Photo of Steve by Robert Yarra
Please join us for a poetic celebration of the beloved Steve Dalachinsky. There will a selection of invited readers and we hope to have time at the end for additional people to share a short poem or memory. With such an overwhelming response, there will likely not be enough time for all those who wish to read, however there will be a book / box for anyone wishing to leave a personal message or poem. For those who have not been to the Parkside Lounge before, the performance space is through the back of the main bar. It has a mixture of seating and standing, with seating on a first come basis.
**The formal memorial is being organized by Steve’s wife, Yuko Otomo, for January 2020 with full details to be announced. This event on October 19th at the Parkside Lounge is a smaller, more informal gathering of the poetry community. Everyone welcome. Please feel free to come and go during the afternoon and to make use of the bar too.
Steve Dalachinsky passed away on September 16, 2019. It was an honor and inspiration to work, perform, laugh, and travel with him. We miss him deeply.
EPITAPH
"I chose who I wanted to be and then I was.”
- Coco Chanel
we reside @ madame arthur’s
near the top of rue des martyrs
i fly like ROCKY the flying angel
across the gathering stones
steven’s journey across the semi-verse
my call letters: S.D.D.
my i.d. # 9-29-46
tho i am not allowed in
i enter the private gates
needy & un/announced
AX
i have not yet learned to use the cane
you will so generously bequeath me
…et JE (le) SU(i)S
… and then i was
– paris, 10/2017
The final poem in Steve’s collection Where Night and Day Become One: The French Poems.
Poet /collagist Steve Dalachinsky (1946-2019) was born in Brooklyn after the last big war and managed to survive lots of little wars. He was the recipient of an Acker Award for poetry and in 2014 was honored with a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture. Where Night and Day Become One: The French Poems (great weather for MEDIA, 2018) was a silver prizewinner at the 2019 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards. In addition, his collection The Final Nite (Ugly Duckling Presse) won the PEN Oakland National Book Award. Other books include Fool’s Gold (Feral Press), A Superintendent’s Eyes (Unbearable Books /Autonomedia), Flying Home (Paris Lit Up) in collaboration with German visual artist Sig Bang Schmidt, The Invisible Ray (Overpass Books) with artwork by Shalom Neuman, Frozen Heatwave (Luna Bisonte Prods) in collaboration with Yuko Otomo, Black Magic (New Feral Press).
Steve’s audio CDs include The Fallout of Dreams with Dave Liebman and Richie Beirach and ec(H)o-system with the French art-rock group, The Snobs. His most recent release was With Shelter Gone, a limited-edition vinyl LP on the German label Psych.KG.