readings, held since 2010 at Bolton Hall Museum in Tujunga. We also have occasional visits to the McGroarty Arts Center, a former home of the California Poet-Laureate in 1933-1944, John Steven McGroarty. His Poet-Laureate title inspired our local Poet-Laureate program, initiated in 1999, when one of us (Marlene Hitt) became the First Poet-Laureate of Sunland-Tujunga. The other editor (Maja Trochimczyk) was the Sixth and we just selected our Tenth, Alice Pero. 

A variety of public poetry readings, festivals and events followed, and the Village Poets Monthly Readings have been established as a result.  You can read about the history of our readings further on. 

Here, we would like to express our profound appreciation to all the poets who presented their work at the readings, both as featured and guest poets. We are also grateful to all the musicians and artists, who enriched our events with their talents, and to the entire Sunland-Tujunga community. Little Landers Historical Society allows us to use Bolton Hall Museum every month. The McGroarty Arts Center welcomes us every two years or so for our “Passing of the Laurels” ceremonies. Sunland-Tujunga Neighbor-hood Council offers financial support for some of our events. 

We, the editors, are especially grateful to all volunteers who have made the Village Poets Monthly Readings possible: Lloyd Hitt, Bill Skiles, and other Poets-Laureate: Dorothy Skiles (the “president” and spiritus movens of our group), Joe DeCenzo, Elsa Samkow-Frausto, and Pamela Shea. Together, we have created something worthwhile, something lasting. Enjoy!

