poets 11

11 Things: Poets 11

Thursday, September 18, 2008

San Francisco Poet Laureate Jack Hirschman is a column unto himself, but this Sunday's Poets 11 grand finale isn't about him. It's about the city, the people and the poetry. Thirty-three poets selected from 11 districts will read one poem each. Hirschman is the host ... and the poet providing us with 11 reasons to attend:

1. All: "All the districts are involved."
District 1 Poets: Thea Sullivan, Tiffany Tang, Kristen Tracy.
(The Richmond District)

2. All of us: "No cliques, no everybody-look-at-me!"
District 2: Melba Abela, Marty Campbell, Kory O'Rourke.
(The Presidio, Marina, Pacific Heights)

3. All of them: "33 featured poets will read one of their three winning poems."
District 3: David Menendez Alvarez, Philip Hackett, Joe Pulichino.
(Chinatown, North Beach, Russian Hill, Nob Hill, Fisherman's Wharf)

4. All of the above: "They're all solid or sensitive or heartfelt or intelligent or passionate or all of the above adjectives together."
District 4: Mary Dalton, Jennifer Futernick, Jose Luis Gutierrez.
(Sunset/Parkside)

5. All walks of life: "They're workers, retired workers, teachers, students of every orbit of this spinning life."
District 5: Lynne Barnes, Jennifer Chien, Tessa Fontaine, Larry Kaplan.
(Haight-Ashbury, Western Addition, parts of Hayes Valley, the Inner Sunset)

6. All-inclusive: "There'll be different languages, including Native American Ojibway."
District 6: Lourdes Figueroa, Elizabeth A. Larson, Lisa Turner.
(SoMa, Tenderloin, the islands)

7. All in the family: "It's about time you thought: my brother's a poet, my sister's a poet ... and came to hear your family read."
District 7: Al Averbach, Soheyl Dahi, Amy O'Hair.
(West of Twin Peaks)

8. All in all: "There's no higher sense of community participation than reading to create a unified field from a vast range of different poems."
District 8: Susan Dambroff, Stanley Keisel, Alice Templeton.
(The Castro, Noe Valley, Glen Park)

9. All in fact: "That brother and sister who are poets are also what you are, what all in fact are - poets."
District 9: Carlos Disdier, Marvin R. Hiemstra, Tehmina Khan.
(The Mission, Bernal Heights)

10. All for one and one for all: "Let's listen to the heart of revolutionary spirit everywhere."
District 10: Ellen Frank, Priscilla Lee.
(Potrero Hill, Bayview-Hunters Point)

11. All are invited: "It's poetry, it's free, c'mon to Koret Auditorium."
District 11: Andre Baca, Aja Couchois Duncan, Victoria Ehrlich.
(Excelsior, Ingleside, Crocker-Amazon)

The grand finale of Poets 11 takes place from 1-3 p.m. Sun. Koret Auditorium, Main Library, 100 Larkin St. www.sfpl.org.

- Tim Sullivan, tsullivan@sfchronicle.com

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/18/NSB312UALV.DTL