Poet Laureate 8: Cedar Valley Unitarian Universalists

On 5 January 2025, I had the pleasure of making a poetry presentation at the Cedar Valley Unitarian Universalists at Cedar Falls, Iowa. I didn't have a topic per se, but just presented some poems from my book Dragons & Rayguns. I created a handout to distribute that showed four poems, including the two concrete poems in the book. The goal was to introduce the audience to speculative poetry (science fiction, fantasy, and horror) as well as to different types of poetry: the curtal sonnet and carmina figurata. Here's the handout (click on each image to see it larger): Besides the poems in the handout, I also read others from Dragons & Rayguns. There was lively discussion afterward, with plenty of interesting questions. Here are some photos from that event (click on each to see it larger). Many thanks to Al Hays for organizing this event. Wonderful audience, thank you. Friends, won’t you comment, please? Love to know what you’re thinking. Thanks! Ingat, everyone.  ヅ

 

Poet Laureate 7: Poetry in Motion, Iowa City

One of my favorite activities as Poet Laureate is to perform poetry with music. I had that opportunity on 9 November 2024 as a featured poet for the Poetry in Motion event within the Mic Check Poetry Festival sponsored by Iowa City Poetry. The featured poets were Shayna "Akanke" Marie, Mister Aubs, Kelsey Bigelow, Vince Gotera, Donika Kelly, and Samm Yu. Music accompaniment to the poetry came from the Blake Shaw Trio jazz band. The emcee for the event was Caleb "The Negro Artist" Rainey. Here is the flyer for the event (click on it to see it larger). When it was my turn, I performed the poems "Gawain's Rap," "Letter to Bob Boynton, Music Prodigy," "Blues Channel, Northwest Airlines / Flying from Minneapolis to San Jose," and "Rock and Roll." Here are some photos from that event (click on each to see it larger). First, my partner Renee and I; second, a photo of my performance. Interestingly, the poem "Blues Channe, Northwest Airlines / Flying from Minneapolis to San Jose" was originally written for a poetry-plus-music event in San Jose in 1995, where poets performed with the Eddie Gale jazz band. So that poem has been performed with live music twice. Another interesting tidbit about that poem is that I actually wrote it while on the plane heading to that event. Here's that poem: Blues Channel, Northwest Airlines Flying from Minneapolis to San Jose Son House. Sonny Boy Williamson. Sonny                     Terry’s blues harp howling like                                 a wolf in a Georgia pine forest.           Freight train tunneling through California                                 redwoods. Red beans, rack of ribs                          in a Kansas City firehouse. Hoochie                     coochie man. Cajun catfish       with a mess of greens, okra, cornbread—                          gumbo! Mumbo-jumbo, Muddy                          Waters jamming with Memphis Slim in a Mississippi roadhouse. Piano                 keys plinking and clunking hot       as tar sizzling. Chicago rooftop.                          Guitar chunking heavy as an aircraft                          carrier, dreadnought, juggernaut, not                                       like brandy snifters or cut crystal.                 How long has this been going on?                 They call it Stormy Monday. How long, sweet Mama, how long? Boom boom boom boom.                          Bass drum, tom-tom, high hat, snare.                   Brown hair, blonde hair, redhead, black                   dreadlocks flowing like weary blues.                                Robert Johnson. Langston Hughes.     Summerhouse, whorehouse, smokehouse blues. —Vince Gotera, first appeared in Phoebe (1996). Poetry in Motion was a really wonderful, memorable event, with excellent poetry performances and an equally excellent jazz ensemble. Here's a video of the entire event: Many thanks to Caleb Rainey for organizing this event. Along with Lisa Roberts of Iowa City Poetry. Friends, won’t you comment, please? Love to know what you’re thinking. Thanks! Ingat, everyone.  ヅ

 

