Latest Events in Venice(March Updated)

In this workshop we will attempt to write prose poems, a marriage between the lyric and narrative between the image and discourse. To paraphrase William Blake, contraries need each other to exist, just like the narrative and the lyric need each other in the prose poem. We will look at examples of Baudelaire, Simic & Forche, to name a few, and focus on its economy and surprising element. We will then close our circle of prose and poetry by generating our own prose poems. -William Archila William Archila is the winner of the 2023 Philip Levine Prize for Poetry for his collection S is For. His first collection The Art of Exile was awarded the International Latino Book Award, an Emerging Writer Fellowship Award from the Writer’s Center and was selected for The Fifth Annual Debut Poets Round Up” in Poets & Writers. The Gravedigger’s Archaeology, Archila’s second book, received the Letras Latinas/Red Hen Poetry Prize. He has been awarded the Alan Collins Scholarship from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and the Fighting Fund Fellow Award from the University of Oregon. He was also awarded the 2023 Jack Hazard fellowship.His work has been published in Poetry Magazine, The American Poetry Review, AGNl, Copper Nickle, Colorado Review, The Georgia Review, Kenyon Review, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Missouri Review, Pleiades, Poetry Northwest, Prairie Schooner, Indiana Review, TriQuarterly and the anthologies Latino Poetry: The Library of American Anthology, The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNext, and The Wandering Song: Central American Writing in the United States. He has work forthcoming in Ploughshares. He is a PEN Center USA West Emerging Voices fellow and has received an MFA in poetry from the University of Oregon. He is an associate editor at Tía Chucha Press. He lives in Los Angeles, on Tongva land. Information Source: Beyond Baroque Literary | Arts Center | eventbrite

Dating from the 1950s, 1970s, and 1980s, the three groupings of artworks in this exhibition demonstrate the recurring formal preoccupations with structure, movement, and perspective that define Diebenkorn’s endlessly powerful and mysterious oeuvre. These artworks also illuminate the approaches and motifs that captured the artist’s attention at particular points in his career, including the meaningful employment of color, the translation of landscape into two-dimensional terms, and a fascination with spade and club forms. Intimate in scale and medium, this exhibition communicates the poetic sensitivities inherent to Diebenkorn’s work and deepens our understanding of the artist’s distinct visual vocabulary. The earliest works in this presentation, dating from 1950 to 1955, are characterized by harmonized arrangements of blue and black ink, crayon, and charcoal, set against a white paper ground. Cups and patterns appear as quotidian markers within fields of abstraction, expressions of Diebenkorn’s known reverence for his immediate surroundings: In this rendering of everyday objects a reversal occurs, grounding the lyricism of free-flowing shapes in reality and signaling that these images are drawn from life. The use of just one color, a ‘Diebenkorn blue,’ underscores the philosophical weight the artist perceived in humble observations and the spiritual satisfaction he found in the distilled hues of the sky and ocean. Diebenkorn’s gouache paintings and etchings from the 1970s similarly engage with the beauty and truth to be found in simplicity as dynamic achromic lines prudently dissect each picture plane. Expanding on the legacy of Mondrian, a significant influence, Diebenkorn’s works diagram land- and cityscapes through transcendent geometric delineations, a feature which also defines the epic cycle of paintings and drawings. Aerial photographs taken by the artist verify that these compositions are akin to maps, distinguishing Diebenkorn from other Modernists as a figure who created across the continuum of abstraction and representation. The spade and club are significant motifs which captivated Diebenkorn’s attention and appear in full force in the mixed media works from the 1980s. Prior artworks, like those of the 1950s, anticipate this fascination through bulbous curves and other sensuous forms. It was primarily, however, from 1980 to 1982 that the artist devoted himself to these symbols, first encountered as a child, as if to process a lingering subconscious fixation. The personal significance of these shapes to the artist is unknown and secondary to their iconic value, dubbed ‘heraldic imagery’ by contemporary critics. These works stand out not only for their mysterious symbolic allusions, but also through a clear figure-ground relationship that suggests an association with the human figure. Even in a presentation across three time periods of the artist’s oeuvre, this collection of artworks illustrates the distinct and ranging poetry of Diebenkorn’s creative inquiries. Indeed, a trajectory of thought is detectable between the inky dividing lines of the earliest works and the thoughtfully segmented compositions from the 1970s, and the curvature of the symbolic spade appears more evident with each consideration. What is offered by these works on paper are the revelations of an extraordinary mind, one which saw composition in all things. — Richard Diebenkorn Born over 100 years ago, Richard Diebenkorn (1922–1993) produced a body of work whose beauty and mysteriously empathic nature has long attracted many devotees worldwide. He lived during the period of America’s great surge onto the world stage of visual art, working alongside the likes of Willem de Kooning, Philip Guston, and Joan Mitchell, but forging a decisively independent style. While still in his twenties he moved briefly to New York from his San Francisco region, realizing that its artistic climate was the most stimulating locus in the United States, but soon returned to California where, aside from two important early years in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and a year teaching in Urbana, Illinois, he remained. From a glorious early flowering in the language of Abstract Expressionism, where he responded directly to the light and landscapes of New Mexico and the urban Midwest, Diebenkorn turned to a prolonged period of making figurative and landscape art, going very much against the grain of his generation. A leader in Bay Area figurative painting, Diebenkorn produced work that was received with enormous affection and excitement by a wide audience. Then, quite abruptly in 1966, he turned to a new form of abstraction, again decisively different from his peers. Moving from Berkeley to Los Angeles, he proceeded to make the monumental abstract works known as the “Ocean Park” series, incorporating the lessons of two of his key influences, Henri Matisse and Piet Mondrian. — Jane Livingston

