EUGENE RUGGLES - Poet

Poem about Ruggles

2011-07-24T10:59:00.000-07:00

Link to poem I am reading at the Eugene Ruggles reading July 24th, 2011.

Reading at Bird and Beckett, August 24th

2011-07-18T04:53:00.000-07:00

by Martin Hickel

Hyperion (poem) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2011-07-17T10:06:00.000-07:00

Hyperion (poem) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

borrowing freely from Keats

Deep in the shady sadness of his room,

far swollen from his diet of codeine and wine

Beyond the fires of television at noon, and the evening star,

lay gray-hair'd Gene, "quiet as a stone.

Still as the silence round about his lair."

And then the lines come, streaming light,

filaments of invention and memory,

with whimsy, alegria; a poetic calculus of joy.

DANIEL JOHNSTON

2011-05-29T21:14:00.000-07:00

DANIEL JOHNSTON

In Memory: Will Holst

2011-05-29T19:35:00.000-07:00

I was saddened to hear that Will Holst passed. Also relieved. Will passed in a state of peace. He was a great friend of Gene's. So wanted him to be happy. Please stay in touch.

Our beloved Will passed from this life yesterday at 1:40 pm at Svend and Charity's home in Roseville. Both Amelia and I were at his bedside looking at him. He just stopped breathing. His passing was absolutely peaceful. The hospice nurse was there a minute or two later.

We had had to move him on Sunday because on Saturday evening he suddenly sat up, got up, took a few steps and fell. It was the last strength he had. Svend returned for the night and kept him from getting up. I drove him in my car for his last trip. He watched the road for a little while and then slept.

He told Svend Saturday night that he was going to pass soon.

Will donated his body to UCSF (Univ. of Ca. San Francisco) Department of Anatomy. They came dressed in black suits and were very formal and respectful.

I can't speak for the rest of the family, but I am all right and will be all right. I know he's free now.

Will's grandson, Atticus, is having a hard time with this. He'll be 3 on the 30th. He wanted to go get his grandpa back and fix him. So Charity is sad for both her son's loss and the loss of her father-in-law.

I'll probably write again to let you know of any memorial plans, It's early now and there is much to do.

I must tell you that I could not have made it through these two years without all of your notes and calls and love and prayers. I am not kidding. This was bigger than I was. I got pressed to my max at times, and I've been aware of being infused with strength that wasn't mine. Thank you so very much again. May it be returned to you when you need it.

YouTube - Red Russian Army Choir & Leningrad Cowboys - Delilah

2011-05-29T19:29:00.000-07:00

YouTube - Red Russian Army Choir & Leningrad Cowboys - Delilah: "http://youtu.be/NhIMEMDYxZE"

Unbound

2011-05-29T12:02:00.000-07:00

Just a topic that bears mightily on an e-book edition of Roads of Bread, perhaps.

Gene would never consider him a celebrity author, even though he was widely celebrated and admired.

Unbound Launches Its Kickstarter-Byliner Hybrid For Celebrity Authors

Trepidations Aside, ‘On the Road’ Becomes a Movie at Last - NYTimes.com

2011-04-18T22:21:00.000-07:00

Trepidations Aside, ‘On the Road’ Becomes a Movie at Last - NYTimes.com

U.S.

Trepidations Aside, ‘On the Road’ Becomes a Movie at Last

By SCOTT JAMES, NEW YORK TIMES

Published: April 14, 2011

After years of failures, Jack Kerouac’s classic novel, has finally been made into a movie and those involved are just as anxious as fans about getting it right.

More on 100 Thousand Poets for Change

2011-04-10T13:44:00.000-07:00

Don't forget to send work for the 1OO THOUSAND POETS FOR CHANGE ANTHOLOGY:

Visual works and photographs for submission are to be saved in JPEG format, while texts, which should not have rigid formatting, are to be in Word.

All submissions should be emailed to the editors anny.ballardini@gmail.com and obodooha@gmail.com by September 1, 2011 with “100 THOUSAND POETS FOR CHANGE”
in the Subject line.

100 THOUSAND POETS FOR CHANGE

2011-04-01T11:24:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends of Big Bridge,

I am writing to you about 100 THOUSAND POETS FOR CHANGE. This is an event I have begun to organize on Facebook and I am now bringing to those of you who are not using Facebook.

100 THOUSAND POETS FOR CHANGE is a community action event scheduled for September 24, 2011, which will include readings, demonstrations, and concerts happening simultaneously throughout the world in the name of poetry and change. We have been working on this project for only two weeks and the response has been inspiring. So far over 12 countries and 25 cities have volunteered to organize an event.

Below, I am posting information on 100 THOUSAND POETS FOR CHANGE as it appeared on Facebook. I talk about “change” and “organizing” to give you some general ideas on how this event can work. If you are interested in organizing a local group, please contact me by e-mail: walterblue@bigbridge.org, or join us at Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=106999432715571, and “friend” me.

