submissions for national Fischer Prize in poetry 2019 now open

For immediate release … Jan. 29, 2019 ….   Telluride Institute offers two literary prizes: national Fischer Prize and Colorado Cantor Award TELLURIDE … The Telluride Institute’s Talking Gourds poetry program has been hosting events, festivals, readings, workshops and contests for over 25 years. It’s proud to announce its annual Fischer Prize national contest with over $3000 in awards and travel stipends. And for Colorado poets, that includes a special $500 Cantor Award for the best poem by a Colorado writer who enters the Fischer Prize contest. Deadline for the contest is May 1, 2019. “Since Elaine Fischer was such a champion of the arts in Colorado,” said Talking Gourds co-director Art Goodtimes, “we wanted to reward Colorado poets with a special incentive to participate in the Fischer Prize. Last year Michelle Bitting, Poet Laureate Emerita of of Pacific Palisades (CA), took the top prize with her poem “Everything Crumbling Becomes Something New.” Jane Hilberry, who teaches as Colorado College in Colorado Springs, won the Cantor Award. She and other finalists included Jose Alcantara of Carbondale (CO), Clair Blotter and Deveroux Baker of California, and Elizabeth Jacobson of Florida. Judge last year was Santa Fe Poet Laureate Emerita Joan Logghe of Española, New Mexico. The Judge for 2019 will be Berkeley (CA) Poet Laureate Rafael Jesús González. The Fischer Prize includes a $1000 first prize award, plus a $500 travel stipend to attend the May 17-19 Telluride Literary Arts Festival, where the awards will be made. Five finalists receive $200 each for their winning poems, plus $100 stipend each to attend the May event. In addition, a $500 Cantor Award winner will be selected from any Colorado poet among the finalists, or one whose poem is selected as the best among the Colorado entrants. For 22 years, Telluride has held a Fischer Prize contest in honor of attorney/poet Mark Fischer, who died in 1987. In 2016 his wife, politician/painter Elaine Cantor Fischer, passed away as well. The Fischer Prize, and now the Cantor Award, are given in memory of these two beloved members of the arts community in San Miguel County. For contest rules visit Fischer Prize.  Contest deadline is May 1, 2019. Background Inspired by San Juan Mountains climber, skier, and deep ecologist -- the late Dolores LaChapelle, Talking Gourds is a poetry program sponsored by the Telluride Institute. Art Goodtimes of Wrights Mesa and Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer of Placerville are co-directors. The Talking Gourds program encompasses various projects where it acts as lead agency or partner: the national Fischer Prize, the Colorado Cantor Award, the monthly Poetry Club, the occasional Guest Gourds, the biannual Western Slope Poet Laureate selection, the biannual San Miguel County Poetry Laureate recommendation, the annual MycoLuscious MycoLicious MycoLogical Poetry Show at the Telluride Mushroom Festival, and the annual Telluride Literary Arts Festival.

Aquarius

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-----------Acuario

 

A Acuario,
---el airoso,
------fijo en su servicio,
lo vigila Urano desde lejos;
Saturno le pesa como plomo
y su luz como granate ardiente
destella en el cántaro de amatista
que carga Acuario,
----sus tobillos, sus pantorrillas
----bañados en el aire fijo
----de sus ideales luminosos.


 

--------------© Rafael Jesús González 2019





-------------Aquarius


 
Aquarius,
---the graceful,
------at ease in his service,
is watched by Uranus from afar;
Saturn weighs on him like lead
& its light like a burning garnet
bounces sparks on the amethyst jar
that Aquarius carries,
----his ankles, his calves
----bathed in the fixed air
----of his luminous ideals.

 


-------------------© Rafael Jesús González 2019
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full moon: May the full bright moon

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May the full bright moon

always bless your happy dreams

and grant they come true.

May such dreams have love enough

to bring healing to the Earth.

Que la luna llena y brillante

bendiga tus sueños felices

y que te los cumpla.

Que tales sueños tengan el amor bastante

para que traigan sanación a la Tierra.

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Pandemonium Press 'Love' reading Wed. Feb. 6

Martin Luther King Jr. (1/15/29 - 4/4/68)

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Martin Luther King Jr.
by Yousul Karsh

----------------The Dream

-------------------------to Martin Luther King Jr.

"I have a dream," he said,
the dream, fitted to his times,
that his master the Nazarene
two-thousand years ago amplified
from the ancient scriptures of his cult,
the dream already pressed 
into the clay tablets of Ur,
entered in the ledger of Toth,
the dream that when realized
will make us truly great.
 


----------------------© Rafael Jesús González 2019

Martin Luther King Jr.
by Tony Spina

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-------------------El sueño

-------------------------a Martin Luther King Jr.

