TBT Poets with the Write Stuff, Press Democrat, Nov. 19, 1989.

#TBT Poets with the Write Stuff, Press Democrat, by Susan Swartz, Nov. 19, 1989. Besides the featured poets David Bromige, Elizabeth Herron, and myself, Sonoma County poets mentioned: Lynn Watson, Sonoma Mandala editor Doug (DR) Powell (I was an editor in 1980), Green Fuse editor Ralph Smith, Avec editor Cydney Chadwick, Loose Gravel (Steve Tills), Poets of the Vineyard, Russian River Writers' Guild (most of us were organizers), Carolyn Kizer, Bob Kaufman, were all SC poets; Maya Angelou, and Andrei Codrescu had moved on, but were still very much part of the Sonoma County literary psyche. 

  
David Bromige, Doug Powell, Lynn Watson, Ralph Smith (JoAnn Marler's father-in-law), Cydney Chadwick,

 Susan interviewed me right before the Loma Prieta earthquake struck, and I was so nauseous right before it struck, I cut the interview off short, went to bed, only to have the entire cabin shake like a wet dog. We were upstaged by the quake, the article did eventually appear, but we were so distracted by the aftermath, I don't think anyone actually ever read this article.

Dontcha just love the Mental Health Crisis Hotline number under my photo/poem? Also Pat Nolan's upcoming Black Bart Poetry Society Doggerel Contest at the Blue Heron in Duncan's MIlls (I was a judge for "those fine-haired sonsabitches." ) Gail King Alastair Johnston Steven Lavoie Ah, for a life of crime... (Wish I had the article...) Jim Mccrary said. Loose Gravel was out of SSU. Hank Mancini and Steve Tills edited. Only a few issues.

 

Teaching a CPITS poetry residency at Analy High School in Sebastopol, 1981. Glenn Ingersoll was my student!
 

Glenn Ingersoll Yup, I'm the "student [who] came with a folder of ninety poems he had written during the fall." I abnegated my responsibility to choose favorites and turned it all over to you. Thanks!

Wait, there's more. Your mom wrote a letter to the editor. She was so great. Did she ever write? So grateful to have known her. Loved how she got involved with the Russian River Writers' Guild readings. But it must've been odd for you having your mom at all your readings?

from a Facebook post 
added 2/17
I probably should also post these on the original dates too. 

#TBT April 9, 1985. A dog-eared copy of a copy—note how the bottom of the article is missing. My California Arts Council artist-in-schools residencies at Mark West School in Santa Rosa literally changed my life. For that CAC-supported vision, I am grateful. Thank you Philip Horn and Wayne Cook for believing in my project. Because I was mixing my mediums, I almost didn't get funding—until Phil came to do a site visit. He said, Oh, Now, I get what you're doing... Now the CAC hosts mixed-media residencies. But not waaaay back then. During Arts Day lobbying at the State Capitol, I also gave all my congressmen and the Governor copies of our student poetry and art anthology—never expecting a letter back from the Governor. Perhaps my favorite student poem was from a kindergartner who proclaimed: "If I were king of the universe, I'd dance for a living."
In 1989, my CAC project led me to the USSR, and a poetry and art exchange with what later became our sister city in the Ukraine. An article appeared about me (and these photos) in Kostior, and we were deluged with letters from kids all over the entire Soviet Union wanting to be part of the exchange. Letters addressed to Dear Santa Rosa...
 

Letter to Jim Dodge

Jim,

Without any further ado about late American model cars (you can look under my hood any time), I came away last night feeling like I’d played jimdodgeball with a pitbull bearing carnations and a crowbar—I was both laughing and growling. 

My friend Sharon Doubiago once asked mountain men Gary Snyder & Wendell Berry “Where’re the women on the bearshit trail?”. Don’t get me wrong, I liked it. Especially the sidetracks. Dinner, trucktalk. They’re always more interesting anyway.

Don’t forget to send me the bio, etc, and other clippings? I get antsy. Blame it on being a Sagge/Scorpio. Gotta jump on it now while I’m arguing with you in my head—it’ll be too diluted a month from now. I could go with what I’ve got, but I feel like I haven’t got the whole picture, just tidbits. So now to construct an article but I’ve got all these unanswered questions.

As a writer, I guess what I’m most interested in is how the sense of place affects one’s art. The writer’s process. The idiosyncrasies & anomalies. Training grounds. (How to avoid burn-out?). 

Tom Roth wants me to focus on West County influences; the before and after shot. Too bad I don’t have a copy of Stone Junction in front of me. . .maybe I should include a sidebar review. 

Where can I get a review copy? You, your agent, Copperfield’s or Atlantic Monthly? Shelling out $20—I’ll earn about as much—seems a little extravagant with April 15 stomping over the horizon. And if I wait for the paperback ed., inflation will eat up my paycheck!

Dammit, I think I will claim my bed as a business expense. Oof, that sounds bad, I meant dough for the IRS. 

John Oliver Simon was always saying what a great bread baker he was. 

I think moving the “r” one word over is a more apt spoonerism. Well, I didn’t go into details about John. Just felt a little shy about it. Suffice to say, he experienced male menopause with a blonde not unlike the ones you were admiring at the walk-up teller last night. You know, firm bodies (his daughter’s age), etc. 

Thanks for the pep talk. Or whatever it was. Yeah, it is all inseparable. Writing, love, hell, intestinal flora & fauna. 

You ask me why women quit eating? Because we turn it all inward. Starve the self. Deny nuturing. Yes, I too am guilty.

