Friday, May 03, 2013
Ivan Granger book signing, Andrea Gibson performance last night
IVAN GRANGER'S BOOK SIGNING
I received the following note yesterday from Ivan Granger, someone many of you are familiar with as the creator of the internet site Poetry Chaikhana, which publishes some of the finest poets in the spiritual tradition. Ivan's new book, called "Real Thirst," is available from Amazon and also from this site. I was honored to write the introduction to this volume, Ivan's first published book. (Longmont is near Denver, for those of you not familiar with the location.)
I am going to be doing a book signing this Saturday at a coffee shop in Longmont. My day is going to be full, so I can't offer any rides, so I realize you may not be able to make it out here, but I'd love to see you if you do have a way out to Longmont. It will be on Saturday, between 1:00 and 3:00 pm at La Vita Bella coffee shop, on the corner of 3rd and Main in downtown Longmont.
PERFORMANCE BY ANDREA GIBSON
Last night I attended an outstanding poetry performance by Andrea Gibson, a local artist who performs nationally and has won several awards for outstanding poetry slam presentations. She combined fire with insight, dedication with talent. It was an electrifying evening for her enthusiastic audience of over one hundred listeners (mostly lesbians, these mostly under the age of 40.) To me, she seemed to be a wonderful combination of Sylvia Plath (lots of pain poems), Lawrence Ferlinghetti (plenty of anti-establishment fervor), and Lily Tomlin (great comic sensibility). It was deeply inspirational, to find an up and coming poet of such talent ready to share her creative work with a live audience. The fact that this audience was totally receptive was also encouraging, in a time when many have simply "tuned out" poetry. As a long time teacher of poetry and a poet as well, I was much heartened by the entire process--poetry is not dead at all, but still lives in a vibrant way through voices such as Andrea. I expect to hear much more from her in future--talent such as hers will take her far.
She has a website that you can google and also several pieces on Youtube which you can check out to get the full flavor of her work.
(She also had a wonderful musical buddy who offered great selections along the way, but unfortunately I did not catch her name--she is also is someone with impressive talent.)
