Poetry - By Howard Adler

Lunch from Thai Spice from 11:30-12:30

Poetry Reading starting at 12:00

Why poetry for me

I am an Ambush Poet, I stop people I meet on the trail or street, and even though I don’t know them, I ask if I might recite a poem. They almost always say all right, then what I share seems to intrigue or even delight. Sharing thrills me, and that response fulfills me. Even though since it’s Cloverdale, they might have just been polite.

“In my formative years, I was influenced by the folk songs of the late fifties and early sixties. Then most of the work I did for the next decades allowed me to use the modern innovation of headphones and radio or cassettes, so my time was full of the meter and rhyme of music and song. My writing and tape recording of my thoughts was a sort of note-to-self diary which echoed that meter and rhyme.

Anticipating the patterns of poetry and songs helps people understand and remember the message, which is why there were wandering bards before there were newspapers.”

I try to share my celebration of life and what I hold dear, and use poetry when I do. I’m hoping that when you hear it, it might ring true.

Wordsworth

As a poet I have to ask if are words of any worth. As a poet I answer that they are not. Not until they evoke a thought. Then word and thought can do no good until heard and understood. But until I can share, it’s as none of that was ever there. So I’m always eager to recite, hoping to intrigue, amuse or delight. And true too, even more because, until I do, I’ll be the poet that never was.

Howard Adler, 2024

Call or stop by the Senior Center by Friday, May 16, at 3:00 pm to reserve your spot!

This will be a Free Lunch provided by Community Foundation Sonoma County!