Maja Trochimczyk and Marlene Hitt 


TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface – vii

Table of Contents - viii

Poetry in the Foothills – A Look Back  - x

Listing of Featured Poets and Artists – xii


 Part 1. Featured and Guest Poets  - 1

 Lidia Abramian (Lulu)  - 3

               Be Me – 3

               Rite of Passage – 4

               Ancestor Love Dance – 4

Millicent Borges Accardi – 5

               Over Broken Bottles and Rivers – 5

               And Rage – A Pot of Orchids You Loved – 6

               Mourning Doves – 7

Sharon Alexander – 8

               Wheatfield with Crows – 8

               My Name Was Once an Argument - 9

Eliécer Almaguer – 10

               Acupuncturas – 10

               Acupunctures, transl. Margaret Saine – 11

Christopher Askew – 12

               There is a Place – 12

Moments – 13

Beth Baird – 14

               This Table – 14

               Ode to a Temporary Relationship – 15
Judy Barrat – 16

Remembering the Daisy Days – 16

Cile Borman – 18

               The Weekend – 18

               What is the Blues – 19

Madeleine Swift Butcher – 20

               What She Carries – 20

               Girl from Minneapolis – 21

Elena Karina Byrne – 22

That Van Gogh Was on Drugs Wasn’t Funny – 22

Don Kingfisher Campbell – 23

Showing a DVD on the Galapagos to a Ninth

Grade Class – 23

Curiosity – 24

Ross Canton – 25

“A Noiseless Spider” (Revisited) – 25

               Waking to Absence – 26

Gloriana Casey – 27

               The Magic of MOM – 27

               The Piggy Bank Blessing – 28

Jackie Chou – 29

               Ode to Insomniacs – 29

               Cerulean – 30

Teresa Mei Chuc – 31

               Pencil – 31

Jeanette Clough – 33

               Coloratura – 33

               Sky – 34

Beverly M. Collins – 35

               Dragon – 35

               Some Bridges – 36

Brendan Constantine – 37

               Anonymous – 37

               Difficult Listening Time – 38

Bill Cushing – 39

               Pelicans – 39

               Dispatches – 39

               A Former Life – 40

Marsha De La O – 41

               Summer – 41

Peggy Dobreer – 42

               Exquisite Harmonics – 42

Linda Dove – 44

               Fear Is the Key to Every Map, Every Eye - 44  

Alexis Rhone Fancher – 45

Overdose – 45

Cruel Choices – 46

Mary Fitzpatrick – 47

               Basho’s Death – 47

               Sweet Are the Uses of Adversity – 48

Michael C. Ford – 49

               A Get-Well Card – 49

Joyce Futa – 50

               Her Death – 50

Kumquat Marmalade –  51

William Scott Galasso – 52

               Halcyon Days – 52

               May day manna (tanka) – 53

               Twenty-twenty (haiku) – 53

               One breath (haiku) – 53

Jerry Garcia – 54

While Walking the Dog Last Evening – 54

John Guzlowski – 55

               Refugees – 55

               Thanksgiving Day Poem – 56

Charles Harmon – 57

The Joy of Cooking – 57

Lloyd Hitt – 59

               A Shadow – 59

               Curiosity – 60

               Our Journey – 61

Lois P. Jones – 62

               Red Horse – 62

Georgia Jones-Davis – 63

               Monumental Dog – 63

After the Storm – 64

C.E. Jordan – 65

               possum garden – 65

Mandy Kahn – 67

               The Tour Guide – 67

               The Everyday – 68

Mina Kirby – 69

               When I Was Me – 69

               A Special Place – 71

Andrew Kolo – 72

America of An Immigrant – 72

Dinosaur – 72

Garden of Eden – 73

Deborah P Kolodji – 74

               white marble (haiku) – 74

               floating purple (haiku) – 74

               highway (haiku) – 74

               settling the estate (haiku) – 74

the scarf (haiku) – 74

morning tidepools (haiku) - 74

winter sea (haiku) – 75

a caterpillar's progress (haiku) – 75

moon flower (haiku) – 75

LA traffic (haiku) – 75

our history (haiku) – 75

Mariko Kitakubo – 76

               Borderless Prayer (tanka sequence) – 76

Sharmagne Leland-St. John – 78

               Bruna Vieira gathers flowers – 78

               She Dreams – 79

James Levin – 80

               A.M. Ride – 80

Wayne Allen LeVine – 81

               No Way Back – 81

Only This – 82

Stephen Lindsteadt – 83

               Saint-Rémy de Provence – 83

Elline Lipkin – 84

               My Parents Meet at La Grande Place – 84

               Limoncello – 85

B.D. Love – 86

               Declan IV – 86

Rick Lupert – 87

               Heat – 87

Animal Hospitality – 88

Radomir Luza – 89

               Tall Oak Trees with Gray, Flowing Moss – 89

Suzanne Lummis – 91

               Flour, Eggs, Milk, Baking Powder, Salt and God – 91

Answer Like the House Burning Down – 93

Not There – 95

Shahe Mankerian – 96

Writer's Block at Father's Grocery Store – 96

Mirjana N. Radovanov Matarić – 97

               Land of Canyons and Arches – 97

               Oxymoron – 98

Maria Elena B. Mahler – 99

               La Machi – 99      

Gabriel Meyer – 100

A Harvest of Springs Struck by Lightning – 100

               Still Life, With Lilacs – 101

Naia – 102

               Songbird (haiku) – 102

new love . . . (haiku) – 102

in those moments (haiku) – 102

the way his lips linger (haiku) – 102

               Ghosts Among the Cornflowers – 103

Toti O’Brien – 104

               Of the Palm – 104

               Albino – 105

Cece Peri – 106

Trouble Down the Road –106

Who Says Bodhisattvas Can’t Have Fun? – 107

A.R. Peterson – 108

               Poem for Augustine – 108

