I [Glynda Velasco] [live in] Napa, California, USA. I have been a community activist and arts activist in my hometown of Vallejo, California. I helped spearhead the movement to have poets against the Liquified Natural Gas plant that Bechtel and Shell proposed to build on Mare Island just a mile or so away from Vallejo. With a weekly open mic producer we had a poetry marathon against the LNG gas plant and then we published an anthology of poetry against LNG. With the rallying support of the residents of Vallejo and people in the Bay Area, Bechtel and Shell left, and our public space on Mare Island is no longer endangered of being marred. Because there was a dearth of resources for spoken word artists and performance poets that were north of San Francisco Bay Area, I founded and directed the first performance poetry arts organization in Vallejo and Solano County. I always gravitated to community building through grassroots causes and/or arts. I have been involved in community and/or local access TV, and I was the associate producer for a live TV show that showcased emerging artists in comedy, spoken word, and music. That same production crew also live streamed open mics and poetry slams. See More HERE. Recently, I became an advocate for Poetry for Personal Power.
Poetics:
I firmly believe that when people come together for a cause in a positive and creative way it is healing and builds community. Personally, I am interested in the social change aspect. I have a strong interest in social justice, progressive mental health, and food access and food parity. We live in a world with different issues and causes now in the forefront, and I believe that all this collective consciousness is creating a malaise. The problems are manmade. We can undo these problems with more mindfulness to nature and other inhabitants beginning with our neighbors and our own neighborhoods. See More HERE.
I firmly believe that when people come together for a cause in a positive and creative way it is healing and builds community. Personally, I am interested in the social change aspect. I have a strong interest in social justice, progressive mental health, and food access and food parity. We live in a world with different issues and causes now in the forefront, and I believe that all this collective consciousness is creating a malaise. The problems are manmade. We can undo these problems with more mindfulness to nature and other inhabitants beginning with our neighbors and our own neighborhoods. See More HERE.
Poetry Forms and/or Tendencies in the Poet’s Work:
Spoken Word
Hay(na)ku
Visual Poetry
Spoken Word
Hay(na)ku
Visual Poetry
A Sample Poem:
“through the eye / of a / storm”
amidst
nature’s
fury
resilient
people rise
from
the muck
lotus blooms
again
—from VERSES TYPHOON YOLANDA (Meritage Press, 2014)
Books and Other Publications:
VERSES TYPHOON YOLANDA, anthology (Meritage Press, 2014)
VERSES TYPHOON YOLANDA, anthology (Meritage Press, 2014)
No comments:
Post a Comment