In a couple of weeks I will be putting up a 100 THOUSAND POETS FOR CHANGE blog for this event where each local event will have its own event page with event information, and poems, journals, photos, videos from events around the world.

Please read the info below and if you have any more questions please feel free to contact me here at Big Bridge.

Thanks for join us!
Best,
Michael Rothenberg
Big Bridge www.bigbridge.org

100 THOUSAND POETS FOR CHANGE

Publisher of Roads of Bread

2011-03-27T01:12:00.000-07:00

Eugene Ruggles reading poetry at Poetry and Pizza: 5th segment

2011-03-27T00:36:00.000-07:00

The leg in a Greyhound cafe

2011-02-16T22:23:00.003-08:00

Wondering about this book The leg in a Greyhound cafe by Eugene Ruggles (Unknown Binding - 1972)
Out of Print--Limited Availability

Poetry Reading and Art Auction July 10 2-7pm Pelican Gallery Petaluma – Geri Digiorno and the Petaluma Poetry Walk - Petaluma 360 - Petaluma, CA - Archive

2010-06-30T11:22:00.000-07:00

Poetry Reading and Art Auction July 10 2-7pm Pelican Gallery Petaluma – Geri Digiorno and the Petaluma Poetry Walk - Petaluma 360 - Petaluma, CA - Archive

Petaluma Poetry Walk

2010-06-08T23:50:00.000-07:00

15the Annual Petaluma Poetry Walk

September 19, 2010

11 am- 8pm

...

Schedule for the Eugene Ruggles Memorial Reading

PHOENIX THEATER -- 4 pm
Host: Delia Moon

Eugene Ruggles memorial, hosted by Delia Moon, publisher of Eugene Ruggles’ The Roads of Bread: Collected Works (Petaluma River Press, 2010). Michelle Baynes, Geri DiGiorno, Sharon Doubiago, Will Holst and Carl Macki will read some of Eugene’s poems.

Eugene Ruggles, a poet of great heart best described as “a wanderer in search of the American conscience,” was born December 4, 1935 in Pontiac, Michigan and died in Petaluma, California June 3, 2004. A tireless promoter of the art of poetry and a staunch supporter of all of its practitioners, Eugene Ruggles organized hundreds of well-attended poetry readings to support the causes of youth, peace and justice he believed in so passionately. His book, The Lifeguard In The Snow (University of Pittsburgh Press Pitt Poetry Series 1977) won the Great Lakes Colleges Association Award in Poetry for 1978, and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.

PETALUMA RIVER PRESS

2010-06-08T18:33:00.000-07:00

Delia Moon, is publisher of the forthcoming The Roads of Bread: Collected Work of Eugene Ruggles.

She invites you to visit the PETALUMA RIVER PRESS.

To leave comments, please email her at the address listed on the page.

Facebook | SAVE THE GULF MUSIC & POETRY FESTIVAL

2010-06-08T00:38:00.000-07:00

Facebook | SAVE THE GULF MUSIC & POETRY FESTIVAL

Ruggles' Collected Poems Ready to Be Released Soon

2009-09-09T17:02:00.000-07:00

Be sure to check back or visit http://www.eugeneruggles.com /.

About the Poems of Eugene Ruggles by Mike Tuggle

2009-06-12T13:33:00.001-07:00

About the Poems of Eugene Ruggles

Muriel Rukeyser put it succinctly in a blurb on the back of his only book:

These poems have been gathering power and music until The Lifeguard in the Snow is here in full mastery. Intimate courageous, wester, it is a fresh gift to American Poetry.

Re-reading this collection thirty-one years after its publication, this is still true. And I suspect it will be a fresh gift thirty years from now.

It can truly be said of Eugene Ruggles that all of his poems are love poems.

link to Lifeguard in the Snow at Amazon

Website for Gene

2008-04-04T16:06:00.000-07:00

Hurrah! Delia Moon has started a web page for Gene.
http://www.eugeneruggles.com/about.html

Progress On Gene's Manuscript

2008-01-16T12:06:00.000-08:00

The University of Pittsburgh Press has said to Ruggles literary executor Delia Moon they are not interested republishing The Lifeguard in the Snow, as they did publish it as part of Pitt Poetry Series in 1977.

Delia is requesting that they verify this; and if so, she may submit it to another publisher; or reprint it herself, in a limited edition format; and "then as part of a trilogy with two other manuscripts of his."

The Philip Levine Prize in Poetry

2007-08-12T15:00:00.000-07:00

The Philip Levine Prize in Poetry is open to all poets except current
or former students or faculty of California State University, Fresno.

