Jennifer's Art and Words

The Third Annual Sacramento Writer's Brush January 14th 5-9 pm

2011-12-13T12:56:00.000-08:00

Come hear and see Sacramento writers who are also, artists carry on the tradition of Jack Kerouac, Patti Smith, and Frederico Garcia Lorca at the Sacramento Writer's Brush held at the Sacramento Poetry Center, 1719 25th Street (corner of R and 25th), January 14, from 5-9. Reading of work is from 7-9pm. Featured artists and readers include:

Maceo Montoya, a graduate of Yale University in 2002 and received his MFA in painting from Columbia University in 2006. His artwork has been exhibited throughout the country as well as internationally. His first novel, The Scoundrel and the Optimist, was published in 2010 by Bilingual Press. He is an Assistant Professor in the Chicana/o Studies Department at UC Davis.

Sandy Thomas whose photos have appeared in Medusa's Kitchen, Ophidian One, Poetry Now, Poetry Now Presents, Primal Urge, Sacramento Press and WTF?!.

Tim McHargue has published three books of prose poetry, Typography of the Flesh: Thirty Prose Poems; Bali Rain Psalm: The Bali Prose Poems; and Wig Bubbles and is an award winning video artist.

Julia Connor is the former Poet Laureate of Sacramento and a ceramicist and teachers writing workshops all over the country.

Trina Drotar, a San Francisco native, is a writer of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, reviews, and articles, and an artist working with fiber, pen and ink, printmaking, collage, mixed media, photography. Her writing can be found in Medusa’s Kitchen, Rattle, Sacramento News and Review, Word Riot, and WTF, and her artwork is held in several collections.

Frank Graham was the poetry editor for Poetry Now. His photographs have appeared in Convergence, online journal. Some of his publication credits include: The Harvard University Scriptorium, Out On The Reach, Feelings Poetry Journal, and Poets Against War online.

D.R Wagneris a visual artist, poet and musician. He has had over thirty one person exhibitions and has participated in well over one hundred group shows, many of them international exhibitions. He has published over twenty books of poetry and letters. He is currently recording a CD of original vocal music with his band, R. Spoon.

Guest songwriter, Mike Pickering will open up with guitarist Chris Mackey.

I will be exhibiting some of my new art, Garden Spirits, that will be featured at the Red Dot Gallery in April 2012 and reading new poetry and of course on hand to host the event. The event is free but I encourage donations as they go to the Sacramento Poetry Center. So, music, spoken word, art, libations a good mix with you!

San Sebastian, Spain

2011-07-02T00:53:00.001-07:00

Today we are off to San Sebastian, Spain (only a few miles away). I wish you were all here to share our trip and hope you all have a wonderful fourth of Juliette. Adios y au revoir, Jennifer
San Sebastian-is a bustling ciudad. Riding to the city we passed through small cities and suburbs consisting of mostly unattractive block style high-rise apartments, many whose walls are covered in graffiti. It looks as if frustration among the people is high here. You would not think you are in Spain, but rather in New York or perhaps even Sacramento on highway 99 along the freeway wall. Here we are on the train following the protective wall between these high-rises and the train. From the balconies hang the Basque flag of independence. The Basques have been trying to gain independence from France and Spain for centuries. Their language is one of the oldest and has been spoken continuously since Neolithic times. In these border towns the directional signs are written in Spanish, Basque, and French.
We arrived in San Sebastian and walked the beach promenade to the center of town with a huge statue of St. Sebastian looking down on us from a mountain above the city reminiscent of the Christ figure that towers over rio de janeiro. The harbor is sheltered with high mountains surrounding the bay and the beach is sandy and covered with sun bathers. We mostly came to Spain to shop as the prices are considerably lower than France. Mike and Mikayla made the obligatory trip to McDonalds and Mikayla ordered the McNuggets (yuk). The place was full of young people all ordering from the American menu in their French, German, English, and Spanish accents; America’s most unhealthy export, McDonald’s food that is cheap just like in the U.S. The only different item was cerveza. As I said it appeals to the 30 year old and below set. One of the clerks wore a sweat shirt that read: University of McDonald’s printed on it. They also, have Starbuck’s on every corner all over Paris.
I am happy about the fact I can finally make my own cup of coffee in St. Jean de Luz. I am not fond of French café, but have adopted the practice of heating up the milk for my coffee as is a French way.
Well,signing off now as we are off to the Pâtisserie for a croissant or something else equally as sinful. Thank god for needing to walk everywhere and up two flights of stairs several times a day or I think we’d need to be carried back to Sacramento in a wheelbarrow. Au revoir, Jennifer

