a red hawk wrangling a dove
in a high trafficked intersection
at a red light turning green
and the oncoming traffic on a black street
drives the hawk away
before she can make off
with her prey, so
she leaves the grey dove standing
dazed in sunlight, the dove that is taking a step forward 
and a step back as cars pass on either si…

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Sleeping on a bench at the bus stop
Walking your carriage down the street
without shoes
Walking in black socks
Talking to people you know
Talking to yourself
Spinning around with your fists out
Twirling with your eyes shut
Dancing in a shadow on the corner
of the sidewalk
Moving your bicycle
Sitting in a lawn c…

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No photograph submitted

You’ve been lied to
They know
Read the source
Tragedy falls
Tragedy and manipulation
Don’t believe what you see
They did it
You're exploited
Here’s the proof
They know
You’ve been lied to; they did it
Tragedy awaits
You're exploited
They did it, you've been manipulated
They did it
Stop supporting them
They disrespect you
Tragedy awaits
They disrespect you
You're exploited
They disrespect you
You've been manipulated; you're exploited
They did it to themselves
You're exploited
You’ve been lied to
You’ve been lied to

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Poets Pack Point Loma Community Reading as San Diego Poetry Annual Turns 20

POETRY: Seven Deadly Songs

POETRY: Little Italy

Article and Photography by Eliezer Sherman

About 75 local poets and poetry lovers gathered at the Point Loma Hervey Library on Monday evening to celebrate with the San Diego Poetry Annual as it turned 20.

Hosts Jane Muschenetz and SDPA Executive Director Michael Klam led the launch of the 2025-26 edition, curating a night of compelling readings from dozens of poets. Journal founder Bill Harding provided jazzy segues on his saxophone.

The evening’s readers traversed many topics—from vivacious poems about the spring season such as “Ta Da,” by writer and teacher Judy Reeves, to more somber existential meditations like “The Canvas,” by author and Marine Corps veteran Addis Sansone.

Sansone noted that his mother had traveled from North Carolina to watch him perform.

Poet and artist Jill G. Hall read her piece, “After the Transition of Power—2025,” about experiencing the Navy jet crash in the San Diego Bay in early 2025 shortly after President Donald Trump took office from his predecessor, Joe Biden.

In her poem, Hall asks whether the incident—in which an E/A-18G Growler crashed in inclement weather after its aviators ejected near the North Island naval base—was “symbolic of our country’s chaotic/transition of power or because of it.”

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San Diego poets ‘blossom from within’ at Poetry Coalition open mic

POETRY: Seven Deadly Songs

POETRY: Little Italy

The event also featured Spanish-language poetry. Poet and physicist Olga Garcia, an Annual editor, read an experimental rumination on science and history called “Drip Drip Drip,” written under pseudonym enriKetta luisi. After Garcia, Klam read the poem in English.

Point Loma Nazarene University Professor of Writing Katie Manning snapped a selfie with the audience before reading an oceanic poem about impermanence entitled “What Charm Would You Cast if You Could?” Three of her students followed Manning on the mic.

Award-winning poet and author Michelle Smith read an ode to an inspiring teacher. Introducing “A Blossoming Passion,” she noted that it is a ghazal, a poetic form rooted in 7th century Arabic tradition.

“You supported my wish to prove the world wrong, that my purpose/wasn’t solely at home, encouraging me to explore passion,” read Smith.

“What a joy to see so many returning poets who have become mentors and stars in the lit community,” Klam told Constant Feed. “Judy Reeves, Katie Manning, Jill G. Hall, Olga Garcia—and to have Anne Hubbell in the house with her son Drew and our new poet and friend from Hawaii, Nancee Cline—just fabulous.”

Cline read a poem dedicated to the late artist James Hubbell, a fixture in the San Diego County arts and founder of the Ilan-Lael Foundation in Santa Ysabel, who died in 2024 at age 92.

“A shy man with a bright blue gaze/lived as though the Earth were holy,” read Cline.

Klam lauded the “many young writers published for the first time in SDPA at the microphone, speaking their minds through verse.” The evening’s youngest reader, Yuyou Ma, wrote her poem, “muse,” at age 15.

“this is poetry./pure poetry, pouring/from the sky,” Ma read.

The SDPA hosts events year-round and publishes an annual journal featuring submissions from hundreds of local poets. The 2025-26 edition is over 400 pages long. Submissions are accepted on a rolling basis and follow founder Harding’s belief that poetry “belongs to all.”

Klam announced that the journal was available at university libraries across San Diego. Free editions of the Annual, the Spanish-language journal, and a Kids! journal are available to read on the Annual’s website.

Original watercolor pieces by artist Brian Meyer—one of which made the cover of the 2026 journal—were on display and for sale. Throughout the event, Meyer sketched quick portraits of the evening’s poets and offered them up

“Our founder Bill Harding started all this 20 years ago, and all of us on the SDPA editorial team look forward to many years of poetry to come!” said Klam.

