Bronx Historical Society Presents the Kindness Session, a Poetry Writing Workshop

Bronx Historical Society is presenting "The Kindness Session," a poetry workshop on recognizing the difference between kindness and cruelty to channel that in our writing on November 18 at 6 PM till approximately 7:45. The Poetry Workshop takes place at the Poe Visitors Center, 2640 Grand Concourse, in the Bronx. Subways near the Visitors Center are the 4, B, and D train at the Kingsbridge stop.  Buses to the Center are Bx9, Bx22, Bx28, Bx38, and BxM4 (Express bus). The Poe Visitors Center is up the Hill from the Fordham Metro North train stop.

Led by area poets Elisabeth von Uhl and Anne Leighton, the Kindness Session will include sharing works from classic and contemporary including Edgar Allen Poe, Naomi Shihab Nye, Ross Gaye, Maya Angelou, as well as selected poems from attendees.

Once the attendees discuss poems, they’ll be encouraged to think of incidents where they recognize kindness from life experiences, friends and acquaintances, and how it affected their lives. From there, writers will be encouraged to create a first draft of poetry. Writers will read their poems, and be encouraged to revise a first draft by the first week of December.  We’ll have a Zoom get-together with feedback from each other. By Christmas we’ll have created the first part of an online anthology on blogspot, which poets will study, and make “final” corrections. The anthology will go live in 2025. Over the next few years, we’ll be adding more poems to the anthology from other workshops.

Elisabeth von Uhl earned an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College. Her work has been published in Lunch Ticket, The Cortland Review, SHIFT, cream city Review, The Watershed Review, and other journals and anthologies. She won a 2021 "Bronx Recognizes Its Own" Award, Her chapbook Ocean Sea, and was published by Finishing Line Press. She’s won scholarships and fellowships to Vermont College's Postgraduate Writing Conference, Prague Summer Writer's Seminar, and Greenwich Village Writing workshop. Visit www.elisabethvonuhl.com.

Anne Leighton appears on the Grammy-nominated album, Healthy Food for Thought: Good Enough to Eat, (Audio & Video Labs) reading her poem “Feed Your Parents Well.” She’s contributed to The Indie Collaborative, The Literary Parrot, Elephant Journal. Her poetry book The Leighton Explosion made enough of a profit to use her earnings to record an original song, “Got My Eye on You, Santa,” which found her a publishing deal with Sheer Music South Africa/Downtown Music, USA.  Visit workinggalrockandroll.blogspot.com.

For more information, please reach out to Elisabeth and/or Anne at e.vonuhl@gmail.com and LeightonMedia@aol.com. 

BCHS Home bronxhistoricalsociety.org

 

 

Newsletter 16 The Anne Leighton Inclusion

Poetry newsletter August 2024  

Since my last newsletter in 2022, I’ve journeyed from the depths of sadness for delusional love that never was! This trip help me learn—by observing and categorizing misguided hate—the actions from people that look down on you--from where ever I am, not them. 

As a noun, Hate is a manifestation of people’s actions and thoughts. As a verb, Hate is action.

Another manifestation is our writing.

I’m on a Love Conquers All path to create an infrastructure that includes The Anne Leighton Inclusion Interview Show and time to write.  

The Main hub of my writing work is my poetry website-- workinggalrockandroll.blogspot.com. The latest is a celebration of my Mom’s 100^th birthday which I finished writing for her Feb. 18 birthday, two days later at Art-in-the-Basin. I posted “Happy 100th Birthday, Mom (Dedicated to Halin Pryves Leighton)” on Sunday because of Kamala Harris. (She had some healing energy on this journey, classifying deliberately mean behavior as “weird,” but not in a creative sense manifested by artists. The poem salutes some of my ancestry including roots from India….  The last verse blew my mind--it was about my cats and not having children.

Also here at workinggalrockandroll.blogspot.com is a link to my first interview for the Leighton Inclusion. The third entry is with Tina Jackson, a former neighbor from the Bronx. Over the past ten years we’ve egged each other away from abuse. She released her first novel, "Love Don't Hit," and has been promoting herself in ways I need to learn! Now she’s working on a poetry book.

I’m creating poetry workshops inspired by Emily Dickinson—to understand the difference between kindness and cruelty. Tina will join me in some big workshops, and talk about getting out of abusive situations.

