Berkeley Book Launch Nov. 5 by Lisa B (Lisa Bernstein) and Dick Cluster
Berkeley Book Launch
by Lisa B (Lisa Bernstein) and Dick Cluster
Sun. Nov. 5, 3 p.m.
Sponsored by Poetry Flash
Art House Gallery & Cultural Center
2905 Shattuck Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94705
FREE
with refreshments
Lisa B (Lisa Bernstein) reads from "God in Her Ruffled Dress" (What Books Press) and Dick Cluster reads from Paula Abramo's poetry cycle "Fiat Lux" (bilingual edition translated by Cluster from FlowerSong Press), nominated for a Northern California Book Award.
Please note: we turn clocks back at 2 a.m. that calendar day, so make sure not to be late!
The Music of Poetry, A Writing Workshop Nov. 4 with Lisa B (Lisa Bernstein) (via Zoom)
The Music of Poetry
led by Lisa B (Lisa Bernstein)
via Zoom
November 4, 12:30 - 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time
Hosted by Hudson Valley Writers Center
ask@writerscenter.org
Working with our attention on the sound of our words returns a spirit of play and discovery to our writing.
Even while writing free verse, we can call on a range of musical techniques to both enrich our poems and help us access content that we are not yet conscious of.
Get out of your own way as you create by heightening the musicality of your poems.
In this workshop, we will first read poems that put musical form and elements at the forefront. We will review tools such as rhyme, alliteration, assonance, syllabic stresses, and enjambment.
Then we will turn to playing with these techniques and others (such as listening to a poem in a language you don’t know and “translating” it, and writing while listening to music) to produce work that is freer and perhaps more revelatory — with a more direct connection to the muse.
The workshop will include discussing the new work we have generated.
It will be taught on Zoom and capped at 15 students. Registrants will receive the Zoom link to the email address they use to register. It will arrive immediately after registration so please check your spam folder if you do not receive it. It will also be sent the day before class as a reminder. Please review the course policies page before registering for any classes.
Miami Book Launch Oct. 29 by Lisa B (Lisa Bernstein) and Caridad Moro-Gronlier
Miami Book Launch by Lisa B (Lisa Bernstein) and Caridad Moro-Gronlier
Sun. Oct. 29
4 p.m.
Books & Books Coral Gables
265 Aragon Ave.
Coral Gables, Florida 33134
(305) 442-4408
Lisa B (Lisa Bernstein) will read from her new poetry book "God in Her Ruffled Dress" (What Books Press) and Caridad Moro-Gronlier will read from "Tortillera" (Texas Review Press, new hardcover release).
Launch Reading Oct. 25 for Fall 2023 Titles from What Books Press
What Books Press Fall 2023 Launch Reading 1!
Wed. October 25, 7 p.m. FREE
with refreshments
Village Well Books & Coffee
9900 Culver Boulevard #1B
Culver City, CA 90232
(424) 298-8951
Lisa B (Lisa Bernstein)
Bryan Price
Michael Ventura
Celeste Goyer
Sarah Maclay
Maria Perez-Talavera
with introductions by Gail Wronsky
New Poetry Book "God in Her Ruffled Dress" out in October from What Books Press
I'm thrilled that my second full-length book of poetry, God in Her Ruffled Dress, is to be published October 17, 2023, by What Books Press, reaching online bookstores October 25.
You can order a signed copy directly from me now. Go here for payment options or contact me.
What Books Press comprises a collective of writers, who have created a small nonprofit publishing house featuring beautiful-looking and compelling literary work with a West Coast sensibility.
(One of the reasons I enjoy their collective approach is that in the '80s, I was a member of the San Francisco-based publishing and editorial collective Five Fingers Poetry, launching the respected literary journal Five Fingers Review.)
Back to God in Her Ruffled Dress: it appears an astounding 34 years after my first full-length poetry volume The Transparent Body, from the highly esteemed Wesleyan University Press New Poets Series. You can purchase that volume directly from me as well, along with the chapbook that preceded it, Anorexia.
In the years between my first books and this new one, I became a jazz and groove singer and spoken-word artist, with seven albums and a number of singles featuring my original songs and adventurous versions of standards and covers, most of them interwoven with my spoken verse. Poetry, spoken word, poetic rap are all represented in these innovative music-verse meldings. I was fortunate to record with James Gardiner, who has more than 40 gold and platinum records as an engineer and is also a highly skilled producer and composer, at Pajama Studios in Oakland. Some of my tunes were composed with such artists as Wayne Wallace, Barbara Higbie, Scott R. Looney, Ben Flint, and Jeff Marrs and all feature some of the best musicians in the Bay Area.
