Join CavanKerry press mates Cindy Veach, Joseph O. Legaspi, and Margo Taft Stever read at the Bryant Park Poetry Series.
Joseph O. Legaspi chapbook launch from Ghost Bird Press w/ Sylvia Beato
“Poetry at the Crossroads” reading/talk with Marwa Helal, Vanessa Villarreal, Keith L. Wilson & Joseph O. Legaspi Brooklyn Book Festival
Joseph O. Legaspi @ Backlot Festival
Joseph O. Legaspi with Kim Addonizio, & Javier Zamora
Please note: this event takes place at the Center for Creative Photography, 1030 N. Olive Rd. Tucson
The Center for Creative Photography and the Poetry Center at the University of Arizona are delighted to exhibit a captivating project by B.A. Van Sise in a celebration of the bicentennial of Walt Whitman’s birth that showcases portraits of poets.
We are proud to present Kim Addonizion, Joseph O. Legaspi, and Javier Zamora, who will read from their work at the Center for Creative Photography. After the reading, there will be a short Q&A and a book signing.thre
Joseph O. Legaspi Goes In Depth About New Book Threshold
Nin Andrews interviewed Joseph O. Legaspi on a range of subjects mentioned in his new book Threshold. The book is available right now in the CavanKerry Press book store.
Read the full interview below.
Nin Andrews: This is such a great book, mesmerizing from beginning to end. I love the opening poem, a lovely erotic poem in which you have this great revelation, i.e. that your father is not in the bedroom with you. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to laugh or cry. I wondered if you might say a few words about the writing of the poem?
Joseph O. Legaspi: I’d say react as you so inclined. I also find that particular revelation funny, yet beguiling, lonely, defiant. It was an instance in my feverish writing of the first draft of the poem in which I took pause, but the moment felt right to me. It’s a line against shame, really. The weightiest kind: filial, paternal. Growing up I had a fraught relationship with my father, that of awe, fear, and mystery. But then to adore his body, the masculine physique, to be drawn to it, threw me for a loop, adding a torturous dimension to desire.
Joseph O. Legaspi’s Book Reading
Loving & Fierce: A Party of Books
Fourth Filipino American International Book Festival
Joseph O. Legaspi will be at the Filipino American International Book Festival in San Francisco the weekend of Oct. 6.
“Bleeding the Hen” from the book Threshold
Here’s another poem selected by author Joseph O. Legaspi.
During my 2015 Fulbright fellowship in the Philippines, one of the professors at Silliman University, where I did my research in poetics, shared with me her vivid memory as a child witnessing her mother bleed a hen, in preparation for dinner. Her mother dipped her thumb in the bowl of warm blood, then drew a cross on her forehead. She wasn’t sure what it meant. The gesture haunted me, and so I wrote this poem. I’m still not sure I captured what it could mean, this intimate exchange or transference between mother and daughter.
– Joseph O. Legaspi
Bleeding the Hen
She’s six and school has turned tiresome.
She storms home like a battering ram.
Her mother sits, serene as a water pitcher.
She drinks her up and bubbles inside.
Afternoon breeze, a spider spins its web,
catching little wings of island light.
Her mama’s shadow, the girl will lengthen
immensely from backyard into life.
She crouches besides her mother, bleeding
a hen from its plucked sliced neck.
Red, warm on her fingers the woman draws
a cross on her daughter’s forehead
as the hen convulses under the grip, fortifying
blood pooling at the girl’s feet.
Author Joseph O. Legaspi Shares Moose from Threshold
True story. At least it was narrated as true. And yes, I do find myself frequently in the company of women. I grew up around women, and I credit them in making me an artist, in keeping me safe. All my life I’ve been lucky enough to be surrounded by storytellers and women of humor, grace, and substance.
– Joseph O. Legaspi
Read the poem Moose written by Joseph O. Legaspi.
Author Joseph O. Legaspi Shares Favorite Poems from Threshold (Pt. 2)
We asked author Joseph O. Legaspi to share five (5) of his favorite poems from the new poetry book Threshold.
Here’s another poem selected by author Joseph O. Legaspi.
Published and distributed as part of the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day, I reiterate what I wrote then, which accompanied the poem: “Simply, unabashedly, this poem is inspired by, dedicated to, and about my beloved, the Dolly to my Lucinda, my husband.”
