CIENTO: 100 100-Word Love Poems Nominated For Northern California Book Award for Poetry! Lorna Dee Cervantes at Awards Ceremony TODAY!

I'll be at the Northern California Book Awards, 2012, ceremony TODAY at the San Francisco Main Library, Koret Hall, 1-4 pm! My book, CIENTO: 100 100-Word Love Poems has been nominated for an award for Best Book of Poetry! Michael Pollan will be accepting a Lifetime Achievement Award. One of my favorite poets, Jane Hirshfield is also nominated for an award for poetry; I don't expect to win.

Will I see you there?

_________________________________

31st Annual Northern California Book Awards

Sunday, June 10, 2012

1:00-2:30 pm: Awards Ceremony
readings & remarks by this year's award-winning authors

2:30-4:00 pm: Book Signing & Reception

San Francisco Main Library
Koret Auditorium, 100 Larkin, Civic Center, San Francisco
Reception follows in the Latino/Hispanic Meeting Room
Nominated books on sale by Readers Bookstore at the Main
Fred Cody Award presented by Jonah Raskin
Event emcee Sedge Thomson, "West Coast Live"

The Northern California Book Awards are presented by Northern California Book Reviewers, Poetry Flash, Center for the Art of Translation, Red Room (redroom.com), PEN West, Mechanics' Institute, San Francisco Public Library, Friends of the San Francisco Public Library, and Readers Bookstore at the Main.

For more information: Poetryflash.org, 510.525.5476, NCBR@poetryflash.org

FRED CODY AWARD FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT
in COMMUNITY & LITERATURE
Michael Pollan, author, journalist, food activist & cultural critic

NCBR RECOGNITION AWARD
Everything Is Its Own Reward, An All Over Coffee Collection,
Paul Madonna, City Lights

FICTION
Sequoia Gardens, Ernest J. Finney, Southern Methodist University Press
A Wild Surge of Guilty Passion, Ron Hansen, Scribner
Turn of Mind, Alice LaPlante, Atlantic Monthly Press
Lola, California, Edie Meidav, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
We the Animals, Justin Torres, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

CREATIVE NONFICTION
A Journey with Two Maps: Becoming a Woman Poet, Eavan Boland, W. W. Norton
Everett Ruess: His Short Life, Mysterious Death, and Astonishing Afterlife, Philip L. Fradkin, University of California Press
The Left Coast: California on the Edge, Philip L. Fradkin, photos by Alex L. Fradkin, University of California Press
Rereading Women: Thirty Years of Exploring Our Literary Traditions, Sandra M. Gilbert, W.W. Norton
Maya Roads: One Woman's Journey Among the People of the Rainforest, Mary Jo McConahay, Chicago Review Press

GENERAL NONFICTION
Exorbitant Privilege: The Rise and Fall of the Dollar and the Future of the International Monetary System, Barry Eichengreen, Oxford University Press
To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918, Adam Hochschild, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
The Shah, Abbas Milani, Palgrave Macmillan
Natural History of San Francisco Bay, California Natural History Guides, Ariel Rubissow Okamoto and Kathleen M. Wong, University of California Press
Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942, Ian W. Toll, W. W. Norton

POETRY
Ciento: 100 100-Word Love Poems, Lorna Dee Cervantes, Wings Press
Come, Thief, Jane Hirshfield, Alfred A. Knopf
Sugar Zone, Mary Mackey, Marsh Hawk Press
When I Was a Poet, David Meltzer, City Lights
Thread, Michael Palmer, New Directions

TRANSLATION
Fiction
The Twelve Chairs, Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov, translated by Anne O. Fisher, Northwestern
Tyrant Memory, Horacio Castellanos Moya, translated by Katherine Silver, New Directions
Poetry
After Many Autumns: A Collection of Chinese Buddhist Literature, editors John Gill and Susan Tidwell, translated by John Balcom, Buddha's Light Publishing
The Changing Room, by Zhai Yongming, translated by Andrea Lingenfelter, Zephyr Press
My Naked Brain: Selected Poems of Leopoldo María Panero, translated by Arturo Mantecón, Swan Scythe Press

