Cartwheels on the Sky

This episode of Cartwheels on the Sky features the poems and process of Vallejo poet Jeffrey Kingman. His  poetry collection, BEYOND THAT HILL I GATHER, was published by  Finishing Line Press in June of 2021. His poetry chapbook, ON A ROAD,  was published by Finishing Line Press in December of 2019. He is the  winner of the Red Berry Editions 2015 Broadside Contest, the winner...

This October 2021 episode features the poems and process of Janet DeBar. Janet  DeBar began reading and writing poetry during her childhood in Beech  Bottom, West Virginia. She studied English Lit at the college of Wooster  in Ohio and at Stanford University but she often said that she hoped  that these experiences did not make a lasting impact on her poetry. She  began re...

Dan Langton was a longtime Creative Writing Professor at San Francisco State  University. He arrived in SF during the burgeoning beat movement, and he  held a poetry gathering (he hates the word “salon”) in San Francisco in  the Haight-Ashbury that was legendary, and to this day, he is loved by  so many poets and renowned as an important mentor for a new generation  of poe...

On  Saturday, August 7, 2021 Cartwheels on the Sky (always the  first Saturday of the month) featured the poems and process of Northern California poet and best selling author Susan Wooldridge. Susan has held workshops on creative language and process with thousands of adults and children. Her book  poemcrazy:  freeing your life with words  is  now in a 32nd prin...

This episode of Cartwheels on the Sky features the poems and process of Mendocino Coast poet Gordon Black. Born in Detroit, Black is a second generation, of Polish background,  American. His father was a firefighter, later Battalion Chief, and his  mother a social worker and theater director in stage and radio  productions, and in his words he “was expected to succeed!” He says he s...

This week’s Cartwheels on the Sky feature the poems and process of Jazz poet Tony Seymour. His literary career spans nearly five decades, encompassing poetry writing,  journalism, academic research and public performances. His collection  of over 1,200 poems has many inspirations, particularly the search for  truth, political events, the pursuit of love, world history and the  ...

This week features the poems and process of Albion poet Peter Lit.  

This week’s Cartwheels on the Sky feature the poems and process of of Mendocino county poet and current Ukiah Poet Laureate Melissa Eleftherion. Melissa Eleftherion (she/they) is a cis queer human, a writer, a librarian, and a visual artist. She is the author of field guide to autobiography (The Operating System, 2018), & ten chapbooks, including little ditch (above/ground press, 2018) &a...

This episode of Cartwheels on the Sky features the poems and process of Mendocino county poet Marylyn “Motherbear” Scott. Marylyn Motherbear Scott , who writes memoir, poems, poetic narration, and theatre review. A founding member & editor for the online journal Coreopsis, she is published by Cauldron Press; Bantam Press, Skinner Press, Coreopsis, Green Egg, and WMC Anthologies and regula...

This week’s Cartwheels on the Sky feature the poems and process of Mendocino Coast poet Jasper Henderson. Jasper Henderson grew up all up and down the Mendocino Coast. He went to school at Harvard College and later at Antioch University. He is a writer, teacher, and designer, and currently he works as the Storyteller / Writer for Antioch University, as well as serving as the graphic designer for t...

This week’s Cartwheels on the Sky feature the poems and process of Willits/Covelo poet Michelle Peñaloza. Peñaloza is the author of Former Possessions of the Spanish Empire , winner of the 2018 Hillary Gravendyk National Poetry Prize (Inlandia Books, 2019). She is also the author of two chapbooks, landscape/heartbreak (Two Sylvias, 2015), and Last Night I Dreamt of Volcanoes (Organic Weapon Arts,...

This week’s Cartwheels on the Sky features a recording of the Mendocino Coast High School Poetry Slam from April 2011. I figured it would be nice to hear how different and the same life was in 2011, and to remind youth that they have strong voices, voices that must be exercised and heard — you are our freedom and you deserve a platform of expression. Listen, and learn, be inspired and remember to...

This week’s Cartwheels on the Sky feature the poems and process of Ukiah poet Michael Riedell. Michael Riedell was born and raised in San Diego.  For more than two decades he has lived in inland Mendocino with his wife, Kate, and worked at Ukiah High School as a teacher of English and Creative Writing.  He also “coaches” the school’s Poetry Club and Slam Team. Michael’s first experience...

This week’s Cartwheels on the Sky feature the poems and process of Ukiah poet Dan Barth. Dan Barth works at home mornings as writer and editor. Afternoons he teaches and does library work at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas. After that he saws, splits, mows, waters, rides his bike, walks and pokes at things with a bamboo hiking stick, just like Gandhi. His books include At the Corner of Vigor and...

Get a preview of what to expect when you listen to Cartwheels on the Sky with Blake More.

This episode features Dan Roberts is a poet, artist, and radio producer living in the redwood forest of Mendocino County for 45 years. He was born in Oakland, went to high school in Berkeley, and graduated from UC Davis in 1970 in Creative Writing and Modern European Literature. He read poetry in Davis, Sacramento and Berkeley from the late 1960’s on. He produced the Wild Sage Poetry radio program...

This episode features Albion poet Karen Lewis. Karen Lewis lives between Salmon Creek and the Navarro River on unceded ancestral land of the Pomo people. Her work navigates themes of migration, war, peace, love, loss, ecology, and motherhood. Her new chapbook PEACE MAPS explores these territories, and is available through Gallery Bookshop in Mendocino or from Finishing Line Press. Karen holds an M...

This episode features poet Theresa Whitehill.  California poet, letterpress printer, and graphic designer Theresa Whitehill served as Poet Laureate for the city of Ukiah from 2009 through 2011 and has been involved her entire career in the production of poetry readings and literary events. Her interrelated focus on literary and graphic arts came out of her study of book arts at Mills College...

This episode features Kirk Lumpkin, a poet, spoken word & performance artist, lyricist, and environmentalist. Since moving to Mendocino County in 2016 he has become a California state certified Naturalist; a singer in a community choir, the Emandal Chorale; and a Board member of the Willits Environmental Center. Before moving to Mendocino County he worked at the Ecology Center in for over 20 y...

This episode features Ukiah Poet Jabez Churchill. Former Poet Laureate of Ukiah, Jabez W., Bill, Churchill first started submitting poetry for publication in 1979, became a member of the Ina Coolbrith Poertry Circle in Berkekey, maintaining this affiliation to date. He has been a poet teacher with California Poets in the Schools since 1998, and teaches poetry at Mendocino Co, Juvenile Hall. As a b...

This episode features the reigning Ukiah Poet Laureate Roberta Werndinger. Roberta Werdinger is a Zen priestess, poet, writer and editor. From 1995 to 2006 she studied Zen Buddhism at Green Gulch Farm and Tassajara Mountain Center. In 2006 she was head student, and left the monastery to pursue the path of writing. She has a long-term professional association with Berkeley-based writer, artist...

This episode features Fort Bragg, CA poet Toni Bernbaum. Toni declares herself “a bandit of a poet” — Steeling the right to claim herself worthy of giving readings, accepting the blessing of being born with a poet’s soul, she embraces Mary Oliver as she proclaims her self to just let the *“soft fur of her body love what it loves.”  Without a writing degree or teaching credit or a long li...

This interview features award-winning Ukiah poet Armand Brint. Holding an MFA in creative writing and English, Armand has devoted his life to teaching and writing poetry. Widely published in literary journals, he is also the author of four, soon to be five, volumes of poetry, as well as a book on writing poetry called, “Bringing Poems to Life: 16 Keys to Make Your Poems Sing.” Amand was the City o...