Catacomb

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By Eliezer Sherman

About 40 poets, musicians, and revelers gathered for the monthly San Diego Poetry Coalition open mic at Mujeres Brew House in Barrio Logan on Sunday, enjoying one of the event’s biggest turnouts yet.

A diverse audience spanning all ages enjoyed the show in balmy weather under bright flags and picnic umbrellas while downing freshly prepared Mexican street food, artisanal baked goods, and craft beer and cocktails.

Taking turns at the mic, more than a dozen local poets—including feature poet Arwen Jamison and host Ben Free—gifted audiences with their craft.

Some had memorized their work. Others read from books, notebooks, or documents on their phones. While the springtime theme of this month’s event was “Blossoming from Within,” the poets touched on a variety of topics, including identity, politics, religion, relationships, and mental health.

Feature poet Jamison—who is among the founding members of the Poetry Coalition—recited work from her ocean-themed book, “Deep Love, Deep Healing, Deep Waters.”

A self-declared people pleaser, Jamison read poetry encouraging herself to act as her own best friend. At one point, she teared up over the memory of her mother, who she said had died of cancer.

Indian-American poet Jhanjhri Shah—who was featured by the Coalition in January and who read samples of her writing in Hindi at an Indian consular event in Los Angeles this month—recited a poem about anxiety, comparing it to a meticulous administrator masking insecurity with wisdom.

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POETRY: Seven Deadly Songs

Anxiety is like walking in the dark

POETRY: Little Italy

The San Diego Poetry Coalition runs poetry workshops in addition to events like the open mic. Several youth poets who participate in these workshops read. One reader, a local high school senior, read a poem decrying political abuses in the U.S. against Latino communities.

Many of the poets who read on Sunday have published their work. A sign below the stage allowed readers to include their social media handles and information about how to purchase their writing.

“It feels like such a crazy and beautiful thing to gather around such a vulnerable art form,” said Coalition co-founder, poet, and artisanal baker Shannon English, who took breaks from selling vegan and gluten-free cookies to read at the mic. “I’m here for it.”

English—who also hosts events for San Diego independent queer and trans-led publisher, Beyond the Veil Press—told Constant Feed that what she likes most about performing at poetry open mics is “the combination of connecting through poetry and the opportunity to use my voice in different ways.”

Coalition co-founder and author Sierra Zounes has been managing the event since February of last year. On Sunday, she could be seen scurrying through the audience and on and off the stage with a ukulele she uses to enforce reader time limits.

“Thankfully there was no need” to use the uke, she said. “Most people [stayed] within the time frame.”

“It truly is one of my favorite events each month. Going forward, I would love to see our community grow, reaching out to more artists in San Diego county and beyond,” she said, adding that next month’s event would feature a Los Angeles-based spoken word poet.

Zounes also said she was looking for a venue to expand the event to North County San Diego, which includes communities like Encinitas, Carlsbad, and Oceanside.

For now, the Coalition holds the open mic from 6 to 8 p.m. on the last Sunday of the month at the “100% female owned” brewery in Barrio Logan, a neighborhood near Downtown San Diego known for its bright murals, Mexican heritage, food scene, and focus on the arts.

Mujeres Brew House, which was founded by San Diego businesswoman Carmen Velasco, boasts about a dozen craft brews, from Vienna lagers to Blonde Ales, with names like “Fiesta in the Barrio” and “Buenas Vibras (Good Vibes).” They also sell hard seltzers, micheladas, and other Latin-inspired favorites in a vividly painted taproom.

On the other side of the patio, the smell of freshly prepared Mexican fare like grilled burritos, enchiladas, and tortas wafts into the air from an in-house food stall.

quack 
how jumps 
filter including 
glass?

into baseless comp 
window slapdash 
into what 
quark?

wherefore does Shakespeare 
limitless page 
brace the number 
incline the mountain 
Dresden?

when does the moon 
disinter frogs
within
the co…

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Toward India Street
Touchdown Little Italy
enflames memory

     String lights of fire
     Halos of orange blue
     afternoon shadows

Smoke this cherry fire
collapsing into a dream
Brightness fleeing arms

     Hands of soft weather
     In the kitchen, she loads plates
     The oven bakes bread

I hear footsteps move
I hear talking on the phone
My …

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Salt aura
dusk

lamplit 
hot pit

skin heat
molest

shadow 
crotch heat

exit pursuit 
lips

eyes that witness

and hunted 
scent

ending lingers

budding 
lip

And then I own only this secret cell
phone

in an otherwise haunted 
room

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Spare me your blockaded electrical currents
Relieve me your grinding vegan teeth
Save me your saintly suffocating fever
Brightly-eyed nun apologetics

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