$1500 prize and publication by Anhinga Press

Postmark Deadline: 9/30/07

Final Judge: C.G. Hanzlicek

The contest is named for poet Philip Levine who was the final judge in
2001, 2002, 2005. Philip Levine taught at California State
University, Fresno for many years and is one of the most highly
honored American poets. He has published 16 books of poems, several
volumes of translations and two collections of essays. His list of
honors includes two National Book Awards, two National Book Critics
Circle Awards, the American Book Award, the Ruth Lily Poetry Prize for
Distinguished Poetic Achievement, and the Pulitzer Prize for poetry.
Previous Winners: Lynn Chandhok, Roxane Beth Johnson, Steve Gehrke, Fleda Brown

2007 Guidelines

Manuscript should be original poetry, not previously published in book
form, 48-80 pages. Include two manuscript title pages: one with name
and contact information and one with the name of the manuscript ONLY.
Manuscripts will be screened and judged anonymously. The entry fee is
$25. Checks should be made out to "CSU Fresno Levine Prize." Please
bind your manuscript with a binder clip only and mail by 9/30/07
(postmark deadline) to:

Philip Levine Prize in Poetry
CSUF English Department
5425 N. Backer Ave. MS PB98
Fresno, CA 93740-8001

E-mail mfafresno@cvip. net or connieh@csufresno. edu for more information.
Also : http://www.csufresno.edu/crwr

Steven Church
Assistant Professor of English
California State University, Fresno
__._,_.___

The Courage to Love, by Eugene Ruggles

2007-08-12T14:23:00.000-07:00

The Courage to Love
Ruggles, Eugene.
Bookseller:
Michael Good - Fine and Rare Books, ABAA
P.O. Box 521
Woodacre, CA 94973
P: Michael D. Good
Tel: (415) 488-9057
mgoodbooks@aol.com
US$ 10.00
Folio broadside poem measuring 8 1/2 x 16 inches. Printed on beige paper. Fine copy. Bookseller Inventory # 04870

LINK: http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?sts=t&an=eugene+ruggles&y=0&x=0

ABEBOOKS: The Lifeguard in the Snow copies for sale listings:
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?tn=the+lifeguard+in+the+snow&sts=t&an=eugene+ruggles&y=0&x=0

From Jack to Geri

2007-06-16T10:55:00.001-07:00

Note to Geri Digiorno, Poet Laureate of Sonoma County from Jack Hirschman, Poet Laureate of San Francisco. Jack was a good friend of Gene's, and advised me about the book venture:

"dear geri----

"Agneta Falk is a swedish-born poet and painter, who lived in England for 30 years and now lives and works in san francisco.
"Her major collection, It's Not Love, It's Love was published in a bilingual edition by Multimedia Edizioni in Italy.
"She has also edited, with Judi Benson The Long Pale Corridor, an international anthology of poems on grieving and death, published by Bloodaxe Books of England.

"Jack Hirschman is the current Poet Laureate of the City of San Francisco.
"Last year his masterwork, The Arcanes, was published by Multimedia Edizioni in Italy in the American language only.
"He is an active member of the League of Revolutionaries for a new America.

"Sempre---jack"

ALSO APPEARING: Baba Shibambo

Jack Hirschman and Agneta Falk, Baba Shibambo Reading July 1st 3-5pm -- Phoenix Theater

The 12th Annual Petaluma Poetry Walk -- September 23rd, 2007

2007-06-15T20:09:00.000-07:00

The 12th Annual Petaluma Poetry Walk -- September 23rd, 2007

SCHEDULE

12:00 NOON JUNGLE VIBES, 136 PETALUMA BLVD., N.

Fionna Perkins, Mimi Albert, Eileen Malone,
Diane Frank, with Anthony Wright, Harpist; and Nina Lindsay

1:OO PM APPLE BOX AT THE MILL, 6 PETALUMA BLVD., N.

D.A. Powell, Katherine Hastings, Forrest Hamer
G.P. Skratz and the new Arundo Band.
Hosted by Carl Macki, with reading of Poem by Eugene Ruggles.

2:00 PM APPLE BOX AT THE MILL, 6 PETALUMA BLVD., N.

Helene Cardona, John Fitzgerald and Elena Karina Byrne
Baba Shibambo: featuring South African dance music

3:00 PM COPPERFIELDS BOOKS, 140 KENTUCKY STREET

Ellen Bass, Terri Carrion and Michael Rothenberg

4:00 PM PHOENIX THEATRE, 20 WASHINGTON STREET

The Suicide Kings

5:00 PM BELLA LUMA CAFE, 125 PETALUMA BLVD., N.

Kate Braverman, Juanita Martin, Geri Digiorno, Chris Olander and Avotcja

6:00 PM BRICKS, 16 KENTUCKY STREET

David Bromige, Ed Coletti, Richard Denner and Q.R. Hand

Here are some links related to The Petaluma Poetry Walk:

Pictures of the 2002 Petaluma Poetry Walk at David Huang's "Poetic Dream" site.

2002 Petaluma Poetry Walk site at the Isle Press Internet site, including a schedule,
map, and links to many of the poets that read in the 2002 Petaluma Poetry Walk.

September 19, 2002, article by Patrick Sullivan called "Can Sonoma County's young poets rekindle a flickering art form?"
The article talks about Copperfield's Books and the Dan Jaffe Memorial Poetry Contest and how the winners will read in the
Petaluma Poetry Walk.

