Tag Archives: Occupy LA

GuerrillaReads No. 51: Occupy Poetry!

I dropped by Occupy LA again today, this time with a few gallons of water and a copy of my book, The Streetwise Cycle, to donate. The guy at the library told me that poetry and plays are the most popular items getting checked out. Which is great news! That’s definitely not what they’re pushing at the big box corporate bookstores.

While I was there, the library organized a poetry reading. Some folks read works by famous poets, while others read or performed their own work. Two of them were kind enough to do guerrilla readings of their own poems on camera.

First up, Courtney Klink.

I thought these lines from her poem were particularly timely:

Liliana is singing a sparkling revolution
It’s too bad no one’s listening.

Next is Tina Xu:

My favorite lines:

I can’t get by one day without wanting to burst
So teach me, will you,
Teach me to shine on like you.

GuerrillaReads would love to post more work from Occupy writers! Send us your video, or drop me a line.

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GuerrillaReads No. 48: Cecil Castellucci at Occupy LA

Author Cecil Castellucci (aka @MissCecil) stopped by Occupy LA with GuerrillaReads yesterday and read from her young adult novel, Rose Sees Red. It’s set in 1982, and in this scene, Rose and her friends stumble upon the largest demonstration against nuclear arms in American history.

Castellucci has written YA novels, graphic novels, short stories, an opera libretto and more. She once told Bookslut in an interview

I think that everybody can live creatively and I don’t see any difference between say, math and ballet. I think someone can even make something traditionally not “arty,” like being a business person, a kind of art form.

More about Castellucci on her website. You can also find her on Twitter and Facebook.

GuerrillaReads No. 47: Bronwyn Mauldin at Occupy LA

We went down to Occupy LA yesterday to engage in some literary solidarity of the guerrilla sort. Here I am reading from my book, The Streetwise Cycle. It’s a short story collection about one of the 99%, a homeless man living in Los Angeles. In this story, he meets an unemployed financial analyst on the verge of losing everything.

If you haven’t yet, be sure to check out all these writers who have signed onto the Occupy Writers statement of support.

Music: The Streetwise Cycle, written and performed by Fascinoma.