Anyway, I uncracked your earlier books looking for clues and found a yellowed postcard you'd sent to me dated 1984 saying you were about to leave for Mexico. Shit, how time flies. I guess the grey hairs (mine too) aren’t an illusion. 

That’s what’s different. Less hair. Found a photo of you from way back. Wooly beard, etc. No, I ain’t gonna write about your bald spot. Liked “Palms to the Moon” in Poet News. Send me some poems. Not much useable info about you in it though.

Last known address for you is a PO box in Cazadero. (Don’t know how you managed to live in a PO box all those years). I think I have your Arcata address buried somewhere in the depths of a journal...but you know how it is with old journals, who wants to disturb dust? Can’t send this to the house next door to the Oddfellows Hall now can I? Would you care to update the address/phone file?

I’ve been threatening to visit an old boyfriend Geoff Davis in Alderpoint for a couple of years now, and do a CPITS workshop/reading with Dan Brewer in Redway beginning of June. Maybe I’ll see you then. 

Or if you’re down this way, Elizabeth Herron and I are doing a reading the first Monday in April at the Russian River Writers’ Guild in Sebastopol with Lynn Watson—yet another Iowa Writer’s Workshop graduate. The PeeDee did an article on Eliz and me--thought you’d like to see it.

Guess what I’m having for lunch? Spring egg rolls & manchurian beef. Forgot to say thanks for dinner. Or should I thank Atlantic Monthly? Gracias por todo. Spaciba. Etcetera.

Dosveydanya

Maureen

1/11/1992—the date is relative as that's the file date. 

See my article on Jim Dodge 

Sonoma Salute to the Arts, poetry readings 6/90

RRWG reading, Burbank Activity Center

RRWG reading at the Burbank Activity Center, Elizabeth Herron, Lynn Watson, Maureen Hurley

Press Democrat, letter to the editor, Celebrate Sonoma forgot the poets

Healdsburg Tribune, Poetry overlooked at Celebrate Sonoma

Poetry overlooked at Celebrate Sonoma

Editor; (This is an open letter to Cindy Paulos and the Celebrate Sonoma Staff): Sonoma County is home to one of the highest per capita of artists in California and the 1989 Celebrate Sonoma/Sonoma County Art Awards ceremony is a brilliant way to honor us. Thank you. I want to commend you on all your hard work on putting together this showcase but I was appalled at the blaring omission of a major fine arts category by your committee. Listed in the program were six musical, five visual artists, nine thcatrc/dancc, three literary arts -- even a restaurant, chef, and cartoon category -- but no poetry! As an active poet, past president of the Russian River Writers’ Guild, the oldest continuous reading series in northern California, and Sonoma/Napa coordinator for California Poet in the Schools with the fourth largest program in the slate, I find this oversight unacceptable. My personal credits include the 1986 San Francisco Arts Commission Bay Area Poetry Award, the 1987 San Francisco Bay Guardian Poetry Awards, the 1989 San Francisco National Poetry Week awards and seven California Arts Council Artist in Residency grants, I find it somewhat ironic my students' artwork graces the cover of the latest LBC Events magazine -- but no poetry. The National Endowment for the Arts and the California Arts Council both support and recognize poetry as a fine arts form along with visual arts, music and performance. There arc literally hundreds of other equally and exceptionally lauded poets in Sonoma County who would have brought honor to your awards ceremony. (A long list of poets followed, edited for space) Telling us to show up at an open mike when you fail to publicly recognize our art form is both an insult and a discriminatory act. Would you expect the Santa Rosa Symphony to do likewise if it were excluded from the list? I strongly urge you to amend this glaring omis sion to one of the largest and prolific communities in northern California by including poetry as an arts category in your 1990 Sonoma Arts Awards. Only in America something base as this could happen. In most countries of the world, Chile and Russia included, poetry is the heart and the breath of culture -- people line up for blocks and for hours to hear their poets read. Without poetry there arc no lyrics, no songs, no theatre, no art! We are our country's poets and deserve to be heard and appreciated. Should you need more information, we would be glad to assist you.

Maureen Hurley, Lynn Watson, Pamela Raphael, Forestville

Unitarian Fellowship hosts non-sectarian poetry reading

Unitarian Fellowship hosts non-sectarian poetry reading

"A Pageant of Poetry" will be held on Saturday, May 20, from 7-10 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 3641 Stony Point Road in Santa Rosa. Sonoma County poets will be featured reading from their latest works. Admission to the event and parking arc free. Sonoma County Poets-in-the-Schools Maureen Hurley and Lynn Watson head the list of readers, which also includes local poets Doug Powell, Lin Max and storyteller Bill Wetmore. Representatives from the Russian River Writers Guild, the Sonoma State University English Department, the Sweet Life Cafe Poetry Scries, Poets in the Vineyards and the Kclmer’s ’’Brewhouse Crew” will also be contributing to the event. This is a non-sectarian event. The public is invited to a tend. Pageant organizers Barry Woelfel is a member of the U.U. Fellowship and a graduate of the SSU English Department. For more information or to volunteer to help, call Woelfel at 578-3446.

RRWG 10th annual erotic poetry reading at the Burbank Activity Center

SURVEYOR’S MARK

This one beside me, 

this straight road 

is a surveyor’s mark, 

a line-up, a painting

held by invisible threads. 

It is straightforward, 

no hidden surprises, 

it’s level, above board, 

predictable, though odd. 

Neither a prime, nor a composite 

nor a compound number, 

its slender surface,

a vanishing point

perspective.

At the end is a period, 

the beginning, or the end.

1982 no date.

From a Lynn Watson workshop, I was training her.