An event you invented as Benicia’s first poet laureate, the poets’ picnic was held without you, only three days after you joined the realm that Benicia’s second laureate, Bob Shelby, beat you to by a fast five months. Benicia’s sixth laureate read a poem to the picnic-goers she posted online, a tribute to you and […]
Poetry Corner: Johanna Ely “Never Wear Glasses”
(Dedicated to Joel Fallon) You told me to always make eye contact with my audience, to blow up the print of my poems to a font size of 14. Never wear glasses, you advised, or drink water while you read. No distractions, you said. You told me I wrote good poetry, but that the word […]
Poetry Corner: Mary Susan Gast “August Sky”
August is big time. Meteors streak the heavens, Illuminating Our own space travel, Through the cosmos. Crickets string iridescent beads of song in the stillness. Marvelous Cygnus stretches overhead, Soaring, Amid the spiraling delicacy of pastel nebulae. Bright Vega, Modestly hugging the horizon just weeks ago, Now strides To the pinnacle Of the firmament. Timeless […]
Poetry Corner: “For Joel Fallon” by Ronna Leon
You called them “dead Mother poems” and scorned their cloying sentiment, easy forgiveness. Your poem about your Mother named her Kali. You hungered for life – anger, difficulty, competition, sex. You insisted that wringing a tear from a stone was superior to opening well oiled floodgates. Now you are dead and my tears come unbidden […]
Poetry Corner: “Hope is the Thing with Feathers (Dedicated to Joel Fallon)” by Johanna Ely
“Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops-at all” -Emily Dickinson If such a tiny bird, perhaps left for dead, or suffering from an injured wing, its feathers matted and torn, finds refuge in your broken heart, then reach inside yourself and […]
Poetry Corner: “Joel’s Passing” by Mary Susan Gast
“So, I may have been wrong after all – this damn cancer may indeed be the death of me.” -Joel Fallon, in an email of June 30, 2016 He died on the morning of August 11. That night, meteor showers dazzled the skies: The Perseids, at their peak. No reason to doubt that Joel hitched […]
Poetry Corner: “Colonel Poetry Father” by Peter Bray
They were playing “Mack the Knife” by Louis Armstrong at Starbucks when I got the call from Johanna Ely, our 6th Poet Laureate, 2016-2018: Joel Fallon, our first Benicia Poet Laureate had caught the morning train today to that Big Love Poem in the Sky. We spoke for a bit about our immediate group […]
Poetry Corner: “Joel’s Poetry” by Mary Susan Gast
It was the voice AND what he said That echo, that linger. The voice all deep and ready To use words honed to the point Of decisive descriptive endurance. He beckoned mismatched images to Sidle up to one another: Spaghetti and spaghetti straps, A golden owl and a bound foot, Key lime pie and [oh […]
Poetry Corner: Joel Fallon “Your Turn”
Editor’s note: In a sad coincidence, the Herald received an email the morning this poem was published that Joel Fallon had passed away the previous morning at the age of 85. As Benicia’s first poet laureate, Joel established a lot of programs that have allowed poetry to thrive in our community, including this Sunday’s Poets’ […]
Poetry Corner: Sherry Sheehan “Depot Delights”
Brush in hand, leaning over her just begun depot painting, Samantha McNally is on Saturday duty at the table by the entry when I walk into the Benicia Plein Air Gallery. Suddenly I remember that the depot sells See’s, so I walk down First towards the water, admiring Benicia’s sturdy palms on the west side […]