Kurt Schweigman will dazzle listeners with his poignant narratives, often humorous, based on his urban American Indian upbringing and present life as a Lakota person in Sonoma County. This versatile poet has won poetry slams from California to Germany and guest edited for Poetry magazine. He will be sharing prose and poetry from his new book Confluences of Solitude (Mitote Press, 2023). Themes include nature, activism, family, the real and hyperreal, dreams, and solitude. His vision sometimes takes surreal forms, transforming bison into demonstrators:  

“Representatives from various buffalo herds across the Great Plains converged on Capitol Hill for a rally in support of their freedom rights as American Bison. ‘We have gotten bad press from rare isolated attacks on Yellowstone tourists and Sturgis bikers, but we were provoked.’”

“Boisterous as rapids after rainfall, subversive and tactful, here’s a poetry raised on fire and ice.”                                                                     —  Jimmy Santiago Baca

Thursday, September 5, 7:00 PM