a book party in NYC Nov 9

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NESENKEAG BENEFIT

I'm pleased to be participating in this benefit reading in NYC for my friend Eero Ruuttila's New Hampshire farm.

George

Vernal Cabaret at the Gershwin Hotel, Saturday, March 22nd, 8–12 pm

There will be an evening of poetry and music to celebrate the vernal equinox—and with it, the return of farmers carting their green wares to the city. Proceeds will benefit Nesenkeag Farm and the New Farmer Development Project in ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />New York. The Vernal Cabaret will take place in the Gershwin Hotel Living Room, 7 East 27th Street, New York City, starting at 8 p.m., bringing together poets, artists, stand-up comics, green market promoters, musicians, urban agriculture activists and other visionary spirits for an evening of high-falutin' sustenance and fun. Suggested donation at the door is $10.

The lively line-up of performers includes David Abel, Bare Hand Wolf Chokers Association, Lee Ann Brown, Scott Chaskey, Brenda Coultas, Jason Eisenberg, Russ Gershon, Kim Lyons, Edgar Oliver, Simon Pettet, Nicole Peyrafitte, Janine Pommy Vega, Eero Ruuttila, Sparrow, Steven Taylor, Laki Vazakas, and George Wallace.

The benefit is grateful for the support of co-sponsoring organizations, including the Chef's Collaborative, the NY Food Museum, and the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York (NOFA-NY). Regional farmers from NOFA -NY will donate organic produce so that our caterers have plenty of good stuff to work with in providing snacks to the audience. In making the Living Room and Lounge available for this benefit, the Gershwin Hotel continues its mission of supporting innovative arts and culture in New York City.

Nesenkeag Cooperative Farm, located on the Merrimack River in Litchfield, New Hampshire, has established itself as a model of cutting-edge organic agriculture and community outreach. Marketing its high-value specialty crops directly to top chefs in Boston and Southern New Hampshire, Nesenkeag Farm donates more than $10,000 of food to the New Hampshire Food Bank each year, with the support of Share Our Strength.  The farm has a strong relationship with the large Cambodian immigrant population in and around Lowell, Massachusetts, employing farm staff from this community and participating in market-garden projects involving the Coalition for a Better Acre, the New Immigrant Farmer Project and the United Teen Equality Center.

Farm Manager Eero Ruuttila has won recognition for pioneering bio-intensive sustainable methods and is a well-known speaker at organic farming conferences throughout the Northeast region. He is a poet and photographer, as well. "I have been inspired to find common ground with practitioners of alternative agriculture as well as those of the alternative arts," he says. This inspiration is evident every fall at the Annual Nesenkeag Farm Day, where visitors tour the fields, sample Cambodian cooking, and then gather to listen to featured poets and musicians. Even without tractors or bonfires in the background, this Nesenkeag Farm benefit cabaret will produce the same kind of green alchemy that results when artistic inspiration mixes with activist consciousness. Ruuttila is also happy to offer recognition and financial support to the New Farmer Development Project.

The New Farmer Development Project, with support from the Council on the Environment's Greenmarket program and the Cornell University Cooperative Extension, works with agriculturally experienced immigrants in the NYC region, encouraging them to start their own environmentally sound farms through classroom and practical training, access to New York City's farmers markets, and small credit opportunities.

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SKY IS by George Wallace
Category: Writing and Poetry

SKY IS 

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sky is woman in white stockings baghdad in coral rain
sky is tooth grain silo chemical knowledge
sky is unsweet to the tongue
lashed with razors --
o! satin sky in the tulip tree –
sky is muskrat soapstone
gunpowder starbloom armageddon
plantain dominican haycart
sky poets in the animal mist
washington sky calling all airports sky
sky is in the nuclear eye under house arrest
sky is false reports of frozen mercury
monks in a shallow bunker
sky is diaspora hejira fly on an oakleaf
sky is a mythical road verbal nightmare
broken locket worm on the moon
sky is written in broad script
has a message in it
is away for an hour
is coming back soon
is the next best thing to being there
sky fertilizes earth with its peppercorns and many cracked stars
sky is seed of prairies thickskinned prey scent of white grapes
sky of blue fingers september sky –
figleaf waterfall black-hooded
splay of cormorants –
sky is waving with autumn juices
running down its stubbled
miraculous sky-neck

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 - George Wallace

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  ©2007, George Wallace
  All rights reserved.

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WHEN I GO AWAY by George Wallace
Category: Writing and Poetry

WHEN I GO AWAY 

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o i know what love is and
the sound of rain falling like
bicycles in paris and i know
what art is and i've even visited
montmartre and the rue des fleurs
but when i go away there will be
sunlight in the park where you live
and a small child on a bench
with big eyes like slot machines
and hands that are far too large
for his body and that will not matter
because he will be drawing a picture of
a tree and a dog with eyes like two
coal mines will be watching him
as he draws his picture and all of this
will be happening in the sun on a
large piece of drawing paper and
with a wild sky over him there will be
reason to believe a storm is coming
and maybe a small boy should not be drawing at all
maybe he and that dog of his should run home fast before
that charcoal drawing washes away in the rain
but it does not rain the sun keeps on shining
the child keeps on drawing and then, there you are!
you are in the sunlight you are in the picture too
because you have been walking through the park all this time
with an artist friend and you are wearing a white hat with
blue buttons and he has on a high collar and a necktie
which is certainly not fashionable these days or particularly comfortable
and he has two pearl eyes and a trim moustache
and there are charcoal geese everywhere in the park
scaring children ruining the grass and maybe a few soldiers
who are walking around with some very nice girls from
the country and they all have eyes for each other
and their hearts will be light as birds

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 - George Wallace

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  ©2007, George Wallace
  All rights reserved.

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I HAVE DISCOVERED A COUNTRY by George Wallace
Category: Writing and Poetry

I HAVE DISCOVERED A COUNTRY 

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I have discovered a country
of modest people
that live without great obsessions
that live without great anxiety  
that live in the silence
of forgotten places
in the alleyways
of their imagination
that choose to be candid  
and nobody gets offended
they live without sovereigns
or elections
they do their research on the moon
they teach their children to read tea leaves
they cook an amazing asparagus soup
the railroads never stop running

I have discovered a country
of disinterested people
they are kind to farm animals
they've never been closer to God
they accept honest gestures
and madmen into their academy
they laugh without irony
they know the difference
between wisdom and grace
they ignore doorbells
they answer politely
when the wind knocks at their door

I have discovered a country
where there are no theories
where there is no need for ingenuity
where there is no need for carpenters
or hunters
or hookers
or ingenues
or mystics
or lawyers
or book-keepers
or probate judges
or bee-keepers.
where schemes are impossible
where a handshake is unnecessary
where doctors are poets
and horoscopes are optional  
the subways do not shake
the mosquitoes do not bite
the low country does not flood
and heaven does not tumble a family out of their bed

there are many colours on its flag
there are many roses in its garden
there are taverns along its roads
and bluebells in front of its cottages
there are families of gypsies
that play violin
along the country lanes
the horses have good teeth
the politicians close their mouths
when they are chewing
what a great country
I have discovered

grape leaves
fantastic clowns
old men with hats
ponds that sing like frogs
dogs that give rides to children
children who whistle like traffic cops
soldiers who fight like tropical fish
in the fragile blue sky

and a long river which runs through its capital
and throws bouquets of shadows
at my feet
whenever I walk along its banks
in cobblestoned morning.

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 - George Wallace

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  ©2007, George Wallace
  All rights reserved.

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Currently listening : Crowned Compassion By Zayra Yves Release date: 01 August, 2006

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