Gil Rodriguez, And Open Mike Night, At Luna's Cafe

Left: Gil Rodriguez sings "Brasil" at Luna's Cafe on Thursday evening.




Because of DMTC rehearsal, I was late getting over to Luna's to see Gil and his group perform. Thus I heard only a portion of what he had to say: something about 'the death of poetry' (a favorite theme of Gil's), a tale about a Silver Salmon, and, of course, Gil sang "Brasil" to a nice samba rhythm.

It was great to see both Gil and Sherry (my former neighbors). Gil recited some Shakespeare (Midsummer's Night's Dream) for my belated benefit, and Sherry brought news of Samba The Dog and recounted snake tales from their recent misbegotten move to Tampa.

Following a break the host made an announcement:

WTF!: Join us on Thursday, May 21 at Luna's Cafe, 1414 16th St., Sacramento for the unveiling of the second issue of WTF, the free quarterly journal from Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe that is edited by frank andrick. Next deadline, for issue #3, is July 15. Submission guidelines are the same as for the Snake, but send your poems, photos, smallish art or prose pieces (500 words or less) to fandrickfabpub@hotmail.com (attachments preferred) or, if you’re snailing, to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. And be forewarned: this publication is for adults only, so you must be over 18 years of age to submit. Copies of the first issue are at The Book Collector, or send me two bux and I'll mail you one.

Then, a number of local poets stood at the microphone and recited their works (bear with me; remembering names is my gravest weakness....)

A.... - interesting erotic poem

Leah Wynan - a nice poem about Gaia that reminded me of New Zealand, and an erotic poem that reminded me of...well, ....

.... others

Kimberley - new poet

John Malcom - an excellent poem about the 'San Francisco Blues'

"Jean le Bloom"

Gene.... - he brought a cassette recorder with him to the mike and sang a custom version of "Que Sera Sera". Loopy fun!

Jack Donaldson

David Thayer - political poetry, with vivid hurricane imagery.

Seth Walker - this traveling poet from Houston, Texas recited a haunting poem about a boy's life, as told from the vantage point of a tree growing in the boy's yard. Very powerful! I bought his CD. Here is his Web Site. He said his tree poem is up on Myspace, but I haven't found it yet.

Alex - the awkwardness of asking a waitress for a cappucino

Audrey Edley

I didn't catch the name of the last woman, but she had a really interesting poem comparing this moment in history to a clock running down, and how old things must die for new things to be born.