annogram

your happy new year annogram

2012-01-07T16:50:00.008-05:00

Happy new year, everyone! May you achieve much creative risk and reward in 2012. I am grateful for 2011’s blessings—especially publication of my second chapbook, St. Agnes, Pink-Slipped (Kattywompus Press), Trinity-St. Paul’s hosting my book party, and the warm reception to my chapbook which precipitated a second printing. More good news below….

Three+ reviews of St. Agnes, Pink-Slipped
Thanks to poet and editor Cindy Hochman for her fantastic book review in Gently Read Literature (scroll at right to page 15), poet and editor Janell e Elyse Kihlstrom for another on-target review in Melusine, and chapbook reviewer Emilia Fuentes Grant for her favorable words in The Pedestal. In addition, Canadian poet Pearl Pirie highlighted Cindy’s review in Pesbo.

And interviews
Thanks to Kim Wells for her lovely interview with me that appears in the current issue of Relief: A Quarterly Christian Expression. In addition, hot off the press is Beth Gersh-Nesic’s interview with me in WomenArts Quarterly Journal. Also about to debut is my long poem, “Demoiselles 7”, in the winter issue of Feminist Studies. That’s sort of an interview too—but with the women in Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon.

Emma Lazarus: Poet of Exiles
Claudia Hammon, a dear friend, sent me this New York Times review of a new exhibit, “Emma Lazarus: Poet of Exiles,” at the Museum of Jewish Heritage which runs through 2012. Lazarus (1849-1887), as you know, wrote the “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” inscribed at the Statue of Liberty. Not a poor immigrant herself, she came from a wealthy family that gave her entrée to notable literary salons of the day.

Despite these advantages, living as a Jewish person in a non-Jewish community was, she wrote, “a hard nut to crack.” This duality, this sense of comfort and distance at once, however, yielded—as the reviewer notes—some of her finest poems. As writers, our best work may be found by, as poet Suzanne Gardinier says, “holding the opposites together.” Lazarus lived only to 38 and look at her imprint on the world: We who are much older than Lazarus now would do well to mine the complexities of our lives to find our own literary treasures.

‘Round the Net
Thanks to the following people for their achievements or sending me these links:
· ALTA list-serve for this book review on Luis de Góngora
· Also this article on the demand for English translations of global best-sellers
· And this NPR interview, “What Gets Lost in Translation”
· My brother, Bill, for hilarious dog videos here and here
· Translator Leonard Fox for this recording of dual-culture poets in the United Kingdom
· Red Glass Books Publisher Janet Kaplan for announcing Margaret Diehl’s latest chapbook
· Translator Lucas Klein for his translation-promoting blog
· Ski patroller and Francophile Dusty Sackett for this breath-taking meditation on peace
· Poet Linda Simone for this fun insect poetry reading and video sampling of British poets
· Poet Thomas Transtromer on winning the Nobel Prize in Literature

May this year be your annus mirablis!
Ann

your november annogram

2011-11-05T16:17:00.011-04:00

St. Agnes book launch a big success
Thanks to Trinity-St. Paul’s Episcopal Church for hosting the October book launch of St. Agnes, Pink-Slipped (Kattywompus Press, 2011) in the newly restored library. The Reverend Robert Gahler gave an inspiring introduction, sharing the church’s history as the birthplace of the French protestant movement in the then colonies. Ever-gracious, he also arranged a lovely afternoon buffet, poured tea for guests and provided an informal sanctuary walk-through.
I am equally grateful to the literary community that showed to support me—especially Meredith Trede, author of Field Theory (Stephen Austin University Press, 2011), Myrna Goodman, poet and cofounder of Toadlily Press; and Sarah Bracey White, whose memoir Primary Lessons won the CavanKerry Press New Voices Award and will be published next year. Thanks to Sarah and poet Michael Holstein for taking photos, to friends, parishioners and poetry lovers who appeared out of nowhere to buy my books in record numbers, and to those of you who sent such warm wishes in e-mail notes and cards.

Wait a minute, I have to take off my bra!
That’s the saucy title of the new breast-themed anthology by InkSpotter publisher Betty Dobson. Thanks to Betty for including my poem, “Breast Imaging,” in Wait a minute which you can find on amazon.com. And now that I have your attention, you can also read my poem, “For My Mother-in-Law Recently Passed” in Radius Poetry: From the Center to the Edge.

Women of a Certain Page
Does a something unknown beckon in your life? Come to Women of a Certain Page, an afternoon tea, poetry reading and creative exploration presented by the New York Arts Exchange tomorrow, Sunday, November 6, from 2 PM to 4 PM in New Rochelle. Poets Meredith Trede, Cathy Wald and I will read and lead a lively discussion and a few creative exercises. The cost is $30, and a portion of the proceeds will benefit Hope’s Door, formerly the Northern Westchester Shelter. To reserve a spot, e-mail nyarts.exchange@verizon.net as soon as possible!

Toadlily launch at Poets House
Tonight at Poets House, at 5pm, Toadlily Press will celebrate the book launch of The Best of Toadlily Press (Toadlily Press, 2011), a wonderful compilation of Toadlily contributors and the high-profile poets, such as Thomas Lux and Jean Valentine, who have written introductions to the poetry books over the years. This delicious selection features a whimsical cover by artist and Toadlily cofounder Myrna Goodman. Annogram salutes Toadlily for increasing the publishing opportunities for emerging poets over the years in its much-praised quartet chapbook series.

‘Round the Net
Thanks to these people or periodicals for providing these fascinating links:
· The ALTA List-Serv for this article on Angela’s Ashes finally getting translated into Irish
· Jeanette Briggs for this article on Swedish poet Tomas Transtromer winning the Nobel Prize
· Lisa Guidarini for Why Creative Writing is Better with a Pen
· The New York Times for this article on Amazon’s entry into the publishing world
· The Times again for this article on Julian Barnes winning the Man Booker Prize
· And this book review on the influence of Keats’s brother’s travels in America on the poet’s work
· Poet Charles Simic for this article in his blog, Take Care of Your Little Notebook
· Poet Margo Stever for news of her upcoming chapbook, The Hudson Line (Main Street Rag, 2012)
· Alyson Waters for this review on David Bellos’s book on translation
· Kim Wells for this amazing YouTube video on the effects of domestic violence on children

Today, on my wedding anniversary, I am especially grateful to Michael Cefola for being my husband and partner in our amazing life journey together. I am truly blessed.

Wishing you and yours much to be thankful for this month!

Until next time,
Ann

2011-10-01T16:08:00.002-04:00

St. Agnes is ‘Hot’

According to my publisher Sammy Greenspan, St. Agnes, Pink-Slipped (Kattywompus Press) is “hot”! Sammy is doing a second print run to meet high demand. In addition, New Pages, an online literary review, lists St. Agnes, Pink-Slipped as New and Noteworthy. Many thanks to all of you who are ordering my new chapbook. I will also be reading this Sunday, October 2, at the Nyack Library, at 2 p.m., joined by poets Meredith Trede, Daryl Brownlee and Sally Lipton Derringer.

Tea with St. Agnes

You are cordially invited to my book launch celebration, Tea with St. Agnes, on Saturday, October 15, 3-5p.m., in the newly restored library at Trinity St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in New Rochelle. Enjoy a poetry reading and refreshments. A free-will offering will be requested to benefit the church’s Building Repair Fund. Come see this church designed by famed Gothic Revivalist Richard Upjohn (1802-1878), as well as the two breath-taking stained-glass windows by Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933)!

Inkspotting interview

Please see Betty Dobson’s interview of me in Inkspotting: Writing, life and the writing life. In addition to Inkspotting, Betty also has superb blogs on poetry, genealogy and comics. Look for my work in Betty’s forthcoming anthology, Wait a minute, I have to take off my bra.
More good news
I am thrilled that my poem “Breast Imaging” appears in the current issue of Hospital Drive, the literary journal of the University of Virginia Medical School. In addition, my poem “Saffron” will appear in the 2012 Alhambra Poetry Calendar. “Aurora” and “Amphibious” will also help inaugurate the 2012 Alhambra Young Reader’s Poetry Calendar. Thanks to editor Shafiq Naz for selecting my work four years in a row!

Book launches galore

What a great time at Catherine Wald’s Distant, Burned-Out Stars (Finishing Line Press) book launch! Set in the intimate Amawalk Quaker Meeting House, the September event featured cake, champagne and a perfect reading by Cathy. Cathy will also be at Meet the Authors at the Mahopac Public Library, Thursday, October 6, 5:30-8:30 p.m. Wonderful to see memoirist Sarah Bracey White, whose book Primary Lessons is forthcoming from CavanKerry Press. That's Sarah Bracey White and I (upper right) enjoying the late afternoon event in our finest summer hats, and (lower left) me, Cathy Wald, Sarah and Meredith Trede, whose launch for Field Theory (Stephen F. Austin University Press) will take place Sunday, October 23 from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. at the JCC on the Hudson in Tarrytown. And Saturday, November 5 at 5 p.m., another launch at Poets House in lower Manhattan will celebrate T oadlily Press's latest book, The Best of Toadlily Press. Book-party on!

Randy Briggs gets framed

Be sure to stop by Scarsdale Art and Frame Shop, 46 Christie Place, Scarsdale, during October to see watercolors by Randy Briggs. Trained as both architect and artist, Randy brings amazing detail and color to landscapes and house portraits. His work can often be mistaken for photographs. Scarsdale Art and Frame is open 9:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and on Saturdays you can also enjoy the Scarsdale Farmer’s Market, down the street by the train station.

’Round the Net

Thanks to the following people for sending me these great links:

- American Literary Translators Association’s list-serve for why some languages sound so fast

- Poet Brenda Connor-Bey for Notes on the State of Southern Poetry

- Brenda also for recommending the Aldo Tambellini exhibit at the Chelsea Art Museum
- Art Historian Beth Gersh-Nesic for her meditation on The High Price of High Art

- Award-winning author Herbert Hadad for his thoughtful 9/11 Reflection

- Translator Lucas Klein for this gathering of thirty translations of Basho’s frog poem
- Poet Kevin Pilkington for the head’s up on his October 6 reading at Susquehanna University

- Poet and filmmaker Jackie Sheeler for this New York take on Hurricane Irene

- Translator Russell Valentino for this hilarious story featuring President Jimmy Carter

One of the reasons I love writing and sending out annograms is the chance to stay connected with friends, family and colleagues. Next week is my birthday—if you enjoy your annograms, let me know! I appreciate the highly creative community we have built together over the years.

Wishing you a glorious autumn,

Ann

2011-08-28T19:21:00.014-04:00

New York before the storm

If you’re in the tri-state, you’re probably home—waiting for it. In Manhatttan today, many commuters stayed away, the late afternoon rush toward Grand Central noticeably thin. On the train, people pensive, the word “noon” slipping in conversation—the time tomorrow when NYC will, in an unprecedented move, shut down all transportation systems. In the suburbs tonight, it’s eerily quiet except for August cicadas. Hurricane Irene, the size of Europe, swirls like the plot of a bad sci-fi film. Enjoy this special hurricane edition while you still have electricity! Postscript: We survived without too much damage--kudos to our elected officials for handling Irene so well!

St. Agnes, Pink-Slipped available online
After my last newsletter, many annogrammers asked where to purchase my poetry chapbook, St. Agnes, Pink-Slipped. It’s easy – order it online at the Kattywompus Press Book Store. I’m also grateful to Sarah Lawrence College for announcing the publication on the alumni website (scroll down). In addition, I’m thrilled that The Widows' Handbook, an anthology that received more than 500 submissions, has accepted my poems, "Irradiation" and "What Yields to Winter.”

CavanKerry to publish Sarah Bracey White

Congratulations to Sarah Bracey White, who has been selected by CavanKerry as one of its “New Voices” for 2012. Her memoir, Primary Lessons, recalls her mother’s wisdom that safely guided Sarah through her first 12 years in the Jim Crow south. Publisher Florenz Eisman says, “It’s a delight to welcome Sarah as a new CavanKerry writer.”

Poet Cindy Hochman

I am lucky that Jackie Sheeler introduced me to Cindy Hochman, a versatile literary artist if ever I met one! Her new chapbook, The Carcinogenic Bride, is as riveting as the best Ginsberg or Sexton poems you know. She is also co-host of cable TV’s Poetry Thin Air, where she interviews poets such as Pedestal Magazine founder and editor John Amen. In addition, she is editor-in-chief of First Literary Review East, and welcomes poetry submissions under 16 lines.

Free Word for Word Poetry Reading

Poets E.J. Antonio, Michael Cirelli, Marie-Elizabeth Mali, and Patricia Spears Jones will read at the outdoor Bryant Park Reading Room on Tuesday, August 30, 7-8:30 p.m. In the event of rain, please go to The General Society of Mechanics & Tradesmen, 20 West 44th Street (between Fifth Avenue and Avenue of the Americas).

Wald and Trede book launch bonanza

I am so happy for Catherine Wald, who will launch Distant, burned out stars (Finishing Line Press) on Saturday, September 9 at 4 p.m. at the Amawalk Friends Meeting House, 2467 Quaker Church Road, in Yorktown. Equally exciting—the launch of Field Theory (Texas A&M University Press) by poet and Toad Lily Press publisher Meredith Trede on Sunday, October 23 at 2 p.m. at the JCC on the Hudson in Tarrytown. I’ve read both books and they are worthy of much celebration!

Resurrecting Greenburgh’s 9/11 wall
The Town of Greenburgh will unveil the newly restored 9/11 Memorial Wall on Sunday, September 11, at 10:00 a.m. at Presser Park, Hartsdale. Composed of tiles designed by school children and county residents, the wall had fallen into disrepair in recent years. Thanks to a donation from Sam’s Club and the tireless efforts of Greenburgh Arts & Culture Director Sarah Bracey White, the wall will once again honor the memory of Greenburgh residents who died that September day 10 years ago.

Ten for Ten: Commemorating 9/11

On September 11 at 4 p.m., The Nyuorican Poets Cafe, 236 East 3rd Street, will debut Murphy's Law, a brief play about 9/11 through the eyes of two homeless black men in Washington Square Park, by two-time Tony nominee reg e gaines. Afterwards will be storytelling, poetry and dance by dancer Jennifer Cedanas Armas, activist Annie Day, songwriter Shelly Gaines, and poets E.J. Antonio, Carlos Andres Gomez, Joseph Washington and Daniel Wilson. Admission is $10.

'Round the Net

Thanks to the following people who have sent or inspired these fun and fantastic links:

· Jamie Appel for the wry Moxy Fruvous song,"My Baby Loves a Bunch of Authors."

· Jim Cunningham for reminding us how wonderful his Vermont hardwood pens are.

· Poet and novelist Terry Dugan for this call for personal essays and stories on late-bloomer artists (latebloomeranthology@gmail.com).

· Romance novelist Diane Gaston for the release of Valiant Soldier, Beautiful Enemy. final installment in the Three Soldiers Series, which can be ordered through an online vendor.

· Art Historian Beth Gersh-Nesic for her new blog, BethNewYork, the updated New York Arts Exchange website; and this great review of Chasing Aphrodite in Venice Magazine.

· Poet and now publisher Janet Kaplan who suggests we “drink up” Red Glass Books' debut collection, Swimming to America, by Patricia Spears Jones.

Philip Levine on becoming our new Poet Laureate.

Kevin Pilkington on winning the 2011 New York Book Festival Award in Poetry for In the Eyes of a Dog (New York Quarterly Books).

· Novelist-screenwriter David Ring for letting me know what happened to the Ruth Lily $21 million.

· Poet Terry Dugan for this hilarious news item on National Bad Poetry Day.

· Workplace violence expert Kim Wells for the wonderful jewelry at that donates 10 percent of proceeds to the National Domestic Violence Hotline.

· White Pine Press for the head’s up on its discounted translation collection for sale.

Philip Levine’s poem below, circulated recently by Knopf, seems particularly fitting tonight:

so go ahead, worship the mountains as they dissolve in dust,
wait on the wind, catch a scent of salt, call it our life.

Until next time,

Ann

Our Valley

We don’t see the ocean, not ever, but in July and August
when the worst heat seems to rise from the hard clay
of this valley, you could be walking through a fig orchard
when suddenly the wind cools and for a moment
you get a whiff of salt, and in that moment you can almost
believe something is waiting beyond the Pacheco Pass,
something massive, irrational, and so powerful even
the mountains that rise east of here have no word for it.

You probably think I’m nuts saying the mountains
have no word for ocean, but if you live here
you begin to believe they know everything.
They maintain that huge silence we think of as divine,
a silence that grows in autumn when snow falls
slowly between the pines and the wind dies
to less than a whisper and you can barely catch
your breath because you’re thrilled and terrified.

You have to remember this isn’t your land.
It belongs to no one, like the sea you once lived beside
and thought was yours. Remember the small boats
that bobbed out as the waves rode in, and the men
who carved a living from it only to find themselves
carved down to nothing. Now you say this is home,
so go ahead, worship the mountains as they dissolve in dust,
wait on the wind, catch a scent of salt, call it our life.

- Philip Levine

your hot summer annogram

2011-07-17T17:35:00.019-04:00

Speaking of which, my new chapbook, St. Agnes, Pink-Slipped, is hot off the press—Kattywompus Press. Thanks to Sammy Greenspan for producing such a beautiful book. When I first opened it, I was awed by the Publisher’s Position Statement on the Value of the Poetry Arts:

This chapbook is a work of fine art from the poet Ann Cefola whose work you support for a few cents per page. You are not buying paper and printer’s ink by weight. You selected language art that took as long to create as paintings for other fine art. On behalf of a large community of contemporary poets, this poet in particular, independent and small press publishing, and Kattywompus Press, thank you for supporting this project.

Isn’t that amazing? For more on Sammy Greenspan’s take on the state of the art, including book publishing, see this thoughtful interview at Meet the Press in Best American Poetry's blog series.

More good news

Jacar Press has accepted my poem, “Having No Children,” for its love anthology and Alimentum will publish my poem, “Nocturnal,” in winter 2012. And WomenArts Quarterly Journal has accepted Beth Gersh-Nesic’s interview with me, on the transformative effects of translation, for an upcoming issue.

Summer reading

Thanks to Sarah Lawrence Alumni President Rona Carr for suggesting that I offer a summer reading list. I have been plowing through, delightedly, fiction and novel Pulitzer Prize winners. My favorites to date have been March by Geraldine Brooks and Tinkers by Paul Harding. Dipping into Pulitzer history, I was blown away by The Grapes of Wrath and The Yearling—books as informative about the Depression as any Walker Evans photo. If you’re unsure about what it means to be American, these books speak a plain if painful truth.

Deborah Coulter at the Pelham Arts Center

What a pleasure to see Deborah Coulter’s work at the Pelham Art Center! Evoking Warhol and Dine, Deborah’s collage on board, “Song of Love and Peace,” is mesmerizing with all its whimsical images. Her charcoal on paper, “The Space Between (Triptych),” is equally intriguing with its wave-like movement. You can see these works now through August 13.

Tribute to Louis Reyes Rivera

Sonia Sanchez will present poet/activist Louis Reyes Rivera with the Richard Bartee Award at the Harlem Book Fair this Saturday, July 23, 3-4:30 p.m. Poets paying tribute include E.J. Antonio, Brenda Conner-Bey, Carolyn A. Butts, Americo Casiano, Erica DeLaRosa, Sandra Maria Esteves, CD Grant, Layding Kaliba, Paul McIntosh, Tom Mitchelson, Tony Mitchelson, Ngoma, Lora Rene Tucker, Nikki Williams, Atiba Wilson and Ted Wilson. The event will take place at the Thurgood Marshall Academy, 200 West 135th Street (corner of Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Blvd.), in New York City.

Poet/performer Jackie Sheeler

Jackie will be at Cornelia Street Café tomorrow night, Monday, July 18 at 6 p.m., as feature poet. On July 25, you can find her doing a benefit in Oceanside, Long Island, at 7 p.m. On August 13, she will be performing around 7:30 p.m. at the Dissident Arts Festival at the Brecht Forum, 451 West Street between Bank and Bethune; and back at the Cornelia Street Café on August 22 at 6 p.m. Whew! Hard to keep up with her—and that’s not even including all her September dates.

Vintage, signed poetry works

White Pine Press founder Dennis Maloney is selling off his 40-year collection of signed and first editions of poetry and more to raise funds to support White Pine Press. The sale includes significant collections of several poets including Gary Snyder, Robert Bly, Tomas Transtromer, Michael McClure, Philip Whalen, Pablo Neruda, Wendell Berry, a selection of early work by Native American poets and smaller selections of many other authors.

Springfield Movie Theatre reopens

To end on an uplifting note: After a deliberately set fire destroyed the town’s one movie theatre in 2008, Springfield (VT) began to rebuild the block-length building. Springfield had just won the contest which proclaimed it Homer Simpson’s hometown. Its small cinema, the only one around for miles, provided a focal point for the economically struggling town. This past Friday night, however, the theater reopened with a midnight showing of the latest Harry Potter film. An excited line of movie goers stretched into the street an hour ahead of time.

Springfield’s other claim to fame? The birthplace of amateur astronomy, and host to Stellafane, a yearly convention of amateur telescope makers from around the world. Ah, but that is another story! Stories nourish us—in film, books or through telescopes

Wishing you breath-taking ones,

Ann

your almost summer annogram

2011-06-17T20:06:00.019-04:00

Summer is nearly here and my poetry is blooming: My second chapbook, St. Agnes, Pink-Slipped, is about to appear from Kattywompus Press. I read the title poem two weeks ago at the Sarah Lawrence College Alum Citation Awards Luncheon (right), thanks to the kind invitation of SLC Alum President Rona Carr. In addition, the literary journal on food, Alimentum, has accepted my poem, “Nocturnal,” for its winter issue.

