A place dedicated to the possibilities of language

 



Special Event



The Beyond Gala



Saturday, November 2
6 PM
In Person at Playa Studios and Live on YouTube

Get tickets for The Beyond Gala, Beyond Baroque’s 56th anniversary benefit and awards, on Saturday, November 2, 2024, at Playa Studios in Culver City! Join us in honoring poets Sesshu Foster, Ashaki M. Jackson, Douglas Messerli, and Exene Cervenka & John Doe, cofounders of the band X, who will be giving a special performance. Just added: UnCabaret's Beth Lapides will be joining us as MC. The evening will also feature cocktails; dinner; and a silent auction, featuring contemporary art, exclusive experiences, and other items.


Upcoming Events



CA Night of Ghazals: Tony Barnstone, Bilal Shaw, and friends



Friday, October 18
8:00 PM PT
In Person at Beyond Baroque & Live on YouTube

Walton Well Beyond Baroque welcomes you to celebrate the Urdu to English translation of two new books at A Night of Ghazals! Translators Bilal Shaw and Tony Barnstone have devoted time, energy, and passion to ensuring that the poems of Mir Taqi Mir (1723-1810) and Mirza Asadullah Beg Khan (1797-1869), will be enjoyed by a wider array of readers across the world. Several L.A. based poets will also be sharing their own original ghazals, including Anthony Lee, Scott Noon Creley, Terry Wolverton, Sarah Maclay, Yvonne Estrada, and Douglas Manuel.



Just in Time: Poetry and Jazz, Paul Vangelisti & Robyn's Nest Quintet



Saturday, October 19
2:00 PM PT
In Person at Beyond Baroque & Live on YouTube

Join us for an afternoon of poetry and jazz with Paul Vangelisti and Robyn's Nest Quintet!



California Dreaming? Writing the Golden State: The New Literary Terrain



Saturday, October 19
7:00 PM PT
In Person at Beyond Baroque & Live on YouTube

Writing the Golden State: The New Literary Terrain of California explores California through essays that look beyond the clichés of the “California Dream, " portraying a state that is deviant and recalcitrant, proud and humble, joyful and communal. It is a California that reclaims the beauty of the unwanted, the quotidian, and the out-of-place. Contributors, Ramón Garcia, Cassandra Lane, David Helps, Kenji Liu, Carribean Fragoza, will read excerpts from their essays, and copies of the book will be available for purchase.



House of the Highest and Most Pious



Saturday, October 26
2:00 PM PT
In Person at Beyond Baroque & Live on YouTube

Based on anthologized material and using tongue twisting rhyming verse in the DADA tradition, Christian Georgescu's multimedia production House of The Highest and Most Pious (HOTHAMP) depicts a prosperity preacher's search for meaning as he contends with modern life amid late stage Capitalism. Featuring LA's premier spoken word artists S.A. Griffin, Rich Ferguson, Kathleen Florence, and Christine Jordan, HOTHAMP meets at the intersection of literature, circus, stadium event and church service.



Motherlands: Weijia Pan, Dare Williams & Sara Ellen Fowler



Saturday, October 26
7:00 PM PT
In Person at Beyond Baroque & Live on YouTube

Chosen by Louise Glück for the Max Ritvo Poetry Prize, Motherlands, by Weijia Pan, is an engrossing debut that interrogates history, identity, and the power of poetry to elucidate both. In celebration of his debut poetry collection Weija Pan will read alongside Dare Williams and Sara Ellen Fowler in the Wanda Coleman Theater. Book Signings before & after the readings.



More Upcoming Events


 

 

Upcoming Workshops



Learning How to Write a Ghazal from the American Blues



Saturday, October 19
11:00 AM - 2:00 PM PT

In this workshop, we will learn about the ghazal, the premier short form of poetry in the Middle East and South Asia. We will use a familiar American musical genre as a doorway to open into this great form of poetry: the blues. As it turns out, the American blues and the ghazal share a number of key thematic and structural elements that will help you to write a successful ghazal in English. We will take a look at some terrific American ghazals by Aga Shahid Ali, Roger Sederat, and Patricia Smith. We will also listen to and discuss several blues songs.



Critique Workshop with Dorianne Laux and Kim Addonizio



Saturday, November 23
11:00 AM - 2:00 PM PT

Bring a draft of a poem-in-progress (under 2 pages), with copies for all (14 total) for close reading from Kim and Dorianne. We’ll discuss elements like clarity, structure, line, image, and other aspects of craft, talk about what we value in poems, and give you specific ideas about revising your work.lues songs. Lastly, we’ll have a guided writing session and round of sharing our work.

Ongoing Free Workshops


Monday Night Fiction Workshop with Raquel Baker



Mondays 7:30 PM PT
Via Zoom

A community writing workshop in which participants are asked to bring 2-3 pages of fiction to read and receive feedback. Facilitated by Raquel Baker via Zoom. Registration required.



Wednesday Night Poetry Workshop with Arthur Kayzakian



Wednesdays 8:00 PM PT
Via Zoom

The West Coast’s longest-running free poetry workshop welcomes new and seasoned poets to share new work and provide feedback. Please be prepared to share one poem.


Current Exhibitions


Byron Baker & Will Alexander
Anonymous Steller Ravines vol 1.

October 12 - November 23, 2024
Opening Reception
Saturday, October 12, 5:00 PM


Proxy Gallery Presents
Sally Stein and Las Terminas, In Dicey Times... Voting Matters Most!

October 11 - November 30, 2024



The present work, created expressly for the Proxy Gallery and titled “In dicey times… voting matters most!” combines symbolism and literalism to powerful effect: The title already prefigures a contradiction: Dice, the aleatory, stand for chance, while voting stands for the strong desire to make a difference in the outcome of the elections. Both these versions are true: the elections could go this way or that, but what is at stake is democracy itself.


We have new merch for you!





New arrivals include our new tote bags, zip bags, journals, candles, and of course, our classic Metaphors Be With You shirt. All proceeds support Beyond Baroque programming!

Visit our shop here
beyond-baroque.square.site