Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site and the Friends of Carl Sandburg at Connemara are pleased to announce the 2020 Carl Sandburg Writer-in-Residence, Tony Robles. About Tony Tony Robles, “The People’s Poet” was born in San Francisco and is the nephew of Filipino-American poet, historian and social justice activist Al Robles. He was a shortlist nominee for poet laureate of San Francisco in 2017 and the recipient of the San Francisco Art Commission individual literary artist grant in 2018. His two books of poetry and short stories, Cool Don’t Live Here No More - A letter to San Francisco and Fingerprints of a Hunger Strike (both published by Ithuriel’s Spear Press) take on the issues of eviction, gentrification and police violence in communities of color. He is also the author of two children’s books, Lakas and the Manilatown Fish and Lakas and the Makibaka Hotel, published by Children’s Book Press and Lee and Low. Tony was nominated for the Pushcart Prize in 2011 for the story, “In My Country” and also served as board president of the Manilatown Heritage Foundation, an organization started by housing activists to honor, preserve and promote Filipino American history and culture. His work is included in numerous anthologies including Growing Up Filipino Volume II; Of Color: Poet’s Ways of Making; Poverty Scholarship: Poor People Led Theory, Art, Words and Tears Across Mama Earth, and many others. For the last ten years Robles has worked as a tenants’ rights advocate for seniors and people with disabilities. Robles moved to Hendersonville in 2019 to be closer to his mother, writer Flo Mayberry and stepfather Pete Mayberry, as well as their two dogs, Holly and GG. He has since become a volunteer with the Friends of the Library of Henderson County and Meals on Wheels. He conducted a writing workshop at the request of the North Carolina Writer’s Network and organized the first ever celebration of Filipino American History Month in October 2019 at the Ashville Public Library with the Filipino-American Community of Western North Carolina (FAC-WNC). Robles is deeply honored to be selected as Writer in Residence at the Carl Sandburg Home. He sees it as an opportunity to honor the legacy of Carl Sandburg as a people’s poet and to give something back to a community that he feels has welcomed him with much warmth and graciousness. During his residency he will work on a novel in progress Fillmore Flip, which is based on his family’s life in the Fillmore District of San Francisco. Meet Tony April 4, 2020 (Saturday) at 10:00 am Writing Workshop Join the 2020 Writer-in-Residence Tony Robles for a writer's workshop. The workshop is limited to 16 participants. Please call the park to sign-up at 828-693-4178. April 8 (Wednesday) at 7:00 pm Writers Network Open Mic Event Tony will be the guest speaker for the North Carolina Writers Network on Wednesday, April 8, at the Brandy Bar in Hendersonville. He will give a reading during the main program at 7:00 pm, to be followed by an open mic forum from 8:00 – 9:00 pm. Any writer who wants to read 3-5 minutes of prose or poetry can sign up between 6:30 - 6:50 that evening. Poetry Selection from Tony My Father's Music My father's music Percolates and palpitates Like hot coffee dreaming A tap dancer's arrival Hitting throat with the Right note, going back, Deep, unopposed My father's music is Caught in a kettle whose Grease endured screarns And flame of gas stove Decisions where curling irons Bent notes and contemplated Hooks landing on the chin and Announcing a verdict on a Rippled canvas My father's music is An empty cup of my Favorite things where soup Is made from pain and Love is made from rain My father's music is Made in wood when he Would then wouldn't then Would again and would Is softer than stone and Woodn't you know it? My father's music is the Chamber of cool poking Into the greenness of the Sun's estate of ecstatic static My father's music Is sky minus rain Divided by sun Multiplied by incense In the smoldering Pyramid of branches My father's music is the In-time pantomime of The heaven-hell debate Whose defense rest On the 8th day My father's music floats And glides from Head to thigh and on that other Side where up is down and down Is up, sticking like flap jacks Whose wings lap lap lap the Tick tock oil of greasy time My father's music Skips, bumps, burps, Slurps, sizzles on the Sunny side of the street Crackle pop Bop Pan fried With an Egg on Top My Father's Music |
Last updated: February 26, 2020