Mapping Lyric Narrative

Thanks also to Black Hawk Literary Agent Jan Kardys for inviting me to give another workshop, Mapping Lyric Narrative, at the second annual Unicorn Writers Conference last April. Wondering what Mapping is all about? Buy the workshop DVD online and see! It’s an expertly filmed view of the workshop.

Knocking at the Door

This unusual anthology, which includes my poem, “Beloved Corporate Retirees,” is getting rave reviews in Poetix and Bookslut.

Night of Rock

The Offbeats once again helped raise top dollar for The Scarsdale Teen Center in May. Reuniting at the Wicked Wolf Tavern in White Plains, the band gave a fantastic performance led by lead singer Jay Shulman (third from left), guitarist John Moses (far right), singer and mean harp-player Thom Pernice (foreground, right), bass Andy Kreeger, drummer Ted Spencer and my personal favorite, rhythm guitarist Michael Cefola (foreground left).

Calling All Teen Artists

S+Art, a new summer art program for teens June 12-August 11, offers mentoring by a professional artist, exploring creativity individually and in small groups, developing skills needed to create an art portfolio, and getting the inside scoop on and touring art schools. S+Art takes place at the Dream Bigger Center, 120 Clapboard Ridge Road, Danbury, CT. Sign up at portfolioprep.org, info@portfolioprep.org or by calling 203-746-0100.

MAYDAY! MAYDAY!

Did you know this comes from the French M’Aidez? It’s also the title of a fantastic new play, set in 1915, by Dale Walkonen. Nothing like a ride in a Pierce Arrow to thrill Clarence and shock Anita! See the play on June 20, 2pm, at the Gene Frankel Theater, 24 Bond Street, off Lafayette, in New York City. No charge but space is limited so please reserve at www.planetconnections.org or by calling 866-811-4111.

‘Round the Net

Thanks to the following people for sending me a fascinating array of links:

· Translator Juliet Carp for this interesting interview with reknowned literary editor Robert Gottlieb.

· Sculptor Jillian Conrad for alerting us that she has work in Vista, a summer art show, at Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City, NY, through August 7.

· KJ Denhert, jazz singer/guitarist/composer extraordinaire, for this preview of her new video.

· My sister-in-law, Elaine Gregory, for discovering that my turn-of-the century artist-grandmother (see above) was also a cartoonist, and for this witty look at peep culture.

· Otis Books’ Stephen Hotchkiss for the new Seismicity Editions blog

· Poet Janet Kaplan for this review of her new book, Dreamlife of a Philanthropist (University of Notre Dame Press).

· The New York Times for setting up a hawk cam outside the office of NYU’s president to watch Pip, the eyas of red-tail parents Bobby and Violet, hatch, grow up and…one day soon…fledge. Update: Pip fledged at 11:55 a.m. on June 23rd--go Pip! Fly high!

· Poet Kevin Pilkington for his new book, The Unemployed Man Who Became a Tree (Black Lawrence Press).

· Screenwriter David Ring for this WSJ thought-provoking piece on electronic publishing.

· Poet Jackie Sheeler for this amazing video she created about the Fukushima meltdown.

· Poet Linda Simone for her poem, “I’ve Never Been Much Good at It,” in Assisi.

· Poet Meredith Trede for her upcoming book, Field Theory (SFA Press).

Wishing you creativity that sizzles like the summer heat!

Until next time,

Ann

the ides of annogram

2011-03-15T22:53:00.009-04:00

Kattywompus to publish my second chapbook

March seems more like Poetry Month to me! Kattywompus Press accepted my second chapbook, St. Agnes, Pink-Slipped, for publication. I am thrilled to be working with editor Sammy Greenspan, a Pushcart-nominated poet. More details to come.

How I came to translate

My essay, “Learning to Translate Headache Poetry,” appears in the latest Source. This piece recalls how professional translator Ligia Yamazaki guided my first efforts translating the magical poetry of Hélène Sanguinetti. Once again, my appreciation to editor Michele Aynesworth….

Anomalous Press debuts

Thanks to Anomalous Press, you can sample Hélène’s work in this fresh new journal that features recorded as well as print work. Hélène’s fable, although written years ago, seems to anticipate the calls for justice erupting all over the globe. Read or listen and see if you agree.

Not for poets only: Mapping Lyric Narrative

I can’t wait to give this workshop at the second annual Unicorn Writers Conference April 9. Other topics that day include writing the graphic novel, screenplays and comedy, as well as using social media to market one’s work. After attending last year, a friend completed a manuscript which is now in the hands of an agent. Need some traction? This is where you want to be.

How to warm up a winter eve

My husband Michael and I headed out one cold Sunday night to hear The Moses Brothers (Mo’ Bros) at 12 Grapes in Peekskill. Michael’s high school classmate, John Moses, and his brother Bill, created some welcome heat through skillful guitar—from Chicago blues to down-home gospel. Hope to see them again at 12 Grapes, a fantastic venue with big comfortable couches, atmospheric brick walls and excellent menu.

The Metropolis Organism launches

Congratulations to Frank Vitale for the successful book launch of his ground-breaking work, The Metropolis Organism. More than 100 people attended the party at the Garnerville Arts & Industrial Center, heard Frank give a presentation and then purchased his work in CD form. Frank, an outrageously creative filmmaker, interviewed me on the creative process in prior annograms (below).

If the shoe fits…

Racoco Productions will perform If The Shoe Fits at the Emelin Theater on Saturday, March 19 at 3 p.m. The New York Times calls this piece “like being lost in a fun-house mirror, sweet and innocent and threatening all at once.” Tickets $40, $20 for children. Don’t miss this inventive performance troupe!

'Round the Net

Thanks to the following who shared these great links:

· ADA activist and writer Jim Barry for this mind-boggling video on the power of the Internet, supposedly created for SONY executives.

· The ALTA listserv for this NPR interview with translator Lydia Davis.

· Filmmaker extraordinaires Patrick Schechter and Matthew Fernandez who created this hilarious “Journey Through the 20^th Century (With Clay)” as their high school senior options project.

· My niece, Elizabeth Gregory, for leading me to www.DonorsChoose.org, a fantastic site that helps great teachers like Elizabeth fund their school projects.

· Thom Pernice for the updated Scarsdale Rocks site.

· Jay Shulman for new music available by his late father, the composer Alan Shulman.

· Poet Linda Simone for “Cardinal Musings” in Moon Dance and this video of Billy Collins on The Truth About Poetry.

· Artist Angela Virsinger for this “beautiful eye candy” and more.

· And congratulations to Catherine Wald, whose new poetry book, Distant burned out stars, received a Gurfein Family Foundation Honorable Mention Award.

What a winter in New York! Snow piled up like sleeping dinosaurs. We’ve moved the clock forward, and the new season arrives — at least on the calendar — next week. Wishing you creativity that springs ahead too.

Until next time,

Ann

your brand-new-year annogram

2011-01-01T18:15:00.043-05:00

Happy New Year! To start it off, I offer Part 3 of my conversation with award-winning filmmaker Frank Vitale on optimizing creativity. Frank and I took several months to complete this e-mail interview. In it we explore how Frank can advance his work in the world by tapping his inner advocate, or what he fondly calls his promoter, salesman or huckster. If you like this, be sure to read Part 1 and Part 2. And let me know what you think!

Frank: Does promoting yourself and your work sound like as much fun as root canal? Maybe you didn't know it is a stage of creativity. Ann Cefola thinks it is and is here to help us through that difficult but necessary task.

Ann, help us. How do we promote ourselves?

Ann: Let’s start by reframing the idea of promotion. My friends, artist Lora Friedman and poet Linda Simone, in their creative arts workshop for kids called Magical Boxes, explain that art is incomplete until it is shared.

Ancient wisdom acknowledges this — Lao-Tzu says, “He who clings to his work will create nothing that endures.” That’s the dearest wish of most artists—that our works endure. Sitting on finished projects prevents this last step—getting it out into the universe.

Yet promotion and marketing feel like the antithesis—like selling insurance or used cars—of the highly inspired artistic quest. How do artists, who are naturally sensitive, introspective and outside society, jump into that glaring spotlight? You appropriately compare that pain to “root canal.”

Again, it’s a question of reframing: I am not promoting myself, I am promoting my work. To complete the creative process, I must be in service to the work. The work is bigger than I am. Sometimes I am unsure where it comes from. I do my best to honor it.

What has helped me has been translating the poems of Hélène Sanguinetti. I go to great lengths to get her work published. A voice inside me says, “Hey Ann, if you can be so devoted to Hélène’s work, what about doing the same for your own?” That’s a pretty good argument. I have to believe in my own work the same way I believe in hers.

Frank: What you’re saying feels like the crux of the matter. Can you elaborate on the work being separate? If I could own that, it would be easier to support my work and be an effective advocate. Is there a “cutting of the cord”? Do you consciously work at that separation?

Ann: Yes, consciously making that separation is critical. Let’s review the two other personas that also do that: The first, the wunderkind, is the magical child that creates with freedom and abandon; the second, the editor, is a discerning adolescent who crafts the work; and the third, the advocate, is the energized adult who will take the work into the world.

The three aspects of creativity must always remain separate. In earlier conversations, I talked about never letting the wunderkind and editor in the same room at once. Why? They would end up fighting, taking the focus from the art.

Similarly, when it’s time to promote a project, the wunderkind and editor must go. The wunderkind wants to play, and the editor to correct — two distracting impulses when linear attention is needed. To help make this conscious separation, I call upon the advocate as a third person to advance my work.

What does that mean? When you have to do something you don’t want to do, you set aside time and do it: filling out tax forms, cleaning the house, sitting in a dentist chair, standing on line at the post office. In those moments I may absent a part of myself. I move, in essence, from right to left brain. I call upon the advocate.

The advocate has no problem performing clerical tasks such as phone calls, web research, writing cover letters, etc. In addition, the advocate is like radar constantly scanning for opportunities to promote my work.

If you’re hearing a mechanical quality to the advocate, you’re right: It gets the job done. What’s the upside? These simple tasks afford a tranquility that may be lacking in earlier, more tumultuous phases of creation.

Frank: I like doing the clerical tasks. The problem is looking someone in the eye and telling him or her about my work as if it is good and important. The temptation to apologize is so strong that I often succumb to it.

Ann: This is a problem for most of us. Hélène, the poet I mentioned, will close her eyes and quote a line from her work as if reciting Shakespeare. I am in awe of that faith in her oeuvre—it is not ego at all. It’s belief in what she calls “the poem,” the animating and mysterious language that she listens for and dutifully records.

For most of us, finding a way to talk about our work can be daunting. John Dos Passos says, “If there is a special Hell for writers it would be in the forced contemplation of their own works.” Once asked at a family gathering what I wrote about, I turned red and said, “Things,” only it came out like “They-eeennngggs,” the 20-second party version of the word.

Another time, I called a poet-friend and asked, “How would you characterize my work?” I had to write a paragraph for a poetry contest. I was amazed when she spoke about it in depth for 15 minutes.

That is one solution: To ask people we know and trust what our work means to them, what the important themes are, what the original contribution to the art is, what they love about what we produce.

I am sure if I asked you about your favorite filmmaker, you could be quite articulate about what you appreciate in that person’s work and how it has helped your own artistic path, right?

Frank: Many films blow me away. That being said, I’ll pick Barry Levinson (“Diner”, “Rain Man”). He has a way of creating characters, constructing scenes and managing emotions that goes right to my heart. This subtle magic is difficult to attain; yet, in his capable hands, it is compelling and deeply involving.

Ann: What is your favorite scene in “Diner”?

Frank: In this film, Daniel Stern hangs out at the diner with the guys and feels resentful that he has to go home to his new bride, Ellen Barkin. There is a scene where he is angry with her for putting his albums back wrong. “You can’t just put my records back any way you want!” he yells, “Pink Floyd is P! It goes between O and Q!” She doesn’t get it and he is practically crying.

This scene, both absurd and real, twists my mind and breaks my heart.

Ann: Wouldn't it be a joy for any of Daniel Stern's friends to go home to a beautiful woman like Ellen Barkin? And yet cutting short the ritual buddy time requires Daniel to literally leave his pals behind.

At home, Ellen Barkin carelessly rearranges one of Daniel’s albums—much like his life. Pink Floyd typically champions resistance against institutions in songs such as "The Wall”; even Pink Floyd encourages him to resist the constraints of marriage. In this perfect metaphor, Daniel’s new wife has stuffed his rebellion and disordered his life all at once.Daniel, caught between two worlds—the old that sustained him, and the new that attracted him, has a meltdown. His confusion and pain feel real to the audience.

Having explored those two scenes, I see that you enjoy films where simple gestures communicate complex emotion; where vulnerable people are challenged by their own choices. Does that sound right?

Frank: That’s a terrific scene analysis and my appreciation of it.

Ann: How would you talk about your own work now to someone who has never seen it?

Frank: “’A Man Thinking About Having An Affair’ is a documentary where simple gestures communicate complex emotions and where vulnerable people are challenged by their choices.” I like that phrasing because it makes the work seem interesting without sounding overly promotional.

Ann: Can you take what you’ve said and apply it to explain the plot?

Frank: The main character, in his late 50s, is not getting along with his wife. He runs into a woman he’s always been attracted to and goes on a date with her. The story then examines attraction, love, desire, loyalty, honor — it digs deeper into the man’s thoughts and emotions in scenes with a therapist, where the man tries to understand his feelings.

Ann: It sounds like you’re fascinated with people in the process of becoming more authentic. This transformation may be ongoing for all of us; but a constellation of events or a critical decision by a character may trigger life-changing momentum.

Frank: “A Man Thinking About Having an Affair” is about self-exploration — about me finding out about myself. My other film, “A Perfect Stranger”, is partially that. I like your phrase “becoming more authentic.” Therapy is a standard way to explore one’s self; a more unorthodox way is to make art. My film “Montreal Main” did both and was creatively the most successful thing I’ve done.

Ann: I’m not surprised. When artists take personal, emotional risks — the self exploration you describe — their work becomes more authentic. James Joyce said that the in the specific we find the universal. People identify with the character’s struggle. That’s what art does: transform both the character and viewer. The ancient Greeks who knew the ending of Oedipus Rex, wanted to see it again and again. That’s the pull of great art.

So, now, what are you going to do to promote your films? What does your inner advocate say? Anything new or different you might consider?

Frank: Two things that stand out from our conversation are “small emotional gestures conveying complex emotions” and the necessity to take personal risks. What’s new and different is talking about my work in the same scary way that I make the stuff in the first place.

Ann: That’s true: that vulnerable place also the place from where we must promote our art. We can make it feel safer by talking first to peers, people we trust— and also ask them for ideas how to promote our work. Every artist needs a brain trust— two or more friends who believe passionately in the person’s creativity ability and who will speak truthfully about it.

Frank: Serendipitously, I am days away from completing my enhanced eBook, The Metropolis Organism, an electronic book with audio and video. Over the course of this interview, I have sent 800 invitations to my January 29th book launch party. That month I will exhibit book stills on the wall at the Nyack (NY) Starbucks. A friend is doing publicity for the launch and marketing thereafter. Another, a professional media specialist, has agreed to get me onto local radio and TV, and to see where it goes from there.

I had been nervous thinking about getting to the marketing phase. But I don’t feel nervous now that friends and others are taking me seriously and are willing, even enthusiastic, to help.

Thank you, Ann.

Ann: You’re welcome, Frank. You add an important final note — there is an appropriate, even welcomed, place in our lives for the advocate. Yours is doing well. Keep up the great work, and congratulations on your outrageously inventive book! It deserves all the energy your advocate can muster.

Contact poet and translator Ann Cefola for one-on-one creativity coaching, and creativity or poetry workshops. She also gives a biannual Master Translation Workshop for graduate students at Manhattanville College. Ann will be giving a new workshop, Mapping Lyric Narrative, in April at the Unicorn Writers Conference.

your holiday annogram

2010-12-12T18:56:00.011-05:00

Alhambra Poetry Calendar 2011
So happy that my award-wining poem, “Express,” appears in the Alhambra Poetry Calendar 2011. You can purchase this elegant ring-bound, desktop anthology through the American Academy of Poets. Makes a great gift!

Translator Guy Bennett’s recent work
I am most fortunate to have had an editor like Guy Bennett for my translation, Hence this cradle (Seismicity Editions, 2007) of Hélène Sanguinetti’s book-length poem. Guy has another of his own translations out, the big E, by Ernst Jandl: “a multi-section monovocalic poem of spartan texture and rhythmic complexity which follows the original’s word- and poem-shapes and sounds. While excerpts were included in Reft and Light (Burning Deck, 2000) and Twentieth-Century German Poetry (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008), it appears in its entirety for the first time in this bilingual edition.”

You can order the big E through Mindmade Books, and I also recommend Guy’s own poetry book, Snapshots of Marseilles (Sacrifice Press), which came out in April.

Things to do on a rainy Sunday
“Collaboration,” an interaction between visual arts and written arts, takes place today, December 12, at 3 p.m., at the Upstream Gallery, 26B Main Street, Dobbs Ferry, NY 10522 (914-674-8548). Our fav poet Brenda Connor-Bey will be reading. Or catch the exhibition Thursday-Sunday afternoon through December 31.

Racoco Productions will perform work in progress as part of Mary Anthony's holiday studio show, featuring dancer Rachel Cohen today, December 12, at 3 p.m., 736 Broadway, #7, between Astor Place and Waverly Place; tickets $10.

Holiday shopping

These vendors offer unusually high quality gifts: Clean Ridge Soap, luxurious scents, soaps and lotions at reasonable prices (see left); D & D Accessories (914-330-2122),outrageously unique scarves and shawls; Vermont Hardwood Pens, which offers a free pen if you order more than two dozen; Chatham Candy Manor, Cape Cod’s best homemade chocolates; Sharon, a jewelery designer who combines your favorite quote and artwork in a beautiful pendant; Nicole, another jewelry designer who creates fun work with her mom; Sueanne Shirzay who creates a beautiful amethyst necklace (at right) to support the National Domestic Violence Hotline; and Loretta Fay (RETFAY@aol.com) who makes gorgeous, durable purses from upholstery fabric you select—and affixes your most cherished saying inside.

Great yearend wisdom
Wonderful suggestions from David Allen to wrap up the year: “It's time to purge. The end of a year and start of the new is a great metaphorical event you can use to enhance a critical aspect of your constructive creativity—get rid of everything that you can.

Your psyche has a certain quota of open loops and incompletions that it can tolerate, and it will unconsciously block the engagement with new material if it has reached its limit. Release some memory.

· Want more business? Get rid of all the old energy in the business you've done. Are there any open loops left with any of your clients? Any agreements or disagreements that have not been completed or resolved? Any agendas and communications that need to be expressed? Clean the slate.

· Want more clothes? Go through your closets and storage areas and cart to your local donation center everything that you haven't worn in the last 24 months. And anything that doesn't feel or look just right when you wear it.

· Want to be freer to go where you want to, when you want to, with new transportation? Clean out your glove compartments and trunks of your cars. And for heaven's sake, get those little things fixed on your car or bicycle or motorbike that have been bugging you.

· Do you want more wealth? Unhook from the investments and resources that have been nagging at you to change. (And give more than usual to someone or something that inspires you to do so.)

· Do you want to feel more useful? Hand off anything that you are under-utilizing to someone who can employ it better.

· Want some new visions for your life and work? Clean up and organize your boxes of old photographs. Want to know what to do with your life when you grow up? Start by cleaning the center drawer of your desk.

You will have to do all this anyway, sometime. Right now don't worry about the new. It's coming toward you at lightning speed, no matter what. Just get the decks clear so you're really ready to rock 'n' roll.

A man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone.

- Henry David Thoreau

Out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony. In the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity. - Albert Einstein”

‘Round the Net
· Cindy Dunne for this update from her activist daughter, Maggie, who makes an appeal to former President Clinton to consider the Lakota when he speaks about domestic poverty.

· Sarah Bracey White for this update on the Purchase College Writing Center Fellows and hilarious take on the literary academic career path.

· Mary Ladd for this political send-off of Gilbert & Sullivan that defends our beleaguered president.

· Linda Simone for recent travel poems published online: “Mediterranean Lullaby,” “Passing Madame Tussaud,” “Villa Marina,” “Thanksgiving 3 a.m. Paris” and “I Ragazzi. “

· Meredith Trede for this PBS interview with new US Poet Laureate W. S. Merwin.

· Julie Wiskirchen for this news about this lost Ted Hughes poem.

Wishing you warm and wonderful holidays!
Ann

your october annogram

2010-10-03T20:47:00.018-04:00

Hello everyone, it’s autumn--at right, in Vermont! We’re feeling it here in New York this week where temperatures have become chilly and brilliant multicolored leaves are starting to drop….

WAA members’ night
In September, my husband Michael Cefola (lower left) spoke to the Westchester Amateur Astronomers about how he created a roll-back observatory out of a garage rooftop in New England. Mike Virsinger shared dramatic video he and his filmmaker-wife, Angela, took of the next-to-last shuttle launch; John Paladini discussed a uniqueome-method for making a telescope lens, and Larry Faltz described star gazing from the Colorado mountains where he and his wife Elyse encountered almost as many sheep as stars.