— Tengo un sueño — dijo,
el sueño, medido a sus tiempos,
que su maestro el nazareno
hace dos mil años amplificó
de las antiguas escrituras de su culto,
el sueño ya estampado
en las tabletas de barro de Ur,
puesto en la cuenta de Tot,
el sueño que cuando se cumpla
nos hará verdaderamente grandes.




----------------------© Rafael Jesús González 2019

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Sunday, Jan. 27 reading-film for families seeking asylum

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 Poetry Reading & Film Screening 

Fundraiser for Families Seeking Asylum 

poets: 

Naomi Quiñónez, Rafael Jesús González 

Avotcja, Baruch Porras-Hernández 

Leticia Hernández, Josiah Luis Alderete 

music by José B. Cuellar

speaker: Miguel Gavilán Molina 

film: Immigrant Prisons

Community Conversation 

Sunday, January 27, 2019

4:00 to 7:00 PM 

Victoria Theater 

2961 16th St. 

San Francisco, CA 94103

suggested donation $20 

No one will be turned away 

Tickets available: 

www.victoriatheatre.org

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12th Day 2019 gift

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Regalo de los Reyes: La Presa, no. 6, otoño 2018

 


 

Gift of the Magi: La Presa, issue 6 fall 2918

English version of poem Luna llena en Sábado de Gloria, p. 35:

Full Moon on Holy Saturday

Tommaso seen under such a full moon

of gold & honey, opal & mother of pearl,

master Michelangelo thought him

an angel come to the Earth

simply to be loved.

Loving, everything can be seen

a marvel, a miracle, a metaphor,

immense, of the infinite mystery of what is,

gnu, zebra, giraffe — improbable creatures,

celestial opera of the planets & stars,

hidden names to be discovered

in the alphabet imagined by the heart,

unlimited zodiacs of the cosmos.

Redemption, resurrection, rebirth are

interchangeable in this miracle

eternal of the seasons, lunar changes,

great story without end

or endless count of full moons

surprises always expected of time.

          © Rafael Jesús González 2019

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Epiphany - Last Day of Xmas

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---Pensamientos durante una Jornada

------------------------1

Supe que tendría que llevar oro.
Cuando lo trajeron de mi tesorería
aun yo me maravillé de él.
Me había llegado de un suplicante real,
un pequeño cofre engastado con soles y leones.
Ni él sabía del todo lo costoso que es:
el metal luce con el sudor de esclavos,
su belleza pesada con sangre.
(Había soñado yo que en algún otro mundo
se le llamaba el excremento de los dioses.)
Tenía que ser la medida incorruptible del precio.

------------------------2

Una vez que supe que iba,
supe lo que traería;
el cofrecito de olíbano estaba sobre la mesa,
blanco incienso macho, gotas en forma de pezones,
traído por un viajero de Hadramaut.
Al mirar al cielo
la tres lágrimas que había puesto en el brasero
despidieron su aroma.
Olía amargamente dulce,
esta coagulada sangre de árboles.
Este humo sacro a los ritos de Isis,
esta costosa resina preciosa a Hero.

-------------------------3

Por cada venir hay un ir,
aun para las estrellas.
El uno no más asombrante que el otro,
el uno es para celebrarse tanto como el otro,
y mandé por la mirra,
morena y amarga y costosa,
traída a través largas distancias por un amigo.
(Dijo que en algún lugar se la alimentaban a las vacas
para que les fluyeran rica la leche,)
incienso para los dioses,
ungüento para los muertos.


[De los apuntes de un mercader de Galilea tarde en el reino de Herodes el Grande: “El censo ha sido bueno para el negocio, alabado sea el Señor Dios. Los precios son altos y nadie pregunta de donde viene el dinero. Hoy un artesano villano compró una de mis mulas mejores: una cajita de oro; dos mantas gruesas de lana: una libra de incienso; y pan de trigo, higos desecados, tres botas de vino (para un viaje largo dijo): una libra de mirra.”]

© Rafael Jesús González 2019

(riverbabble, número 3, invierno 2002;
derechos reservados del autor.)

Andrea Mantegna 1495-1505

--------Thoughts on a Journey


---------------------1

I knew I had to take gold.
When it was brought from my treasury,
even I marveled at it.
It had come from a royal suppliant,
a small coffer chased in lions & suns.
Even he did not fully know how costly it is:
the metal shines with the sweat of slaves,
its beauty weighed by blood.
(I had dreamt that in another world
it is called the excrement of gods.)
It had to be the incorruptible measure of cost.

--------------------2

Once I knew I was going,
I knew what I would bring;
the casket of olibanum stood on the table,
white male frankincense, breast-shaped drops,
brought by a traveler from Hadramaut.
As I gazed at the sky
the three tears I had placed in the brazier
gave up their scent.
It smelled bitterly sweet, this clotted blood of trees,
This smoke holy to the rites of Isis,
this costly gum precious to Horus.

