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Bert Meyers Tribute: Eric Gudas, David Shaddock, Anat Silvera

22 JUNE 2023 — thursday

Poetry Flash presents a reading celebrating the publication of Bert Meyers: On the Life and Work of an American Master, readers include poets Eric Gudas, David Shaddock, and Anat Silvera, the poet's daughter, in person, Art House Gallery & Cultural Center, 2905 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, two blocks north of Ashby BART, refreshments, free, 7:00 pm PDT (poetryflash.org).

Thank you for continuing to support Poetry Flash and our reading series.
Bert Meyers: On the Life and Work of an American Master will be available at the event and online at bookshop.org/shop/poetryflash(a portion of the proceeds support Poetry Flash).

Bert Meyers: On the Life and Work of an American Master, the latest volume in The Unsung Masters Series, offers a large selection of his very best poetry alongside essays and appreciations from José Angel Araguz, Jim Bogen, Victoria Chang, Amy Gerstler, Garrett Hongo, Daniel Meyers, Barry Sanders, Ari Sherman, Maurya Simon, and Sean Singer, among others. The Unsung Masters Series exists to bring great but largely overlooked writers to new readers. This volume is edited by Dana Levin and Adele Williams.

"Bert Meyers is an American original—a brilliant poet whose use of tone and figurative language was so emotive, intelligent and nuanced, it became inimitable, became its own unique perspective on our world. I wouldn't be surprised if mid-twenty-first century scholars announce that in Bert Meyers we have overlooked the best poet of his generation." —Ilya Kaminsky
MORE ABOUT THE READERS

Eric Gudas is the author of Best Western and Other Poems, winner of the Gerald Cable Book Award, and Beautiful Monster, a chapbook. His work has appeared in The American Poetry Review, The Iowa Review, Poetry Flash, Los Angeles Review of Books, Raritan, and elsewhere. He lives in Los Angeles.

David Shaddock is a poet and psychotherapist. His most recent poetry book is A Book of Splendor: New and Selected Poems on Spiritual Themes. He has a regular column in Poetry Flash, "Poetry and Healing," and is the author of Poetry and Psychoanalysis: The Opening of the Field (Routledge), and two books on relationships and couples therapy. He lectures widely on those topics, and maintains a private practice in Berkeley.

Anat Silvera, Bert Meyers's daughter, is one of the founders of Silvera Jewelry School in Berkeley. Before and after college she studied with artists and craftsmen, apprenticing as a metalsmith and learning how to create fine beadwork. She is the author of a book on her craft, and has exhibited her work all over the U.S., including as featured artist at the Oakland Museum of Art Collector's Gallery.

The son of Romanian and Polish Jewish immigrants, Bert Meyers (1928-1979) was born in Los Angeles. Always rebellious and a questioner of authority, he dropped out of high school and became a poet. For many years he worked at manual labor jobs, including printer's apprentice, until he became a master picture framer and gilder. Here he found satisfaction in craftsmanship and attention to detail, the same approach he used in composing his poetry. Throughout those years he continued to write, feeling that a poet should be immersed in the world, and should have real world things to write about. Meyers wanted to be self-taught. He read everything he could get his hands on and had a prodigious literary memory. He frequented the vibrant circles of LA poets at the time, with Thomas McGrath and others. His fellow poet and friend Robert Mezey said, "Bert Meyers belonged to no school or coterie and had no use for fashion. He was that rarest of creatures, a pure lyric poet. His poems are very much what he was—gentle, cantankerous, reflective, passionate and wise." Although he had never taken undergraduate classes, and had no high school diploma, in 1964 he was admitted to the Claremont Graduate School on the basis of his poetic achievements. By 1967 he had a Ph.D in English Literature and was hired to teach poetry and literature at Pitzer College in Claremont, where he taught until 1978. During his life as a professor, Meyers finally had the time to focus on his writing; he also had an important and lasting influence on his students, a new generation of poets and writers, including Dennis Cooper, Amy Gerstler, Garrett Hongo, and Mauyra Simon among others.

