Please join us this Saturday, August 8, at 1:30 for D5 meeting via Zoom.
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Hi folks: I had a conversation today with Julie Sherwood at the library (the person I work with there) about this year's Epistrophy, and we both agree it should be cancelled. The library was on the way to cancelling it anyway, as they are going over their fall events calendar now and determining what they'll have to cancel, and Julie is sure Epistrophy would be one of the cancellations. The library still doesn't allow folks to come into the library other than to pick up already requested books or return books, and the city has a 15 person max on crowd limits; we'd have at least 15 participants alone. The library has moved all of their public use computers into the Conference Room, which is where we would hold Epistrophy, so we couldn't use that anyway. And we agreed that it's just too dangerous and will be through October and November, per all reliable sources. This is not an event that can be done virtually, so cancellation was the only option. We hope for better luck next year. Bob Dean, D5 Topic: KAC District 5 Meeting - July 11
Time: Jul 11, 2020 01:30 PM Central Time (US and Canada) We've all been spending a lot more time at home these past few months. What have you been doing during that time? Choose one or two activities and write a SHORT bit of prose or poetry (2-3 minutes) to share with District 5 members at our July meeting, which will start promptly at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, July 11, on Zoom. Your writing prompt is "What I did on my 2020 Staycation." It's easy to join us. Just download the free Zoom application (if you don't already have it) by going to zoom.us Then, join us at the appointed time by clicking on the http link below. You probably won't need the password, but it's there in case you get asked that question. Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android: https://wichitastate.zoom.us/j/95317691648?pwd=UFppSzFHSXF0WnJIVHVjb3FtelAwZz09 Password: 914662 Or iPhone one-tap : US: +13462487799,,95317691648# or +16699006833,,95317691648# Or Telephone: Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location): US: +1 346 248 7799 or +1 669 900 6833 or +1 253 215 8782 or +1 312 626 6799 or +1 646 876 9923 or +1 301 715 8592 Meeting ID: 953 1769 1648 Password: 914662 Attention Kansas Authors Club District 5 Members--
This is a Call for Poetry Submissions for: Epistrophy 2020: An Afternoon of Poetry and Music Happening Saturday, October 17th, 2020, 12:00-4:00 pm Venue: Wichita Public Library Advanced Learning Library This is an opportunity to read your poem to musical accompaniment by musicians Randy Zellers (electric guitar) and Seth Carrithers (acoustic bass) improvising to your words. This will not be an open mic event - you must submit your poems for consideration to be chosen for participation. Submissions open July 1st and are due by July 31st, 2020. You will be notified as to acceptance no later than August 31st. The event will involve each poet reading through her/his poem once while the musicians and audience listen. Then the poet will read the poem again, and the musicians will improvise accompaniment. We expect 10-15 D5 members to be able to participate, depending on the length of the poems chosen (shorter is better!). Eight invited poets will also be reading. All poets will read one poem in each of two poetry sets. Jazz ensemble Billy’s Bounce will provide musical introduction and intermission sets. Book sales tables will be set up and staffed. Guidelines for Submission: You must be a current member of Kansas Authors Club District 5. Two poems may be submitted—make them your best. Length: each poem must not take over 4 minutes to read aloud at a relaxed pace. Shoot for anywhere from 2 to 4 minutes, max (again, shorter is better). Submission to include a cover letter. Letter and poems should all be in a single .doc or .rtf file. Letter and poems must be on separate pages, one poem per page, as the poems will be judged blind. The cover letter must include your name and contact information, a 50-word bio and the titles of your entries; poet's name should not appear on the poems’ pages. Entry single spaced; margins 1 inch. Your submittal is your verification that you will be available to read on the date of the event. Submit your entries as an attachment to an email message addressed to: epistrophypoetry@gmail.com Entry must be submitted prior to midnight, July 31, 2020. New this year: the library has instituted a policy this year which involves background checks for all presenters at the library, the result of a few folks who were upset about an event the library held last year involving drag queens. All presenters, musicians and readers both, will be asked to sign a confirmation with the library and sign a consent form for background screening. The library will check two public databases: the Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Registry (which checks names against registries in all 50 states) and the State of Kansas DOC offender database for “violent crimes.” If you are listed in either place, you will not be able to participate. These are open databases and you can check them yourself to see if your name pops up. If any of you have a problem with this, you should not submit for this event. A word about Covid-19: Depending on conditions at the time, this event could be cancelled because of Covid-19 concerns. Any such call will be made by the library, as the venue sponsor. We are staying in close contact with the library and will have whatever safety precautions are required in place at the event, such as distancing, mask wearing, wiping down the mic between readers, etc.; this again will be determined by whatever rules the City of Wichita has in place for its city venues at the time of the event. Everyone in the audience will be required to register at the time of entry into the venue; this is so the library can do tracing if there is report of someone having been at the event who comes down with Covid-19. Performers will automatically be registered because of the screening they have to go through. We suggest you take these Covid-19 precautions into consideration before you submit. We do not want anyone to get sick as a result of this event. If the library cancels the event, we will let everyone who is participating know right away. Bob Dean Epistrophy Event Coordinator _________________________________________________________________ EPISTROPHY 2019 is an event cosponsored by The Kansas Authors Club District 5, The Wichita Public Library Advanced Learning Library, The Wichita Jazz Festival, a grant from The Wichita Arts Council, and others. You are invited to reconnect with District 5 members via Zoom (from the safety of your own home.) Dan Close, D5 Vice President, has agreed to act as our Zoom host. If you are not familiar with Zoom, go to Zoom.com and in the upper right corner, you can set up an account and sign in, OR you can "join a meeting" by copying and pasting the URL in the announcement below. For subsequent meetings, you will copy/paste the URL for that meeting. You can sign in a few minutes before meeting time, and Zoom may advise you to simply wait until the host opens the meeting. (If you have questions, please contact Connie White or Dan Close by phone or email).
We've all been spending a lot more time at home these past few months. What have you been doing during that time? Choose one or two activities and write a SHORT bit of prose or poetry (2-3 minutes) to share with District 5 members at our July meeting, which will start promptly at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, July 11, on Zoom. Your writing prompt is "What I did on my 2020 Staycation." It's easy to join us. Just download the free Zoom application (if you don't already have it) by going to zoom.us Then, join us at the appointed time by clicking on the http link below. You probably won't need the password, but it's there in case you get asked that question. Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android: https://wichitastate.zoom.us/j/95317691648?pwd=UFppSzFHSXF0WnJIVHVjb3FtelAwZz09 Password: 914662 When unknown He thought to go far, Catch the power of a star. But power made a castle, The moat laid deep inside. Money brought commitment, People asking for a ride. When unknown He sought for fame, The star of an eternal name. But the man in the spotlight Was a mannequin, The requiem Of a million displaced dreams. Each fan remade him As they wanted to be seen. The man who sought The man who fought to be known Was left alone For the star of a million dreams - And in the end it seems He was still unknown. The star remains As does the name - But the man is gone, Leaving pathos in song. On-line Read Around
We are continuing our ongoing writing challenge as we all stay at home because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Here are the rules:
~ Connie White, President, KAC District 5 Attention KAC D5 members:
In case you’ve been wondering, we have been putting together this year’s Epistrophy 2020 event, along with the Wichita Public Library, and hope that circumstances (meaning a certain bug) allow us to produce it again this year. We will be posting a call for submissions, with guidelines, and the email address to send the submissions, towards the end of June. The submission period will be July 1st through July 31st. Any KAC D5 member is invited, and encouraged, to submit poetry (number of poems will be specified when the call is posted; time limit per poem will be no more than 4 minutes per poem, max, possibly 3, so think short!) when the submission period opens. Here are the details for this year’s event: Epistrophy 2020 Presented by Kansas Authors Club, District Five and the venue host, Wichita Public Library Advanced Learning Library, Conference Center. Saturday, October 17th, 2020, 12:00-4:00 PM This year’s two accompanying musicians are: Randy Zellers, electric