Featured Writer
Sara Santistevan
Duplex Built on Ancestral Dreams
By Sara Santistevan
Poetry is the language of dreams
kissing mirrored tongues in its echoed refrain.
History echoes a kissed refrain; recall
Eden’s dominion, dreamt forth by newborn song.
Dreamt forth, I, newly born, transformed song:
Spanish lullabies to cascades of sunrays.
Spanish cascades down with sunrays, lullabied
impressions my voice presses into matter.
My voice is pressing, conjuring dark matter
into wildflowers birthed from ancestors’ graves.
I birthed flowers, placed them on my father’s grave
so our stories breathe, avoiding soft decay
I breathe green life into our histories through
poetry, the flowering language of dreams.
WOC Community Poem
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
By WOC
DEI - Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
DEI is Dead On Arrival.
The government can legislate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion but the law is mostly dead letters.
But still, we cannot be canceled like a check
Humanity represented,
Divinity demonstrated, Exquisitely exposed, Injuries ignored
Dangerous to Exclude us Immigrants
DEI is
taking down the curtain of myth to reveal the truth.
the oxygen, food, and water that keeps me motivated, hopeful, and alive
Breathing life into dreams
the way fire moves beneath the earth, ready to again ignite
Together, we form warm soil, helping neglected seeds with the chance
to flower, to succeed, to be seen, to belong
warmth uplifting your body, smiles uplifting your cheeks
Unique perspectives. One heart.
WOC Mission Statement:
To nourish a community of writers of color, to bring our stories forward and share
Events
Writing Workshop with Magdalena Montagne, April 17 from 6:00-8:00pm
Main Watsonville Library, Meeting Room.
Share stories and poetry.
Youth Poet Laureate Santa Cruz County Celebration
April 17, 7pm
Reading with incoming finalists along with selection of new Youth Poet Laureate
Cabrillo Samper Recital Hall, free.
Poets' Circle Thursday, April 24 from
1:00-3:00pm
Tune into our Poets’ Circle and open mic hosted by Magdalena Montagne.
This program will feature Nancy Miller Gomez,
Santa Cruz County Poet Laureate.
Main Watsonville Library, Meeting Room.
Bay Area Book Fair June 1, 11-5
Civic Center Park, Berkeley 2151 Martin Luther King Jr Way, Berkeley, CA
(Rent table by March 31st)
More Info for Book Sellers and the event.