Experience the transformative Goddess Awakening event in Los Angeles at Venice Beach on May 18, 2024. This gathering offers an opportunity to connect with inner power and embrace divine feminine energy. Attendees will partake in a variety of activities aimed at self-discovery, empowerment, and forming connections with like-minded individuals. Dive into practices designed to awaken the inner goddess and access divine feminine energy. The event features a Goddess awakening soundbath and meditation session, a beginner belly dance class, and an enlightened photoshoot to capture the essence of your transformation. To prepare for Goddess Awakening, attendees are encouraged to dress in their favorite Goddess Attire, adorn themselves with sensual oil or fragrance, and arrive with an open heart as their higher selves. This event is tailored to help participants embrace their true power and radiance. Don't miss this chance to elevate your spirit and step into your full potential at Goddess Awakening.

Experience the unveiling of "Creature" by Marsha de la O alongside guest poets Kim Young and Holaday Mason at the Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center in Los Angeles. Celebrate the release of Marsha de la O’s latest work, a poignant collection delving into themes of love, destruction, and self within the realms of family and nature. The evening will feature readings in The Wanda Coleman Theater, followed by book signings and a reception. Doors open at 6:30 PM, with readings commencing at 7:00 PM on June 15, 2024. Marsha de la O's profound exploration in Creature, published through the University of Pittsburgh Press, promises an evening of literary depth. Kim Young, a distinguished writer and poet, will share select pieces, alongside Holaday Mason, a seasoned author with a keen eye for poetic storytelling. Attendees are encouraged to wear masks and maintain decorum throughout the event, respecting the space and fellow participants. Don't miss this opportunity to immerse yourself in the transformative power of poetry at the heart of L.A.'s vibrant literary scene. Tickets are free for all.

"The Gallery: an art show" is set to take place in Los Angeles at the Roosterfish venue located at 1302 Abbot Kinney Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90291. The event is scheduled for November 7, 2024. This art show offers attendees the opportunity to explore a diverse range of artistic expressions, featuring works from both emerging and established artists. Admission to this cultural event is free, providing art enthusiasts with a fantastic opportunity to immerse themselves in the vibrant and dynamic art scene of Los Angeles. Don't miss this chance to experience the creativity and talent on display at The Gallery.

L.A. Louver is proud to present sculpture by Luis Bermudez (1953-2021). This survey exhibition of work made between 1986 and 2014 demonstrates the artist’s lifelong preoccupation with the interconnected nature of place, identity, and materiality, and the relationship between the physical and the spiritual. Entitled Sobre La Vida, which translates to “About Life,” the presentation celebrates the creative developments of a beloved cultural figure, who was an influential force in the lives of artists both within and outside of Los Angeles throughout the course of his career as an artist, educator, and curator. Bermudez’s aesthetic and philosophical vocabulary is embodied by the artworks of the La Caja series. Though differing in their unique textures and colors, the conceit of these works is the same: two complimentary forms poised on the cusp of interlocking engagement. Made from Bermudez’s distinctive, bespoke castable refractory – a material between cement and clay – these sculptures conjure a sensorial experience through their gritty, scaled, surfaces, and earthen coloration. The La Caja works consist of one ‘negative’ and one ‘positive’ element, evoking tension through a feeling of anticipated contact left unsatisfied. Moksha, M-10, a mossy-textured work from 1986, literally builds upon these engaged forms, crowned by a stepped vortex. Weighty and architectural, these works display sophisticated engineering of material and form. Existing as objects of positive and negative space, the sculptures evoke physical and metaphysical forces that evade language – a common thread throughout Bermudez’s oeuvre. Vulnerable Offering and Ultimate Offering similarly embody tension and contrast as gentle, unglazed porcelain bowls balance atop winding reptilian bodies. Redolent of Pre-Columbian iconography and objects of religious ritual, these works emit a mystical aura. Other sculptures like El Caracol, C6 of the Sacred Structures series illustrate the same reliquary quality: a delicate vessel (formed from a modified sake bottle) stands as a metaphor for the human figure, protected by a larger, stronger covering; every surface exquisitely textured. Bermudez intended for these works to be viewed from all sides, their physicality encouraging a performance of circumambulation. In Othila (Separation) (2013-2014) of the Runes series and El Cenote, C-3 (2006) of the Sacred Places series, Bermudez’s invitation to view from all angles endures. In addition to offering unique and phenomenological experiences, these sculptures present a metaphor for nonlinear time and narrative. Drawing on philosophical traditions, both ancient and modern outside of the Western perspective, Bermudez subverts the notion of prescribed interpretation and interaction despite their specific forms. Finding inspiration in both the natural world and his Mesoamerican heritage, these works are simultaneous representations of environmental sites and objects of transcendent, ancestral contemplation. The ultimate fulfillment of Bermudez’s interests in negative space, spiritual symbolism, experiential architecture, and environmental importance is accomplished in the immersive, room-sized Sobre La Vida (1993-1994). The installation is made of multiple facets including four walls punctuated by ceramic portals and paneless windows, a suspended yoyo-like luna, a tree fashioned in castable refractory and steel, and a human-scaled guardian figure whose silhouette is echoed in the doorway of the structure. Through its semi-abstracted forms and interactive nature, Sobre La Vida recreates and reframes our subjective experiences of perception and interaction through the presentation of a multiplicity of perspectives. Bermudez’s persistent quest to portray the interstitial seam of the subjective and universal is further demonstrated in the La Cueva and La Cabeza series. Wall-mounted, these works confront their viewer with faces existing at varying degrees of abstraction and representation, ranging from the melting, viscouslooking La Cueva, C-5 to the mirrored, iconographic symmetries of La Cabeza (Duality) to the zoomorphic states of Pre-Columbian deities seen in La Cabeza (Alter Ego) and La Cabeza (Seeking). Perhaps the most striking of these mysterious, cephalic sculptures are those entitled La Cabeza (Self Portrait) in which Bermudez’s head emerges from the mouth of a sharp-toothed creature. It is within these self-portraits that Bermudez lays explicit claim to his heritage, inserting himself within a lineage of artistic creation that gives form to the immaterial fabric of reality. About the artist A revered teacher and advisor, Bermudez held positions at several California Institutions including California State University, Northridge, the University of California, Los Angeles, and Otis College of Art and Design. He was as professor at California State University, Los Angeles, a position he held from 2002 until his untimely death in 2021. He is remembered by his students as a mentor who struck a potent balance between generosity and rigor, guiding them to hone their own skills and passion. Bermudez was recognized for his curatorial projects, notably the UCLA Ceramics Invitational of 1992, and worked with the Consulate General of Mexico to present NEPANTLA DREAMS: Cal-Mex State L.A. (2004-2005). Bermudez’s work has been shown at the Everson Museum of Art, the American Museum of Ceramic Art, the Museum of Contemporary Crafts (today the Museum of Art and Design), and the Armory Center for the Arts, among others. His work is held in the permanent collections of institutions including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Hammer Museum, the Crocker Art Museum, the Scripps College Ceramic Collection, and the Long Beach Museum of Art. Most recently, Luis Bermudez received acclaim for his inclusion in the Hammer Museum’s 2023 biennial exhibition Made in L.A.

L.A. Louver presents the debut American exhibition of a new body of work by Los Angeles-based architect and artist Thom Mayne. Investigating the philosophical intersections of impermanence and materiality, Mayne demonstrates how technology – at the frontiers of computer language and object-creation – can reframe and readdress timeless questions at the essence of artmaking.

L.A. Louver presents the debut American exhibition of a new body of work by Los Angeles-based architect and artist Thom Mayne. Investigating the philosophical intersections of impermanence and materiality, Mayne demonstrates how technology – at the frontiers of computer language and object-creation – can reframe and readdress timeless questions at the essence of artmaking.

After a year-long book tour for The Language of Fractions, author, Nicelle Davis is concluding this journey with the Moon Tide Press family at Beyond Baroque. Join us for the final reading of the tour celebrating this collection. Featuring Susan Hayden, Jeremy Ra, Brian Sonia-Wallace, Rich Ferguson, Terri Niccum, Daniel McGinn, Peggy Dobreer, and Nicelle Davis. Book signings will follow after the readings. Nicelle Davis's collection The Language of Fractions explores the question of whether we love wholly or only in parts. Employing found poetry, Davis raises issues of omphalophobia, love over time, missed communication, superficiality, and environmental destruction. Through her use of juxtaposing images and writing styles, Davis shows how love can be fragile and can often fail. The Language of Fractions does not simply comment on love, but also paints a picture of a broken world. It obsesses over the question: Do we love wholly or only in parts? 7:30 PM Doors Open I 8:00 PM: Readings Livestream:If you can’t join us in-person the event will be livestreamed on Beyond Baroque’s YouTube channel at the scheduled time of the event. A Link will be sent to you 24 hours prior to the event after registering. About the author Nicelle Davis is a California poet, collaborator, and performance artist. Her poetry collections include The Walled Wife (Red Hen Press, 2016), In the Circus of You (Rose Metal Press, 2015), Becoming Judas (Red Hen Press, 2013), and Circe (Lowbrow Press, 2011). The Language of Fractions was recently released from Moon Tide Press. Her poetry film collaborations with Cheryl Gross have been shown across the world. She has taught poetry at Youth for Positive Change, an organization that promotes success for youth in secondary schools, MHA, Volunteers of America in their Homeless Youth Center, and with Red Hen’s WITS program. She is the creator of The Poetry Circus and collaborator on the Nevermore Poetry Festival. She currently teaches Middle School. This event is Free & In-Person at Beyond Baroque. Masks are encouraged while inside our center. Event attendees are expected to behave in a respectful and considerate manner while in our space. Beyond Baroque reserves the right to remove individuals from our events, virtual or otherwise, if they are not respecting the space, fellow attendees, or performers. Information Source: Beyond Baroque Literary | Arts Center | eventbrite

Artists: JOJO ABOT - Whitney Bedford - Tony Berlant - Rebecca Campbell - Richard Diebenkorn - Gajin Fujita - Vanessa German - David Hockney - R.B. Kitaj - Heather Gwen Martin - Michael C. McMillen - Alison Saar - Matt Wedel

Artists: JOJO ABOT - Whitney Bedford - Tony Berlant - Rebecca Campbell - Richard Diebenkorn - Gajin Fujita - Vanessa German - David Hockney - R.B. Kitaj - Heather Gwen Martin - Michael C. McMillen - Alison Saar - Matt Wedel

Artists: JOJO ABOT - Whitney Bedford - Tony Berlant - Rebecca Campbell - Richard Diebenkorn - Gajin Fujita - Vanessa German - David Hockney - R.B. Kitaj - Heather Gwen Martin - Michael C. McMillen - Alison Saar - Matt Wedel

The 6th annual Southern California Poetry festival kicks things off with thrilling performances by poet, lyricist, and musician Camae Ayewa, known for her exceptional work as Moor Mother. Her groundbreaking poetry collection American Equations in Black Classical Music (Hat & Beard Press) illuminates the stark realities and poignant struggles of the past and present. The evening will feature a fusion of spoken word and music, with alchemic verses hailing from San Francisco's Eighth Poet Laureate (2021-2023), Tongo Eisen-Martin and Linda Albertano Fellow, abbi page, in the Wanda Coleman Theater. Performances in the theater will be followed by a set in the Poets' Garden with one of L.A's most eccentric voices in Alternative Hip-Hop, Rhys Langston. Schedule: 7:00 PM: Doors Open 7:30 - 8:30 PM - Counting the Beat: A Performance with Camae Ayewa, Tongo Eisen-Martin, and abbi page in the Wanda Coleman Theater 8:30 PM - 9:00 PM - Book Signing 9:00 - 10:00 PM - Music Performance by Rhys Langston in the Poets' Garden Masks are encouraged while inside our center. Event attendees are expected to behave in a respectful and considerate manner while in our space. Beyond Baroque reserves the right to remove individuals from our events, virtual or otherwise, if they are not respecting the space, fellow attendees, or performers. Reservation Policy: Please RSVP if you are planning to attend this event. Limited seating is available in the theater, therefore seating may not be guaranteed in the case of a full program; we recommend arriving early. Information Source: Beyond Baroque Literary | Arts Center | eventbrite

Our workshop will explore metrical composition. We’ll examine how poets blend the fixed units of meter with the variable rhythms of speech to produce poems. We’ll consider ways that poets reconcile the predictable patterns of meter with the unpredictable flow of living language. And we’ll try to illuminate—in a manner specifically helpful for our writing—the magical paradox by which poets can incorporate, in simple basic measures, a virtually infinite wealth of differently shaped and shaded words, phrases, and clauses. To illustrate the points we’ll cover, I’ll bring a hand-out with exemplary poems, as well as recordings of modern and contemporary poets reading from their works. Because this workshop consists of one session only, we won’t have time to analyze each other’s poems. But please bring a poem of your own to read to our group. (The poem can be any form, metered or free). And if you would like to submit several poems (again, in any form) prior to, or after, the workshop, I’ll be glad to read them in an encouraging spirit. -Tim Steele Information Source: Beyond Baroque Literary | Arts Center | eventbrite

Join us for Cecilia Woloch’s book launch, Labor: The Testimony of Ted Gall, an extended poem in the voice of coal miner and activist Ted Gall, weaving one man's personal story into the history of work and justice in America. The program features readings in The Wanda Coleman Theater by Cecilia Woloch and Harry Northup presenting an immersive multimedia performance that includes archival images and musical interludes. Book signing and reception to follow after the performances in the theater. Doors Open: 7:30 PM I Readings: 8:00 PM “In LABOR, Woloch pulls a voice from the archives—that of Ted Gall, a miner and union organizer in Western Pennsylvania during the first half of the twentieth century. This poem, composed almost entirely in words written by Gall himself, gives a first-hand account of what it was like in the mines, in the unions, and in the spirits of the working poor, “lifting their voices like trumpets” to sound what is somehow both historical and timely. This is an important contribution to Appalachian docupoetics and cross-racial labor solidarity. Woloch is a rescuer of language, a poet who knows where to dig up truths.” –Joy Priest About the authorsCecilia Woloch comes from a long line of fortune tellers and labor activists. She was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and grew up there and in rural Kentucky, one of seven children of a homemaker and an airplane mechanic. She is the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Fulbright Foundation, and the author of six previous collections of poems: Sacrifice, a Book Sense 76 Selection in 2001; Tsigan: The Gypsy Poem, which has been given multi-disciplinary presentations across the U.S. and Europe; Late, for which she was named Georgia Author of the Year in Poetry in 2004; Narcissus, winner of the Tupelo Press Snowbound Prize in 2006; Carpathia, a finalist for the Milton Kessler Award in 2010; Earth, winner of the 2015 Two Sylvias Press chapbook prize, as well as a novel, Sur la Route (On the Road). She collaborates regularly with musicians, dancers, visual artists and theatre artists. Her work has been translated and published in French, German, Polish, Romanian, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Ukrainian, Hebrew, and Romanes. She’s based in Los Angeles. Harry Northup, an original member of the free Wednesday night poetry workshop, which began early 1969, Northup's first featured reading was with Michael C Ford at Beyond Baroque in 1974. A founding member of Cahuenga Press, a poet's publishing cooperative,Northup has published 12 books of poetry including Enough the Great Running Chapel (Momentum Press, 1982), and his most recent, Love Poem to MPTF (Cahuenga Press, 2020). A member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences since 1976, Northup made a living as an actor for 34 years appearing in 37 films including Martin Scorsese's first six movies, among them Mean Streets and Taxi Driver, and was the star of the acclaimed cult film Over the Edge directed by Jonathan Kaplan, and Fighting Mad, written and directed by Jonathan Demme. Harry was married to the late Holly Prado, poet, author, and teacher. Livestream:If you can’t join us in-person the event will be livestreamed on Beyond Baroque’s YouTube channel at the scheduled time of the event. Tickets will be available at Beyond Baroque's bookstore on the day of the event, but we recommend registering in advance through Eventbrite. Masks are encouraged while inside our center. No one turned away for lack of funds. If you have any questions, please email us at info@beyondbaroque.org Event attendees are expected to behave in a respectful and considerate manner while in our space. Beyond Baroque reserves the right to remove individuals from our events, virtual or otherwise, if they are not respecting the space, fellow attendees, or performers. Information Source: Beyond Baroque Literary | Arts Center | eventbrite