The November 6 star party will be at Ward Pound Ridge (poor weather cancels: 877-456-5778); and on Friday, November 5 at 8 p.m.at Pace University, Caroline Moore will speak on discovering a rare supernova—see web site for details.

Avanti Popolo reading
The Avanti Popolo (Manic D Press, 2008) poetry anthology celebrates Italian-American experience. Contributors, including award-winning poet Linda Simone, will read on Tuesday, October 5, 2010, at 6 p.m. at the Calandra Italian American Institute, 25 West 43rd Street, 17th floor, New York, (bet. 5th and 6th). Free but call 212-642-2094 to preregister and bring a photo ID to show the building concierge.

Boo at the Zoo
Gigi and the Lend-Me-A-Hand Band, which includes my favorite lead guitarist Michael Cefola, are performing at the Bronx Zoo every Saturday and Sunday this month at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Gigi leads the daily Halloween parade into the Grizzly Goodies Picnic Area. Discover children’s music with a grown-up rock edge and why WNBC-TV calls the band a “Best Bet” in family entertainment.

Racoco wine-tasting
A wine-tasting will take place Tuesday, October 5, 7-9 p.m., to benefit Racoco Productions, innovative dance reviewed by The New York Times. Suggested donation is $45; click here for tickets to the 25 W 54th Street Penthouse. Tell the doorman you're visiting Shaun Smith.

Purchase Writers Center
Purchase College has a new Writers Center: On October 13, the Writers Center will host a reception, 4:30-6 p.m., to welcome its new fellows, poet Pamela Hart, memoirist Sarah Bracey White (left) and novelist Christine Lehner. Congratulations to this year’s talented fellows, who’ve won a stipend and office space to pursue their projects.

Have you read your smory?
Smories are stories written for kids, read by kids. Congratulations to Linda Simone on winning fourth place in the top-five smories viewed in September! Discover the magic of a smory—for grown-ups too—by visiting Linda’s October smory, “Starry Night.” And pass it along to the kids in your life.

Toadlily at Poets House
Thanks to founders Myrna Goodman and Meredith Trede, Toadlily Press gives many talented poets exposure in its annual quartet series. On Saturday, November 6, 5-7 p.m., Toadlily will celebrate its fifth anniversary with a reading and launch of Sightline, at Poets House, 10 River Terrace, Battery Park City in New York City. Congratulations Myrna and Meredith, and keep up the good work!

'Round the Net

Thanks to the following people for these great links:

· Sarah Bracey White for this profile of her writing career

· Jeanette Briggs for this video about elephant-dog friendship

· Alice Orr for her valuable writing workshops in the beautiful northwest

· Jackie Sheeler for her new book, An Earthquake Came to Harlem (NYQ Books, 2010)

· Linda Simone for Paragraph, work space available for writers in Manhattan.

· Russell Valentino for this interview with translator Esther Allen (scroll down).

Wishing everyone warm quilts, homemade pies and the brisk energy of this beautiful season….

Ann

your summer annogram

2010-07-12T09:25:00.004-04:00

Ann-thologies
I am thrilled that my tribute to Wilfred Owen (1893-1918), “Shrapnel,” appears in Motif 2: Come What May (MotesBooks, 2010). In addition, “Beloved Corporate Retirees” will be in the upcoming Knocking at the Door (Buddhapuss Ink), “Contagion” in One for the Road (Split Oak Press) and “Express” in the Alhambra Poery Calendar 2011 (Alhambra Publishing).

Translation in Source
My translation of Hélène Sanguinetti’s poem, “Two Kernels to Start the Day,” and essay on her work appear in a special issue of Source on Women and Translation. Editor Michele McKay Aynesworth packs Source, the online journal of the literary division of the American Translators Association, with fascinating articles. Take a look!

‘Andromeda’ as invocation
I read “Andromeda at Midlife” to open the Alumnae/i Citation Ceremony at the Sarah Lawrence Reunion on June 4. Thanks to Rona Carr, president of the Alumnae/i Association, for this lovely invitation. It was an honor to be back on campus and recall that the Sarah Lawrence community always reveres poetry.

Hadad and Afzal-Khan this Thursday
Herb Hadad and Fawzi Afzal-Khan will read at the Hudson Valley Writers Center July 15 at 7:30 p.m. Hadad, author of Finding Immortality: The Making of One American Family, is a former New York Times essayist. Afzal-Khan’s memoir, Lahore with Love, explores her Pakistani childhood. $5 admission includes Middle Eastern refreshments.

Vitale feature at Montreal Festival
Montreal on Screen-Congress 2010 recently screened “Montreal Main,” Frank Vitale's classic underground feature. The film will also be explored in Queer Film Classics (Arsenal Pulp Press) which covers 21 influential 1950-2005 films about and by LGBTQ people. The remastered “Montreal Main” DVD is available here.

‘Round the Net

· Jamie Appel, for this YouTube film on the value of hugs.

· Maggie Dunne, on a State Department fellowship, for sharing more Bangladesh adventures.

· Linda Leedy Schneider for creating this Not a Muse Bowery Poetry Club reading DVD, which you can purchase for $20 by contacting brooks123@aol.com.

· Angela Virsinger, for introducing me to this journal of poetry and illustration.

· Julie Wiskirchen for this wonderful story of an inspirational pit bull.

Hope you’re getting in some great summer reading. I just finished Ulysses, spurred on by Declan Kiberd’s Ulysses and Us (Faber and Faber, 2009). All I can say is “Wow!” and “Whew!”

Wishing you classic discoveries….

Ann

your spring annogram

2010-05-11T09:43:00.016-04:00

New Jumpstart web site
I welcome spring with a new web site, created by award-winning designer Lorraine Serra, for my coaching and creative communications business. Everyone wants their work lives to reflect their authentic selves, and I help professionals make that happen. I also advise executives on creative communication strategies, something I’ve been doing for more than 20 years at Fortune 10 companies. Visit the new web site to learn more!

Tribute to two greats
It gives me no pleasure to tell you about a poem in the current Autumn Leaves. The journal’s lovely editor, Sondra Ball, passed away in March. Her husband, Mario, invited submissions for a final issue. “Where Words End” recalls one of my mentors, New England Writers founder Frank Anthony (1922-2005), as well as Sondra who published his work. Here’s to you, dear Sondra and Frank!

Offbeats reunite
Back in the day, Jay Shulman made Scarsdale High girls swoon when he sang “Gloria.” On May 1, Jay (second from right) was at it again—when his band, the Offbeats, reunited for a Scarsdale Teen Center benefit at Vintage Café in White Plains. Original guitarist John Moses (far right) joined rhythm guitarist Michael Cefola (red guitar), bass player Larry Schwartzman (second from left), drummer Teddy Spencer (in back), and blues harp wailer/vocalist Thom Pernice (far left) for a return engagement hosted by the Peak’s Jimmy Fink. The benefit raised the most funds ever for the Teen Center.

Unicorn Writers Conference
What a pleasure to be the featured poet at the inaugural Unicorn Writers Conference! Literary agent Jan Kardys and professional writer Maureen Amaturo put together an impressive range of workshops at the beautiful Oronoque Country Club in Stratford, CT. My poetry workshop drew talented writers of all ages who pulled out amazing poetic abilities in our brief time together. I was thrilled to have this wonderful experience.

Poetry Translation Workshop
Thanks to Beth Gersh-Nesic for inviting me to give a Contemporary Poetry Translation Workshop at Manhattanville College. The seminar last month was part of a French translation course. How many schools give a course in translation like that? Brava to French chair and assistant professor Binita Mehta for this progressive curriculum. I had a great time with an international group of students savvy to the subtleties of language.

Hadad book party
Greenburgh Cultural Arts Director Sarah Bracey White knows how to put on a party, and that’s what she did recently for Herb Hadad to celebrate his short story collection, Finding Immortality (iUniverse, 2010). In one selection, Herb recalled a college course on Thoreau, where the professor insisted the writer’s name be pronounced “thorough.” When Herb dozed in class, the professor thundered, “Did you read the text?” Herb woke up to say, “Thoreau-ly.” And that’s why we love Herb….

Women in the world economy
New York Times writer Nicholas Kristof and journalist Sheryl WuDunn spoke at Scarsdale High School to celebrate the school system’s 225th anniversary. This Pulitzer Prize-winning couple gave inspiring examples of women worldwide who overcome odds to prosper themselves, their families and villages through ingenuity and hard work. More can be found in their book, Half the Sky (Vintage, 2010).

Racoco at Mary Anthony Studio
One pleasure of my 2007 Santa Fe Art Institute residency was meeting Rachel Cohen, director of Racoco, a New York Times-profiled performance group. Racoco's "I-Fold" will be performed to Telemann's Sonata in F Minor this Friday and Saturday at 8 pm, and Sunday at 3 pm, at the Mary Anthony Dance Studio. The piece features Rachel Cohen, Rebecca Ketchum, Kelly Kocinski and Erin Posanti. For reservations, call 212-674-8191.

Celebrating African American experience
Hear poet-artist Nikki Williams read at the opening reception for her exhibit, “Beautiful, Also, Are the Souls of My People” on May 16 at 3:30 pm at the Madeline Gutman Gallery at Greenburgh Town Hall, 177 Hillside Avenue Greenburgh, NY. Call 914-682-1574 for more info. Her exhibit of photography-poetry collages, celebrating the beauty and resilience of the African American experience, runs through July 7.

Port Chester Fest
The Port Chester Poetry Fest will take place at Copacabana, 29 N. Main Street, Port Chester, on May 22, 3 pm – 7 pm. The fest features multicultural artists and high school poets. If you love poetry, make a tax-deductible contribution payable to Council of Community Services (indicate on check that donation is for “Poetry Reading”) and send to P.O. Box 322, Port Chester, NY 10573. Many thanks!

Emily Dickinson in the Bronx
In an exhibit entitled, “Emily Dickinson’s Garden: The Poetry of Flowers,” The New York Botanical Garden has recreated a Victorian homestead and flowers that would have been most likely grown by the famous poet (1830-1886). The exhibit, which runs through June 13, features readings and a ballet this upcoming weekend. Tickets $20.

Walk Across Brooklyn Bridge
Poet’s House Walk Across Brooklyn Bridge is June 14 at 6:30 p.m. Poets Tina Chang, Galway Kinnell and Thomas Lux will read Walt Whitman, Marianne Moore, Langston Hughes and others beneath Roebling's famous arches, followed by dinner in Brooklyn. Tickets $250 (Poets House Members $225). Reservations required: call 212-431-7920, ext. 2830, or e-mail krista@poetshouse.org.

‘Round the Net

Thanks to the people below for sending me these fascinating links:

· Maureen Amaturo for this story about the quest for a day to honor dead poets

· Lucy Barber for this sweet story of a woman and her beloved wheels

· Julie Renszer for her new poetry book, Handmade Love (A Midsummer Night’s Press, 2010)

· Linda Simone for video of her poem “Grapefruit” in Alimentum and this New York Times article on machine translation

· Russell Valentino for this intriguing translation project.

Spring means intense creativity—both for the earth and for artists. Hope your muse is blooming!

Until next time,
Ann

your snowy annogram

2010-03-02T13:25:00.023-05:00

The Year of the Tiger is off to a roaring start: My work will appear in two anthologies, Motif: Chance and the unlikely breast-themed Wait a Minute, I Have to Take Off My Bra. In addition, Hélène Sanguinetti, the French writer I translate, is the first international poet featured in Presa. The editor writes: “Recognized in her native France, Hélène is an innovative experimental poet [who] incorporates a wide range of elements in her poems, such as dialogue, shifting personae and visual field.” This power-packed Presa also features Eric Greinke’s astute essay, “The Potential of Poetry,” a must-read for poets everywhere.

Clapton and Beck at the Garden
What a pleasure to see two top guitarists play together! Jeff Beck, backed by a 12-piece orchestra, opened the first set. Looking buff in a white sleeveless shirt and black vest, Beck played with usual intensity, with bass player Rhonda Smith, and drummer Vinnie Colauita and keyboardist Jason Rebello. He performed his Grammy-winning version of the Beatles’ “A Day in the Life” and other classically-bent songs from his new CD “Emotion and Commotion” (Atco). Beck’s gift, bending notes so that the guitar sounds like a haunting vocal, was most apparent in the Beatles’ song.

While Clapton is not god, hearing him is still a transcendent experience: Starting with acoustic Delta blues, he worked his way to Derek and the Dominos standards such as “Tell the Truth”; and then signatures “I Shot the Sheriff” and “Cocaine.” Third set brought both guitarists together—in suit jacket and glasses, Clapton looked like the professor next to punky Beck. Both electrified the Garden with “Moneymaker,” an emotive “Moon River,” Cream’s “Outside Woman Blues” and Muddy Water’s “Little Brown Bird.” A historic night—for more on this pioneering duo, see the current Rolling Stone cover story.

Hadad and Johnson celebrate new books
On Saturday, March 6, at 2 p.m., Greenburgh Arts and Culture will present Herbert Hadad, author of Finding Immortality: The Making of One American Family (iUniverse, NY and Bloomington) and Marilyn Johnson, author of This Book is Overdue: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All (Harper). Hadad is a superb, award-winning writer and Johnson an equally excellent raconteur. Free at the Greenburgh Library, 320 Tarrytown Road, in Elmsford. And save Sunday, March 21, 2-4 p.m., for NYFA award-winning poets E.J. Antonio and LaTasha Nevada Diggs at Greenburgh Town Hall.

Kristof and WuDunn on Half the Sky
New York Times editorial writer Nicholas Kristof and journalist Sheryl WuDunn believe women are the secret to the prosperity and stability of the global economy. Come hear the husband-and-wife team discuss their new book, Half the Sky, at Scarsdale High School, White Plains Post Road, in Scarsdale, on March 2 at 7:30 p.m. This free event, sponsored by the Independence Institute, the Scarsdale Teachers Institute and the Scarsdale Middle and High School PTAs, celebrates 225th anniversary of the Scarsdale Schools and its dedication to preparing students for an interdependent world.

Amazing Maggie (or how to get things Dunne)
Nicholas Kristof recently held a YouTube contest for college kids asking them why one should accompany him to visit a developing country. Maggie Dunne, family friend and Colgate University student, challenged Kristof to do something else first. Maggie founded the Lakota Pine Ridge Children’s Enrichment Project, an annual clothing and book drive for children on the Pine Ridge Reservation. She has since interned with a bank in Southeast Asia that specializes in microloans to poor people. IMHO, Maggie’s a winner no matter who wins the YouTube contest!

Unicorn Writers Conference
I’m honored to give the poetry workshop at the Unicorn Writers Conference on Saturday, April 10, at the Oronoque Country Club in Stratford, Connecticut. Organizers promise “a writers’ conference like no other!” The day includes opportunities to receive feedback from publishing insiders on manuscripts, attend one or more of seven craft workshops, and get insights into the business of books—from contracts and cover art to media, marketing and promotion. Gene Wilder, actor and writer, is the keynote; and a dinner dance with live music will wrap up the day. Sounds wonderful. Hope to see you there!

French Film Festival
See the last in this free film series, “Un secret” (Claude Miller), on March 7, 7:00-10:00 p.m. in Room 8, Brownson Hall, at Manhattanville College. Q&A session to follow. For further info, e-mail mehtab@mville.edu, or call 914.323.5407.

Alexander and Theroux to read
Pulitzer Prize Finalist Poet Elizabeth Alexander will read at Manhattanville College on March 2nd at 7p.m and author Phyllis Theroux on April 13th 9 at 7:00 p.m. Each program includes a reception, Q&A and book signing. The free readings will be held at Manhattanville College’s Reid Castle, 2900 Purchase Street, Purchase NY. Reserve a seat by calling 914 323-5239 or e-mailing sirabiank@mville.edu.

Sosin and Seaton’s not-so-silent films
Pianist Donald Sosin and vocalist Joanna Seaton will perform at the Tarrytown Music Hall: March 21, 6 p.m., “Nosferatu” (Murnau); March 24, 7:30 p.m., “The Last Laugh” (Murnau); April 18, 6 p.m., “The Adventures of Prince Achmed” (Reiniger); and April 21, 7:30 p.m., “Pandora’s Box” (Pabst). Donald will also perform April 9, 9:15 a.m., at the Orphan Film Symposium at the School of Visual Arts: “Origin of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata” (Edison, 1909); “Rip’s Dream” (Georges Méliès, 1905), “A Poet from the Sea” (China Sun Motion Picture Co. 1927); at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on April 14, 7 p.m.: “Nana” (Jean Renoir); and Walter Reade Theater, Lincoln Center: April 18, 1 p.m., “The Prisoner of Karlsten’s Fortress” (Georg af Klercker, 1916), and April 24 at 1:30 p.m., “Thomas Graal’s Best Film” (Mauritz Stiller, 1917). FIN

‘Round the Net
Thanks to the following people who sent me these great links:

· ALTA list-serve for this Reading the World podcast with Lawrence Venuti discussing his translations from Catalan

· Beth Gersh-Nesic for the Vassar Haiti Project

· Janelle Elyse Kihlstrom for Melusine’s winter issue

· Cesar Milan for this memorial page for Daddy the pitbull who passed away February 19

· Dusty Sackett for this fascinating video palindrome on YouTube

· Linda Schneider for editing Mentor’s Bouquet, work by writers she has mentored

· Linda Simone for the lovely journal Assisi with her page one poem, “Stunning with St. Francis in the Garden”

· Linda Simone for Terry Dugan reading her poems “Body Fluids” and “Holiday Cheer” and Sarah Bracey White discussing her work at Greenburgh Arts & Culture

· Julie Wisckirchen for her new blog

I will end with this Clapton quote: “I’ve always believed that if I’m true to that part of my consciousness that is the music, I’ll be all right.” Amen.

Until next time,
Ann

your new year annogram

2010-01-01T14:44:00.009-05:00

Happy new year everyone! I am gratified to share my poem “Invention” at Shaking Like a Mountain and see two chapters of my translation of Hélène Sanguinetti’s Le Héros (Flammarion, 2009) appear in The Dirty Goat 21.

Ann at Cornelia Street Café
Thanks to Jackie Sheeler, indomitable host of the Son of a Pony Reading Series, for inviting me to perform Halloween eve. I read from Sugaring (Dancing Girl Press) as well as new work. Always an honor to read at this fun and intimate poetry landmark. My gratitude to those friends who traveled a distance to be there and celebrate the evening.

Herbert Hadad debuts book
Award-winning essayist Herbert Hadad announces the release of his book, Finding Immortality: The Making of One American Family. “These gritty and flavorful essays,” says Pulitzer Prize winner Lawrence Wright, “address the emotional costs of virtue, faith, and true love.” Novelist Ben Cheever calls them “stories [that] will clear the mind and warm the heart.” For Herb’s former students, this is an amazing opportunity to learn more from the master. Congratulations, Herb!

Nagging questions about modern art
Does modern art perplex you at times? Beth Gersh-Nesic, the official modern art expert for about.com, invites your questions: “If you want to know about an artist, art term, art venue, art historian, or art movement, chances are many other people would like to know too. If you see an art term you do not understand, please send it to me and I will see if it is in the About.com: Art History glossary.” What a great opportunity! Thank you, Beth!

Achievement award to Jim Barry
The St. Francis College/University of New England recently awarded Jim Barry its Outstanding Alumni Achievement Award. Jim, a long-time advocate for the rights of people with disabilities, helped develop the ADA legislation, testified at related Congressional subcommittee hearings and participated in the White House ADA signing ceremonies in July 1990. I’ve been fortunate to work with Jim, also one of the nicest people on the planet. Congratulations, Jim!

Stand-out gifts
The close of the holidays demands a roll call of my favorite vendors: Clean Ridge Soap, which affords luxurious scents, soaps and lotions at reasonable prices (see left); D & D Accessories (914-330-2122), purveyors of outrageously unique scarves and shawls; Vermont Hardwood Pens, which offers a free pen if you order more than two dozen; Chatham Candy Manor, which whips up Cape Cod’s best homemade chocolates; Sharon, a jewelery designer who combines your favorite quote and artwork in a beautiful pendant; and Loretta Fay (RETFAY@aol.com) who makes gorgeous, durable purses from upholstery fabric you select—and affixes your most cherished saying inside.

’Round the Net
Thanks to the following people for these links:

· Patricia Carragon for the Brownstone Poets Reading, including Peter Chelnik, on Columbia University’s WKCR.

· Dalkey Archive Press for college fellowships for an online applied translation program.

· Myrna Goodman for her contribution to the anthology Love After 70 (Wising Up Press).

· Herbert Hadad for the 100 best movie quotes.

· Janelle Elyse Kihlstrom for the latest issue of Melusine.

· Linda Simone for the Thousand Kites program, which produces audio poetry programs for prisoners.

· Jackie Sheeler for Blog Talk Radio, where she read her work December 22.

· Neal Spitzer for his new web site

· Russell Valentino for this talk on why translation matters.

· Angela Virsinger for this hypnotic Chinese video.

Ode to a dog
I end with a heart-wrenching au revoir to Delilah who passed away Thanksgiving and figures predominantly in my poems. As animal lovers know, she transformed our lives—from watching for us at the picture window to greeting us with a Kong in her mouth to contain her excitement. A true adventure girl—game for anything from a car ride to a good run on a dirt road; also a yogini, showing me a superior downward dog, and a guru whose joy and gratitude ably handled whatever life brought. If you’d like to make a donation in her memory, consider the Elmsford Animal Shelter where we adopted her.