It's been refreshing and fascinating to return to the literary world where I cut my artistic teeth. And to compare today's poetry publishing with the indie music scene, which constantly transformed itself throughout the more than 20 years in which I've been releasing music. Of note is that I'm grateful that the fraction-of-a-penny streaming model has not penetrated literary or any other kind of publishing.
To my surprise and delighted gratitude, six fabulous poets and critics sent me supportive remarks about the new book. They are displayed in various ways here, because there's so much to highlight, and because some of you prefer images and some like text (and because, let's face it, I'm so proud).
“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.”
—D.A.
Powell, author of Useless Landscape, or A Guide for Boys and Repast:
Tea, Lunch, and Cocktails
_____________________________________
“Bears écriture feminine into the twenty-first
century with grace, wit, and incredible technical dexterity.”
—Kristina
Marie Darling, author of Daylight Has Already Come and Look
to Your Left: A Feminist Poetics of Spectacle
_____________________________________
“Lisa B’s stunning new book weaves together body, spirituality, politics, and the
world we live in….Fierce, feminist, and
necessary...this engaging collection will stir your mind and bring you
into beauty, into ‘a place so much more multiple than one god’s face.’
”
—Kelli
Russell Agodon, author of Hourglass Museum and Dialogues
with Rising Tides
_____________________________________
“A dazzling lyrical demonstration... She
takes us on a journey through ecstasy and pain: from the highs of great jazz
performance to the zen of blood testing for diabetes.”
—Lawrence R. Smith, editor of Caliban
_____________________________________
“Effortlessly surprising, thoughtful, and
inventive...musical and rhythmical above all...[poems on] the physicality of
jazz, the physicality of spirituality, and the self hearing all her edges and
hinges through illness, pleasure, and doubt.”
—Sean
Singer, author of Honey & Smoke and Today in the
Taxi
_____________________________________
“Offers a series of superb poems about...jazz
greats...[and other poems] that call down the spirit in ways that are at once
promiscuous and defiant.”
—Daniel
Tiffany, author of Cry Baby Mystic and My Silver
Planet: A Secret History of Poetry and Kitsch
_____________________________________
Look for upcoming posts about poetry readings and workshops! If any of you would like to review the book or interview me, of course I'd be glad to accommodate you.
And please contact me and/or join my mailing list for updates direct to your email box.
And please contact me and/or join my mailing list for updates direct to your email box.
New Video of "Warrior Cat"!
This past year has made us all warriors. So I've been thinking especially about "Warrior Cat."
(And it didn't hurt that in July I adopted two outgoing, affectionate tortoiseshell kittens after the untimely death of my beloved German Shepherd in April. Back to the universe of cats.)
"Warrior Cat" explores, models, leaps on how to be a warrior -- not in the tanked-up way most often presented in our culture, but a warrior in the way a cat is, and the way a writer is.
With grooving music by Scott R. Looney and me, powered by live drumming by the late, great Paul van Wagenginen. Engineered and mastered by my longtime compatriot James (Jim) Gardiner, of Pajama Studios, twice Grammy-nominated and with 42 gold- and platinum-certifed records.
The tune came out on my 2006 record, "What's New, Pussycat?," about the feline side of being human, or put another way, about cats actual and symbolic. Magic, cool, warm, transcendent, domestic.
2020 has been tough. So I made a new video for the year of the warrior cat.
"Reverberant: Poems & Music": Latest Videos and News
With the growing prevalence of Facebook and Twitter, I haven't been posting as much as I used to. Ah, the early days of blogging!
But I wanted to come back so you might be able to find this.
It's been wonderful to release "Reverberant: Poems & Music" in the spirit of finally foregrounding some of my free-verse poems originally written for the page, transforming them in performances with music. My marvelous collaborators are some of my favorite musicians -- pianists Ben Flint and Scott R. Looney, bassist Marcus Shelby, drummer Jeff Marrs, and the masterful Jim (James) Gardiner playing all of the above and more as well as contributing his expert, nuanced engineering skills (42 gold- and platinum-certified records plus lots of work since then will earn you those).
Many of the poems from the record appeared in esteemed literary magazines: Brilliant Corners, Caliban, The Kenyon Review, Lilith, and Sequestrum.
