Sometimes a poem will grab you by the arm and tug you into a dingy doorway, or whisper in your ear about the strangest things, or, smiling, sink gleaming fangs into your throat. And while you’re walking in a barren landscape, sometimes a poem will idle up next to you, match your step and begin […]
Poetry event to raise money for Joel Fallon Scholarship
Joel Fallon, Benicia’s first poet laureate, died in 2016 but his legacy as an architect of poetry in Benicia lives on, in more ways than one. One of these legacies is the Joel Fallon Poetry Scholarship, which is awarded to two poetically savvy graduating seniors, one from Benicia High School and the other from Liberty […]
Poetry Corner: “Memorial Day Thoughts,” submitted by Carolyn Fallon
Pensees on that Memorial Day time-that sack cloth and ashes time, that dies ire, dies illa memorial—-submitted Carolyn Fallon, Benicia “What passing bells for those who die like cattle—- The old lie: ‘Dulce et decorum est, Pro Patria mori.’—- Above all I am not concerned with poetry, My subject is War, and the pity of […]
Poetry, paintings join forces at new library exhibit
The newest exhibition at the Benicia Public Library combines the work of a painter with the work of a poet. “My Town is a River Town at the Edge of Land” is a showcase of the work of artist Tom Stanton and poet Joel Fallon, who was appointed as Benicia’s first poet laureate in 2005, […]
2016 Year in Review: City news characterized by election, City Hall changes and more
(Over the next few days, the Benicia Herald will close out 2016 by revisiting the big local news stories of the year. Today’s edition will focus on news that took place within the city.) The year 2016 is coming to a close. With the presidential election, big national and international stories, and long championship droughts […]
Friday Poetry Corner: Sherry Sheehan “Three Days After (For Joel)”
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 […]
Jeff Burkhart’s “Rhyme and Reason”: Regarding Joel Fallon
A great man has passed away. I met Joel Fallon when I burst onto the Benicia poetry scene in 2012. Some of the poets didn’t embrace my simple rhymes at first, but Joel would read my work in the Benicia Herald and write letters to the editor saying how much he enjoyed them. Now in […]
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 […]