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

 

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

 

Poet Laureate 2: Rotary Club, Cedar Falls

Something that I do as part of my Poet Laureate job is visit with civic groups to discuss poetry. On 3 September 2024, I had the pleasure of making a poetry presentation at a meeting of the Rotary Club of Cedar Falls. Many thanks to Greg Holt for setting that up and hosting me. My presentation that day was on "Poetry and Business." I began with a couple of poems by James Autry, probably the premiere US poet on the topic of business. Jim is an Iowa poet as well, and retired editor in chief and president of the Meredith Corporation’s Magazine Group. During his career, he often presented poetry to business groups. You can watch Autry doing this in a video titled The Living Language from the Power of the Word video series. In this video, he reads poetry to an audience of managers at the Principal Financial Group. In the rest of the video, he also discusses his poetry with Bill Moyers in the video, particularly about his childhood in Mississippi. Along with his books of poetry and memoir, Autry wrote about management and leadership; he also gave workshops and lectures on those topics. You can read a fine bio of Autry in the website Mississippi Writers and Musicians. The Autry poems I presented that day were "On Firing a Salesman" and "What Personnel Handbooks Never Tell You" (both of these poems appear in the video mentioned above). I then also read three of my own poems on business: "My Father's Business"; "Letter to Bob Boynton, Music Prodigy" (a poem about my early days in the music business — I'm now a bassist in a rock band); and "Out of this World" (a funny poem about a laundry business in my most recent book, Dragons and Rayguns). Here's a poem of mine I presented that day: My Father's Business When the boy Jesus was lost in Jerusalem and his worried parents finally found him, he said, “Why are you looking for me? Didn’t you know I must be about my father’s business?” In my first job, I too was about my father’s business. Just as my father, in his first job, was about his father’s business. Soldiering. I come from a line of US Army soldiers. My father and my grandfather were both Philippine Scouts. When I was growing up the drill around our house was The Army Way. There were many ways to do everything but the one right way was the Army Way. How to make a bed. How to sweep and mop a floor. How to spit shine shoes. How to peel potatoes. When I joined up I found out the hard way that peeling spuds in KP was not a joke, not a myth, but a long day with a paring knife and a bushel of potatoes. Maybe two. The Army Way was learning how to march hours in the hot sun on the parade ground, rifle at shoulder arms. How to run miles, rifle at port arms, held diagonal in front. But the truth of that first job was not in the physical conditioning, nor in the regimented life of rules and regulations. It was in the Army Way my father had all along been teaching me: the real Army Way. Honor. Tradition. Respect. Defense of Democracy. Securing Freedom with our very lives. First job, my father’s business, the Army Way. —Vince Gotera, from Silver Birch Press (2017) This photo shows the publication of this poem in Silver Birch Press on 16 May 2017, as part of that press's online series "My First Job." Read the poem to see why I posted there a picture of me in my US Army uniform holding my oldest son . . . it's all tied together. I hope you enjoy this poem! Friends, won’t you comment, please? Love to know what you’re thinking. Thanks! Ingat, everyone.  ヅ

 