2002 article by Truong Tran called "Decreasing Funds: How Literary Organizations Are Coping" at the "Poets & Writers" Internet site. About Geri DiGiorno's fundraising efforts from local merchants for the Petaluma Poetry Walk.

Pictures of the 2001 Petaluma Poetry Walk at David Huang's "Poetic Dream" site.

September 6, 2001 article by David Templeton called "A poet praises lit. icon Lawrence Ferlinghetti." About Ferlinghetti's appearance at the Phoenix Theatre in Petaluma for "Rhyme, Rhythm and Song," a fundraiser for the Sonoma County Book Fair and the Petaluma Poetry Walk.

October 5, 2000 article by David Templeton called "Free Verse: The Petaluma Poetry Walk."
The article interviews Geri DiGiorno about the Petaluma Poetry Walk.

Pictures of the 2000 Petaluma Poetry Walk at David Huang's "Poetic Dream" site.

September 7, 2000 article by David Templeton called "How much is a good poem worth?"
Geri Digiorno on the streets of Petaluma asking passing pedestrians, "Which would you rather have, this book of poetry or this dollar bill?"

Pictures of the 1999 Petaluma Poetry Walk at David Huang's "Poetic Dream" site.

Pictures of the 1998 Petaluma Poetry Walk at David Huang's "Poetic Dream" site.

For more info, please visit petaluma.poetrywalk.org, or geri-digiorno.petaluma360.com; or call Geri at 707 763-4271.
Supported partly by a grant from the James Irvine Foundation through Poets & Writers. This event sponsored by
Poetry Flash.

Ruggles Stamp: At "Poems For All" Blog

2007-06-10T15:15:00.000-07:00

Much to our delight we found this stamp of Gene at
http://www.sacfreepress.com/poems/

Eugene Ruggles 4/10/2007

Poems-For-All mailart stamp honoring small press poet Eugene Ruggles.

Posted by: Richard Hansen / 3:12 PM

News From Delia

2007-05-31T19:36:00.000-07:00

This is exciting. . . . We have a web page just for Ruggles.
It's generuggles.com.
In August I'll make it beautiful.
For now it's just a pd for site.
Any suggestions are welcome.
I'd like a short vita to put in right away.
Interested in sending me one??
I'll include some from your blog.
I didn't know you had been writing me on the blog all this long time.
Sorry. I can't wait to really breast this wave of time and surf into the Ruggles project full time with the energy that now goes to the dissertation.
Best, Delia

The Ruggles Memorial Library at the Phoenix Theater Petaluma

2007-04-16T18:23:00.000-07:00

Working on it. A report will be forthcoming.
Hope to set some of the books at the Phoenix by May 1st, 2007.

Arion Press

2007-02-24T19:12:00.000-08:00

Note: I remember Gene saying Andrew Hoyem was a friend of his.
I thought it might be good to approach them about a limited edition.
Jack Hirschman wisely pointed out that Gene was a man of the people,
and that he would want a popularly priced edition of his poems. I agree.
That doesn't mean that a limited edition with original artwork of Gene
would be bad, however.

Limited Edition Books with Original Art
Designed and published by Andrew Hoyem

		Arion Press Founded by Andrew Hoyem in 1974, the Arion Press publishes deluxe, limited-edition books, many of them printed by letterpress, illustrated by prominent artists, and some accompanied by separate editions of original prints. Since 2001, Arion Press has been a cultural tenant at the Presidio, the new National Park in San Francisco, where it shares a handsome industrial building with its second division, M & H Type, and its nonprofit adjunct, the Grabhorn Institute. Tours and contact information.

		Nonprofit Grabhorn Institute The nonprofit Grabhorn Institute was created in 2000 to preserve the historic printing and bookmaking facilities of Arion Press and M & H Type, and to perpetuate the crafts of typecasting, letterpress printing, and bookbinding. It conducts educational and cultural programs, including tours of the historic production facility, and exhibitions, lectures, and readings in the gallery. Read more about the nonprofit Grabhorn Institute and how you can make a tax-deductible contribution.

		Recent and Forthcoming Publications Just released: Godot, a staging in pictures of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot by William T. Wiley. Recently published: A Day in the Bleachers by Arnold Hano with illustrations by Mark Ulriksen; The Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin; A Coney Island of the Mind by Lawrence Ferlinghetti with prints by R. B. Kitaj; and, Gloria by Bill Berkson with 25 etchings by Alex Katz. Many of these recent books are available with separate editions of prints and portfolios. Read more about recent and future projects.

