April in Paris
with
Jeanine Stevens, frank andrick and Ann Privateer
Monday, April 20, 2015 at 7:30 PM
1719 25th Street
Host: Rebecca Morrison
Please join us for “April in Paris,” a reading in English about all things French. Please share your poems about France at the open mic.
Free. French refreshments.
Jeanine Stevens: My interest in French culture began as a child when I studied ballet. I would travel cross town by bus to see dance movies with French subtitles. When designing a “Women’s Studies Program” at American River College, I read de Beauvoir, Nin and Colette. I incorporated some of their philosophies into the coursework. In 2004, I was fortunate to travel to France and visit the prehistoric caves. Robert Creeley was guest lecturer. We had many discussions about the concept of vast amounts “time” and human habitation. After taking “Poetry in Translation,” with William O’Daly at U.C. Davis, I began writing versions and variations of works by de Beauvoir, Verlaine, Apollinaire and Guillevic, some of which are included in my chapbook, “Women in Cafés.”
Our Room with Open Door by Jeanine Stevens
Hotel Les Glycines—the Dordogne
Through double doors, sunlight sprinkles on rush mats,
and high ceilings are restored to look old. Arched
roses stretch for acres. Most of the afternoon
poets sit by the far pond writing or napping.
Then, kir on the terrace, and a late dinner of foie gras,
poisson grillés and tarte aux pomme. The full moon
basks over the green Vézère River and soft voices in canoes
hold torches for an evening journey, the same water
where small broad-backed horses drank their fill.
The delicate skulls now sit in the museum and it is said
their fur was pale yellow to bluish grey. I’d love to see
the tiny hooves kicking up colored stones at river’s edge.
In the morning—flat faces of lime-scented geraniums
press against our window, insistent, damp and warm.
2004
frank andrick is a poet, prose writer and storyteller born in Montreal, Canada. He is the co-host of the popular, much awarded “Poetry Unplugged @ Luna’s” and he is also the anchor/producer of the two-hour literary radio program, The Pomo Literati, broadcast on KUSF-in-exile & the net/web globally. He is the co-editor with Rachel Leibrock of WTF?! a quarterly arts journal. He performs his writing, solo, in various music and sound collaborations including Chatoyant, a spoken word ~ sound ~ noise ensemble. He has a thing for dead French guy and dead French lesbian writers from past centuries. As an international journalist published in Germany, Russia, France, England, the U.S. and more, he has interviewed Nirvana, The Cure, NWA, U2, and Sonic Youth just to name a few. He has read his poems and Baudelaire’s in Paris.
Triptyche ~ Pariscope
(You Wear Paris Like A Dress)
by frank andrick
You wear Paris like a dress
Aurellia Pardis Muse of a
million moments walk the
abyss between the living
and the bliss De Molay on
fire backdrop Notre Dame
our lady my lady gargoyles
frame your face honeyed
side of heaven and hell
sky all around sunsets on the
Seine haloes your head, your
face, your hair, the sky, the
Sol/Soul splits, striates, and
streaks filigrees of gold a net
to ensnare inspiration
you wear Paris like a dress.
You wear this city like a Dress
Aurellia Pardis du Paris Muse
Of a million moments granting
truce or peace to laugh in the
face of the fine line scapeghost
turning the notion of sin into
wine from a sacred vine Deux
Magots French film blurred kiss
my hands the shape of angels trace
the ghost trails i walk in your eyes
grottos or grottes cameo at your
throat the hint of touch the cause
& effect the wanting to hold what
dare not be dreamt you’ll be my
vacation & I will be yours
You wear Paris like a dress
You wear Paris like a dress Muse
Of a million moments the kitty and
the cat take residence within manifest
this city you own that dress Red House
Painter sound chamise du chanson a
grand passion as infinite as the inspiration
to write the greatest poems anima/animus
flowered into unity Café Flor’ a celebration
a second behind my eyes asterisms attract the
night into light amour fou was only a spark
go to a new place that you love that you
find Beautiful so I can experience your
Beauty in a setting that you find Beautiful
to you so I can lose myself in the Beautiful
surrounded by the Beautiful
You wear Paris Like a dress
Ann Privateer: Poetry was an early grounding influence. Trying to find my way, I spent time in nature jotting down thoughts and creating word lists. Looking up into the maple trees in Cleveland Heights, Ohio where I grew up inspired me to write. When I moved to Los Angeles for college, I was fascinated by magnolia trees. Marriage and another move to raise children brought different sensations from place and pine trees. Now retired, I spend time in Paris, France visiting family. My poems have appeared in Manzanita, Poetry Now, Tapestries, Entering, and Tiger Eyes to name a few.
French Kiss by Ann Privateer
Cheek to cheek, belly to belly
pairs of everything embracing
at home, in private, or at the deli,
arms entwined, busily tracing
thoughts over skin. Open lips,
a dizzying kiss, tongue to tongue
invasions relied on gyrating hips,
music swoons, a crescendo sung
three, two, one, contact was born
in 1923 after World War One was won.