Poet Laureate 1: First Presbyterian Church, Cedar Rapids

It occurred to me today that I haven't been documenting here in the blog what I've been doing as Poet Laureate of Iowa. Here goes, going back to last year. The one Poet Laureate event I previously posted in the blog was when I was featured for a brief reading at the Poetry Palooza festival in Des Moines in April 2024. That was my first official action as Poet Laureate. On 7 July 2024, I had the pleasure to visit First Presbyterian Church in Cedar Rapids, where I met with a nice bunch of folks in their Insight Adult Education Class on that Sunday morning. I gave a presentation on "Poetry and Religion." I talked about an Emily Dickinson poem, "Some keep the Sabbath going to Church"; a Gerard Manley Hopkins poem, "Pied Beauty" (one of my favorites of his curtal sonnets, my favorite poetic form, his invention); and Wilfred Owen's poem "Soldier's Dream." Then I presented some of my own poems: "King David on Bathsheba," "baptism," "Palm Sunday," and "A Child's Funeral at St. Agnes Church." The discussion with the good folks was lively and interesting. Unfortunately, I neglected to get some photos. I'm grateful to John Burdakin for organizing and hosting. Here's one of those poems of mine I read that day: A Child’s Funeral at St. Agnes Church It was in fifth grade, I think. A second grader at St. Agnes, a girl, had died. I don’t remember how or why. It hit all of us hard. The whole school, eight grades, went to her funeral one morning. “Abide with Me,” we sang. When the priest raised the host and the altar boy rang his bell, Byron whispered to me, Answer the phone! We died laughing, couldn’t stop giggling. Our classmates glared daggers. For weeks after that, Byron                                                   and I were outcasts! —Draft by Vince Gotera    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.] Sanctuary of St. Agnes Church, San Francisco I'm posting this specific poem here today because above I mentioned Hopkins's curtal sonnet form as my go-to, and this poem happens to be one. The curtal sonnet is 3/4 of a regular sonnet, so if you do the math, you'll see why Hopkins set the length at 10 1/2 lines, rhymed abcabc dbcdc. I do decasyllabics when I write these — 10 syllables per line — and the ending line is 5 syllables, as a half line. The curtal sonnet is a tight space, and I enjoy getting a poem done within these requirements. I hope you enjoy this poem! Friends, won’t you comment, please? Love to know what you’re thinking. Thanks! Ingat, everyone.  ヅ

 

Fighting Kite (pages 37-41) Bio and Back Pages

Here's the "About the Author" page plus two back pages, the Colophon and a listing of Pecan Grove Press titles.         Vince Gotera was born and raised in San Francisco but also lived for several years in the Philippines as a young child. He lives in Cedar Falls, Iowa, where he is an English professor of creative writing and multicultural literature at the University of Northern Iowa. He serves as Editor of the North American Review. Vince holds an MFA in poetry writing and a double PhD in English and in American Studies from Indiana University. In 1993 he won a Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. His books include two collections of poems, Dragonfly (Pecan Grove Press) and Ghost Wars (Final Thursday Press), as well as a critical study, Radical Visions: Poetry by Vietnam Veterans (University of Georgia Press). Vince and his wife Mary Ann Blue have four children: Amanda, Amelia, Melina, and Gabriel. Vince's son Marty and his wife Grace live in Bielefeld, Germany. Vince thunks the bass guitar and loves all shades of blue — cobalt, midnight, royal, cerulean, electric, robin's-egg. The cover photograph shows Vince flying a dragon kite with his son Gabe on the meadow behind their house. Page 37         Fighting Kite by Vince Gotera was typeset using Hanshand and Bauer Bodoni, Roman and Italic, with Adobe Wood Type Ornaments, by Sally Ann Kueker, Hudson, Iowa. Cover photograph by Mary Ann Blue Gotera, cover design by Sally Ann Kueker. The edition of three hundred copies was printed on white finch opaque vellum by Pecan Grove Press at St. Mary's Univerrsity, San Antonio, Texas. Page 39 Recent books from   Barker, Wendy — Between Frames             2006     ISBN: 1-931247-35-8     $9 Challender, Craig — Dancing on Water             2005     ISBN: 1-931247-20-x     $12 Davis, Glover — Separate Lives             2007     ISBN: 1-931247-36-6     $12 Emmons, Jeanne — Baseball Nights and DDT             2005     ISBN: 1-931247-26-9     $12.50 Essbaum, Jill Alexander — Oh Forbidden             2005     ISBN: 1-931247-29-3     $9 Fargnoli, Patricia — Small Songs of Pain             2004     ISBN: 1-931247-17-x     $10 Gutierrez, Cesar — Lonesome Pine             2006     ISBN: 1-931247-31-5     $9 Marian Haddad — Somewhere Between Mexico and a River Called Home             2004     ISBN: 1-931247-18-8     $15 Hochman, Will — Freer             2006     ISBN: 1-931247-34-x     $15 Hughes, Glenn — Sleeping at the Open Window             2005     ISBN: 1-931247-25-0     $8 Hunley, Tom C. — My Life as a Minor Character             2005     ISBN: 1-931247-27-7     $8 Kasper, Catherine — A Gradual Disappearance of Insects             2005     ISBN: 1-931247-22-6     $8 Kirkpatrick, Kathryn — Beyond Reason             2004     ISBN: 1-931247-09-9     $12 McCann, Janet — Emily's Dress             2004     ISBN: 1-931247-21-8     $8 McVay, Gwyn — Ordinary Beans             2007     ISBN: 1-931247-39-9     $15 Mankiewicz, Angela Consolo — An Eye             2006     ISBN: 1-931247-73-2     $12 Van Prooyer, Laura — Inkblot and Altar             2006     ISBN: 1-931247-37-4     $9 Wayne, Jane — From the Nightstand             2007     ISBN: 1-931247-38-2     $15 Whitbread, Thomas — The Structures Minds Erect             2007     ISBN: 1-931247-24-2     $15 For a complete listing of Pecan Grove Press titles,             please visit our website at http://library.stmarytx.edu/pgpress Page 41 It's been very interesting to serialize Fighting Kite and to revisit each of the poems. I hope you have enjoyed the tour as well. Also quite interesting to see the titles in print from Pecan Grove Press at the time the book came out. A treat to see some poet friends' names again. The list is a tribute to Palmer Hall's wonderful work as a publisher and editor. He is sorely missed. As always, I'd love to get some feedback or discuss anything with all y'all. Comment, okay? Thanks. Ingat.  FIGHTING KITE   INTRO FRONT CONTENTS PREVIOUS NEXT LAST

