Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Rigoberto Gonzalez and Scott Hightower: January 20 workshop, January 21 reading
I am excited to announce that, thanks to a grant from the D.C. Commission on the Arts & Humanities, Sunday Kind of Love in 2007 will be featuring prominent poets giving readings and offering workshops throughout the year. The goal of the workshop portion of the program is to give D.C.-area poets the opportunity to study with some of the most dynamic and important poets writing today. Workshops will be limited to 12 participants, ensuring an enriching experience.
Our first featured poets come to town this month: Rigoberto González and Scott Hightower. Please scroll down for information on how to register for the 3-hour workshop - only $25! (Scholarships available - see below.)
Sunday Kind of Love First Anniversary Weekend
Rigoberto González and Scott Hightower
Two queer poets whose work expresses a fierce and complex love of this world
Workshop: Saturday, January 20, 3-6 pm, Busboys & Poets, $25 - registration required.
Reading: Sunday, January 21, 4 pm, Busboys & Poets, free and open to the public. Cohosted by Sarah Browning, DC Poets Against the War and Regie Cabico, Sol & Soul
Busboys & Poets
14th & V Streets, NW, Washington, DC
U Street/Cardozo on the Green Line.
http://www.busboysandpoets.com/, 202-387-POET
For more info: womenarts2@aol.com
Wheelchair accessible.
Rigoberto González is the author of So Often the Pitcher Goes to Water Until It Breaks, a 1998 National Poetry Series selection; a novel, Crossing Vines; and two bilingual children's books. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and of various international artists’ residencies, He is a member of PEN and of the National Book Critics Circle, and he reviews books by Latina/o authors for the El Paso Times twice monthly. González is Associate Professor of English and Latino Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and Contributing Editor to Poets and Writers magazine
Scott Hightower is the author of three collections of poems: Tin Can Tourist, Natural Trouble, and Part of the Bargain, winner of the Hayden Carruth Award from Copper Canyon Press. He was born on a working ranch in central Texas, lives in New York City, is a contributing editor to The Journal and Barrow Street, and teaches writing at the Gallatin School of New York University.
The Workshop:
THOSE WORDS THAT WAY
"The only freedom's in departure." - Robert Frost
Poetry is a two-headed tradition: a product of the oral and written tradition. Both traditions draw their strength from the power of observation. In this workshop, participants¹ texts are "the departure" for exploring the unique braiding of abstract and concrete language. A workshop for all levels of writing and revision. Each participant is asked to bring a copy of a couple of their poems. Limited to 12 participants.
To Register for the Workshop: Email Sarah Browning at womenarts2@aol.com, indicating that you are registering for the workshop. Please include your full contact information. Then please send a check for $25 made out to “DCPAW” to DCPAW, 626 Allison Street, NW, Washington, DC, 20011. Indicate in a note or on the check that you have registered for the January workshop. (First come, first served. If the workshop fills up, I will hold checks as a waiting list until the date of the workshop.) Scholarship slots are also available. To apply, please contact me with a brief summary of your situation.
**
Breads That Hunger
I make love to a man with a button fetish. Correction: a man makes love to my shirt. He yanks each piece of plastic with his teeth and swallows it, then inserts the cusp of his tongue into the buttonhole. I slip out of the sleeves and off the bed and he scarcely notices. Later, he comes looking for me; my shirt slumped across his shoulder. It looks as if I have shed my skin -- the fantasy of meeting the train on the rusty tracks comes to life. Buttonless, I have been stripped of everything that holds me together. He tells me he can replace the shirt. I tell him he can keep me.
by Rigoberto González
**
Lament
These are not the same orange leaves,
not the same water. Though the door
is open both day and night, these are not
the same black cattle grazing
near the land the living never pass.
Dead moon trumpets, dried
and withered, wrinkle in the clay.
The whole world seems to rush
with tears and mourn aloud.
Not far from here,
we helped each other wind our heads
with elm leaves, honeysuckle, and lilacs.
The falling water purls, "Go back.