guitar Seth Carrithers, acoustic bass You may remember Randy from Epistrophy last year, and Seth from the Rhythm-A-Ning event at last year’s convention. They should do a great job improvising to the poems. Billy’s Bounce will also be back, this time as a quartet. So far, we have 5 featured poets lined up, and we expect to have a total of 8-9; the remainder will be made up, as always, by D5 poets who have gone through the juried submission process. A partnership grant request has been submitted to the Wichita Arts Council, who funded part of last year’s event, but we have yet to hear back from them. We expect fundraising to be more difficult this year, as our usual donors---book & music stores---went through a two-month period of closure. However, we will get it done. Any suggestions for possible donors other than the usual suspects are appreciated. You may contact Bob Dean at the email address below if something occurs to you. So, be thinking about what you might want to submit this year, and look for the call to be posted the end of this month. Again, this is for current D5 members only. If coronavirus is still an issue in October, it will be up to the library to decide how to handle things, since they are the venue partner. Thank you, Bob Dean Epistrophy Event Coordinator bobdean@swbell.net Like an army from the Great War catapulting
out of the trenches to battle blindly with enemy machine guns and mortar, tourists take fire on the Great Plaza of Salamanca. We line up to sip ruby-red Rioja, savor eyelash-thin slices of jamon, spy on the antlike antics of the maneuvering crowds, who cross the square in bunched-up patterns of inscrutable geometry, of indirection. They traipse from here to there and back again on reconnaissance, as castanets click cacophonously off the concrete plain, and conversations carry skyward to the sun. On the walls, bas-relief profiles of Spanish heroes populate a paneled paean to celebrity, to spirit’s might. St. John of the Cross, Cervantes, even Quixote himself look down upon us in one-eyed stares of forced patronage, unwilling participants in the guerrilla tactics of sharing their World Heritage riches with the disinherited of the world. Conspicuous by her absence, St. Teresa of Avila levitates above the maddening mobs to reach the outskirts of her interior castle, which houses myriad rooms of virtue that no ordinary mortal can attain. Her destination: perfection, tilting at the immense spiritual windmill in the sky. She blesses me as the waiter carries another tray of wine, endless libations for the infinite thirst of adventure, discovery, and the spoils of travel. Winking at Cervantes, I turn into a temporary resident, unlikely scion of Spain, and masticate another wafer-thin portion of jamon. My taste buds dance the flamenco in delight. I sigh. O how Hemingway loved this sacred soil, his soul tangled in the bullring, with its ovals of blood and sand. Newspaper in hand, he stands in the stands to watch the horses and woo the Spanish black that wraps around the ring. Mind and spirit settle into the nosebleed section on concrete benches that radiate heat in the afternoon. Soon death will follow, not for them, but for the witless bulls, fierce, innocent victims of the blood lust of war. Who has nostalgia for this now? Who kills the monstrous beast within? It rages and rages, pawing sand, seeing red, seething with hatred of its tormentor, thinking -- no, feeling -- only "attack." I have followed the trail of Santiago de Compostela longingly in my mind, peering over the Pyrenees from the French plateau that self-abates at the foot of the peaks. I watch pilgrims scramble through Roland's Breach, a toothless gap planted in the middle of saw-tooth summits. Through it shines a light to beatify Iberia. I stand on the plain, St. James' clam shell firmly in hand, my walking stick crooked as a branch bearing fruit. Ahead, only spectacle and absolution await, incense swinging through the nave like smoke from a failed mortar round. We stand in waves of penitents, praying that Santiago still curries favor for the faint at heart. War is hell, say the toungeless bulls. Listen to them bellow. Have you received your 2020 Kansas Authors Club Yearbook? Some members did not want the paper yearbook, but if you indicated a preference for paper, those have been sent. Please comment to this site Yes or No, and a comment about the condition of the packaging and book on arrival. Thank you.
This poll will also help me know how many of you actually check the blog. Our "read around", see earlier postings below, is still going on, and I welcome submissions. Connie Rae White, D5 President Roll up the dark sky, tight, like a night shade. For it is void of stars and any wishes made. All the stars fell from the heavens. Their dusky glow stains the floor. They litter the room, they block the door. Sweep up the stars. Stack them end on end. Pile them in the corner to light my empty den. |
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