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UID:Indybay-18847873
SEQUENCE:19008717
CREATED:20220208T143500Z
DESCRIPTION:San Francisco authors read from their work. That means you, too. \nSan 
 Francisco located stories given preference. \nMic-less open-mic. 
 \n\nLoose-leaf authors \nscat \nter \nwords in \nthe wind sha \ndow \nof a 
 library \n\n\nHere's a recent work read: \n\nBetween the heat and Greta 
 Thunberg lies the whole of America, \nStill romancing road trips \nSky 
 trips \nCheap stuff from Amazon \nAnd a mythos that if only you had the 
 expanse of a continent \nYou'd be as righteous and grand and pious and 
 independent \nAs George Washington, who raped black women to supply his 
 \nSubstitute for fossil fuels \n\n\nAnd another: \n\nJack Hirschman 
 \n\nJack the magnificent translator, \nThe charge d'affaire of North Beach 
 plump words to the world, \nDrank his Stalinovich vodka with a bobbing 
 scoop of ice cream, \nThen took to the air waves with a little murmur, 
 \nTrailing Italian and Spanish rime into the brisk begotten vaporous sky 
 above Coit Tower. \n\nI hosted him once, \nHe and four others; \nPaid them 
 car fare to Bernal. \n\nAnd now? \nHis slushy pronunshiation \nWon't fit 
 into a single poem or eulogy, \nBut comes spilling out the alleys and 
 cracked windows \nOf the little town smelling of focaccia if you wake early 
 enough. \nAye, North Beach. \nAye, aye, Jack Hirschman. \nYou've escaped 
 the neighborhood and gone on tour. \n\nAnd one more: \n\nLet Sleeping Dogs 
 Lie \n\nThe neat, sweet, and big as life stenciled stick-on film \nAdheres 
 to windows beautifully: \nBlack \nLives \nMatter \n\nYet when I wonder out 
 loud, \n"Enough to end the private ownership of the Earth?" \nThe shushing 
 begins. \n\nI guess if you peel that lettering on film off your window 
 \nThere's no need to feel like a dog in heat, \nHumping everybody's 
 morality trousers \n\nAnd you can go back to backing Trump \nBy default as 
 he collects the ground rent \nat 500 California Street. \n\n\nNo, no, 
 really; just one more: \n\nSPRAWL \n\nYou, know, even in San Francisco 
 \nWhere the fog clogs the valleys \nAnd cars gum up the streets, \nThere 
 are plenty of vacancies \nObscuring the view that we could have. \n\nThe 
 Ohlone landscape you can fantasize \nOf scrub and sand and rock \nOnly 
 needs the natives--all of 'em: \nEverybody sporting a Giants cap or 
 jersey-- \nTo embrace the free market pricing \n"We are on indigenous land" 
 belly-ache-ers \nAnd righteous do-gooders abhor, \nApply it to land as 
 though Occupy San Francisco \nMeant the land was ours, \nAnd demand the 
 titled landowners \nFork the location rent over. \nThat's what it means to 
 eat the rich on their own tines. \nThat, kiddies, would obliterate land 
 speculation \nAnd give open space scrub and sand and rock \nA kick in the 
 Ramaytush. \n\nand how 'bout one for this week? \n\n\nAmnesia \n\nGive me 
 Columbus Day sans the Indians, \nSans the free-loaders, sans the 
 socialists, \nSans the bison, sans the snail darter, \nSans the carrier 
 pigeon, sans Bears Ears, \nSans the whole of the Americas. \n\nGive me 
 Columbus Day with \nOnly the Atlantic, grey and vast, \nOr blue and green 
 and vast, \nWith impossibly beautiful blond highlights at \nStart and end 
 of day, \nLuring the dauntless voyager \nTo China and India \nAnd nothing, 
 absolutely nothing in between. \n\nAnd from a short while ago: \n\nPore 
 over and pour out the poor. \nAnother study, please! \nGrab some data off 
 the "net." \nConvene a panel. \nConceive a syllabus: \nList a course . . . 
 Poverty 302, meets \nIn McClellan Hall, Room 407,Thursday afternoons. 
 \n\nOr, in a fit of pique at the dawdle: \nTax the rich, \nEat the rich, 
 \nBuild houses, buildings, \nSkyscrapers to the stars \nFilled with running 
 water and \nMicrowavable food, plus organic \nVegetables. \n\nBut whatever 
 \nWhatever \nwhatever you do, \nDon't simply earnestly behave like the soil 
 out of which they were formed was every bit theirs as yours. \n\n\nFrom 
 this past weekend: \n\nSabbath in San Francisco \n(At Civic Center upon 
 seeing the city's homeless village adjacent the Main Library, and then 
 viewing a City Hall steps rally by Sudanese in favor of restoration of 
 civilian government in Sudan) \n\nOn the other side of Jordan \nLies the 
 promised land-- \nJehovah said so-- \n\nFor the Sudanese lost boys, \nFor 
 Aunt Midge, \nFor the vets \nOf wars and the streets \nOf CRT denial \nOf 
 the puny property tax on land. \n\nOn the other side of Van Ness \nLies the 
 opera house and Herbst Auditorium \nWhere the UN was born \n\nFor the 
 healing of the nations, \nFor the deconstruction of colonialism \nFor the 
 slow travail of one earth, one people. \n\nOn the other side of your life 
 \nLies your body, aching for return, with the \nWords of Natalie Merchant 
 and Phil Ochs in mind: \n\n"Which side are you on?" \nand \n"I guess I'll 
 have to do it while I'm here." \n\n\nANOTHER: \n\nThe barber's in; 
 \nBuildings--even the hills!--have lost their tops \nIn fog, mist, and 
 settled clouds \n\nAND YET A WEE 'NOTHER: \n\nChuck that, Chuck \n\nThere's 
 the sonnet sonatina, \nFine in form branding high culture, \nAnalogous, I 
 say, to the pomp \nOf academia and place \nHeld in esteem by voter's 
 choice, \nSelected for a blue-ribbon \nCommittee studying the faults \nOf 
 you and me--hapless it seems-- \nTo give to them what it takes for \nThe 
 poor to ride the bus for free \nWith dignity, without crashing \nThe fare 
 gate. I prefer a snort \nAnd a simple communism \nOf the land rent, thank 
 you kindly. \n\nRESTAURANT WORKERS ON A SMOKE BEFORE THE FOODIES CONVERGE 
 ON UNITED DUMPLINGS \n\nWhat good's a smoke without fire? \nThe Prince of 
 Dumplings steps to the corner, \nSucks a hint just a shake from the door, 
 \nChecks his pants and shirt for a match, a Bic, \nHell! a flint he could 
 strike on the sign pole, \nFumbles, despairs, steps back inside, \nThen 
 exits with the whole crew \nWho share a flame and nothing worse, really, 
 \nThan the 5G radiation the clientele walk in with. \n\nLooking south, the 
 big blue tank stands high atop McLaren Park, \nPerched like a fat minaret 
 or a medieval watchtower \nCalling to submission or standing standing 
 guard, \nSilhouetted by near evening's burning haze; \nAnd th city, with 
 nothing worse than a few car break-ins and a racist epithet \nSteps back 
 inside for pork buns and sweet bean paste, \nWaiting, very patiently, for a 
 spark.\n\n https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2022/02/08/18847873.php
SUMMARY:Bernal Litterati [sic]
LOCATION:Amphitheater outside the Bernal Branch library\n500 Cortland Avenue
URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2022/02/08/18847873.php
DTSTART:20220210T010000Z
DTEND:20220210T020000Z
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