Poetry Connection | Santa Barbara Poets Celebrate the Complexity of the Moment

Thoughts and Poems from the Blue Whale Reading Series

My husband Larry and I moved to Santa Barbara a year ago. I’m a poet, novelist, and sometime writing teacher, while Larry is a nonfiction writer — so we were excited to relocate to such an inspiring city.

And it is inspiring! I love walking past beautiful front yards and greenery as I make my way to the many free and low-cost cultural events downtown. One of my favorites is the Blue Whale Reading Series, an every-other-month poetry event, which I’ve been going to ever since I moved here.

I always enjoy it, because the series features poets who are brilliant but accessible, and the scene at Unity Church has a warm and lovely vibe. Friendly hosts/curators Laure-Anne Bosselaar and Christine Kravetz start the show at 5:30 p.m. sharp, The whole thing — including two featured poets and an open mic opportunity — finishes up in an hour and half.

Think of it as a delightful word cocktail to start your Wednesday evening, all for a donation of $5 at the door.

The most recent event (held on September 11) was especially delicious, because both featured poets have a close relationship with Santa Barbara. As a result, the room radiated a particular joy and excitement.

When I coach writers on giving a reading, I remind them that the bottom line when sharing your work publicly — whether the material is poetry or prose — is to make the audience glad they showed up.

These featured writers did just that. Their enthusiasm, gratitude, and energy filled the room.

The first reader was Jace Ryan Turner. Jace is a Santa Barbara Public Library Librarian, who shared with me after the show how valuable he finds his work. “Working with the public and helping them navigate the discovery of their own enthusiasms helps feed my curiosity. Sometimes library staff make impacts on people’s lives by simply making someone feel seen or heard,” he told me.

Making the unseen seen and heard is at the heart of the poems that Jace read for us. Here is a wonderful example.

On the Porch. Alone.

By Jace Ryan Turner

The Queen was coming, or the landlady,
or maybe her mother.

There was grass on the floor
& they were in a hurry to sweep it up.

Their house had many rooms. The windows
let in a wind that whistled the silk scarf from her hair.

It flew away a bright-breasted robin & she blushed.
He took the broom from her hands & wanted to dance.

She twirled into the green & grass-blades
slid on the wood, under chairs, & out the front door.

Where was she going? She was saying things
he’d never heard her say before.

Who was she, skipping down the street?
He wanted to follow her, & even tried—

but it was humid, the eaves & trees dripped molasses,
& he got stuck. Standing there, on the steps of the porch.

Jace’s selections focused on the complexities of solitude, and it was a real pleasure to hear these delicate pieces, delivered in a strong, yet compassionate voice.

The second featured poet was someone Jace admires enormously, and whose work he recommends to library patrons. Catherine Abbey Hodges is the author of three collections and two chapbooks, and co-creator, with David Starkey, of Canyon Wren Writing.

Catherine grew up in Santa Barbara and had friends and former teachers in the audience. Santa Barbara plays a significant role in her writing, as she explained to me. “My first experiences of the natural world took place in Santa Barbara, as did life in my family of origin, my first friendships, and my initial experiences of formal education. It’s safe to say that Santa Barbara was my first world and has its fingerprints on everything I write.”

Catherine’s poems explore nature, connection, physical immediacy and spirituality. Here is a new poem about her father.

Catherine Abbey Hodges | Photo: Courtesy

HEARING FROM MY DAD

By Catherine Abbey Hodges

Watering the basil,
I disturb a hundred bees,
whereupon every bee poem
I’ve ever read sets up a hum

in my chest, and now
the sky’s turned strange
as well, a kind of abalone light,
which makes me wonder

if I may be having an ecstatic
experience of modest proportions.
Would you look at that
says my dad, from the other side

of time, interested as always.
He could mean the tangled herbs.
He could mean me, this new
translucence, wing of a bee.

(From Empty Me Full, Gunpowder Press 2024)

Catherine’s reading was accompanied by cello improvisations performed by her husband Rob Hodges. Together the words and music created a compelling sound experience that felt new and innovative, while it also subtly reminded the audience that poetry — the most ancient worldwide word art — was originally chanted/sung with musical accompaniment.

At its best, poetry helps focus our attention on the immediate, magical moment of our lives.

As Jace puts it:

It’s Like This Now

By Jace Ryan Turner

All day the light moved frantically, pushing shadows
through each of the rooms I call home, for now.

Not even the gusty breeze, shoving its way past
the persimmon tree & shaking open windows,

could distract my constant thinking, congested
traffic mind so busy with worries I could not sit,

even, to eat lunch or drink tea or feel my body
in the steady rhythms of my neighbor’s drumming.

Here now, exhausted on the couch, the unread book
an open tent on my chest. The house is quiet

& the sinking light outside sharpens the deepest colors.
From somewhere in the leaves a dark-eyed Junco sings,

clear staccato notes in the still air. It’s like this now.
It’s like this now. Right now, it’s like this.

Or as Catherine puts it:

THERE’S A DAY

By Catherine Abbey Hodges

There’s a day you want back—
not to change anything,
just to live it a little more awake.
But of course that would change it.

(From Empty Me Full, Gunpowder Press 2024; first published in Anacapa Review, 2023)

Upcoming Poetry Events

September 26: Favorite Poem Open Mic/Poemas Favoritos, 6-7:30 p.m., La Casa de la Raza, 601 E. Montecito Street. Santa Barbara Public Library invites the community to a poetry open mic. In celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month and the Latino Poetry Initiative, Places We Call Home, poets and poetry lovers are invited to read a favorite poem that speaks to and from our Latino community.