Monday, November 21, 7 pm

Poets! Daniel Yaryan & Marc Olmsted

open mic follows

As a teenager in Santa Cruz, Daniel Yaryan fell under the thrall of poetry, particularly the poetry of the beats,  in a big way.  With his work, as a writer and as a impresario of poetry readings celebrating and extending the beat ethos, he has become, while still a young man, a major figure in the west coast poetry scene.

We’ve lost track of how many readings Daniel has staged in venues all over the state in the series he calls “Sparring With Beatnik Ghosts” — each boasting a deep roster of energized and engaged voices revealing the breadth and depth of the poetry impulse that persists today.

Daniel’s own voice will be on display at our reading tonight.

He has invited Marc Olmsted to join him on this reading, indicating his respect for a poet who in the 1970s threw himself with abandon into the sphere inhabited by Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs and their peers.

Ginsberg said of Marc that he “inherited Burroughs’ scientific nerve & Kerouac’s movie-minded line nailed down with gold eyebeam in San Francisco.”

He has made films, had a band during the punk days of the Mabuhay Gardens, has been a practicing Buddhist for more than thirty years, and has published reams of poetry through the years.

Our twice-monthly Monday night poetry series has been hosted by peripatetic troubadour Jerry Ferraz since its inception, and includes an open mic segment which is one of the liveliest in this town of poets.