2009 @ frankshome.org

Five Poems - Gloria Avner

Gloria Avner lives in Bar Harbor, Maine in the summer where she writes, paints, and tends her gallery of art from other cultures. In the winter she teaches, writes, and paints in Key Largo, Florida. Gloria is a new member of the frankshome.org family and we are delighted to host her poetry!

Greek Islands - Joan Cofrancesco

Joan enjoys hiking, reading poetry, visiting art museums, and traveling. Her recent trips to Greece and Italy have inspired many new poems. We are just thrilled to host her Greek islands series. This is Joan’s second set of poems to find a home with us. We couldn’t be happier!

3 Songs from the '70s - David Gitin

Performances of his poems are often in collaboration with musicians, including Leonard Paschini (electric guitar), Preston Houser (shakuhachi), John Tchicai (saxophone), Laszlo Gardony (piano), and John Cortes (saxophone). Here are 3 rare poems from June 1977 in which his lyric interests are clearly stated. David is one of the first poets frankshome.org ever hosted! (Thank you for believing in us all along, David!)

Nine Poems - Luis Garcia

“I listened to a lot of jazz,” Garcia continued, “the notions of improvisation, of the transformation of notes—hitting them in a different way—of inflection and intonation influenced my style, one of brevity and lyricism,” and we welcome this selection of Luis Garcia’s poetry to frankshome.org by standing up on our chairs, clapping and shouting, “BRAVO!”

Sunday Suite - Frank Parker

The poems begin Heart Shaped Blossoms: 1993-2007, and comprise the Monterey, CA, section of my first book. The reading is from October 27, 2007, at the Stone Ave. Gallery, Tucson, AZ, sponsored by POG. Here each one of the three parts is set to music.

3 Poems, December 2009 - Frank Parker

The first two weeks of December 2009 found me in a groove with the word and these three poems are the result, the first of which became our holiday poem for 2009.

Zig-Zag Journeys - Frank Parker

Completed in June of 2009, Zig-Zag Journeys seems so distant now. Yet it was the basis of multiple memorable performances and a chapbook I’m very happy with no matter the year!

Rites by David Gitin


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Like the music of Miles Davis or Thelonious Monk, silence is as important as choosing just the right notes, or words in this case, to play. David Gitin's words, or notes, grace the space that surrounds them. If grace is an economy of motion, and I think it is, the dance of these poems compliments the air in which they are staged. To paraphrase George Oppen, "this is the level of art, there are other levels, but this is the level of art". One minute in the presence of art can impact the meaning of a life more than a career bent to mundane purpose. In fact, such an encounter is healing. I find myself renewed in the company of this master's art.

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Modern American poetry begins with the determination to find the image, the thing encountered, the thing seen each day whose meaning has become the meaning and the color of the POG Directors Group Reading, September 26, 2009 - 7 PM, The Drawing Studio, 33 S. Sixth Avenue, Tucson (map)!

Potluck to follow at Barbara Henning's, 1940 E. 2nd St., Apt. #2 (map). Bring a dish and join the celebration! (I hear martinis will be mixed!!!)

POG Poetry in September!

Thursday, September 17, 2009 - Norma Cole & Charles Alexander / Chax 25th Birthday - 6:30 PM, Club Congress at Hotel Congress, 311 E. Congress St, Tucson. Poetry Reading & Celebration co-sponsored by POG.

September 26, 2009 - POG Board of Directors Group Reading - 7 PM, The Drawing Studio, 33 S. Sixth Avenue, Tucson (map). The members of the POG Board of Directors present their work in what promises to be an electric evening of poetry, art, and performance! This will be one of those events talked about long after it's over. Don't be left out of the conversation!

POG Benefit Potluck and Open Mic!

August 15, 2009 - Pot Luck and Open Mic - 7 PM at Sue Carnahan's house, 3425 E. 3rd Street, Tucson. Click the link for details Map and directions. $10 door, $5.00 Students.

Please join us for a casual evening of good company, food, and poetry. Bring a dish or beverage and your favorite poems (your own or a favorite poet's) and share in a special benefit evening for POG!

This is an opportunity to support POG's ongoing programs and share in some fun and food, some poetry and comradery. Click here for our Collectors Edition Flyer!

Larry Eigner at Light and Dust Poets

Air the Trees
by Larry Eigner

According to the blurb at the bottom of the web page, “Air the Trees” by Larry Eigner was “Originally published by Black Sparrow Press. Long out of print, the text presented here complete. The original edition contained a suite of drawings by Bobbie Creeley.” While we miss out on the drawings by Bobbie Creeley we do have the pleasure of reading this out of print work by a twentieth century savant.

Once again I am reminded of what matters to me in verse, what engaged me in Larry’s work to begin with, that pure observation, that naming of his world. In the glut of rococo-language passing off as poetry these days, Larry’s sharp focus on the facts at hand/eye are a refreshing return to what matters, the materials of a life sketched in verse.

I can understand why some people ignore or write Larry’s work off anymore. To be as plain in vision and simple in verse is hard, really hard work! Few are up to the challenge.

My thanks go out to Light and Dust Poets for reprinting Larry Eigner’s “Air the Trees”.

Zig-Zag Journeys

Just out. Produced just to my left on the old HP, hand sewn and folded. If you’d care for a copy email your address to me:

frank AT frankshome DOT org

8.5 X 5.5
12 pages
100% rag cover (honest!)

Fascinating stuff…

toot-toot-cha-boogie

Newly minted work over at my web site, Frank's Home. And, oh yeah, it's by me, Zig-Zag Journeys. Many thanks go out to Barbara Henning and Charles Alexander for their astute feedback which helped smooth the rough spots.

daylight
on the bed
spread

Sonoran Desert: Winter ‘09

A full moon in the birdbath, a perfect circle of ice blunting sparrow beaks. Cold stings the first knuckle of each finger breaking small pieces of bread from a slice now half its original size. I laugh out loud at the morning headlines, "St. Francis of Tucson, Bread Man to the birds, found wanting for nothing ever again, a freeze in the cactus garden of the Tucson basin."

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a plum, happy lungs, a radio in touch

Frank is . . .

a hungry ghost gripping the wheel
old man saguaro, the hum of blood, the sun, a glow
pajama sleeves, morning's radiance, unspeakable things
the compass in my pocket, whatever
the wheel, fallen leaves


-- Frank Parker