B.L. Kennedy
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Photo courtesy of Robert
Grossklaus |
Born
in the Bronx, educated at Naropa Institute on scholarship (MFA)
and at CSUS (BA and two MA’s), honored in the current Who’s Who
in America, Bari Kennedy has an extensive list of credits,
including numerous scholarships, grants, and awards.
For the past thirty years, Kennedy has served the community by
spearheading many poetry readings, fundraisers, and major poetry
events in Colorado, Oregon, and Northern California, including
the now-famous “World’s Longest Outdoor Poetry Reading” (1986,
1996, 2006), and the annual “October in the Railroad Earth: An
Annual Tribute to Jack Kerouac” (1980-2004), plus the
establishment of a special collection of books and other
collectibles from Sacramento writers, which is housed in the
University of California at Davis Shields Library Special
Collections Department. In 2005, he and Linda Thorell received a
grant from the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission to
establish The Archives Group, which is dedicated to preserving
the history of Sacramento’s poetry scene on videotape. Their
film, I Began to Speak, was released in December of 2006.
Photo courtesy of Robert
Grossklaus |
Meanwhile,
Kennedy’s poetry and art have been exhibited in locations such
as the University of Colorado and have been collected into
twenty-four books. His work has also appeared in many journals
and anthologies, such as Bombay Gin, Freethought Poetry
Magazine, Steelhead Review, Cleveland Poetry, Poetry Now,
Landing Signals, and Nevada County Poetry Anthology
(2004).
Bari is currently Reviewer-in-Residence for Rattlesnake
Review (Rattlesnake Press), where his poetry and
picture-poems have also appeared. He continues to host one night
per month at Poetry Unplugged (Luna’s Café).
You can reach him at
bk418@pacbell.net.
Rattlesnake Press is proud to have produced two of Kennedy’s
books: Been Born Bronx (2005), which is a SnakeRings
SpiralChap collection of his poetry and art, and The Setich
Manor Poems (2006). On this page are some samples from these
books.
B.L. Kennedy Art
B.L. Kennedy Poems
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ALTERED STATES
Stoned
In my apartment watching
Chiller TV
Monster on the Campus
The Promethazine w/Codeine
Cough Syrup
Mixes well w/ the beer and grass
In the film a dragonfly mutates
After sipping on prehistoric fish blood
And a good doctor becomes
Some badass monster after scratching
Himself on the long tooth of the same
Prehistoric fish
The phone rings
It’s my landlady’s son Paul
Stoned, alone and looking for an advance
On the rent
Not until you fix the drain (I tell him)
Damn, in the movie
Some cop kills the doctor/monster
He’ll never reach an altered state
With all those drugs
Meditation
This poem is a prayer
Filled with sacred teachings
This poem rebel lyric
Of light
It wobbles language
It burst bubblebops
It composes with peddlewood pencils
It bleeds residue from leather girdles of Shiva
It shoots night full of orange flowers
Fills its mouth with tropical jewels
It sits with Buddha
It is necessary to travel with this poem
Because it is yet to be heard by strangers
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SETICH MANOR NO.#1
At the end of the crossroads
Northeast of Poverty Ridge
Five city blocks from Oak Park
Setich Manor stands next
To the Busy Bee Daycare
Built in 1956 by Pete and Marie
Named with proper blessing
A building of character
Of future hopes and dreams
Now the home of dead souls
Poets, artists, musicians, shaman,
Ghost Hunters who hustle lame spirits
Crippled and forgotten voices all
Who wait to deal the devil?
Or someone like him beyond its gate
The naked pavement and cold world
SETICH MANOR NO.9
Stoned at Setich Manor
Bud supplied by baby poet
Phillip T. Nails
I secretly plan to kill
God but instead
We watch TV
Some flesh eatin’ zombie
Thing with cool commercials
On the Sci-Fi Channel
Between zombie mauls we surf
The History Channel for U.F.O.’s
I tell Phillip about the new 418 Buzz
[Kolleen: leave a space here]
It’s hard to start because
Of this feeling that there is
Nothing to say
On TV zombies move like roaches
Across some kitchen floor and we are
U.F.O.’s stoned
With my secret plan to kill
God at Setich Manor
Changes cuz
Outside it’s 32 degrees cold
And TV interrupts for political reasons
The State of the Union or some such shit?
And it’s easy enough to believe
God is looking out for you
When you have a big bank account
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