Wrestling with the experience of living online as a non-digital native Joanna Fuhrman didn’t grow up online. Her generation entered the digital age as adults, with optimism about the possibilities it would bring for community building. In the alien landscape of the internet, they indeed found moments of joy and connection, but they also watched in anguish as what had been sold as a utopian space instead magnified the anti-democratic demons of necrocapitalism. In this darkly comic and surreal collection, Fuhrman lets herself fall into the internet wormhole of these conflicting realities. With titles ranging from “You Won’t Believe How Your Favorite Childhood Star Looks Now” to “We’ll Burn That Algorithm When We Get to It,” the feminist prose poems in Data Mind remix the tropes of digital life with the puckishness and embodied urgency for which Fuhrman is celebrated. The author will be joined by poets Maya Salameh, author of How to Make An Algorithm in the Microwave, and Debrah Meadows, who is celebrating her own new book, Bumblebees, published by Roof Books. After the readings in the Wanda Coleman Theater, be sure to join us for a reception with light refreshments and book signings. Livestream:If you can’t join us in-person the event will be livestreamed on Beyond Baroque’s YouTube channel at the scheduled time of the event. Doors Open: 7:30 PM I Readings: 8:00 PM Joanna Fuhrman is the author of Data Mind and six previous poetry collections, most recently To a New Era. Her poems have been featured in the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day series, The Slowdown podcast, and the Pushcart Prize and Best American Poetry anthologies. She is an assistant teaching professor in creative writing at Rutgers University and a coeditor of Hanging Loose Press. Deborah Meadows has published over a dozen books of poetry and her new book titled Bumblebees is from Roof Books (NYC). Other recent titles include Neo-bedrooms (Shearsman), and three from BlazeVOX : Lecture Notes: A duration poem in twelve parts, The Demotion of Pluto: Poems and Plays, and Three Plays. She is an Emerita faculty member with California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, lives with her husband in Los Angeles’ Arts District/Little Tokyo. www.deborahmeadows.com Maya Salameh is the author of HOW TO MAKE AN ALGORITHM IN THE MICROWAVE (University of Arkansas Press, 2022), winner of the Etel Adnan Poetry Prize, and the chapbook rooh (Paper Nautilus Press, 2020). She has served as a National Student Poet, America’s highest honor for youth poets, and received fellowships and support from the Breadloaf Environmental Writers' Conference, Sewanee Writers' Conference, Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing, and the President's Committee for the Arts and Humanities. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in POETRY, The Offing, Gulf Coast, The Rumpus, AGNI, and the LA Times, among others. She can be found @mayaslmh or mayasalameh.com. Tickets will be available at Beyond Baroque's bookstore on the day of the event, but we recommend registering in advance through Eventbrite. Masks are encouraged while inside our center. No one turned away for lack of funds. If you have any questions, please email us at info@beyondbaroque.org Event attendees are expected to behave in a respectful and considerate manner while in our space. Beyond Baroque reserves the right to remove individuals from our events, virtual or otherwise, if they are not respecting the space, fellow attendees, or performers. Information Source: Beyond Baroque Literary | Arts Center | eventbrite