Poet Laureate 6: Lecture at Clarke University

Another cherished activity I engage in as Iowa Poet Laureate is giving poetry lectures. On 6 October 2024, I was honored to give the Mackin-Mailander Guest Lecture at Clarke University on the topic "An Asian American Poet on Race and Diaspora." Here is the flyer for the lecture (click on it to see it larger). My lecture that afternoon was a tour throughout my career of poetry I've written and published on race, ethnicity, and the Philippine diaspora. It was a very enjoyable event with lively discussion afterwards, and then visiting with audience members who wanted their books signed. Fun as always! Here are some photos from that event (again, click on each to see it larger). Here's the poem I was reading in that last photo above, where I'm showing slides of statues of the 1500s Philippine hero Lapu-Lapu. Just War Pale blonde sand glaring white into his eyes, Lapu-Lapu stood on the beach with his tribesmen. His wooden shield — a vertical rectangle rounded at top and bottom, scalloped inward on the sides — rested on a sinewy left arm, his lean legs slightly spread, brown muscled chest rising, falling, softly. Clenched in his right hand, his sharp kampilan, a hefty metal sword with ornately carved hilt. Tramping up the sand from rowboats beached on a reef, los conquistadores labored in helmets and breastplates, cutlasses drawn. In the lead, Ferdinand Magellan, a dandy’s pointed beard, sweat stinging his eyes in harsh tropical sun. With a crash of wood and metal, like trees falling under the typhoon’s wind and thunder, the two met, swords arcing like lightning bolts. Thrusts, parries . . . then Ferdinand’s eyes opened wide a moment as Lapu-Lapu’s blade swooped over his, an eagle diving from the sun. The Spaniards turned, fled as Lapu-Lapu thrust the severed head into the blue dome of sky. Magellan’s vaunted circumnavigation: a lie. Lapu-Lapu, brave brown defender, circumcised that vainglorious invader’s ultimate round trip. —Vince Gotera, first appeared in Pinoy Poetics (2004). This poem dramatizes the killing of Magellan by the Filipino chieftain Lapu-Lapu during war, so that, as the poem says, Magellan never actually completed the circumnavigation of the world, though he is often credited with that feat. Just a little correction of history. Many thanks to Professor Gina Burkart for organizing this event. She's a former colleague at the University of Northern Iowa, and it was a treat to see her again. Friends, won’t you comment, please? Love to know what you’re thinking. Thanks! Ingat, everyone.  ヅ

 

Poet Laureate 5: Readings in Cedar Falls

One of my most cherished activities as Iowa Poet Laureate is to give poetry readings. My first two poetry readings as Poet Laureate were hometown events . . . readings in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The first was a release reading for my book Dragons & Rayguns. This was a reading put on by my press, Final Thursday Press, in their twenty-four-year-old reading series, the Final Thursday Reading Series, on 29 August 2024. Here is the flyer for that event. (Click on it to see the image enlarged.) That was a really memorable evening. It began with an open mic featuring local writers, followed by my reading as the featured speaker for the night. There was also a great Q&A discussion afterwards. A truly wonderful release event for my book. Thanks to Jim O'Loughlin, publisher and editor-in-chief. The other Cedar Falls reading took place at the Cedar Falls Public Library on 7 October 2024. This had a different vibe from the earlier reading highlighted above. The audience was made up of many friends and other people from the community. Here is the advertising flyer for that event. (Click on the image if you'd like to see it larger.) This event had a very laid-back ambience. My reading was followed by a warm conversation with the audience about the book and its background. Thanks to Matthew Bancroft for organizing the evening. Here are some photos from the October reading: Something that was visually emphasized in both flyers was the book cover done by my son, graphic artist Marty Gotera. I asked him to include a dragon and a raygun in a comic-book-inspired look, which he accomplished very nicely. I also appreciate the fonts he used (designed?) for the book title. Beautiful! Friends, won’t you comment, please? Love to know what you’re thinking. Thanks! Ingat, everyone.  ヅ

 

Poet Laureate 4: Class Visits

I had the pleasure today of visiting Professor Pierre-Damien Mvuyekure's class at the University of Northern Iowa to discuss my poetry with the students. This is one of my favorite duties as Iowa Poet Laureate: to visit with classes at colleges and schools. Here are class visits I've made so far. 17 May 2024 Poetry Writing Professor Kim Groninga Wartburg College Waverly, Iowa   19 September 2024 Critical Writing About Literature Professor Jim O'Loughlin University of Northern Iowa Cedar Falls, Iowa   30 September 2024 Craft of Poetry Professor Jeremy Schraffenberger University of Northern Iowa Cedar Falls, Iowa   5 February 2025 Freshman High School Class (Zoom) Ms. Erin McLaughlin Bedford Secondary School Bedford, Iowa   3 April 2025 7th Grade Ms. Kristin Johnson Humboldt Middle School Humboldt, Iowa   4 April 2025 4th Grade Ms. Tanja Jensen Clarion-Goldfield-Dows School Clarion, Iowa   6 May 2025 Multicultural Literature Professor Pierre-Damien Mvuyekure University of Northern Iowa Cedar Falls, Iowa   I have some photos from my visit with Professor Schraffenberger's class. It happened the day before Halloween, so I went in costume: as Han Solo from Star Wars. The class was held in the University of Northern Iowa's Communication Studies black box theater. I knew some of the students who had been in my classes the previous semester just before I retired. (Click on the images if you'd like to see them larger.) I hope to be invited by more teachers and professors to visit with their classes. Friends, won’t you comment, please? Love to know what you’re thinking. Thanks! Ingat, everyone.  ヅ