Santa Barbara Proclamation for National Poetry Month and More Ways to Celebrate

Santa Barbara Mayor Randy Rowse offered a proclamation for National Poetry Month on Tuesday, April 9, at the City Council meeting. As part of the ceremony, Dos Pueblos High School student Anna Matthews recited her award-winning performance of “The Listeners” by Robert Frost. She is the regional champion of the Poetry Out Loud Competition.

The proclamation is nine days into poetry month and Santa Barbara has already seen at least three poetry events, including the Spirits in the Air Reading on April 1, Poetry Passages launch last week, and the Santa Barbara Literary Journal’s launch of issue 10 at Chaucer’s Books on April 8. It’s been wonderful seeing our town show up for poetry. Chaucer’s was packed at the launch event, which featured nine Santa Barbara Poet Laureates.

The Poetry Passages launch at last week’s First Thursday festivities also featured our local Poet Laureates, but a different crowd showed up for the outdoor event. Santa Barbara is a wonderful town for poetry. Lea Williams said the event was magical: “The wind died down, the rain held off, and there was joy and connection. The readings and the speeches gave everyone there a lovely picture of how this all came together and why it mattered.” Ride the bus, read a poem.

As a co-organizer for Poetry Passages, the project to put poems on our city buses, I was a little worried the day of the event. We hoped for a nice day for our outdoor event, especially since the Santa Barbara Museum of Art offered to host us on the Museum’s front terrace. My co-planner Lea Williams and I were very excited about an outdoor launch party because it meant people celebrating First Thursday might stop and learn about the project and poetry month.

Patsy Hicks, Director of Education at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, said she had a contingency plan for rain. Later that day, there was a bomb threat downtown. Rain? Breeze? Bomb threat? Who would possibly show up?

Well, some 50 people took seats around the museum’s entrance and on the portable chairs used for events inside the galleries. The museum’s portable microphone did the job, and people stopped on State Street to listen to the poems that they can see riding on the buses. As a seasoned poet and event planner, I know that the best-laid plans can go awry. Luckily, our event was a success.

Hicks said it was a pleasure to host the Poetry Passages launch. “It had a great feeling of community, of a story to be told. A Story of shared resources amid folks who have a real desire to communicate what it means to ride through and write about Santa Barbara.”

The Santa Barbara Museum of Art is also celebrating National Poetry Month with their Postcard Poetry. They are printing postcards that feature excerpts from poems written by Santa Barbara–based poets or facilitators of Writing in the Galleries. There will be a new postcard each week in April, so collect all four. I am honored that my poem “And Me” is paired with Keith Mayerson’s “Someday we’ll find it, the Rainbow Connection, the lovers, the dreamers, and me” (2023). Sign up for my next Writing in the Galleries session at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art before next week. The workshop is April 18 at 5:30 p.m., free with registration.

If you want to hear more poetry from your Poet Laureate, I will be at the Lompoc Public Library this Saturday, April 13, at 1 p.m.

The following Saturday, thanks to a grant from State Parks, we will have a free poetry celebration downtown. Turns out, our only state park is El Presidio de Santa Bárbara State Park. Celebrate National Poetry Month with an afternoon of poetry and music at the Alhecama Theatre, Saturday, April 20, at 1 p.m. Poets include Perie Longo, Emma Trelles, Stephanie Barbé Hammer, Monica Mody, Diana Raab, and Takunda Chickowero; musical acts include the Gruntled, UCSB Middle East Ensemble, and Chumash Kiyniw Singers; and there will be a few other surprises at this free event.

National Poetry Month Events Still to Come

April 13: Lompoc Library features City of Santa Barbara Poet Laureate, Melinda Palacio, at 1 p.m.

April 14: The Poetry Zone, 1:30 p.m., back patio of the Karpeles Manuscript Library. Open mic and featured poet is Jan Steckel.

April 18: Writing in the Galleries. Write poetry at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art with Santa Barbara Poet Laureate Melinda Palacio, Thursday, 5:30-7 p.m., free with registration here.

April 20: Poetry in the Parks, an afternoon of poetry and music at the Alhecama Theatre starting at 1p.m. Poets include Perie Longo, Emma Trelles, Stephanie Barbé Hammer, Monica Mody, Takunda Chickowero, and Diana Raab; musical acts include the Gruntled, UCSB Middle East Ensemble, and Chumash Kiyniw Singers; and host Melinda Palacio.

April 30: Amanda Gorman in Conversation with Pico Iyer, Tuesday, 7:30 p.m., at the Arlington Theatre.