Celebrate the L.A. launch of Fire Roulette — poems of risk that “dance between rebellion and the norm” (Mariano Zaro, Decoding Sparrows). Joining author Jeanette Clough are Cahuenga Press members James Cushing, Phoebe MacAdams, and Harry Northup. Book signing and reception to follow after the readings in The Wanda Coleman Theater. Doors Open: 1:30 PM I Readings 2:00 PM Livestream: If you can’t join us in-person the event will be livestreamed on Beyond Baroque’s YouTube channel at the scheduled time of the event. About the ReadersFire Roulette is Jeanette Clough’s fourth poetry collection. An earlier book, Flourish, was a finalist in the Otis College of Art and Design and Eastern Washington University book competitions. Other publications include Island from Red Hen and two artist books, Stone and Rx. Her poetry received awards from the Los Angeles Poetry Festival Fin de Millennium, Ruskin Art Club, and Rainer Maria Rilke International Poetry competitions, and a Commendation in the Aesthetica Creative Works competition (UK). She was also Artist in Residence in Joshua Tree National Park. A native of Paterson, New Jersey, Clough holds an M.A from the University of Chicago, Division of the Humanities. She worked as an art librarian at the Getty Research Institute, and divides her time between Ventura County and L.A. Phoebe MacAdams was born and raised in New York City, but has mostly lived in California. She moved to LA in 1986. With the poets James Cushing, the late Holly Prado and Harry Northup, she is a founding member of Cahuenga Press, which now includes the poet Jeanette Clough. She taught English at Roosevelt High School in Boyle Heights until her retirement in 2011. She has published seven books of poetry, the last five with Cahuenga Press, including in 2016, her new and selected volume, The Large Economy of the Beautiful. In 2017, Beyond Baroque published Every Bird Helps: A Cancer Journal. She lives in Pasadena with her husband, Ron Ozuna. Harry E. Northup has had twelve books of poetry published, the latest being: Love Poem to MPTF (Cahuenga Press, 2020). He received his B.A. in English from CSUN, where he studied Verse with Ann Stanford. Northup made a living as an actor for thirty-four years, acting in thirty-seven films, including Mean Streets,Taxi Driver;The Silence of the Lambs and;Over the Edge. He lives in the Motion Picture Country Home. Harry produces and hosts a weekly, one-hour poetry show on ZOOM, Harry's Poetry Hour, Creative Chaos MPTF. James Cushing, born 1953 in Palo Alto CA, holds a doctorate in English from UC Irvine. In the early 1980s, he hosted a live poetry radio program on KPFK-FM in Los Angeles which gave early exposure to Dennis Cooper, David Trinidad, Amy Gerstler, Wanda Coleman, Leland Hickman, Scott Wannberg, and many others. From 1989 through 2020, when he retired, he taught literature and creative writing at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and served as the community’s Poet Laureate for 2008 – 2010. Cushing’s poems have appeared in many journals, and his 30-year association with Cahuenga Press has resulted in seven full-length collections of poetry, the most recent of which is Tangled Hologram. His daughter is the New York-based poet Iris Cushing. Tickets will be available at Beyond Baroque's bookstore on the day of the event, but we recommend registering in advance through Eventbrite. Masks are encouraged while inside our center. No one turned away for lack of funds. If you have any questions, please email us at info@beyondbaroque.org Event attendees are expected to behave in a respectful and considerate manner while in our space. Beyond Baroque reserves the right to remove individuals from our events, virtual or otherwise, if they are not respecting the space, fellow attendees, or performers. Information Source: Beyond Baroque Literary | Arts Center | eventbrite

jerry the priest's slender volume documents a range of spiritual quests and misadventures, by turns cringeworthy and hilarious, interspersed with a collection of highly transgressive poetry and short stories, all of which serve to illustrate first-hand, the ravages of unmedicated bi-polar disorder. It is at the same time, a work of blackest humor, a travel diary and an educational tome, as well as a cautionary tale. The intended audience is anyone with a zest for transgressive literature a la Kathy Acker, William S. Burroughs and Jean Genet. It is for those who are challenged by the mores of polite society and find outright rejection of said mores inspiring and amusing. It is for those readers who especially love adept, skillful and evocative usage of the English language. Step onto the interstate. Put your mouth where your lips are. Joining the book launch are authors Richard Modiano, Dennis Cruz, and Richard Loranger from Oakland, California. After the readings in the Wanda coleman Theater enjoy a reception with refreshments and book signings. Praise for Brute Entropy: “If brutalism were a song, Brute Entropy sings it: Adventures colliding with images telling tales of love and wonder, lightning and regret. A spirit on fire and a mind racing itself in a circle that, ultimately, reveals a path. Jerry’s work is restless, relentless, eviscerating. Like a bodhisattva masturbating with stones, The Priest howls sermons to the cosmos and the stars weep with fire.” --Dennis Cruz, Author of MOTH WING TEA and The Beast is We Doors Open: 6:30 PM I Readings: 7:00 PM About the authors jerry the priest, legal name Jerome Dunn,has been creating material for exhibition, publication and live presentation since 1979, when he studied experimental music at the University of Redlands. A vocal performer since early childhood, his formal study of music began with his first trombone lesson in 1967. He holds a BA in Performance Studies from Naropa University, and an MFA in Theater Directing/Production from California Institute of the Arts. His latest collection of poetry and prose, Brute Entropy, is available on amazon.com. and wherever he performs. Richard Loranger is a multi-genre writer, performer, musician, visual artist, and all-around squeaky wheel, currently residing in Oakland, CA. Their podcast “My 12-Month Video Fast” can be found by the brave on Spotify and most pod-venues. Their latest book of poetry and flash prose, Mammal, was released by Roof Books in October 2023. They’re also the author of Unit of Agency (now in its second edition), Be A Bough Tit, Sudden Windows, Poems for Teeth, The Orange Book, and ten chapbooks, and have work in over 100 magazines and journals. You can find more about their work and scandals at www.richardloranger.com. Dennis Cruz is a vital poet who inhabits the voice of the perpetual outsider and the purely American dissident. He has been writing, performing and publishing his work for over 30 years. His latest collection of Poetry THE BEAST IS WE is out now via Punk Hostage Press. While a resident of New York City, Richard Modiano became active in the literary community connected to the Poetry Project where he came to know Gregory Corso, Allen Ginsberg, Anne Waldman, William S. Burroughs and Ted Berrigan. Modiano served on the board of directors of Valley Contemporary Poets from 1995 until 2001. In 2001 he was a programmer at Beyond Baroque Literary/Arts Center, joined the Board of Trustees in 2006, and from 2010 to 2019, he served as Executive Director. In that time he produced and curated hundreds of literary events, and with Henry Morro, Suzanne Lummis and Liz Camfiord co-founded and named Beyond Baroque Books’ sub-imprint The Pacific Coast Poetry Series. In 2019 he was elected Vice President of the California State Poetry Society. In 2023 Modiano joined the board of directors of the Los Angeles Poetry Society. The Huffington Post named him as one of 200 people doing the most to promote poetry in the United States. Modiano is the winner of the 2022 Joe Hill Prize for labor poetry and is a Push Cart Prize nominee. His collection The Forbidden Lunch Box is published by Punk Hostage Press. He is one of the rotating hosts for KPFK’s Poets Café. Richard is a rank-and-file member of the Industrial Workers of the World and a member of the National Writers Union. Livestream:If you can’t join us in-person the event will be livestreamed on Beyond Baroque’s YouTube channel at the scheduled time of the event. Masks are encouraged while inside our center. If you have any questions, please email us at info@beyondbaroque.org Event attendees are expected to behave in a respectful and considerate manner while in our space. Beyond Baroque reserves the right to remove individuals from our events, virtual or otherwise, if they are not respecting the space, fellow attendees, or performers. Information Source: Beyond Baroque Literary | Arts Center | eventbrite