Fighting Kite (page 35)

The poetry in the book certainly had a good pedigree in terms of publication.         I am grateful to the editors of the following journals and books in which these poems first appeared, sometimes in earlier versions.       Caliban — "A Visitor on Ash Wednesday"       Father Poems (Philippines) — "Playing Chess with Papa"       Hawaii Pacific Review — "Fighting Kite"       The Kenyon Review — "Newly Released, Papa Tells Me             What It's Like Inside"       Journal of American Culture — "Vietnam Era Vet"       The Madison Review — "Greased Pole" & "Tatay"       Ploughshares — "Dance of the Letters"       Premonitions: The Kaya Anthology of New Asian             North American Poetry — "A Photo with Santa Claus"       Rattle — "Chewing Gum Upskirt"       Screaming Monkeys: Critiques of Asian American Images —             "Honor, 1946"       The Seattle Review — "Hospital Thoughts, Last Year             and Today"       Tilting the Continent: Southeast Asian American Writing —             "Wedlock"       Zone 3 — "Refusal to Write an Elegy" & "Selling FIsh" "Vietnam Era Vet" also appeared in Dragonfly (Pecan Grove Press, 1994). "Tatay," "Honor, 1946," and "Refusal to Write an Elegy" also appeared in Ghost Wars (Final Thursday Press, 2003). I am also grateful to the Mary Roberts Rinehart Foundation for a grant awarded for an earlier, in-progress version of this collection. Many thanks to Sally Ann Kueker for her lovely design work and patience. I also thank colleague and good friend Grant Tracey for his accurate and judicious editing. As always, thanks to Palmer Hall for his faith in my writing. My deepest gratitude to Mary Ann for her love, gutsy editing, and the beautiful cover photo. Thamks to my children — Marty, Amanda, Amelia, Melina, and Gabriel — for their love and forbearance at how work and writing take up so much of their father's time. Page 35 A great snapshot here of a poet's literary life in mid-career. Interesting as well that some of these poetic venues are no longer extant . . . almost 20 years since this book was published. At the same time, many of these venues are still flourishing. Bravo! As always, I'd love to get some feedback or discuss anything with all y'all. Comment, okay? Thanks. Ingat.  FIGHTING KITE   INTRO FRONT CONTENTS PREVIOUS NEXT LAST

