Poetry Flash > calendar > Lisa B (Lisa Bernstein) and Dick Cluster

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Lisa B (Lisa Bernstein)
Photo: Angela Bennett

Lisa B (Lisa Bernstein) and Dick Cluster

5 NOVEMBER 2023 — sunday

Poetry Flash presents a reading by poet and jazz singer Lisa B (Lisa Bernstein), God in Her Ruffled Dress, and writer Dick Cluster, translator of the acclaimed poetry collection, Fiat Lux, by Paula Abramo, Art House Gallery & Cultural Center, 2905 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, two blocks north of Ashby BART, refreshments, free, 3:00 pm PDT (poetryflash.org).

Thank you for continuing to support Poetry Flash and our reading series.
Featured books for this reading will be available for signing at the event and Dick Cluster's will also be at bookshop.org/shop/poetryflash.

MORE ABOUT THE READERS

Lisa B (Lisa Bernstein)'s new poetry collection, God in Her Ruffled Dress, from LA's What Books Press, appears thirty-four years after publication of her debut full-length poetry book The Transparent Body, from Wesleyan University Press. D.A. Powell says of God in Her Ruffled Dress, "A book of deep seeing, 'the code inside the code'…also a book of intense listening, 'the bright spurt of trumpet' and the train calling like a late-night lover…a series of divine pleasures transcribed faithfully by a skilled musician and writer." Lisa B's poems have appeared in more than sixty anthologies and periodicals, including City Lights Review, Field, Kenyon Review, Lilith, Ploughshares, Poetry International, Tikkun, and ZYZZYVA. She has received Creative Writing fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, Headlands Center for the Arts, Ucross Foundation, and others. She is also a jazz and groove singer interweaving spoken and sung verse in her original songs and re-envisioned standards. She has released seven albums and various singles (available on all music platforms) to critical acclaim and international radio play, and performs with her band throughout the country. She also works as a professional psychic reader.

Dick Cluster has been translating Spanish-language literature for the past twenty-five years. His recent translations include Paula Abramo's Fiat Lux, nominated for the 2023 Northern California Book Award in California Translation, a cycle of poems about Abramo's ancestors—political refugees to and within Latin America—and about poetry itself. Alejandro Zambra said of it, "Amazing, unique and mind-blowing little book. Paula Abramo proves that there are territories where only poetry can take us." Dick Cluster also translated Gabriela Alemán's Poso Wells and Family Album, and Mylene Fernández Pintado's A Corner of the World, all from City Lights Books. He edited and translated his curated prose anthology, Kill the Ámpaya: The Best Latin American Baseball Fiction. Achy Obejas says of it, "If baseball is really a metaphor for life, then Kill the Ámpaya—Dick Cluster's wonderful collection of Latin American baseball stories—is an astonishing record of its beauty and coarseness, redemption and tragedy." Dick Cluster is also the author of a social history of Havana and a detective novel series.

Daily Listings

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7 DECEMBER 2023 — thursday

Lunch Poems, UC Berkeley's noontime reading series, presents poet Jesse Nathan, Eggtooth, Morrison Library inside Doe Library, 101 Library Ct., University of California campus, Berkeley, free, 12:10-12:50 pm PST (More information here: www.lib.berkeley.edu/visit/lunch-poems)
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8 DECEMBER 2023 — friday

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9 DECEMBER 2023 — saturday

Sacramento Poetry Alliance presents a poetry reading by Molly Fisk, The More Difficult Beauty, and Tricia Caspers, Some Flawed Magic, Sacramento Poetry Alliance, 1169 Perkins Way, Sacramento, free, 4:00 pm PDT (More information here: www.facebook.com/sacramentopoetryalliance)
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The Poetry Center presents poet Divya Victor, CURB, winner of the PEN America Open Book Award and the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, reading from her work and joining in conversation with poet Tonya M. Foster, A Swarm of Bees in High Court, part of Undisciplining the Fields, a conversation and reading series that emphasizes artists and writers from a range of fields and cross-disciplinary practices, free, East Bay Media Center, 1939 Addison Street, Berkeley, 2:00-4:00 pm PST (More information here: poetry.sfsu.edu/event/undisciplining-fields-divya-victor-reading-and-conversation-tonya-m-foster)
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10 DECEMBER 2023 — sunday

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11 DECEMBER 2023 — monday

City Lights Books presents a reading with four Black Lawrence Press authors, poet Lisa Dordal, Writer-in-Residence at Vanderbilt University and author of Mosaic of the Dark, finalist for the 2019 Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry, short story writers Nancy Welch, The Road from Prosperity, and JoeAnn Hart, Highwire Act & Other Tales of Survival, and novelist Sara Johnson Allen, Down Here We Come Up, winner of the Big Moose Prize from Black Lawrence Press, City Lights Books, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, free, 6:00 pm PST (Register to attend: citylights.com/events)
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12 DECEMBER 2023 — tuesday

L.A. Times Book Club presents California Poet Laureate Lee Herrick, Scar and Flower, finalist for the 2020 Northern California Book Award, in conversation with Steve Padilla, editor of the Los Angeles Times, online, free, 6:00 pm PST (RSVP to attend: www.eventbrite.com/e/la-times-dec-book-club-with-california-poet-laureate-lee-herrick-tickets-746414865957?aff=ebdssbdestsearch)
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Cobalt Poets presents a reading with featured poet Leslie Sainz, Have You Been Long Enough at Table, followed by an open mic, online via Zoom, free, 7:30 pm PST (Register to attend: www.poetrysuperhighway.com/cobalt/calendar.html)
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13 DECEMBER 2023 — wednesday

City Lights Books celebrates the 90th birthday of the late Jack Hirschman (1933-2021), poet, translator, editor, and activist, former Poet Laureate of San Francisco, and prolific author of poetry and essays including All That's Left and Lyripol, with tributes by Agneta Falk, joined by Scott Bird, Dimitri Charalambou, Neeli Cherkovski, Mauro Ffortissimo, Celia Hirschman, Matt Gonzales, devorah major, Sarah Menefee, Alejandro Murguia, and Byron Spooner, online via Zoom, free, 6:00 pm PST (Register to attend: citylights.com/events)
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14 DECEMBER 2023 — thursday

San Francisco Public Library presents Kim Shuck, former San Francisco Poet Laureate and author of several collections including What Unseen Things Blow Wishes Across My Surface?, celebrating the publication of her new book, Pick a Garnet to Sleep In, Latino/Hispanic Meeting Room A, Main Library, 100 Larkin Street, San Francisco, free, 6:00-7:30 pm PST (More information here: sfpl.org/events/2023/12/14/performance-kim-shucks-poem-jam-celebrates-pick-garnet-sleep)
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15 DECEMBER 2023 — friday

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16 DECEMBER 2023 — saturday

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17 DECEMBER 2023 — sunday

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18 DECEMBER 2023 — monday

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19 DECEMBER 2023 — tuesday

Cobalt Poets presents a reading with featured poet Martin Parker, followed by an open mic, online via Zoom, free, 7:30 pm PST (Register to attend: www.poetrysuperhighway.com/cobalt/calendar.html)
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20 DECEMBER 2023 — wednesday