To clarify: Ivette Deltoro read “Cardio Tai Chi” by Sarah Lyn Rogers at our Best of Mashup show at Anne & Mark’s Art Party on September 24. Watch the footage now to experience the Spoken Word Lounge with us:
Thanks to Sarah Lyn Rogers for sharing her story with us once more, and to Ivette for performing with us! If you’re interested in participating in future shows, email us at playonwordssj@gmail.com.
So, Sarah Lyn Rogers might have moved to Bhutan, but in our minds, she will always be a San Jose writer. You might recognize her work from previous POW shows–and you’ll be lucky to catch an excerpt of her essay, “Land of the Thunder Dragon: Expectations vs. Reality,” at New Year Nouveau on January 6 at Cafe Stritch.
Sarah is a writer from the San Francisco Bay Area and currently lives in Thimphu, Bhutan. Over the past months, Sarah has grown accustomed to walking with cattle, meeting royalty, and writing poems about spells, rituals, and magical objects. Her first chapbook will be published by Sad Spell Press this spring. She is stoked. When she’s not writing, Sarah is the fiction editor for The Rumpus. For more of Sarah’s writing, doodles, and life stuff, visit sarahlynrogers.com.
Recent Publications:
Five of my On the Road erasure poems were published semi-recently in Potluck Mag for their spooky Halloween week. They are viewable here.
Upcoming projects:
One of my poems, “Drones,” will be published in the next issue of DMQ Review. A few of my illustrations and microblogs of Bhutan life will be in the premiere issue of galley, a new zine for which there is not yet a link. Mostly I’m stoked about my chapbook which will be released by Sad Spell Press, an imprint of Witch Craft Magazine.
What inspired you to participate in Play On Words?
I’ve said this one before in a different way, but my Bay Area friends are a crisscrossing community of writers and performers. How could I not get tangled up in this?
Which writers or performers inspire you?
I know I’m like five years behind here, but I recently discovered Tavi Gevinson, a nineteen-year-old powerhouse who shot to internet fame for her fashion blog at the tender age of twelve and is now a successful actress, model, and editor-in-chief of Rookie Mag. I like that she’s unapologetic about being girly and legitimizes the real questions and frustrations of being a teenage girl in her magazine by and for teenage girls.
Working in writing and publishing, for me, has made me think twice about how feminine I’m “allowed” to be in my work and public persona, and how much I’m “allowed” to write about feelings. I liked having my perspective smacked around a little by discovering someone who is successful because of—not in spite of—her femininity.
Name a book or performance that fundamentally affected you.
Madness, Rack, and Honey is an amazing book by poet Mary Ruefle. It’s a collection of essays, ostensibly about poetry, that’s really a curio cabinet of strange facts, quotations, and observations—food for writing-thought. I was delighted enough by the just intro to push my face into the spine and press the pages against my cheeks.
Thank you to everyone who joined us this week in San Jose’s St. James Park! We really appreciated the opportunity to fill our downtown park with stories and friends. Today we are excited to feature our first video footage from one of our returning authors, Sarah Lyn Rogers. Here’s footage of Adam Magill reading “Haunted”:
Melinda Marks read Sarah’s second piece, entitled “Mountain State”:
Thank you to Michelle Anderson for filming these pieces.
Sarah is a writer, editor, and illustrator from the San Francisco Bay Area. When Sarah’s not writing or doodling, she selects short fiction for The Rumpus, gives editorial feedback to young novelists through Society of Young Inklings, and writes snarky humanities content for an education website. For more of her work, visit http://sarahlynrogers.com.
Publications, Honors or Awards:
James D. Phelan awards in metrical verse, free verse, and familiar essay. Academy of American Poets’ Virginia de Araujo Award.
Recent publications:
“‘Sleeping Lady Plate,’ 1976” in Cosumnes River Journal
“‘You can never quite forgive’ (148),” in Caesura.
What inspired you to participate in Play On Words?
