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Poetry…the
passionate pursuit of
the real.
---Czeslaw
Milosz
Dear
Friends,
On December 11, 2007,
an unusual event took
place in Berkeley. A
proclamation was read by
the Mayor at City
Council. It said:
Whereas,
Poetry Flash,
a leading nonprofit
arts organization,
founded in 1972 and
based in Berkeley; is
celebrating its 35th
anniversary in 2007;
and Whereas,
Poetry Flash
is an award-winning
source of literary
information and news,
featuring book
reviews, essays,
poems, and
interviews, with the
most comprehensive
calendar of literary
events in the West;
and Whereas,
Poetry Flash
presents the
nationally celebrated
Poetry Flash
Reading Series in
Berkeley; thousands
of poets both from
Berkeley and
traveling from all
across the country
have read in the
usually once a week
reading series
curated by Poetry
Flash since 1982;
and Whereas,
Poetry Flash
has been central in
establishing Berkeley
as a major center of
U.S. literary
activity, with poets
coming from all
across the
country…and
sending their work to
Poetry Flash
magazine. Young
writers and scholars
are drawn to Berkeley
because of its lively
literary culture;
Poetry Flash
is an important part
of Berkeley's
cultural heritage;
and Whereas,
Poetry Flash
celebrates poetry,
literature, and
activism in the
finest Bay Area
tradition. Now,
therefore be it
resolved that
…the City of
Berkeley
[does] hereby
recognize and
proclaim December 11,
2007, as Poetry
Flash Day in the
City of Berkeley and
encourage all
Berkeley residents to
take part in the
literary life of the
community.
Of course this is
"Berkeley-centric," and
Poetry Flash
reaches far beyond
Berkeley, but in the
spirit of this
statement, I'm asking
you to join us on this
journey and to celebrate
our 35th Anniversary by
making a donation. If
you are a subscriber, I
especially thank you.
You and your patience
are appreciated. By now
you have received the
new double issue,
#299/300. You will
receive the full number
of issues that you have
subscribed for (the
double issue will count
as one, not two). This
has been a year of deep
change and planning. If
you can take one more
leap of faith with us,
we can bring you
Poetry Flash
magazine quarterly in
2008, as well as our
literary event Web site
and other programs.
Poetry and writing
bring us to our lives in
a new way, make us think
and feel, foster our
collective and cultural
memories, and help us to
understand our humanity
in this troubled time.
It gives us a way to
tell our stories, the
raw building blocks of
democracy. There are
many ways to experience
literature; we each know
our own. Those are the
reasons that we continue
to publish Poetry
Flash, Poetry Review
& Literary
Calendar, post the
www.poetryflash.org
calendar (for all of
California with listings
from Washington, Oregon,
Arizona, New Mexico,
Nevada, and beyond),
present the Poetry Flash
reading series, produce
the Northern California
Book Awards, and present
the Watershed
Environmental Poetry
Festival with 2007
National Book
Award-winner Robert
Hass.
As many know, we took
a six-month hiatus in
publishing in 2007, to
regroup and reorganize.
Difficult choices were
made, with reflection
and reorganization. Last
spring, we hit the
proverbial wall. Yet
Poetry Flash has
come so far and given so
much, we just could not
give up. We devoted full
time to rethinking and
reinvention, beginning
by "deconstructing" our
office and hosting a
magical benefit
reception there with
Michael Ondaatje, poet
and novelist, followed
by a reading. We learned
more about digital
publishing, for online
and print. We improved
our Web site, edited
writing and generated
ideas for future issues:
we repaired our fishing
nets and dreamed of the
sea. New ideas and
options of every sort
were explored, including
all-online publishing,
blogging, and new venues
for the Poetry
Flash reading
series.
Since the 2006
closing of Cody's Books
on Telegraph,
maintaining the
Poetry Flash
reading series has taken
extra time and effort.
The series, presented
ten months of the year
since 1982, has
continued in new venues
since the closing.
Readings were held in
2007 at Berkeley City
College, Black Oak
Books, and first
Saturdays at Cody's
Fourth Street. We also
presented a successful
26th Annual Northern
California Book Awards
last spring at the San
Francisco Main Library,
with the Northern
California Book
Reviewers, a volunteer
association sponsored by
Poetry Flash.
We have lively
editorial plans. Our
hiatus generated ideas
and brought in many
wonderful reviews,
profiles, interviews,
poems, and essays for
publication in 2008. Our
savvy and outspoken
contributing editors and
reviewers will continue
to offer their
observations. Poetry
will continue to be the
still point, the focus,
though we will publish
fiction reviews and
continue to cover
fiction and nonfiction
literary events and
calls for submissions.
Of course, Richard
Silberg's ongoing and
insightful "New &
Noted" reviews, and my
usual "Some Information"
will continue. Lawrence
Ferlinghetti has
suggested that Poetry
Flash be subtitled
the "Literary Voice of
the West." Exaggerated,
but true, expressed by a
circulation of 22,000
(and Web site visits
surging to 17,000 per
month). As Ferlinghetti
wrote, "Poetry is the
real subject of great
prose."
We ask for your help
to publish quarterly, to
maintain our Web site
event calendar, and to
keep our programs
innovating and thriving.
We've just been awarded
a $10,000 National
Endowment for the Arts
grant for 2008. We're
very grateful. However,
that's less than ten
percent of our operating
budget. And individual
donors make up a full
one-third of our budget.
Please help Poetry
Flash meet the
challenge to keep
publishing&emdash;in
print and
online&emdash;by writing
a check now.
In gratitude, with
warm wishes for
2008,
Joyce Jenkins,
Editor/Publisher,
Poetry Flash
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