Three memorable poets will present their work at Poetry Café Bellas Artes in SMA

Jenifer Phillips, Canadian, is a graduate of Queen’s University at Kingston, ON with a degree in Drama and English Literature. She previously lived in Neuchatel, Switzerland and after arriving in San Miguel for a two week vacation has been a full time resident for twenty-three years. Jenifer was a school teacher in San Miguel for 17 years, and has raised and educated her bicultural, bilingual daughter here.

Serving as president of Mujeres en Cambio for 8 years, while chairing their events committee, was her way of giving back to the community and even more importantly – supporting the education of young women.

She has written poetry all her life, and still has not learned to control it. Jenifer has a strong dislike of capitals and punctuation in her poetry and is at constant war with her computer. The visual aspect of her poetry, how it looks on the page, is important to her and sometimes has some rather surprising results. Encouraged by her Women’s Writers group, she is learning to share her words with others.

George Kalmar was born in Slovakia but spent most of his life in the United States, first in Philadelphia, then Bloomington Indiana and the last 32 years in Los Angeles. He has a Bachelor’s degree in English from Temple University and completed his Master’s work in the Creative Writing Program at Indiana University.

His main interests have been poetry and sculpting. He was assistant editor of Scriblarian, a scholarly literary magazine, he was the founder and CEO of the International Education Service and the past president of Artcore Center for the Arts in Los Angeles. He has published his poems in a number of national publications including, Indra, Matters, Indiana Review and Journeys with a recent printing of his collaborative readings with Adolfo Guzman Lopez.

Kalmar has been a frequent reader at Beyond Baroque Literary Center in Venice, California as well as Valley Contemporary Poets and Avenue 50. He lives in San Miguel with his wife Julie and son Jonah.

Gaia Schilke is a poet and visual artist who grew up in Connecticut and lived in Manhattan for 20 years. Her poems and illustrations have been published in numerous literary magazines, journals and books, including ALOUD (Henry Holt), StoryHead (Chicago), Kick it Over (Canada), Going Down Swinging & Poetry Australia (Australia), KRAX (England) & Sivullinen(Finland). Schilke published her book of illustrated poems & stories, From the Margin (Stray Dog Press) in 1997. She was the curator of reading series at The Knitting Factory and The Nuyorican Poets Cafe in NYC, and co-founder & co-editor of the multicultural arts magazine, Tribes.

Of Schilke’s NYC poetry band, Backbone Flute, The Village Voice said: “Named after a Vladimir Mayakovsky poem, this ensemble of Downtown jazzsters, fronted by dangerous neofeminist poet Gail Schilke, should light a fire under the Nuyorican Poets Cafe’s boho denizens. Expect brilliantly eccentric turns of phrase and husky-voiced prosodic eroticism from Schilke, who, like Vlad, dances to a drummer from the not-too-distant future.”

Founded in January of 2016, Poetry Café Bellas Artes meets monthly, September through April. This all-volunteer organization features local and visiting poets (established and emerging) sharing original work in a casual setting.

Please arrive a few minutes early. Seating is limited.