Poet Laureate 3: Women's Study Group

An enjoyable part of my Poet Laureate duties is meeting with informal and formal study groups. On 2 October 2024, I was happy to meet with the Waterloo Women's Study Group at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Cedar Falls. There was lively discussion at the session, and I'm grateful to Leesa Talbot for inviting me and organizing the event. I gave a presentation that day on "Poetry and Music." I had a handout that day that gave my background in music: I have been a musician for over 60 years. I started playing guitar at about age 11 and bass around age 33. I can also play drums at a decent level (probably for 50 years or so), well enough to play in a band with straightforward rock songs. I have played in various bands since grade school. I am the bassist for the rock band Deja Blue. We are the house band at the Screaming Eagle in Waterloo, playing every Wednesday, 7-10pm. I also play in a duo, Groovy News, with my daughter Amelia, and I play bass at St. John Lutheran Church (Cedar Falls) on Sundays. I started off with two music-related poems by Black poets: "The Weary Blues" by Langston Hughes, and "Psalm" by Chanda Feldman. Then I presented some of my own music poems: "Letter to Bob Boynton, Music Prodigy," which had been recently published in Rattle, one of today's most renowned poetry magazines; a couple of hay(na)ku sonnets: "Santana at Woodstock 1969," "Fanny," "Rock and Roll," "Prince Rules" (a concrete poem), and "Letter to Hendrix in Paradise." One of these poems was quite new, having been written just the day before the event. Here it is: Fanny June fingers aflame lead guitar mama Jean tasty licks deep bass precision Nickey mysterious, reclusive passion piano hammond Alice solid drumscape snap kick shimmer women trailblazing rocking walking the earth —Draft by Vince Gotera    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.] Fanny was the first all-woman rock band signed by a major record label, putting out four albums in the early ’70s. Because of sexism in the rock world, they never achieved the fame they deserved, although they were championed by David Bowie and others. Their most recent album is Fanny Walked the Earth (2018). Check out Fanny: The Right to Rock, a documentary about their stunning story, shown on PBS and now streaming. Take a look also at their website: Fanny. Here's a video of Fanny on the BBC show Old Grey Whistle Test in 1971: Video: “Fanny - You're The One - on BBC Old Grey Whistle Test” This poem is a hay(na)ku sonnet. The hay(na)ku, invented by the poet Eileen Tabios, is a word-counting form: 1 word, 2 words, 3 words, in 3 lines. In my invention, the hay(na)ku sonnet, there are four hay(na)ku stanzas followed by a closing stanza that has the first 2 lines (1 word, 2 words) squished together so the line count overall reaches the sonnet’s usual 14. I hope you enjoy this poem! Friends, won’t you comment, please? Love to know what you’re thinking. Thanks! Ingat, everyone.  ヅ