April 1 – 12, 2014; every evening at 7:00pm; 3:00pm on Sunday
To celebrate National Poetry Month, SOMOS is hosting twelve evenings of poetry readings by Taos poets – along with a few regional poets. All readings are at the SOMOS Salon except for the first evening, April 1st, held at Mabel Dodge Luhan Conference Room. All evening readings are at 7:00pm; Sunday at 3:00pm. These are free events – although donations to SOMOS are always appreciated! This series has been curated by Taos poet and co-editor of Taos Journal of International Poetry & Art, Veronica Golos.
“Taos and the surrounding area have a plethora of amazing poets, award winning, spoken word, poets with books. I choose with a number of things in mind, but primarily variety: we have young poets, firmly established poets, newer poets, formal poets and experimental poets, poets reading Shakespeare, poets reading their own translations, etc. There are poets from different Native communities, Asian poets, female and male poets, poets from Taos and poets from Santa Fe. We hope that the Taos community will be generous with their attendance, their donations, and will support poets by buying their books! It has been a great pleasure working with SOMOS curating this event.” – Veronica Golos
APRIL 1, TUESDAY, 7pm, Mabel Dodge Luhan Conference Room:
Isahbo Hawley, Jen Acampora, Ned Dougherty
- Isahbo Hawley is a high school student, singer, spoken-word artist who lives in Taos. She has participated in many Taos HS Slams, and is considered one of the best spoken-word artists.
- Jennifer Acampora lives and writes in Ranchos de Taos. In 2011 she was one of nine New Mexico poets chosen to celebrate Women and Creativity Month. She manages the blog Xphrasis, a collaborative on-line space for artists and writers. Her work has appeared in Venus Envy and Howl magazines.
- Ned Dougherty, poet and high school English teacher at Vista Grande High School, was named an Up and Coming Writer of 2012 by SOMOS. His work has been published or is forthcoming in various journals and magazines including Amethyst Arsenic, The Snail Mail Review, The Malpais Review and Adobe Walls. teachpoet.com
APRIL 2, WEDNESDAY, 7pm SOMOS Salon:
Gary Moody, Linda Fair, Joan Ryan
- Gary Worth Moody’s first collection of poems is HAZARDS OF GRACE (Red Mountain Press 2012). His second, OCCOQUAN, (forthcoming from Red Mountain Press), depicts the struggles of women for emancipation and suffrage, in the environs of Virginia’s infamous Occoquan Workhouse. A falconer, Gary lives in Santa Fe with the artist and writer, Oriana Rodman, two dogs and a red-tail hawk.
- Linda Kemper Fair has been wrestling the god of words for many years now. As she comes to know and accept her poetic voice, verse has revealed itself to be a vast meadow, rich in color and fragrance, bountiful in its choices, delightful in it surprises: a way for her heart to sing.
- Joan Roberta Ryan lives and writes in Taos, New Mexico. Her recent poems appear or are forthcoming in Nimrod, The Atlanta Review, Roanoke Review, Calyx, Cape Rock, Concho River Review, Off The Coast, Prick of the Spindle, Taos Journal of International Poetry & Art, and the anthology Poems for Malala Yousafzai.
APRIL 3, THURSDAY, 7pm SOMOS Salon:
Gaia Mika, Judith Thompson, Theo Hummel
- Gaia Mika has been a lover of poetry for years, but began writing poetry recently, after moving to Taos. She is a clinical psychologist and, in her other life was a psychotherapist, teacher, diversity trainer and consultant at the University of Colorado. Through writing poetry she aspires to engage fully with the brokenness of the world.
- Judith Thompson worked as senior management of major symphony orchestras in the San Francisco Bay area, Denver, Cincinnati, Los Angeles, and New York before she retired and moved with her husband Michael Thompson to Taos in 2007. Her work has been recently published in the Taos Journal of International Poetry & Art.
- Theo Hummel’s kindergarten teacher recognized his gift for gab. Theo began writing haiku in the third grade with melifluious prowess due to his sophisticated vocabulary. Now he is a lazy walrus who only grunts monosyllabic teenager code before his brain is rebootted by breakfast.
APRIL 4, FRIDAY, 7pm SOMOS Salon:
Cathy Strisik, Jamie Ross, Special Guest: Nancy Ryan
- Catherine Strisik, is author of Thousand-Cricket Song, 2010, and the currently unpublished recently completed poetry manuscript, The Mistress. She is co-editor of the online journal, Taos Journal of International Poetry & Art.
