NAPA: VALLEY OF POETS: GARY SILVA

About the Poet:
Gary Silva (resident of Napa) was born in the East Bay and has lived in California most of his life. He completed his M.A. in literature and poetry writing at CSU, Fresno, and his M.F.A. in poetry writing at U.C., Irvine. He taught at Napa Valley College since 1990 and retired in 2008. He was also Poet Laureate of Napa County from 2008-2010. Gary Silva has had a lifelong passion for poetry and has published poems in dozens of literary magazines across the United States as well as in four chapbooks: The Back-up Café, Photograph of a Nude, Ceramics, and Elemental Tanka.

About His Poetry:
Gary Silva's poetry is influenced by modern and contemporary American and Spanish poetry, including William Carlos Williams, Galway Kinnell, Sharon Olds, and Pablo Neruda, to name a few. He has also been influenced by Chinese and Japanese poetry, including the haiku of Basho, Issa, and others. He likes to use "concreteness" in whatever ways he can, including imagery and narrative, and, of course, likes to get his "meaning" across through metaphor and simile, which when handled properly produces a deeper meaning beyond what abstractions can produce.

Poetry Forms and/or Tendencies in the Poet’s Work:
Gary Silva writes in several styles, including free verse longer poems, and even some sonnets. Recently, he has written a chapbook of five lined tanka (though he has written those now and then throughout his writing career). He has enjoyed writing "persona" or "dramatic monologue" poems (such as "My Last Duchess" by Browning, a poem to aspire to!) More recently, he has been writing a series of "Meditations," longer poems beginning with a "real" situation and trying to move into a slightly more abstract (or metaphorical) of the problem presented. These are still in the creation/revision process.

Sample Poems:
Five poems from the "Nuts" section of his chapbook, Elemental Tanka.

Cashew

Crooked like a finger
or the shepard's hook calling
seekers of insight,
buttery and mild wisdoms,
suavely gives us what we need.

Walnut

Outer husk is green,
then the shell rough and pointed
sharply to poke holes
in foolish fingers. The meat
brain shaped, acrid taste of truth.

Almond

Like an arrowhead,
tapered, aerodynamic,
brittle as porcelain
the white flesh is efficient
in holding us to our prescience.

Sunflower Seeds

They are soaked in salt
as if they were from the sea.
We chew shell and all
thinking we can co-mingle
with the yellow light of blooms.

Hazelnut

Round in forefinger
and thumb, like a small marble,
for the child within
us, but its bite is like soil,
between earth and sky, ourSelves.

Poetry Chapbooks:
The Back-up Café
Photograph of a Nude
Ceramics
Elemental Tanka

Links to Some Poems and Poetry Events Online:

YouTube performances of collaborations with composer Mazdak Khamda: