Video: I read from the Brubury Tales at Rapp Saloon (video)

On Friday night, I read from my new book The Brubury Tales at the Rapp Saloon in Santa Monica. It was really fun. Thanks to Don Kingfisher Campbell for taking the time to video the event. Here’s the You Tube link if you want to check it out.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjQOO6OnOpo

An ambitious homage to Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, The Brubury Tales by Frank Mundo takes Chaucer’s story and frame to Los Angeles just after the riots, where seven security guards on the graveyard shift swap tales in a hilarious storytelling competition for Christmas vacation time. The tales themselves are “readable” updates of classic stories by Dostoevsky, Dickens, Boccaccio, O Henry, Poe, Twain, Gilman, Crane, Saki, Anderson, Bierce, and even Khayyam’s Rubaiyat. This edition also contains a special foreword by California literary legend, Carolyn See, the Friday-morning book reviewer for The Washington Post and bestselling author of Handyman and There Will Never Be Another You.

 

“The Brubury Tales [by Frank Mundo] is a landmark book, in what is going to be — and already is — an exceptional, distinguished literary career.” — Carolyn See, from the books foreword.

 

“With inspiration from many literary classics and plenty of original spin, The Brubury Tales is a fine collection and not one to be missed.” –Midwest Book Review

“Mundo’s skill is astounding and has a natural cadence. These stories are intriguing and compellingly human, and soon enough the reading becomes listening.” –Sacramento Book Review

 

“The Brubury Tales is a brilliant blend of writing, combining the style of Chaucer while putting a new slant on the short stories of the classical writers.” –Reader Views

 

“The Brubury Tales is a unique and powerful new book by Frank Mundo. Mundo takes risks with his writing, which is sensitive, thoughtful, and gritty. Mundo’s security guards share their suspicions, and they show us their raw and innermost feelings.  They also leave us with a sense of hope.” — LA Books Examiner, Laura Frazin Steele

 

“The more I got into the rhythm of Frank’s brilliantly written poetry, the more I enjoyed it and felt compelled to keep reading. As someone who would not ordinarily select a book completely written in poetry, I can say I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. It is a rhythmic, comforting way to become immersed in the story and I can recommend [The Brubury Tales] to both lovers of poetic works and those who have yet to take the plunge.” — LA Literature Examiner, Morgan St. James

The Brubury Tales by Frank Mundo is available in paperback and eBook amazon and other stores.

Video coverage of a poetry reading I did at the Pasadena Public Library

Video coverage of a poetry reading I did at the Pasadena Public Library –> http://outonthestoop.blogspot.com/  reading from my book The Brubury Tales, a modern version of The Canterbury Tales in Los Angeles.

Available on amazon in paperback and eBook.

http://www.amazon.com/Brubury-Tales-Frank-Mundo/dp/0741459752

Pause for Poetry: a reading by LA Poet Laurel Ann Bogen

This week’s edition of Pause for Poetry focuses on Los Angeles poet Laurel Ann Bogen and her poem “Canticle for Bogen” in a video from http://www.poetry.la/.

Laurel Ann Bogen is the author of ten books of poetry and short fiction, the most recent of which is Washing a Language, published by Red Hen Press of Los Angeles. She is a founding member of the celebrated poetry performance ensemble Nearly Fatal Women and has been an instructor in the Writers’ Program at UCLA Extension since 1990.

In the video, Bogen celebrates not only her 60th birthday, but the release of Issue 57 of Luvina Literary Magazine of the University of Guadalajara in which her poem “Canticle for Bogen” appears.

With this in mind, let’s all hit the Pause buttons on our lives for a few minutes and see why Bogen, well-known for her lively readings, was noted in the Orange County Weekly as “the nearly undisputed Empress of SoCal poetry.”

If you like this video poem, please be sure to forward the link to your family and friends.

Click here to watch video.

To learn more about Laurel Ann Bogen, visit http://www.nearlyfatalwomen.com/Laurelbio.html

For more great poetry videos, check out Pause for Poetry at Frank Mundo’s LA Books Examiner.

Frank Mundo is the author of The Brubury Tales.
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Pause for Poetry: A Reading of “Night Mistress” by David J. Delaney

This week’s edition of Pause for Poetry focuses on Australian poet David J. Delaney and his poem “Night Mistress” read by renowned Australian documentary film maker Don Featherstone.

Delaney describes his work as Australian rhyming bush poetry. I call it good, old-fashioned storytelling. But whatever you call it, the clear descriptions and images of Delaney’s work provides a powerful insight into lives and experiences he records in Australia’s vast and beautiful outback, with a musical rhyming poetry that is always contemporary and never forced.

What’s also interesting about Delaney is the fact that he left school at the age of 15 and has no formal education in writing. His work is completely inspired by memories and stories and springs entirely from his passion for life and his love of family, friends and his colleagues. If nothing else, his work demonstrates that a degree in literature is not required in order to read, write and enjoy poetry.

With this in mind, let’s all hit the Pause buttons on our lives for a few minutes and watch this creative and stirring video reading of “Night Mistress” written by David J. Delaney and produced by The Redroom Company in Sydney.

