San Francisco Poet Laureate Kim Shuck and Bird & Beckett’s Troubadour in Residence Jerry Ferraz host poetry every first and third Monday, with an open mic to follow the featured readers.

THIS WEEK, no featured readers due to the poets’ very understandable hesitation in this uncertain time. We’ll reschedule; meanwhile, the open mic is here. But, that said, capacity is 15 people, so come early if you want to be assured of admission.

Watch for a new date for poet Kirk Lumpkin with The Word-Music Continuum [Paul Mills (electric guitar), Mark Wieder (acoustic bass)] plus Chris Olander, Poet Laureate of Nevada County, who will also be backed by The Word-Music Continuum plus Brian Bond (harmonium).

Chris Olander is Nevada County Poet Laureate; he’s a powerful performing poet with ecological concerns front and center. He is a bio-educator and Poet/Teacher with California Poets in the Schools since 1984. Chris has taught poetry writing and recitation in public schools, colleges, institutions, festivals, conferences and privately throughout N. California, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii and beyond. He has published 4 chapbooks; 4 CDs of his spoken poetry; 4 CDs with musical accompaniment with various musicians, and dancers. His most recent collection of poetry River Light.

Chris blends performance techniques with spoken word to create an action art poetry: musical image phrasing to dramatize relative experiences–a poetry arising from oral and bardic traditions: the original rural rapper, a sound poet exploring feelings, ideas, and meanings in rhythm image patterns.

Kirk Lumpkin is a poet, spoken word & performance artist, lyricist, and environmentalist. Since moving to Mendocino County in 2016 he has become a California state certified Naturalist; a singer in a community choir, the Emandal Chorale; a member of the Steering Committee of the Friends of Outlet Creek, and a Board member of the Willits Environmental Center. Previously, he worked at the Ecology Center in Berkeley for over 20 years and was, according to the Bay Area Poets Seasonal Review, “…an important part of the Bay Area (and beyond) poetry scene for years, hosting readings in San Francisco and Berkeley, helping to facilitate the Watershed Environmental Poetry Festival [with Poetry Flash & former U.S. Poet Laureate, Robert Hass], and hosting open mikes at Burning Man.…” He has most recently been published in the anthology Fire and Rain: Ecopoetry of California and in Poem In Your Pocket (Berkeley Public Library).

Kirk has collaborated with guitarist and composer Paul Mills for over
three decades, first in the band Detour (1982-1992), and continuing with
the poetry/music trio The Word-Music Continuum which released their CD
“Sound Poems” in 2008. Bassist Mark Wieder joined the trio shortly
thereafter, contributing bass parts for new poetry/music compositions
included in this performance. The performance will also include special
guest musician and ethno-musicologist Brian Bond on harmonium.