<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="">You are cordially invited to join us for a virtual poetry reading with Gwynn O’Gara<div class="">10:00 AM</div><div class="">Saturday, January 21</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">You do not need to pre-register; just open the link:<a data-v-186552ce="" href="https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81352613503?pwd=amVTRElQSitYNm5lY3pCdy9JSTFCUT09" aria-label="https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81352613503?pwd=amVTRElQSitYNm5lY3pCdy9JSTFCUT09" aria-labelledby="view-registration" target="_blank" class="" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(9, 86, 181); text-decoration: none; font-family: "Almaden Sans", Helvetica, Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; letter-spacing: 0.42px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81352613503?pwd=amVTRElQSitYNm5lY3pCdy9JSTFCUT09</a></div><div class="">and enter the passcode:<span class="" style="color: rgb(35, 35, 51); font-family: "Almaden Sans", Helvetica, Arial; letter-spacing: 0.42px; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">371745</span></div><div class=""><span class="" style="color: rgb(35, 35, 51); font-family: "Almaden Sans", Helvetica, Arial; letter-spacing: 0.42px; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><span class="" style="color: rgb(35, 35, 51); font-family: "Almaden Sans", Helvetica, Arial; letter-spacing: 0.42px; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div class="">A California Poet in the Schools for over 25 years, Gwynn O'Gara celebrated the joys of poetry, song and recitation with people of all ages. From 2010 through 2011, she served as Sonoma County Poet Laureate and is grateful to the many who helped her along the way.</div><div class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Gwynn’s new collection <i class="">We Who Dream</i> was a book waiting to happen. During the pandemic, while looking over old poems, Gwynn discovered fragments that still held juice. As she combined them with more recent work, commonalities appeared and the collection became an exploration of the beauty,, mystery and humor of love, desire and the natural world.. </div></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><p class="Body" style="line-height: 16pt;"><b class=""><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Pharaoh’s Daughter<o:p class=""></o:p></span></b></p><p class="Body" style="line-height: 16pt;"><b class=""><i class=""><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></i></b><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I don’t care what you do with my body.</span></p><p class="Body" style="line-height: 16pt;"><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Wrap me in twine, pluck my eyes and heart</span></p><p class="Body" style="line-height: 15pt;"><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">and plunge them into patient strangers. <o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="Body" style="line-height: 15pt;"><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Let that fat scribe write anything. <o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="Body" style="line-height: 15pt;"><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Lies, endearments, praise <o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="Body" style="line-height: 15pt;"><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">they’re all the same on a windy day. <o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><div class="" style="line-height: 15pt;"><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class="Body" style="line-height: 15pt;"><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Carry my ashes to our favorite spot</span></p><p class="Body" style="line-height: 15pt;"><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">and order me a cabernet <o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="Body" style="line-height: 15pt;"><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">or leave them collecting dust on the mantel. <o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="Body" style="line-height: 15pt;"><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Just make sure I’ve got an alabaster jug like Dad’s.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="Body" style="line-height: 15pt;"><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Oblivion and gin fill his but leave mine empty.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><div class="" style="line-height: 15pt;"><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class="Body" style="line-height: 15pt;"><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">My spirit will pour like oil <o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="Body" style="line-height: 15pt;"><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">and slip through the gods’ fingers<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">to return to a bed of rock<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">my only companion a turtle<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">my only weakness love.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><div class=""><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Gwynn O’Gara</span></p><div class=""><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><span class="" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br class=""></span></div></div><div class=""><img apple-inline="yes" id="753E620C-9BBC-4247-B426-3EB4E8E1446D" class="" src="cid:BAD1DE01-8E9E-4B03-85AB-1B0F7703C657"></div>_______________________________________________<br class="">PoetryLovers mailing list<br class=""><a href="mailto:PoetryLovers@lists.sonic.net" class="">PoetryLovers@lists.sonic.net</a><br class=""><a href="https://lists.sonic.net/mailman/listinfo/poetrylovers" class="">https://lists.sonic.net/mailman/listinfo/poetrylovers</a></body></html>