               The Light That Fails – 109

Thelma T. Reyna – 110

               The Broken Heart Syndrome – 110

               This is How Grief Goes – 111

Cindy Rinne – 112

               Places I Belong When the World is Upside Down – 112

               The Land Owns Me – 113

Susan Rogers – 114

Longing for October – 114

Gratitude – 115

Sharon Rizk – 116

               Coming Up for Air – 116

Ed Rosenthal – 118

               The Digger – 118

Mary Kay Rummel – 120

               Burnt Dress – 120

               California Morning Song – 121

Sonya Sabanac – 122

               In that Banat Land – 122

Margaret Saine – 124

               Interlude 1900 – 124

               Awakening – 125

Shaymaa – 126

               Discover – 126

               Wild Life – 127

Param Sharma – 128

               Government Memorandum – 128

Rick Smith – 130

               St. Germaine District, Paris, 1949 – 130

Kathi Stafford – 131

               Near Belur Temple – 131

               Ripe Moon – 132

Julia Stein – 133

               After the Fire Storm – 133

Melissa Studdard – 134

               Inside the beige brick house, the beige rooms – 134

               My Kind – 135

Konrad Tademar Wilk – 136

               The Grace of a Great Dame – 136

               In Nonsymmetric, Entropic Gravitation – 137

Ambika Talwar – 138

               Quantum of Your Gaze – 138

Love the Rain! – 139

Judith Terzi – 140

Ode to Malala Yousafzai – 140

Nostalgia – 141

Bory Thach – 142

In the Moonlit Night – 142

Lost Tribe – 143

G. Murray Thomas – 144

“Your Kidney Just Arrived at Lax” – 144

Mary Torregrossa – 145

               The Promise of Snow – 145

Yun Wang – 147

               Futurescape – 147

               Spring – 148

Mari Werner – 149

               Joshua Trees – 149

From the third planet orbiting the yellow dwarf star 27,000 light-years from the center of the 97-billionth galaxy – 150

Measuring – 151

Kath Abela Wilson – 152

Childhood Wisdom – 152

Clear summer evening (tanka) – 152

Like a painting (tanka) – 152

Now a Garden – 153

What grows – 154

Mariano Zaro – 155

Synapse – 155

 


L to R: Elsa Frausto, Dorothy Skiles, Marlene Hitt, Joe DeCenzo, Pamela Shea, 
and Maja Trochimczyk, April 2017, McGroarty Arts Center.

Part 2. Poets Laureate of Sunland-Tujunga - 157

 John Steven McGroarty –159

               Biography – 159

               Just California – 160


Marlene Hitt – 161

               Biography – 161

               Arrival – 162

               Innocence – 163

               Enlightenment – 164

               Prescription – 164

               Ancestors – 165

               The Color of a Brisk and Leaping Day – 166

               Love Mended – 167

               The Remembering – 168

 

Katerina Canyon – 170

               Biography– 170

               Feet – 171

               Why Write? – 173

               The Color of Their Skin is What Defines Most People,

so Barren – 175

“O” – 175

               Material Value – 176

               Penance – 177

               A Cento for Poe – 178

Joe DeCenzo – 179          

               Biography – 179

               Ordinary Rose – 180

               Conversing with Shadows – 181

               Barely Dressed – 183

               Flowers – 184

               My Companion in Free Fall – 186

               For a Friend–187

 Damien Stednitz –188

               Biography – 188

               Sunland– 189

               This Smaller Murder – 191

               Details – 192

               The Carter Variations – 193        

               To the Daughter I Didn’t Have – 195       

 Ursula T. Gibson – 197

               Biography – 197

               The Summer Has Fled – 198

               Twelve – 199

               Driftwood Heart – 202

               Improvements – 201

               The Blossoms of the Night-Blooming Cereus – 202

               Time for Rest - 203

 Maja Trochimczyk – 204

               Biography – 204

What I Love in Sunland – 205

               Dragonfly Days – 206

               Sapphire – 208

               Arbor Cosmica – 209

               June in Gold and Blue – 210

               Imagine – A Poem of Light – 211

Dorothy Skiles – 212

               Biography – 212

               Taking the Old Road – 213

               Yesterday’s Roses – 214

               Winds – 215

               Portland’s Fog – 215

               The Scourge of 2020 – 216

               The Coyote’s Howl – 217

               Deep in My Dreams – 218

Elsa Samkow-Frausto – 219

               Biography – 219

               Going – 220

               Late into the Night – 220

               Here, Alive & Awake – 221

               I No Longer Question I’m a Poet – 221

               Long Math (for Ander) – 222

               I Offer You a Moratorium on Race  - 224

Pamela Shea – 225          

               Biography – 225

               Glowing Girl – 226

               Eulogy for Night – 227

               Garden Visit – 228

               Lake Tahoe Vacations – 228

               Escondido – 229

               Rosebuds and Lovers – 230

               Supermoon – 231

               Wash Wonderland – 232

Alice Pero – 233

               Biography – 233

               Old Oak of Sunland/Tujunga Library – 234

               The Day of Nothing – 236

               Barter – 237

               Green by Water on St. Patrick’s

Day, Sunland – 238

               Rumors – 239

  Biographies of Featured and Guest Poets – 239



Village Poets at the Independence Day Parade