Page 4 - Alpha Betts News Today

[cheers and applause] >> next up is -- next up is marcela ortiz. >> ok. this is the first time im reading in front of people. ok. all right. this is a poem to my mom. youre nothing but a group of coffee klatching women. 19 years and the only image that i can think of what i hearl my mothers voice is rosie the riveter with her hand balled up in a fist and her hand underneath her face. coffee klatching women? a bunch of old grandmothers who sit in sewing sirgles and talk about the best b...

been with writers corps for a while and the program is no longer available, i am going to truce them all at once and then theyre going to just do their poems. so first id like to bring up sandra. sandra? >> hi, how are you, everybody. i home youre enjoying the show and that -- im nervous. so -- i think i will cry. im just acting. dont worry. and two years ago i came here at the same place and i was reading poetry, but the difference from then to now is that i couldnt speak english. so ...

city grids, the last bite of an ice cream cone. these are all my names. i savor these words on the tip of my tongue. a book of lives lived in my right hand. i caught your pen in the other. all the rivers flower into the sea. thank you. [cheers and applause] >> next up is -- next up is marcela ortiz. >> ok. this is the first time im reading in front of people. ok. all right. this is a poem to my mom. youre nothing but a group of coffee klatching women. 19 years and the only image that i...

marcela ortiz. >> ok. this is the first time im reading in front of people. ok. all right. this is a poem to my mom. youre nothing but a group of coffee klatching women. 19 years and the only image that i can think of what i hearl my mothers voice is rosie the riveter with her hand balled up in a fist and her hand underneath her face. coffee klatching women? a bunch of old grandmothers who sit in sewing sirgles and talk about the best blueberry circles. we banned my mother from the kit...

>> ok. this is the first time im reading in front of people. ok. all right. this is a poem to my mom. youre nothing but a group of coffee klatching women. 19 years and the only image that i can think of what i hearl my mothers voice is rosie the riveter with her hand balled up in a fist and her hand underneath her face. coffee klatching women? a bunch of old grandmothers who sit in sewing sirgles and talk about the best blueberry circles. we banned my mother from the kitchenen -- becau...

marcela ortiz. >> ok. this is the first time im reading in front of people. ok. all right. this is a poem to my mom. youre nothing but a group of coffee klatching women. 19 years and the only image that i can think of what i hearl my mothers voice is rosie the riveter with her hand balled up in a fist and her hand underneath her face. coffee klatching women? a bunch of old grandmothers who sit in sewing sirgles and talk about the best blueberry circles. we banned my mother from the kit...

>> next is robin black. >> hi, robin! >> oh, ok. i had to know. this is called "eviction notice." the police turned us away. 11 years old eating baby food. days warm like the occasional free matsoff from next door. no plates the cups were yoplaits. i stepped on a nail taking my sister through the yard the drinking from beer bottles that tasted like warm quarters the i caught fleas from cookie puss sleeping on my stomk keeping us both warms. at that age i lost the comfort from lies. str...

power. by delivering brooms, we are telling them to clean up their mess. chemical melt down spent 20 tons of gas into their city. they are leading the fight to send justice to their people and the worst fate. mothers carry poisons in their breasts. she accepted the 2004 environmental prize. we are not expendable. we are not flowers offered at the profit and power. we are dancing flames commitmented to darkness and the magic and mystery of life. women have long been slain at the environ...

circles. we banned my mother from the kitchenen -- because of an incident where she had burnt water the the only person who cooked was my father. please keep your peace, mom. yes, my mother say woman but coffee klatching? the term was worse than nails on the chalk board. oh, yes, a coffee klatching woman who has raised three children and never taking shying from anyone. you sure do act like a coffee klatching women with your boots and jeans on, arriving to run a crew of obnoxious mens,...

im just acting. dont worry. and two years ago i came here at the same place and i was reading poetry, but the difference from then to now is that i couldnt speak english. so i read my poem in spanish and i think i missed a lot of the audience because not everybody can understand or speak stash -- spanish. in restless night that i was thinking how good my professor has been to me. she has given -- given me support without even using hard words. when im struggling she holds my hand, lett...