A history of the Sacramento Poetry Scene

There were about 15 of us for Bari Kennedy's History of Poetry in Sacramento lecture; Ann Menebroker, of course, Danyen Powell, Laverne Frith, Doe and Pearl Stein Selinsky among them. Linda Thorell was video-taping, a good thing. Perhaps the best annual state-of-the-state of poetry address B.L. given yet. Focused, informative, and just enough of Bari's subjective patina to make it interesting without devolving into a Kvetch about how little this scene respects him, something that's happened in previous years. Pity about the turnout, but it was a busy evening in the local scene: Jose Montoya and Kimberly White at Barnes & Noble; D.R. Wagner performing in the Low Flying Owls at Patrick Grizzell's Songwriter's showcase at The Art Foundry. Would love to see Bari deliver this lecture again sometime this year. Bigger venue; closer to the heart of the scene rather than its outskirts -- the event was at the South Natomas library. A few disagreements. He did decry the Flor Y Canto as "a failure," which, while a matter of opinion, is just wrong. And a bit of a contradiction from a man singing its praises at the James DenBoer reading (4/5) one day after the Flor Y Canto Festival ended. The Flor Y Canto riff was a brief element of his lecture. Indeed, he seemed to avoid discussing anything about the Sacramento Poetry Scene after say 1999 in anything but the abstract. Appropriate, I think, because Bari's real and profound involvement in the scene (founding readings,
holding marathons, work on Landing Signals) is all now historical. While the current scene
flourishes in large part because of the efforts of him and the others, he now is kind of the grizzled old sage, sitting on the sidelines issuing toothy proclamations as to the way things were and they way things oughta be. This year marks the 25th and final year of Kennedy's biggest ongoing contribution to the Sacramento scene: October in the Railroad Earth, a tribute to Kerouac and the Beats. Though Bari has expressed some regret about ending the long-running annual event, I hope it goes out with a memorable bang. A Flourish. Perhaps then, Bari can focus some energy on his finishing his book about Cleveland poet d.a. levy.