Until next time,
Ann

your october annogram

2009-10-24T19:48:00.020-04:00

Cornelia Street Café this Friday
Come hear me read this Friday at the Cornelia Street Café! I am delighted to be featured at Jackie Sheeler’s Son of Pony Series at 7 p.m. If you’d like to read in the Open Mic before/after my reading, come at 5:45 p.m. to sign up. Cornelia Street Café is the quintessential New York poetry venue—so come and enjoy! Seven-dollar entrance fee includes a house drink.

Not a Muse Poets at Bowery Poetry Club
What a pleasure to read at the famed Bowery Poetry Club for the U.S. launch of the Not A Muse (Haven Books, 2009) global anthology! NAM Poet and BPC host Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz hosted the September 26 event organized by Linda Leedy Schneider. In addition to Cristin and Linda, we heard fabulous and wry poetry from Kate Bernadette Benedict, Adele Geraghty, Jennifer Karmin, Sarah Stapperfenne, and Jeanann Verlee.

Alhambra Poetry Calendar 2010
My poem, “Andromeda at Midlife,” appears in next year’s Alhambra Poetry Calendar now available. Thanks to editor Shafiq Naz for selecting another poem of mine. I had to laugh at the alphabetical listing—to see Mr. Chaucer’s name after mine! Aye! More than a calendar, the Alhambra anthologies span a diversity of poetic styles and eras. They make unique gifts, are paginated to last three years and available in French, German, Italian and Spanish versions.

Michael Cefola at Prairie Fire
Blues guitarist Michael Cefola, my talented husband (center), played a selection of Delta Blues tunes with bassist Larry Schwartzman (right) and saxophonist Bob Feldman (left) at the October 11 Prairie Fire Poetry / Jazz event. Michael ignited the “Prairie Fire” with his harmonica and slide guitar on classics such as “I’m a Man” by Bo Diddley and “Ramblin’ on My Mind” by Robert Johnson. Thanks to Peter Chelnik for hosting Prairie Fire every second Sunday at the American Theater of Actors.

Poetry of war and peace
Award-winning poet Terry Dugan will read her provocative work at the WESPAC Poetry Café on Friday, November 6—joined by Palestinian-American poet Remi Kanazi and Colombian poet Catalina Restrepo. Donation of $10 requested. Terry and a dozen other poets will also read at the Hudson Valley Writers' Center Poets on War and Peace on Friday, November 13.

New from Kevin Pilkington
Poet Kevin Pilkington has a new book out, In the Eyes of a Dog (NewYork Quarterly Books, 2009). Kevin’s work has won many distinctions, including the La Jolla Poets Press National Book Award and the Ledge Poetry Prize. A four-time Pushcart Prize nominee, he is a member of the full-time writing faculty at Sarah Lawrence and teaches a workshop in the graduate program at Manhattanville.

Greenburgh’s fascinating art events
CBS Radio news anchor Nick Young will exhibit his drawings in the Greenburgh Town Hall November 1 – December 31. Come for a free gallery reception on Sunday, November 1, 1-3 p.m. A week later, same location, photographer Tina L. Singleton will discuss her experiences working for international women’s rights in Afghanistan on November 8, 2-4 p.m.—the talk and following reception are free.

The River Trio at North Castle Public Library
Long Island Philharmonic cellist Jay Shulman, flutist Pamela Sklar and violinist Linda Finegan Lott will perform chamber music of the baroque and classical eras on Sunday, November 15, at 3:00 p.m. You can also see Jay perform at the next Prairie Fire Poetry/Jazz event (see above) on November 8 at 5 p.m.

’Round the Net
· My nephew Dan Gregory, award-winning writer and host of a radio program Thursdays 3-5 pm. from the University of Connecticut.

· Guitarist John Moses for his new album, Riptide, available on CD Baby.

· Artist Maritza Rivera, met in a chance encounter at Café Reggio in the village.

· Francophile and poetry lover Susan Seligman for this New York Times article on the new Poets House.

· Filmmaker Frank Vitale, for his beautiful new documentary on the Garnerville Art and Industrial Complex.

Wishing you a rich and beautiful fall, and a Happy Halloween!

Ann

your september annogram

2009-09-19T23:11:00.009-04:00

What I love about fall is the infusion of poetry events—come see me read at the Bowery Poetry Club this coming Saturday, September 26, at 2 p.m. with poets from the anthology, Not a Muse (Haven Books, 2009). Mark your calendar also for October 30 at 6 p.m.—when I’ll be the featured poet at Jackie Sheeler’s Son of Pony Series at the Cornelia Street Café.

Attention Francophiles: Portrait of LA in 26 Letters
Poet Guy Bennett and biographer Béatrice Mousli have created “ABC LA: Portrait of a City” to air Sunday, September 27, at 2 p.m. L.A. Time on France Culture. Check France Culture for NYC times; or to listen to or podcast ABC L.A. the week following the broadcast.

Mindmade Books’ latest entry
Guy also recommends Sticks by Stephanie Rioux, part of Mindmade Books’ 2009 series, which includes work by Dawn Michelle Baude, David Lloyd, and Raymond Queneau. He calls Rioux’s poems “lyrical snippets ranging in length from one word to four slim lines, form a suggestive, open-ended text that reduces the world and its quotidian splendor to bits and pieces.” Purchase it and other titles at Mindmade Books.

Let the Poets Speak
A reception celebrating winners and finalists in the Town of Greenburgh’s 2009 Poetry Contest will take place Sunday, October 4, 2-4 p.m. at the Greenburgh Town Hall. The poets, whose work will appear in the 2009 Let the Poets Speak anthology, will read at 2:30 p.m. The public is invited to attend this free event.

Toadlily debuts new book
Come hear Diana Alvarez, Emily Carr, Matthew Nienow and Diana Woodcock debut their poetry from By Way Of, Toadlily Press’s fifth quartet of poetry, at the Katonah Museum of Art, Sunday, October 4, 6 p.m. The book-signing will also feature refreshments by Susan Lawrence Catering, Inc.

Doty and Olds readings
My former poetry teacher, Mark Doty, will give a reading Tuesday, October 6, 7 p.m., at Manhattanville College’s Reid Castle, in Purchase, NY; and Sharon Olds will read next door at Purchase College, October 19, 7 p.m., at the Performing Arts Center. Both events are free.

Ekphrastic Poetry Workshops
Season Two of Greenburgh’s Learning to See Poetry Workshops will start October 1 at the Greenburgh Public Library. Call 914-682-1574 or e-mail bracey0114@aol.com for more information and a complete workshop schedule.

Aaron Copland’s Merestead Estate
Aaron Copland's former Westchester home, a national historic landmark, is now a new creative center for American music. Its goals: to encourage new music through composer residencies, performances by its resident ensemble, and educational activities to foster interest in classical music. Learn more in this Wall Street Journal article or plan to attend the center’s gala at The Four Seasons, Sunday, October 18, with spectacular food and music of Leonard Bernstein, George Gershwin, John Musto and Derek Bermel.

Re-mastered “Montreal Main”
Congratulations to filmmaker Frank Vitale whose movie, “Montreal Main,” is being released in a digitally re-mastered DVD by Sanya Home Entertainment which can be ordered here. See the SkyKid review and interview with Frank, or review excerpts from top journals, museums and film festivals.

Astronaut Alan Bean at Stellafane
Every summer, star-gazers gather on a hilltop in the birthplace of amateur astronomy—Springfield, Vermont. To celebrate this year’s 40th anniversary of the first moon landing, Stellafane organizers invited Alan Bean, Apollo 12 astronaut and fourth person to walk on the moon, to address a full outdoor amphitheater. Bean vividly described his pioneering journey, from the extreme liftoff impact to walking on the moon. Back on earth, he was a changed man—appreciating the Pacific’s rolling blue waves and our planet’s unique pleasures—from unexpected thunderstorms to waiting on line at the post office. Compared to the moon’s stark isolation, he says, earth is “a paradise.” Bean now paints beautiful canvases of his moon experience as an artistic archive.

Baba-à-Louis Bakery
If you take a leisurely drive up I-91 to see fall foliage, be sure to stop by the Baba-à-Louis Bakery in Chester, Vermont. Surrounded by wildflowers, the bakery looks like a place where you’d worship bread—with dramatic skylights and high pine cathedral ceilings. The delicious café uses the locally famous Baba-à-Louis bread for breakfast and lunch—and all fresh Vermont vegetables and dairy products. John McLure, owner and baker (at left/right), makes mean spinach turnovers and whole-grain gourmet pizzas (see photos on my blog) Friday afternoons. Our favs: the cheddar-pepper bread, homemade granola, irresistible sweet rolls loaded with pecans or John’s generous recipe book where he shares his secrets.

'Round the Net
I am grateful to the following people for these cool links:

· Michael Cefola for this real-time rebroadcast of Apollo 11 air-to-ground transmissions.

· Writer Peggy Harrington for her essay, “What Photographs Tell,” in The East Hampton Star.

· Poet Mary Ladd for interesting stats on worldwide Internet usage.

· Poet Suzanne Gardinier’s for entry #7 in her video series “America the Beautiful.”

· Artist Angela Virsinger for this artwork for writers:

· Poet E.J. Antonio, for her great news that she is a 2009 fellow in Poetry from the New York Foundation for the Arts.

Hope to see you soon at a poetry reading!

Ann

creativity interview, part 2

2009-07-28T19:11:00.038-04:00

Frank Vitale, a filmmaker who attended my Creativity Workshop, is diving in for part two of our conversation on the same topic.

Frank: Ann, you’ve given us permission to play unencumbered. I imagine a child finger painting. But I want to create something professional to communicate with other people. How do I get from here to there?

Ann: Your challenge as an artist is to access that child-space where you can have fun, create new worlds and—as you say—get your hands messy. Once you have exhausted yourself that way, you need to back off from the work. Even the subconscious—the inner child—needs a break, nap time, milk and cookies, whatever!

Once you’ve guided that child, whom I call the Wunderkind, out of the room, it’s time to invite in the Editor. The Editor loves to create order out of chaos. The Editor will sort, select, try out, rearrange. More adult than the Wunderkind, the Editor is also playful and daring: like a teenager with some knowledge and the adrenaline to try something new.

Frank: I’m glad that I can still play. I thought the Editor was going to be a taskmaster and I’d have to be clear-headed and detached. I’m not sure I am capable of that.

What does the Editor look like at work?

Ann: When you get tired after sustained creative activity or don’t know what to do next, that’s time to call in the Editor. You may have a longing for order—to rearrange dishes, sort through clothes, or clear the basement. Those transition activities can help summon your Editor. They create time and space for a shift to occur in both your brain and environment.

There’s a definite shift. To create a manuscript, I may spread poems on the floor. My Editor will quickly select and group them, put them together and pull them apart. It feels fun and intuitional—I have no idea where my Editor is leading. Days later, I may move several poems. My Editor is fine-tuning. I trust her completely.

Another way to invoke the Editor is before sleep. I can think, “I need help editing this poem.” It’s like placing an order: I go to sleep while my Editor turns on the lamplight and gets to work. The next day there may be some new ideas.

What would you ask your Editor for help with?

Frank: I want to know if my work makes sense, communicates, engages – in short, is it any good?

Ann: You would ask, “Is there anything I need to do to improve the film?” You might live with that question for a week. Step away from the creative churning for a while.

Frank: I am curious how your Editor interrelates with other Editors—in workshops, writers groups and with writer-friends?

Ann: My Wunderkind loves workshops and sharing work with others. She enjoys seeing what other people are doing. She finds inspiration and challenge among other artists.

Editing, however, is a solo practice. If a document is circulated, edits input by each person require quiet and focus. In graduate workshops, when 15 Editors suggested edits, I never knew which had the most merit; many were contradictory. My Editor felt overloaded and overwhelmed.

Teachers encouraged us to find two or three people we could turn to over a literary lifetime. Integrity is crucial here: Editors who constantly applaud work are useless. Similarly, Editors who do not understand the poet’s intent offer no value. I am blessed to know two award-winning poets whose Editors love to work with my Editor. We know we are there to support, challenge and promote one another’s work.

Frank: I learned something about giving feedback from my film class. For the first five years I taught it, I critiqued students’ one-page scripts. One semester, I got two scripts, one well written and the other—an incoherent script.

While the good writer made a so-so film, the incoherent writer created a spectacular one. I realized their scripts could not wholly convey their ideas; furthermore, my criticism could have been destructive. For 25 years now, I haven’t critiqued student scripts. I find what is good in them and bring that to students’ attention. This unconditional love works wonders—their film quality is much better.

Ann: Your story illustrates the interplay between the Wunderkind and the Editor beautifully. That student with the tidy script allowed her Editor to participate in her project too soon. Sure, she could hand in a great script—but the Editor’s continued presence created a less than adventuresome project.

The second student, with the crazy script, allowed her Wunderkind to be in control—its incoherence shows that a preverbal Wunderkind was guiding her project! That audaciousness and playfulness continued into the film.

Here’s the lesson: The Wunderkind and Editor cannot be in the room at the same time. The Wunderkind thrives on creative chaos and the Editor on patterns and order. If the Wunderkind is playing, the Editor will say, “What on earth are you doing? Here, let’s clean this up now!” And the Wunderkind looks around meekly and shrugs, “Okay.” Editors by nature are authoritative and that’s intimidating to the Wunderkind.

I once coached a man who could not get started writing his manuscript. I explained that his Editor was in the room. “What will you say to your Editor to make him leave?” I asked. He thought and said, “’I value you and will need you later. Right now, I am asking you to leave.’” After that, his manuscript poured out in a matter of months.

It takes 10 years for the Editor to learn his or her chosen craft. And, once we learn those rules, we can break them. That’s the Editor’s choice too. That’s why the Editor can end up being just as playful as the Wunderkind—but in a more adult, conscious, deliberate way.

What does the Wunderkind feel like to you? Your Editor? When do you know they are battling?

Frank: My Wunderkind is fear. When I explore a project, I feel it’s good it if it scares me. For my last documentary, “A Perfect Stranger,” I would go to Starbucks or Washington Square Park, find someone that interested me based on their appearance, then ask if I could do an in-depth profile on them.

Approaching strangers is scary. So is pushing them to reveal who they are. I paralleled the idea with an attempt to find out who I am. Now that’s really scary! (see the doc) I like walking on the edge. To me, art is on the edge.

Ann: Georgia O’Keeffe spoke about walking a knife’s edge, knowing she will probably fall off, but being compelled to do so anyway. If you think about it, a kid would never have any problem walking up to a stranger and saying, “I want to make a movie about you.”

When the Editor is in charge, make sure the Wunderkind doesn’t sneak back in. The Editor needs solitude. If a novelist is putting final touches on a book, the Wunderkind might say, “Let’s have aliens land in Chapter 3,” or “Why can’t the main character live happily ever after instead of dying?” Sometimes there can be valuable insights but mostly it’s an attempt to derail completion.

In the final moments of completing a project, stay tuned with that energy that brought you to this point. Say, “I still don’t know where this is going, but I trust the outcome.” If you are picturing reviews, visualizing the audience, take a break. Do what you need to do to get back in your zone—whether saying a prayer, doing a little writing, or going somewhere for a walk. Art is a spiritual practice and any background noise needs to be addressed.

Frank: That is really useful and I know it will be to others as well.

Thank you, Ann. This has been great. I look forward to the final character in your triumvirate, the Advocator.

Ann: My pleasure, Frank! Next time we’ll talk about getting our work out in the world.

your philly freedom annogram

2009-07-23T13:58:00.046-04:00

Galileo at the Franklin Institute
With a few Westchester Amateur Astronomers, we made a pilgrimage to see Galileo’s hand-crafted telescope at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. We looked through the telescope—first time out of Italy—as the great scientist did. “Galileo, the Medici and the Age of Astronomy” included intricately carved brass astrolabes, compasses and replicas of Galileo’s observation notebooks and personal correspondence. Galileo (1564-1642) was first to discover craters on the moon, moons of Jupiter, phases of Venus similar to our moon—proving the sun, not the earth, is the center of our universe.

And Star Trek too
We also viewed the Star Trek:The Exhibition, substantially less exciting than Galileo. Of some interest—Star Trek: The Next Generation costumes worn by Picard, Worf, Guinan and Counselor Troi; a cast head of Data; and USS Enterprise model used in the original series. Much more exciting was the 60,000-ton steam engine at the Franklin which offers a ride a few yards, and the lobby’s laser tribute to and towering statue of Ben Franklin.

Philly’s Historic District
Led by our friend Bill Newell, and driven by our pals Angela and Mike Virsinger, we enjoyed touring Philadelphia’s Historic District. This meant sitting in George Washington’s pew in Christ Church, the first Episcopal Church; driving past Independence Hall, the Arch Street Quaker Meeting House and the residence of Dr. Physick, the first American surgeon; visiting the charming Elfreth’s Alley—the oldest continuously inhabited homes in the United States; throwing pennies on Ben Franklin’s grave, as custom dictates; touring the Betsy Ross (1752-1836) house—where she made flags and musket bullets for Washington, outlived three husbands and had seven kids.

Good eats
In the great Philly cheese steak eat-off, our meat connoisseurs proclaimed Pat’s King of Steaks victor over Geno’s Steaks next door. At the Reading Terminal Market, we went to Delilah's at the Terminal, whose mac n' cheese Oprah selected as the best in America; my husband Michael, Bill Newell and I agreed it was delicious. I made a beeline to Bassetts Ice Cream, the oldest purveyor in the country—so good, we ended up going there twice. If you remember being able to actually chew cold ice cream, then you will know what Bassetts is like. Oh vanilla, to thee I sing!

The Female Sower
Loretta Fay noticed women on the train sometimes pull out a piece of paper with a quote—perhaps scripture, perhaps poetry—for encouragement. That observation led to The Female Sower, Loretta’s custom purse business. After a career in textiles, Loretta offers women more than 20 fabrics to design their own purse. Inside, she affixes a printed message of the woman’s choice. Made of durable upholstery fabric, these hand- and shoulder bags can be spot-cleaned and their linings are breathtakingly beautiful. When I saw them in person, I was amazed by the quality. To express your individuality, create a personalized purse for someone special, or give a gift certificate, e-mail Loretta at

RETFAY@aol.com.

Chappaqua Rocks
An unexpected summer pleasure was the free Friday concert by Chappaqua Rocks—a genuine“school of rock.” Each group had their own band name and performed recognizable songs—from “Pinball Wizard” by the Who to “God Save the Queen” by the Sex Pistols. Pint-sized kids were wind-milling with the best of ‘em—and instructors on-stage helped with the beat and lyrics. Fourteen-year-old Evan Schwartzman (at right) expertly played drums, bass guitar and later sang the rap song “Sugar” by Serj Tankin. See last summer shows this and next Friday, 4:30 p.m. at the Music Conservatory of Westchester.

MYGRAIN at the Bitter End
How many grown-ups wish they could play the Bitter End? Success comes early for some—including MYGRAIN, a band of Chappaqua Rocks students who recently rocked the Bitter End: Dante Palmenteri on vocals (on left above), Evan Schwartzman on bass and background vocals (on left, center), Karel Ullner on rhythm guitar (on left, at far right), David Batten Lead Guitar, Cole Parham on drums and Julian Fernandez on keyboards.

Gigi and the Lend-Me-A-Hand Band in Peekskill
Fresh from headlining July 4th in Philly, Gigi and her band opened the Peekskill Waterfront Festival this week to a huge outdoor audience. Joey Elluzzi, son of Gigi drummer Guy Elluzzi and action leader Patty Elluzzi, made an awesome debut on the trombone. Lead guitarist Michael Cefola and bass player Larry Schwartzman, Gigi’s spouse, go back to Joey's age as friends! And Gigi’s mom, Granny Franny, is always a star in her own right on keyboards and vocals. Playing a mean sax is long-time friend Paul Rutkowski, who gives the band that New Orleans spice. Everyone loves the Gigi band—especially Maria, who's holding a Gigi CD giveaway on her moms blog, Maria’s Space.

Fear—does it hurt or help artists?
Find out in part 2 of my conversation with filmmaker Frank Vitale. Frank and I just completed another eye-opening discussion on the creative process. Sure you’ve got talent—but does it control you or do you control it? Look for this interview in your inbox.

‘Round the Net
As usual, I am grateful for intriguing links sent by:

· Ann-Marie Cutul at the Scarsdale Library for this literary traveler link.

· Lucy Barber, extraordinarily talented painter—praised by The New York Times—whose paintings can be now seen on her blog.

· Elaine Gregory, my sister-in-law, for this amazing video by Highland sheepherders.

· Viki Holmes and Kate Rogers, for the Not a Muse Anthology Facebook page and announcing the Haven Books booth this week at the Hong Kong Book Fair.

· Katharine McCollum, my cousin, for this great interview with Oklahoma’s poet laureate, poet/translator Jim Barnes.

· Linda Simone, award-winning poet, for this talk by Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love) on creativity.

· Meredith Trede, Toadlily publisher and poet, for the new revamped Toadlily site.

Wishing you summer pleasures,

Ann

Ann Cefola

your june annogram

2009-06-09T20:07:00.019-04:00

Sugaring reviewed in Melusine
If you haven’t seen my chapbook, Sugaring, read this insightful review. Janelle Elyse Kihlstrom, a graduate of the prestigious Johns Hopkins writing program, offers an amazingly on-target exploration. The review is part of Kihlstrom’s debut journal, Melusine or Woman in the 2lst Century. You can also find my work this month in J Journal and Amoskeag.