THE ARION PRESS
1802 Hays Street, The Presidio
San Francisco, California 94129
Telephone: 415-668-2542
Fax: 415-668-2550
E-mail: arionpress @arionpress.com

Eugene Ruggles and the Novato Library

2007-01-07T19:36:00.000-08:00

Delia--I just spoke with the head librarian in Novato--Donna Mettier. We discussed a proposed poetry program in Novato, and I happened to mention Gene's poetry, plus the anthology that Gerry is helping with. She asked if Gene lived in Marin and I told her he did live in Marin--he is also in the Marin author database in the library--I told her that after Gene's heart surgery, he lived at his son's place on Center. She was very interested in Gene's poetry. I told her I would leave her some poems. I think I should request The Lifeguard in the Snow for her from the County library system. Who knows? It is a flower blossoming. Carl

Collected Works of Eugene Ruggles

2006-12-01T19:32:00.000-08:00

I spoke with Meribehn Peller and Willy Holst, two great friends of Gene's, and they are encouraging me to continue the struggle to help Delia Moon in her efforts to put Gene's works in print again. If you are think this a worthwhile endeavor, please call me.
415 596 5264.
Carl

The Lifeguard in the Snow Available

2006-11-25T12:05:00.000-08:00

I just checked amazon.com, and one cope of Eugene's book, The Lifeguard in the Snow is on sale for $168. I think it needs to be reissued.

from the first edition --

These poems are made from the poet's youth on a farm, as a merchant seaman, as a political radical, as a hospital orderly,as a wanderer in search of the American conscience, and as a father. The book is various and strong, the utterances of flesh and bone-a highly moving experience. Eugene Ruggles has worked long and hard with words, and he has achieved what every poet seeks, his own poetic voice.

The Lifeguard in the Snow

"It seems the snow is falling deeper than God
as I walk through it along our end of the ice,
it drifts between my legs like it was breathing.
The sweat hits in my back as I start to climb
the first white dunes that save the trees from ice,
I open my coat and hear snow inhaling the lake.
There is the raft I couldn't reach it's still there
frozen in ice like the last scream in a mouth.
Watching those young children all last summer
has folded this black sunburn through my chest--
a small girl water carved out of my arms forever."

Political Affairs

2006-11-25T09:47:00.000-08:00

Dear Mr.Macki-

I am the poetry editor for the magazine Political Affairs. I've been an
admirer of the work of Eugene Ruggles for a number of years and had the
pleasure of reading with him once in Berkeley in the early 80s.

I would very much like to be able to publish a few of his poems in an
upcoming issue of PA.

Would you be the person to contact about this? If not, can you put me
in touch with Delia Moon?

Just offhand, you can find below the poems I'm interested in. I'd be
happy to see anything else.

Unfortunately, I am not able to offer payment but we would be honored
to publish his work.

Thanks for your help in this!

Michael Shepler
Poetry Editor
POLITICAL AFFAIRS
Journal of Marxist Thought
check us out at: www.politicalaffairs.net
(734) 547-8084

To The World's People After This War

"They would love to see me dead, to say:
He belongs to us, he is ours."
--Mahmoud Darwish

--for Eqbal Ahmad, 1934 to 1999

After this massacre,
we will drop the smallest body bags ever made
into Baghdad,
they will be made of black rubber
with zippers like those we filled in Vietnam,
they will be from one to four feet long,
for the last mothers alive in Baghdad.
They will drift down as thousands of black leaves,
after our missiles have burned through water and skin.
We will try to drop them before the world can see
the remains these last mothers alive in Baghdad
will carry from our craters of sand
in their broken arms the rest of their lives.

Do you still see the young Vietnamese girl
running naked from Hanoi,
screaming with horror with her back on fire with Napalm;
her sisters running toward her from Baghdad.

Yes, we have seen to the future of Iraq--
these smallest body bags ever made
if rolled up tight enough,
can even fit inside the womb.

We cannot remove our government of wide graves
by ourselves. We will need your help
to pull us back from the desert of quicksand
beneath their great fleet of knives on fire,
to heal we will need your help
with the impeachment and the trial
of war crimes,
with the prison to be built with light. In light.
We will need your help
to lift these tears of blood from us after Iraq.

This is what we have grown for you.
This is what this Empire eats.

September, 2003
Eugene Ruggles

----------

Waiting For The Boys

"Why tell what hurts?
You carried it, my boy, so brave, so far."
--William Stafford

--for Don Emblen

After three years back east my son Benjamin's two sons
are arriving this evening, learning the land by train.
They are five and three years old.

There is the dark oil war off in the distance,
today I will not listen to the distance
growing smaller.

We have been cooking grains, baking bread, pies and cakes all day
for this evening.
For years.

A black friend has brought over most of her garden
for the dinner and there is this morning's catch
of salmon from Bodega Bay!

The evening is opening around us.
Benjamin has gone out for more firewood.
For now, there is enough light from my friend's voice.

Waiting for the boys to arrive,
two fathers are setting the simple wooden ancient table
before the fire breaking, the reflections from the table as from water.
After these three years I've never been more alive since the morning I
was
born.

Father's Day, 2003
Eugene Ruggles

----------

The Stairs in Little Rock, Arkansas, 1957

Forty years ago today,
nine children were climbing
the longest stairs of hate
they would ever see, to enter
Little Rock Central High School.
The tall white crowd around them
shouting, "Give us one
of the nigger kids to hang,"
their faces lunging forward
through the heat,
"and we'll let the others go."