I submitted work for the last two performances, “Take Flight” and “Spring Fling.” Nicole Hughes, who used to be one of the PoW organizers, goaded me into submitting the first time. Now I’m hooked!
Which writers or performers inspire you?
I’m on a poetry kick again, rereading pieces I like by Matthew Zapruder and Erin Belieu. Leigh Stein is another writer I admire—she’s able to cram so many evocative objects and ideas into poetry that sounds both nostalgic and conversational. These poets in particular make me think, How did they do that? Can I?
Name a book or performance that fundamentally affected you.
Writing Down the Bones, by Natalie Goldberg, is something I come back to again and again. Her shtick is that she’s a Zen practitioner and a writer who had an epiphany: What if she used writing as her meditation, her practice? This book is about “writing practice”—which isn’t so much about honing a craft it is about letting your thoughts flow freely without judgment. Use a fast-writing pen. Don’t look back. Don’t erase. If you reread later and any of your recorded thoughts have special resonance, go ahead and harvest them—but that’s not the goal.
Have you ever taken a college P.E. class? How about tai chi–cardio tai chi? In case you missed it, here’s the lovely Tiffany Edwards reading “Cardio Tai Chi” by Sarah Lyn Rogers June 3 at Cafe Stritch:
We welcome any practitioners of cardio tai chi to perform alongside our public reading on July 14 in San Jose’s St. James Park. Stay tuned for the details!
It’s nearly time to take flight. We had our rehearsal on Saturday night and we are pumped to perform tomorrow at Cafe Stritch. Our playbills will be printed tomorrow–and in one last effort to spread the word, we’re sharing the full lineup for Play On Words: Take Flight here:
ACT ONE
ACT TWO
As we gear up for the big show, we’d also like to extend our gratitude, once again, to The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the San Jose Downtown Association, as well as Steve and Max Borkenhagen of Cafe Stritch, whose support and guidance helped make this show possible.
This June we’re excited to produce “Cardio Tai Chi,” a short piece by Sarah Lyn Rogers. This is our second time working with Sarah. You can watch Tiffany Viorge’s May 2014 performance of Sarah’s beautiful piece, “Ephemera,” right here on our blog. Truth be told, we are Sarah fans.
Sarah Lyn Rogers is a writer, editor, and illustrator from the San Francisco Bay Area. When Sarah’s not writing or doodling, she selects short fiction for The Rumpus, gives editorial feedback to young novelists through Society of Young Inklings, and plays drums in a chamber pop band called Elflock. For more of her work, visit http://sarahlynrogers.com.
She has been awarded the James D. Phelan awards in metrical verse, free verse, and familiar essay, as well as the Academy of American Poets’ Virginia de Araujo Award. She also has a poem forthcoming in Caesura. Her short stories, essays, and poetry have been published in The Rumpus, Reed Magazine, 3Elements Review, Chanterelle’s Notebook, Iris Brown Lit Mag, Vine Leaves Literary Journal, and two anthologies from PushPen Press.
What inspired you to participate in Play On Words?
Nicole Hughes, who used to be one of you Players on Words, invited me last year. Also my boyfriend knows Melinda and a couple of the actors (hi, Adam!) from his Foothill Conservatory days. The world is small.
Which writers or performers inspire you?
I swear no one paid me to say this, but Melinda is a wonderful performer. I really dig her pacing and inflection—they bring the pieces to life by making audience members sit with them a little longer instead of skimming over the words as we might with our eyes. Annnd Julia Halprin Jackson always has such an interesting angle in her work. I really like her monologue, “Sweet on You,” about mistaking an iPod for an insulin pump on a man who might be a kindred spirit.
Name a book or performance that fundamentally affected you.
I don’t know that this fundamentally affected me, or what that would say about me, but I got to see a production of August: Osage County at Oregon Shakespeare festival a few years back and it was my favorite play experience. I loved Barbara, the oldest daughter character, trying to hold everything together amid the depth and chaos of family dynamics.