Watch video at Frank Mundo’s LA Books Examiner.

Frank Mundo is the author of the poetry book The Brubury Tales.

Pause for poetry: a reading of ‘If’ by Rudyard Kipling (video)

The first English writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, Joseph Rudyard Kipling is probably best known today for his classic story The Jungle Book, which was adapted by Disney in the 1960s and became one of its most beloved animated films. Kipling was a great poet and master short-story writer whose support of English imperialism in his work both helped and harmed his reputation throughout his long career. His enormously popular poem “If” is a great example of this concept, which was inspired by Dr. Leander Starr Jameson, leader of the controversial Jameson Raid in South Africa in 1985.

But politics (and gender bias) aside, “If” is an excellent poem full of pragmatic advice that continues to inspire readers around world today.

With this in mind, let’s all hit the Pause Button on our lives for a few minutes and check out this video reading of Kipling’s “If”.

Watch the video at Frank Mundo’s LA Books Examiner. 

See all videos in the Pause for Poetry Series.

Read poetry by Frank Mundo

Bars, diners and dives: poetry from the San Pedro River Review

As April and National Poetry Month come to an end today, the LA Books Examiner urges you to continue making poetry a part of your daily lives by watching videos, going to readings and, most importantly, buying poetry books and subscribing to poetry journals.

That’s why this week’s special Pause for Poetry focuses on the San Pedro River Review, a small poetry and art journal by Blue Horse Press in Tucson, Arizona.

Edited and published by Jeffrey C. Alfier and Tobi R. Cogswell, the San Pedro River Review is published twice a year with Spring and Fall issues for only $6 each.

The 2010 Spring Issue is called Bars, Diners & Dives, and features the work of 2 artists and an impressive range of 48 new and established poets, including Ellaraine Lockie and Larry D. Thomas, two contributors whose work really stood out this time to the LA Books Examiner.

With this in mind, let’s all hit the Pause button on our lives for a few minutes and check out these poets in action. 

To learn more about the San Pedro River Review, visit SPRReview.com. 

Three Poems by Ellaraine Lockie

Watch videos at the LA Books Examiner, Frank Mundo.

O Captain, My Captain: Celebrate National Poetry Month with a reading by Poet Walt Whitman (Video)

April is National Poetry Month and, at the LA Books Examiner, this is a cause for celebration. What a great opportunity to share with you some of our favorite poets and, perhaps, to urge you to take some time throughout the month to discover some new poets on your own.

And what better way to kick things off than a reading of “O Captain, My Captain” by America’s premier poet, Walt Whitman. Best known for Leaves of Grass (1855), Whitman was a controversial figure and extremely influential artist who virtually unlocked standard poetic conventions and structure, opening the door for a more natural ‘speaking’ style of poetry writing known as free verse. 

With this in mind, let’s all hit the pause buttons on our lives for a few minutes and enjoy this reading of Walt Whitman’s “O Captain, My Captain”…which many of you might remember from the memorable climactic scene in the popular film Dead Poets Society with Robin Williams.

Watch video

Pause for Poetry: A Reading by Lucille Clifton

Great American poet and activist, Lucille Clifton, poet laureate of Maryland from 1979 to 1985, died of cancer and other illnesses yesterday at 73 years old.

Author of 11 acclaimed books of poetry, Clifton, a National Book Award winner and a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, was best known for an unconventional poetry that took on conventional poetic themes of family, relationships, adversity, and community with humor and humanity.

Clifton once said that, “One should wish to celebrate more than to be celebrated.” I had something different planned to celebrate Valentine’s Day, but with this thought in mind, let’s all hit the pause button on our lives for a few minutes and celebrate Valentine’s Day with a video reading of two poems by Lucille Clifton.

See video at LA Books Examiner

Holiday Pause for Poetry: Readings by Shel Silverstein

Shel Silverstein, poet, songwriter, musician, composer, cartoonist,
screenwriter, and author of children’s books, was a true Renaissance man. Known as Uncle Shelby to fans of his amazing children’s poetry books, Silverstein’s playful, quirky, and creative rhymes not only made poetry fun for children to read, but turned his beloved poetry collections A Light in the Attic, Falling Up, and The Giving Tree into true classics of American Literature. 

 

With this in mind, let’s all hit the pause buttons on our lives for a few minutes and watch Shel Silverstein sing “Sara Cynthia Sylvia Stout” and “Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me Too”.

 

What a great gift idea for children this holiday season! Learn more about Shel Silverstein at ShelSilverstein.com.

Watch both videos now at LA Books Examiner.

Pause for Poetry: A Reading by Dylan Thomas

The acclaimed Welsh poet Dylan Thomas has been called one of the most important poets of the 20^th century and the most spectacular of the surrealist poets. Despite his early death at only 39, Thomas left behind a remarkable collection of work — including “Fern Hill” and, probably his most famous poem, “Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night”.

With this in mind, let’s all hit the pause buttons on our lives for a few minutes and watch this haunting performance of “Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night” by Dylan Thomas.  

Watch the video at LA Books Examiner.