Prairie Fire Poetry Reading
What a pleasure to read at Peter Chelnik’s Prairie Fire Poetry Series on May 7! Poets Chris Graff, Patricia Carragon and I read to more than 30 people. DeeAnne Gorman sang “There will never be another you,” accompanied by Bob Feldman on sax. Peter also welcomed 16-year-old Juliette Baker and 17-year-old Jake Samuels who read work; and 12-year-old Calvin Baker who wrapped up the evening with Shakespeare.

“Finding the Rooster” at Thirteenth Street Repertory Company
Playwright Terence Patrick Hughes’s “Finding the Rooster” depicts a family unraveling from the death of a son in war, and in near allegory, turns to literature to heal them. Kathy Neville Brown gives a powerful performance as the alcoholic mother who is barely aware of what is happening to her remaining son, and Kevin Hauver is magical as her wacky war-hero brother who both inspires and saves his nephew.

Learning to See Poetry Reading
Participants in Greenburgh Poet Laureate Brenda Connor-Bey’s Learning to See poetry writing workshops will read their work tomorrow, June 10, at the Greenburgh Public Library, 6-8:45 p.m. Valerie Griffith, Sarah Bracey White (at left) and Brenda will offer introductory remarks, and there will be refreshments at this free event.

Washington Heights Chapbook Festival
The final chapbook festival event will be a Bookmaking Workshop for Children and Their Families with artist Dindga McCannon on June 20, 11 a.m-1 p.m. The kids will make books from simple materials, including their writing and drawing. This free event will be at the Fort Washington Branch, New York Public Library, 535 W. 179th Street, between Audubon and St. Nicholas Avenues.

Writers Under the French Occupation

“Between Collaboration and Resistance: French Literary Life Under Nazi Occupation,” at New York City’s 42nd Street Library, documents that literary vacuum that descended on France during its Vichy government (1940-1944). Excerpts from diaries, poetry, letters, newsreels and movies reveal how France’s most celebrated writers struggled to survive the untrustworthy regime. A sobering exhibit—through July 25—that reminds writers to savor our political freedom.

Movie meditation: Star Trek
When the Star Trek series appeared 1966-1969, it seemed like the world was falling apart: There were riots, looting and fires in urban areas; we were bombing the Vietnamese; civil rights marches spoke to more unrest; women were burning bras and college students protesting war. I was nine years old, and on Fridays, I could count on a team of sane and talented astronauts to bring peace and order to our galaxy.

Yes, they would have conflicts. They had weaknesses, strengths. They hated people and had love affairs. Relying on mutual trust and humor, they could find solutions to sophisticated challenges facing other worlds and their own. I felt safer in their company than anywhere else—certainly more than that 1972 morning when I saw a Times photo of a Vietnamese girl running naked from a napalm blast.

When the USS Enterprise returned to the big screen in this latest movie, I felt my eyes well—and later as the young characters uttered familiar lines that we would come to expect during the series’ three years. I realized the starship personalities were an intimate part of my personal history, like family members, role models, neighbors—people I knew and could depend on during a complex time.

Four decades later, I help organizations promote diversity programs. The message: People working together from different backgrounds create better products and services. They’re more creative. They have more fun. In this regard, Star Trek was the first diversity program: Kirk, Bones, Spock, Uhura, Sulu and Chekov saving planets, saving lives and giving hope to a nine-year-old girl on Friday nights that humans and others could, after all, create something beautiful and enduring—like community or peace.

'Round the Net
I am grateful for these links sent by:

· Fast Company on the amazing new park in Chelsea built on an elevated railroad

· Kathy Neville Brown, who is starring in this web soap opera July 11

· Isabelle Fuller for these tips for a beautiful life

· Mary Ladd for this awesome version of “Stand by Me”

· Meredith Trede for the Geraldine R. Dodge blog

· Barbara Dickinson for this June 17 free webinar with Kenny the Monk

· Linda Simone for why right-brainers will rule the world

· John McCray for his film, “Cracks,” starring Geico Caveman John Lehr, Justine Bateman and John.

Live long and prosper,
Ann

your national-poetry-month annogram

2009-04-28T18:31:00.010-04:00

Happy National Poetry Month! To celebrate, I’ve read from Not A Muse (Haven Books, 2009) in the city this month, and welcomed work in Motif: Writing by Ear (Motes Books, 2009), Amoskeag and New Plains Review.

Poets on music
I’m thrilled to have my tribute to guitar legend Les Paul in Motif: Writing by Ear. An Anthology of Writings about Music (Motes Books, 2009). This inaugural volume in Motes Books’ new themed series features 116 writers including Evie Shockley, Sue Walker, Silas House, Marilyn Kallet, Frank X Walker; and song lyricists Buddy and Julie Miller, Patty Griffin, RB Morris, and Scott Miller. See Motes Books.

Peter Chelnik’s Poetry/Jazz Fusion
At Rive Gauche on April 13, I read “Taped at the Poetry Reading” and “Andromeda at Midlife” from Not a Muse. Saxophonist Bob Feldman accompanied poet Peter Chelnik, giving the café a distinct beat feel. Cellist Jay Shulman then transformed the space into an elegant salon by performing a rare Bach composition. Poet Eve Packer, also backed by sax, delighted everyone with her urban-girl lyrics and jazz vocalist Dee Anne Gorman sang an excellent song or two. I will be a featured poet May 7 at 6:45 p.m.—come experience this unusual venue at 336 East 86th Street between lst and 2nd Aves.

Creativity interview goes viral
Thanks for the huge response to filmmaker Frank Vitale’s interview with me on creativity. We’re planning part two, so stay tuned. You can get to know Frank’s work by visiting his company; nonfiction blog; creativity blog; and viewing some of his students’ films, and church plays.

Translation and Literary Selfhood at CUNY Graduate Center
Poet/translator Rosanna Warren moderated this panel last month. Jonathan Galassi, Farrar Strauss Giroux’s publisher, says he fell in love with the work of Eugenio Montale (1896-1981), yet still feels like “an amateur” when translating. Edith Grossman, translator of Gabriel Garcia Márquez (1927- ), is tackling an epic by Góngora (1561-1627) which has complex secret and duplicate meanings. Poet Marilyn Hacker is translating Claire Malroux (1935- ) at left, French translator of Emily Dickinson; and Rika Lesser read part of Mozart’s Third Brain by Göran Sonnevi (1939- ) in the original Swedish and her English translation.

Toadlily at Hudson Valley Writers Center
In a celebration of Toadlily Press, poets Marcia Arrietta, Michael Carman and George Kraus read work from the latest Toadlily chapbook quartet, An Uncommon Accord (Toadlily, 2009) last Friday. Publisher Meredith Trede also read Heidi Hart’s “Door Psalm” which won the small press a Pushcart; Pamela Hart debuted new art-inspired work and Maxine Silverman shared her poignant work. This wonderful event took place in the HVWC’s home, a restored train station with breath-taking sunsets and views along the Hudson—well worth a train trip from Manhattan.

Reel 13
If you’re a film buff and haven’t seen WNET’s Reel 13 on Saturday nights, you’re missing out. Thirteen combines a classic film, Indie and short that viewers select online the prior week. I loved the Indies “Bigger than the Sky,” a modern-day Cyrano de Bergerac; “Rory O’Shea Was Here,” about a transformative friendship between two severely disabled young men; and “Sita Sings the Blues,” an animated tale of heartbreak based on the Indian epic Ramayana (see below). Vote now for your favorite short.

Doty to judge Camber Press contest
The fifth annual Camber Press Poetry Chapbook Award will be judged by Mark Doty. April 30th is the Camber Press Fiction Chapbook Award deadline which will be judged by author Ron Carlson. Both winners will receive $1000, publication, and author copies. For full details, see the web site.

Round the 'Net
For these great links, I thank

· Artist Angela Virsinger for this clever music video.

· Architect Fred Cox for this NPR piece on a home he helped restore (third photo down) in LA’s celebrated Hancock Park.

· Poet Mary Ladd for this hilarious send-up of Dickens, fortune-cookie style.

· Filmmaker Nina Paley, whose broken marriage inspired her award-winning animation—see it in its 90-minute entirety.

Enjoy poetry, savor spring, be happy!

Until next time,

Ann

anncefola.com

your annogram bail out

2009-03-19T14:52:00.003-04:00

Are you as sick and tired as me with all this financial talk? I am bailing you out with a rewarding e-mail conversation between filmmaker/writer Frank Vitale and me. Frank is a filmmaking adjunct professor at the School of Visual Arts and director of the Audio-Visual Division of the March of Dimes Foundation. Frank’s “Montreal Man” was recently selected by CVMC.net for distribution and you can see another of his films, “The Perfect Stranger,” on vitaleproductions.com.

Frank: Ann Cefola, creative strategist and owner of Jumpstart, LLC, is a multitalented wellspring of thought and energy. I attended her creativity workshop on at the Manhattanville College writing program. She gave us a very workable strategy to manage our creative process. Ann divides it into three stages: “The first, the ‘wunderkind’ stage,” she says, “means play and sometimes chaos; the second is ‘shaping,’ where we call upon the inner editor to make sense of the creative mess we've generated; and the third calls for ‘advocating,’ where we summon our inner concierge to go into the world and find opportunities to share our work." This interview explores the Wunderkind stage.

Ann, what is, in your opinion, the essence of creativity?

Ann: The essence of creativity is intuition, the ability to listen, follow and act on inner cues and nudgings. Once I was sorting through tubes of oil paint at Pearl—hefting them in my hand, reading them, considering what I needed to paint. I apologetically explained to an employee, a young man, that I had no formal training. "That doesn't matter," he said. "Eventually you come to realize that your greatest teacher is your intuition." I marveled at the rightness of his words.

Frank: Those “inner cues and nudgings,” they sound ephemeral, delicate, fragile, scary. How do you manage them effectively?

Ann: Most artists have a rich inner life—it’s a way of being that processes the world in terms of messages, symbols and metaphor. When something is appealing or intriguing, we make note of it—even if only on a subconscious level. Writers have many journals and artists sketchbooks. My uncle, an architect, advised his daughters to always carry a sketchbook. How do filmmakers collect and record the primary material that inspires them?

Frank: For filmmakers there must be many different ways. For me, I carry most of in my head until there comes a point when I need to make it more concrete and put it down on paper as an idea or an outline or a script. Once on paper it is never as amazing as it was in my head. And then there is the process of actually making the film that is full of heart-breaking compromises. The film can turn out great, but getting there is torture.

Let me go back to the incubation stage and ask you about the emotional part. It is so hard to take those “inner cues and nudgings” and expose them to the light of day by writing them down or drawing images and then, oh God, sharing them with other people who might judge our work or judge us and trample our delicate fragile imaginings. It’s a very vulnerable time in the process. What are your thoughts about dealing with the fear and natural insecurity that is part of the creative process?

Ann: Mark Twain said, “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—not absence of fear.” It never goes away. What is a greater fear, however, is never acting on that glimmering inspiration. Once a coworker said to me, “Oh you write? So do I: I’ve written hundreds of novels in my head.” That still gives me chills. The insecurity is always there—in the poem “Berryman” by W. S. Merwin, Merwin asks the elder poet:

[…] how can you ever be sure
that what you write is really
any good at all and he said you can't

you can't you can never be sure
you die without knowing
whether anything you wrote was any good
if you have to be sure don't write

Being a creative person in this world, on a feeling level, makes no sense: I have to embrace the secret calling without wasting time questioning it. And you’re right, the first inklings of creative pursuit are delicate. Wasn’t it Hemingway who refused to say what he was writing about? That’s a practical choice—to hold the work close until it feels like it is ready to debut. Anxiety is part of the creative process and, if embraced, turns into energy and wisdom for the work itself.

Frank: That’s powerful, Ann. There is fear and uncertainty, yet great possibilities. In your Stages of Creativity, the first stage is the Wunderkind. What is it and how does it get us to move beyond the fear and uncertainty?

Ann: If you look at a cut tree trunk, you see all the circles as the tree grew outward. Humans are like that too—we have every life stage within us, despite our advancing years. The child within is the source of all creativity. The child is at home with the imagination. The child knows no rules or bounds. A child will say she’s going to build a tower to the moon. And most adults would respond, “Of course you are!” or a more skeptical “And how do you plan to do that?” There is also a saying that all children are poets—it’s just some of us never forget it.

The child loves creative chaos. Here’s an example: My husband dropped by the neighbors after the holidays. The mother called everyone into the kitchen to see the baby, who had emptied multiple bags of cups from a discount store onto the floor. “This baby has gotten all the gifts in the world for Christmas," she said, "and look what she prefers!” Everyone had a good laugh. That’s early creativity—cups and cups and what to do with them! Not yet one year old, the baby had created a fascinating landscape. Whether using mud, plastic cups or finger paint, kids go with their instincts. You probably know the famous Picasso quote—when he saw some four year olds’ drawings: “It took me a long time before I could draw that way.”

The Wunderkind is that inner child who knows that it’s okay to take risks, think big and enjoy the adrenaline of a visualized new adventure. That child knows how to play and how to play seriously. Somewhere between the sandbox and the laptop, many of us lose touch with the Wunderkind. He or she is still there, waiting to be invited to play. How I choose to interact with my Wunderkind may determine whether I produce anything creative as an adult or not.

Frank: How do you invite the Wunderkind to play? How do you interact with it?

Ann: Say a parent notices a child loves to garden. Maybe the grandparents hear about this and buy their grandchild a little hoe and watering can. Maybe the neighbors pass along an envelope of zucchini seeds. Maybe the parents take their child to the local botanical garden and nature
center. The parents know that their child loves spending time outside and learning about plants. At the holidays, they may buy books about gardening. They give the child the time, space and tools to explore this passion—which seems to increase the more they support it.

When we discover our passion, our curiosity, our instinct—even if only a beguiling direction or pull—we need to be like those attentive parents. We need to give our Wunderkind the time, space and tools to explore. As a poet, I need lots of time just to be, to reflect, to hear lines that come to me. I also need a laptop, and a beautiful pen and colorful notebooks. I need great writing to read to inspire and challenge me. I need other poets to share my work with, and to encourage me to continue. I know I am being a good parent to my Wunderkind when I feel connected to my work and have a sense of playful intrigue.

Is it hard to make time for a pursuit that has no promise of outcome or profit—when I have to earn a living and attend to the everyday details of life? Yes, it is a challenge: Here is the daily, weekly or monthly choice we must make—to live the path we've been given, or walk away from it.

Frank: Thank you, Ann. You have given us permission to play. That’s a great gift.

Ann: My pleasure, Frank!

your last-day-of-february annogram

2009-02-28T22:34:00.007-05:00

Welcome to our new president
What a different world with President Obama taking decisive action on all his campaign promises! Did you know that he is a poet too? Read his poem about his father. Thanks to Lynne Hamill for this discovery. (At left: Senator Obama at a Random House party with my cousin-in-law, Stefanie Sabol).

Not a Muse
My poem, “Taped at the Poetry Reading,” appears in Not a Muse (Haven Books, Hong Kong), an anthology about the 21st-century woman. More than 100 poets from 24 countries are featured, including Margaret Atwood, Erica Jong and Sharon Olds. Wish I could attend the publication party in Hong Kong this week!

Perigee
You can also find “Having No Children” at Perigee. The editors selected six poems out of 300, so I am thrilled to be included. More poems will appear in Amoskeag, J Journal and The New Plains Review later this spring.

Celebrating African American History Month
Leave it to PBS to complete my education: “The Better Hour,” profiled William Wilberforce (1759-1833), a Member of Parliament who dedicated his life to outlawing slavery throughout the United Kingdom. Another film, “Sisters of Selma,” revealed the role Catholic nuns played in supporting Selma’s black citizens and participating in the 1965 march to the city Courthouse. Two must-see documentaries!

Heavens Above at Rye Arts Center
Thirty amazing Hubble photographs of stars and other celestial objects were on display at The Rye Arts Center January 13-February 21. On the opening night, Westchester Amateur Astronomers hosted a panel featuring Doug Baum, Matt Ganis and Rick Bria who shared breathtaking photos and fascinating insights into astrophotography. Congratulations to Elyse and Larry Faltz on organizing this wonderful event!

Fiction and poetry at Riverspace
Tomorrow, March 1, at 4 p.m., you can hear novelist Hillary Jordan and poet Jeffrey Yang read at Riverspace in Nyack. Jordan's debut novel, Mudbound (Algonquin Books, 2009) was awarded the 2006 Bellwether Prize for literature of social responsibility. Yang’s poetry collection, An Aquarium (Graywolf, 2008) has been widely praised as "spellbindingly wonderful and beautifully fun."

Music meets poetry
The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, led by Music Director Jeffrey Kahane, will host Robert Pinsky March 5 and Michael Steinberg April 23 at the Broad Stage at Santa Monica College. Tickets are $37.

Camber Press Fiction Chapbook Award
Camber Press is introducing a Fiction Chapbook Award, which seeks to honor a 10,000-word long story. Ron Carlson will judge. See Camber Press for full details and submission guidelines.

Book reviews
It took me a few years to discover Mindmade Books (formerly Seeing Eye), the chapbook series edited by my Seismicity editor, Guy Bennett. Guy has selected an impressive and diverse collection by authors more than willing to take risks with language. Here are four books I limited myself to—although I wanted to read many more. (Note: Blog format distorts some of the creative line spacing in the following samples.)

In The Row by Guy Bennett, the author explores the twelve-tone “row” created by Viennese composer Anton Webern (1883-1945). One of the hardest things to do in poetry is to impart the senses, and Guy succeeds in communicating the composer’s sound:

With sudden sparks on the violin and one dull gong,

His brittle insistence on color honing our fine breath.

Dream, rim, tin; attenuated.

A string of subtle shifts.

And then the author moves from aural description to the composer’s thoughts on his “row”:

my aim: to make
as plain as possible
the relationships between
all parts of the unity.

This is an intelligent and provocative book that made me feel as if I had experienced the composer’s work and had been exposed to its genius.

Eléna Rivera’s Suggestions at Every Turn juxtaposes ordinary quotes and phrases within a series of poems that suggest a narrative of someone at a window:

Rules, though strict, are finally very simple.

A photograph of a family
father, mother, brother, sister
ruled around a large round table,
backs straight, faces forward
The voyage was undertaken
with sang-froid on the part of some
and molten lava on the part of others
The great urgency of achievement,
given precedence at the slot machine
while the small sit at a window, looking
at the ocean prairie, thinking of sinking
and of all that was lost.

“Now I am sitting
by the window
looking down.”

The poet uses these creative line breaks and stanzas to add to the mystery—the sense of a definite narrative just out of reach. Rivera references Kafka at one point, and like him, she takes the reader on a rewarding and challenging right-brain journey.

In The Lover’s Numbers, Eleni Sikelianos is both playful and sensual. Like Rivera, she sets aside rational language to draw in the reader. The resulting confusion yields a deeper lyricism and tone suggesting the metaphysical poets, as in “#30”:

alba, luster-white, I grasp & train after
lust I err ever depeopling a night

’s somnambulance with wicked
umbrage caught in what’s about ‘I am

what I yam’ ‘who I was at what I am’
animus-rushed against the racing

rushes
dear one
bid sleep’s entrance, receive his right [night’s]
eye so that

sleep-tugged might he
open the well

& talk

to keep us nourished
in the bed’s (indomitable) fury

I would never think of a bed as having “(indomitable) fury”; yet that seems right for a crown of poems about love. Readers will find such abundant and wry surprises throughout The Lover’s Numbers.

Susan Wheeler’s Everything And Below, Below, Below feels like a sad and profound pause in our history. She has taken text from Russell G. Creviston’s Everything and the Kitchen Sink (Farrar, Strauss & Cudahy, 1955), which celebrates the last century’s aggressive and conspicuous consumerism—where Americans are smart, wealthy, educated, creative, etc., etc.

“Below, Below, Below” refers to a 1908 song, “The Mermaid,” that Wheeler intertwines in the Creviston’s work and photos:

[…] the way to get ahead and to
make money is to give the public what it wants in large quantities
and always better or faster or cheaper than their competitors. With
a comb and a glass in her hand.

Scattered throughout, the Mermaid song becomes increasingly refreshing and real in contrast to Creviston’s hyperbole. Maybe the Mermaid is what we've been chasing, and that is the metaphor here. Creviston's fable of American industry is much more exotic. Wheeler is ingenious and timely in what she does—and the book’s poetic truth is more than a little painful right now.

Round the ‘Net
Once again, thanks to the following friends for sending me great links:

· Mary Ladd for this sweet indie short on validation

· Jay Shulman for Senator Franken’s Jagger impersonation.

· Linda Simone for this wild animation that has famous poets speaking their poetry (click on “Nearly 250 clips”)

· Gene Sosin for his essay recalling his student days at Columbia University

· Frank Vitale for this Elizabeth Gilbert talk on creativity.

Best birthday wishes to my brother Bill, and until next time!

Ann

your holiday annogram

2008-11-30T18:09:00.006-05:00

There are too many great things going on…so here’s your holiday annogram a month early. First, you can find my poems in If Poetry Journal (scroll to “Kerning” below Superman article), Protest Poems, and Umbrella Journal. Then, we have assorted reviews and some soap thrown in for good measure—so read on!