Play On Words: Spring Fling featured a number of San Jose State students, both undergrad and grad students. We were excited to recruit Tiffany Viorge, SJSU Theater major, to read Sarah Lyn Rogers’ piece, “Ephemera.” A mere 24 hours after reading this lyrical piece, Tiffany graduated from college. Talk about an exciting week.
Sarah Lyn Rogers is an MFA candidate at SJSU, where her emphases are fiction and poetry. She was this year’s recipient of the Academy of American Poets – Virginia de Araujo prize for her poem, “Rat Race.” When she’s not writing, Sarah is a mentor and copyeditor for Society of Young Inklings, and the assistant fiction editor for The Rumpus. She also performs original songs with Elflock.
And now for something different: Kevin Hull’s performance of “Poor Thing,” by Jessy Goodman, at last month’s Spring Fling show at the Blackbird Tavern Annex. Jessy came to Play On Words directly following her graduation from San Jose State University’s MFA program. Congratulations Jessy, and thanks for sharing such a fabulous piece of writing. In case you missed it, here’s Kevin’s performance:
Kevin’s band Elflock kicked off the evening with a few lovely songs, alongside fellow POW contributor Sarah Lyn Rogers, whose story “Ephemera” will be up on the blog soon. Stay tuned!
The days are getting longer. The air is ripe. Students are graduating. People are getting married. It’s about time spring had one last hurrah, don’t you think? Join us next at 7:30pm next Thursday, May 22, at San Jose’s Blackbird Tavern for Play On Words: Spring Fling. We’re excited to announce our spring lineup:
Jessy Goodman is an imminent graduate with an MFA in fiction at SJSU. She recently one multiple awards for her writing, including the Lois King Thore Short Story Scholarship and the Owen Broyles Scholarship for Outstanding Achievement by a Graduate Student. Jessy is also fiction editor of The Rumpus.
Andrew Christian is a high school English teacher at Abraham Lincoln High School in San Jose. He holds a B.A. in English with a minor in Creative Writing from CSU Chico as well as a teaching credential from San Jose State University. While studying English at CSU Chico, he was published in the CSU Chico literary magazine, “Watershed” and was featured in the 30th Anniversary Edition of “Watershed.”
Julia Halprin Jackson‘s work has appeared in West Branch Wired, California Northern, Fourteen Hills, Flatmancrooked, Sacramento News & Review, Fictionade, Fiction365, Catalyst and Spectrum, as well as selected anthologies. Julia has been awarded scholarships from the Tomales Bay Writer’s Workshops and the Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference. She has an M.A. in Creative Writing (fiction) from UC Davis.
David Wirth has spent the last two years accidentally developing a belly, which only recently got round in a way that can be seen through a t-shirt. Since this development, watching superhero movies has, in terms of his psyche/self-regard, become a challenging experience. Further, David Wirth lives in Salinas, where he is nearly always surrounded by beautiful things, especially in the early morning and late evening, when the light is really nice. He likes words.
Sarah Lyn Rogers is an MFA candidate at San José State University, where her emphases are fiction and poetry. She was this year’s recipient of the Academy of American Poets – Virginia de Araujo prize for her poem, “Rat Race.” When she’s not writing, Sarah is a mentor and copyeditor for Society of Young Inklings, and the assistant fiction editor for The Rumpus.
Christine Keating is a writer/director living in San Francisco. Directing credits include Little Shop of Horrors, Can’t Thread a Moving Needle, War Brides, and The Vagina Monologues, as well as staged readings at Custom Made Theatre, TheatreWorks Young Playwrights PRogram, and Santa Clara University. Recently, Christine assistant-directed Good People at Marin Theatre Company and Silent Sky at TheatreWorks. Writing credits include A Girl in Pink (Reading: stageRIGHT Theatre, Seattle), The Sisters Sirene (co-written with Amelia Bethel, commissioned by the 2014 SF Olympians Festival) and an adaptation of Sam Shepard’s short stories, day out of days (Reading: Magic Theatre). She would like to thank Play on Words for this wonderful opportunity! You can look at her face and read some things that come out of her brain at http://www.keatingmarie.com.
Play On Words 