Due to COVID-19, this will be a virtual event.
Join us for an evening of poetry on Wednesday, June 8th at 6PM PT. We'll be joined by poets Peter Filkins, Brian R. Martens, and Mary Anna Kruch. Each poet will read from their respective works, followed by a discussion and Q&A with attendees. Learn more about each poet's work below.
This is a VIRTUAL EVENT. Register on Eventbrite here. You will automatically receive a confirmation and the Zoom info.
This is a free event. If you are able, a donation of $5 is suggested to help us cover costs. To donate click here.
Questions? Email events@napabookmine.com.
ABOUT WATER/MUSIC
A diverse display of formal dexterity, narrative power, and lyrical resonance, Peter Filkins's latest collection of poems explores the fraught relationship between the natural world and the human.
Exploring the space between nature and culture, the poems of Water / Music anchor themselves in the timely and the timeless. Rich and diverse in their formal intricacy, they move with ease from narrative to meditation, from close physical observation to the haunts of memory, and from lyric sorrow to the pleasure of living in the world. Water / Music embraces and celebrates life's mystery and the soul's repose amid talismans at twilight, the whir of birds.
ABOUT PETER FILKINS
Peter Filkins is the Richard B. Fisher Professor of Literature and Creative Writing at Bard College at Simon's Rock and a visiting professor of literature at Bard College. He is the author of four other books of poems: What She Knew, After Homer, Augustine's Vision, and The View We're Granted, as well as numerous translations and a biography, H. G. Adler: A Life in Many Worlds.
ABOUT THREE RAVENS GATE
Three Raven Gate is the first book of poetry by Brian R. Martens. It encapsulates his years of study about the mystery of life. While offering no magic solutions to life, many of the well-tuned haiku and poems challenge us to pause and think.
ABOUT BRIAN R. MARTENS
Brian has always been a poet according to his teachers and mentors. In the fall of 2017, he declared himself a full-time poet and writer, and committed to have a book of poetry published, titled Three Raven Gate, (2019). The book consists of Haiku and other favorite poems. He learned Haiku from his work with Angeles Arrien Ph.D. a cross-cultural anthropologist over the course of seven years.
He writes poetry concerned with the “Human Condition,” and such topics as Awareness, Transformation, and Deep Intuition. He seeks to inspire and motivate people, with articles, podcasts, creativity workshops, and poetry to recognize their own deep creative spirit and to express that to the world. He believes everything we do on earth is a creative act and being creative sustains self-love.
ABOUT GRACE NOTES
ABOUT MARY ANNA KRUCHMary Anna Scenga Kruch has been an educator and writer for almost 50 years. Along with several professional papers, Mary Anna has published a textbook, Tend Your Garden: Nurturing Motivation In Young Adolescent Writers, a chapbook, We Draw Breath from the Same Sky, and now her first full-length collection, a memoir. She has also been widely published in literary journals. This collection touches upon family here and in Italy, mental illness, assault, the healing attributes of nature, and our connection with each human being, in particular those who experience loss or estrangement from loved ones.
A diverse display of formal dexterity, narrative power, and lyrical resonance, Peter Filkins's latest collection of poems explores the fraught relationship between the natural world and the human.
Brian R. Martens is a master of the traditional Japanese
art form known as the haiku, which is short and
compact. He also writes longer poems, which give him
the opportunity to explore big topics like time and space,
mystery and what he calls "Vision Wind." Both haiku
and longer poems are collected in a new book titled
In Grace Notes: A Memoir in Poetry and Prose, Mary Anna Scenga Kruch creates a hybrid coming-of-age memoir that gives her readers indelible glimpses and insights into a life truly lived. With popular songs as scaffolding, Scenga Kruch ties the stages of her life to the history of her day, most notably the growth of suburbs and the VietNam war. While she pulls no punches in recounting trauma and the forces that can pull families apart, her carefully rendered memories and graceful meditations—suffused with the strength of a loving marriage and immersed in the natural world—let us know that “What Lingers” is ultimately “Benevolence.”
- Dr. Terry Bohnhorst Blackhawk: Kresge Arts in Detroit Literary Fellow; author One Less River (Mayapple Press), a Kirkus Reviews Best 2019 Poetry Title; Pablo Neruda Poetry Prize among other awards.