On a chilly evening, the night before Thanksgiving, we had a surprisingly successful benefit for the San Francisco Food Bank. The event was held at Sacred Grounds, SF’s oldest continuously running open Poetry Mic (celebrating 22 years this Wednesday!) Over sixty people turned out to hear Rachelle Escamilla and myself read from the anthology “Broken [...]
I’ll be reading this at my Thanksgiving Table on Thursday. And making some food for the SF Occupiers. 99% THANKSGIVING PIE: ALL BUT THE UPPER CRUST. What will 99% of Americans eat for Thanksgiving dessert? Humble pie? No, we’re too hungry and angry to settle for that. We’re losing jobs, insurance, housing, education, public services. [...]
Sent this poem into the new blog: OccuPoetry: (This poem appeared last March in “Continent Of Light”) Good morning America, Where Are You? Now that the buck has stopped The jig is up The well done run Dry your eyes. You’re done. The party’s over the game is played The bad boys took off With [...]
“A Dreamer’s Guide to Cities” San Francisco Bay Press, Virginia/San Francisco: 2009
In her second full-length poetry collection, Joan Gelfand explores the poignancy of living in a world that is war-torn and environmentally damaged. With a nod to the humorous paradox of modern life, Gelfand writes from the vantage point of a mother, an artist, and a Zen meditator. “A Dreamer’s Guide…” looks beyond the surface of our lives at the connections that make live worth living, and the sensual details that color it. Read More
Seeking Center: A Collection of Poems by Joan Gelfand, Two Bridges Press, Richmond CA: 2006
In Seeking Center, Joan Gelfand joins the reader in a free-wheeling discussion, beyond the poems themselves, regarding what is poetry today, here at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Read More