These pieces all focus on reverberation, both literal (resonance) and metaphorical (repercussions). They are jazz homages (Max, Cecil, Billie, and a bassist modeled on Ron Carter) and tales of spiritual self-realization -- sometimes both at once.
Here's a mashup of selected cuts on the record, organized by the motifs of sound, loneliness, light, and singing.
Check out the press "Reverberant" garnered here and the radio play it achieved (and I'm still adding more)!
Extra fun of late has been creating new videos for the selections on the new record that include my singing: "Some Things To Do with Pain" (a true guided meditation with a groove and visuals), "Lisa's Lord's Prayers," and "Billie Goes Home/Lover Man." Check 'em out below.
Please comment, find me on social media, or go to the contact page on my website to say hello.
I appreciate your attention and feedback. Truly.
New Single Release: "I Am an Orchestra: A Tribute to Cecil Taylor"!
The legendary pianist Cecil Taylor passed away almost a year ago, on April 5, 2018.
To honor him, I released this new single: a poem to the accompaniment of brilliant pianist Scott R. Looney. Engineering is by my longtime collaborator, James (Jim) Gardiner, at Pajama Studios.
You can check out my blog post reminiscing about my personal contact with Cecil in childhood and thereafter. Plus there you can find a written version of the poem we just recorded. Reading it, I see it took on another life in multiple dimensions existing in this musical dialogue with pianist Scott.
Here's some of where you can hear (stream, download, share) this exciting music, or see all platform links at right:
Please let me know how you like it! And share this post!
May this piece send up a flare to the utterly unique genius of Cecil, wherever he is.
To honor him, I released this new single: a poem to the accompaniment of brilliant pianist Scott R. Looney. Engineering is by my longtime collaborator, James (Jim) Gardiner, at Pajama Studios.
You can check out my blog post reminiscing about my personal contact with Cecil in childhood and thereafter. Plus there you can find a written version of the poem we just recorded. Reading it, I see it took on another life in multiple dimensions existing in this musical dialogue with pianist Scott.
Here's some of where you can hear (stream, download, share) this exciting music, or see all platform links at right:
Please let me know how you like it! And share this post!
May this piece send up a flare to the utterly unique genius of Cecil, wherever he is.
Cecil Taylor
Cecil Taylor, copyright Lenny Bernstein |
I heard (and saw) him perform with his group around the same time, unable to really process the music but deeply affected by it. Such physically, emotionally, and mentally cataclysmic sound!
Years later, as an adult, I saw and heard him many times, at Kimball's and Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, and the old Yoshi's and the new Yoshi's in Oakland, among other venues, both onstage and backstage. Cecil visited my folks' home again, bought a number of my Dad's gorgeous photos of him, and commented kindly on my poems. And my parents had all of his recordings.
Cecil Taylor, copyright Lenny Bernstein |
As a character, a creator, a person, there was no other like him.
Thank you, Cecil.
Cecil Taylor backstage, copyright Lenny Bernstein |
Cecil Taylor: I Am An Orchestra
BASH
the affectionate
black-and-white
scale of his Bosendorfer
keyboard
is raked right to left—oh
voices
are
calling
and
he is marvelously
replying. “I
—I
am an orchestra,
a
brontasaura,
and
the scales fall
from
my fingers,
groaning
and sighing,
falling
from the San Francisco skyline,
this
afternoon's sunlight-on-shingles
lifting
from silver cupolas—”
The
din
orchestrates
a
rent in time
through
which the heads
of
Horus, Osiris
travel,
dragging their little dogs
“It’s
my world,”
says
Cecil,
“not
my undoing.”
In
the dressing room,
too
delicate to pull the peach chiffon
curtains
closed along the rod,
he
is slyly telling stories
on
Oscar Peterson.
But
before the crowd
hear
in the crashing
body
body
ribs
fingers
arrayed
keys black pressed
grapes
hear in this
jade
black wine
rage
forgiving its own sadness.
“Hear
me smash
through
the tombs
future
and past
and—
a
glimpse
of
a human heart”
then
he bends his head
as
if entering a low door
through
the shiny black
Bosendorfer’s
hull
elbows
rise and fall
rowing
then
throwing back
his
head
—laughter
rollicking
under the chords.
“Must
one always
have
a chord,
a
world, a
richness?
Remember,
mama,
though
I’m not past practice,
at
last the world listens
as
I cavort
like
a girl
let
me break
let
me take off
my
imaginary robe
let
me line up
the
clusters series of choruses
forests
faces each a door a
poem
a
BOOM
.”
copyright 2018 Lisa Bernstein