The Loose Lips Contemporary Poetry Series continues on Saturday, February 23, 1-3:30 p.m. with “Healing with Fire” at the Topanga Library.
The readings feature 21 poets from California, including two high school students, speaking about wildfires, evacuations, and mudslides, coupled with facts and personal experiences about California wildfires past and recent, among them the Woolsey Fire, the Paradise Camp Fire, and infernos in Topanga, Agoura, Santa Barbara, and Malibu.
If I were fire, I’d burn the world away;
If I were wind, I’d blow it down
—Paul Violi
DISPATCH FROM CAL FIRE: In 2018 wildfire agencies responded to 6,284
fires, in 2017 6,468 fires, in 2016, 6,954 fires and in 2015 8,283 fires. According to
the “L.A. Times”, since 2015 there’s been a fire every month.
DISPATCH FROM AGOURA: As part of fire prevention in a public park, 300 goats
were brought in to munch on the underbrush, which is most vulnerable to fires. It
took an hour for the goats to finish the job. In that Agora park, the fire line stopped
where the goats had eaten.
DISPATCH FROM ELLEN REICH, MALIBU PARK: December 21, “This morning I took my usual three-mile walk around my neighborhood and counted 94 houses down. Later, in December, I am now up to 130 houses down.”
“Healing the Fire” is curated by Loose lips founders Millicent Borges Accardi and Jean Colonomos, with dispatches narrated by Ann Buxie.
Loose Lips readings have received ten matching grants from “Poets & Writers”, a high honor for the literary series, which began in 2017 with featured poet Luivette Resto. Bringing a diverse array of the best contemporary poets to Topanga, Loose Lips provides audiences and authors with a poetic forum and a community while also delivering quality literary events that are edgy, spiritual, inspiring, and at times irreverent.
Jean Colonomos is an award-winning playwright and poet. Her chapbook, “Art Farm,” was published by Finishing Line Press. Most recently, she collaborated with the Martha Graham Dance Company to present a staged reading in New York of her play, “Third from the Left”, about the 1964 revival of Graham’s masterpiece, “Primitive Mysteries”.
Millicent Borges Accardi, author of three poetry books: “Injuring Eternity”, “Woman on a Shaky Bridge”, and “Only More So”, and has received fellowships from the NEA, Fulbright, CantoMundo, California Arts Council, Barbara Deming Foundation, and Fundação Luso-Americana (FLAD).
Ann Buxie loves the power of a good word through poetry and story-telling.
The Loose Lips Poetry Series is sponsored by Friends of the Topanga Library, The Canyon Bistro, Elaine and Doug Hanson, The Inn of the Seventh Ray, Karla and Joe Morrison and “Poets & Writers”.
The Topanga Library is located at 122 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd., Topanga, CA 90290. For more information: (310) 455-3480; colapublib.org.