CHILDREN'S LITERATURE
Young Adult
Instructions for a Broken Heart, Kim Culbertson, Sourcebooks
Why We Broke Up, Daniel Handler, illustrations by Maira Kalman, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Clean, Amy Reed, Simon Pulse
Younger Readers
Seabird in the Forest, Joan Dunning, Boyd Mills Press
A Dazzling Display of Dogs, Betsy Franco, illustrations by Michael Wertz, Tricycle Press
Far from Shore: Chronicles of an Open Ocean Voyage, Sophie Webb, Houghton Mifflin Books for Children

Lorna Dee Cervantes Book Launch for CIENTO: 100 100-Word Love Poems in SF 10/27

CIENTO: 100 100-Word Love Poems Just Released From Wings Press!

Order your copy direct from the publisher, Wings Press now!

100-Word Love Poems to Strangers: Poems for Francisco X. Alarcon On His 20th Anniversary

100-Word Love Poem to Javier

for Francísco X. Alarcón



I was alone in shadows,
a thief in the shadows,
a regiment of one in
the shadow of you on
the night you appeared. You
grasped me from the shadows
like the migra grabs lives
out of the transatlantic water.
I am no longer drowning
in the shadow of you.
I am alive to your
shadow, to your flank and
file. I am no longer
groveling in anyone's shadow while
yours lies luxuriously in my
sun. I am enormous with
shadows until the sum of
your tongue. You lick up
the galaxies in my me,
my confidant, compañero de sí.



8-15-09
Lorna Dee Cervantes


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Luna: 100-Word Love Poem to Francísco

For Javier on the 20th Anniversary


All my life I have longed
to touch it, to place
my hands upon its face,
to look up into stars
and rise above it all.
I have longed to tell,
to moonquest and shadow envy,
to lay down in silver
glow, to expand into my
hands. I have touched earth.
I have handled the mud
and daub. I have waited
too long to become what
I am. Before your glow
I was no one at
all. I was a lone
supernova waiting for your comet
as an animal awaits in
the shadow of your eclipse—
Moonlove, longing for your face!




8/25/09
Lorna Dee Cervantes

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You, too, can get some love. Send $10 or more to:

Lorna Dee Cervantes
3181 Mission Street, #16
San Francisco, CA 94110

(or drop a check in the mailbox at 2983 24th Street, next to Precita Eyes Muralists Center, SF)

And I'll write you a love poem, to you or yours. Hey, I'll even write one to your little dog, right, Linda? Include your name, name of love, email, date, and what you'd like the poem to express. You can also add any images, phrases, thoughts, including words for the senses: touch, taste, sight, sound, smell; and even if there's any particular form you'd like. Or, you can just say, right me a poem however you want, as Francisco and Javier did. Be sure and include your mailing address so I can send you a hand-written copy of the poem on nice paper. Guaranteed to be valuable. And, don't be surprised if you and your poem get in the book, 100 LOVE POEMS TO STRANGERS.

Love,

Lorna Dee

LornaDeeCervantes at mac (you know what)

3 100-Word Love Poems

These were posted on the Heretical Consumer Researchers site; I've been reading them in here in Washington state so I just thought I'd post them here. Provecho!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

100 Words Against Poverty



I’m not afraid of poverty.
I have your golden touch.
I have your threadlike hair.
I have the gold coin
and gentle rain of you.

I’m not afraid of poverty.
I could sip your soup
all day. I would play
with your remains, twist you
into endless mouthfuls, love you.

I’m not afraid of poverty,
not with this filling music,
not with these eyes, lips
that could cradle a tongue,
all that lean of you.

I’m not afraid of poverty.
I have your meaty heart.
I have the best of you.
I have your art
of loving back, have you.

