Listen & Be Heard Weekly Archives

The 12th Annual Petaluma Poetry Walk is scheduled this Sunday, September 23rd. As always, it starts at noon, though this year, the first venue will be Jungle Vibes, 136 Petaluma Boulevard North (next door to where it has traditionally started, for those of you who have attended before.) I asked Geri Digiorno, founder and director of the Petaluma Poetry Walk and current Sonoma County Poet Laureate, what else is new this year? She said, “We are part of Sonoma Word 2007 (www.sonomaword.com) this year. Their theme is Crossing Borders, so we are having music with poetry at each venue. Also, the Petaluma Poetry Walk 10-Year Anthology will be available this year. It’s a book we have been working on for awhile. It has poems by Diane di Prima, Chana Bloch, D. A. Powell, Sharon Doubiago, Kate Braverman, Jane Hirshfield, David Meltzer, Ellen Bass, Judy Stedman, David Bromige, Forrest Hamer, Joyce Jenkins, Eugene Ruggles, Frank X Gaspar, Judy Grahn, Brenda Hillman, Carolyn Kizer, Kay Ryan, Truong Tran, etc., etc. It has eighty-five wonderful poets from the first 10 years. We got a blurb from Al Young, Poet Laureate of California, and Dorianne Laux and Joseph Millar, who each also have a poem in the book. The book will sell for $20. The money goes directly to support the Walk.”

The idea for the Walk came about when Geri was having lunch with Judy Stedman. A couple from California, Pennsylvania told them about a poetry walk in their town, Geri thought Petaluma would be perfect for a walk. “Everyone said, ‘Why don’t you do it, Geri?’ So, I did it with the help of my friend, Judy. We walked around town looking for possible venues and made lists of poets we might get to read. Now, on September 29th of this year, I will be introducing Mike Tuggle at Memories That Linger, at the Guerneville Poetry Walk. I’m very happy because this poetry walk was inspired by me!” Geri Digiorno, who became Sonoma County Poet Laureate in January, 2006, will end her term this coming January. She was born in Logan, Utah, grew up in San Francisco and has lived in Petaluma for over twenty years. She has authored four books: I’m Tap Dancing, Norton Coker Press, 1992; Marilyn and Me, self-published, 2004; White Lipstick, Red Hen Press, 2005; and Rosetta Mary, dPress, 2007. “I started writing when I was 21 years old. I lived in Daly City. I would take my three children up to Mission St., to the library to get nursery rhyme books to read to them. I started looking at poetry books, like Longfellow, etc., and started to write poetry like them. I wrote a lot of poems and even sent some out to a woman’s magazine and got rejected. Writing poetry at that time saved me, saved my life, I believe.”

Information about this year’s Petaluma Poetry Walk can be found at:
http://geri-digiorno.petaluma360.com/default.asp?item=625632.