April 17, 2021
DAWN RICHARD — Beyond Baroque — Harry Northup — Brian Getnick — Linda J. Albertano — Alexis Rhone Fancher –
LINKS TO THE BEYOND BAROQUE / L.A. TIMES FESTIVAL OF BOOKS POETRY VIDEOS as well as
THREE LOS ANGELES POETS (Linda J. Albertano; Alexis Rhone Fancher; Harry E. Northup)
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Beyond Baroque is helping to sponsor the Poetry Stage at the L.A. Times Festival of Books this year. Here is the link to a splendid line-up of poetry presentations, featuring Victoria Chang, Allison E. Joseph, Martha Ronk, Gail Wronsky, Sesshu Foster, Martin Espada, Yusef Komunyakaa, Ellen Bass, William Archila, and many more!!
https://events.latimes.com/festivalofbooks/2021-stage-poetry/
LOS ANGELES TIMES FESTIVAL OF BOOKS AND BOOK AWARDS — VICTORIA CHANGE — “OBIT”
This year’s stage features videos from the above mentioned poets, as well as Cortney Lamar Charleston, Anthony Cody, Megan Dorame, Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, Jasmine Mans, Jenise Miller, Yesika Salgado, and Michael Wasson.
It should also be noted that the L.A. Times Book Prize winners were just announced.
Poetry: Victoria Chang, “Obit,” Copper Canyon Press
Fiction: David Diop and Anna Moschovakis (translator), “At Night All Blood Is Black: A Novel,” Farrar, Straus and Giroux
OTHER FINALISTS FOR THE POETRY AWARD:
Borderland Apocryphaby Anthony Cody
Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie Diaz
The Age of Phillis by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
Love Child’s Hotbed of Occasional Poetry: Poems and Artifacts by Nikky Finney
The National Book Award finalists for poetry were:
Mei-mei Berssenbrugge, A Treatise on Stars. (New Directions)
Tommye Blount, Fantasia for the Man in Blue. (Four Way Books)
Don Mee Choi, DMZ Colony (Wave Books)
Anthony Cody, Borderland Apocrypha (Omnidawn Publishing)
Natalie Diaz, Postcolonial Love Poem (Graywolf Press)
My own five nominations would have included (in alphabetical order):
WANDA COLEMAN — Wicked Enchantment: Selected Poems (Godine)
JUAN FELIPE HERRERA — Every Day We Get More Illegal (City Lights)
BETH RUSCIO — Speaking Parts (Brick Road)
ASIYA WADUD — No Knowledge Is Complete Until It Passes Through My Body (Nightboat Books)
PAUL VANGELISTI — Motive and Opportunity (Shearsman)
The sad part is that I doubt that a single one of the judges for the LA Times Awards read all five of the books I just listed. Herrera’s and Coleman’s and Vangelisit’s books are five books that every poet in this country needs to take into account not just this year, but during the rest of this decade.
(The odds were against Coleman being nominated and winning for her “Selected Poems.” In the entire history of the LA Times Book Awards, only four poets have ever won for a volume of “Selected Poems” and three of the four were very establishment figures: Maxine Kumin; Richard Howard; and X.J. Kennedy.)
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MUSIC: Dawn Richard — Singer/Songwriter
Dawn Richard’s “Die Without You” is one of the best songs I’ve heard in a long time. It’s not, of course, because it’s true. There is no one is “a lifeline” for me, just as there is no one who would die if I were to stop living tomorrow. The only thing that would change if I were to die tomorrow would be a brief period in which work I was expected to get done would temporarily have to be done by someone else. After that, the erasure that is largely well underway would continue its meandering dismemberment.
Richard’s song, though, has a depth of “What if?” to it that one can inhabit the space of “otherwise,” a life in which the imagined extremity of “Die Without You” is felt in one’s heart and soul, and for the duration of the song enables one to feel the grace notes of its effusive solace.
“DIE WITHOUT YOU”
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/04/16/briefing/the-weekender.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage#card3
ALSO:
https://www.thecurrent.org
https://www.thecurrent.org/feature/2021/04/16/meet-rebel-queens
https://www.thecurrent.org/feature/2021/04/15/check-out-new-songs-from-ashley-dubose-mdou-moctar-liz-phair-and-mick-jagger
https://www.thecurrent.org/feature/2021/04/14/meg-remy-us-girls-interview-begin-by-telling-book
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LINDA J. ALBERTANO — Alexis Rhone Fancher
https://www.culturalweekly.com/linda-j-albertano-nha-trang/
https://www.culturalweekly.com/linda-j-albertano-nha-trang/
Linda J. Albertano – “Nha Trang”
https://www.culturalweekly.com/alexis-rhone-fancher-three-poems-2/
https://www.culturalweekly.com/alexis-rhone-fancher-three-poems-2/
Alexis Rhone Fancher – “Three Poems” (“Don’t Wash”; “BOY TOY (Learning to Share) Sister Poem #7”; “Cousin Elaine from Chixao and I Are Naked”)
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RECOMMENDED FILMS:
“East Side Sushi” — I would love to have a conversation with poets such as Marisela Norte, Sesshu Foster, Brian Kim Stefans, and Steve Abee about this film. Although it won several awards, it doesn’t seem to be as widely known as it deserves to be. Anthony Lucero wrote, directed, and edited the film. He also picked an exceptionally fine cast.
“The Mustang” — This depiction of prison life finds its “objective correlative” in a program in which mustang horses are broken by prisoners to serve in the nation’s border patrol forces. Once again, the acting stirs our empathy in unexpected ways.
SPOTLIGHT ON HARRY NORTHUP:
“Podcasting Them Softly”: “Podcast: Actors Spotlight with Harry Northup,” by Frank Mengarelli. Also, with Raymond Benson. (1:25:17).
Please click on:
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Brian Getnick
Hyper Effigy
General Projects
3611 Pomona St.
Los Angeles, CA 90031
April 3, 2021 – May 30, 2021
Opening by appointment April 3, 2021 from 4-9pm
Open Hours by appointment Thursday nights 7-9pm
Insert Blanc Press is pleased to present Hyper Effigy, a new exhibition by Brian Getnick at General Projects & Outside Gallery.
Contact Matthew Timmons at: insertpress@gmail.com
About Bill Mohr