He published at least eight collections of poetry, including Early Rain (1960), The Dark Birds (1968), Sunlight on the Wall (1976), Windowsills (1979), The Wild Olive Trees (1979). Before he died, he selected the core poems of In a Dybbuk's Raincoat: Collected Poems (2007). His widow, Odette Meyers, son Daniel Meyers, and poet Morton Marcus shepherded the book into posthumous publication. Meyers's precisely framed poems are image driven and often quite short. Noting that "the image is unequivocally at the center of his work" in her introduction to In a Dybbuk's Raincoat, Denise Levertov lamented that "Bert Meyers death has deprived us of one of the best poets of our time." (Information from bertmeyers.com)




Daily Listings

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29 MARCH 2024 — friday

  • El Gigante presents a reading with featured poet Christopher Buckley, One Sky to the Next, winner of the Longleaf Press Book Prize, followed by an open mic, online via Zoom, free, doors open 6:55 pm, reading starts 7:00 pm PDT (Zoom link here: cccconfer.zoom.us/j/9348057923)
  • Beyond Baroque presents poet and performance artist Linda Ravenswood, celebrating her new book, a poem is a house, joined in a reading by Senator Anthony Portantino, poet and representative of California's 25th district, Allegra Parks, Christina Cha, Bernadette McComish, Brian Sonia-Wallace, Ariadne Makridakis Arroyo, Diana Dinerman, Tom Laichas, and Kendalle Getty, a book signing will follow the reading, Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center, 681 Venice Blvd., Venice Beach, Los Angeles, free, 8:00-9:30 pm PDT (RSVP to attend: www.beyondbaroque.org)

30 MARCH 2024 — saturday

  • This workshop, "Expressing Your Truth: Connecting with Your Authentic Voice," led by children's book author Britta Stromeyer Esmail, Raina's (UN) Happy Birthday, is for any writer who seeks to develop and refine their authentic writer's voice; suitable for writers of all levels and genres, Book Passage, 51 Tamal Vista Blvd., Corte Madera, $80, 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm PDT, Register by March 29 (For more information, visit: www.bookpassage.com/event/corte-madera-class-britta-stromeyer-esmail-expressing-your-truth-connecting-your-authentic)
  • Point Reyes Books presents poet Jane Hirshfield, The Beauty, longlisted for the National Book Award, reading and discussing her latest book, The Asking: New & Selected Poems, in conversation with Michael Lerner, president and co-founder of Commonweal, Commonweal, 451 Mesa Road, Bolinas, $20 suggested donation, no one turned away for lack of funds, 2:00 pm PDT (More information here: www.ptreyesbooks.com/event/living-poems)
  • Black Arts Movement Business District Community Development Corp. (BAMBD CDC) and Artist As First Responder co-present "Wine, Words, & Baldwin" in conjunction with the exhibition "Frontline Prophet: James Baldwin." by Detroit-based artist Sabrina Nelson, the event celebrates the 100th Birthday of Harlem writer James Baldwin, Go Tell It on the Mountain, Notes of a Native Son, and The Fire Next Time"; a moderated conversation on "The Enduring Value of Baldwin to Evolving Black Narratives" will be hosted by Oakland Poet Laureate Ayodele Nzinga and artist/curator Ashara Ekundayo; BAM House, 1540 Broadway, Oakland, $15-$20, 7:00-10:00 pm PDT (For more information, visit: www.onthestage.tickets/show/the-lower-bottom-playaz/65e68812958d7713fe8238e5/tickets)
  • Beyond Baroque presents the fourth annual "30 in 30 Poetry Workshop," led by Brendan Constantine, The Opposites Game, participants will engage in discussions to inspire their writing and, at the end of each session, take home packets and materials to write a poem a day, runs online via Zoom, five Saturdays, March 30-April 27, $160 for members, $180 general admission, early bird sale prices are $155 for members, $170 general admission, ending on March 27, 11:00 am-1:00 pm PDT (Purchase tickets here: www.beyondbaroque.org/intensive_workshops.html)

31 MARCH 2024 — sunday

  • Photographer and filmmaker Christopher Felver's new exhibition, "Whole Shebang," presents "Poets, Reflections, & Films: A Beat Generation Happening," a panel with Joyce Jenkins, Poetry Flash; archivist, poet, and photographer Tate Swindell, co-editor of Collected Poems of Bob Kaufman, and Matthias Ruecker; the panel will discuss the beat movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-World War II era, in conjunction with Felver's exhibit, featuring the photographs of celebrated writers, artists, and musicians; the show is open to the public until April 14; Sausalito Center for the Arts, 750 Bridgeway, Sausalito, $10 suggested donation, 4:00-7:00 pm PDT (For more information, visit: www.sausalitocenterforthearts.org)

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