– Joseph O. Legaspi
Read the poem Whom You Love written by Joseph O. Legaspi.
Author Joseph O. Legaspi Shares Favorite Poems from Threshold
We asked author Joseph O. Legaspi to share five (5) of his favorite poems from the new poetry book Threshold.
Read on to find out which poems author Joseph O. Legaspi selected.
When assembling the manuscript that was to be Threshold, I was surprised (but not really) of the number of wedding and marriage poems in the collection, which not only helped me decide on the title, but in structuring the book. This poem is one of the earlier ones I wrote, marveling at the pre-wedding rituals of our American nuptial institution.
– Joseph O. Legaspi
Here is the poem At the Bridal Shop written by Joseph O. Legaspi.
Joseph O. Legaspi’s ‘Chelsea Piers’ poem
“Night” from Threshold by Joseph O. Legaspi
Joseph O. Legaspi’s Book Reading
“My Mother’s Suitors” from Threshold by Joseph O. Legaspi
Bryant Park Reading Room Photo Gallery
The Bryant Park Reading Room hosts emerging and established poets through the summer with evening readings.
On Sept 5th, 2017, a crowd gathered to sit under the park’s trees and listen to CavanKerry Press authors read their work.
The Reading Room featured the following poets: Jeanne Marie Beaumont, Kevin Carey, and Tina Kelley and Joseph Legaspi.
Photos from Bryant Park Reading Room (Sept 5th):
Bryant Park Reading Room Celebrates CavanKerry Press
The original Reading Room began in August 1935 as a public response to Depression Era job losses in New York. The New York Public Library opened the “Open Air Library” to give out-of-work businessmen and intellectuals a place to go where they did not need money, a valid address, a library card, or any identification to enjoy the reading materials.
The Reading Room closed in 1944 due to an increase in jobs and World War II. In 2003, in partnership with HSBC, Bryant Park revived the park’s Reading Room. The modern day version is modeled after the original with the additions of custom-designed carts for books, periodicals, and newspapers; public readings and programs at lunchtime and after work; and kid-sized carts and furniture for children. The programming, publications, and environment of the Bryant Park Reading Room are available to everyone for free, still without any need of cards or identification.
The Reading Room is currently putting together the 2017 literary series, which will include author appearances, poetry readings, children’s events, and much more.
The Bryant Park Reading Room hosts emerging and established poets through the summer with evening readings. Sit under the park’s London Plane trees and listen to the artists read their own work.
Tuesday, September 5, 7:00pm–8:30pm
Reading Room featuring the Poets:
Jeanne Marie Beaumont
Joseph Legaspi
Kevin Carey
Tina Kelley
National Poetry Month! Killing a Chicken
“Your Mother Wears a House Dress” by Joseph O. Legaspi in Poetry Magazine
CavanKerry Press author Joseph O. Legaspi is featured in the December 2016 issue of Poetry Magazine.
Imago available through UST Press in Manila!
Congrats to Joseph O. Legaspi on the UST Press (Manila) publication of his collection Imago!
LATEST RELEASE:
Imago by Joseph O. Legaspi
Php 350.00 (please send order inquiries to ustph.info@gmail.com)
——————
IMAGO is a stunning and, at times, painful love poem to the poet’s Philippine childhood. Set predominantly in a rural landscape, where folk remedies and beliefs still govern the ways of the locals, these remarkable poems are filled with riveting images and paradoxes—scales of milkfishes are “otherworldly raindrops” while boys wear their sister’s or grandmother’s skirts upon circumcision. Reading them is like witnessing a sequence of beautiful rituals. They remind me, once again, of just how much the culture of my and the poet’s first homeland—the one “I never conceived/ of leaving”—is built solidly on preserved customs and rescued traditions: being “baptized by green waters” of boiled guava leaves to remedy the first wounds of manhood, a consultation with a faith healer, a son burrowing his face in his mother’s hair, how it “tickled/ my ears, deadening/ the skeletons/ of nightmares.” Like a shaman, Legaspi returns the commonplace—those everyday moments we take for granted or have forgotten—back to the ceremonious, and the scars and memories to their dreams.
