Saturday, November 17, 2012

People are good

The number isn't one you recognize, but you answer anyway. It's a voice you almost know, you knew once, and as he talks, the memories bloom in your head, his voice was once all you heard, you woke and fell asleep to his voice, to the words he aimed at you like blows. The time between then and now zeroes down and you're twenty again, you're the girl who learned to doubt everything, who paused before each step for the blame, the fault, the roaring gap he never failed to see between what was right and your own sorry attempt.

I was wrong, he says now on the phone, You deserved none of that, and you feel it like a sword in your heart, that bright moment of liberation, finally free. I'm sorry, he says, and with those words he redeems you both.

Let Portuguese Artists Colony show the good in all of us, we will dig down through all the layers of violence and spite and find that shining light.

Alix Lambert has written for magazines including: Stop Smiling, ArtForum, and Filmmake. She is an editor at large for the literary journal Open City. She wrote Episode 6, season 3 of Deadwood: “A Rich Find” (for which she won a WGA award) and was a staff writer and associate producer on John From Cincinnati. She is the author of four books: Mastering The Melon, The Silencing, Russian Prison Tattoos, and Crime.

Joe Loya is author of the memoir, The Man Who Outgrew His Prison Cell: Confessions of a Bank Robber. His TV commentary ranges from crime to politics and religion. That's why his prison zombie apocalypse ebook, The Red Mile, was no real literary stretch. (Although the pseudonym The Zombie Whisperer definitely was.)

Sarah Karlinksy returns with her winning piece from last month's live writing!

Sweet tunes from Jeremy Hatch.

Live writing:
Vote on a prompt as you enter the show, and four writers will write on the winning topic while you watch them sweat, swear, and get inspired. Each writer will read what he/she wrote, and you get to vote on which piece you'd like to see developed into a finished story/poem/rant to be read at the next PAC performance. It's always a thrill.

Alix Lambert
Joe Loya
Katie Wheeler-Dubin
Monica Zarazua


Sunday, December 2
Hotel Rex
562 Sutter Street
In the Salon, just behind the Library Bar
San Francisco
Show at 5:00 pm
Sliding scale: $5-10

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Welcome new Colonists

Portuguese Artists Colony has expanded by two. Soon, we'll be an empire. Please welcome:


Roxane Beth Johnson’s first book of poetry is Jubilee (Anhinga, 2006). Her second book, Black Crow Dress, is forthcoming from Alice James Books. She is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize, 2007, and fellowships from The MacDowell Colony, Cave Canem and The Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. Her work has appeared in or is forthcoming from: The Pushcart Prize Anthology Harvard Review, The Georgia Review, Image, CallalooBeloit Poetry Journal, Chelsea and elsewhere.

Peter Orner is the author of three books of fiction, including Esther Stories, The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo, and the recently published novel, Love and Shame and Love, a New York Times Editor's Choice book, just out in paperback. He lives in Bernal Heights and is generally against colonization, except in circumstances such as these.