- Jamie Ross lives in Carson, often in Mexico. His work has appeared in numerous journals, including the Northwest, Texas and Paris Reviews, and has been twice granted the M. C. Bailey award; his poems are included in Best New Poets 2007. His 2010 collection, Vinland, received the Intro Poetry Prize from Four Way Books.
- Nancy Ryan, 78, lives off the grid, on a windy cusp of Tres Orejas in northern New Mexico with husband, Jim, 16-year-old big black Bella cat, gardens beset and the spirit of her dog, Annie, whose pale shadow brings poems to seed all droughts. In her youth, Ryan’s poems appeared in Antaeus, the Paris Review and Open Places.
APRIL 5, SATURDAY, 7pm SOMOS Salon:
Sawnie Morris, Lise Goett, Leslie Ullman
- Sawnie Morris’ poems have won the Poetry Society of America Bogin Award and the New Mexico Book Award. Her writing about poetry has appeared in TheKenyon Review, Contemporary Literary Criticism, and Boston Review. She is current Book Review & Essay Editor of Taos Journal of International Poetry & Art.
- Lise Goett’s manuscript, Leprosarium, was the winner of the 2012 Robert H. Winner Prize from the Poetry Society of America. Her other prizes include the Pen Southwest Book Award for her first book, Waiting for the Paraclete (Beacon), and The Paris Review Discovery Prize, among others.
- Leslie Ullman is the author of four poetry collections, most recently Progress on the Subject of Immensity, from UNM Press in August, 2013. A former professor in Creative Writing at University of Texas-El Paso, she now teaches in the Vermont College of the Fine Arts low-residency MFA Program and lives in Taos.
APRIL 6, SUNDAY, 3pm SOMOS Salon:
Susan Varon, Will Barnes, Jane Lin
- Susan Varon is a poet, artist and Interfaith minister, who moved to Taos in 2007 after 40 years in New York City. She began writing poetry in 1992, after suffering a severe stroke. Her work has appeared in over 40 publications, including Green Mountains Review, The Midwestern Quarterly and Notre Dame Review.
- Will Barnes works for the State Land Office in Santa Fe. He is a botanist, attorney and teacher and is studying for his MFA in poetry through NYU. His manuscript about memory and landscape titled, The Ledgerbook has recently been accepted for publication by Three: A Taos Press.
- Jane Lin received her MFA from NYU where she was a New York Times fellow. Poems have recently appeared in Cura, jmww, Spoon River Poetry Review, andThe Collagist. Her honors include a fellowship from Kundiman and scholarships from Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and Taos Summer Writers’ Conference.
APRIL 7, MONDAY, 7pm SOMOS Salon:
Bruce Grossman, Bruce Macintosh, Arianna Kramer
- Bruce Grossman moved to Taos from San Francisco in 1976 where he was a photographer and teacher. For the past twenty-two years he has worked in private practice as a psychotherapist. His poetry has appeared in several journals and he has one book of poems, We Go On Living, published in 2007.
- Bruce McIntosh raised in Connecticut, has a BA in English from Antioch College. He’s authored produced plays, feature films (FINAL, CADILLAC, THE ROVERS.) He’s a stage and film actor, director, and founder/artistic director of Metta Theatre & Metta Young Artists.. He lives with wife Michelle & daughter Lindsay in Arroyo Hondo.
- Arianna Kramer has been fascinated with the sounds and shapes of words for as long as she can remember. Her writing appears locally in The Taos News. She is a resident of her hometown of Taos, which continues to influence the poetry she has written since childhood.
APRIL 8, TUESDAY, 7pm SOMOS Salon:
Judy Buffaloe, Beth Enson, Rlvala Garcia
- Judy Buffaloe has a graduate degree in Adult Development from Harvard Graduate School. Since then she has maintained a private counseling practice. In 1999 she was awarded First Prize in Poetry in the Southwest Writers’ Workshop. She lives along the Rio Grande with my husband, Rob, where they grow apples, tumbleweeds and summer produce.
- Beth Enson is at work on her second book of poems, Local Music. Her first book, A Bee In The Sheets, was published in 2001. She has work in numerous journals but prefers reading aloud. She works as a home visitor for new parents, and loves living and working in Taos where people share so many big visions.
- Rlvala Garcia was a member of the 2012/2013 Taos High School Slam Poetry Team that took second in the NM Finals. She currently attends NM School for the Arts, where she has studied with visiting poets Dana Levin, Billy Collins, and Hakim Bellamy. Two of her poems recently won Scholastic writing awards.