5/4/08
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

100 Words Past Poverty



You were meant for me.
The rest is just poverty,
a piss poor way home,
a basket of backyard oranges,
fat potatoes, too many eggs.

You were born for me,
born to the losers class,
born to sorrow, born full
of all that you’ve been
missing, born half-way there.

You were waiting for me,
waiting to eat your fill,
waiting out tomorrow, a future
tense, a perfect reunion: you,
last splash in the present.

You were once my destiny, my
one-way ticket out of poverty,
a full tank of gas,
a brimming goblet, a lotto
love for you—for me.

5/4/08

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

100 Words for Money



Baby, you don’t need money.
You need me, my siren
in the surf, my song
in the dawn for you.
Who needs money? Anyone’s got
money. Ah, but who you
are, your inner change, that
spare coinage when you speak,
the enchanted gold of your
tongue — and its place! Baby,
who needs money? You’ve got
a gal like me, even
for a bargain. You, my
blue light special: with those
raptor eyes, lackadaisical sighs, wise
assed smiles in the comments;
every hundred dollars in your
heartbeat, that shirtful of soul;
Baby, who puts a price
on a heart like that?

10/1/08


Lorna Dee Cervantes

The Wall Street Blues Redux

The Wall Street Blues Redux


I've got the Wall Street blues
I just can't keep it down.
I got those Wall Street blues
And I just can't keep 'em down.
But you know about walls
They'll all come a'tumbling down.

Well, you can get all the money.
Baby, be as rich as can be.
You know, get all the money.
Honey, are you rich as me?
But sooner or later, some fool's
Gonna steal from your tree.

Well, I took all my money
I saved it just as best as I can.
I saved all my money.
I put it in a coffee can.
Then I put it on a house
and the Man ran as fast he can.

Can you bail me out, Baby?
You know I'm just as good as the books.
Will you bail me out, babies?
You know it's for the good of the books.
But when it's all in signed ledgers
It's a better way to catch those crooks.

Well, you can put it all on Wall Street.
You can take it to the Law of the Land.
Yes, you can put it on Wall Street.
You can take it to a list of demand.
But when it's all been settled
You know they'll just be paying their hand.

I put a 100 thousand down.
I pay it just before the month.
I bought a 6 grand house.
I pay it full every month.
Now my house is just as empty
of my money as a barrio dump.

I got the Wall Street Blues.
I'm singing just as fast as I can.
I got the Wall Street Blues.
But I'm singing just as fast as I can.
'Cause when I get my money
you know I'm gonna pay it to hand.

Well you can gamble and stock it.
You can put it in an IRA.
You can bond it and stock it
You can put it in an IRA.
But let me tell you something
Take all my money, bet I'll kick you IYA.

If you know about someone
who just lost a home and hearth.
If you are that someone
you just lost your home and heart.
You had to say, Mama,
I just gotta walk and restart.

Well, take all your money
save it just as best as you can.
I say, save alla your money.
Save it in a coffee can.
Then every month, Baby,
Pay yourself a double grand.

(to be continued)

9/27/08

in homage to Kid Douglas aka Memphis Minnie
and dedicated to Alisa Valdez

100 Words of Restraint (an elegy)

100 Words of Restraint (an elegy)



How much hope we had.
Restraint was how we grew.
Ever twining our long way
out of there; intertwining sans
desire. You, a golden Lotus,
Darling. (How you fit that
warm shoe: Darling.) You wore
that new car scent, crisp
and sweet, succulent, for a
man. Did I covet you?
Like the rest. I shouldered
my restraint. Strapped into you,
how could I escape? That
ejection seat. This far from
you, without restraint, I'll say
it, how I loved you.
How death did us part.
You were my heart. Devéras,
Carnál, Corazón, and at last.
We gave us our past.


9/24/08

More 100 Word Poems

I've been writing 100-word poems on given words every week and posting them on my poetry blog, "The Poems, the Whole Poem, And Nothing But the Poems". Just read and scroll down for the rest. I'm not sure if you have to be a MySpace member. Provecho!