In the aftermath of the dissolution of Venice West in the early 1960s, Beyond Baroque’s founding by George Drury Smith proved to be an unexpected resurrection of the ideals of that maverick Beat community. Steven Belletto has commented in his book, THE BEATS: A LITERARY HISTORY about the difficulty of sorting the “messy” cartography and genealogy of Beat-associated projects. Beyond Baroque will celebrate its 60th anniversary as the Olympic Games take place in Los Angeles. I can only hope that Beyond Baroque and the poets most associated with it over the decades are not ignored as they were the last time the Olympic Games were in L.A., in 1984. Given the level of state and corporate coordination in suppressing free speech in the United States in September, 2025, perhaps we poets should consider ourselves lucky if we are still alive in 2028. Reeducation camps tend to have a high mortality rate.
In the meantime, all the more reason to celebrate this weekend the anniversary of the Poetic Research Bureau, which was founded in 2000. A marathon reading and fundraiser will take place on Saturday, September 20th, from noon to 7 p.m. at a venue called ARTS+ARCHIVES.
MARATHON POETIC RESEARCH BUREAU READING
featuring
Diane Ward, Brian Kim Stefans, Larkin Higgins, Jos Charles, Johanna Drucker, Jack Skelley, Brent Armendinger, and Giulia Bencivenga.
Saturday, September 20
12pm – 7pm
at 2220 Arts+Archives
2220 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90057
This is located between S. Alvarado and S. Rampart in Historical Filipinotown, which is west of DTLA and south of the 101 Freeway.
Purchase Tickets (from $15)
Tickets are tax-deductible donations
And don’t miss Friday’s film program, What Is Poetry to You? curated by Rotations
Tickets Here!
FULL LIST OF PRB MARATHON READERS: Diane Ward, Christopher Soto, Corina Copp, Jos Charles, Deborah Meadows, Syd Staiti, Rosie Stockton, Elaine Kahn, Sophia Le Fraga, Sarah Yanni, Feliz Lucia Molina, Anthony McCann, Sophie Appel, Kyle Dacuyan, Anahid Nersessian, Emji Saint Spero, Emily Simon, Mathew Timmons, Ara Shirinyan, Tom Comitta, Danny Snelson, Brian Kim Stefans, Angela Peñaredondo, Ben Segal, Brian Ang, Johanna Drucker, Gabrielle Civil, Ted Dodson, Brent Armendinger, Tilghman Goldsborough, Isabel Boutiette, Giulia Bencivenga, Jeanetta Rich, Jack Skelley, Nikki Ochoa, Ivanna Baranova, Carson Jordan, Nata Perla-Ward, Mary Clark, John Tottenham, imogen xtian smith, Zara Schuster, David Horvitz, Kim Calder, Paul Maziar, Alex Gootter, Hedi El Kholti, Jolie Mayers, Mashinka Firunts-Hakopian, Matias Viegener, Chloe Watlington, Larkin Higgins, Diana Arterian, Emily Joyce, Cleo Abramian, Amanda Ackerman, Aaron Winslow + more
The small press book fair will features Insert Press, Make Bow Books, nueoi press, Material Editions, X Artists’ Books, Semiotext(e), and HEXENTEXTE.
Tarot card readings by Angi Brzycki.
Food by Los originales Tacos Arabes De Puebla and Rosita’s Fruits
Wine donated by Silverlake Wine
T-shirts by Chariot Wish
Posters by Mark Allen
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2220 Arts + Archives is a volunteer-run cultural center featuring film, literature, music and performing arts in the Historic Filipinotown neighborhood of Los Angeles.
2220’s programming team is composed of longstanding arts nonprofits, archival projects & event series, including Acropolis Cinema, Black Editions, LA Filmforum, Late Breakfast, Lightstruck, Mezzanine, Mythscience, Pehrspace, Poetic Research Bureau, Rotations, and Wild Up.
About Bill Mohr