Poetry Goes Underground - Poems on the LA Metro

On our poetry trip yesterday through the LA Metro system, we were lucky enough to have Luke Gattuso taking tome great photos. 

It was such a good day of poems and people. 

See his entire set

via Luke Gattuso

Poesia Para La Gente - POETRY IS GOING under/over GROUND... PART DOS

SATURDAY, September 7 at 12PM 

$5 for all day metro pass

Meeting at the GOLDLINE upper level (outside) platform 

LA Union Station

Any easy way to join us (and maybe even read your own work), is to ride the metro into Union Station and then switch to the Gold Line. That way you can make parking easier and cheaper, or avoid driving all together.

See also our first Poetry On The Red Line »

The Poets

Abel Salas

"Porque
somos traficantes y mi vicio
siempre sera la letra de la
libertad, la metáfora
desencadenada de un
pueblo equipado..."

Read Abel Salas' Traficante » 

Abram Gomez

coming soon... 

Billy Burgos

Photo by Keith Martin

coming soon... 

Brandon Brown

"Each time I cup your face in my hand, I know that I’ll be with you 
as my hair grows longer and my clothes become old."

 Read Brandon's "Viking Ships in Los Angeles" »

Iris de Anda

"daughters of the desert
drowning in despair
dozens disappear
daydreams dissolve"

Read "Dearest" » 

Karineh Mahdessian

Photo by Luke Gattuso

coming soon... 

Luivette Resto

coming soon... 

Ryan Nance

"As honest as gold, as purchasable as what may be bought with gold. Mercenary. Turntail.

Cad. An antibiotic administered
Against ringworm of the heart..."

Read "Yellow" over on Hinchas de Poesia » 

Sean Hill

Photo by Luke Gattuso

coming soon... 

Urban Voodo

coming soon... 

Yago Cura

photo by Luke Gattuso

I had been thinking of nothing lucrative at all, nothing 
like pure poetry strawberries as large as the heads of Shih Tzus 
or contraband submarines forged in the jungles of Colombia.

Read "My Hair is a Fanatical Quill" » 

What is Poesia Para La Gente?

Poesia Para La Gente (Poetry for the People) is a program that brings poetry to the people of the community, in non-traditional places. Some of these places have been affected, in one way or another, by economical hardship or various forms of social stigmas. All locations are unique in providing a safe setting for uninhibited artistic expression.

Poesia Para La Gente is a program of the Avenue 50 Studio's monthly La Palabra Poetry. The program has been made possible by a grant from The James Irvine Foundation.

Hosted by Jessica Ceballos

photo by Michael Sedano

"At 2 a.m. arctic whispers
felt along my spine;
reminders that I loved wrong,
what felt right." 

Read "to reverse time" » 

 

June 30 - Poesia Para La Gente on the LA Metro

Avenue 50 Studio proudly presents...

POESIA PARA LA GENTE 

This time…poetry is riding on the metro! 

A one-time event on a Sunday afternoon,
to stimulate and encourage artistic expression
throughout the Los Angeles area…
via the 
red
blue
gold
expo
purple
and
red 
metro lines 

________________________________________

SUNDAY, June 30 | 12PM | $5 for all day metro pass
Meeting at the RED LINE platform LA Union Station 

featuring:
Billy Burgos
Yago Cura
Sean Hill
Karineh Mahdessian (email)
Ryan Nance (me, here)
Conney Williams

Hosted by Jessica Ceballos 

w/ open mic 
& musical accompaniment 

JOIN US...READ YOUR WORK...it'll be video recorded, photographed, etc. 

FOLLOW US LIVE - or hop on the nearest train by finding out where we'll be - by using the hashtag -> #PPLG

We'll be live tweeting/facebooking beginning at 11:30 AM #PPLG

 

This isn't the first Poesia Para La Gente reading i've read at. A couple of months ago I got to read with a great set at the first Poesia Para La Gente and Guerro's Market in Highland Park.

I am excited about the group I am getting to read with this time. I've collected videos of of them reading below. 

Billy Burgos reads his poetry at The World Stage Performance Gallery in the Los Angeles's Leimert Park neighborhood, 5/18/2011. ~Video by www.Poetry.LA

Uploaded by Yago Cura on 2012-12-16.

Street Poetry and Cinematography are infused together as Sean Hill performs one of his pieces titled "Optimistic Incisions" along the beachfront scenery of Santa Monica. Shot and edited by Kris Rubio for 4to4 Productions. Tech Stuff: Shot on a Canon T2i @ 24fps and a 50mm 1.4f canon lens, audio recorded on a Zoom H4n @ 24-bit/48kHz via Radioshack lapel microphone.

Karineh Mahdessian reading

Uploaded by Devereau Chumrau on 2013-03-30.

protest poem performed at Beyond Baroque; 2011 - 100,000 Poets for Change