Following the commercial and literary success of her bestselling poetry collection, I Wore This Dress Today for You, Mom: Poems on Motherhood, Kim Dower delivers What She Wants: Poems on Obsession, Desire, Despair, Euphoria—turning her keen eye, vibrant imagination, trademark insight, and humor to the intensity of obsessive love. These steamy and provocative poems, combining humor and heartache, run through the four phases of Limerence, the state of being infatuated or obsessed with another person: Infatuation, Crystallization, Deterioration, and Ecstatic Release. From the opening poem, “She’ll do anything for food,” to the sexy title poem, “What She Wants,” the painfully funny, “His Other Girlfriend,” to the longing in “Visiting Baudelaire,” and the sad, sweet final poem, “Fish’s Lament,” Kim Dower captures the essence of what it means to be stuck on someone—even on a squirrel! Her eclectic, growing readership will savor these poems that can be read in one sitting, like a story with an arc, or separately, each one recalling the moment of falling in or out of love, the moment our hearts skipped a beat. The author will be joined in a reading and conversation with Publisher, Co-founder, and Managing Editor of Red Hen Press, Kate Gale. Following the performances, enjoy a reception with light refreshments and book signings. Doors Open: 7:30 PM I Readings: 8:00 PM About the AuthorsKim (Freilich) Dower (City Poet Laureate of West Hollywood from October 2016 – October 2018) has published five highly acclaimed collections of poetry all from Red Hen Press. Her most recent book, the bestselling, I Wore This Dress Today for You, Mom, an Eric Hoffer Book Award Finalist, was called a “fantastic collection” by The Washington Post, “impressively insightful, thought-provoking, and truly memorable” by The Midwest Book Review and Shelf-Awareness said, “These gorgeous gems are energized by the sheer power of her wit and irreverent style.” Air Kissing on Mars, Kim’s first collection, was described by the Los Angeles Times as, “sensual and evocative . . . seamlessly combining humor and heartache.” Slice of Moon was called “unexpected and sublime,” by “O” magazine, Last Train to the Missing Planet, “poems that speak about the grey space between tragedy and tenderness, memory and loss, fragility and perseverance,” said Richard Blanco, and Sunbathing on Tyrone Power’s Grave, won the 2020 Independent Publishers Book Award Gold Medal for Poetry. Kim’s work has been featured in numerous literary journals including Plume, Ploughshares, Rattle, The James Dickey Review, Garrison Keillor's The Writer’s Almanac and her poems are included in several anthologies, notably, Wide Awake: Poets of Los Angeles and Beyond. She teaches poetry workshops for Antioch University, UCLA Extension Writer’s Program, and the West Hollywood Library. Born and raised on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and a graduate of Emerson College in Boston, Kim lives with her family in West Hollywood, CA. To learn more about Kim visit her website: Dr. Kate Gale is Publisher, Co-Founder, and Managing Editor of Red Hen Press and the Editor of the Los Angeles Review. She teaches Poetry at Chapman University. She is the author of seven books of poetry, including THE LONELIEST GIRL, THE GOLDILOCKS ZONE, and ECHO LIGHT. Her debut novel, UNDER A NEON SUN, debuted in April 2024. Her memoir, SWIMMING THE MILKY WAY, is forthcoming with Zando.Kate has also written six librettos, including Rio de Sangre, a libretto for an opera with composer Don Davis, which had its world premiere in October 2010 at the Florentine Opera in Milwaukee, WI. She speaks on independent publishing around the U.S. at schools like USC, Columbia, and Oxford University. Her operas in process include The Web Opera and a piece centered on Che Guevara, featuring Cuban composer Armando Bayolo. Tickets will be available at Beyond Baroque's bookstore on the day of the event, but we recommend registering in advance through Eventbrite. Masks are encouraged while inside our center. No one turned away for lack of funds. If you have any questions, please email us at info@beyondbaroque.org Event attendees are expected to behave in a respectful and considerate manner while in our space. Beyond Baroque reserves the right to remove individuals from our events, virtual or otherwise, if they are not respecting the space, fellow attendees, or performers. Information Source: Beyond Baroque Literary | Arts Center | eventbrite