Day 30 ... NaPoWriMo / Poem-a-Day 2025 // Stafford 104

Today is the last day of NaPoWriMo and PAD. I think it was a great month for both Alan and me, with regard to the poems we wrote. I, for one, am glad to have written so many poems in my favorite poetic form, the curtal sonnet. Maureen Thorson’s NaPoWriMo prompt: “[W]rite a poem that . . . describes different times in which you’ve heard the same band or piece of music across your lifetime.” Robert Lee Brewer’s Poem-a-Day prompt: “[W]rite a remix poem. That is, take one of your poems (or several of your poems) from earlier this month and remix it. You could make a free verse poem read like a triolet or haiku. Or you could pick six words from a poem and make them the end words in a sestina. Heck, take an image from one of your poems, make it the title of your new poem, and then, write your poem. There are any number of ways to remix a poem.” My poem today mixes both prompts to finish the month with a flourish. I'm particularly happy with how I got the third rhyme — hyphenated! — in this curtal sonnet, my tenth this month! Chicago Remix In two poems this fine April, I mention Chicago’s “25 or 6 to 4.” I really love Chicago Transit Auth- ority’s debut album — what a fun trip! Early Chicago was one hardcore rock band, for sure. Lead guitar Terry Kath, said Jimi Hendrix, played guitar better than him! In “25 or 6 to 4,” scorching lead solos — fuzz and wah — are proof! That man sure could play one mean, mean guitar.                                                   Rock on, Terry Kath! —Draft by Vince Gotera    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.] Video: “Terry Kath and Chicago ‘25 or 6 to 4’ ’70 Tanglewood” Alan's poem today is a remix of his poem on Willie Nelson yesterday. That makes this poem Alan's own "Angel Dream No. 2"! And, as usual, the poem is a mix of the day's two prompts. Angel Dream On a recent Tom Petty tribute album, Willie Nelson’s son augments his dad’s vocals to add texture and strength to Willie’s distinctive phrasing of Tom Petty’s lyrics. “Angel Dream No. 2” has its name because on the She’s the One soundtrack album, recorded during the Wildflowers sessions, the other version, “No. 4,” has a slap bass sound like on a Buddy Holly record. Petty loved the Byrds, backed up Dylan and Cash, duetted with Stevie, and Willie, like Emmylou, finds songs from everywhere and takes care of them like a friend who borrows your favorite book, never breaks the spine, never dogears a page, but reads your favorite passage to you so that when you subvocalize it later, you can still hear them reading along, too. —Draft by Thomas Alan Holmes    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.] Video: “Willie Nelson, Lukas Nelson - Angel Dream (No. 2)” Well, congratulations to us, Alan and me. We made it, buddy! It's really fitting that, since you and I are both poet-musicians, our final poems this month both have to do with music. Do it again next year? And, dear readers, see you again next year too! Friends, won’t you comment, please? Love to know what you’re thinking. Thanks! Ingat, everyone.  ヅ

NaPoWriMo / PAD 2025 • Pick a day: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Day 29 ... NaPoWriMo / Poem-a-Day 2025 // Stafford 103

Well, it's the second-to-last day of April poeming. Hoping to get another curtal sonnet today. Robert Lee Brewer’s Poem-a-Day prompt: “It's time for the fifth (and final) Two-for-Tuesday prompt:  1) Write a ‘near the end’ poem, and/or . . . 2) Write a ‘near the beginning’ poem.” Maureen Thorson’s NaPoWriMo prompt: “Today, we’d like to challenge you to write a poem that takes its inspiration from the life of a musician, poet, or other artist.” Fortunately, I was successful in writing a curtal sonnet today, merging all three prompts. Front Man Renewed —a curtal sonnet When Freddie Mercury announced his AIDS diagnosis, he must have felt he was near the end. He passed away the next thing almost, it seemed. He thought that having AIDS had a stigma, and Freddie must have guessed being gay was the same. It was singing that was his saving grace, his bright glory. I hope at the end a brilliant sunrise blazed in Freddie’s mind’s eye, the final thing to turn life back to singing, his story                                     back near the beginning. —Draft by Vince Gotera    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.] Freddie Mercury (1986) Alan's poem today hits all three prompts brilliantly, without using the phrases "near the beginning" or "near the end." Willie Early on, you wrote of night life, how time slips away, wanting walls for company in crazy heartbreak, and last year, you covered “Angel Dream No. 2,” blessing us with a Tom Petty song seeming made for your voice, as if any song were not made for your voice. You possess them. You refused to play Nashville’s game, outlaw, artist, archivist, shaman, showman, activist, the last highwayman, how traditional country has evolved while commercial country chases any airplay it can get. —Draft by Thomas Alan Holmes    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.] Willie Nelson at 90 (2023) I love Alan's soundplay and wordplay with "shaman, showman." Some magical work, there! Also, today is Willie Nelson's birthday . . . he's 92. What a great birthday poem, Alan! Friends, won’t you comment, please? Love to know what you’re thinking. Thanks! Ingat, everyone.  ヅ

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