Sunday, July 29, 2018, 1:00 P.M. To 5:00 P.M.
The political climate in our country, guided by leadership at the very top, amplifies hate and ignorance and is not in the vicinity of tolerance, compassion, and inclusion. Homophobia, long at the top of the list in sexist vernacular, instead of decreasing in the light of the new millennium, seems to be experiencing a new life as witnessed by sexist bullying in our schools, media, and institutions. Therefore, in the spirit of Gandhi, Rigoberta Menchu Tum, Dr. King, Nelson Mandela, Buddhist and Taoist principles of compassion and tolerance, Native American spirituality, and the rise of a new generation of social activists who are countering neo-bigotry, Jim Moreno offers this course of the best LGBTQ poets starting with Adrienne Rich and including Queer writers of many generations and cultures.
Moreno returns to the lovely home of a local poet to address the ways Queer poets have amplified the grace and depth of literature, poetry performance, and gender understanding & equality. The poet’s home in South Bay will again root workshop participants in themes of women (first two hours) and men (second two hours) who honor and amplify the beauty and compassion of same sex love and consciousness. In this spirit we remember that many Native American villages called the gay man or woman two-spirited. And they, the two-spirited, were honored members of the village and were called upon for their perspective on issues from where to hunt or gather to staying in peace or going to war.
The poets.org website featured a quote by Jessica Jacobs which stated: “And then came Adrienne Rich and her poem“(The Floating Poem, Unnumbered). Sex, yes, but sex held fast by love. A promise that being queer didn’t have to mean a life scrabbling in shadows for transitory pleasures. A promise that beyond the constricted world I knew at fifteen, I might instead inherit a future in which I could live and love in full daylight, that “whatever happens—this is.”
Including Rich, workshop participants will enjoy lucid, sensuous, brilliant poems by Audre Lorde, June Jordan, & others in the first segment. Langston Hughes, Federico Garcia Lorca, TED Talks’ Lee Mokobe, Viejas Reservation’s Tommy Pico, & others will embellish the time in the second part of the workshop. Jim will blend readings with film clips which resonate with gender enlightenment. Moreno reminds: This is not a critique workshop. This is a write from your heart workshop conducted in a climate of respect in a Container of acceptance and respect for all genders and all cultures.