Dan Brady – Clara Hsu

All the Sunny Leos

It used to be Gemini who were my friends. Now I am surrounded by Leos. As life took a different turn the people around me also changed. Leos—the sunny, passionate, positive thinking ones—seem to like the watery Pisces fine. Since the end of July I have been celebrating friends’ birthdays.

We celebrated Sacred Grounds reading host Dan Brady’s sixtieth (actual day is tomorrow) with cake and candle. His bubbly personality certainly livens up the reading. Tonight of all nights he read a poem on turd! For all the hard work he puts in by showing up on Wednesday week after week he gets this poem from me:

Dan Brady is arriving
at the big six-O and diving
into moments of insanity
with a tickle of profanity

Graceful Departure

Jehanah painting — Painting by Chris Trian

Even though photos of Jehanah Wedgwood are still hanging on the wall at the Sacred Grounds Cafe, I felt that she had truly departed. Memories live in those who have known her, her poetry, and the resemblance on her children’s faces. It has been a year since her death. The poetry reading series has assumed a different personality—light, humorous, at times rowdy—that of our host, Dan Brady’s.

Her presence used to fill the room, even long after she was gone. Like air, it dissipated without our knowing each time the cafe door opened and closed. I realized Sacred Grounds has regenerated. A whole new me ready to go again.* The old Druidess has let it to be so. We must remember to celebrate the new.

*Old Druidess by Jehanah Wedgwood.

The Poetry Hotel

The Poetry Hotel is getting solicitation mail to open bank accounts, apply for credit cards, buy liability and all sorts of insurance, linen service, hotel equipment and several times, even phone reservation for stay! They don’t know this is a hotel of the imagination, conceived by the ever imaginative Carlos Ramirez one summer evening in 2004 as we (Dan Brady, Carlos and I) passed by the Marriott on Market Street. Dan and I heartily endorsed the idea and whommm, the hotel was built!

Or maybe these solicitation mail do know that this is not a “real” hotel but imagine that it could be real at some point, and they want to make sure they are the first ones to get the business.

Doing business also requires imagination.

Imagine paying for a night at the hotel with a poem…

The Poetry Hotel

At the Civic Center Bart Station
Carlos, Dan and I had a vision
to take possession of the Mission Street Marriott
after we win the lottery.

We will renovate the building
knock everything down to its bones.
With imagination, joy, and persistence
we give birth to the Poetry Hotel.

When you enter the Poetry Hotel,
observe the grand reception hall.
Poets check in with a poem
check out with a new chapbook.

The ground floor is reserved for first drafts
the second floor is for revision.
From the third to the twentieth floor
there are chutes and ladders built especially
for the out of bound writers.

All the rooms have the essential
desk, chair and bed,
an unlimited supply of paper, and
ink gel pens to write.

There are numerous libraries
each named after a poet.
Collection of works are readily available
for reference, research and read.

As for dining, the Poetry Café
serves daily a scrumptious buffet.
Muffins, puddings and all sorts of pies,
thick soups, black coffee, exotic teas
to nurture the poetic belly.

Every evening there is a gathering
new and old poems are read.
Cakes and champagne are served afterwards
to celebrate the creation of words.

This enterprise is run so successfully
it is franchised throughout the world.
All the poets in this planet
come home to the Poetry Hotel.

Carlos, Dan and I blinked
as we stepped into the train.
It was filled with sleepy people
who wanted to get home quick.

Days of work and nights of toil
weaken our eyes and hearts
But tonight we lay the cornerstone
for the Poetry Hotel.

A Change of Wind

My neighbor Dan Brady and his wife Wendy Wolters are moving today. We have been living eight blocks away from each other for six years. Dan and Wendy are both poets. We first met at the Sacred Grounds.

Dan and I like to get together at times to do writing exercises. He is a school teacher so has all kinds of tricks up his sleeves. My brain ached after my first outing with him, having to manipulate a given set of words and using them in a poem. Since then the writing days have been much more enjoyable and fun. One time we went to three different cafes for breakfast, lunch and snacks before putting down our pens on paper.

Sometimes I feel like getting stuck in one place doing the same things every day. Sometimes I feel the wind of fate blowing and recognize the subtle changes in life. Dan took care of my cats when my son was in the hospital. We share rides. He was one of the volunteers who helped in rebuilding the park playground near my house. We had organized many Poets with Trees events, bringing poetry to Sutro and McLaren parks. Now he and Wendy will be settling in a different part of the city. Even though I’ll still see them at readings, I can’t help but feel nostalgic at the good times we had as neighbors.