For now, you need your comfort
and your heart."
by Scott Hightower
**
Sunday Kind of Love is a Busboys & Poetry Event. Special workshops and events in 2007 are made possible in part by a grant from the D.C. Commission on the Arts & Humanities, an agency supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Our first featured poets come to town this month: Rigoberto González and Scott Hightower. Please scroll down for information on how to register for the 3-hour workshop - only $25! (Scholarships available - see below.)
Sunday Kind of Love First Anniversary Weekend
Rigoberto González and Scott Hightower
Two queer poets whose work expresses a fierce and complex love of this world
Workshop: Saturday, January 20, 3-6 pm, Busboys & Poets, $25 - registration required.
Reading: Sunday, January 21, 4 pm, Busboys & Poets, free and open to the public. Cohosted by Sarah Browning, DC Poets Against the War and Regie Cabico, Sol & Soul
Busboys & Poets
14th & V Streets, NW, Washington, DC
U Street/Cardozo on the Green Line.
http://www.busboysandpoets.com/, 202-387-POET
For more info: womenarts2@aol.com
Wheelchair accessible.
Rigoberto González is the author of So Often the Pitcher Goes to Water Until It Breaks, a 1998 National Poetry Series selection; a novel, Crossing Vines; and two bilingual children's books. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and of various international artists’ residencies, He is a member of PEN and of the National Book Critics Circle, and he reviews books by Latina/o authors for the El Paso Times twice monthly. González is Associate Professor of English and Latino Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and Contributing Editor to Poets and Writers magazine
Scott Hightower is the author of three collections of poems: Tin Can Tourist, Natural Trouble, and Part of the Bargain, winner of the Hayden Carruth Award from Copper Canyon Press. He was born on a working ranch in central Texas, lives in New York City, is a contributing editor to The Journal and Barrow Street, and teaches writing at the Gallatin School of New York University.
The Workshop:
THOSE WORDS THAT WAY
"The only freedom's in departure." - Robert Frost
Poetry is a two-headed tradition: a product of the oral and written tradition. Both traditions draw their strength from the power of observation. In this workshop, participants¹ texts are "the departure" for exploring the unique braiding of abstract and concrete language. A workshop for all levels of writing and revision. Each participant is asked to bring a copy of a couple of their poems. Limited to 12 participants.
To Register for the Workshop: Email Sarah Browning at womenarts2@aol.com, indicating that you are registering for the workshop. Please include your full contact information. Then please send a check for $25 made out to “DCPAW” to DCPAW, 626 Allison Street, NW, Washington, DC, 20011. Indicate in a note or on the check that you have registered for the January workshop. (First come, first served. If the workshop fills up, I will hold checks as a waiting list until the date of the workshop.) Scholarship slots are also available. To apply, please contact me with a brief summary of your situation.
**
Breads That Hunger
I make love to a man with a button fetish. Correction: a man makes love to my shirt. He yanks each piece of plastic with his teeth and swallows it, then inserts the cusp of his tongue into the buttonhole. I slip out of the sleeves and off the bed and he scarcely notices. Later, he comes looking for me; my shirt slumped across his shoulder. It looks as if I have shed my skin -- the fantasy of meeting the train on the rusty tracks comes to life. Buttonless, I have been stripped of everything that holds me together. He tells me he can replace the shirt. I tell him he can keep me.
by Rigoberto González
**
Lament
These are not the same orange leaves,
not the same water. Though the door
is open both day and night, these are not
the same black cattle grazing
near the land the living never pass.
Dead moon trumpets, dried
and withered, wrinkle in the clay.
The whole world seems to rush
with tears and mourn aloud.
Not far from here,
we helped each other wind our heads
with elm leaves, honeysuckle, and lilacs.
The falling water purls, "Go back.
For now, you need your comfort
and your heart."
by Scott Hightower
**
Sunday Kind of Love is a Busboys & Poetry Event. Special workshops and events in 2007 are made possible in part by a grant from the D.C. Commission on the Arts & Humanities, an agency supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
