10/2/2017 Larry Ruth hosted by Jan

 (Need a prompt? Think about the worst thing that didn't happen to you-- you don't have to use those words.)

Larry Ruth was born in Berkeley. In the third grade, in celebration of a certain winter holiday, he wrote a play about elves on strike, which was performed by his class.

He later earned several degrees at the University of California, Berkeley, taught environmental policy, and worked on campus for many years. Publications include articles on federal wildland fire policy, ecosystem sustainability, forest policy in the Sierra Nevada, and adaptive management. Research and professional interests include ecologically sensitive approaches to resource management, climate change adaptation, fire policy, and regulatory effectiveness.

Larry is a consultant in environmental and natural resources policy, and enjoys the remnants of the wild. He lives in Berkeley.

Dave Holt features 9/25/2017

9/25/2017 Dave Holt hosted by J.D 
(Need a prompt? "Outer limits" -- you don't have to use those words.)

Dave Holt, relocated to the Bay Area from Toronto, Canada, his place of birth, to follow his dream of becoming a successful songwriter. He is English/Irish and Anishinaabe/Ojibwe (Chippewa) Indian from his mother’s side and he volunteered to serve the American Indian community in California for several years. Dave graduated from S.F. State University’s Creative Writing program (M.A., 1995). He is a winner of several poetry prizes including the Thomas Merton Foundation’s Poetry of the Sacred prize and a Literary/Cultural Arts award for his book Voyages to Ancestral Islands. In 2016, he was published in Red Indian Road West, an anthology of Native American Poetry from California.

Straddling the High Beams of Anderson Bridge

Looking into the moral chasm I escaped,

drugs, drinking, and nights of cruelty,

staring down into murky water,

run, River, run past the damage done,

with you, Rob, my too easy-going friend,

eaten alive by the emptiness.

Someone had to cut your wasted body down,

devoured by the void while I escaped.

Got away by following my angels,

just as I’d done since childhood,

out of the trash-filled alleyways,

where one forgotten flower bloomed.

Partnering with someone, Rob,

loving, being loved, that’s what saved me

from the end of the rope.

I walked through this abyss with you, remember?

You dared me to cross over the unfinished bridge

across Oakville’s river, to walk the concrete beams

and steel bars, looking down between our feet

from that height to fast water below,

nothing between us and the moving current

but our nerve and our quick-beating hearts.

I’d be afraid to do it now.

Back then we were practicing courage.

I used it to break away from there,

but you, who dared me traverse

the half-completed span,

you didn’t make the crossing.

Lenore Weiss features 9/18/2017

9/18/2017 Lenore Weiss  hosted by Bruce
(Need a prompt? Use some English words that are not common anymore, examples "jargogles," "apricity, "monsterful," or look up some of your own -- you don't have to use those words.)

Lenore Weiss is enrolled in the Master of Fine Arts Program at San Francisco State University. Her poetry has been published in many journals including WovenTales, Midwood Press, Maple Leaf Review, Kindred, San Francisco Peace and Hope, Cactus Heart, Ghost Town, Poetica, Carbon Culture, BlinkInk, The Portland Review, La Más Tequila Review, Digital Americana, The Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, Nimrod International Journal, Copper Nickel, The Reform Jewish Quarterly, Feminist Studies in Religion, and Bridges: A Jewish Feminist Journal. Her books include Cutting Down the Last Tree on Easter Island (West End Press, 2012) and Two Places (Kelsay Books, 2014).  Her blog resides at www.lenoreweiss.com.

Tureeda Mikel features 9/11/2017

9/11/2017 Tureeda Mikell hosted by Jim
(Need a prompt? "Lower Case  " -- you don't have to use those words.)

Tureeda Mikell Aka Toreadah, Story Medicine Woman, is an award winning poet, called activist for Holism, by Native Palestinian.  South African Professor at Cal State Long Beach called her a Woman Of Truths.  Ngugi wa Thiongo renown author and professor called her the Word Magician.   Published nationally and internationally, audience member said     “ Tureeda is hell bent on asserting life!”  

Excerpts from poem

Poly Tics

Spell a word cast a spel, in the tic toc

Know the roots begin to pursue

The meaning of the lock

Know and see a lustful deed

Of a language and its plots

Begin to understand

What the language commands

In the poly tics against the tokos!!

By Tureeda aka ToReadah,