Literary Enlightenment in Bakersfield

For those of you who have not considered Bakersfield a literary town, you may wish to revisit your assumptions.  Within Kern County there is to be found the Writers of Kern Reading Series*.  The Adobe Krow Archives and Gallery in Bakersfield hosted an event on July 21, 2002 featuring local poets John Young, Jackson Wheeler and Amy Uyematsu, and Luis Cruz Beltran with Mongo on the congas.  The event itself was made possible via support from Poets & Writers Inc. through a grant from The James Irvine Foundation.

The Adobe Krow Archives and Gallery is the permanent residence of the art collection of Viviane Brown, an African American.  It also includes art by Carol Joyce.  Unfortunately the gallery does not have its own website, so I can’t point you to any online information.  I am not familiar with either artist, but the paintings were intriguing.  It also has a small library of books on Art, Art Theory and Criticism, African American art, Native American art and many other art related subjects.  What the gallery may lack in physical size is made up in the spirit of the people who put the event together and participated.  One visitor drove in from Santa Barbara for the event.  Approximately 20-30 people were present (nope didn’t count heads) and the readings ran about 2 hours.  These folks truly appreciated the gifts of the artists in front of them.

All of the poets read their own work.  Jackson Wheeler had an especially poignant poem about loss called “Lamentations”, which incorporated images from the Pieta.  It’s ending stanzas referred to the notion that no mother has sinned so much that she should endure the death of her child.  It was very moving.  He also read a poem titled “Kites”, which describes the birth, flight, and loss of a kite.  It evoked memories of my own home made kites, which never seemed able to get off the ground.  Amy Uyematsu read several poems that incorporated Japanese references, and a few specifically referred to the Japanese relocation camps (called concentration camps by contemporary activists).  She commented that much of her poetry has to do with racism and its effects.  She also read a couple of poems that look at life from the point of view of much younger females.  These poems have their roots it would seem, in the classroom, as she is a teacher.  Both were quite powerful and one was new and she acknowledged it needed work.  All of the poems were focused on life locally or direct experiences of the artists, which made them all the more interesting.

Louie and Mongo started off the poetry reading with a demonstration of two different Latin rhythms, one from Africa and one that had a Cuban genesis.  I had hoped for more since the notice at Louie’s site referred to ‘workshop’ but it wasn’t a workshop in that sense, although I learned something about Latin rhythms that I didn’t know.  It was a wonderful and enlightening demonstration for me.

I have heard that some folks think that Bakersfield is a cultural wasteland.  I would have to disagree.  I think the Reading series clearly demonstrates otherwise and the resources are there for a rich cultural experience.