APRIL 9, WEDNESDAY, 7pm SOMOS Salon:
Erin Badhand (with Erika Badhand), Chris Heron (Reading Shakespeare), Pat McCabe
- Erin Bad Hand is a poet, mommy, artist and wife; not necessarily in that order. She grew up in Taos, and attended school in Colorado Springs and Chicago, where she received her MFA. She lives and writes in Taos, New Mexico because that is where her heart is.
- Erika Bad Hand is a singer whose heart belongs to Taos Mountain. She currently resides in Taos where she teaches little ones how to ski in Taos Ski Valley. On the weekends, she reads and is an avid movie-goer.
- Christopher Heron has worked in Taos theatre for 17 years. His father introduced him to Shakespeare. Like his father, he feels that the full spectrum of human thought, feeling, wisdom and woes is represented within the works of the Bard. He lives in Taos with his wife Alison, son Samka and daughter Araceli.
- Pat McCabe is of the Dine (Navajo) Nation. A Life-Bringer, writer, artist, activist, speaker and cultural liaison, her work is driven by the study of the Science of Right Relations. She has presented at the 2013 National Bioneers Conference, and on “The Feminine Design and Sustainability” in the U.S. and internationally.
APRIL 10, THURSDAY, 7pm SOMOS Salon:
Barbara Rockman, Robin Shawver, Morgan Farley
- Barbara Rockman teaches poetry and multi-genre writing at Santa Fe Community College, Renesan Institute for Lifelong Learning, Wingspan Poetry Project and with victims of domestic violence and in private workshops in Santa Fe. She’s received two Pushcart Prize nominations, the Southwest Writers Prize, The MacGuffin Award and the Baskerville Publishers’ Prize.
- Robin Shawver teaches writing at the University of New Mexico-Taos. She is the author of the locally produced chapbook, Double Shot Straight. Previously published in effing, Venus Envy, Open Letters Monthly, Taos Journal of International Poetry & Art, and a finalist for the Omnidawn’s Chapbook Contest.
- Morgan Farley’s work in poetry and memoir has won awards and Pushcart Prize nominations. A former psychotherapist and Editor of the Museum of New Mexico Press, Morgan now works with writers locally and internationally as a manuscript consultant, editor, and writing coach.
APRIL 11, FRIDAY, 7pm SOMOS Salon:
Lyla Johnston, Mirabai Starr, Natachee Momaday Gray
- Lyla June Johnston is a Diné/Cheyenne poet raised in Taos, New Mexico. Her Cheyenne ancestors strove to make “every breath a prayer.” She writes her poetry in the same manner by seeing every poem as a prayer for healing, inspiration and unity among the human race.
- Mirabai Starr is acclaimed translator of Dark Night of the Soul (John of the Cross), The Interior Castle and The Book of My Life (Teresa of Avila), and The Showings (Julian of Norwich), and award-winning author of GOD OF LOVE: A Guide to the Heart of Judaism, Christianity & Islam. She leads contemplative interspiritual retreats worldwide.
- Natachee Momaday Gray is a Santa Fe native. Growing up in an artist family inspired her to become a poet. She has produced a substantial body of work including poetry, stories and personal narratives. Though not published yet, Natachee’s work is refined and celebrated by many.
APRIL 12, SATURDAY, 7pm SOMOS Salon:
Jon Davis, Carol Moldaw, Veronica Golos
- Jon Davis is Director of the Low-Residency MFA in Creative Writing at the Institute of American Indian Arts where he has taught since 1990. He is the author of seven collections of poetry, including, most recently, Preliminary Report (Copper Canyon Press, 2010) and Thelonious Sphere (Q Ave. Press, 2013).
- Carol Moldaw’s most recent book is So Late, So Soon: New and Selected Poems (Etruscan Press, 2010). Moldaw (www.carolmoldaw.com<http://www.carolmoldaw.com> ) is the author of four other books of poetry, including The Lightning Field (2003), which won the 2002 FIELD Poetry Prize, and a novel, The Widening (Etruscan Press, 2008).
- Veronica Golos is the author of two books, A Bell Buried Deep, winner of the Nicholas Roerich Poetry Prize, and Vocabulary of Silence, winner of the New Mexico Poetry Prize. She is presently working on a third book Root Work: The Lost Writings of John Brown and Mary Day Brown.
Curated by Veronica Golos. Roster of poets will be updated on somostaos.org.