{"id":20766,"date":"2018-02-24T21:10:56","date_gmt":"2018-02-25T02:10:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/broadwayfillmorealive.org\/2.0\/?p=20766"},"modified":"2018-02-24T23:34:03","modified_gmt":"2018-02-25T04:34:03","slug":"thank-you-for-dreaming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/broadwayfillmorealive.org\/2.0\/2018\/02\/thank-you-for-dreaming\/","title":{"rendered":"Thank You for Dreaming"},"content":{"rendered":"

With great joy I’d like to share the news that I have just published a poetry chapbook with California-based Lummox Press. I would describe this 56-page book, entitled “thank you for dreaming,” as my grateful response to those who dream. To my own ancestors and family members, without whom I would not be alive to write these words. To the many women who, despite terrible circumstances, have refused to be silenced. To all those people who acknowledge the truth that political borders are nothing but imaginary lines drawn on a map. To those who feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, and comfort the afflicted. Thank you so much. Now, more than ever, this world is needful of your compassion and hope.<\/p>\n

Although this is not specifically about the Broadway-Fillmore area, it DOES reference St. Stanislaus Church. For more information about the book and how to purchase it, please take a look at the publisher’s website:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.lummoxpress.com\/lc\/category\/2018\/dreaming-pitas\/<\/a><\/p>\n

And, please stay tuned, as I intend to do a presentation of the book in the Broadway Fillmore area later this spring.<\/p>\n

To whet your appetite, here is a poem from the book – but not the one that references St. Stanislaus. You’ll have to get the whole book if you want to see that one!<\/p>\n

Mary Comes Down<\/p>\n

It is said
\nshe was assumed into heaven.
\nDeathless, she stood on the moon,
\nwas crowned with twelve stars.<\/p>\n

But today in Rome I see her
\nbegging outside the stone churches
\nthat hold her statue.<\/p>\n

In Jordan she sleeps in a refugee camp,
\ninvites neighbors for tea,
\nshoots a film of her kids’ pick-up soccer games \u2013
\n(she’s heard that in the West
\nthey like this sort of thing).<\/p>\n

In the San Fernando valley
\nshe bends to harvest grapes,
\nshe cuts garlic and gets half
\nthe wages she was promised.<\/p>\n

In Mexico she sells lace
\nand tells anyone who will listen
\nthat four of her sons
\nhave disappeared from Veracruz.<\/p>\n

In Iowa, she sweeps the floor at Walmart
\nafter the other workers have left.
\nBefore this, she worked in a slaughterhouse.
\nHer task: to kill the male chicks.<\/p>\n

She who once deflected
\nthe Plague’s sharpest arrows
\nnow tends to those dying of AIDS
\nin a Kenyan village.<\/p>\n

Sometimes she makes the news
\nwhen her raft capsizes on the Mediterranean,
\nbut it goes unnoticed
\nwhen she is sold into slavery,
\ndies in childbirth,
\nwalks for a day to fetch water,
\nand finds the well dry.<\/p>\n

Again and again
\nher son offers to raise her,
\nadorn her in royal blue,
\na final glorious mystery.<\/p>\n

Again and again
\nshe shakes her head,
\ngives the diadem back,
\ncasts off her mantel
\nto cover a child.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With great joy I’d like to share the news that I have just published a poetry chapbook with California-based Lummox Press. I would describe this<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":20773,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1,5],"tags":[1322],"class_list":["post-20766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-bf-people","tag-poetry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/broadwayfillmorealive.org\/2.0\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/1-Fullscreen-capture-2242018-112744-PM.jpg?fit=686%2C400&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1Wcy1-5oW","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/broadwayfillmorealive.org\/2.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/broadwayfillmorealive.org\/2.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/broadwayfillmorealive.org\/2.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/broadwayfillmorealive.org\/2.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/broadwayfillmorealive.org\/2.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20766"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/broadwayfillmorealive.org\/2.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20766\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20774,"href":"https:\/\/broadwayfillmorealive.org\/2.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20766\/revisions\/20774"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/broadwayfillmorealive.org\/2.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/broadwayfillmorealive.org\/2.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/broadwayfillmorealive.org\/2.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/broadwayfillmorealive.org\/2.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}