We like the idea of connecting with people that live love as opposed to those that are mean. Here's a link from a show one of my artists, Val Kinzler created as a series of “We the She” concerts in New York City.

Val had me write a poem, “We The She.” That segment starts about 39 minutes in; the poem tells my story of shaming a friend after an unsuccessful hookup with a rock star I was in love with back then. She gave him hell for not interacting with fans, and back then I told her she shouldn’t have stood up to the guy like that, 'cause I wanted him to like me next time we met if we ever talk…. Like he's gonna actually remember me!

I could’ve lost a friendship with someone that went to bat for me as opposed to someone that didn't like me.  

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NPv0c4GPss&t=2605s

Words are important, and we need to understand them for what they are. There’s so much about “Inclusion” being a negative word lately.  "Inclusion" means "Everyone needs a lift, and someone thinks you're worth it. It's belonging with people that care about you. 

Send the elevator down!

Let me make one thing perfectly clear. AnneLeightonInclusion is who I am. It’s become as much of my brand as my exuberant poetry book, "The Anne Leighton Explosion."

I Need Your Help For My New Poem—in progress.  In fact, let’s call it, “In Progress”!!!!!

I fight City Hall and want to see change. Whether it does or doesn't, I have to be the change I want to see, because that's what I want in the world. That kind of recovery helps me slow down to observe, and recognize “mean” and kindness.  

Just because I’m a writer, that doesn't mean I'm diplomatic. I've been blunt and humorous-in-an-outspoken way to every one of them.   

Give me some advice on diplomacy and I’ll work on it and turn it into a poem. 

One more link: If you have access to Facebook, please listen to my Art-in-the-Basin reading. Most of the poems were written after The Leighton Explosion, so I'm still at it. There's also a reading of the poem about my Mom on her 100th Birthday. 

www.facebook.com/artinthebasin/videos/931976168342958

Thank you for reading and checking out my work. I love encouragement like that. Hoping you have a cool summer! 

 

 

 

Writer and Rider - Spiders At Peace

 

Writer the Spider

and Rider the Spider

sat down beside  

one so playful

with intentions

that flowed stomps.

Writer the Spider

And Rider the Spider

jagged their fright

in flight forced

them to die.

 -Feb. 2023

 

Artists

Day after Elvis' birthday, and Prince is at my deli, 

looking at the pop in the cooler.

Cynthia, Lucy and me studied this guy 

with eyes set deeper in a head closer to the earth than ours,

He decided to sing for us for free— 

“I don’t need the Mercedes or the TV, don’t give me the money

just the whole Journey!"  

Was it Yes or No

or someone we didn’t know?

We know we remember

and we’re in his art

Are we poetry 

and everything else

any day or never?

He jumped so high, laughed and gently gave us 

a great first line for our song,

swaying and loving “girls, first hug me, we’re pretty”

“Don’t you hate the pain that goes with being hurt?” 

“We don’t like it, oh well, so use it

like meanies did to us. Namaste', we pray 
Sanity Resist together! 

Was it Yes or No

or someone we didn’t know?

We know we remember

and we’re in his art

are we poetry 

and everything else

any day or never?

An angel in a race against time 

and he seemed to be groovin’ with it

but us girls knew he would move up and fly

but now it seemed it wasn’t sinning, just living,

and getting grown with people that never grew up.

We didn’t need to drink or dance and sing, but it was everything

we remember—

Was it Yes or No

or someone we didn’t know?

We know we remember

and we’re in his art

are we poetry 

and everything else

any day or never?

Coming this week: THE LEIGHTON EXPLOSION

This is one of the promo pieces for my book, THE LEIGHTON EXPLOSION. It is a one sheet or a sell-sheet and it (along with a barcode) goes to book distributors and stores. Please ask your local bookstore if it's carrying THE LEIGHTON EXPLOSION. If not, they can order it from Canada's Soul Asylum Poetry & Publishing at authors@soulasylumpoetry.com

My book, THE LEIGHTON EXPLOSION will be available in stores in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Europe including the United Kingdom.

By early next week I will have a list of websites for all the stores including Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

Anne Leighton's MY BRAIN, THE PARK AND OTHER THINGS

A heads up that my poetry and prose book, MY BRAIN, THE PARK AND OTHER THINGS will be published in July 2011.

The web page for it is up, and includes this downloadable flyer that you can share with friends and art lovers!

Here's the site: http://workinggalrockandroll.blogspot.com.