Hence this cradle review in Absinthe
Thanks to Notre Dame Visiting Scholar and translator Anne Magnan-Park for her thoughtful review of Hence this cradle (Seismicity Editions) in Absinthe: New European Writing. Ms. Magnan-Park accurately describes Hence, my translation of Hélène Sanguinetti’s second book, as “a series of kaleidoscopic narratives through opening lines that function as a sibylline compass” and praises the translation as a “welcome dépaysement.”

Isabelle Garron and Rosmarie Waldrop at St. Mark’s Poetry Project
What a pleasure to hear Isabelle Garron read from Face Before Against (Litmus Press), a book my Seismicity Editor Guy Bennett calls “one of the most compelling works of French poetry to have been published in recent years.” Beloved poet and noted translator Rosmarie Waldrop, founder of Burning Deck Books, also read, treating us to intellectually playful prose poems. I’d never been to St. Mark’s—and the enjoyable event attracted a full house of noted translators and poets.

Inside The New York Times Book Review
Driving I-95, I stumbled on this WQXR (96.3 FM) program two Fridays ago at 6:05 p.m. Book Review editor Sam Tanenhaus interviews his reviewers about book events such as the National Book Awards. I was thrilled to hear my poetry teacher, Mark Doty, won the National Book Award for his collection, Fire to Fire (Harper Perennial). You can download podcasts of the program although I could not find a web site.

Anne-Marie McIntyre Open Studio
See the colorful, whimsical ceramic work, paintings and drawings by Hastings resident Anne-Marie McIntyre, December 5, 6 and 7, 12 noon to 5 p.m. at Studio 339, 145 Palisade Street in Dobbs Ferry. “Come and visit,” says Ms. McIntyre, “I have a lot of beautiful new work!” You can see this is true by visiting Studio 339 online. Before attending the Open Studio, please call 917-685-3516.

Book review: Désert
by Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio
Désert (Gallimard, 1980), parallels two stories: The journey of a contemporary girl from desert shantytown to Marseilles, and the flight of her Arab ancestors from soldiers bent on their destruction. Mr. Le Clézio, this year’s Nobel Prize winner for literature, captures the desert’s brutality with a lyricism that evokes the painter Rousseau (translation mine):

It was as if there were no names, here, as if there were no words. The desert wind washed all, erased all. Men had the freedom of space in their eyes, their skin like metal. Sunlight exploded everywhere. The sand ochre, yellow, gray, white, the light sand glistened, revealed the wind. It covered all traces, all bones. It pushed back light, it chased water, life, far from a center that no one would recognize. The men knew that the desert didn’t want them: so they walked without stopping, on paths that other feet had already run, to find something else. Water, it was in the aiun, the eyes, a sky color, or in damp beds of old mud streams. But this wasn’t water for pleasure, nor rest. It was only a trace of a glimmer on the desert surface, the parsimonious gift of a dry God, the last movement of life. Heavy water pulled from sand, which gave colic, which induced vomit. It was necessary to go further away, leaning in a little, in the direction given by the stars. (13-14)

Beyond the author’s narrative skill, the first story of desert nomads bears an uncanny likeness to the recent intervention in Iraq. This global insight, as well as literary skill, must have been a critical consideration in awarding the author the Nobel.

Book review: Qu’il faille by Isabelle Garron
Qu’il faille (Flammarion, 2007), poet Isabelle Garron’s fourth book, could be translated What may be necessary or What is needed. Gem-like stanzas on each page combine visual detail with a diarist’s reflective tone: Think of Jean Valentine’s emotional compactness combined with Brenda Hillman’s inventive punctuation (apologies to Eleni Siklelianos who is translating the book):

… & however! these deserts separating us is real today
as feeling your eyes cross the roses .. fffrrr .. fffrr
.. fffrrr Bagatelle roses .your hand new face this is ...

how to say & for this also .my silence .its voyage
(214)

This shorthand of well-placed image and telegraphed language suggests an unidentified emotional journey. Ms. Garron, like her colleague Hélène Sanguinetti, takes big and rewarding risks with language. It’s my pleasure to highly recommend this book. For more insight into her work, see the video interview at The Continental Review.

Film review: Un Conte de Noël (‘A Christmas Tale’)
Unfortunately, Père Noël brought a lump of coal with this one: Catherine Deneuve, a terminally ill matriarch, presides over a Christmas reunion of her three angry and estranged adult children. While the serpentine plot suggests one of the unstable offspring will do away with themselves—and honestly, I may have been wishing for that—the movie fails to transcend its tortured characters to find a satisfying resolution. IFC's Matt Singer praises this film as "one of the best dysfunctional family films" of the year, citing amazing performances and cinematic direction--which were both great. The most worthwhile part was recognizing dear friends seated in the row ahead!

‘Soap Makes People Happy’
That’s the Clean Ridge Soap Company motto and you’ll be delighted too with gift choices of natural scented soaps, lotions and scent diffusers. Shop online, call in a mail order or meet owner Mia Camacho-Fitzgerald in person December 14 at the new monthly winter Farmer’s Market at the County Center in White Plains—a treasure trove of fresh root vegetables, whole grain breads, quiches, and live music to boot.

’Round the Net

Thanks to:

· Artist Angela Virsinger for this great create-your-own-Picasso link.

· Frances Twiss for this inspiring story about our new president-elect.

· Madam Mayo for the National Book Critics blog, “Critical Mass.”

· ALTA member Erica Mena for this NPR story on translation.

· Composer Donald Sosin for this piece on re-scoring Superman cartoons.

· Cultural writer Julie Wiskirchen for this film panel review on “Doubt”.

· Poet Martie Palar for the link to literary videos on The Continental Review.

· Jackie Sheeler for turning me on to Good Reads, a book lovers’ site.

Thanks for participating in your annogram this past year with your encouraging comments and enthusiasm for each issue. May you have a holiday filled with wonder, peace, and good friends and family, as well as continued fulfilling creative work and rewards in 2009.

Ann

anncefola.com
annogram.blogspot.com

your election annogram

2008-11-02T13:44:00.031-05:00

We seem to be holding our breath as we await election results Tuesday, and realistically, Wednesday or Thursday as absentee and early votes are counted. I encourage everyone to vote, to exercise this great privilege we enjoy. I am voting for Barack Obama: He is the first candidate that I've admired personally as well as politically. He seems to be the ideal leader for our new global century--someone with an understanding and respect for different cultures and perspectives. And that's important, even in literature, as you will read below.

Alhambra Calendar now available
Never did I think I would be in one volume with the likes of Thomas Lux or Geoffrey Chaucer—but here it is! This calendar has received such positive response, that Alhambra will publish a book version for school use. I have last year's calendar in French, and it makes a great gift. If you know any of these languages, consider one in German, Italian or Spanish. Two more of my poems have also been accepted for the anthologies Cold Shoulders (Wising Up Press) and MOTIF: Writing by Ear (Motebooks).

Nobel Prize Winner in Literature
Last month Frenchman Jean-Marie Gustave LeClézio won the Nobel Prize in Literature. I am reading Désert, his break-out novel, about desert nomads and I have to say it is Nobel-worthy—rich in lyric and image. More importantly, it embraces another culture—something that, according to experts, has prevented an American from winning the prize. What do you think? Are we as a literary community “too insular” as the Nobel Prize committee suggests? Are you interested in global literature? Comment here on my blog.

New Mexico Skies
What a pleasure to spend three nights last month on a mountain in southern New Mexico, looking at stars with friends from Westchester Amateur Astronomers. We stayed at New Mexico Skies, a camp with a dozen observatories and telescopes for the serious amateur astronomer. The biggest reward was the naked-eye viewing—where we could see the Milky Way horizon to horizon, and every fall constellation bright and easily identifiable.

The Roswell Incident
One night in July 1947, rancher W.W. "Mack" Brazel was checking his sheep after a fierce thunderstorm when he noticed unusual metal debris scattered over a large area. Brazel then found a trench, several hundred feet long, gouged into the earth…a discovery leading to the Roswell Incident, believed to be a UFO crash site. The story—as much a part of American folklore as it is about its science—is thoroughly explored at the International UFO Museum and Research Center in Roswell, New Mexico. Of course, at right, we intrepid Westchester Amateur Astronomy Club members (left to right: Angela and Mike Virsinger, Michael Cefola, Darryl Ciucci, and your annogram editor) find more suspicious debris at left.

The Ventures at BB King’s
For 50+ years, The Ventures, inducted this year into the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame, have toured playing their TV show themes “Secret Agent Man,” “The Outer Limits” and “Hawaii Five-O”—and hits “Walk, Don’t Run,” and “Perfidia.” Their instrumental genius transforms surfer music into dozens of new sounds, from the middle-eastern “Caravan” to Native American “Apache ‘65.” In the show’s final drum solo, Leon Taylor, the original drummer’s son, pounded his drums and grimaced as if the skins were about to burst—then took his drumsticks to play on Bob Spalding’s guitar in a mind-blowingly creative display. One reason why overflow crowds worldwide continue to flock to see this band.

Gigi Band national finalist
Gigi and the Lend-Me-A-Hand Band has been nominated on the Children’s Music Web Awards. Gigi’s “Movement and Merriment” album and original song, “I’m a Little Rabbit,” are up for first place in their categories. Congrats to Gigi; husband/bass player Larry; mom/ keyboardist Granny Franny; dad/roadie Grandpa John; drummer Guy; Guy’s wife/dance leader Patty; soulful sax player Paul; and my husband and lead guitarist, Michael.

Congrats to Linda Simone
Poet and associate director of the Manhattanville College Graduate Writing Program, Linda Simone, was featured in a great article on working poets in the Journal News. Linda also appears in the new anthology, Avanti-Popolo: Italian-American Writers Sail Beyond Columbus (Manic D Press, 2008), alongside poets such as Diane DiPrima and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Last month she and other poets in the book read at the Brecht Forum in New York City.

Toadlily Poets at Sarah Lawrence
On November 5, at 2:00 p.m. in the Pillow Room at the Sarah Lawrence College Library, join Toadlily Press poets for a panel discussion, “Conversations as Muse.” Then at 6:30 p.m., poets Marcia Arrieta, Michael Carman, and George Kraus will read from Toadlily’s latest volume, An Uncommon Accord. Reception follows the reading and both events are free.

Learning to see
Town of Greenburgh Poet Laureate Brenda Connor-Bey has launched a series of Learning to SeeTM workshops “to explore how painters, photographers, and others show us their worlds, and how writers can transform those visions into their own meaning.” Join poet Karen Rippstein in a Poetic Inspirations from Nature workshop at the Greenburgh Nature Center Saturdays, Nov. 8 and 15, 10 am – noon. For more inspiring workshops, see Brenda’s website.

Who Does She Think She Is?
Westchester’s beloved art historian, Beth Gersh-Nesic, recommends the film Who Does She Think She Is? A woman artist asks other women artists "how" and, more importantly, "why" they chose the male-centric visual arts path. See the documentary Sunday, December 9, at Jacob Burns Theater in Pleasantville at 7:15 p.m. On this topic, Linda Simone sent me this intriguing article about women and ambition.

Holiday shopping
If you watch the news, you’ll see a significant percentage of crime involves domestic violence. Join some savvy companies to make a difference: You can purchase a bracelet that says “Respect” for $5 from Macy’s and the Family Violence Prevention Fund, or the Body Shop’s Shea Lip Duo for $16.90 that lets you give one to a friend and keep one for yourself. Thanks to Kim Wells of the Corporation Alliance to End Intimate Partner Violence for updating me on these wonderful programs.

‘Round the Net
· What is it like to be on a hijacked jet? Friend and colleague Jim Barry writes about his pre-9/11 harrowing experience.

· Donald Sosin is at it again with a glorious, uproarious five-minute animation: “In Praise of Laziness,” starring humanity’s greatest thinkers.

· View more cutting-edge computer animation by up-and-coming artists at the Ringling College of Art and Design, highly recommended by art professor Lucy Barber.

· Fiction writer and Ape Culture editor Julie Wiskirchen shares this hilarious send-up on the NEA.

· Pulitzer Prize winner John Ashbery brings a life of art and writing together in this New York Times interview.

· More discussion on a new translation of Anna Karenina and the translating issued involved.

Closing this annogram with hopes and prayers for our country,

Ann

Ann Cefola

your end-of-summer annogram

2008-08-31T13:46:00.013-04:00

The trees are already turning red in New England—and like those leaves, Labor Day signals the end of summer. We spent the last week in Vermont, eating maple walnut ice cream and taking long drives through small towns. This annogram veers first into a travelogue, then snaps back to it literary origins—with a list of fabulous events that make the fall so energizing.

Funky fun Bellows Falls
While The New York Times recently profiled Bellows Falls, Vermont as a quirky community of emerging artists and entrepreneurs—we’ve already known about this classic New England industrial town for a long time. Replete with brick clock tower, train station and canal, Bellows Falls is a charming slice of Vermont, undiscovered by out-of-staters who usually head for Bennington, Manchester and sights along Route 7. Fav places in town:

First, some of the oldest petroglyphs, i.e., cave drawings, can be found carved into rocks on the Bellows Falls side of the Connecticut River. Some intrepid soul painted their lines yellow years ago, so they look a little like early smiley faces. People come from all over the world to view these authentic carvings. Okay, enough anthropology—let’s get to the food!

Picture traditional Chinese food in a huge Victorian house overlooking the Connecticut River, and you’ve imagined Joy Wah. Here, with red pagodas and tassels hanging over your head, the staff delivers fabulous food—such as cold noodles with sesame sauce, curried sub gum chow mein, tangerine shrimp and scallops in black bean sauce. It’s hard to say what’s better, the food, the service or the view.

Another great meal stop is “the wurst place in Bellows Falls,” a.k.a. Fat Franks. Jim, owner of Fat Franks, takes pride in offering three sizes of hot dogs, chili dogs, superb beans and a delectable veggie burger that’s actually made out of vegetables and not textured soy protein. Fat Franks has an upstairs dining area, or opt for take-out if you’d like to picnic somewhere.

If you’re a New Yorker hungry for authentic Italian cuisine, plan on Boccelli’s on the Canal. Chef/owner Sharon grew up in Boston’s North End and learned cooking secrets from her Italian grandmother and mother. While the atmosphere is casual, the food is extraordinarily high-end—fresh pasta, vegetables and huge slices of artisan bread roasted with olive oil.

For a quiet moment looking over Bellow Falls’ canal, head to the Hraefnwood (pronounced “Ravenwood”) Café (23 Canal St., 802-299-7429). Decorated with teal satin drapes and a fabulous art-deco mural hand-painted by café owner Kirsten Jette, Hraefnwood is atmospheric and serene. Kirsten and husband Eric studied with master tea- and coffee-makers to learn how to make extraordinary chai lattes and cappuccinos—and they also offer quality fare such as hot paninis or homemade baked goods.

Somehow ice cream tastes better in New England—and Dari Joy is no exception! The 32 flavors and huge portions at this former hamburger drive-in in Bellows Falls are a great way to top off any meal. People come over the bridge from New Hampshire to indulge here. If you enjoyed this tour through Bellows Falls, let me know and I can write next time about more Vermont treasures.

Sapphires at Hraefnwood
And what a pleasure it was to read at the Hraefnwood Café! Angela Batchelor, Sarah Bracey White, Terry Dugan, Linda Simone and I enjoyed meeting Kirsten and Eric, Hraefnwood proprietors and hosts of their popular music and poetry series. The evening felt less like a performance more like a party hosted by the Jettes. For a full description and photos of the evening, visit the new Sapphire blog.

Brenda Connor-Bey to be honored
Congratulations to Greenburgh Poet Laureate Brenda Connor-Bey, who will be honored at the Hudson Valley Writers Center at the center’s 20th anniversary gala on September 20. Brenda is a much loved writing and award-winning teacher, playwright and poet. Donald Stever, co-founder of the center, and writer Ben Cheever, equally respected, will be honored too. For tickets to the gala or to purchase space in the program, go to the HVWC site. (link)

The Literary Traveler
Ever wish you could have literary insight into the country you’re visiting? Now you can, with the Whereabouts Press Travelers Literary Companion series. The Mexico anthology, edited by literary translator CM Mayo, contains excerpts of several major Mexican works, including some by Rosario Castellanos, Carlos Fuentes and Fernando del Paso. Newer versions represent China, Japan, Ireland and Vietnam.

Free readings at Riverspace in Nyack
Poet Julie Agoos, winner of Yale Younger Poets Prize, has been called "quietly lyrical to the point of radiance" by The Washington Post. Julie will be reading with Molly Peacock (right) on September 14 at 4pm at Riverspace, a new community art center offering innovative programming in theatre, music, film, dance and poetry, at 119 Main Street in Nyack. On October 26, at 4pm, Riverspace will also welcome poets Teresa Carter, author of Elegy for the Floater, and Joan Cusack Handler, author of The Red Canoe.

'Round the Net
First, welcome to our new US Poet Laureate, Kay Ryan and thanks to friends for the following links:

- Sarah Bracey White for her wonder-filled fable, "The Wanderlust" in the Women and Voodoo issue of Women Writers

- Stacey Lynn Brown for her cautionary tale of a poetry book contract that went sour

- Linda Simone for this You Tube video on an ideal world for finding an agent and publisher

- The New York Times on the “perilous journey of a book from one language into another”

- The British Translators Association's list of 50 outstanding translations

- Jill Bolte Taylor on what she learned from a stroke about brain functioning

- Kim Wells and Nicole Vacca for this site that aids domestic violence victims with a click

- Mary Ladd for Bow Wow Trivia which helps to feed dogs

Elizabeth Alexander at Manhattanville
Poet Elizabeth Alexander will read at Manhattanville on October 7, 7pm. She is the author of four books of poems, The Venus Hottentot, Body of Life, Antebellum Dream Book, and American Sublime, a finalist for the 2005 Pulitzer Prize. A scholar of African-American literature and culture, she also published a collection of essays, The Black Interior. She is a recipient of numerous awards including the 2007 Jackson Prize for Poetry awarded by Poets & Writers.

And cool master classes
Master classes allow non-matriculated adults to get the best from successful writers. Novelist Martha Cooley will teach “What Fiction Writers Can Learn From Poets,” on October 18, from 10am -4pm, at Manhattanville. The $125 fee includes lunch. On September 20, learn the art of “Sports Journalism: From Print to Internet to Electronic Media,” taught from Barry Wilner, who has authored 24 books. The cost is $50. For more information, or to register, call (914) 323-5300.

Poetry readings in New York City
An early Happy Birthday to New York’s own impresario of poetry, Jackie Sheeler! Jackie continues to increase—and host—poetry venues in the Big Apple. On Friday, September 12 at 6pm, hear Vicki Hudspith and Maggie Dubris at Cornelia Street Café; Saturday, September 13 at 6:30pm, Jackie will MC and perform at Larissa Shmailo’s CD release party at the Knitting Factory; Sunday, September 14 at 6pm, poet Cheryl Boyce Taylor will read at Jackie’s latest poetry venue, the Tribal Spears Gallery; and Thursday, September 18, Jackie will read with George Wallace at the Bowery Poetry Club.

Book reviews
In The Kingdom of Ordinary Time (W.W. Norton, 2008), Marie Howe does what she does best: Uncover profound spiritual truths in everyday life—salted with a dose of humor. In “Reading Ovid,” she writes

The thing about those Greeks and Romans is that
at least mythologically,

they could get mad. If the man broke your heart, if he
fucked your sister speechless

then the real true hell broke loose:
“You know that stew you just ate for dinner, honey?—

It was your son.”
that’s Ovid for you.

Ms. Howe uses her acute ear for found dialogue and her own spiritual questioning to tackle subjects such as marriage and child-raising—with poems frequently anchored in the Gospel. This unusual mixture of work somehow feels seamless in her hands, and delightful in ours.

“I’ll be right back,” Tao Lin says heart-breakingly at the end of many poems in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (Melville House, 2008). Each one, often crafted as an e-mail message, examines the emotional underbelly of the Internet—isolation from others, and in the speaker’s case, disassociation from himself. The speaker is a sometime shoplifter, missing an imagined or real girlfriend across broadband space. When the poet changes characters into hamsters, the metamorphosis reinforces what the Internet can turn us into—nervous, self-interested, scavenging. I could not put this book down, and found it the first poetry to accurately portray the psychic price of our much acclaimed Internet era. The narrator says that if you look into his mind, you find “a powerful sadness.” That is the feeling that lingered after I read this original and disturbing work.

Brenda Is in The Room and Other Poems (Colorado State, 2007) by Craig Morton Teicher won the Colorado Prize for Poetry. I almost didn’t read this book given its title and floor plan of rooms as a metaphor for marriage—you could hear me groaning, “Oh gawd!” But the title poem is engaging, so I persevered. I enjoyed the cosmic rant of “I Am A Poet,” fairy tale “One to Another: A Creation Myth” and sensuous tribute to his fiancée, “I Am a Woman’s Lover”:

Whatever animal I was before, now
I am twice that animal. She is more
a man than I will ever be. The space
between us is an uncrossable ocean.
And each time we find a way across,
we only arrive in another country
where another language is spoken.
The wild horses in our field fix me
in their narrow gaze, preparing to charge,
bending low so my beloved can mount.

As we head toward fall, I recall the words of Sylvia Plath, who pondered a mid-life career she was never to have—but can inspire the rest of us to fulfill:

I feel a helplessness when I think of my writing being nothing, coming to nothing: for I have no other job—not teaching, nor publishing. And a guilt grows in me to have all my time my own.... I walked in the vegetable garden, beans hanging on the bushes, squash, yellow and orange, fattening in the dapple of leaves, corn, grapes purpling on the vine, parsley, rhubarb. And wondered where the solid, confident purposeful days of my youth vanished. How shall I come into the right, rich full-fruited world of middle-age. Unless I work. And get rid of the accusing, never-satisfied gods who surround me like a crown of thorns. Forget myself, myself. Become a vehicle of the world, a tongue, a voice.

