Super-Soul Reading

“Why, what’s the matter,
That you have such a February face,
So full of frost, of storm and cloudiness?”

THIS IS AN INVITATION TO ALL POETS, WRITERS, READERS, AND LOVERS OF LITERATURE, YOUNG, OLD, IN BETWEEN, KNOWN, UNKNOWN, SUBMERGED, EMERGED AND EMERGING: Rhyming, free verse, expensive or expansive verse, reverses, metered, learned, unlearned, experimental—all varieties, styles and non-styles are welcome.

The reading series, Poetry At The Cobalt, is located in downtown Fort Bragg at the beautiful Cobalt Gallery, thanks to Button Quinn, artist and gallery owner who has graciously made the space available to us. The readings are the 2nd Sunday of the month, 4–6 pm. The next reading at the Cobalt Gallery will be Sunday, February 9, 2025, featuring Laura Pope, and Noyo High School students, followed by open mic readings. There is a signup sheet and each poet reads for 5 minutes.  Please get this around far and wide, as we’d like to reach all over Mendocino County and beyond. Any suggestions or ideas you have, including other people to invite, would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, and looking forward to seeing you Sunday, February 9th at the Cobalt Gallery.

PEGASUS SOARS NO MATTER WHAT,
Larry Felson & Joe Smith
510-684-8270

BIO OF LAURA POPE
Laura Pope has been an artist, mother, and reasonably decent human on the Mendocino coast for 26 years.  Her art path has traveled through wood working, jewelry making, painting, mixed-media sculpture, poetry and music. Laura exhibited in the Laguna Sawdust Festival and the Laguna Beach Festival of Art for 20 years.  Finding herself in the company of several astoundingly deep, brilliant poets, she discovered that writing poetry is contagious. She has presented poetry in interviews on KZYX and KMUD.  Her paintings are currently on display at The Bookstore on Larel street in Fort Bragg.

Tribe
It’s the moment when’
Mom tells you she’s marrying the boyfriend
who touches your breasts
when she’s not around
Dad loses his job
in a town, a county
where there are no more jobs
You learn your husband
has the worst kind of cancer
Or the lump is in your breast
For millions
this moment is happening
now
The boy at the cash register
The woman waiting for the bus
The man who always sits alone
We all feel so alone
in our heads
yet our bones are all humming
the same half-remembered tune
roared ecstatically by a sun
billions of years ago
Take a step to the right
we are all tugged along
They say if a single atom was removed
the universe would collapse
You are the atom at the center
holding us all together
You are the gift
we’ve been waiting for
If your husband is hurting you
take a step to the left
then another
until you are surrounded by people
who smile when they see you,
If someone wants to hurt you
they circle around you
like a herd of mama elephants
protecting the young
You are the gift
You are the gift
You are the gift
we’ve been waiting for

Noyo High Students will present poems in connection with the exhibit of their artwork, currently on display at the Cobalt Gallery.