a project on Kerouac and Thoreau

I am imagining a literary triad where I occupy a third space in conjunction with Henry David Thoreau and Jack Kerouac.  It’s inspired by a recent discovery — reading Kerouac’s journals from 1947-1954 — and one of my favorite writers assigned during college, Thoreau.  Don’t we all aspire to transcendence of some kind?  How much of it is rooted in the land(scape) and culture, be it Boston, New York City, San Francisco, or Fresno?  What occurs between the land, the working people, and the politics?  What place does joy hold in a time of fear?  How to focus while moving?  These are some of the questions on my mind this rainy California afternoon.

Herrick reads “Freedom” @ the Sacramento Poetry Center

Many thanks to poet Tim Kahl for inviting me to read at the Sacramento Poetry Center in November.  Tim runs a wonderful series, and the poets and poetry scene there are vibrant and warm.  Tim recorded the reading and posted a few videos.  Here is one of me reading a new poem called “Freedom.”

The Poetry of John Keats: A Fundraiser for Fresno Filmworks, featuring Philip Levine, Dixie Salazar, Jon Veinburg, C.G. Hanzlicek, Michael Medrano, and Stephen Mayu, Emceed by Lee Herrick

Please join film and poetry lovers for a poetry fundraiser for Fresno Filmworks on Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 5:30 p.m. at the Revue Café Theater (620 E. Olive, Fresno, CA, Tower District).  Music by Abigail Nolte and readings by Jaguar Bennet and Heather from the Woodward Shakespeare Festival, raffle, and a talk about Jane Campion’s film, “Bright Star,” which Filmworks will show on Friday evening.  Readers include Pulitzer Prize winner Philip Levine, Dixie Salazar, Jon Veinburg (who will read Larry Levis’s poem about Keats), C.G.Hanzlicek, Michael Medrano, and Stephen Mayu.