Taco Shop Poets, Steve Kowit and Ishmael von Heidrick-Barnes
By Anna Daniels
It’s April and the whole month is devoted to reading poetry, writing poetry and listening to poetry. National Poetry Month was inaugurated by the Academy of American Poets in 1996 in the hopes of keeping this particular art form alive and flourishing. It is not as if poets stopped writing poetry and became successful hedge fund managers instead over the past decades. The obstacle has long been one of connecting audiences to poets.
Those connections began to occur a number of years ago in poetry slams–often informal arrangements set in coffee houses and book stores. These venues have provided an opportunity for both writers and audiences. A number of years ago San Diego buses displayed poetry written by local students above the seats. The series was called “Poetry in Motion” and it was one of the collaborations of poet and educator Quincy Troupe. San Diego is fertile ground for the poetic imagination.
Poets are language sculptors, chipping away everything that is mute and extraneous. What remains can be as deceptively simple as the joyful word play and images of Dr. Seuss or as layered and experimental as the ethnopoetics of Jerome Rothenberg.
SDFP will be posting youtube readings and poems by San Diego poets every Saturday in April. Let us know who we should know about at contact@sandiegofreepress.org or leave a comment.
Taco Shop Poets– Taco Shop Poets Manifesto from Chorizo TongueFire
Steve Kowit– Refugees, Late Summer Night
Ishmael von Heidrick-Barnes– Geo-Poetic Spaces: Encounter in Peñasquitos Canyon
Anna Daniels
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“Poets are language sculptors, chipping away everything that is mute and extraneous,” she wrote.
I’m glad you did this Anna. I was gonna do something similar but got lazy.
Just an FYI. The Taco Shop Poets piece is called Taco Shop Poets Manifesto. Their album was called Chorizo Tonguefire. I know because I co-produced and published the CD.
Other great local poets include Viet Mai, the no longer active Los Able Minded Poets (Ken10, Naz and Irene Castruita), Sonia Gutierrez, our own Will Falk and so many more. Check out the local Elevated! open mic for some up and coming literary talent.
Thanks Brent for the correction and suggestions. We have a whole month…. Read more tacos, eat more poetry!
I am honored to be included in the company of Steve Kowit and the Taco Shop Poets. Thank you. There are so many great poets in San Diego. I recommend: Shadab Zeest Hashmi, Karen Kenyon, R.T. Sedgwick, Brandon Cesmat, Bobby Jean Bishop, Oriana Ivy, Joe Milosch, and just to name a few.
Great idea! Glad you’re doing this. This place has much to say!
Will- we have a special place for you among the poetic voices. Stay tuned.