April 1, 2024

Fictional Cafe’s National Poetry Month, 2024

Posted by in Member Writing & Art, Writing
Fictional Cafe’s National Poetry Month, 2024

For the 4th year, Fictional Cafe spends the month of April celebrating poets and their poetry. April Fool’s Day notwithstanding, welcome to America’s National Poetry Month! We have a full month of great poetry, written by our own Coffee Club members, to share with you. Two highlights: please welcome our new Poet-in-Residence PS Conway! Just last month PS published his first collection of poetry in a book entitled Echoes Lost in Stars. It was an immediate hit bestseller. Grab your copy from your favorite bookseller. This guy loves to write, and we’re saving a special spot for an excerpt in two weeks. But first up for the month is a frequent contributor, Michael Larrain, who has written a six-part epic poem entitled “The Life of A Private Eye.” It’s engrossing, and we just published Part…

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December 20, 2023

“Plucked,” A Novel in Verse Excerpt by FC’s Vera West

Posted by in Writing
“Plucked,” A Novel in Verse Excerpt by FC’s Vera West

Seventeen-year-old Iza auditioned on a whim and got accepted (on a scholarship) to a creative arts prep school. Even with just a year left until she graduates, attending this school will give her the edge she needs to be a successful classical violinist and give her more options than what she currently has in the impoverished town where she grew up; but without the support of her mother getting there will be a challenge. After convincing her best friend to drive her to school, working extra shifts to save up money and having her granny forge her father’s signature on the application, Iza is finally ready to make the great escape to Everleigh. 1 She has pluck, they say, with optimism in spades, surely all her dreams will come true.     “Iza Jones, are…

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April 27, 2023

Our National Poetry Month Finale: Vera West

Posted by in Writing
Our National Poetry Month Finale: Vera West

Please welcome Vera West, The Fictional Cafe’s Poet in Residence, who shares her thoughts about our National Poetry Month celebration: chickadee  I’m not always angry but  I am mostly melancholy,  thinking about those  little potholes of memories   riddling a twisting road  of disappointment;  these memories jar me:  pancakes, carnivals,   front yard barbecues,   black fridays and   pastel pink egg hunts,  nicknames no one else called me;  these memories always jarred me,  they’re so different than   the standard of both  back then and now.   ** thinking of you Things you did right: encourage me to be authentic, drive me around town, instill independence, and push high expectations. [I want to be somewhere in the middle, between the good and the bad, between emotion and logic, but I’m stuck in extremes. either I miss you terribly or hate you…

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April 14, 2022

FC Celebrates National Poetry Month!

Posted by in Writing
FC Celebrates National Poetry Month!

National Poetry Month 2022 The Academy of American Poets launched National Poetry Month in 1996 to increase awareness and appreciation of poetry. Celebrated every April, it has become one of the largest literary celebrations in the world. To celebrate the twenty-sixth anniversary of National Poetry Month, we are honored to introduce the amazing poets featured here. Please read their works and support their ongoing projects. Some ways you can participate: write a poem, listen to a poetry podcast, or buy some poetry books (from our list of poets or others you discover). Helpful Links:Poets.orgPoetry FoundationPodcast ReviewPoetry Podcasts ** “Games“Yong Takahashi(From Yong’s memoir, Observations Through Yellow Glasses: A Memoir Through Poems) Every card I put on the table,  you take away in plain sight. At the flop, you say I don’t  need any distractions. Too many…

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March 27, 2022

“I Hear Yes,” Poetry by Vera West

Posted by in Writing
“I Hear Yes,” Poetry by Vera West

i hear “yes” I jokingly have asked my husband: “Do you feel like I’m a gallon of milk you got home only to find out it’s expired?” He knows I’m referring to how I used to be pretty but now feel curdled. He laughs—not a real laugh but a confused nervous one I’ve forced out of him by knowing he loves me and asking him a ridiculous question like that anyway. You might focus on the fact that he did in fact laugh—coerced or not—but what you should really be focusing on is how only a sad insecure person hiding behind pain in humor would make that joke in the first place. It says so much and for the record, he always answers no but I always hear yes. ** affect and effect  No one…

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January 26, 2022

“A Sad Tale,” Poetry by Vera West

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“A Sad Tale,” Poetry by Vera West

Editor’s Note: This is Vera West’s first full poetry post on The Fictional Café as our new Poet-in-Residence for 2022-2023. Please help us welcome her to the Café and be sure to read her haunting, heartbreaking trilogy of poems at the end, called “A Sad Tale.” loneliness It’s an odd thing to grieve in advance, to let your mind give you a sample taste of the things you fear; the most flavorful being: loneliness. I’m anxious about the day when my loved ones are all gone, and I’m truly alone. between sisters the first time I told her our father had killed our dog, she hadn’t believed me. Perhaps it was the way I’d said it; “he killed our dog,” was all I’d said. the second time I told her she asked our father and…

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December 15, 2021

Vera West Is Our 2022-2023 Poet-in-Residence!

Posted by in News, Writing
Vera West Is Our 2022-2023 Poet-in-Residence!

Editor’s Note:We are excited to announce our second Poet-in-Residence, Vera West! Earlier this year, we were introduced to Vera through our all-star Poetry Barista, Yong Takahashi. Michael and Jennifer were throwing around the idea of doing a “potpourri post” of poetry. The timing worked out for it to fall on National Poetry Week, so we organized a lineup of poets for the post. I reached out to Yong to ask if she knew any poets who would want to contribute a poem and she replied with an enthusiastic request to include Vera. (You can see that National Poetry Month post here.) Over the summer, us baristas were discussing who we wanted to nominate for the next Poet-in-Residence position and again Yong came back with Vera’s name. We perused her portfolio and had a delightful Zoom…

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