Poets Converge at SF State to Improvise an Event

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE -- Awarded a Creative Work Fund grant for the third time since 2004, The Poetry Center at San Francisco State has partnered with Barbara Jane Reyes to produce a text and a series of performances based on “kuwentuhan,” or “talk story.” “I started thinking about these oral traditions, and orality, that happen mostly in informal spaces, like family spaces, places with friends and family and food and drink — those are the times that people do come together, and there’s always this wealth of story that happens in those places,” Reyes said by phone. “Could we make that happen in and with Tthe Poetry Center, and if so, what would that look like?” An SFSU alumna who has written several books, including “To Love as Aswang,” “Diwata” (a finalist for the California Book Award) and “Poeta en San Francisco” (winner of the Academy of American Poets’ James Laughlin Award), Reyes invited a wish list of poets to converge, write and essentially feed off of one another.