Photo by Lizzy Bentley
Poetry Center San José partners with Cinequest to present an extraordinary third year of Poets N Film night with support from Reed Magazine and Stabbydoll Media. The poet performers will bring on the stage poetry that challenges the heart and mind. Poets will dive into social and political warfare, skim the foamy cream of romance, and pluck the strings of a broken heart. The performances will involve dance, costume, projected visuals and live music with the unique sounds from the renowned local band Rebels Kamp. The eclectic performers include guest poet (California Poet Laureate) Dana Gioia, Kimy Martinez, Bill Cozzini, Robert Pesich, Venus Jones, SevenKelee Lucky 7 Boult, Claire Hawkins, Lane Berger, and (Santa Clara Poet Laureate) Mighty Mike McGee. The evening will continue with short poetry films by Blank Verse Films, David Perez with Content Magazine and Stabbydoll Media.
We are honored to have the internationally acclaimed and award-winning poet, Dana Gioia. Gioia just finished his tour of the fifty-eight counties in California not only bringing poetry to various communities but inspiring poetry out of the people of these communities. This former Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts has a long history of securing funding and creating programs for the arts, artists, art educators and those in underserved communities. His most recent literary accomplishment is his publication of 99 Poems: New & Selected. Gioia will be introduced by the outstanding poet, professor, and Director of Creative Writing at San José State University, Alan Soldofsky.
Poetry Center San José is celebrating their 40th year nurturing and promoting diverse literary expression in the community as a means of exploring, defining and enriching the human experience. Immersed in the community they provide programming all over the city such as Live Lit Writers’ Open Mic at Caffe Frascati, Well-Red Reading Series at Works/San José, San José Poetry Slam at Cafe Stritch, and Third Thursdays at Willow Glen Public Library. Their workshops include VeteransWrite and Poets@Play. Poetry Center San José also publish an annual literary journal Caesura.
Bios of Performers:
Kimy Martinez (KMart) has her MFA degree in Poetry and Screenwriting at San Jose State University. She has been awarded multiple poetry/writing awards including the 2018 Virginia de Araujo Academy of American Poets Prize. Kimy converted one of her epic poems into a short screenplay and then created a short film. It played at 2016 Cinequest Film Festival. She has been published in Caesura 2018 Journal, REED Magazine 150th Issue and had served as their lead poetry editor in 2016-2017. She had been the art editor of the online e-zine, LitNImage. Kimy is the President and Co-Founder of Stabbydoll Media, an independent film company. She continues to write poetry and screenplays that deal with domestic disturbances, identity confusion, and being an outsider in conformed environment. kmartist.com stabbydoll.com
Bill Cozzini is a poet, editor, actor, and director. He studied Theater and graduated with a BA in English from SJSU. He’s on the board of Stabbydoll Media and Poetry Center San José. He is currently working as editor-in-chief of PCSJ’s literary journal Cæsura, and as a documentarian.
Robert Pesich is the editor and publisher of Swan Scythe Press (swanscythepress.com), president of Poetry Center San José (pcsj.org) and coordinator for The Well-RED Reading Series. Recently featured in Content Magazine his work has appeared in 7x7, The Bitter Oleander, Red Wheelbar- row, Sand Hill Review, Slipstream, and Arsenic Lobster among others. He has received poetry fellowships from Arts Council Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley Community Foundation and was thrice both a Djerassi Resident Artist Fellow and nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Author of Burned Kilim (Dragonfly Press) his latest chapbook of poetry Model Organism is now available from Five Oaks Press. He works as a research associate for Palo Alto Veterans Institute for Re- search and for Stanford University, Dept. of Infectious Diseases.
