THIRTY POEMS IN 30 DAYS

APRIL is here, and so is Poetry Month. There's a chockfull of poetry events, wherever I look—on the Internet, or in the local haunts. Here in San Jose, there's been a spurt of poetry, thanks to Nils Peterson, revered Poet Laureate of Santa Clara County.

Shortly after he was nominated Poet Laureate in early 2009, he consolidated the 100-line poem, The Family Album, Santa Clara County , he put out a call for submission of poems about the County.

The winners will be announced at the end of the month, but in the meanwhile, he's had this brilliant idea of publishing a poem a day—Thirty Poems in 30 Days—on his website, www.nilspetersonpoet.wordpress.com.

Now that is something worth looking forward to the entire month of April, instead of just dreading Tax time. Certainly a better way of putting money where your mouth is.















IN APRIL
by James Hearst


This I saw on an April day:
Warm rain spilt from a sun-lined cloud,
A sky-flung wave of gold at evening,
And a cock pheasant treading a dusty path
Shy and proud.

And this I found in an April field:
A new white calf in the sun at noon,
A flash of blue in a cool moss bank,
And tips of tulips promising flowers
To a blue-winged loon.

And this I tried to understand
As I scrubbed the rust from my brightening plow:
The movement of seed in furrowed earth,
And a blackbird whistling sweet and clear
From a green-sprayed bough.


From The Complete Poetry of James Hearst, edited by Scott Cawelti
and published by the University of Iowa Press.
Used with permission. All rights reserved.(www.poets.org)

POET LAUREATE'S CALL FOR POETRY SUBMISSION

"We live in a remarkable place. We know it when we pay attention to it. Each year the United States sets aside April as Poetry Month. Let us make next April—April 2010—our poetry month as well, to celebrate the variety of experiences that make up the family of Santa Clara County. Come April, we plan to have a public reading of some of the poems. So, I’m asking you who live, work, or study in Santa Clara County, to write and submit your poems"

Nils Peterson, the current Santa Clara County Poet Laureate, is putting out a call for submission of poems about the Santa Clara County. The Poet Laureate, as well as other qualified readers, will select the most interesting thirty to be presented at a public reading in April 2010.

DEADLINE: Poems will now be accepted until MARCH 15, 2010. Early submission is appreciated.

RULES FOR SUBMISSION

- Poetry submission is open to those who live, work, or study
in Santa Clara County.
- Poems should be no more than 30 lines.
- Poems may be in a formal pattern or in free verse.
- Poems should be typed, single-spaced.
- Poets may submit a maximum of three poems, each page displaying
only the title and the poem.
- Attach a separate cover sheet to the submissions indicating
your name,address,and email address (if available).
- Mail two copies of the submissions to:
Arts Council Silicon Valley, 4 North Second Street, Suite 500,
San Jose, CA 95113-1305

No submissions will be accepted via email.
Santa Clara County will retain first publication rights.
Poems may not have been previously published.

DEADLINE: Poems will now be accepted until MARCH 15, 2010.
Early submission is appreciated.

There will be three awards of $50 and six awards of $25.
Winners will be invited to participate in an award ceremony in April.
Date to be announced.

LESLIE IN HER WEDDING PICTURES

...A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams
and health, and quiet breathing. (Keats)

A thing of beauty,
encompassed in snapshots like
glossies from celebrity magazines,
professionally photographed
in posh style and sweet dreams.

Gentle, like quiet breathing,
beautiful in her lacy, ecru gown, Leslie
rode with her beau in a white carriage
through Hampton Drive in Almaden,
rich with a sprinkling of fair musk-rose
blooms, posing against emerald
and the jade greens of the Country Club.

Wreathing a flowery band,
the newlywed, strolled in her wedding gown
by Carmel . The ocean—blue as her eyes,
the wind stroking her cheeks,
her beige body blending
with the sand on the beach, pearls of moisture
glistening like the white gleam on her smiling face,
an endless fountain of immortal drink pouring
unto her from Heaven’s brink, as her sparkling eyes
rested on her sweetheart’s intent gaze.

Sweet Leslie, on a picture frame
looking at her friends and familial faces
shielding their tears, unable to smile back at her
as they gather in church
to bid farewell to her and all her vibrance—

a photographic smile, that belied
a true snapshot of her life wrought with irony,
that never betrayed her battling the scourge
of glucose and gangrene.
All we saw was her sweetness,
and her impish smile.