Beat Not Beat Anthology Launch: Hosted by Rich Ferguson and S.A. Griffin
Featuring L.A. Poets: Alexis Rhone Fancher, Brendan Constantine, CLS Sandoval, Jamie Asaye FitzGerald, Milo Martin, Mike M Mollett, Briana Muñoz, Luivette Resto, Lynne Thompson, Luis Rodriguez, David L. Ulin, Doug Knott, Pam Ward, Derrick Brown, Conney Williams, Iris Berry, Dennis and Annette Cruz.
Beat Not Beat: An Anthology of California Poets Screwing on the Beat and Post Beat Tradition (Moontide Press)
Beat Not Beat, edited by Rich Ferguson and published by Eric Morago's Moon Tide Press, is an anthology of California poets screwing on the Beat and post-Beat tradition. Co-edited by Alexis Rhone Fancher, S.A. Griffin and Kim Shuck, this dynamic anthology spans the postwar, atomic-bomb-obsessed American landscape to the here and now: a period when Beat poets, the Vortex, Baby Beats, and their progenitors inspired one another through cultural, political, and humorous means to create new forms of consciousness weaponizing pen and paper to enact mighty forms of lyrical rebellion. The collection features notable poets such as Bob Kaufman, Diane di Prima, Jack Hirschman, Wanda Coleman, Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Charles Bukowski. It also features contemporary poets such as Douglas Kearney, Brendan Constantine,Kim Addonizio, Ellyn Maybe, Will Alexander, and former United States Poet Laureate Robert Hass.
Pushcart Prize-nominated poet Rich Ferguson has shared the stage with Patti Smith, Wanda Coleman, Moby, and other esteemed poets and musicians. Ferguson has been selected by the National Beat Poetry Foundation, Inc. (NBPF), to serve as the State of California Beat Poet Laureate (Sept. 2020 to Sept. 2022). He is a featured performer in the film, What About Me? featuring Michael Stipe, Michael Franti, k.d. lang, and others. Ferguson is the editor of the Beat Not Beat poetry anthology (Moon Tide Press, 2022).
S.A. Griffin, co-editor of Beat Not Beat, is the co-editor of The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry (Firecracker Award). In 2010, he created The Poetry Bomb, a former Vietnam era practice bomb converted into an art object filled with almost 900 poems from around the world in an effort to inspire civil disagreements culminating in The Poetry Bomb Couch Surfing Across America Tour of Words. Named Best Performance Poet by the LA Weekly, in 2011 he was the first recipient of Beyond Baroque's Distinguished Service Award.
Alexis Rhone Fancher is published in Best American Poetry, Rattle,Verse Daily, The American Journal of Poetry,Plume, Diode, Flock, and elsewhere. She’s authored nine poetry collections, most recently, Junkie Wife (Moon Tide Press), The Dead Kid Poems (KYSO Flash Press), Stiletto Killer (Edizone Italia), EROTIC: New & Selected (NYQ Books), and DUETS(Small Harbor). Her photographs are featured worldwide, including the covers of Witness and Pedestal Magazine. A multiple Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee, Alexis is poetry editor of Cultural Daily. She lives with her husband on the bluffs of San Pedro, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, just a stone’s throw from downtown Los Angeles. They have an extraordinary view.
A 2022 recipient of a Poet Laureate Fellowship from the Academy of American Poets, Lynne Thompson currently serves as the Poet Laureate of the City of Los Angeles. She is the author of three collections of poetry: Beg No Pardon, Start With A Small Guitar, and Fretwork. Thompson’s poetry is widely published and anthologized, most recently in Best American Poetry, Colorado Review, Pleiades, and The Common, among others.
Luis J. Rodriguez is former Poet Laureate of Los Angeles. He has 16 books in all genres, including the bestselling memoir "Always Running, La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A." He is founding editor of Tia Chucha Press and co-founder of Tia Chucha's Centro Cultural & Bookstore, both in the San Fernando Valley. He last poetry book was "Borrowed Bones." His latest book is "From Our Land to Our Land: Essays, Journeys & Imaginings of a Native Xicanx Writer."
Brendan Constantine is a poet based in Los Angeles. His work has appeared in many standards, including Poetry, The Nation, Best American Poetry, Tin House, Ploughshares, and Poem-a-Day. He is the author of four collections of poetry and a fifth, ‘The Opposites Game,’ is forthcoming. A popular performer, Brendan has presented his work to audiences throughout the U.S. and Europe, also appearing on NPR's All Things Considered, TED ED, numerous podcasts, and YouTube. He currently teaches at the Windward School and, since 2017, has been working with speech pathologists across the country to develop poetry workshops for people with Aphasia and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).
Jamie Asaye FitzGerald is a Los Angeles mixed race/hapa poet from Hawai'i with work in journals and anthologies, including The American Poetry Review, Works & Days and Mom Egg Review. She earned an MFA in poetry from San Diego State University and a BA in English/Creative Writing from the University of Southern California. For over a decade, she has worked for Poets & Writers in its Los Angeles office.
David L. Ulin is the author or editor of more than a dozen books, including Sidewalking: Coming to Terms with Los Angeles, shortlisted for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay. He has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Lannan Foundation, and Ucross Foundation. He is a professor of English at the University of Southern California, where he edits the journal Air/Light.
Conney D. Williams is a poet, actor, community activist, and performance artist with three collections of poetry “Leaves of Spilled Spirit from an Untamed Poet (2002)” and “Blues Red Soul Falsetto (2012); his new collection “the distance of observation” was released August 2021 on World Stage Press. He also has two critically acclaimed poetry CDs: River&Moan and Unsettled Water.
Iris Berry is an author, L.A. historian, actress, and musician. In the 1980s & 90s, she wrote, performed, and recorded with bands such as the Lame Flames, the Ringling Sisters, and the Dickies. She has served on the Board of Directors for Beyond Baroque Literary/Arts and has received a Certificate of Merit Award from the city of L.A. for her contribution as a writer, and for her charity work. Berry is the co-founder of Punk Hostage Press, where continues to champion and advocate for original voices.
Originally from Stockton, California, Annette Cruz has resided in North East LA since 1974. She has performed her poetry in various LA venues ranging from Beyond Baroque,The World Stage, Library Girl, Avenue 50 Studio and Timothy Leary’s final birthday party at his home in the Hollywood Hills. After going into hiatus in 2002 to concentrate on raising her youngest son, she has now re-emerged with conviction and purpose and is writing her first book.