Wishing you a rich full-fruited harvest,
Ann

anncefola.com

your july 4th annogram

2008-07-06T14:19:00.001-04:00

Ann in Alhambra Poetry Calendar 2008
Thanks to Shafiq Naz, editor of Alhambra Publishing’s Poetry Calendar, for selecting “Sugaring” for the 2008 English edition, and to Hélène Sanguinetti, who suggested my work. I am thrilled to be in a volume distinguished “by some of the best American, British, Canadian, Australian, and Irish poets from the 14th to the 21st century.”

Sapphires at Hraefnwood Café
The Sapphires, an award-winning group of women writers, feature novelist Angela
Batchelor, poet Terry Dugan, poet Linda Simone, creative non-fiction writer Sarah Bracey White—and me. We’ve performed everywhere from Manhattanville College to the United Nations, and on Saturday, July 26, we’ll be at the Hraefnwood Café in Bellows Falls, Vermont, at 7 p.m. Hope to see Vermont friends there!

Frost vandals receive ‘poetic justice’
Speaking of Vermont, you may recall in my last annogram learning that teens trashed the Robert Frost farm on the Middlebury College campus. Their punishment is to sit through two classes on the poet taught by Frost biographer and Middlebury professor, Jay Parini. I am sure the ever-crusty Frost would appreciate that discipline—although he would probably ask them to memorize several poems too.

Toadlily poet wins Pushcart Prize
Congratulations to Heidi Hart, whose poem, “Door Psalm,” from Edge by Edge (Toadlily Press, 2007) will appear in the 2009 Pushcart Prize XXXIII: Best of the Small Presses. To read and/or hear the poem, click on this link.

Camber Press Chapbook Contest
The Fourth Annual Camber Press Poetry Chapbook Award contest is underway through August 15, 2008. The judge is Steve Orlen, with the first prize $1000 and publication of the winning entry. For more submission details, click on this link.

Salute to C.D. Wright
C.D. Wright is one of a handful of women poets who are transforming the uses of language—much like Anne Carson and Hélène Sanguinetti, the French poet I am honored to translate. I’ll review two of her books here, and one by Frank Stanford, an influential figure in her life and co-founder with Ms. Wright of Lost Roads Publishers.

You could call Ms. Wright’s latest book, Rising, Falling, Hovering (Copper Canyon Press, 2008) her “Howl.” In this book-length protest, the poet incants the number of Iraq-war dead, and vents that she cannot bear :to say their [expletive] monosyllabic surnames” of “the current occupants of 1600 Pennsylvania” for “dread of it calling up their bland [expletive] faces […].”

If this book were merely a rant, we would soon tire of it. Ms. Wright’s genius is in combining further political themes such as immigration and Katrina, and anchoring such global concerns in motherly anxiety over what will happen to her teen son. She moves effortlessly from the political to the personal with honesty and humor:

He mentions getting jumped in Zihuatenejo and cornered the year before in Oaxaca

the Christmas before in Chicago and mugged once in Brooklyn

and she is What What What Can’t you just stay inside and read
(turning pages)

until you’re thirty or something

(“Rising, Falling, Hovering, cont.”)

Ms. Wright avoids being labeled a confessional poet by using the third voice, notes poet Meredith Trede. This effective device, along with Spanish phrases sprinkled throughout, creates an accessible poem that embraces the world. Suzanne Hoover, an extraordinary poetry professor at Sarah Lawrence, once defined poetry as looking down through several disparate images and seeing something entirely different as a result. This book is a wonderful example of such imaginative layering.

The Lost Road Project, A Walk-In Book of Arkansas, by C.D. Wright with photographs by Deborah Luster, is an Arkansas treasure. My grandmother lived there, so I had occasion to drive with her to the cloud-wreathed, heaven-like Ozarks, eat things like cobblestone bread and Creole pralines, and meet quirky neighbors like Ruby and Reek who entered her home as casually as if they lived there.

Ms. Wright had to have been inspired by my all-time favorite, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, the chronicle of three 1930s sharecropper families by Pulitzer Prize- winning poet James Agee and photographer Walker Evans.

Similarly, Ms. Wright has juxtaposed Ms. Luster’s dramatic black-and-white photos against, among other things, a mean cornbread recipe, a blues riff by Sonny Boy Williamson, respective prose and poetry by Arkansas natives Shirley Abbott and Maya Angelou, reflections by historian C. Van Woodward, and a Frank Stanford poem. Ms. Wright’s introduction is a lyrical and comprehensive state history and Ms. Luster’s photographs—like Walker Evans’s work—seem like haunting glimpses into a world few of us would otherwise know.

Moving on to Frank Stanford’s selected The Light the Dead See (University of Arkansas Press, 1991), I wonder whether he is inspired, insane or both. Stanford paints images from the Mississippi levees of his youth the way Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975) creates exaggerated pictures of the American west. Reoccurring characters have names like “Born in the Camp with Six Toes” and “Baby Gauge.” In the epic “The Snake Doctors,” locals beat the speaker’s pet pig while the man is in church:

I ran after the hog
He was heading for the river
I jumped on his back
I rode the hog
I hugged his neck
I stabbed him seven times
I wanted the knife to go into me
He kept running
I ran the knife across his throat
And the blood came out like a bird.

Lines like these gallop forward, choppy and alarming, with gospel-like overtones. Knowing that Stanford ended his life at 30, I read his work like a detective—wondering about his intense drive. There is a regional purity in this book, however, rendered in an abstract-expressionist style, that is as original and rewarding as it is disturbing.

’Round the Net
Thanks to:

· Angela Batchelor for insights into her active life as a professor, writer and diarist.

· Novelist Petra Lewis for this NYT article on creativity.

· Detroit News Personal Finance Columnist Brian J. O’Connor for three hilarious essays that have won another national humor prize.

· Translator B. J. Epstein for her fascinating blog, Brave New Words, all the way from Wales.

Discovering the night sky
It is said that Robert Frost invited Emily Dickinson to the Amherst College Observatory to view the night sky. “Amherst College in the poet's day was one of the leading institutions for the study of astronomy,” notes the college’s web site. “Built in 1905 as a technologically advanced astronomy center, the observatory and [original refracting] telescope have been recently restored.”

Can you imagine the conversation between Frost and Dickinson? Anyone who has been asked to look at the stars knows it is a wondrous invitation—especially if given by someone who knows his night sky.

That’s what Bob Davidson, co-founder of Westchester Amateur Astronomers, and a natural “non-scientist scientist” did for many of us—here and at Stellafane, the annual summer gathering of amateur telescope-makers, in Vermont. Bob showed the stars to everyone from NASA scientists to school kids at star parties and other public events throughout the tri-state area. We lost him last month, but not his passion for M objects and galaxies that we will continue to carry and share with others.

Wishing you an inspiring summer night's view of Cygnus, the swan....

Ann

your april annogram

2008-04-27T17:49:00.009-04:00

Happy National Poetry Month! And what a wonderful one it has been: Mary Ladd’s excellent review of my translation, Hence this cradle, appeared in Book/Mark, and Liz Fortini’s review in Language and Culture (http://www.languageandculture.net/review-sanguinetti.html). A selection from Hence appeared with the original on http://terresdefemmes.blogs.com/mon_weblog. I am grateful to Hélène Sanguinetti, for submitting our work; and to Susan Anthony for mentioning my poetry book, Sugaring,in the Fall/Winter New England Writers newsletter.

Master poetry translation workshop
Translator and art historian Beth Gersh-Nesic, Ph.D., invited me to give a master poetry translation workshop in her French translation class at Manhattanville College. It was great to see undergrads discover the challenges and rewards of translating poetry. We discussed Eliot Weinberger’s 19 Ways of Looking at Wang Wei, and then translated Rimbaud’s "Sensation."

Pen World Voices Festival of International Literature

Translation runs riot this week in New York City as 82 events feature writers such as Umberto Eco, Ian McEwan, Mario Vargas Llosa, Joyce Carol Oates, Michael Ondaatje, Annie Proulx and more for six days of exciting literary exchange. Tickets from $10-$30/$8-$25 for PEN members.
http://mail2.smarttix.com/t/83962/148882/767/0/

Poetry reading at Manhattanville

Manhattanville and Hudson Valley Writers Center are sponsoring a free poetry reading Wednesday, May 21, 2008, at 7 p.m. at the college’s Reid Castle. Featured poets will be John Hoppenthaler (Anticipate the Coming Reservoir and Lives of Water), Suzanne Cleary (Trick Pear and Keeping Time) and David Tucker (Late for Work).
www.manhattanville.edu

Poor Robert Frost

Frost may regret the title of his book (at right): Kids on a bender damaged his home on the Middlebury College campus earlier this year. Good timing that the college has a web exhibit, "Robert Frost at Bread Loaf," to quell the poet’s surely piqued spirit! Thanks to Linda Simone for pointing out this rare online collection.
http://midddigital.middlebury.edu/local_files/robert_frost/

Rediscovering Alan Shulman on NPR

Composer, cellist and arranger Alan Shulman (1915-2002) was a member of the NBC Symphony under Arturo Toscanini, cellist of the Stuyvesant String Quartet, arranged for Metropolitan Opera diva Risë Stevens, and mentored master arranger Nelson Riddle. Jazz pianist Judy Carmichael interviewed his son, Jay Shulman, about his father’s music for her National Public Radio Jazz Inspired radio program this month. Hear the interview on Judy's website:
www.judycarmichael.com

Silent movies accompanied by pianist Donald Sosin
If you love silents, you’ll be glad to know they are still in the area—accompanied by pianist Donald Sosin. At the Brooklyn Academy of Music Cinematek, Tuesday, April 29, at 7 p.m., you can see "Keisatsukan" ("Policeman"). At the Brooklyn Bridge Park, at the 125th anniversary of the Brooklyn Bridge, you can see "Panorama" on Friday and Saturday, May 23-24, at 8:30 p.m., followed by the feature "Enchanted" Friday and "It Happened in Brooklyn" Saturday.

More silent treasures
On May 10, at 7 p.m. at the Seifert Theater at the Salisbury School, Salisbury, Connecticut, Donald Sosin will perform to "Manhatta", the first American avant-garde 1920 film by Charles Sheeler and Paul Strand; "I Was Born But…", the 1932 comedy by director Yasujiro Ozu; and three shorts (1905-1908) by Georges Méliès from the new five-DVD set (see: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/18/movies/homevideo/18dvds.html). Free; reserve by emailing dsosin@comcast.net or calling 860-435-4687.

Is print dead?
Translator and editor CM Mayo (www.cmmayo.com) highly recommends Jeff Gomez's Print is Dead. "It's a provocative title," she writes, "and, ironically, first published in print—but very knowledgeable and well written." See
http://www.printisdeadblog.com/

Free translations lead to book sales
Thanks to translator Ruth A. Gentes Krawczyk (www.krawczyktranslations.com) for this fascinating piece of marketing insight:
Brazilian novelist Paulo Coelho has grown his readership with free translations. Fortune says, "Intrigued by his growing sales in Russia, Coelho used the Bittorrent site—a favorite for illicit distribution of media—to seek out and download online translations of his books as well as audio versions.

By 2006 he was hosting an entire sub-site he called The Pirate Coelho, with links to books in many languages."His newsletter is said to have 200,000 subscribers and Coelho indicates he gets about 1,000 e-mails from fans every day. "I don't understand why publishers don't understand that this new medium is not killing books," Coelho says. "I'm doing it mostly because the joy of a writer is to be read. But at the end of the day, you will sell more books."

Your annograms, six times a year
You can expect your annograms delivered to your e-mail box every other month. The monthly edition seems to be morphing to this time table. If you’re lonely for an annogram, you can always read the illustrated version on my blog, annogram.blogspot.com.

May you find new ways to celebrate poetry—not only in April, but year-round!
Ann
www.anncefola.com
www.annogram.blogspot.com

2008-03-02T19:31:00.015-05:00

After a three-month hiatus, your annogram is back! Hope you taste spring in the air like I do. We have a lot of catching up to do:

Ann at Hudson Valley Writers Center

Many thanks to the Hudson Valley Writers Center for inviting me to read December 14. Despite a cold and icy night, the renovated train station in Philipsburg Manor that HVWC calls home had a full house. I was honored to share billing with Greg Delanty, an award-winning poet originally from Ireland who calls Vermont home. I read from my chapbook, Sugaring, and translation, Hence this cradle, and participated in an audience Q&A.

http://writerscenter.org/

The Musculature of Small Birds

My poem, “Aspiration,” appears in The Musculature of Small Birds (shadowbox press, 2007). The chapbook's clever cover is deep blue textured paper, with a manila pocket that holds a library borrower’s card with handwritten title and editor’s name. Buy a copy and 30 percent of your $7 will go to the International Rescue Committee, which aids refugees and displaced people in 25 countries.

http://shadowboxpress.blogspot.com/.

Clapton and Winwood at the Garden

Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood joined forces last week for three sold-out shows. The duo covered memorable songs from Blind Faith, Traffic and Derek and the Dominos, including “Little Wing,” “Can’t Find My Way Home,” and “Dear Mr. Fantasy.” At first tentative, these giants later faced one another and traded blues leads as if in their own studio. Winwood, whose soulful vocals sound like he has a bubble in his throat, performed a powerful “Georgia on My Mind” on organ. Clapton’s solo was an equally impressive version of Robert Johnson’s “Ramblin’ On My Mind.”

http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2008/02/26/clapton-and-winwood-break-out-blin d-faith-hendrix-at-first-supergig/

Associated Writing Programs Conference

More than 7,000 writers attended the AWP Conference in New York City in February. I met editors who have published my work, such as Dwayne Hayes of Absinthe, Johannes Göransson of Action Yes, and Stefania Heim and Jennifer Kronovet of Circumference. Other highlights included David Lehman reading his translations of Henri Michaux and CD Wright reciting from Benjamin Alire Saenz’s Dreaming the End of War. Poet Laureate Charles Simic (pictured left), discussing writers’ notebooks, broke up the audience as he intoned “trusting memory is a bad idea.” In another workshop, Beth Ann Fennelly viewed the prose poem as a way “to trap the reader.” Nick Flynn, exploring historical topics, saw such poem-making as an opportunity “to transform obsessive energy into meditative energy.” These nuggets and more abounded during an inspiring—and exhausting—three days.

http://www.awpwriter.org/conference/2008ConfArchive/2008awpco

Seurat Drawings at MoMA

In January, I caught the Seurat exhibit before it closed. Georges Seurat (1859-1891) would wander around the Zone, a working-class neighborhood between Paris and its suburbs, in pre-dawn and twilight hours. In this unreal light, Seurat’s sketches anticipate his later pointillism with slanted lines raining silhouette figures; other times, textured paper creates the subtle patterns. Women are often a few vanishing lines in the background—and faces, never visible, unless flat and doll-like in his circus posters. The drawings evidence emotion, whereas his vibrant color canvases seem to lack feeling. In these daily sketches, you discover a young man who applied his art scientifically as much as passionately.
http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/2007/seurat/

Sculpture by Martin Puryear

Kudos to MoMA for pairing Puryear (1941- ) with Seurat. After Seurat’s intimate pictures which drew onlookers into tight detail, Puryear’s rolling, round and interwoven wood shapes were a welcome relief. Puryear, craftsman as much as artist, creates unusual tube and globe-like sculptures whose surfaces are oiled like furniture. MoMA wisely left room for people to walk around each one, such as “Deadeye” (2002), which invited exploration by children and adults. Puryear’s work touches on significant themes, such as the riveting “C.F.A.O.” (2007), which speaks to the colonization of Africa and uses a wheelbarrow found in Alexander Calder’s (1898-1976) studio. I really loved this exhibit for Puryear’s ability to evoke the playful, spiritual and political at once.

http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/2007/martinpuryear/flash.html

Commercial interruption

If you are looking for a noteworthy gift for a writer, consider a hardwood pen from Vermont. I have bought several for friends and kept a lilac wood pen for myself—which, unbelievably, smells like the tree’s blossoms. Contact Jim Cunningham at http://www.moosemaple.com/.

Another gift idea is Billets Doux from Dancing Girl Press. Billets Doux is French for “love letters.” This limited edition collection in an attractive box features 15 love letters, each written and designed by a poet, for $22.

http://dancinggirlpress.blogspot.com/

And, if you're always hungry like me, and happen to live in Westchester: Red Barn Pizza, 158 Central Avenue in Hartsdale (914-328-3927), features whole wheat and multigrain pizza crusts. For the holistically inclined, finding this place is like locating the Holy Grail. I recommend both whole-grain crusts.

'Round the Net

People send me fabulous links I’d like to share. Thanks to:

Margaret Fox for this ingenious clip of performance artist Ennio Marchetti: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAFI1i5FIBc
Mary Ladd for this addicting vocabulary exercise that donates rice to the hungry: http://www.freerice.com/
Ruth Krawczyk for this Guardian article on how translations get into print: http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/generalfiction/story/0,,2214117,00.html
Petra Lewis for this Times piece celebrating the semi-colon:http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/18/nyregion/18semicolon.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion&oref=slogin
Brian O’Connor for his hilarious “It’s a Wonderful Life” sub-prime send-up:http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071224/OPINION03/712240305/1308/BIZ
Patty Rosenblatt for her son’s fascinating piece on mini-comics: http://www.secretacres.com/ce1.html
Eric Rudolph for celebrating black and white photography: http://www.bwphotopro.com/
Linda Simone for Bob Holman’s blog about poetry and copyright on the web: http://poetry.about.com/b/2007/12/09/poems-and-copyright-on-the-web.htm
Ed Schneeflock for his beautiful color photographs: http://www.schneeflock.com/

Remembering Alice
My mother-in-law, and biggest poetry fan, Alice Cefola, 93, recently passed away. When I won an award from Pulitzer-prize winner John Ashbery, she would get confused and tell people I won the Pulitzer. I’ll never forget Alice’s attentive listening—like she was holding her breath—when Brenda Connor Bey and Linda Simone read their poetry at her nursing home. The Town of Greenburgh’s Poetry Caravan, organized by Sarah Bracey White, made such readings possible—and deeply nourished my extraordinarily appreciative mother-in-law.

Here's to poetry, which endures.

Ann

anncefola.com

your thanksgiving annogram

2007-12-01T14:37:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving greetings
I am grateful for every one of you who faithfully reads your annograms. My gratitude extends to Scott Howard, who has published my work in his new online journal, Reconfigurations. These two poems emerged after translating the daring French poet Hélène Sanguinetti.
http://www.reconfigurations.blogspot.com/

For a more traditional poem about one of my favorite pastimes, see my updated web site with new blog link:
http://www.anncefola.com/

Ann at Hudson Valley Writers Center
Make your calendars for Friday, December 14 at 7:30 if you’d like to hear selections from my new book Sugaring and translation Hence this cradle. I will be reading at the Hudson Valley Writers Center, 300 Riverside Drive in Sleepy Hollow (914-332-5953), and would love to see you there.
http://www.writerscenter.org/SHPsecondfriday.html

NEA Big Read: Zora Neale Hurston
What a pleasure to be on the October 28 panel at the Greenburgh Town Hall! The event, part of the NEA’s Big Read, focused on Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God. Panelists included writers Angela Batchelor, Terry Dugan and Linda Simone. Sarah Bracey White, director of Greenburgh Arts and Culture, read her Huston-inspired fable, “Wanderlust,” and then moderated a lively discussion. Half the audience had read the book and shared fascinating feedback for a rewarding literary “town hall” experience.
http://neabigread.org/books/theireyes/

Stop the presses for Mavis
One of the most striking CDs I have heard in ages is Mavis Staples’ We’ll Never Turn Back (Anti, 2007). Mavis returns to vintage 60s civil rights and timeless gospel songs to evoke social protest appropriate—and sorely needed—for today. Produced by Ry Cooder, the CD includes background vocals by Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Once you hear the haunting first cut, “Down in Mississippi,” you’ll be hooked. I also loved “99 and ½” and “I’ll Be Rested.”
http://www.anti.com/catalog/view/77/Well_Never_Turn_Back

Holiday biscotti
Congratulations to Linda Simone, whose poetry appears in the Pushcart-nominated Alternatives to Surrender (Plainview Press, 2007). You can enjoy Linda’s “delicious” essay on her grandmother’s biscotti that appears in Foods of Affection at:
http://www.italianamericana.com/

The genuine article
Congratulations also to Laura Morelli, who has a new column, The Genuine Article: In Pursuit of Authentic Crafts, on the National Geographic web site. If you love beautiful things, Laura is your guide to best choices the world over.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/traveler/extras/shoppingguide/morelli0710.html

Four poets, one book
If you’re starting your holiday shopping, consider buying Edge by Edge (Toadlily Press, 2007), a unique “quartet” of poets’ chapbooks, as a gift for poetry lovers.
http://www.toadlilypress.com/

Book reviews
Faulkner, William. As I Lay Dying (Vintage, 1991). Thanks to fiction writer Cathy Chung for giving me this book and challenging me to revisit Faulkner. I had read him in high school, thanks to my professor-like Humanities teacher, Carl Ladensack. Going back to Faulkner, I am amazed at his dense and poetic language—successfully ascribed to rural and uneducated characters—that sounds almost Biblical. While I missed many plot subtleties and it pained me to see characters so devoid of human tenderness, I could grasp greatness at work.
http://www.amazon.com/As-Lay-Dying-William
Faulkner/dp/067973225X/ref=pd_sim_b_img_2

Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God (Harper, 2006). When this book first appeared in the 1930s, it was panned by the literary leaders of the Harlem Renaissance for lack of social protest. As agreed in our Greenburgh Town Hall discussion, the story transcends race: It is one woman’s journey to live life on her own terms. To get to that place, she married three men, each one abusive in their own right, whom she eventually left, cursed or killed. Did Hurston believe it was possible to find wholeness with an intimate partner? This book evokes fascinating questions around gender, relationships and race.
http://www.amazon.com/Their-Eyes-Were-Watching-God/dp/0061120065/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196109033&sr=1-1

Proulx, E. Annie. The Shipping News (Touchstone, 1994). This book won the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award for good reason: It is a very American tale—although it takes place in Newfoundland—of a character recovering his soul. Quoyle, after a bad start in love, and two toddlers in tow, follows his aunt to the old family homestead to start anew. Annie Proulx creates believable and complex characters in almost poetic language. The plot has humorous turns that—like a good line in poetry—surprise and yet seem entirely appropriate. It’s great when a well-crafted and enjoyable read receives its due.
http://www.amazon.com/Shipping-News-E-Annie-Proulx/dp/B000B86FJQ/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1

Digital books
Has anyone out there bought the Amazon Kindle? It’s the wireless device which allows readers to download up to 200 books from Amazon’s 90,000 digital volumes. While nothing can replace a good paper book, I like the idea of being able to look up a word with a built-in dictionary.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/subst/home/home.html

That’s all for now. Wishing you good reading and writing!

