The 12th Annual MultiCultural Poetry Reading and Potluck Lunchs was held on August 18, 2012, Noon-4:00 p.m. at the RECA Center, 3455 Sebastol Road, Santa Rosa, CA. 95407. Bring a dish to share, poetry to read and your interested family and friends. For more information and RSVP, please call Judy Cheung at 707-528-0912. Share the excitement of multi-lingual poetry in English and many other languages. To get to the Redwood Empire Chinese Association Cultural Center, take Highway 101 to Santa Rosa. Turn west on Highway 12. Exit on Stony Point Road, turn left. Turn right on to Sebastopol Road. Go west about .8 of a mile. Turn right at Cali Kicks Martial Arts (look for the balloons and sign). We are the last house on the right. If you have a problem finding us, on the day of the event, please call 707-526-8840. Everyone is welcome. Poetry must be in good taste and suitable for a general audience.
This event is sponsored by the Poets of the Vineyard Chapter of California Federation of Chaparral Poets, Redwood Empire Chinese Association and Artists Embassy International.
Photos taken by Judy Hardin Cheung and Ann Schleeter. Our apologies for missing the people not shown.
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| We began with a pot luck lunch and a big cake celebrating poetry. |
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| As more people came, we had more food. |
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| Some people ate outside on the picnic tables, others ate inside. |
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| During lunch, people got to meet each other and select partners and poems for the pick-a-partner read-around. |
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| May Yong of Cloverdale read Chinese and Mary Rudge, poet laureate of Alameda, read the English translation. Richard and Natica Angilly of Richmond look on. This year, we had poetry read in English, Mandarin, German, Spanish, Hawaiian, Ojibwa, French, Spanish, and Old English. |
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| Ken Peterson, Alameda, read in Spanish from the poetry of Carlos Gutierrez of Seattle and Nicaragua. He later read his own poetry. |
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| Ann Butts of Berkeley read English for the poem read in Spanish by Ken Peterson. |
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| Tanya Joyce read Old English. Dave Holt read the poem in modern English. Dave then read a poem in Ojibwa and Tanya read the English translation. Both later read their own original poetry. |
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| Alex and Alice Benedict read English and Japanese. They read from a chapbook with their haiku, published by Yuki Teki International Haiku Society based in Japan. |
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| Richard Angilly read English with a Chinese speaking partner and his own poetry in the air-conditioned garage-turned-dance studio of the Redwood Empire Chinese Association's Cultural Center. |
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| Tony from Taiwan, staying with May Yong in Cloverdale, read with partners. Ruth Wilde Schuler, Novato, and her sister Barbara Wilson, San Rafael, (under the window) both read their own poetry later. |
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| Cindy Levinson from Oakland read as a partner. We missed her son, Arthur, who has been to all of the previous MultiCultural Poetry Readings. He was busy working with his father. |
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| Kay Renz, Santa Rosa, read in English as a partner and later read her poem "Tornado" which won 1st prize in the 2012 Dancing Poetry Festival and Grand Prize in the 2012 Poets Dinner in Oakland. |
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| Annie from Santa Rosa read as a partner and later her own poetry. |
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| Arlene Mandel, Santa Rosa, turned in a short poem early. David Chung, Santa Rosa, translated it. They read it in Mandarin and English as partners. |
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| Nancy Wang read in Japanese and Jenny, both from Santa Rosa, read in English from a poetry book by Toshimi Horiuchi of Japan. |
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| Judy Hardin Cheung (pink blouse) led the read-arounds. She also read her own original poetry. |
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| Nancy Wang read in Mandarin a poem written in Cantonese. Dr. Robert Yee read it in English. It was from the California Gold Rush. A father was telling the world, "If you want your daughter to be happy, don't marry her to a man from Gold Mountain (California). |
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| Richard from Santa Rosa read in Mandarin. His partner read in English. Richard has taught Mandarin in the past. |
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