St. Jean de Luz July 1

2011-07-01T01:59:00.000-07:00

The trip through central France is farm country with fields of wheat and sunflowers between small villages and towns. I’ve seen no vineyards yet. We pass houses with tiled roofs and white stucco walls.
St. Jean de Luz-Juliette 1
This little town hugs the coastlines. It has a beautiful long sandy beach. Our apartment is 2 blocks from the beach and very comfortable. It has 2 separate sleeping rooms, a kitchenette, plenty of light, is on the 2nd floor, and has a small terrace with a table and chairs. The windows are all French style windows. We have a long oak table with rattan chairs in the dining area and a large carved armoire. All this for 33 Euros each a day.
As it doesn’t get dark here until 10pm we went to the beach late in the afternoon. Most of the young women sit topless on their towels and the older ladies lay down topless (like me, are more modest).
I went to the marche this morning and bought empanadas with pomme de terre and champignone (mushrooms). I may have misspelled something! Also, legumes and a baguette. I love the markets. I videotaped a man cooking paella, but can’t figure how to upload my video to my computer. My computer does not recognize my memory card.
I drew the balcony of the building across the street from the apartment complete with red Moorish style pull down shutter, iron work grate and window boxes of geraniums in orange and lavender tumbling over it’s sides. I'll water color it tomorrow.

Everywhere dogs are allowed except for the beach. So, they happily sit on laps and under tables inside and outside the cafes and restaurants.
Today we are off to San Sebastian, Spain (only a few miles away). I wish you were all here to share our trip and hope you all have a wonderful fourth of Juliette. Adios y au revoir, Jennifer

Borders Books Boarded Up

2011-05-23T07:10:00.001-07:00

I guess we shouldn’t have been surprised when we found the Borders Books at San Francisco’s Union Square boarded up and closed for business. The increase usage of ebook readers: Kindle, Ipad, Nook; and ease of the online purchase of books, has been a slow death for bookstores. This is more troubling still in the city that boasts of having more bookstores than any other in the nation. This particular Borders was always on our destination list when visiting San Francisco’s Union Square. The store front’s covered entryway now serves as a dry place for the homeless to roll out their sleeping bags and as a shelter, from wind and rain, for tourists waiting for trolley cars. The store was a favorite meeting place for my family after shopping in Union Square and to purchase books. The upstairs coffee shop was an especially inviting perch from which to munch on snicker doodles, sip cappuccinos, and read the books you’d purchased. The added bonus was the view through picture windows of the kaleidoscope of dancers, artists, musicians, and the sparkle of holiday lights in the square below. I mourn the loss of Borders all the people who depended on it for their livelihoods, all the books, small press journals, and magazines and the smell of The Seattle’s Best Coffees wafting through the air, and a sense of place and community. I shall never have the same experience walking through cyberspace through the entrance of a a virtual store.
I first was introduced to this particular Borders Books, located on Post Street, a few years ago by my friend, a mystery writer Sue Owen's Wright. She asked me to join her there to meet a former teacher, friend and novelist, John Dufresne. We met in the coffee shop; I bought John Dufresne’s novel, Requiem Mass and asked him to autograph it. I’d not met any author reviewed by the New York Times Review of Books other than local Sacramento writer, Mary MacKey when I read my poetry with her years back. I was tickled pink to have the opportunity. We drank our coffees, exchanged pleasantries and decided to head out for lunch at The Bank, a wonderful Irish Pub at the edge of China Town. Then, it was off on foot to North Beach to City Lights bookstore. The afternoon ended with a drink at the bar next door, Vesuvios which was a regular hangout for the Beat Poets. We sat upstairs by a window and drank whiskey’s looking at the passersby. The light in the bar is dim and I imagined I saw the ghost of Allen Ginsberg haunting the rafters, heard him whisper a passage from the Howl…” in my dreams you walk dripping from a sea-journey on the highway across America in tears to the door of my cottage in the Western night.” I half expected Diane Di Prima, the now Poet Laureate of San Francisco to grace the bar with her entrance, but I think the whiskey and brisk walk through the February wind had gone to my head.
I can’t deny the convenience of shopping at virtual bookstores and the ease of downloading a book to an ebook reader. Also, the prospect of greater access to written materials is empowering but only to those who can afford the devices, the cost of the book, and access to the Internet. But there is no comparison to what it feels like walking into a real living book store, breathing with the breath of books and this, is still free. Reading is meant to be a tactile and a visual experience--or was. I am reading a book, entitled, A Writer’s San Francisco, A Guided Journey for the Creative Soul, by Eric Maisel. The book is beautifully illustrated with pen and ink and colored pencil drawings by Paul Madonna. The delicacy and texture of the drawings can never be translated virtually. There is just no comparison to holding the book in ones hands, opening the book, smelling its perfume and running one’s fingers over the pages--- experiencing the art and words with all of the senses. This finely written and finely illustrated book is an example of what spiritually is lost with the ebook reader. Its invention may mark the end of an era and yet another deprivation to the human senses. I’m hoping the two technologies will parallel each other for at least awhile.

