Susan Hayden
Library Girl presents Cat Stevens Tribute – at Ruskin Theatre – Tonight! 9/8/13
“I always knew looking back on my tears would bring me laughter,
but I never knew looking back on my laughter would make me cry.”
– Cat Stevens
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Featuring words by Leon Martell, Jerry Garcia, Lisa Thayer, Jon Hess +Tamar Halpern. Featuring music by Dan Navarro, Poppa’s Kitchen (akaRobert Romanos + Stephen Feldman), Bret Jensen, Talkin’ Treason + Mason Summit. Surprise guests! Produced by Susan Hayden. Admission $10. Get your tickets now, online @ www.ruskingrouptheatre.com
“THESE ARE MUGSHOTS, SUSAN” by Susan Hayden
“Borrowing Sugar” by Susan Hayden
I used to borrow sugar,
or try to
Not from just anyone;
from “entertainers”
in the neighborhood
They lived
in sprawling, ranch-style homes
with aerial views,
front yard aquariums
and life-sized statues
Leon Russell, on Woodley
The Jackson Five, on Hayvenhurst
Tom Petty on Mooncrest
Affluence and intimacy–
a false sense of security:
That was the real Encino
Never had a strategy,
only an impulse
I wasn’t even developed
Was nine/ten/eleven–
playing house with
a Betsey Clark folding scene
and Hallmark reusable stickers,
the inspirational kind
that said things like:
“Every Day Is A Gift From God,”
“Showered With Blessings”
and “I Believe In Miracles”
I was an anomaly
in the West Valley
A trickster
with a two-spirit nature,
a Technics turntable
and a Barbie suitcase,
jam-packed
with personal belongings–
a sheltered freewheeler,
seeking access
and the thrill of the hunt
And I was a bolter,
always running away,
just for a little while
Mostly I was
a New Romantic,
the sameness of my fate
as yet to be determined
Love was someone else’s story
carved in a spiral groove
on a vinyl platter
and so I borrowed sugar
or tried to
but instead
dogs barked, alarms rang out
and I was escorted off Private Property,
released back into
“The Ranch of the Evergreens”
–Los Encinos–
encircled by the Transverse Ranges,
surrounded by the nouveau riche
For months, years,
my measuring cup stayed empty;
roaming the streets of the 91316
where “It’s A Wonderful Life”
was shot
long before anyone was ever
borrowing sugar
South of Ventura,
Liberace had a piano-shaped pool
Let me swim in it once
Called me “Sweetie”
North of Valley Vista,
the gulleys and ditches
connecting flatland to hillside
were hideouts,
wishing wells of early faith–
Faith in the power of Everything
cancelled out by a voice saying,
“You’re Nothing”
Words of my brother,
brazenly dealing weed and coke
from his bedroom window,
dispensing insult and harm
to the one most in need
of protection
He tried to teach me
that Goodness was impermanent,
on loan
but I had my stickers to remind me
of another way of thinking;
I had love songs in my head
that gave fair warning
but made Big promises
When the lunatic moon
touched my brother,
converting him from a tender boy
into the Opposite of Sugar,
it was songs and sweets
that pulled me across
When not borrowing,
I was busy eating:
Hostess cupcakes, Fruit pies,
Sno-balls, Twinkies,
Zingers, Donettes
I was addicted to sugar
It made me bold and shy
Empowered me
Sedated me
Borrowing sugar equaled escape
from an unsafe home
Fleeing risk by risking
was better than staying put
The in-crowd lived elsewhere,
that much was clear
Over-the-Hill,
in woodsy canyons
with more shade and less heat
Jackson Browne was on Outpost Drive;
Joni Mitchell, on Appian Way
I wanted to be free and in the clouds
but was relegated to Royal Oaks
with its lion’s head door knockers
and central air conditioning
and I learned how to work my way in
by saying things like:
“Lend me some sugar,
I am your neighbor”
It was my only way around
a set of circumstances:
In search of the sweetness
from someone else’s life
whose whereabouts were hidden
but known to me
That’s how it started,
this borrowing sugar
That’s how it started,
this running away.
© 2012
“Sparring With The Beatnik Ghosts” Tonight @ Stella Adler Theatre!