They were six girls and three boys,
the white dress of the first girl
clung to her with spit,
she was wiping it from her face
without tears,
the new books were torn
from their hands and ripped apart,
the screaming went on rising before them.
The stairs above them
kept flowing toward their bodies
through the heat,
light was breaking like glass on the steps,
another light broke around them.

They were climbing over hate
with a courage we had never seen.
They were leaving Eisenhower's paratroopers
across the street in the shade
and Brown vs Board of Education
with Thurgood Marshall in Topeka, Kansas
behind them. And they were
the first nine witnesses,
turning the terror in their backs to us.

----------

Our Last Christmas Morning, 2002

"...you have resisted the wave of the cruel."
--Pablo Neruda
from a Spanish Civil War poem

--for Kathy Kelly
Voices in the Wilderness

For the death squad of two
in the Oval Office,
I send two priceless works against Greed and Hate;
I deliver to them Thich Nhat Hahn and the Dalai Lama.

The day is rising before my grandchildren wake,
their eyelids have never known American fire beneath them
as children in the Middle East have known all their lives.
To this day, twelve years of genocidal sanctions are not enough death.

This day we hold out as a simple gift
to the Iraqi people will never happen again.
For years we have been stalking peace in the Middle East.
By spring, we will never see most of these thin Iraqi children alive
again.

There is no light coming from our skin.
By seven-thirty a.m., this last Christmas Day before war, has ended.

December 25, 2002
--Eugene Ruggles

Gene Ruggles: Book Update

2006-11-05T13:51:00.000-08:00

As one who has presented poetry in Sonoma, Marin and San Francisco Counties these last twenty years, I am grateful for the support that the late poet Eugene Ruggles gave me, and was gratified to learn several years ago that he was made an honorary Poet Laureate of Sonoma County. Had he been healthy enough, Gene would have loved to have actively participated in the activities that a poet laureate conducts.

Eugene Ruggles was a poetry activist most of his adult life. In addition to encouraging poets and aspiring writers of all ages, especially youth--he promoted and organized between fifteen and twenty major poetry readings and benefits in the last thirty years of his life, with the proceeds going to organizations like Amnesty International and the Phoenix Theater Foundation, causes that made a difference in the everyday life of young and old in San Francisco, Petaluma, Sonoma County, California, the US, and elsewhere around the world.

Gene was a significant poet. I trust that his work will be widely recognized as part of the American literary canon.

The only book of his published during his lifetime, The Lifeguard in the Snow (University of Pittsburgh Press), which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, deserves to be republished.

Delia Moon, the executor of his literary estate, has been seeking a publisher for "Enough," his later work.

Please contact us or check back to this blog for an undate.

Carl Macki
1811 Novato Blvd., #69
Novato, CA 94947
415-596-5264
carlmacki@yahoo.com

2006-01-18T22:16:00.000-08:00

san francisco by Eugene Ruggles

I give you back your bridge.
I have driven her too long
without feeling the tides
in her steel, her robes.
I give you back your hills
and parks that rise together
into islands of green cloth
that line my one coat.
I give you back the full pockets
of that one coat.
Where the wind is drinking
from the waters around your ankles
I give you back this small room
I breathe from,
beneath the cathedral of your voice.

2006-01-18T22:06:00.000-08:00

from Interboard Poetry Community--http://www.webdelsol.com/IBPC/2004_06_01_rags_archive.htm
Eugene Ruggles, a celebrated Petaluma poet credited with turning poetry readings into big happenings, has died.Ruggles, 68, passed away Thursday at the turn-of-the-century Petaluma Hotel, where he had lived for the past 15 years in a small room crowded with the books he loved.In 1977, Ruggles received a Pulitzer Prize nomination for a collection of poems titled "Lifeguard in the Snow."from Santa Rosa Press Democrat: Petaluma poet, advocate Eugene Ruggles dies

2006-01-05T19:34:00.000-08:00

I received this email from a friend today

(Ron Rozewski wrote:)

DEAD MY OLD FINE HOPES
AND DRY MY DREAMING
BUT STILL . . .
IRIS, BLUE EACH SPRING

--Shushiki

Then I looked up Ume Shushiki's work in Google
and found this poem at http://thegreenleaf.co.uk/HP/Women/s/shushiki01.htm

idobata no/ akura abunashi/sake no yoi

jeopardized
by drunkards
the cherry tree at the well

be careful be careful!
of the cherry tree by the well
you're drunk with sake

--Ume Shushiki

It reminded me of Gene (even though he preferred Carlo Rossi
"Paisano" to sake), and I wrote:

To Gene (Ruggles)

poet sits on his bed
drinking wine
tired of wine
he dreams instead

dreams of death
pass into
memory
mere past desire

2006-01-01T22:15:00.000-08:00

podcast of Radio Sausalito "Brilliant Corners (Jazz + Poetry)" - Hosted By Beau Beausoleil - Show #80: Music Bill Charlap Trio; Poetry by Eugene Ruggles

