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Looking for the Art in Myself by Gary Evans

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I’m the only one up and still awake;
so, I decided to clean the pots and pans,
as well as disinfect the kitchen at 3:00 am.

Then I read one of my favorite scriptures,
Proverbs 14:23, “In all labor there is profit,
but idle chatter leads only to poverty.”

I was going to vacuum but didn’t want to wake my wife.
So, I thought that I would try to write
a rhyming poem, which is very difficult for me,
while it comes to my wife as easy
as taking a breath.

I need to look for the art in myself.

The most difficult writing for me
is ahead, I believe.
With a surplus of judgment,
chance has played a big role.
I will write until it takes its toll
on me.

Gary Evans, retired chiropractor; published in: Pathway to the Heart, WOK’s 2021 anthology; WOK’s 2021 NPM blog and soon 2022’s; accepted in CSUB’s 2022 Anthology, Writing Covid; zoomed open-mic events; member of Parkside Church and Writers of Kern. Gary’s been married to Shelley for 44 years; they have 3 daughters.

July 4th at Pismo Beach by Gary Evans

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Shelley and I are at Pismo Beach.
The waves continue to break, never ending,
like the pain in my legs from this disease.

This pain is like the ebb and flow of the ocean waves,
but I wish it would just flow away and never ebb back.
God gives me strength to overcome the pain;

There is nothing like being at the beach,
our very own beach at Pismo,
with my loved one of forty-seven years.

Gary Evans, retired chiropractor; published in: Pathway to the Heart, WOK’s 2021 anthology; WOK’s 2021 NPM blog and soon 2022’s; accepted in CSUB’s 2022 Anthology, Writing Covid; zoomed open-mic events; member of Parkside Church and Writers of Kern. Gary’s been married to Shelley for 44 years; they have 3 daughters.

In the Ocean by Shelley Evans

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Worth the Risk

Named after the famous Percy Shelley, Shelley Evans has written poetry since childhood. She published The Life of Ahpun in 2020; other poems in anthologies and blogs; participates in open-mics; legal secretary; member of WOK and Parkside Church. She’s been married to Gary for 44 years; they have 3 daughters.

Inclusive Characterization: Writing ‘the other’ without Stereotypes or Appropriation

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Join the Writers of Kern on Saturday, May 21, 2022, as we welcome author Michelle Cruz Gonzales as she presents her workshop Inclusive Characterization: Writing ‘the other’ without Stereotypes or Appropriation.

This workshop will advance your skills in real-world characterization and authentic representation. Gonzales will teach you how to write diverse characters in a rich and meaningful way that humanizes them.

Michelle Cruz Gonzales is an English professor and author of the memoir, The Spitboy Rule: Tales of a Xicana in a Female Punk which is taught in in colleges and Universities in colleges all over the United States. She has essay and fiction in anthologies by Putnam, PM Press, Seal Press, and Literary Kitchen, and she has published online in Longreads,  The Los Angeles Review of Books, Latino Rebels, and Mitu. She recently completed a satirical novel about near-future-California that secedes from the US and forces intermarriage between whites and Mexicanos for the purpose of creating a race of beautiful, intelligent, hardworking people, and she is currently at work on a screenplay.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Gonzales was a member of three all women punk bands, Bitch Fight, Kamala and the Karivores, and Spitboy. Never interested in playing music with men, Gonzales, primarily a drummer and lyricist, toured nationally and internationally with Spitboy whose lyrics focused on women and gender issues. In 2016, Gonzales published The Spitboy Rule: Tales of a Xicana in a Female Punk Band, about her experiences as the only person of color in Spitboy and what it was like being a person of color in the predominately white Bay Area punk scene. Gonzales and Spitboy are featured in the 2017 documentary, Turn it Around: Story of East Bay Punk. 

Purchase in-person tickets here: $15 members and $18 nonmembers.
Purchase online tickets here: $5 Zoom.

Mourning Dove Evans by Shelley Evans

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Today, I mourn the loss of a baby bird; it was just an embryo, in the egg. It cannot be considered stillborn because the poor, innocent conceptus had a horrific death. It fell about 7 feet from the nest when its parents flew out, and it cracked open on the cement outside the backdoor. Then Ruby lapped it up.

I watched the Mother return to their nest, scurrying frantically, shaking her head side to side, searching for her precious hatchling. She dropped down to examine the area below the nest, and her mate darted over to join the hunt for their one and only. Could they smell the essence of remaining embryonic fluid the dog may have missed?

How SAD ~ my heart hurts. Will these parents ever know what occurred this morning? Will they ever stop looking for their baby? As a mom, I cringe at the thought were it a child of mine.

I had noticed these doves building their home last week and took photos and videoed the activity. As much as I enjoyed viewing their show beyond the sliding glass door, I couldn’t help but wonder why they would choose to place their nest and potential offspring on such a precarious ledge, knowing that every time the door opened the birds would probably fly away, creating danger for a tiny, helpless squab-to-be.

Could this be the same pair of doves that has lived here in the past? I believe it is possible and quite likely they’ve returned “home,” considering themselves to be Evans. I guess birds don’t remember the past, but I do. Since I would prefer not to witness another avian death by way of falling, I’m visualizing a sign: NO NESTING HERE! Of course, birds cannot read printed words! My sign could be a piece of wood angled from the light fixture up against the house, completely preventing entrance.

Next year, hopefully, the Evans Dove Family will move to a safer area and raise some young’uns to add to their bevy.

Bless you, little “Squeaker” who never had a chance. I pray that your dove-angel swooped down to catch you as you fell and transferred you into the Hands of the One Who created you, Who loved you, Who loves you now ~ rest in peace, Dove Evans.

Named after the famous Percy Shelley, Shelley Evans has written poetry since childhood. She published The Life of Ahpun in 2020; other poems in anthologies and blogs; participates in open-mics; legal secretary; member of WOK and Parkside Church. She’s been married to Gary for 44 years; they have 3 daughters.