2022 Poets Picnic – May 7!
ONGOING Weathergram viewing throughout the
Open Space Visitor Center grounds. Escribiente will be
creating custom-made Weathergrams!All events are scheduled for outdoors. At this point, no masks required.
All events are free.
a Poets Picnic Schedule
10:30 am – 11:30 am: Outdoor Haiku workshop
RSVP (505) 768-4950 to reserve a place.
10:30 am – 11:30 am: Gingko Haiku walk
RSVP (505) 768-4950 to reserve a place.
12:00pm – 4:30 pm: Picnic on the patio and enjoy the
view! Bring a lunch and your picnic blanket. Some
seating available or bring your own spectator chairs.
Light refreshments available by donation. Food truck
fare for purchase.
12:00pm – 12:45 pm: Drumming performance
by Wise Crane Taiko Group
Wise Crane Taiko is an innovative small ensemble
made up of amateur drummers from all walks of life
performing traditional Japanese drumming music plus
original contemporary compositions. Their goal is to
promote individual creative expression, support
wellness, empower diverse voices and provide educa-
tion across cultures to build a more accepting and
harmonious world.
12:00pm – 3:30 pm: New Mexico Small Press book
sales and information tables.
12:45 – 1:00 pm: Opening Remarks
1:00 pm -4:00 pm: Featured Poets and Open Mic.
Featured Poets Gregory Candela, Damien Flores,
Jessica Helen Lopez, and Barbara Rockman. Open Mics
hosted by Dale Harris and Scott Wiggerman
Chapbooks of poems will be available for purchase.
Only two events require pre-registration, the morning Haiku Hike and the morning Haiku workshop. Call Open Space to do so (505) 768-4950. (These will be offered simultaneously, 10:30-11:30, so don’t sign up for both! Scott Wiggerman will lead the short gingko hike and Dale Harris will present a brief workshop.)
Vendor tables include the New Mexico State Poetry Society, Dos Gatos Press, Poetry Playhouse Publications, Escribiente Calligraphy Society, LIBROS Book Arts Guild, and the Open Space Alliance. A food truck will be available, and members of the Open Space Visitor Center will sell refreshments. Escribiente will sell Weathergrams, custom-made on the spot!
Chapbooks will also be sold, with all money going toward the Open Space Alliance. This year’s chapbook will include any haiku accepted for the cancelled 2020 Poets Picnic. Chapbook prices are $10 each to the general public, $5 for contributors (limit 2 at that price, $10 each after that). IF you cannot make it to the Poets Picnic but want to purchase a chapbook, send a check to Dale Harris at 2115 Aspen Ave. NW, Albuquerque, NM 87104, for the appropriate amount and include $5 for shipping.
Many of these haiku will also be on display in the form of Weathergrams (calligraphed brown paper strips) to be hung in trees and bushes on the grounds of the Open Space Visitor Center. Come out early and check them out! They should be up a few days prior to the Poets Picnic—and will remain up until they weather beyond recognition!
At around noon, we’ll kick off the Picnic with an innovative small ensemble made up of amateur drummers from all walks of life performing traditional Japanese drumming music plus original contemporary compositions, the Wise Crane Taiko Group. Their goal is to promote individual creative expression, support wellness, empower diverse voices and provide education across cultures to build a more accepting and harmonious world.
The music will be followed by some brief opening remarks from the day’s sponsors—and then an afternoon of poetry, with featured readers interspersed with open mics (sign up there), including:
Gregory (Goyo) Candela, professor emeritus at University of New Mexico, who has published two collections of poetry (Surfing New Mexico—2001 and Shallow-Rooted Heart—Dos Gatos Press, 2018) and written six produced plays. Recent publications include poems in the Harwood Anthology, Malpaís Review, Adobe Walls, Sin Fronteras, Van Gogh’s Ear, Cyclamens and Swords, Monterey Poetry Review, Italian Americana, Circe’s Lament (Anthology) and Weaving the Terrain (Anthology of Southwestern 100-Word Poems).
Damien Flores, a national poetry slam champion and coach who hosts the Spoken Word Hour on 89.9 KUNM-FM. He’s twice been named Poet of the Year by the New Mexico Hispano Entertainer’s Association, and received the 2008 Lena Todd Award for creative non-fiction from the UNM English Department. His book of poems, Junkyard Dogs, was published by West End Press and his work has been featured in several anthologies, magazines, and newspapers.
Jessica Helen Lopez, a City of Albuquerque Poet Laureate, Emeritus and the host of the PBS arts-based television show ¡COLORES! She is a national recognized award-winning slam poet and the author of four collections of poetry. Lopez is an adjunct instructor for the University of New Mexico Chicano Studies Department, the Institute of American Indian Arts, and the Native American Community Academy.
Barbara Rockman, author of Sting and Nest, winner of the New Mexico-Arizona Book Award, and to cleave, recipient of the National Press Women Prize and finalist for the International Book Award. She teaches poetry at Santa Fe Community College, Esperanza Shelter for Battered Families and in community workshops. Barbara lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Emceed by your hosts:
Dale Harris, who enjoys organizing community art and spoken word events. She has published four poetry books and recordings and her work is widely anthologized.
Scott Wiggerman, a 2021 inductee to the Texas Institute of Letters, the author of three books of poetry, most recently Leaf and Beak: Sonnets, and an editor of several volumes, includingbest-selling craft books Wingbeats I & II: Exercises & Practice in Poetry. He frequently leads poetry workshops, in particular in poetic forms.
We look forward to seeing you in person again! We can literally say that years went into the making of this year’s Picnic.
Dale & Scott
Last updated on May 1, 2022