2005-11-07T22:32:00.000-08:00

from my email of a bulletin board about the recent reading at the Phoenix in memory of Eugene--
"Hi Layne, It was very cool to hear a whole raft of fine poems, from one excellent poet after another. The audience was small, however. Doesn't Petaluma support its poets? (Well, that might be the same story a lot of places.)
"What about PoetPrism? Is it still going? I still have a poem I'd like to send around...if I get another invitation to join.
"Hope you're doing well.
"Best, Clive [Matson]"
layne@whiteowlweb.com wrote:
Clive, how did this night go? We'll miss our poet friend. Layne -----
Original Message ----->
From: "Clive Matson" clive@matson-ford.com
Sent: Saturday, September 24, 2005 9:39 PM
Subject: Po: Poets Against the War Sunday September 25 in Petaluma
IN MEMORY OF EUGENE RUGGLES Poets Against the War 4pm to 7pm Sunday, September 25 Sam Hamill [did not show] Geri Digirono,Clive Matson, Andrena Zawinski, Martin Hickel, Prartho Sereno,Gerald Nicosia, Joyce Jenkins[did not appear] Dancing Bear [not present, as far as I saw] Lucy Lang Day and others Open reading at 6pm
Phoenix Theatre 201 Washington Street Petaluma, California (707) 762-3566 (Take 101 North to Petaluma Washington Street Exit Go west on Washington two blocks past Petaluma Boulevard)
Funds donated will be used to help publish Ruggles' last collection of poems, "Enough."
"Only those that risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." ~T.S. Eliot
from EssPo site: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/EssentialPoet Unsubscribe: EssentialPoet-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
Yahoo! Groups Links--Let the Crazy Child Write!http://matson-ford.com

2005-09-06T15:10:00.000-07:00

http://www.poetsagainstthewar.org/

POETS AGAINST THE WAR PROTEST READING SUNDAY, SEPT. 25

The Phoenix Theatre in Petaluma, Calif. will host a benefit poetry reading from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Funds donated will be used to help publish Ruggles’ last collection of poems, "Enough."

Among poets scheduled to read are Sam Hamill, Geri Digiorno, Clive Matson, Andrena Zawinski, Martin Hickel, Pratho Sereno, Gerald Nicosia, Joyce Jenkins and Lucy Lang Day.

Sunday's reading in Petaluma will feature the work of Eugene Ruggles, who put together several mass reading against the Vietnam in San Francisco.

His collection, The Lifeguard in the Snow, published by the University of Pittsburgh Press, won the Great Lakes College Association Award in Poetry.

His poems have appeared in Poetry, Poetry Northwest, The American Poetry Review, The Nation, The Hudson Review, Field, Kayak, Manoa, Poetry Flash, Floating Island, The New Yorker, Copperfield's Literary Magazine and Passages North.

He was given grants by the National Endowment for the Arts, P.E.N., The American Academy of Arts and Letters, and The Academy of American Poets.

2005-08-21T14:33:00.000-07:00

Gerald Nicosia, the Beat historian and prolific author of many works, graciously allowed us to publish this poem he wrote after hearing about Gene's passing. You may like to visit Nicosia's web site: www.geraldnicosia.com.
Also see his poem about Philip Lamantia that follows the one for Gene. CM

Guardian of the Heart
for Gene Ruggles (1935-2004)

The opera didn’t end
Till the fat lady sang
And the poetry reading didn’t begin
Till the cab pulled up
With Gene Ruggles in it
I’m expecting that cab any minute now
And Gene will emerge
With the guilty grin he always had
From riding cabs
When he barely had money for food and wine
But he saved his money for good causes
And there was no higher cause to him
Than standing up for things you believed in
Which was what poetry was
For him, and why he cared
To see that justice was done to
All the left-out people on the planet
You heard it in his voice
Maybe the most extraordinary poet voice
I’ve heard in my lifetime
And I’ve heard a lot
It came from the very bottom of his soul
Rugged, hard, full of all the
Iron and copper in those Michigan hills
He grew up in
He spoke slowly, as if always
Carefully choosing each word
You felt the weight of each word as if he were
Handing you a brick to build
A house to nurture
Your own soul in
Or a fortress
Inside which to protect
All the less fortunate people on the planet
He wanted you to help him build those homes and fortresses
Till everyone was sheltered and protected
He wouldn’t rest
Or take care of himself
Till that grandest task of kindness was completed
He was our greatest bodhisattva
And like all bodhisattvas
He wore rags and lived on
Pizzas with everything and red wine
So that others could ride in carriages before him
He had that telltale quality of greatness
In that life was absolutely serious to him
As serious as the career of poetry
He’d dedicated himself to
But he was also never without a laugh
A word of wit or humor
To lighten your day
And when he talked to you
You always knew he cared about you
Not in the abstract way most people
“Care about humanity”
But he cared that he was speaking to you,
Only you, everything special about you
He took in with that shy up-from-under
Blue-eyed glance of his
And made you know he understood
And respected everything you were
And wanted you to have a part
The most precious part
Of himself
His words, his thoughts
His feelings and insights
And above all the passion he had
That this world be made right
Once and for all
And you knew in every word he said
And every poem he wrote
And every cause he stood up for
That he would not be satisfied
Till the work was done
And that he expected you,
That he entrusted you
To carry it on
After he was gone
Gene, old friend, I knew
That was a sacred trust
I could not take it more seriously
I promise you
I’ll do my best
To carry it on.
From one old church exile
To another
Pax Vobiscum!