Ann

http://www.anncefola.com/

your fall annogram

2007-11-22T14:12:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone, I am back from the great southwest! Glad to be home where so many wonderful readings, exhibits and events are taking place. Read on and I will fill you in on my writing residency in Santa Fe.

Positive reviews
Thanks to Julie Enzser for her review of Sugaring (Dancing Girl Press, 2007) in Gallatea Resurrects, and to Lucas Klein for his review of Hence this cradle (Seismicity Editions, 2007) in the current hard-copy version of Rain Taxi.
http://galatearesurrection7.blogspot.com/2007/08/sugaring-by-ann-cefola.html

The Big Read
The NEA’s Big Read program is sponsoring Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neal Hurston (1891-1960). The idea: Everyone in Westchester picks up the book this month, reads and discusses it. Pretty cool, huh? To help the conversation, two events will take place:

• Westchesters Arts Council workshop and lecture
Saturday, October 20, 2007, at the Westchester Arts Council, 31 Mamaroneck Ave., White Plains, Thomasenia Myers will lecture on the literary, historic and social significance of Their Eyes Were Watching God from 1:00-2:30 pm, and then, from 2:45 – 5:00 pm, Brenda Connor-Bey will lead a writing workshop exploring the poetic realism present in Their Eyes Were Watching God. Lecture is free; workshop $25 (HVWC members $20).

• Multicultural writers’ panel at Greenburgh Town Hall
Sunday, October 28, from 2-4 pm, journalist and novelist Angela Batchelor, poet and novelist Terry Dugan, poet and fiction writer Linda Simone, essayist and novelist Sarah Bracey White and I will discuss Their Eyes Were Watching God. Free; call 682-1574 for more information.

Hadad honored by HVWC
Long-time and beloved workshop instructor and journalist Herb Hadad will be honored at the 2007 Autumn Celebration at the Sleepy Hollow Country Club, Scarborough, NY, by the Hudson Valley Writers Center (HVWC). The November 7th affair, which starts at 7 pm, will also pay tribute to Janet Langsam, Westchester Arts Council executive director. Many of us, including yours truly, began our writing lives under Herb’s generous guidance. Congratulations on an honor richly deserved!
www.writerscenter.org

Writers on War and Peace
Slapering Hol Press will sponsor a reading, Writers on War & Peace, on Friday, November 9th, at 7:30 pm at the Hudson Valley Writers' Center. Award-winning poet Terry Dugan will read with Reggie Marra, Mimi Moriarty, Pui Ying Wong, Amelia Winkler, Nancy Connors, and Irene O'Garden.
www.writerscenter.org

Book review
Edge by Edge, Poems by Gladys Justin Carr, Heidi Hart, Emma Bolder and Vivian Teter (Toadlily Press, 2007). Congratulations to Toadlily on generating another beautiful volume—their inventive quartet of chapbooks. The cover, an eye-catching photograph of smeared crayons, opens to a variety of work readers can pick over like a delicious box of chocolates. I love Emma Bolden’s How to Recognize a Lady, which picks on Amy Vanderbilt etiquette and twists its benign suggestions in the edgy title poem:

She is whipped to walk a straight line. She never eats unless
Hungry, never eats until full. She knows the front desk is no place
To comb her hair. In public, she keeps finger, pencils from her mouth.

Bolden feels as pissed off as Plath and I love that! Get the book and choose your favorites.
www.toadlilypress.com

Shigeki Yoshida photographs
Shigeki's Yoshida’s strikingly beautiful black-and-white photos are on display in an elegant townhouse off Central Park West, home of gallery-owner Susan Eley. His work enjoys an entire, light-filled gallery downstairs. At the October 4 opening, a classic upper West Side crowd squeezed around one another to view artwork and sip chilled wine. I spotted Ron Livingston, star of the movie "Office Space" and who played a writer in "Sex and the City."

Shigeki is exhibiting a dozen photos, each with haunting use of shadow, light and form. Silver gelatin, he explained, deepens the black yet makes detail startling clear. Inanimate objects gain a brooding liveliness, and human figures seem to float. Close up, the eye is drawn to the subject matter's detail, while farther away, one notices the play of shadow and light. It's this layering that makes each photo truly engaging. Shigeki says taking photos is his spiritual practice, and this exhibit demonstrates his mastery. I highly recommend seeing this jewel of an exhibit.

Art and money
I was fascinated by a recent interview by Bill Moyers with John Bogle, founder of Vanguard Funds and index fund inventor. Bogle summed up the country’s current financial status—and, in talking about value, mentions art and literature:

Just think about the country for a minute: We were a 80-90 percent agricultural economy when we came into existence and by 1850, half agricultural. Now we've moved from an agricultural economy to a manufacutring economy to a service eeconomy andnd now to a financial service economy.

The financial services economy is what troubles me: The financial services economy is diverting resources from the investors to the capitalists, the entrepreneurs, to Wall Street, to the investment bankers, the Hedge fund managers, to mutual fund mgrs and that is that is a negative to our societal values where agricultural and manufacturing and services [added value].

I am perfectly willing to give a high value, for example, to art and poetry and literature. They add value to our society. It may not be easy to measure [them] in a society that measures too much of what that is not important and not enough of what is important. As the sign in Einstein's offices said, "There are some things that count that can't be counted and some things that can be counted that don't count.
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/09282007/profile.html

A Santa Fe photo journal
Finally, you can read a photo journal of my time in Santa Fe at my blog entry below.

Til next time,
Ann

AnnCefola.com

your annogram - southwest edition

2007-10-08T19:00:00.000-04:00

Thanks to a Poetry Translation Residency from the Witter Bynner Poetry Foundation and the Santa Fe Art Institute, I spent a few spectacular weeks in September in New Mexico:

Located on the College of Santa Fe campus, the Institute is designed by Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta. Centered around a courtyard, the offices, galleries, studios, resident rooms and living areas are light-filled and airy. Residents’ rooms open on a private patio, and I was fortunate to face a rock garden full of lavender and blue grama. Most days, I would sit outside early in the morning as the sun rose and write.

Artists in community
What was extraordinary about the residency was the high caliber and creativity of the artists—as committed to their craft as they were generous to each other:

Zelda Alpern, fiction writer and recipient of an Individual Woman’s Artist Grant from the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, whose work has appeared in Chain.

Cathy Chung, fiction writer and 2007 MacDowell resident, whose work will soon appear in The Journal.

Rachel Cohen, dancer and artistic director of Racoco Productions—a movement theater whose production “If the Shoe Fits,” won raves reviews from The New York Times’ John Rockwell.

Jillian Conrad, sculptor, who had just completed one show in Hartford, “Name”, and will give the visiting artist lecture at Rhodes College in Memphis this month.

Patty Rosenblatt, ceramist, whose prints, sculptures and installations grace places such as the Jimmy Fund Clinic at the Dana Farber Cancer Center. Patty and Rachel are collaborating on innovative work involving dance and clay.

Marguerite Kahrl, visual artist, whose industrial hemp installation is getting rave reviews at the “Weather Report: Art and Climate Change” Exhibit at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art.

Julie Anne Pieri, visual artist, whose performance-based videos have been screened at the New Orleans and New York International Independent Film & Video Festivals.

Michael Sandoval, cinematographer and novelist, whose work “Ariana” appeared in the Berlin Film Festival, teaches film directing at the New York Film Academy.

Shigeki Yoshida, photographer, whose mesmerizing silver gelatin prints are exhibited this month at Susan Eley Gallery, 46 West 90th Street, in New York.

First impressions

When I flew into Albuquerque, I watched the midwest’s green circles and tan squares give way to mountains whose dotted greenery looked like Chinese dragons against the desert. Landing at Sunport International, a pink adobe building surrounded by mountains, I could practically hear the “wah-wah WAH” and rattlesnake opening of “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.”

Artist Lorraine Serra said that New Mexico is “like being on another planet.” During the ride to Santa Fe, I believed her: I saw inactive volcanoes and wild horses. I watched a thunderstorm, hundreds of miles wide, pound mountains while the rest of the vast sky remained a vacuum blue. Relentless sun exposed mustard, pink and clay colored sand. Native American animal images and pueblo names adorned pink and turquoise highway overpasses.

My van driver insisted I attend the Zozobro burning the following night, and called his mother to ask when the Sunday candlelight procession would begin. His accent, a monotone clipped with something neither Spanish nor Native American, was a combination of two cultures I would often hear. Like him, everyone I met in Santa Fe would be welcoming: I would have guides on this new planet.

Zozobro
Santa Fe’s 300-year-old Fiesta, which celebrates Santa Fe’s Spanish re-occupation, begins with the burning of Zozobro, a 65-foot paper marionette at dusk.
For weeks the local newspaper collects Santa Feans’ bad karma in form of parking tickets and divorce papers—to be burned in Zozobro, aka Old Man Gloom.

Julie Pieri, Michael Sandoval, Shigeki Yoshida and I caught a bus to the Plaza to join hundreds making their way to Fort Marcy Park.
Valerie Cordova, a Santa Fean whose ancestry goes back 400 years, fell in with us, pointing out her family’s coat of arms on the Governor’s Palace. “Two dogs,” she said, “facing opposite directions.” She taught us to shout, “¡Que viva la fiesta!” to elicit “¡Que viva!” from the crowd.
When Valerie bought us day-glow necklaces, we pronounced her the unofficial Fiesta Queen—although we later met and bowed to Teresa Rodriquez, the real title holder.

Rock bands played as Zozobro groaned over the audio, opened and closed his mouth, and pointed gruesome fingers at the crowd. As night fell, an elaborate choreography unfurled around the puppet’s base with children dressed as angels and dancers tauntingly bearing torches.
Fireworks exploded on lines inching towards Zozobro. Finally, Old Man Gloom’s eyes and mouth ignited, fireworks exploding out of his head, until he collapsed into a burning heap. Many believe that this ritual cleanses participants of gloom, as one man assured his granddaughter, “Now we’ll have a good year.”

¡Que viva!
Over the weekend, the Fiesta continued in the Plaza with mariachi bands, vendors selling enchiladas, and craftspeople displaying weavings and jewelry. Sunday night, Marguerite Kahrl, Rachel Cohen, Julie, Michael, Shigeki and I attended the candlelight procession that commemorates the martyrdom of eight Franciscan priests.

Julie and Michael first attended the mass at the Cathedral of St. Francis. While we waited for them, we met a woman whose father had built most of Los Alamos during WWII. Her parents were concerned about spies and her safety, so they taught her—then five years old—to say that she lived in “Santa Fe” and later “Arizona.” She seemed like a living piece of history, and we listened, fascinated.

With a church group singing Spanish softly behind, and mariachis ahead, we wound our way up cobblestone streets to the Cross of the Martyrs. Two Spanish musicians lounged in a restaurant window, one holding a guitar and another an accordion. Many women wore traditional long dresses and shawls. If I had dropped there, I would’ve thought I was in another country.

The hilltop offered a bird’s eye view of the city, where breezes blew out flames and strangers dipped candles toward each other’s to re-light them. A priest celebrated Santa Fe’s unity and a chorus sang hymns. When it was over, in contrast to the solemn procession, everyone sped downhill—one banner bearer tripping over a curb and mariachis practically running down the street toward the Plaza.

Father Sky, Mother Earth

Another treat was attending an evening of Native American storytelling at the College of Santa Fe. I was privileged to hear Hoskie Benally, a Diné (Navajo) who told a moving story warning children about the impact of alcohol. Hoskie, who became blind at 22, overcame alcoholism and depression to find his true path as a spiritual leader. In New Mexico, it's easy to see why indigenous peoples deify the landscape--it is so vibrant and alive.
Even the prairie dogs and jackrabbits seem livelier. As Carl Jung once said to a Native New Mexican about his beliefs, "Everyone knows it to be so." Awed by the great and changing landscape, I became a believer too.

The Plaza

Santa Fe's centuries-old plaza is lined with stores full of striking jewelery, clothing, rugs and crafts.
Just beyond it, vendors display wares outdoors--near the Loretto Chapel. The Chapel looked familiar and then I found out it was based on La Sainte Chapelle in Paris.
Inside, a winding staircase to the choir loft is said to have been built by a mysterious carpenter who appeared, built it without any nails, and disappeared. The sisters there at the time believed him to be Saint Joseph.

Reluctant weaver
Chimayo is a village famous for its centuries-old tradition of weavers. Heading north for a day, novelist Zelda Alpern and I stopped at Trujillo Weavers, where the third-generation owner demonstrated weaving on his grandfather’s loom. “Where in New York are you from,” he asked me. “This rug,” he said, “is going to New York.” His family taught him to weave when he was a boy. “I didn’t want to learn,” he said, smiling. The shop, full of wool rugs and throws, featured the Chimayo pattern, a diamond bordered by two stripes.

Healing clay
We entered the Sanctuario de Chimayo, known for its curative dirt and primitive paintings more Native than Spanish colonial.
An elderly woman, helped by her daughter, approached the altar on her knees, as did a teary young mother carrying a disabled toddler. Left of the altar was a door to a narrow hut full of crutches, letters, needlepoint and paintings bearing witness to Chimayo’s red earth. “His cancer has not gone away,” wrote one, “but the dirt has given him peace.”

A low entryway led to a square room, a hole at center with fresh dirt and a spade. Each day, the priest goes to the hillside, digs out soil and refills the hole each day. I knelt to shovel some earth, silvery with minerals, into a plastic bag. An old woman, extending a tiny box, asked me to fill hers too.

As urged earlier by Julie, Zelda and I took the high road to Taos—where the desert landscape turned surprisingly green and mountainous. “I could live here,” Zelda, a Vermonter, said approvingly. At a scenic lookout, we were startled by a long-crested jay.
In Taos, we enjoyed a garden lunch at Orlando’s New Mexican Café. Fortified, we ventured across a dramatic desert stretch to seek out D.H. Lawrence.

D.H. Lawrence Ranch
I had read Sons and Lovers in high school, and more recently, an essay by Lawrence on New Mexico shared by poet Mary Ladd. Lawrence, who had come to Taos in his last years, adored the “uncivilized” environment:

New Mexico was the greatest experience from the outside world that I have ever had. It certainly changed me forever… The moment I saw the brilliant, proud morning shine high up over the deserts of Santa Fe, something stood still in my soul…

A long dusty drive led to the Lawrence Ranch, owned by the University of New Mexico, where a sign pointed to a concrete walk. After a five-minute walk zigzagging uphill, we found the grave of Frieda, Lawrence’s wife, in front of the crypt. In a deft Nancy Drew move, Zelda unlocked the narrow door which creaked open a few inches.

We gasped: Inside was the altar where Frieda is said to have mixed Lawrence’s ashes. Mabel Dodge Sterne had threatened to take them, so Frieda is rumored to have said, “Let her try now!” as she poured them into the altar’s wet concrete. A framed certificate revealed Lawrence’s body had been shipped from Europe—as if we too might question the ashes’ whereabouts. A book also revealed signatures from visitors worldwide and we added ours too.

Art in Santa Fe
No one told me how beautiful Museum Hill is in Santa Fe: The spectacular location features three museums, respectively devoted to international folk, Spanish colonial and Indian arts.
I visited the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, an intriguing journey in the Plains Indians’ art, culture and spirituality.

Canyon Road was another discovery—a winding residential road with dozens of galleries. I enjoyed the “Once There Was, Once There Wasn't: Fairy Tales Retold” exhibit at Eight Modern, which featured drawings from Jim Dine’s Pinocchio series and harrowing images of the Furies by Fay Ku, and works by David Hockney, Peregrine Honig, Elizabeth "Grandma" Layton, Adela Leibowitz, David Levinthal, Paula Rego, Kiki Smith, and Richard Tuttle.

Patty Rosenthal, Jillian Conrad and I also took in the opening of Judy Tuwaletstiwa’s “Traces” at Linda Durham Contemporary Art on Paseo de Peralta where I spied actor Judge Reinhold (Beverly Hills Cop, Stripes, Fast Times at Ridgemont High).

We attended a performance outside of one gallery to celebrate the opening of a pottery exhibit. It featured a young Asian woman performing a tea ceremony within a chalk circle, while another woman read a poetic narrative, and the potter himself, draped under a sheet, crawled slowly toward the gallery. Patty or Jillian, do you recall the artist’s or gallery’s name? Anyway, it was well-crafted poetry and a thought-provoking experience. Amidst our tour, two young Hasidic men blew a shofar to welcome in the year 5768. Surrounded by all that art, and the sun hitting Canyon Road’s adobe-colored walls, it felt like the year ahead would be wonderful.

Art as action
The Santa Fe Art Institute (SFAI) views art as the most powerful force for change on the planet today. And SFAI is doing its part: In response to 9/11, Executive Director Diane Karp initiated Emergency Relief Residencies. To date, more than 130 artists from Lower Manhattan and the New Orleans area have been given time and space at SFAI to recover their lives and work from the effects of 9/ll and Katrina.

Armajani’s “Fallujah”
In this spirit, SFAI hosted “Fallujah,” an installation by architect and sculptor Siah Armajani—artwork declined by US museums for its controversial subject matter. The piece, a huge glass rectangle, tilts perilously backward, revealing crushed mattresses and a child’s rocking horse. The work is witness against war and, in particular, the bombing of Fallujah.

Rewarding talks
“Fallujah: Revealing War,” an SFAI-sponsored panel discussion, also featured journalists Dahr Jamail and Jeremy Scahill, and artist Siah Armajani. The next evening, SFAI residents also enjoyed the artist’s private slide-lecture of his work—including well-known space such as Battery Park in Lower Manhattan. Armajani, who often integrates poetry into his work, called upon good friend John Ashbery for help with the Irene Hixon Whitney Bridge (Minneapolis, 1988). To top this off, Diane Karp took the sculptor and residents to dinner so we could get to know him.

Southwestern skies
My amateur-astronomer husband, Michael, joined me in the last week of the residency. His first night there, we drove to the top of the Santa Fe Ski Basin, almost 10,000 feet above sea level, to see the Milky Way arcing from one horizon to another. On the way up, we saw a male elk and a coyote. Another night, we enjoyed a tour of the night sky at a private ranch given by a local astronomer. On a daylight adventure, we drove to Los Alamos and savored the highway scenery.

Buena comida
People not only associate Santa Fe with art, but food. And there’s good reason: I discovered delicacies such as watermelon drink and Mexican wedding cookies—fat butter cookies with chopped nuts rolled in confectioners’ sugar. At Ecco near the Plaza, I tasted strawberry habañero—strawberry gelato with a chile kick. Everything was prepared with fresh vegetables from local farms or agricultural states in Mexico—so avocado in a salad at the Buddhist Cloud Cliff Bakery truly was a religious experience, as were steak-sized cinnamon rolls at Counter Culture. Michael and I, on a tip from a local, went to Los Potrillos for mind-altering chile relenos and home-made tortillas, an experience that will forever ruin our primitive concept of Mexican food back home.

Gratitude
I appreciate everyone’s good wishes, suggestions and prayers that made this trip so memorable. Thanks also to SFAI Director Diane Karp, and her dog, Bea,
who both made SFAI seem like home; to the Barretts for hosting a lovely cocktail party that made us feel a valued part of the Santa Fe arts community. For their kindness and hard work,
I salute SFAI Residency Director Gabe Gomez, Administrative Director Michele LaFlamme-Childs, Assistant Residency Director Peter Willig, and staff members Jennie, Joanna and Ammo.

Bottom line
And to answer the burning question: Did you write? Yes, I did. Poetry, I discovered, takes more time and needs to sit on the psyche’s back-burner. But being in Santa Fe added to my vocabulary of imagery, and in my work I expect to see its ancient cultures, beautiful colors and savory aromas erupt.

¡Que viva la fiesta!

Ann