Moon Mist Valley Poetry Reading Monday SPC at 7:30 May 9th!!

2011-05-06T10:45:00.000-07:00

Join me at the reading and book signing in Sacramento. I have three poems included in the anthology and art also. See you at the Sacramento Poetry Center at 25th and R streets!

2011-03-02T08:31:00.001-08:00

Moon Mist Valley poetry and art

2011-02-17T08:44:00.000-08:00

The poems and art in Moon Mist Valley are inspired by the breath and spirit of the great valleys of California. Here mysteries are revealed when the mist lifts and when it doesn't.
I am excited about having 3 poems and several of my art works included in this ambitious book edited by Niki Quismondo (see pages:12, 24, 97,108, 125, 133)
The new anthology: Moon Mist Valley a Collection of Poetry and Art, is available from
http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/moon-mist-valley/14265796 You can click on this link and take a peek of the book.
Other local writers who are contributors include: Ann Privateer, Brad Buchanan, Dawn DiBartolo and Taylor Graham.

Watch for upcoming readings and book signings.

The Writer's Brush January 8, Sacramento Poetry Center

2010-12-21T08:29:00.000-08:00

SECOND SATURDAY IN JANUARY--In the tradition of literary greats Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Allen Ginsberg, Diane di Prima, and Sylvia Plath, who were also visual artists, the Second Annual Sacramento Writer’s Brush features local writers/artists Frank Andrick, Lawrence Dinkins, Sue Owens Wright, Jeanine Stevens, Frank Graham, Jennifer O'Neill Pickering, Tim McHargue and others in an art show and reading of their work. The event will be held on Second Saturday, January 8 Th ,5-9 p.m. (Reading 6:30-7:30) at the Sacramento Poetry Center, 1719 25th Street (25th and R Street), Sacramento. FREE EVENT

I Am The Creek

2010-01-27T12:37:00.000-08:00

Slow and easy
in this fall of Han Lu
mother of minnow
swimming in nursery schools
sleeping in cradles
of algae and sedge.

Dance floor
to Damselflies
gyrating turquoise unions
to tambourines of leaves.

Tomb to tribes of oak
anointed in my waters
last rites repeated
in the currents passage.

Riparian spring
to hare and fox
drunk in the tent of dusk
and apricot light
of a Samhain moon

Place of wading
into muddy beginnings
and pools of clarity
Changing my course often
lithe as the water snake’s glide.

Jennifer O’Neill Pickering
Han Lu, Chinese Autumn called Cold Dew
Samhain (sawin)Celtic end of summer celebration

My poem was inscribed on a tablet and can be seen and read at 9th Ave. and Riverside Blvd. in Sacramento, CA. It is part of the "Poem Circle" which is part of the larger sculpture entitled “Open Circle,” by artist, Les Birleson.

The Seattle Salmon Tea Rose (#F6666)

2010-01-27T09:10:00.000-08:00

The Seattle Salmon Tea Rose (#F6666)

Energy forced this play
its balanced mix of carotenoids
cued by nature’s understudies;
enough water, the wrong time
temperatures of unseasonable degree.

The tea rose stays in character,
not to be upstaged
by an empty house,
January suns suspended
from ceilings of fog
spotlight this minimalist stage
its leafless props
devoid of their audience of bees,

She
delivers her soliloquy
not unlike you or I, in
our own out of sync performances
blooming to false springs.

Jennifer O’Neill Pickering