—R. Zamora Linmark
News and Events: Week of November 10th
Events
Sarah Bracey White, Greenburgh Public Library, (Elmsford, NY)
Wednesday, November 12th at 12am
Book group talk
Monthly reading group discussing Primary Lessons
Click here for more info
Shira Dentz, Appalacian State University
Thursday, November 13th
The Hughlene Bostian Frank Visiting Writers Series: 2014-2015 Season
More info at App. State
Joseph O. Legaspi, The Astoria Bookshop (31-29 31st St., Astoria, Queens, NYC)
Saturday, November 15th at 7:00pm
Oh, Bernice! Reading Series with Sachi CLayton, Carissa Holdaway and Heben Nigatu
Visit Astoria Bookshop for more
For Florenz: “Childhood Elegy” by Joseph O. Legaspi
When I think of my first book, Imago, which would forever be my first, I can’t help but feel immense gratitude. In part because I felt heartened and validated that someone, a duo, a generous publisher, believed enough in my poems to package and deliver them to the world. And how unsurprising that one of those important someone was Florenz Eisman. Such a kind soul, Florenz was nurturing but also truthful, upfront with her opinions, ready with her advice. With her guidance, the process of book-birthing was relatively painless, rather invigorating and surprisingly humane. I’ll always be thankful and indebted to Florenz, who played a huge role in making my dream of a book come true.
-Joseph O. Legaspi
Childhood Elegy
If our angels hover above us,
they will see a darkening cornfield, the spectral traces
of lightning bugs, and two brothers
lying among the stalks.
We come because sometimes it is hard to live.
The cornstalks, limp under the tropical sun,
revive in the cool of twilight.
The angels will know we have been here for hours.
They will land and rest their feathers around us
and whisper soothing names of winged things: finch, monarch,
whippoorwill, ptarmigan, Daedalus, Icarus, Gabriel…
The angels will bend down and touch their faces
onto ours and borrow our eyes: Earlier,
a horse slipped, breaking its leg.
A boy stood beside his younger brother.
Their father came into the stable, carrying a gun.
Quails flitted out of a bamboo tree; the boy
traced the trail that had led him here,
the field tilled by the dead horse,
where his brother laid down,
dust on his cheeks.
News and Events: Week of October 13th
Events
Howard Levy, NYU Bookstore
Wednesday, October 15th at 6:00pm
Howard will be part of the Four Way and Friends reading
Visit NYU Bookstore for more info
Baron Wormser, Longfellow Books (1 Monument Square, Portland, ME)
Thursday, October 16th at 7:00pm
Reading from Best American Essays 2014 and Teach Us That Peace
Visit Longfellow Books for more info
Joseph O. Legaspi (763 Broad Street, 7th floor, Newark, NJ)
Friday, October 17th at 7:00pm
Sanctuary/Open Doors Festival Reading with Timothy Liu
Visit Sanctuary for more info
Joseph O. Legaspi, Busboys and Poets (2021 14th St. NW, Washington, DC)
Sunday, October 19th at 5:00pm
Sunday Kind of Love Series with Jennifer Chang and Matthew Olzmann
Visit Busboys and Poets for more info
News
January Gill O’Neil was a guest blogger from October 6-October 10 on America’s Best Poetry blog
Baron Wormer’s essay, Legend: Willem de Kooning from Grist,
is featured in Best American Essays 2014
News and Events: Week of September 8th
Events
Jack Ridl, Shores of Lake Michigan (Holland, MI.)
Wednesday, September 10th, 6-9pm
Come Write with Jack (a workshop)
Click here for more info
Howard Levy, Clark University (Worcester MA.)
Wednesday, September 10th, 4:30pm
Click here for more info
Joseph O. Legaspi,Word Bookstore (123 Newark Ave., Jersey City, NJ)
Thursday, September 11, 7:30pm
Reading with Gina Apostol, Hossannah Asuncion and R.A. Villanueva
Visit Word Bookstore for more info
News and Events: Week of September 1st
Events
Karen Chase, The Bookstore (11 Housatonic Street, Lenox, MA.)
Thursday, September 4th at 7pm
Polio Boulevard Book Launch
Visit The Bookstore for more info
Jack Ridl, Alcona Arts Retreat (P.O. Box 506, Lincoln, MI) Thursday-Sunday, Sept 4-7, all day
Workshop
Visit Alcona Arts for more info
Dawn Potter, Writers in the Round Retreat (Star Island, NH)
Thursday-Sunday, September 4-7, 2014
Dawn will be teaching poetry at this island poetry and songwriting retreat.