--Gerald Nicosia
6/10/04

The Man Who Stopped To Say Hello
for Philip Lamantia (1927-2005)

Sweet Philip
You walked away from fame
When everyone else
Was walking toward it
I remember the beautiful leather huaraches
You wore at your final reading
At City Lights
That looked like you could walk forever
In them
Walking is how I’ll always remember you
Strolling one sunny Saturday past
The Savoy Tivoli
And Bob Kaufman calling to you
“Philip, come here!
There’s a biographer who wants
To talk to you!”
The biographer was me
And you’d been avoiding my studied letters
But now it was different
I was the friend of a friend
You stopped to say hello
And talked to me for two straight hours
About Jack Kerouac
And Dory Schary
And the Surrealist Manifesto
I could have listened to you forever
And I understood why Jack
Said you had the most magic voice of any man
He’d met
And finally you walked away,
Such a happy smile on your face
The world was the biggest treat imaginable
To you
You had to keep walking
To savor it all
Fame and money would have caused
Intolerable delays
You sauntered like Thoreau
And Grant Avenue was
Your Concord
Your small apartment
On Filbert Street
Made do as hermit’s cabin
And every poem you wrote
As original as Walden
Thoreau avoided worldly success
Just as you did
To be “captain of a huckleberry party”
And you were the captain
Of all the North Beach poets
Fueled by endless cappuccinos
And the dream of the unknown
You led us all to kinder realms
Than the world underfoot
And the truth of that was in the fact
That you always had time
And disposition
To stop and say hello
When the heart was calling.

--Gerald Nicosia
4/27/05

2005-08-17T19:50:00.000-07:00

2005-08-17T19:23:00.000-07:00

Obituary in SF Chronicle

Eugene Ruggles -- poet who cared deeply for others
Steve Rubenstein, Chronicle Staff Writer (with help from John Geluardi)
Friday, June 4, 2004

Poet and activist Eugene Ruggles, known for his "deep image'' verse and for organizing large and popular San Francisco poetry readings and benefits, has died at age 68. more. . .

2005-08-17T19:21:00.000-07:00

"Poetry is one of our oldest arts--it's as old as religion, perhaps even older. It will never die out," he says. "It's part of the human psyche experience, and it's a testament and a witness to all the tragedy and all the triumphs that surround us." --Eugene Ruggles, quoted in the Bohemian

2005-07-28T13:28:00.000-07:00

Link to: http://www.wright.edu/cola/Dept/ENG/blakelock/poems/poems9.htm

The Unemployed Automobile Workers Of Detroit Prepare To Share Christmas Standing In Line

EUGENE RUGGLES - Poet

Poem about Ruggles

Reading at Bird and Beckett, August 24th

Hyperion (poem) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

DANIEL JOHNSTON

In Memory: Will Holst

YouTube - Red Russian Army Choir & Leningrad Cowboys - Delilah

Unbound

Trepidations Aside, ‘On the Road’ Becomes a Movie at Last - NYTimes.com

More on 100 Thousand Poets for Change

100 THOUSAND POETS FOR CHANGE

Publisher of Roads of Bread

Eugene Ruggles reading poetry at Poetry and Pizza: 5th segment

The leg in a Greyhound cafe

Poetry Reading and Art Auction July 10 2-7pm Pelican Gallery Petaluma – Geri Digiorno and the Petaluma Poetry Walk - Petaluma 360 - Petaluma, CA - Archive

Petaluma Poetry Walk

PETALUMA RIVER PRESS

Facebook | SAVE THE GULF MUSIC & POETRY FESTIVAL

Ruggles' Collected Poems Ready to Be Released Soon

About the Poems of Eugene Ruggles by Mike Tuggle

Website for Gene

Progress On Gene's Manuscript

The Philip Levine Prize in Poetry

The Courage to Love, by Eugene Ruggles

From Jack to Geri

The 12th Annual Petaluma Poetry Walk -- September 23rd, 2007

Ruggles Stamp: At "Poems For All" Blog

Much to our delight we found this stamp of Gene at http://www.sacfreepress.com/poems/

Eugene Ruggles 4/10/2007

News From Delia

The Ruggles Memorial Library at the Phoenix Theater Petaluma

Arion Press

Eugene Ruggles and the Novato Library

Collected Works of Eugene Ruggles

The Lifeguard in the Snow Available

Political Affairs

Gene Ruggles: Book Update

Much to our delight we found this stamp of Gene at
http://www.sacfreepress.com/poems/