Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Reading with 100 Thousand Poets For Change

:
:
On Saturday, September 24, 2011 a consciousness raising event takes place that unites 95 countries around the globe through the collective voices of poets for change. Readings and performances are held in nearly every language and take place in all time zones around the world-clock.


International poet Ana Elsner participates in the global 100 Thousand Poets For Change marathon at the following venue:

The Beat Museum, 540 Broadway at Columbus, in North Beach, San Francisco, on Saturday, September 24, 2011 beginning at 1PM local time.


The concept of Change encompasses topics that deal with political and social change, with the ills of terrorism, war, racism, ecocide, famine, lack of jobs, housing and affordable medical care, collapsing economies and with many other shared and pressing concerns. Each participating poet and each community group present their own area of focus for change.

The purpose of this sweeping, public event is to actually get together and create, perform, educate and demonstrate, simultaneously and in unison with other communities on all continents. The transformation towards a better world is a global guiding principle for this free and open poetry marathon and its poets and performers from all participating nations.



On this day and occasion Ana Elsner reads from her poems that examine the human condition which manifests in its many tragic flaws but also in its vast potential for bringing about benign and life-affirming progress.

Poet Ana Elsner, along with thousands of activist poets worldwide, is dedicated to making our planet more sustainable and our global civilization more aware, accountable, just and co-operative for the good of all human beings and all life forms on this earth. We are united in the pursuit of this common goal. And on September 24, 2011 we celebrate our unity by making our voices heard around the globe.


Quoting from a recent article on About.com, "The beauty of the concept of 100 Thousand Poets For Change is that it is completely decentralized and completely inclusive."

::


Press release on poets.org, The Academy of American Poets
Ana Elsner reads with 100 Thousand Poets For Change

.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

International Tribute to Poet Susan Birkeland

:

Through the magic of the world-wide-web the works of San Francisco poet Susan Birkeland (January 18, 1961 - November 18, 2006) have recently been discovered by the organizers of the 2nd European Festival of Poetry which will be held in Antwerp in September. While surfing the internet German poet and festival co-producer Fred Schywek came across Birkeland's poetry. He and his partner Annmarie Sauer decided to include a tribute to Birkeland in this year's festival program in the form of a special audio recording of Susan's poems. Schywek and Sauer flew to San Francisco and arranged a three hour studio session. This recording will be played for the festival audience.


Susan Birkeland died of cancer at age 45. Her poems are given voice by some of the friends who were close to her in her lifetime and who treasure her memory, Bill Mercer, Ana Elsner, Jerry Ferraz, Nicole Savage and Clara Hsu. This special reading is a powerful manifestation of Susie's boundless spirit, sparkling personality and uninhibited creative force. Her poetry resonates with people across continents and nationalities, and beyond time.

~:~

Fellow poet and friend Ana Elsner paints this picture of Susie
:


SUSIE

A Portrait-Poem by Ana Elsner


The flash of an alluring smile,
perhaps accompanied by a soft, girlish giggle,
sucks you into her vortex.

Now playfully mischievous,
now profoundly compassionate,
she plays your heartstrings like so many piano keys.

And she knows it.
And she knows you, and you know her.

Pert and childlike, yet deliciously seductive,
that short, curly-haired quicksilver poet with the angelic face
delivers a high voltage charge straight to your gut.

Stripping herself naked of all pretensions,
the piercing honesty and singular directness of her poems
compel you to take stock of your own frailties and perceptions.

She takes you by the hand
and leads you through the labyrinth of human feeling,
month by month, January through December.

Now this bruised angel has taken flight and left us far behind,
we, who are still mired in our earthbound, self-perceived reality.

Yet, somehow, if you listen closely,
you hear an echo of her voice in your most secret mind.
And, somehow, if you pause but for a moment,
you can still feel the lightness of her touch upon your soul.


© Ana Elsner



Click to find out more about Susie and read her poems


: