Seating Available for about 40 people or your own outdoor chairs.
Linda Close
Artist statement: I’ve always enjoyed some form of crafting. Exploring storing writing in the 1990’s,I started exploring visual art in 2014. I’m always amazed at the process of creating art. Transcribing an image with words, paint, ink etc. onto paper (mostly) is an ongoing, never-ending discovery and learning. Learning is both an external and internal process to be sure. All my senses are participating as a put paint or ink on the paper.
Bio: Linda Close has been a licensed Registered Nurse in the State of Colorado since 1980. Historically she has held different positions in healthcare including Neonatal Nurse Practitioner, Colorado Government Grant work at local High School, Telephone Triage Nursing and Nurse Management. Linda started her Qigong training in 1994 and has been both teaching and doing Clinical Qigong starting in 1997 in her local community in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Linda is a member of the NQA (National Qigong Association) since 2008 and has served as a Board Member for 2 terms including the Chairperson position as well as Vice President position. Linda has worked with her husband Dr. Tom Close at his local chiropractic office for 15 years doing Qigong as well as deep relaxation techniques.
Thomas Close
Bio: Tom Close is a third generation Colorado native educated in South Denver High School, the University of Alaska. Fairbanks , the University of Colorado and Western States Chiropractic College. His grandfather was an MD in Monument from 1915 to 1928 and his father was an MD for many years in Salida and Denver Colorado. He and his wife Linda Close,R.N. have a combined 5 children, 6 grandsons and one toddler granddaughter. His Chiropractic office in Monument opened in 1980. In tenth grade he read Huck Finn as a school assignment followed by writings of Thoreau, Emerson and Whitman which inspired a lifelong interest in world literature
Artist Statement: Thoreau wrote: “ My life the poem I would have writ, but I could not both live and utter it.” Life is simply a miracle and a mystery. The arts (music, art and literature) seem to be man’s rather amazing attempt to grasp and draw inspiration from this gift from God called Life. . The beauty and poignancy of our lives is deeply nurtured by attempts to express the wonder of it all My favorite poets in particular attempt to reflect the astonishing beauty of the natural world.
Open Mic • Audience Participation
Tom McGuire
Thomas McGuire is a poet, translator, essayist, and literary critic. He was raised in Northern California (yellow-billed magpie country). Now he makes his home in Colorado (black-billed magpie range). Since 1995 he’s taught at the U.S. Air Force Academy, where he’s a Professor of English. He’s the Editor of War, Literature & the Arts. His creative and scholarly publications have appeared in journals and anthologies such as The North American Review, Best New Poets 2020, Zocalo Public Square, New Hibernia Review, Poetics for the More-Than-Human-World, The Ekphrastic Review, and Open-Eyed, Full-Throated: An Anthology of American/Irish Poets. In 2008, he was a Fulbright Scholar to Ireland. In 2014, he concluded a twenty-four- year Air Force career. He writes in the rain shadow of the mountain the Utes call Tava (Sun Mountain). Dark Devouring is his first collection.Bethany Adams
“Bethany Adams is grateful for the opportunity to share some words from the heart in such inspiring company. She is a hobbyist poet with a slice-of-life style hopefully connecting and uplifting people.”
Jack Wallick
Bio: Jack came to Colorado Springs, in 1959, graduating from Wasson High School in 1965. He received a B.S. in Microbiology from Colorado State University in 1969. Drafted into the Army, he was a combat infantryman in Vietnam. He has since worked for the Centers for Disease Control in virology, earned a Masters in Chemical Engineering, was Department Chairman of Solar Engineering Technology at Colorado Tech, worked as an engineer and technical writer for the aerospace industry, owned and operated a microbrewery, and performed R&D work in biodiesel. He retired from Spectranetics, a Colorado Springs medical device manufacturer, where he was a Facilities Engineer. He now writes, reads extensively, and can often be found enjoying live music in dive bars. Jack also hosts a spoken word open mic at Rico’s, 322 1/2 N Tejon in Colorado Springs, on 1st and 3rd Tuesdays monthly.
Jimmy Cacciatore
James Cacciatore born from the sunshine of Colorado, my deaf family influenced by my footsteps from my mom. At first my dad sing to me was a baby, then doodling in art, elementary school in photography, & becoming a musician. A whooper from a car accident in October 21, 1985 resulted from TBI, that is an other story. Believing in yourself from the fascinating after my poetry too! Stem from the power of love for my support, live is short alike drop in the bucket. Let it up but guard your hearts!
Judith Harrington
Judith Harrington has lived in Palmer Lake since 1996. She was a career educator. Her love of poetry, and storytelling dates back to childhood. Her published work, both fiction and poetry Is available in various journals, and in signed, limited editions, ordered direct through her, and on Amazon.
Work-in-progress includes professional recording of her collected works available privately and on YouTube. Most of the poems read today were composed within the last year, and as recently as yesterday.
Artist Statement
for
The Listener
Recently, my Poetry feels channeled,
speaking in tongues of angels
(And occasionally demons),
Sophia the Ancient Feminine
whether Divine or mundane,
Cadence of Prayer without Motive.
Inspiration as varied as Praise:
Often hidden visions of gestalt abstraction
sometimes reminiscent of news
Whether local or distant
Casual, formal
Antique, modern
and
Dangerous.
Delusionary.
All prompts echo what lies before me
Behind and within. As above so below
Entanglements
to be broken and mended
Gold links in a chain of remorse and sorrow
Magnets of Pleasure and Joy
Enso inscribed with luminous pain.
The old Silent Voices are ubiquitous
A river a stream a torrent of obscure language
Everything speaking at once
On ladders of flame descending
Voice of wren searching for home
Too sad for tribute between glass,
dove rising
(Bird flu ironic where we found her)
Never waiting always present
gifts unrelenting shocking
Awaiting translation, graphic transliteration
Revision
—mine—
Illustrated Broadside for The Listener
Who haunts my melody, timeless.
Honestly, I refuse to memorize my own words
(Though performance is engaging)
Because they are endlessly changing.
Let things fall off the page, qued up for reading
I cannot carry a tune…
This Lyric of Light is a shared burden—
But for us,
Lost in the stream of remembrance,
Forgotten.
