Arts Devo

Word National Poetry Month begins Monday (April 1), and we here at the CN&R are kicking it off a little early with this annual Poetry 99 issue. It’s one of Arts DEVO’s favorite projects to work on: an issue devoted to the art of words, a cover devoted to a local artist (this year’s amazing work is by ecologist/folk artist Wyatt Hersey) and one of the most rewarding components of all—the live reading. This year, the event is again at The Bookstore (Friday, March 29, 6:30 p.m.), and I highly recommend attending and drinking in the inspiring atmosphere of a room filled with poets of all ages sharing their recently published words. Plus, there’s the bonus of 2018 Fiction 59 winners—from last fall’s fire-canceled reading—who’ve been invited to join in the fun.

If you’re looking for more ways to celebrate the coming month, visit the Academy of American Poets site at poets.org and choose from the handy list of suggestions, everything from signing up for the Poem-a-Day series to writing an “Exquisite Corpse” poem with your friends. And sign up for a free copy of this year’s National Poetry Month poster, featuring this excerpt from U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith’s poem “An Old Story”:

And then our singing/Brought on a different manner of weather … We took new stock of one another./We wept to be reminded of such color.

Art show, take two The theme of Stonewall Alliance’s 2018 Coming Out for Art show has taken on a new meaning in the aftermath of the Camp Fire. The Expressions of Resilience exhibit—which was scheduled to open at the Museum of Northern California Art last November—is now opening at MONCA to piggyback with this year’s Trans Week art show. This Friday (March 29), 6-9 p.m., there will be a “grand reception,” featuring both shows’ works, including an interactive piece by one of the show’s organizers, Jess Mercer, titled “Read Between the Thin Red Lines.” The collage is composed of verbal attacks that were made online and an invitation to the viewer to rework the language—cross out, rewrite—and take away the words’ negative power.

“Ice is slowly melting” The Chico High School choir went on a singing tour in Ireland for spring break, and its first concert wound up being an unscheduled performance at the San Francisco airport. While waiting on a flight delay at the gate, the large group belted out The Beatles classic “Here Comes the Sun,” and a smartphone video of the song was soon posted to Twitter. A few online newspapers—including the Irish Independent and Dublin Live—picked up the story and reposted the video, which shows the impressive harmony-rich a capella performance followed by enthusiastic applause from the crowd at the gate. Props to choral director Jenise Coon and her student singers for representing Chico and for transforming a stressful situation into a beautiful experience.