<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">For those who love poetry recited (not read), this is a chance to hear some of Sonoma County’s finest young voices recite poetry that they have learned by heart.<div class="">It is one of my favorite local poetry events.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14.666666984558105px;" class=""><span style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14.666666984558105px;" class="">Sonoma County Poetry Out Loud - Our 14th year of county participation!</span><br style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14.666666984558105px;" class=""><br style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14.666666984558105px;" class=""><span style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14.666666984558105px;" class="">This oral recitation competition (</span><a href="https://www.poetryoutloud.org/" style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14.666666984558105px;" class="">https://www.poetryoutloud.org/</a><span style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14.666666984558105px;" class="">) of famous poetry is sponsored through generous funding from the CAC, California Poets in the Schools, Creative Sonoma and the Vintners Foundation. </span><br style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14.666666984558105px;" class=""><br style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14.666666984558105px;" class=""><span style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14.666666984558105px;" class="">When: Monday, February 10, 2020</span><br style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14.666666984558105px;" class=""><span style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14.666666984558105px;" class="">Time: 6:00-9:00 p.m.</span><br style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14.666666984558105px;" class=""><span style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14.666666984558105px;" class="">Where: Downtown Santa Rosa Library</span><br style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14.666666984558105px;" class=""><span style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14.666666984558105px;" class=""> 211 E. Street, Santa Rosa, CA</span><br style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14.666666984558105px;" class=""><span style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14.666666984558105px;" class="">Emcee: David Beckman</span><br style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14.666666984558105px;" class=""><span style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14.666666984558105px;" class="">Admission is free. </span><br style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14.666666984558105px;" class=""><span style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14.666666984558105px;" class=""> </span><br style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14.666666984558105px;" class=""><span style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14.666666984558105px;" class="">We are excited to have students from twelve Sonoma County high schools competing: Analy, Casa Grande, Creekside, El Molino, Maria Carillo, Petaluma, Piner, Rancho Cotate, Roseland Collegiate Prep, Roseland University Prep, Santa Rosa High, and Sonoma Academy. </span><br style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14.666666984558105px;" class=""><span style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14.666666984558105px;" class=""> </span><br style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14.666666984558105px;" class=""><span style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14.666666984558105px;" class="">For questions, please contact: County Coordinator, Jackie Huss Hallerberg, </span><a href="jackiehallerberg@earthlink.net" style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14.666666984558105px;" class="">jackiehallerberg@earthlink.net</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">On Hearing a Poem Recited, Not Read</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">The poem flew at me</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Little darts, pricking my skin</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">piercing my belly, my arms, my eyes</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Flew at me on swift, black wings</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">trailing a smoky blur past my ears</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Flew all around me</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">furious, then curiously quiet</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">No words sounded like words</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">read from a page</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">They had been lifted</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">the night before, years before</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Flipped up, one by one</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">letter by letter let fall</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">on the tongue and dissolved</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">like melting snowflakes trickling down</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">through the heart, into the belly</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">to the toes, the fingertips</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Pulled back through the blood</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">through the brain</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">down into the back of the throat</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">into the cheeks and spit out</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Little darts of words</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">big wings of words</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">charging the air all around me</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">There were no words, only language</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Tongue moved by muscle and blood</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">The poem entered me and exited</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">leaving little points of pain and light</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">soft feathery strokes on my skin and hair</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Leaving me empty of words</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Christine Walker</div></div><div class=""><br class=""></div></body></html>