Visit Writers in the Round for more info
Joseph O. Legaspi, Bureau of General Services-Queer Division (83A Hester St., NYC)
Friday, September 5, 7:00pm
Reading with Melissa Febos, Matthew Hittinger and Shelly Oria
Visit Bureau of General Services for more info
News and Events: Week of August 11th
Events
Jack Ridl, The Red Dock (Saugatuck, MI.)
Tuesday, August 12th at 5pm
Reading
More info visit ridl.com
Baron Wormser, Belfast Free Library, Belfast, ME
A reading and talk about poetry and novel writing
Tuesday, August 12th at 7pm
More info at Belfast Free Library
Jack Ridl, Lake Michigan Shore
Wednesday, August 13th from 6-9pm
Workshop
Karen Chase, The Stanmeyer Gallery ( 2 Main Street, West Stockbridge, MA.)
Thursday, August 14 at 7:30pm
Reading to celebrate Upstreet Magazine’s 10th anniversary
More info at karenchase.com
Joseph O. Legaspi, Audre Lorde Project (147 W. 24th St., 3rd floor, NYC)
Wednesday, August 14th at 7:00pm
Reading with Ocean Vuong, Paul Tran, Jackie Wang and Franny Choi celebrating “Nepantla,” a journal dedicated to queer writers of color
More info at Lambda Literary
CavanKerry Poets at Massachusetts Poetry Festival
News and Events: Week of December 2
Events
Sarah Bracey White, Chappaqua Public Library (195 South Greely Avenue, Chappaqua, NY)
December 3rd at 7pm
Sarah will be reading from her memoir, Primary Lessons
Visit Chappaqua Library for more info
Joseph O. Legaspi, Central Queens Library (89-11 Merrick Blvd., Jamaica, Queens, NY)
Sunday, December 8th at 2pm
Visit Central Queens Library for more info
Sarah Bracey White, Hudson Valley Writers Center (300 Riverside Drive, Sleepy Hollow, NY )
Sunday, December 8th at 4:30 pm
Visit Hudson Valley Writers Center for more info
News and Events: Week of July 22nd
Events
Joseph O. Legaspi, Bryant Park (New York, NY)
Tuesday, July 23rd at 7pm
Joseph will be part of Poets & Writers poetry reading at Bryant Park’s historic outdoor Reading Room
For more info visit Poets & Writers
Jack Ridl, Spectators Restaurant (Saugatuck, MI)
Friday, July 26 at 12pm
Jack will be reading at Spectators
For more info visit Spectators Restaurant
Joseph O. Legaspi in Poets and Writers
Gradually, I’ve found my footing as a poet in Queens, the literary underdog borough, the one noted for being the most ethnically diverse.
For the full article, visit Poet and Writers
Saturday at AWP conference
Below is a full list of events that CKP and/or CKP writers are participating in
Saturday, March 9
10:00am-11:30am
CavanKerry Press Table (V1, V2)
Book Signing: Wanda Praisner
Where the Dead Are
Noon-1:15pm
CavanKerry Press: The Lives Brought to Life Reading.
Alice Hoffman Bookfair Stage, Exhibit Hall D, Level 2
Paola Corso (The Laundress Catches Her Breath), Joan Cusack Handler (Confessions of Joan the Tall), and Wanda Praisner (Where the Dead Are) will read from their recently published books, plus Nin Andrews will read selections from The Waiting Room Reader II: Words to Keep You Company.
2:00pm-4:00pm
CavanKerry Press Table (V1, V2)
Book Signing: Paola Corso
The Laundress Catches Her Breath
3:00pm-4:15pm
Kundiman Reading
Alice Hoffman Bookfair Stage, Exhibit Hall D
Joseph O. Legaspi (Imago) joins Cathy Linh Che, Matthew Olzmann, Brynn Saito and Sharon Suzuki-Martinez)
This week: AWP Conference in Boston (and CKP will be there!)
CavanKerry Press will be at the AWP Bookfair from Wednesday, March 6th through Saturday March 9th.
Stop by tables V1 & V2 and say hello to Publisher Joan Cusack Handler, Associate Publisher Teresa Carson and various CavanKerry Press authors.