There are two incredible evening shows Sunday, June 5 in Chinatown at Grand Star Jazz Club (943 Sun Mun Way, Los Angeles) — Rounds 17 and 18. The first round of the “Sparring Double Feature” is at 5 p.m. – an ensemble spectacular with jazz performers “The Scrappers”; hosted and produced by S.A. Griffin: and featuring dynamic wordsmiths Rafael FJ Alvarado, Laurel Ann Bogen, Michael C. Ford, Douglas Kearney, Marc Olmsted, Ara Shiriyan, Herbert T. Schmidt, Jr. and Pam Ward. The second round of the evening will be brought to you by Mike The Poet at 9 p.m., ushering in an impressive lineup of performance poets, including Jim Bolt, Rachel Kann, Michael Leon, Mindy Nettifee, Brenda Petrakos, Dani Roter, Chris Vannoy, Cara Vida, Rex Weiner and special guest Berkeley poet Steve Arntson. Plus mystery poets will surprise and put the ghosts in check.
The final round of the L.A. Sparring Tour will bring the three-day poetic séance to a rollicking close on 7:30 p.m. at Monday night, June 6 — Stella Adler Theatre — 6773 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood. Host Mike The Poet will bring together one final sparring crew to keep the ghosts in the ropes. Features include Hart D. Fisher, Busstop Prophet, Richard Modiano, Eric Lawson, Lee Boek, Rachel Kann, Susan Hayden, Lisa Thayer, Besskepp and Bay Area Poets Cara Vida and Steve Arntson. Mystery poets will materialize to join in on the Spar.
The L.A. Sparring Tour is produced by Mike The Poet, Michael C. Ford and Daniel Yaryan. Grand Star Producer is S.A. Griffin and The Whitefire Theatre Producer is Mani Suri. Admission to these events is a $7 donation ($5 for students/seniors at Beyond Baroque). No one turned away.
For more information, visit www.sparringwithbeatnikghosts.com or email dyaryan@gmail.com.
RSVP at: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=149589848443704
Library Girl presents “Touch Me” – Tonight!!
Poetry Reading
Jon Hess, Leon Martell
L. K. Thayer
Beth Ruscio, Sissy Boyd
and Sharon Yablon, with actress
Lisa Littman
Sunday Night, April 10th @7:00 PM
Ruskin Group Theatre
3000 Airport Avenue
Santa Monica, CA 90405
(across from Barker Hanger
@ Santa Monica Airport)
Produced by Susan Hayden
$5.00 Cover
For more info: 310.753.7653
© 2011
“Paris, 2003” by Susan Hayden
for Chris
Flushed with the energy of art and alliance,
the rocket science of materia prima,
he takes me by the hand to wisteria and secrets,
steals my breath and kisses me
like I’m his new mistress, not his old wife.
This is our life and love is earned,
sealed with an alchemist’s loyalty
and candle wax
from sticky long nights of burning.
Singular as a field holler,
a worn-out blues tune written for us alone
yet universal in skin and bone;
his attendance, his inscription,
a hermetic cabinet of curiosities
called home.
The Boulevard glows with our footprints,
stable and so slippery.
Walking on ice has never been this easy.
Hang on.
Husband, man of the house, best friend.
Any minute this could end.
© 2011
Introducing: “Girls Just Want To Write Poems”
Susan Hayden’s “Library Girl” Nov. 14th tonight! 7pm
Library Girl presents “This You Should Know”
Readings from
Tessie + Pearlie
14 November · 19:00 – 21:00 (7pm)
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Location | Ruskin Group Theatre Co
3000 Airport Ave
Santa Monica, CA
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More info | Author Joy Horowitz comes to Library Girl in a rare evening of readings from her memoir–w/ Jesse Welles Nathan + Kate Zentall. |
“Boys without Fathers” by Susan Hayden
This has always been
a “Quest” story:
Adventures, magical rewards,
the tests
Running for my life
and from my life
since I had feet
Running to meet
Men
who were once
boys without fathers
Boys without Fathers
They learned their way
around things,
not by choice
They’ve given voice
and reason
to my tiny little leaps
toward the Unknown
and I was (and still am)
prone,
susceptible
to their lack of guidance–
that moral (or immoral) code
invented
by being let loose
to draw conclusions
of their Own
A Father will reveal
a river’s hidden moves;
the groove in the magic angle,
twenty degrees to skip a stone
not leave a Boy
to bond with the Alone
and grow up overnight
with no instructions
A Father will show
How to build a fire
Pitch a tent
Give directions
Embellish all reflections
Fight with snowballs,
Fish through ice
He’ll be the one that says,
“Roll the dice,
it’s your turn”
Your Turn
This has always been
a “Quest” story
with its circuitous route,
its point and its shoot;
its natural disasters
Still running to the men
Who were once
Boys without Fathers
To seek from within them
what’s unwritten:
the secret to dreaming
the unmarked trail
the backroad home
the way to make peace with the Alone
The adventures, the magical rewards,
the tests
and a plea in their honor,
a simple request:
Please teach me
How to grow my own Boy,
the One without a Father
© 2010