Each year, during April, Santa Barbara Poetry Series organizer, poet,  Carol DeCanio invites poets with a first book to read at a reading event that takes place in the captivating Contemporary Arts Forum in the Paseo Nuevo Mall, a downtown center for shopping and community activities in Santa Barbara.

I can’t think of a more beautiful place to have a poetry reading. Santa Barbara sits into the hills that just beyond it, seem to drop into the Pacific Ocean. The palms are a lovely contrast to the maple and ash trees of Ohio, and there is nothing comparable in Ohio to a morning walk along the shore of the Pacific, or to seeing mother grey whales with their calves making their way northward. I feel so fortunate to have been asked to come to this event to share some of my poems aloud, and so fortunate I was able to go. Besides being in such an idyllic setting, I got to meet many wonderful poets, and to spend time with Fiona Leggett, owner and publisher at Lettre Sauvage, a small letterpress publisher from Santa Paula. In a future post, I will be sharing more about that experience.

Carol DeCanio does such a great job with these events. She should be recognized for the work she does in the Santa Barbara area with this series. She promotes poetry in her community in a such a dynamic way. She is inspiring.

At this year’s April reading, which occurred on Saturday, the 14th, Carol  featured Fiona Leggett from Lettre Sauvage Press, and my book, The Surly Bonds of Earth, along with another Lettre Sauvage poet’s work, San Francisco-based poet, Brynn Saito. Saito’s first full-length book, Bright Power, Dark Peace, was selected as the 2011 Benjamin Saltman Award and will be published in late 2012. Judging from the work Brynn shared at the event, her book with be wonderful.

What a delightful event! I am so honored to have been asked to read with so many outstanding poets, including David Starkey, Gwendolyn Alley, Diana Raab, Suzanne Frost,  Louise Gerber, and BJ Riley.

More Pictures from the Santa Barbara Poetry Series, April 14, 2012 

Carol DeCanio, poet and Santa Barbara Poetry Series Organizer

Fiona Leggett, from Lettre Sauvage

Poet, Brynn Siato reading at the Santa Barbara Poetry Series

The amazingly supportive community of Santa Barbara gathered in the Contemporary Arts Forum in downtown Santa Barbara.

Poets were able to present their work to attendees. This was Lettre Sauvage’s table.

© 2010-2012 Grace Curtis