Below is a full list of events that CKP and/or CKP writers are participating in throughout conference.
Thursday, March 7
10:00am
Autumn House Books table
Book Signing: Dawn Potter
Dawn Potter will be signing her new anthology, A Poet’s Sourcebook: Writings about Poetry, from the Ancient World to the Present. The book features writings by CKP authors Teresa Carson, Dawn Potter, Jack Wiler and Baron Wormser.
3:00pm-4:15pm
Reading: From Here, From Away: Maine’s Young Poets
Christian Barter will be reading
3:00pm-4:15pm
Panel: The Art Of Healing: Writing Illness from Both Side of the Curtain
How may writing about illness help us develop a more humanistic approach to medicine? Patient and physician come together to read and discuss excerpts from their personal reflections on illness, health, and the practice of medicine. Panelists discuss the growing interest in literature and writing as a means of restoring the healings arts to the contemporary practice of medicine.
Judi Hannan (Motherhood Exaggerated) joins Ron Grant, Fenton Johnson, Danielle Ofri, Elisabeth Tova Bailey.
Friday, March 8
11:30am-1:30pm
CavanKerry Press Table (V1, V2)
Book Signing: Joan Cusack Handler
Confessions of Joan the Tall
1:30pm-2:45pm
Panel: Options of the I: The Post-Memoir Memoir.
AGNI marks its 40th birthday with an exploration of personal writing in the age of the complexified I. Panelists will consider issues of obliquity, fragmentation, collage, and counterpoint, truth-telling, personae, tonal ventriloquism, and other approaches that conduce to projecting new configurations of the contemplative and narrative self. Moderated by Sven Birkerts.
Nin Andrews (Southern Comfort) joins Alex Lemon, Lia Purpura, Brian Christian.
1:30pm-3:30pm
CavanKerry Press Table (V1, V2)
Book Signing: Judi Hannan
Motherhood Exaggerated
3:30pm-5:30pm
CavanKerry Press Table (V1, V2)
Book Signing: Kevin Carey
The One Fifteen to Penn Station
Saturday, March 9
10:00am-11:30am
CavanKerry Press Table (V1, V2)
Book Signing: Wanda Praisner
Where the Dead Are
Noon-1:15pm
CavanKerry Press: The Lives Brought to Life Reading.
Alice Hoffman Bookfair Stage, Exhibit Hall D, Level 2
Paola Corso (The Laundress Catches Her Breath), Joan Cusack Handler (Confessions of Joan the Tall), and Wanda Praisner (Where the Dead Are) will read from their recently published books, plus Nin Andrews will read selections from The Waiting Room Reader II: Words to Keep You Company.
2:00pm-4:00pm
CavanKerry Press Table (V1, V2)
Book Signing: Paola Corso
The Laundress Catches Her Breath
3:00pm-4:15pm
Kundiman Reading
Alice Hoffman Bookfair Stage, Exhibit Hall D
Joseph O. Legaspi (Imago) joins Cathy Linh Che, Matthew Olzmann, Brynn Saito and Sharon Suzuki-Martinez)
News and Events: Week of February 4th
Events
Joseph O. Legaspi, Terraza 7 Cafe (40-19 Gleane Street, Elmhurst, NY)
Tuesday, February 5th at 7pm
Joseph will be reading at First Tuesdays, for more info click here
Kevin Carey, Montclair Public Library
Thursday, February 7th at 7:00pm
For more info about this reading, click here
Jack Ridl, Reader’s World Bookstore (Holland, MI)
Saturday, February 9th, 11am-1pm
For more info about this book signing, click here
News and Events: Week of October 15th
Events
Michael Miller, Broadsides Bookstore (Northampton, MA)
Wednesday, October 17th at 7:00pm
Michael will be reading from Darkening The Grass
Click here for more details
Joseph O. Legaspi, Poets House (10 River Terrace, NYC)
Wednesday, Oct. 17th at 7:00pm
Page Meets Stage with Cheryl Boyce-Taylor
Click here for more details
Jack Ridl, Muskegon Community College (Muskegon, MI)
Saturday, October 20th at 1:00pm
Reading sponsored by Poetry Society of Michigan
Click here for more details
News
Karen Chase, review of Jamali – Kamali in The Wall Art Magazine
