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Published: Sunday, Nov. 01, 2009

SLO Poetry Festival kicks off on Nov. 6

SLO Poet Laureate James Cushing and past Poet Laureate Ray Clark Dickson will open the event

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Nearly 20 top local and regional artists will give poetry readings at “Language of the Soul,” the upcoming 26th annual San Luis Obispo Poetry Festival.

According to San Luis Obispo Poet Laureate James Cushing, live readings highlight the performative aspects of literature— transforming the poets into dramatists, teachers, preachers or even conversation partners for the audience.

And while the “poetry community everywhere is small, because it’s a really unusual art form that makes some demands on people,” Cushing said, size doesn’t indicate depth of accomplishment.

Readings by Cushing and past poet laureate Ray Clark Dickson will open the festival, which runs Nov. 6 to 15 at the Art Center, Linnea’s, the Steynberg Gallery, and Phillips Hall at the Performing Arts Center.

Cushing describes Dickson as “one of the last living links to the beat generation,” which in the 1950s embodied a rejection of mainstream American values in favor of unrestricted expression. Dickson kept the company of freewheeling author Jack Kerouac, and has “got much of that spin,” said Cushing.

Other highlights include Michael C. Ford, a southern California poet known for his fusion of pop culture with politics; award-winning poet Hannah Stein; and Sally Ashton and Michael Hannon, whom Cushing calls the “secret weapons of the Central Coast” for their quiet natures but extraordinary skills.

The event will end Nov. 15 with an open reading and closure party at Linnea’s Café, which festival co-founder Kevin Patrick Sullivan has called its “birthplace.”

Cushing attributes the festival’s growth to Sullivan’s dogged dedication and planning. An event now can attract as many as 100 listeners for a reading. Sullivan also hosts the “Corners of the Mouth” poetry series, which has convened at 7 p.m. every third Sunday of the month since 1984 at Linnea’s Café.

As the intimate community of poets gains a larger audience, Cushing said, one thing has been consistent: The community response to the festival is “always gratifying.”