Celebrate the launch of S is For, the newest poetry collection by poet, William Archila. S is For is an investigation of the Central American migrant crisis haunted by the past of the civil war in El Salvador, the meanings of family spirits, and trees disappearing to urban sprawl—always wielding the voice of the immigrant, the refugee, and the ever-present exile as a weapon against invisibility and displacement. The author is joined by other notable writers of the SoCal region, including Doug Manuel, Arthur Kayzakian, and Cynthia Guardado. Praise for S is For S is for: every letter never uttered, but evoked. Searing—not merely how I’d describe William Archila’s gaze at the desperation and depredation attendant in power’s abuse, the violence dogging the migrant, the slayings of those who stay. No, also, searing in the sense of that which burns a mark into a surface, how the poet’s prosody scorches language into the line, into the throat, into the air. Heat, here, that makes light, signal visible even from exile, even to a distracted North who may not/may only notice that “Yesterday a cutthroat carved a copper/who carved a cutthroat, 224 wounds/for the smallest of spoils.” Archila tallies these wounds and those that set fire to the heart. Here, S is for searing, for song, for sorrow. S is for sunlit, for shot, for shattered. S is for sublime. Stunning. Staggering. —Douglas Kearney Doors Open: 6:30 PM I Readings: 7:00 PM About the authorsWilliam Archila is the winner of the 2023 Philip Levine Prize for Poetry for his collection S is For. His first collection The Art of Exile was awarded the International Latino Book Award, an Emerging Writer Fellowship Award from the Writer’s Center and was selected for The Fifth Annual Debut Poets Round Up” in Poets & Writers. The Gravedigger’s Archaeology, Archila’s second book, received the Letras Latinas/Red Hen Poetry Prize. He has been awarded the Alan Collins Scholarship from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and the Fighting Fund Fellow Award from the University of Oregon. He was also awarded the 2023 Jack Hazard fellowship.His work has been published in Poetry Magazine, The American Poetry Review, AGNl, Copper Nickle, Colorado Review, The Georgia Review, Kenyon Review, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Missouri Review, Pleiades, Poetry Northwest, Prairie Schooner, Indiana Review, TriQuarterly and the anthologies Latino Poetry: The Library of American Anthology, The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNext, and The Wandering Song: Central American Writing in the United States. He has work forthcoming in Ploughshares. He is a PEN Center USA West Emerging Voices fellow and has received an MFA in poetry from the University of Oregon. He is an associate editor at Tía Chucha Press. He lives in Los Angeles, on Tongva land. Cynthia Guardado (she/her/hers) is a Los-Angeles born queer Salvadoran poet and professor. She is the author of two collections of poetry: Cenizas, (University of Arizona Press 2022) and ENDEAVOR, (World Stage Press 2017). Arthur Kayzakian is the finalist for the 2023 Kate Tufts Award, and the winner of the 2021 inaugural Black Lawrence Immigrant Writing Series for his collection, The Book of Redacted Paintings, which was also selected as a finalist for the 2021 Philip Levine Prize for Poetry. He is the recipient of the 2023 creative writing fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. He is also the winner of the Open Chapbook Competition for his chapbook, My Burning City. He has been a finalist for the Locked Horn Press Chapbook Prize, Two Sylvias Press Chapbook Prize, the C.D. Wright Prize, the Sunken Garden Poetry Prize, and the Black River Chapbook Competition. He is a contributing editor at Poetry International and a recipient of the Minas Savvas Fellowship. He serves as the Poetry Chair for the International Armenian Literary Alliance (IALA). His work has appeared in several publications, including The Adroit Journal, Portland Review, Chicago Review, Cincinnati Review, The Southern Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, and Witness Magazine. Douglas Manuel was born in Anderson, Indiana and now resides in Whittier, California. He received a BA in Creative Writing from Arizona State University, an MFA in poetry from Butler University, and a PhD in English Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Southern California. He is the author of two collections of poetry, Testify (2017) and Trouble Funk (2023). His poems and essays can be found in numerous literary journals, magazines, and websites, most recently Zyzzyva, Pleiades, and the New Orleans Review. He has traveled to Egypt and Eritrea with The University of Iowa's International Writing Program to teach poetry. A recipient of the Dana Gioia Poetry Award and a fellowship from the Borchard Foundation Center on Literary Arts, he is an assistant professor of English at Whittier College and teaches at Spalding University’s low-res MFA program. Livestream:If you can’t join us in-person the event will be livestreamed on Beyond Baroque’s YouTube channel at the scheduled time of the event. Masks are encouraged while inside our center. Event attendees are expected to behave in a respectful and considerate manner while in our space. Beyond Baroque reserves the right to remove individuals from our events, virtual or otherwise, if they are not respecting the space, fellow attendees, or performers. Information Source: Beyond Baroque Literary | Arts Center | eventbrite