--------------------3

For every coming there is a going,
even for stars.
One is no more astounding than the other,
one is to be celebrated even as the other,
& I sent for the myrrh,
brown & bitter & costly,
brought long distances by a friend.
(He said that somewhere it is fed cows
to make their milk flow rich,)
incense for the gods,
unguent for the dead.


[From the records of a Galilean merchant late in the reign of Herod the Great: “The census has been good for trade, praise the Lord God. Prices are high and no one asks where the money comes from. Today a clownish craftsman bought one of my good mules: a gold box; two thick wool blankets: a pound of frankincense; and wheat-bread, dried figs, three goat-skins of wine (for a long trip, he said): one pound of myrrh.”]

© Rafael Jesús González 2019

(riverbabble, issue 3, winter 2002;
author's copyrights.)

Anonymous, Mexico 19th century

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Happy New Year 2019

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El año nos llega con muchos y grandes obstáculos a la justicia, la paz, al sanar de la Tierra, a la democracia y sería bien invocar a los espíritus de los buenos comienzos que quiten tales obstáculos para el bien de la vida.

Recibamos bien al año nuevo con esperanza y un firme empeño en no sólo resistir las fuerzas de la codicia y el hambre del poder sino con el amor transformar nuestro mundo para que nos dé para nuestras necesidades en armonía con una Tierra sana.

*  *  *

The year comes with many and great obstacles to justice, to peace, to healing of the Earth, to democracy and it would be well to invoke the spirits of good beginnings to remove those obstacles for the sake of life.

Let us welcome the new year with hope and a firm resolve to not only resist the forces of greed and lust for power, but with love, to transform our world so that it may meet our needs in harmony with a healthy Earth.

 

- श्रीगणेश

Invocación a Ganesh

Om Shri Ganeshaaya Namah


Sentado en el centro
(rodeado de calaveras)
donde el lazo de los años se anuda,
goloso señor cabeza de elefante,
levántate y baila la cuenta nueva;
con tu hacha derrumba
los obstáculos
a nuestro vivir,
pisotea los obstáculos
a nuestro amar,
y haz dulce el camino nuevo.
Que tus familiares
el ratón y la rata roen
al almacén de las bendiciones;
que tu serpiente hable.
Con tu colmillo
en el libro de lo que fue
escribe lo que pueda ser
y de tu caracol sopla
el sonido primordial de lo que es.



----------© Rafael Jesús González 2019

(Spillway 17, ontoño 2011,
derechos reservados del autor)

[De los muchos dioses hindú, Ganesh, dios de dharma y del buen agüero, es el más popularmente amado y venerado. Sus características son su cabeza de elefante y su barriga gorda que metafísicamente se dice contiene todo el cosmos. Sus familiares son el ratón y la rata porque roen por los obstáculos y frecuentan los almacenes de abundancia. Generoso donador de beneficios y derribador de obstáculos, él es el patrón de los comienzos, del desarrollo, de la liberación, de las empresas, tanto físicas como espirituales. Como tal, él es el primero de todos los dioses en ser invocado y se le pide su bendición al comienzo de un día, de una carta, de un rito, de cualquier empresa. Amable guía por las alturas y los abismos de la vida, se dice que él es la buena fortuna manifiesta, la sabiduría descubierta, el tiempo encarnado y la abundancia desbordante. Hay 1008 nombres para describir sus poderes divinos y su bendición es un verdadero don.]

Invocation to Ganesh
Om Shri Ganeshaaya Namah

Seated in the center
(ringed with skulls)
where the noose of years is tied,
sweet-toothed, elephant-headed lord,
rise and dance the new count;
ax down the obstacles
to our living,
trample the obstacles
to our loving,
and make sweet the new path.
Let your familiars
the mouse & the rat
gnaw through
to the storehouse of blessings;
let your snake speak.
With your tusk,
in your book of what was,
write what may be
and from your conch blow
the primordial sound of what is.

----------© Rafael Jesús González 2019

(Spillway 17, Fall 2011;
author's copyrights)

[Of the many Hindu gods, Ganesh, god of dharma and good portent, is the most widely loved and revered. His distinctive traits are his elephant head and his fat belly metaphysically said to contain the entire cosmos. His familiars are the mouse and the rat because they gnaw through obstacles and frequent larders of plenty. Generous Boon-Giver and Remover of Obstacles, he is patron of beginnings, of growth, of liberation, enterprises, both physical and spiritual. As such, he is the first of all the gods to be invoked and his blessing asked at the start of a day, a letter, a ritual, any undertaking. Gentle guide through the ups and downs of life, he is said to be good fortune manifest, wisdom revealed, time embodied, and abundance over-flowing. There are 1008 names to describe his divine powers and his blessing is a gift indeed.]


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