reading Sept 18, grass valley, Ca

Purchase tickets at the door:
$5 general, seniors and students
$1 for those under 18. Refreshments included.



Thursday, September 18
The Nevada County Poetry Series presents
nila northSun & Terryl Wheat
7:30PM, $5 general, seniors and students
$1 for those under 18
Refreshments and open-mic included.
The Nevada County Poetry Series continues its tenth year of celebrating poetry by presenting the poets nila northsun and Terryl Wheat. These two writers remind us of what it is for a modern woman to confront the challenges, demands and accepted standards of a world in remission. Bill Gainer says, "northsun and Wheat remind us of the power in saying no to the statuesque, they do it daily – in their work, their art, their lives..."

nila northSun, of Shoshone-Chippewa descent, is the daughter of renowned Native American activist, Adam Fortunate Eagle – one of the more prominent figures in the 1969-1971 Indian takeover of Alcatraz. She is identified with the Native American Renaissance of the 1970s and 1980s; her poem "moving camp too far" remains a sentinel work of the period. northSun has published four volumes of poetry, love at gunpoint; a snake in her mouth; Small Bones, Little Eyes; and Diet Pepsi and Nacho Cheese; and authored After the Drying Up of the Water: A Tribal History, a history of the Paiute-Shoshone tribe. She lives on the Stillwater Indian Reservation in Fallon, Nevada, where she works as a grant writer. nila recently received the Sierra Arts Foundation Literary Award 2008 for her contribution in poetry. Her poems bridge family history and traditional tribal identity with the challenges of being a contemporary American woman.

Terryl Wheat remembers first writing at age twelve. She says, “At fourteen or fifteen I attended my first open-mic and was hopelessly hooked. There was nothing anyone could have done. No amount of math, science or history could have saved me, the poems had me!” Moving to midtown Sacramento brought Terryl to Luna's Cafe where, as she says, “I met many wise old cats that became priceless mentors. Without them I fear what I would be writing now – the thought is unnerving.” For Terryl, it’s not only the poetry, but the learning experiences and characters met along the way. Outside of poetry Terryl climbs rocks and on occasion, after a healthy dose of spirits – maybe a midtown building, she does the trendy yoga thing, plays with kitty cats, likes candle lit dinners, long walks on the beach, is a Leo and open minded. Terryl says. “I have successfully dropped out of City College three times – with the intentions of doing so again...”

Tickets can be purchased at the door for $5 general, seniors and students, and $1 for those under 18. Refreshments and open-mic included. The show will be in Off Center Stage (the Black Box theater, enter from Richardson Street) at the Center for the Arts, 314 W. Main St., Grass Valley, CA. For more information call (530) 432-8196 or (530) 274-8384.


314 West Main Street Grass Valley, California 95945 530 271 7000

golly

I’m falling
Deeper
In love with a man
That says ‘golly’
And blushes
Making his blue eyes
Effervesce
When I approach him
With one nipple exposed

My heart turns
Cartwheels
When he proffers
A dusty seat
Next to him
In his battle lounge
As the minions salute

It doesn’t matter
That I feel faint
From the beating sun
Working in desert storms
I want to be strong
i would do anything
For him
Prove me worthy
Of his love

I’m falling
Deeper
Inevitably
Toward doom
But loving every
Nanosecond.

-snake